in her course as she is moving towards them and beats her affections back again or else turns the stream of them quite another way Love therefore is a generous vigour in the heart which incites and strengthens it to fair and noble actions for the effecting its desires though opposed by never so many enemies It is called by some the fire wherewith the soul is clothed which forces its way through all resistances A certain ardor in us which inspires us to worthy though difficult undertakings An Heroick passion which makes us think nothing impossible that is needful to be done for the compassing the end at which it aims Thus then must our souls be carried with such strong affections towards the appearing of Christ if we heartily love it We must omit nothing that we know is required of us for the obtaining the blessings which it will bring unto us We must bid all things stand aside that would impede us and tell them they must pretend to no interest at all in us when we are in pursuit of so great a good The love of which will soon reconcile us to the hardest duties and endear to us the most self-denying courses It will alter the countenance of sufferings and make all the troubles of this life cast a kinder aspect on us Nay it will enable us to look death in the face with a cheerful heart For it will present it to us in another shape and make the Grave that house of darkness seem like the beautiful gate of the Temple of God Whatsoever our Lord declares to be his pleasure this will bid us do it though we be undone by that means in all our temporal concerns And when they tempt us to murmur and repine to cry and lament at our parting with them Love will bid us be of good comfort because this is the way to have a fair reception by our Lord when He shall see we have quitted all for His sake We cannot indeed keep them always if we would yet such is his love our faith tells us that if we consent to forsake them beforehand upon his account He will not suffer us to be losers by it And therefore our love both to Him and to our selves prompts us not to stick at any thing which will be pleasing to Him though for the present it be harsh to us It teaches us to reason as St. Peter doth 2 Pet. iij. 11 12. Seeing all these things must be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of the Lord What manner of persons Truly such as are preparing a room in their hearts for their Lord. Such as hope then to compleat their Espousals to Christ And therefore must be holy and without blame before Him in love 1. Ephes 4. and study nothing so much as to be found acceptable in his sight who is the Lord of their hearts and their very life and to be nobly entertained by Him when He shall come again to receive His loving subjects up unto Himself We have our conversation in heaven saith St. Paul from whence we expect the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body according to the working whereby He can subdue all things unto Himself For in all reason they that expect such a sight should fit themselves for it by a conversation suitable to the dignity to which they shall be then preferred So Oecumenius I remember expounds these words of St. Paul to Timothy when he answers the Question who is it that loves his appearing in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that doth things worthy of excellent recompences Which if we love it will not fail to raise us unto a heavenly life If we wait for Him to come from Heaven it will lift up our hearts and carry them thither We shall disburden them of all carnal affections and throw off the load of the cares of this world that we may be light and airy ready to fly up above when He calls us to be with Him We shall labour to cleanse and purifie our souls as He is pure to adorn them with His Graces and in one word to put on the Lord Jesus that He may see Himself in us when He comes And wilt thou come then O blessed Saviour are such souls apt to say may we confidently look for thee from Heaven to be our Saviour Why do we question it sine we have thy faithful word for it who haste promised that we shall see thee as thou art and be for ever with thee O astonishing love what riches of grace is this Was it not enough that thou condescendedst once to come and save us but that thou determinest to come again Canst thou not satisfie thy love unless we be where thou art And wilt thou leave thy seat in heaven to come and fetch us rather than leave us here upon the earth O Love what is like unto thee Thou hast a mighty power who can understand the wonders that thou dost O make it great in us good Lord as well as in thy self Cause it to do marvels in our hearts as it hath done in thine Let our souls be unsatisfied till they come to thee Call forth all their powers as thou hast done their desires that they may restlesly move towards thee Make them unwearied in well-doing stedfast unmovable and abundant in thy work that they may not miss of thee O most gracious Lord suffer nothing in this world to discourage these hearts that have wholly given themselves to thee Cease not still to excite and quicken them since they have been already touched and awakned by thine Omnipotent love But preserve such a flame alive in them that they may ardently follow thee Inspire them with zealous resolution never to desist in their pursuit of that blessed Hope thou hast set before them Strengthen them against all the power of their enemies and let thy love burn with such fervour in them that none of the opposers of their holy desires may be able to stand before it Arm them good Lord with this invincible force of heavenly love which may make them noble conquerors and prepare them for thy glorious Triumph VI. But true love cannot stay here neither nor content it self with some endeavours to enjoy that Good which propounds it self to its affections for it ever tends to an Vnion with that lovely thing towards which it is moved When the Soul runs forth to see what it is that calls out its desires the intention of that motion is to possess it self of that amiable object if it answer its first pretences and prove such as it promised No sooner doth any thing appear beautiful and lovely to the mind or imagination but presently the heart sends messengers as I may call the spirits that issue out of it to bring it home and
When we so esteem it and look upon it with such a regard as it is presented to us in the glass of Gods Word immediately we shall feel our hearts begin to draw towards it This is the first business of a devout Christian who would love the appearing of his Saviour to perswade his heart to have a respect to it far above all other things That blessed day all pious hearts who have any hope of his favour should think of and look for as the brightest that ever shone The Coronation of a King the Triumph of a Conquerour the publick applause in the Olympick Games the most famous Showes that have ever been or can be made are all they must remember but as so many little Puppet-plays in comparison with that grand spectacle When all the world shall be in a gaze when Angels as well as men shall wonder and admire when the Sun shall blush to see it self out-shone and overcome in brightness when the hosts of blessed Spirits shall be the only Stars and our great Lord the only Sun that appears in the firmament when the righteous themselves shall shine in the same splendor by the reflection of his rayes upon them Thus we must discourse with our selves continually if we would be sensible of our happiness as St. Chrysostome * Tom. V. Orat. 1. in Pentecost p. 608. advises those who would understand their high birth and nobility We must look unto Heaven to the very Throne the Royal Throne for there sits says He the first-Fruit of mankind Who will come again will certainly come again leading all his Hosts along with Him the Legions of Angels the several Squadrons of Arch-Angels the Societies of the Martyrs the Quires of the Righteous the Tribes of the Prophets and Apostles and in the midst of these immaterial Camps the King Himself will appear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a certain unutterable and inexpressible glory O Dark House or cave of Earth will every one who believes this heartily be apt to say How willingly would I leave thee if I might be transported to meet our blessed Lord thus royally incamped in the air O poor world How come I so far to value thee as to suffer thee to captivate this heart How glad should I rather be to see thee no more if I might but behold him whom my soul loveth appear Nay it ought not to grieve me to see this earth and all things in it in a flame if that coelestial glory would but show it self There is nothing here so dear which I should not chuse to part withal most chearfully for the sake of so great a Blessedness Come my Friends and my Relations the dearest goods in this world let us set our hearts on this and desire to meet together with our Lord. Let our hearts be united in this love as much as they are in all things else There is nothing we enjoy of such esteem but we ought to be content to see it vanish and disappear before that illustrious sight Happy will that time be which shall eclipse all that beauty which now presents it self unto us with so much address Blessed will be the day that shall put out the luster of the whole world which now so strangely dazzles our eyes A great deal better will that moment be which shall dissolve if God think good all our stately Palaces than that which reared them and built them up Away away you trifling Vanities Why do you thus bewitch our eyes and inchant our ears and draw aside our thoughts with your flattering inticements Trouble us no more you false or unsatisfying glories But leave our minds free to think of that great and solemn day when you must all be benighted not by the want but by an excess of light and brightness Awake awake and open thine eyes upon us O thou sweet morning of our happiness Arise shine forth O thou Sun of Righteousness and make us blessed with a sight of thy glory Nay it would content us more than if we had all the world if we might but see the clouds break if we could but behold the shadows of the night beginning to haste away if thou Lord wouldst but dissipate these dark vapours that now incompass us and cause the light of Divine Faith as the day-star to shine continually in our hearts II. But hitherto we have only laid the foundation of Love Which supposes moreover that we have some sympathy as I may call it with that which we apprehend to be so Good for us and that we take our selves to be very much concerned in it For there are some things that are excellent in themselves to which notwithstanding we find little or no inclination because they are not sutable to our dispositions necessities and desires The greatest Perfections and merits oftimes meet with more Admirers than they do Vassals and we see those every day who bow other hearts to their service but find us inflexible to their attractions As we have not an appetite to all sorts of meats even those which we judge to be wholesome and good so we have not an inclination to all persons and things even those which we hold to be well deserving We praise many things which we do not love We allow divers objects our approbation which we cannot much affect And that which in reason we needs must commend yet doth not always command our hearts and draw them to its embraces The Loadstone as is commonly observed which draws Iron to it finds Lead and Copper to have no perception of its touches and that face as I said before which bewitches some eyes leaves others insensible of its beauty The Love then which we contract with any Good arises from the convenience that is between us and it We perceive an agreeableness in it either to our needs or to our nature and thence affection springs The likeness and resemblance that there is between two beings is not the only cause of their readiness to embrace each the other but the correspondence also and proportion which the one bears to the others necessities is a sufficient ground of it A man that languishes under a dangerous sickness may conceive a great affection for an incomparable and very compassionate Physician though there be no similitude between them because he apprehends that sufficiency in him which is able to supply the great defects and wants that are at present in himself But when these two correspondence and similitude which several have such power over the affections shall both meet together in one thing so that what we want is that to which by nature we incline it cannot fail to produce a love exceeding all other in intire union ardency and perpetuity For how can we refuse to yield to that Good or what would we have more than that which our hearts feel at once to bear a great resemblance to them and to answer all or most of their needs a Good which is what we are
so sweetly to it and this is properly Love As soon as ever we discover any thing that is suitable to us we feel our hearts instantly struck with a secret joy and are marvellously delighted in it And this delectable touch is no sooner perceived but it sweetly yet strongly draws us to go towards that thing which at first sight gave us such a pleasure and will yield we hope a far greater when we approach so near it as to get possession of it Complacence or delight then is but the first stirring or motion which a good thing causes in our heart This pleasing motion and agitation of the Spirits is attended presently with a melting and as it were effusion of the heart whereby we run out to meet that beloved object and entertain it into our souls and in this as I said properly consists the very being of Love Which is so manifest in an heart duly affected towards the appearing of our blessed Lord that there cannot be a greater proof of the truth of this description For it feels so great a pleasure in the lively belief of his coming that it is drawn thereby quite out of it self and cannot chuse but resign up it self intirely to that glorious Prince that He may make it appear together with Him It easily dissolves in that heavenly warmth and losing all its power to contain it self in its former bounds flows to Him the Lord of Life as to its proper place It is lifted up towards heaven and would fain be there where He is from whom this pleasure comes For with Him is the fountain of Life and therefore where should a devout soul set its affections but on those things which are above as S. Paul speaks 3 Col. i. 3 4. where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Which when they mightily affect the heart it feels as if it were dissolving into that life which is hid with Christ in God That future life or bliss is safe indeed because it is in the custody of Christ and in a glorious place where God dwells in light inaccessible But who can abstain from desiring it should be no longer hid and reserved but made manifest and shown as it will be at the appearing of Christ For so the Apostle adds immediately as if He would answer their Question who might ask when shall this Life be discovered When Christ who is our Life i.e. the cause of it who will give us this life shall appear then shall we also appear with Him in glory O what a joyful word is this what should hinder an heart that is possessed with a full belief of it from running thither with all speed whither it is called by so great a joy as sent from thence into it Into whose arms should it leap but only His the expectation of whose appearing creates that exultation There is none in heaven it can desire but Him with whom its life is hid and whom is there on earth that it can desire besides Him Come saith such a soul to it self and lift up thy head Thy Lord I hear is coming let us arise and go and meet Him Let us leave this earth and ascend up towards heaven where He is who is our Life Let us raise up our dull thoughts thitherward and fix our minds as oft as we can on the glory that shall be revealed Let us stir up our selves and with the most ardent desires and affections of our heart get as near Him as ever we are able let us go O my Soul and at least make a present of our very heart to Him beseeching Him most earnestly to possess Himself intirely of it Let us invite Him to prevent His appearing and to come a little beforehand to manifest Himself unto us and to take up His abode with us O blessed Jesus let us say who art our Life be intreated to come hither now that we cannot come up to thee and live in us Show thy self in this soul and let not me live any longer but do thou live in me let the life I live in the flesh be by thy faith O thou Son of God Thou hast loved me and given thy self for me O love me so much I again beseech thee as to live in me I would begin that life which is hid with thee in resigning my self to thee that thy will may be done in me Never did I feel such complacence in following mine own as I have since I was inclined to follow after thee who wilt lead me I see to immortal glory Blessed be that day which made me sensible of such happiness Blessed be the day which directed mine eyes to look for thy appearing What can I wish for more than to be blessed with the sight of it and till it come to have my heart always in love with it I am going towards it by these desires and I will excite my self to go the faster because that blissful sight is still making nearer approaches What do we mean my soul to hang thus towards this earth Why do we stay here when we see Jesus preparing Himself to make another journey to us Why do we not advance towards Him as if we were desirous to have Him come and to let us see Him Why do we not with all speed make our selves ready to receive Him What is it that makes us so slow in our motions towards Him who when He appears will come as swift as the lightning unto us Vp up O my soul let not thy Lord find thee when He comes posting after these worldly vanities pursuing of thy sinful pleasures but onward in thy way gone very far in devout affections ardent desires and holy hopes to meet His Glorious Majesty CHAP. VIII The Progress of this Love to Christs Appearing in three steps more V. AND yet this Love cannot content it self with inward motions and aspirations of the Soul towards the appearing of our Lord but constantly excites all such actions as are requisite for the attaining of so great a Good If we esteem any thing highly and feel it exceeding agreeable to our hearts desire we do not willingly rest in the pleasing passions it raises up in our hearts but they carry us out in earnest endeavours to be owners of it And the influence it hath upon us is so powerful and it doth so strongly draw us after it that it will not suffer any thing to put a stop to the current of our affections when they are issuing out unto it There are certain imperfect motions in our hearts which we are apt to call Love that by no means deserve that name being only a good liking of that which we do not yet truly love They are called in the Schools Velleities wishes and wouldings as we speak half a will which we feel for divers excellent things but never come to any effect The reason is because the appearance of some extream great difficulty or the force of some contrary desire either holds the soul
conduct it to take up its lodging there This is the meaning of that effusion of the Soul which I spoke of before whereby it would dissolve it self into that which it loves and be so mingled as to become perfectly one with it When an agreeable object I told you hath imprinted its image on the mind it casts a certain light into the soul and shines so comfortably on the affections that they are powerfully warmed and excited by it Now when the heart is full of this splendor it doth not satisfie it self with those rays and emissions of light and heat which are imparted to it but strives to unite it self to the very center of it and would feel the spring from whence such life and pleasure flows Just as Iron when it is impregnated with the vertue of the Loadstone is not contented with those effluxes it hath received but moves towards the body from which they stream so is it with an heart which receives this joyful news from our Lord that He will appear again in glory It amuses not it self in those delightful thoughts it sits not down in those ravishing joys nor thinks it enough to be melted in the passion of love to Him and to so great a blessedness But it seeks to knit it self to the very mind and spirit of Christ that it may feel how blessed He intends to make it It studies I mean to be changed and transformed more and more into His likeness and by an intire agreement of will with his will to begin its transfiguration and be prepared for a perfect and eternal union with Him It is not sufficient to a heart that is in love with that great day to live in a constant expectation of it which is excited by the Revelation He hath made of it in his Gospel and is the light which he now sends from heaven into us but it would gladly prevent as I have already noted that happy time by feeling Him appear every day more gloriously there It longs to shine more clearly in the light of his heavenly knowledge to burn more brightly in the ardors of his love and by being more richly adorned with the Graces of His Spirit to be recommended to all in the beauty of His Holiness There is nothing can better explain all that hath been hitherto said than the example of the Loadstone which I just now mentioned As soon as a piece of Iron feels the power of it we see how it turns it self towards it and by its quivering declares the complacence and pleasure as we may call it that it takes in its touches Then we behold how it creeps a little towards it still advancing and bearing it self more and more that way till it come to join it self with that thing from whence it first received those inclinations Here you have all the parts of love that have been already mentioned most lively represented First the mind apprehends and is made sensible of some Good which communicates an image or picture of it self unto it Then the heart is secretly surprised with a certain delight by which the agreeableness of that image intices it from its self And then it moves towards it and goes to see it And at last when it finds it to be what it appeared it flies as I may say into its embraces and endeavours to knit it self so fast unto it that they may never hereafter be divided And just such like is the temper of that soul which heartily loves our Lords Appearing Which it perceives to be a happiness so great that it cannot be satisfied with any entertainment it finds in this world but presses forward to the blessed sight of Him in all his glory Nothing can quiet it nor hinder its motion till it become one spirit with Him All that it hath as yet attained all the wisdom wherewith it is filled all the joys of piety which it sometime feels are little and inconsiderable in comparison with what it desires to feel And therefore on it proceeds in a serious study to be more like Him out of a design never to cease its earnest endeavours till it come to be for ever with Him O thou great and most Magnetick Good should every pious heart say O thon soveraign attractive of all souls I feel my self wonderfully touched by thee Thou hast put my spirit which was foolishly wandring after other things in a setled motion unto thee O what an inclination hast thou awakned in my heart to be with thee Thou hast mightily stirred all the powers of my soul which is wholly turned about to look most earnestly towards thee O cease not to shine perpetually into this cloudy mind which is all in darkness without thee Cease not to invigorate this dull and sluggish spirit which is thus excited by thee O spare not those mighty effluxes of thy love but draw me still after thee I cannot be willing to stand at any distance from thee nor to stop my progress till I be closely united to thee Therefore still continue to make me feel thy power till I be so happy as to move no more but to rest in thee Couldst not thou be pleased O blessed Lord with any thing less than an union with such sinful flesh as this of ours is would it not suffice thee to look down from heaven upon us and show us a glympse of thy glory but thou must come also and dwell among us and make thy self to be bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh that we might be one with thee How can I be contented then only with looking up unto thee How should I be satisfied if I have nothing more but meerly some glances from thee O my most gracious Lord give me leave to imitate thy love Suffer me to desire and seek to become what thou art by being perfectly transformed into thy likeness And do not think it too great a presumption if I wish and long to be so united to thee My Love as to be for ever with thee Let me have the happiness at least to sigh and mourn after thine Appearing Affect my heart so sensibly with it that I may groan in spirit if I can do no better for that blessed time when I shall lose the sight of thy face no more when I shall lye under the warm beams of the light of thy countenance when I shall live in the very element of love when I shall be so near thee that I shall feel my self to move in the very same Orb with thee thou bright Sun of Righteousness I seem now alas to be a great way off from thee I feel my self like the cold earth in the winter which turns towards the Sun and looks upon that glorious Light of Heaven that great lover of all the world but alas is very far removed from its comfortable rays O that I might be so happy as to approach nearer to thee O that I were fixed and might never turn about any more from
its glistering beauty cause the small contentments of this world to seem but as so many Glow-worms which shine only in the night I am sensible how short the sweetest enjoyments of this life are of that celestial happiness The society of my Saviour and of the inhabitants above O how much is it to be preferred even before the delightful company of those that most deserve my love Who can do me no greater service than by the innocent passion I have for them to transport me with far greater to that blessed country where I shall enjoy them without fear and love them without danger And O that all the fears I at any time have of losing the Dearest Creature in this world may presently expire into a greater fear of heing separated from my Lord. Let all my hopes and joyes also about that conclude in better hopes and joyful expectations of living together in the joy of our Fathers house But as for other things I discharge and renounce you all you frivolous sinful delights I am not afraid of any evil that man or other creature can do unto me while my trust and my joy is in the Lord. Come troubles come reproaches come loss of Goods I am not angry at it so Jesus will but come and they will also excite me to fasten mine eyes more stedfastly on Him and his appearing This is my hope this is my joy this is the support and the satisfaction of my heart This is the thing I am resolved to entertain my thoughts withall and if I may but have this let all the rest O blessed Jesus be even as thou pleasest X. I have but one thing more to add which is that the Love which deserves this Character is a setled constant affection an habit and temper of the soul which alwayes abides Not a sudden fit of passion but a fixed inclination and rooted disposition to seek such a good as it desires And so the word here used by St. Paul signifies not barely they that love but they that have loved his appearing For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being in the time perfectly past denotes that this hath been the stedfast bent of their hearts to look for Christ and prepare themselves in this manner for his coming The Image of any lovely person when it first presents it self before us is wont to come in a posture of humility and submission and seems to crave to be admitted into our hearts It invites us with so much sweetness and respect as if it would be beholden to us for our kind acceptance of it into our favour But when it is once passionately entertained and hath possessed it self of our hearts we find it changes its behaviour and grows so imperious that it requires what before it seemed to intreat It becomes absolute master of our hearts and placing it self there as the Governor of all our affections will no more be denied in any of its demands And such is the progress of the love of Christ and his appearing in pious souls He comes and intreats us at the first or rather beseeches us that we would be so sensible of his kindness as to let Him have a room in our hearts and to receive from His hands so great a good as He offers to bless us withall We feel thereupon only some inclinations to Him and good affections for Him but do not come presently to a full resolution to surrender our selves intirely to Him Nay it is too manifest that we are off and on as the phrase is and seem as if we could choose whether we will love Him or no. But when He hath once got within us when we perceive how gracious the Lord is and have opened our hearts to let Him dwell there then He exercises an absolute Empire over us He will have none of His commands refused or disputed A ready and chearful compliance with His will is the fruit of His Authority and nothing can have a room there but what shall ask Him leave He rules and reigns over us in so soveraign a manner that He carries us whither He pleases And more than that it pleases us to be ruled by Him and it is the most perfect liberty to be under the uncontroulable power of his Love All the world cannot hinder Him from being obeyed but every signification of his will and pleasure to us becomes a Law as strong as Fate which cannot be resisted Let him ask what he will it is sufficient that he is pleased and that he loves us so much as to think of appearing again to make us perfectly like himself That 's a Good incomparably great which needs nothing to procure our love to it but only to be known And when it is loved needs nothing to secure it but not to slip out of our mind Or rather we cannot forget what we have once so dearly loved The pleasures of that passion are its preservation It s activity and force will not let it dye or fall asleep O come come saith a soul possessed with this Love for I cannot wish for any thing like thy appearing It is impossible I should refrain from desiring that joyful day I cannot live but I must long for thy coming O when wilt thou come my blessed Redeemer when wilt thou come when shall we see that welcome morn that shall bring the news of thine approach It cannot but be most welcome sure to all those that have waited for it with so much patience and cryed out so often make no long tarrying O my Lord. The brightness of thy face I know can throw no scorching flames into those eyes that look for thee That sweet Sun will arise with a smiling countenance upon all such hearts They can never fear an evil day when the Bridegroom comes most gloriously deckt to compleat his love to them And therefore I cannot but say again and let all them that love thee joyn their desires with me and say continually come come O blessed Jesus Come while our hearts are warm with love to thee Come while these passionate sighs are calling for thee Come now that these souls stand open with outstretched arms to receive thee What greater felicity can we wish than to pass away in such aspirations towards thee What gentler or sweeter breath than these holy desires can waft our souls into the air to meet thee Who can fancy any thing more desireable than to evaporate all together in ecstasies of devout affections to thee Happy were it for us if our hearts were scrued up to such a pitch of love that we needed no other instrument but that to crack those strings that tye our souls to our bodyes Happy were it for us if in such a fiery chariot we might be transported unto thy heavenly mansions We can conceive no greater pleasure than this to expire in such ardent flames into thy bosom there to rest for ever in thy love CHAP. X. All this shown to be the sense of the Holy
and what we would be too a Good wherein we see the image of our selves in that perfection to which we desire to be advanced All they therefore who would be truly disposed to love the appearing of our Lord must have a deep apprehension of the meanness and vileness of this present state They must be possessed with a serious sense of their many imperfections and great weakness in the best condition that this world affords of the poverty and emptiness of all earthly enjoyments yea and of the scantiness and narrowness of all those Divine participations which their Souls are here capable to be blessed withal And then the Appearing of our Lord will seem a Good so suitable to them that they cannot chuse but have the same affection for it that a crazy and diseased person hath to the most skilful Physician In hope that He will perfect their nature cure the disorders under which they labour supply their defects fill their appetites nay enlarge their capacities and raise them to a greater pitch of true goodness and bliss Let us suppose such persons to be so much in the favour of God as to have a liberal share even in the blessings of this World as well as of those which are more peculiarly in the gift of our Saviour Christ yet it is impossible one would think they should be so much pleased in the highest Dignities that can be conferred on them in the rarest Delicates that the bounty of Nature or curiosity of Art can provide for them in the society of the choicest and dearest Friends or I may add in their own secret joy though descending from heaven to them as not to think still that it is far more desirable to see the Lord Jesus come to promote them and all their pious Relations and Friends to an incomparably better condition in his Coelestial Kingdom It is their interest to have Him appear again and besides they have such a likeness and resemblance to Him that the bent and inclination of their Souls cannot but make them long after the sight of Him as a good more delightful and agreeable than any other For there is another Coming of Christ before that which we expect Quo per totum tempus in Ecclesia sua venit c. as St. Austin speaks * L. xx de Civ Dei Cap. v. by which He comes through all the time between his first appearing and the last in His Church that is his members particulatim atque paulatim working in every one of them by little and little according to his promise xiv Joh. 21 23. that if any man keep His Commandments He will look upon it as such a testimony of his love that He will love that man and the Father will love him and we will come saith He unto him and make our abode with him Now when we heartily entertain Him and He is so truly setled there that we are made partakers of his Blessed nature and disposition and all the lineaments of Him if I may so speak are drawn upon our hearts We shall find them inclined to wish for the day when he will compleat his work and fill up the whole image of Himself to the very life and not only make us glad with the light of His countenance but make us look perfectly like Him and intirely assimilate us to His own most Blessed nature Do you not see how the holy Scriptures represent this Appearing of Jesus as the most lovely of all other things and therefore apt to draw our hearts with an irresistible force towards it It is expressed there I observe under the character of that which is wont to touch the Soul with such an agreeable stroke that it ravishes it from it self I mean Beauty For as that is nothing else according to Plato but the splendor and glittering of that which is good so this appearing is set forth as exceeding bright splendid and glorious and as that which will make us so also to the end we may be affected with it as the most beautiful sight that ever was Read ij Tit. 13. xiij Mat. 43. And St. Luke I told you before mentions a threefold glory wherein He will appear His own His Fathers and His holy Angels ix 26. which is said I believe to make this day appear the more illustrious and amiable in our eyes The only visage of Scipio we read made him Master of some barbarous Nations he piercing further into their hearts by his countenance than by his sword And Heliogabalus as bad as he was was no sooner shown by his Mother to the Souldiers but from Priest of the Sun he became Emperour of the World Why then should not the beauty of that day when the Prince of all the Kings of the Earth shall appear in the most glorious splendor attended by the greatest Principalities of Heaven with all their shining Hosts in admirable order captivate the hearts of all those that love Him since there is none so powerful did they but behold His glory as the Apostles did and look upon Him as the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth to draw those to his Religion who love Him not How can they refuse to yield to do Him homage and suffer themselves to be carried after Him as the Conquerour of all Souls and above all desire to wait upon Him at his appearing which they discern will be so glorious and render them so amiable that they will become as I doubt not to show a considerable addition to his Triumphs The hearts of all the faithful cannot chuse but leap for joy at the very thought of so great a Good though widely distant from them and wish it would come nearer to make them happy by its presence with them They are apt to sigh and say when they deeply ponder these things with the Prophet David in another case ci Psal 2. O when wilt thou come unto me It is a long time O Lord since thou didst promise to come We have waited for thee and for thy salvation more than they that wait for the morning I say more than they that wait for the morning May I not pray thee to hasten thy desired coming O when wilt thou display thy self and show thy glory more openly before us O when wilt thou be pleased to impress thine own image more fairly on us When shall those little touches that we have received of thee be perfected and figured into a more exact resemblance of thy beauty We cannot refrain but we must long to have all our defects supplied out of thy fulness to have all spots wiped off our souls to be rendred clear as the Sun free as the Air and as unstained as the pure influences of heaven For how should we think O blessed Lord that we bear any love to thee if we can be content to remain as we are so much unlike thee There is none can see thee and not ardently love thee There is none
ever beheld thy face that was not impatient to be conformed to thee None have tasted thy sweetness who could be satisfied till they came to the fountain of it Therefore suffer us Good Lord to beg some more of thee since thou hast given us so much Yea suffer us to ask when thou wilt come and give us all that so we may ask no more of thee O how joyful will that time be which shall make us so complete that all our business will be to praise and thank thee How comfortable will thy appearing be which shall make us appear with thee O come Dear Saviour that we may come to thee Come that we may so come to thee as to be for ever with thee CHAP. VII Two further steps in this Love of Christs appearing III. NOW when we feel our souls thus touched with any thing that seems very good and convenient for us the first approaches of it beget a complacence in the heart and give it a sense of no small joy and pleasure For when the Image you may observe of any good that imprinted it self is on the mind or imagination it instantly endeavours to proceed further and creeps into the heart the will and affections which cannot but turn themselves towards it to feel what this is which shows so fairly and comes so kindly to salute them Now when the heart thus looks about to see what it is that courts it you shall find if you mark it that at the very first greeting it is entertained with a certain delight and pleasure which this new-come guest brings along with it to invite us to it For if you examine things strictly and with such a curious eye as some have done you will perceive that this Image which imprints it self upon us is of the same nature with light or any shining body It casts as I may say its bright rays round about the soul it disperses it self by a kind of illumination into the will and affections that they may be sensible how amiable it is Which when they are the Light is not more pleasant to the eyes than this is to the heart It rejoyces in this good which presents it self to its enjoyment as a man doth in the welcome approach of an ancient Friend whom he is glad to see but much more glad to feel in his arms And such is the contentment that the belief of Christs appearing gives to all those who fix their thoughts upon it It chears and refreshes their spirits It smooths their minds and makes them so calm and still that the Halcyon days are but fabulous shadows of that rest and peace which then they feel in themselves Their heart is intirely delighted and satisfied with this belief It is so transported beyond it self with this comfortable perswasion that it can easily overlook all other joys when it lifts up it self in the contemplation of this incomparable blessedness No musick can then be so sweet to the ear as the sound of the trump of God No beauty so fair to the eye as that glory which shall be reveal'd No company so inviting and welcome to the heart as that great Assembly of Christ with all his holy Angels And heark O my soul do they not call upon thee to cast a look that way that thou may'st behold them in their surpassing glory Listen a while and hear if they do not say We are preparing our selves and making ready to come for thee and for all those that love His appearing O hearken again my soul what is it they say to thee Turn thy self about and lift up thine eyes towards Heaven that thou may'st know what it is that 's promised to thee Will thy Lord indeed come again in power and great glory Will He once more leave his heavenly place and descend to call us up to himself Shall we see Him who loves us so much and be transformed at the sight of Him O welcome news When didst thou meet with any tidings like to this which sheds such a sudden and transcendent joy and gladness abroad in thy heart and prevents my forward thoughts which were going to exhort thee to rejoyce What hadst thou lost if thou hadst turned away thine eyes from this blissful sight How great an happiness hadst thou been deprived of if thine heart had not opened when the report of His coming knockt at its door But O my soul how sweet then will this appearing it self be the hope of which is so delicious How will that sight intrance us the news of which at this distance is so comfortable to us Into what raptures will it cast us which now inspires such joy into our hearts What a bright day will that be which through all the clouds wherein we are wrapt spreads round about us such a cheerful light If the representation of our Lord in the holy Sacrament of His body and blood and that but in His sufferings and low estate give such satisfaction to the heart What will the sight of Himself do to us and that when he appears in his glorious Majesty as the Lord of Heaven and Earth O sweet Jesus come and let us see what that Majesty and Glory is come and draw aside the veil do away the shadows and present thy self as the King of Glory before our eyes They have long looked for thee They would gladly know what it is to behold thee in thy glory O how gladly would they understand what the meaning is of thy coming in the Clouds of Heaven The brightness of them we believe is infinitely beyond all that eye ever saw The thoughts of it revive our hearts and make our faces shine Our souls are drawn out and run to meet thee by the joy we have conceived at the promise of thy coming Though we have not seen thee yet we love thee and though we now see thee not 1 Pet. i. 8. yet believing we rejoyce O that we could say with joy unspeakable and full of glory O blessed Lord do not deny to compleat our joys by hastning thy coming to let us see thee Come and fill our eyes which cannot here be satisfied with seeing Come and shew us thy glory that we may say it sufficeth And let our hearts in the mean time rejoyce in nothing so much as in the hope of thy glory Let them always prefer this above their chiefest joy and never wish for any thing with so much fervour as for thy coming IV. Now from this pleasant sense which is excited in us by the appearance of any Good to us there naturally follows not only a desire but a vehement motion and as it were an effusion of the heart towards that which is so agreeable and promises it so much satisfaction Complacence you must know is but the beginning of love For by that delicious pleasure which the heart feels when any good approaches it is invited further and even forced to pour forth it self upon that fair thing which presents it self
thee Let the time come that there shall be no more night but a perpetual day with me O hasten the time when I my self shall shine like the Sun in thy Celestial glory VII Now in the mean time till love come to a perfect union as it is incessant in its motion so it grows more vehement in its desires and endeavours For as frequent agitations make the fire burn more fiercely so doth the stirring of this passion make it break out with a brighter flame The desire of union increases the swiftness of its motion and the more speed it makes the nearer it is like to come to its desired union And which is very considerable the more earnest and assiduous our motion is towards any Good the greater hopes we have that we shall enjoy it and the greater our hopes are the more are we still pricked on and spurred forward in the pursuit of that which we would fain enjoy A thing which is of exceeding great moment in this pious and devout love of Christian people For without a GOOD HOPE which St. Paul saith our Lord who is our Hope hath given us 2 Thess ii 16. 1 Tim. i. 1. our motion would slacken if not be extinguished We should have no heart to prosecute our design but let it fall immediately if it were not in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lye hath promised i. Tit. 2. As on the contrary by the help of this sure and certain Hope our diligence is doubled and such oyl poured on our wheels as makes them move not only more easily but with greater speed and quickness also All the lovers therefore of Christs Appearing are said to wait for it to expect it and to look for the coming of that blessed Hope as you shall see in the conclusion of this Argument from those well known places iij. Phil. 20. ij Tit. 13. and many other And if you examine the holy Scriptures carefully you shall find that this is comprehended in the love we ought to have for his Appearing being such a natural effect of love that they are put indifferently the one for the other As may be seen by comparing these two places together 1 Cor. ij 9. with lxiv. Isa 4. in the former of which the Apostle says the things which surpass our conception are prepared by God for them that love him and in the other the Prophet saith He hath prepared them for him that waiteth for Him Just as the people of Israel praying without the Sanctuary in the Court to which they were confined waited for the Priest when he should come from the Altar of Incense or rather for the High-Priest on the day of Atonement to return from the most holy place and the Ark of the Covenant to bestow the blessing on them So do all good Souls who are devoted sincerely to the service of Christ while they remain in this outward Court the Earth wherein we dwell which is at a great distance from the Heavens look up to the holy place where Jesus the great High-Priest of our profession is iij. Heb. 1. iv 15. and wait for the time when He will come forth to bless them saying Come ye blessed of my Father xxv Mat. 34. inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world They cannot but frequently cast their eyes and turn their hearts that way as the place of their Rest which He is gone before to prepare for them They are ever calling upon their Souls to follow hard after their dear Saviour as David says lxiij Psal 8. his heart did after the enjoyment of God in his Sanctuary For this they seek as he there speaks with thirsty desires to see his power and his glory so as they have never yet seen him nor can see him no not in their nearest approaches to him while they live in these earthly tabernacles They wish therefore He would come and bless them with a clear and full sight of Him After this their desires grow daily more ardent and they endeavour to stir up stronger and more affectionate motions towards so great an happiness They are apt to cry out saying Draw us and we will run after thee yea we will fly we will take the wings of an Eagle in our passionate desires that we may mount up aloft and get more and more above this world to be with thee And this gives them good Hopes likewise that they shall be with Him insomuch that they cannnot but say O blessed Jesus thou hast set our Souls into a longing for thee and now they cannot cease to desire to come to thee Thou hast made us believe the most excellent surpassing glory wherein thou shinest and ever since we cannot chuse but look towards it and wish to behold thee in that glory If we be very earnest for this sight if our Souls sigh and say xlij Psal 2. O when shall we come and appear before thee we do but return thine own breath who hast inspired us with these desires after thee And may we not hope to come thither where thou art when thou thy self attractest our souls to thee Wilt thou not satisfie those longings which not we but thou hast raised in our hearts Give us leave to remember thee of what thou thy self hast said who didst pronounce those BLESSED WHO HAVE NOT SEEN xx Joh. 29. AND YET HAVE BELIEVED O let it be unto thy servants according to thy word For we are such believers as thou hast blessed We never saw thee and yet believe thou camest forth from God xiij Joh. 3. and art gone to God and art most high in the glory of the Father ix Rom. 5. God blessed for evermore Do not our hearts cleave unto thee though they have only heard of thee Are not our eyes continually towards thee though they have never yet beheld thee Thou wilt not always sure absent thy self but turn our faith at last into a sight of thee For what is the BLESSEDNESS of which thou spakest and hast faithfully promised to such believers Is it not that they shall one day behold thy glorious face and reign with thee in thy glory Is it not that thou wilt manifest thy self unto them here and at last appear again to take them to thy self that they may live where thou art O dear Saviour as thou hast made us to BELIEVE in this manner so make us likewise thus BLESSED As we have received thee though we have not seen thee so let this be the reward of our receiving thee that we may see thee We will hope thou wilt make us thus happy as thou hast made us thus faithful We will expect till thou makest us see what thou hast promised as thou hast made us do what thou hast commanded We will rejoyce in hope of thy glory and do thou make our joy to be full yea bring us unto thee and bid us enter into the joy of thee our Lord. CHAP.
IX This Love to the Appearing of our Lord further described in three other fruits or marks of it VIII AND now can any Soul chuse but think of that perpetually which it most dearly loves Doth not every Good use to present it self continually to the mind that is inamour'd of it and remember us of its beauty There is no question to be made of it The very ardency of our affection for it doth more imprint and engrave it on our mind and when by any participation of it we feel how good it is we press it harder and sink it deeper into our hearts There is no man for instance who hath setled his love upon an agreeable person but He finds the image of that friend always before his eyes It accompanies him every where and cleaves inseparably to his thoughts It is a great part of his pleasure to entertain himself with the shadow of that in which he hath lodg'd his heart And therefore if we love the appearing of our Lord we shall solace our selves often with the kind In the multitude especially or tumult of our thoughts within us as the Psalmist speaks xciv 19. the comforts of it will delight our souls We shall be daily calling upon them and exhorting them to look towards it and to fix their thoughts and affections upon it We shall be inclin'd to say as the voice is in the Song of Songs Come my fair one come away O my chiefest Good what shall I desire or wish for so much as for thy coming What is it that I ever saw which should detain my eyes from thy incomparable beauty Or where can I expect to satisfie their hunger but only with the filling sight of thee at thy appearing The spacious Heavens hope to be filled with the Majesty of thy Glory The Sun is but a weak image of thy brightness and will be content to go out to make room for thee when thou appearest All the Stars of light are ready to resign their places and leave the skie to be illuminated by thee alone Whatsoever is lovely and surprises us with its beauty here confesses it is but thy shadow and that when thou breakest forth it must disappear Fix my mind therefore upon thy glory and let it henceforth imploy my busie thoughts Possess thy self O Lord of life and glory intirely of this heart which hath been too long estranged from thee Impress such a lively sense of thee and of thy glory there that I may sooner forget my self than thee and thy appearing Make it my greatest pleasure to sit hours and days and years to think of thy so much desired coming When I meet with my dearest Relations and Friends let nothing entertain us with such delight as to think of being caught up together in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the air Let us love to speak of the glory of thy Kingdom and to talk of thy power to utter abundantly the memory of thy great goodness and to sing of thy righteousness Let us wish with united hearts to see thy power and glory and to behold thee coming according to thy faithful promise out of thy heavenly Sanctuary Let it be our sweetest joy to inspire each others hearts with these holy hopes and to stir up one another to love and to good works And when thou comest O Lord may every one of us be found so doing IX These are some of the pantings of an heart which loves and bears in mind the appearing of Christ For to say the truth Love is the original and source of all the passions that we feel in our hearts They all flow from this as from their spring-head They are but several motions which have their rise from Love Or if you will so conceive it nothing but different figures and shapes wherein it appears It is love which fears and love which grieves and love which hopes and love which rejoyces there would be none of these were it not for some good which we love to which these and all the rest of their kindred owe their birth and nourishment When this is hindred in its designes it breeds anger or impatience or fear or sadness or some such like commotion And when this succeeds and prospers in the pursuance of its ends there arises hope and contentment and joy and gladness as the natural issue of it They that love then Christs appearing will fear nothing so much as to lose the blessedness which He will bring along with Him Nothing will excite such a displeasure in their hearts as that evil which would rob and defraud them of his favour at that happy day And what is there that can give them such a touch of sadness as the thought that they are so far distant from their Dearest Lord Or what can create such joy such exultation of spirit as to hope they shall one day see Him so as never to part from Him any more In one word all the passions of their Souls will run this way and be concern'd for nothing so highly as this that they may be presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy True indeed O blessed Saviour doth such an heart meditate in it self I have had a thousand fears in my breast I have dreaded every small danger in this world as if it would prove my utter ruin The terrors that have affrighted me are as innumerable as the things I have fancied to be my happiness But now all these are willing to be gone that they may make way for one greater fear lest I should not enter with thee when thou appearest into thy rest O prevent so intolerable a mischief Whatsoever I lose I shall account my self a gainer if I lose not the blessing which thou wilt give us Take all if thou pleasest I am content so thou wilt give me a share in thy glory when thou comest I have been too long pestered with a world of sensual passions Sometimes sadness hath oppressed me and then anger hath set me all on fire Now vain joyes have swelled my heart and puffed me up and again they have given place to grief and sorrow hath shrunk up my soul and dried up my spirit Fears and Hopes have tossed me up and down as in a tempestuous Sea A small matter hath created me much trouble and I have longed for things which promised much but gave me little satisfaction What a comfort is it but to expect the day which will settle and compose these tumults in perpetual peace and quiet I feel the thoughts of it already appeasing my spirit and bringing a ealm into my breast And if the brightness of thy appearing did but always shine in my mind it would dispel all the clouds and scatter the darkness wherein all this confusion reigns O let the splendor of that day irradiate my soul even at this distance from it and leave no space void of its light and comfort Yea let it eclipse all other joyes and by
praise him enough now the whole world may then be gathered together in one general assembly all Angels and all Men and with joynt consent bow themselves before him and humbly acknowledge him to be the LORD OF ALL. And here I shall take the liberty for the clearer understanding of this to give a distinct account in a few considerations of that which we may justly conceive will accrue to our blessed Saviour by his glorious Appearing I. And first of all there is no doubt but at his second appearing our Lord will be publickly honoured and thereby have an amends made him for the open shame and the publick disgrace to which he was here exposed No Varlet was ever used so basely as the world treated him when he first came to visit us in much humility No man was ever the subject of so much scorn of so many sorrows and of so great pains as he endured Would it not then be acceptable to you to see his honour every where vindicated his credit as I may say repaired and his glory made no less notorious than his reproaches were Who would not wish to see that sweet face which by rude hands was so contemptuously blinded and buffeted appear in an unveiled brightness looking with the fairest the most beautiful and gracious eyes upon us How is it possible to refrain from desiring to see that countenance which was spit upon and all bespawled by the filthy mouths of wicked men shining with rayes brighter than the Sun and glistring in the Glory and Majesty of God the Father Are you not impatient to behold that Head which was inviron'd with Thorns show it self with a royal Crown upon it Would you not fain see him as much admired as he was despised as highly praised and extolled as he was vilely mockt and flouted O that I might behold that time arrive is every devout lover of the Lord Jesus apt to say O that I might be blessed with a sight of that Glory and Honour wherewith we believe thou art already crowned Thou wast sorely wounded and grosly abused O dear Saviour by those whom thou camest to heal and to save They barbarously smote and besmeared thy holy face they nailed thee to a Cross they pierced thy hands and thy feet they thrust a spear into thy side and left thee all in gore they condemned thee as the foulest Malefactor and crucified thy Name and Reputation as well as thy self And which is worse how have thine own followers grieved thee and pricked thy very heart by their base ingratitude to thee who wast pleased to be thus vilely used for their sake And what reparation are the best among us able to make thee What does it amount unto that such poor wretches as we can do for thee How mean and inconsiderable is all the honour and all the praise that we little and worthless things can pretend to give thee O thou God of love thou Father of mercies we must address our desires to thee and beseech thee that thou wouldst be pleased to do it for us Thou who art the Blessed and only Potentate who hast already appointed him to be heir of all things who hast given him a more excellent inheritance than the Angels and when thou broughtest him into the world didst command them all to worship him finish I beseech thee according to the riches of thy glory the recompenses thou hast begun to make him Let me and all men else see how Thou lovest him and what honour thou hast conferred on him Behold how this soul sighs out its desires to thee that thou wouldst vouchsafe to hasten his Appearing and to show him to the world in the glory which thou hast given him Let us all behold him as highly exalted as he was lowly depressed and abased Let us SEE HIM AS HE IS the Prince of Life the King of Glory O perfect that which concerneth him Let him come and receive our universal acknowledgements Let all Kings fall down before him and all nations serve him Let them all call him blessed and Heaven and Earth be filled with his glory Amen and Amen II. They may well pray after this manner and speak of his perfecting that which is begun because secondly till the day of his glorious appearing it is most certain his conquests will not be compleated over all his enemies The very greatest of them will remain unsubdued till he come then to tread them under his feet Which cannot but dispose us to love that time above all other because it will make him perfectly victorious He is sat down saith the Apostle at Gods right hand x. Heb. 12 13. from thenceforth EXPECTING till his enemies be made his footstool Though he be highly advanced that is above all creatures yet all his enemies do not presently fall down before him but he must stay sometime before not only all the adverse Empires on earth submit themselves to him but the Principalities also in the Air and Death it self which is the last enemy saith St. Paul which shall be destroyed and put under his feet He rules and reigns indeed but still he hath many opposers of his Kingdom He waits likewise for their utter subversion and looks for their total ruine but still they spoil and commit many wastes within his territories The Devil tyrannizes and rages in a number of places and Death as I must show anon devours all How can we choose then but wait for that of which he himself is in expectation Where is our love to him if we can cease to wish that all those foes who despise or refuse his Government were perfectly brought in subjection to him Is there any thing more desireable to those who pray seriously his Kingdom may come than to see those put under his feet who now proudly trample upon his soveraign Authority What more joyful sight can there be to them than to behold the Devil who now insults so insolently in his Dominions despoiled of all his power and thrust down into the eternal Prisons and Chains of Darkness to which he is reserved To say nothing yet of the glory it will be to him to overcome Death it self to which even all his subjects are forced at present to submit O blessed Saviour should all Christian souls say with one consent it afflicts us to hear thine enemies roar in the midst of thy Congregation to see them thus triumph and set up their banners And far more grievous it is to think that we have ever been in the number of them and given the least countenance and support to this hellish Kingdom The remembrance of it is bitter to us that there was a time wretches that we were when we were drawn aside to joyn our selves to this wicked faction and abett the Apostate spirits in their rebellion against thee their soveraign Creator But blessed be thy Goodness thou hast overcome our disobedient hearts and restored us to an happy accord with thee We thank thee for it
cannot be perfectly healed till it enjoys its desires and that you know is not without the company of anguish and pain 1. For we find that when men admit into their hearts the love of any mortal creature like themselves the soul which before was whole unbroken and intire is as it were separated and torn by this passion both from it self and all other objects save only that which hath engaged its affection Now all men know that no heart can be thus parted and divided without a sense of grief and smart attending on such a divulsion and rending of it from it self till it feel that soul which it loves as another self effectually joyned to it And then 2. we find that after it hath obtained well assured hopes of this yet those eager desires and longings that are in this passion still carry their sting in them and make the heart but ill at ease until they be accomplished Both which it were easie to apply to that devout affection wherewith pious souls are touched towards our blessed Saviour which is very unquiet and full of trouble till they know and feel that he loves them 3. But I shall rather observe which is peculiar to this holy love that the wounds as I may call them which are made in any heart by the wonderful kindness of our Saviour who loved us so much as to dye for us are wont very oft to be a torment to it because it can love him no more and doth not feel such vehement transports of affection to him as it desires and he hath merited And then 4. though we are fully perswaded that we do sincerely and heartily love him yet this proves a great trouble to us here in this present state that we fancy him sometimes to be a stranger to us and he seems to treat us as if he were suspicious of our Love And 5. when we have the greatest sense of his most tender mercies and he sheds abroad his love in our hearts This creates a new grief because he stays no longer with us and we cannot call him back as oft as we please to give us those delicious tastes of his infinite Love But 6. there is nothing so considerable in this matter as that we cannot enjoy those gracious visits from our Lord of which we are so desirous and which fill the heart with the greatest love to him and delight in him but they conclude in sighs and groans and leave us much unsatisfied while we are in this mortal body That very love which God himself excites those Heavenly impressions which his own hand makes upon our hearts the greatest ardors of divine affection wherewith we are inspired from above are not without their pangs of trouble in all those who with earnest intention of mind and most hearty desires give up themselves to follow them and seriously endeavour to comply with them For while a devout soul that is in a lively manner touched by him stretches its wings as I may say and spreads it self with great affection that it may mount up in vehement love unto him It presently feels how unable it is to answer those divine motions and sees to its sorrow that its wings are not grown large enough to bear it so high as it then aspires There is a powerful spirit indeed which stimulates it to fly aloft where he is but while it endeavours to obey its inspirations it is strongly dragged and pulled down by the earthly tabernacle to these inferiour enjoyments It is born away with violent and swift desires and at the same time sinks below and sadly flaggs for want of power Like the Bird that is not yet fully fledg'd which would fain fly when it hears the Mother call but finding its wings too weak is forced to fall into some hedge or tree and there is content to hop up and down and please it self in its little chirpings among the branches so doth the devout soul feel it self when it is very desirous to correspond with the heavenly motions that are stirring in it and when it thinks it hears the Father of Spirits saying Come up hither It fails in the attempt and can only make some small but feeble essays towards its celestial country It is soon tired and grows weary and while it pants and breaths after high and excellent things cannot reach them or come nigh them but faints away and spends it self in sighs which are so much the sadder because it sees the spatious Heavens before its eyes and yet must be content to drop down and sit still upon the Earth Yea the very stretching of her wings puts the soul to pain when she cannot fly The straining of her self is very uneasie when she can only groan but not raise up her self to the pitch that she desires She suffers a kind of torment between these two the strength of her affections and the weakness of her ability the sharpness of her sight and the dulness of her enjoyment O miserable Creature that I am what shall I do is the dejected soul in this case apt to say Pardon me Dear Lord if my great love to thee make me call my self miserable when I know that I am very happy It is my desire to be nearer to thee which makes me deplore not only my distance from thee but the feebleness of my soul in its endeavours to approach thee O what a change have a few moments made in me I thought just now I was going up to Heaven and alas here I lye at this present sighing upon the ground The Divine breath methought was carrying me above and I unable to accompany it am still here below I felt as if I was all life and spirit a little while ago and now I am almost dead I seemed as if I should have quite forgot this world and now I can scarce think of any thing else O how sweet would it be but to remember the tasts that I had of thy transcendent love whereas now alas I can scarce relish any thing that is good What shall I do with my self Or what shall I desire for this poor soul which is thus sadly burdened and pressed down by the corruptible body My heart is with Jesus but O how little do I enjoy of him I am not my self I am become another thing than I was before and yet how little is there of Jesus in me How wide is the distance still between me and my dearest Lord How do I long to be exactly like him but how short O how vastly short am I of him And how like a stranger doth he sometime seem How do I lose in this blind and dark estate the sight and sense of his most pretious love I know my heart loves him but what a grief is it that my love is so weak so dull so little worthy of him O blessed Jesus what a favour is it that thou wilt be pleased to cast at any time a gracious look upon such a cold
and sensless heart as this of mine With what thanks ought I to receive the smallest testimony of thine inestimable love Which is so sweet that it makes us sigh because we can enjoy no more of it Ah! that this vessel should be so narrow and strait as to contain so little of thy love Ah the dulness of this heart which entertains thee so poorly that it is no wonder thou makest so short a stay so exceeding short a stay with me How sad is it to think of this heavy clog which will never let me follow thee far when I have the strongest attractions from thee Fain would my soul climb up unto thee but when I have got a little way down I come and have lost that glorious sight I had of thee And if thou art pleased to lift me up as high as Heaven how soon is the mind weighed down again while it museth upon those celestial things O the constant joyes which I hoped to have how are they vanished O the satisfaction which began to be in this heart which now lyes groveling in the dust filled with nothing but sighings after thee And blessed be thy Goodness that it doth sigh after thee I thank thee that I feel such love such vehement desire there as makes it long for more of thee I will never cease to sigh after thee I will still long for that time when thou Lord wilt be pleased to appear and make all sighing fly away by a constant sight and enjoyment of thee For this I will groan that I may be so happy as to see thee and that thou wilt make me as strong as sometime thou makest me desirous to accompany thee I will pray for this that thou wouldest come and heal those wounds which love hath made by making me perfect in thy love O come therefore Dearest Lord and turn my desires into enjoyment my sickness into health my weakness into strength these flutterings of my soul into a flight into a flight I say from this earth into the air where I may no sooner wish to be with thee but I may feel my soul snatcht away and leap for joy to find it self in thy embraces Come O my Lord come thou lover of Souls and let me not languish in these longings any more Come and leave no place for any fears that I shall lose thy company Come and give me the full satisfaction I promise my self in thy sweetest society I am content to suffer one pain that I may thereby put an end to all Death is no longer dreadful to me when I think it will bring me something nearer to thee Thou maiest rend my soul when thou pleasest from this flesh that it may be torn no more as it uses to be when it is pulled back by other things and would gladly follow thee O joyn me perfectly most perfectly to thee that I may love thee as much as the most enlarged spirit is capable to love thee Happy should I be if I could do nothing else but love thee and feel that thou lovest me O hasten the day when my time shall be divided between these two sweetest employments of expressing my most ardent love to thee and rejoycing in the full satisfaction of thy love to me CHAP. XIII Two other Reasons why if we love our selves we must needs love this Appearing IV. SO we ought to wish if we seriously believe there will be such a day because we naturally love Life and Immortality which till then cannot be perfectly bestowed on us Our Lord indeed hath brought these to light and given us an assured hope that none of those who believe in him shall perish But as the everlasting Life he puts us in possession of when we depart from hence I shall show in the next Chapter is not presently compleated so it is out of all question that we must stay till the last day before he perform his so frequently repeated promise vi Joh. 40.54 c. of raising our bodys out of the dust and making them incorruptible that they may live for ever Which is a thing we so much desire that we are prone to please our selves with the meer shadow of it studying when we dye to make our memory survive our ashes We would fain record our Names in the Legend of fame by the performance of some remarkable exploit Or by some memorable work we contrive that the world may speak of us when we are gone down into silence And for fear it should not we teach Marble-stones and Pillars to tell what we were and by this means we fancy we shall live as long as the world shall last But alas this is no better than an imaginary life which we cannot secure neither but must leave the World without any assurance of that for which we are so solicitous and imploy such serious pains No mans Name can be so loudly sounded by the trumpet of fame but it may chance that succeeding ages shall not hear the least whisper of him Or if they do it may fare with him as it doth with Hercules and Bacchus who were as great Souldiers and Conquerers it is likely as Alexander and Caesar and yet now their notable atchievements do but serve to fill up the number of Fables Epitaphs and Escutchions Books and Monuments do all dye as well as men Our Names in all likelihood will at last be buried and perish as well as our selves For this world is the place where death reigns and plays the Rex not only over us but over all the reliques that we leave behind us What should we wish for then what should be the ardent desire of all Nations if they were believers but the time of our Lords appearing when this mortality as the Apostle speaks shall be swallowed up of life and we shall receive from his hands Laurels and Crowns that are incorruptible and never fade away a Name that shall never dye a Glory that shall live and continue in its splendor as long as God himself For as this is the time wherein Death hath dominion so that will be the time of abolishing its Kingdom and putting an end to all its tyranny by setting up Life and Immortality in its stead O welcome time sayes the heavenly minded soul when this great devourer of the world shall have nothing left to feed upon unless it be the Grave which shall dye eternally and never be heard of more O what a joyful name is this of Life and of life for evermore How sweetly doth even the word IMMORTALITY sound in this land of death and destruction What is it that makes our hearts so cold and to feel so few desires to see the Prince of Life appear To see Him who shall raise up that in glory and power which was put into the earth in dishonour and weakness and shall turn this natural this corruptible body into one that is spiritual and incorruptible Are we afraid this world will be burnt up by the
in our eclipsed nature O when will that sweet breath come that shall make them shine and set them free to fly to their element above When shall those flashes of light which sometime break forth be blown up into a clearer and more constant flame Can one believe and not wish to find himself in the House of God in the midst of the heavenly Ministers surrounded with such glorious sights as eye never saw nor heart can possibly conceive I am not able to refrain from saying O when shall I see my mind incircled in the rays of divine light When shall it beam forth in such heavenly thoughts and make my heart burn and sparkle with such ardors of love that they shall cast a glory round about my head This is the Crown which my soul desires to wear This is the Garland I would win the glorious Diadem wherewith my restless mind would be adorned It is not Silver and Gold Pearls and Pretious-stones or any such like things whose rich names I borrow to express my present thoughts that I wish and desire But the brightness of the knowledge of God to fold it self about my head and that I may sit invironed in a Ring of admiring thoughts of pure undisturbed never ending thoughts of thee and of thy marvellous kindness towards me Which happiness till my mind enjoy the pain that I feel will not cease unless thou Lord wilt be pleased to asswage it by comfortable hopes and joyful expectations of such an eternal weight of glory Even when I have left this world and am come to those light some Tabernacles which thou hast prepared for those that truly love thee I shall long to know more of thee and desire still to be nearer to thee and look to see thee come out of thy Royal Palace to Crown the faith and hope of thine obedient Servants And in the mean time may I be so happy as to be disposed into the Order of those who perpetually talk of thy love and sing thy praises and rejoyce with perfect confidence and full assurance and are ever lifting up their heads to see thee and often saying one to another when will he come when will he appear in the highest and most exalted glory O blessed day I when mixed with the Quire of Saints we shall fly in their company to meet the Spouse and say every one of us I have found him whom my soul loveth I have found him the sight of whom I shall lose no more but indued with the glory of immortality and the splendor of incorruption shall live for ever with the Lord. O happy state of Saints Ex L. de Viro perfecto sub nom S. Hieron Tom. iv when they shall have flesh without earth a body without sense of pain a soul without fear life without death age without time light without night and blessedness without end Christianity will never let us be satiated with these delectable thoughts This is its refreshment this is its delight this is its pleasure and joy in mind and heart to go to the Seat of God and there to take its place and seize on its share in that Seat not by its own presumption but by the promise of God Who hath already exalted our Lord Christ in that blessed place and by our relation to him we challenge a right to be so happy For he is the Head of his body the Church He is the head of all principality and power From whom all the body by joynts and bands ii Col. 19. having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God CHAP. XV. Three Considerations more to draw our Affections to the Appearing of our Lord. VIII I Have already said so much of the Happiness we expect when our Lord shall come again that here I might put an end to this Discourse if it would not be more profitable distinctly to consider that after we are caught up from this earth to meet the Lord in the air and he hath done us honour in the sight of all the world we shall all as I have already suggested march with him unto Heaven in goodly array and comely order with those Crowns of Glory which he hath given us upon our heads This should mightily move us to love his Appearing that we shall then appear together with him and not abide in the Air though incompassed with so much glory but be carried up with him far higher into the purest sky When our minds are made all Light we shall see a vast way before us and behold the Palace where God himself dwells inviting us unto it Thither our Lord will have us attend upon him and accompany him when he hath finished the judgement of the great day Where the Holy Books inform us we shall be sumptuously treated with no less kindness magnificence and joy than a King we may conceive would entertain his only Son when he brought home his beloved Bride whom he had long ago espoused to himself For whose reception he prepares the most Royal Supper a glorious Marriage-Feast to welcome her unto his house And will not this make every faithful soul who is a holy member of that Body the Church whom our Lord is pleased to own for his Bride still more desirous if not impatient of the coming of the celestial Bridegroom to perfect his love and complete the promises wherein he stands ingaged by the gracious covenant he made with us when he contracted us to himself What is there that we all so much covet as the excess of joy and the highest pitch of pleasure And where are these to be found in so much purity in such fulness and so perpetual as in his most blessed Presence Which should force us to burst out with the greatest earnestness when we think of that Heavenly Feast which he hath prepared for us into such expressions as those of David As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God even the living God O when shall I come and appear before God I have small satisfaction alas in these dull and short delights which I find on earth What taste is there in this green trash And there is little other fruit that grows in the garden of this world but what is sowre and harsh and sets my teeth on edge It is too far from thy beams to bring forth any thing very sweet Nothing can be ripened at this distance from thee to satisfie a font and yeild it all the contentment it desires Bring me therefore into thy Paradise above O conduct me into thy Eden the Garden of thy delights Lead me to those fruits which are brought to maturity by the constant presence of the Sun of righteousness Let me feast on those pleasures which are all pleasure and enter into the joy which is fulness of joy for evermore And till thou thinkest me meet for such entertainments may it please thy love but
with cares nor dampt with fears but dwell secure in assured joys for evermore Joys in the perfection of a glorified body and of an exalted inlarged spirit Joys to find my self in the company of thy Saints and welcomed into the noble society of Angels Joy at the sight of my dearest Friends the greatest joys in thy presence and in the light of thy countenance from whom I hope for all this joy O come most blessed Saviour that we may all be nothing but joy and love and peace without any end Come and bring us to our beloved Rest and where can our souls find any rest but in thy bosom Come that we may rest from our labours and where can we lay down our selves in perfect repose but only in thy love O come and fill our hearts therewith that we may hunger and thirst no more Come that we may perfectly know what the new Wine of thy Kingdom is Come that we may desire to feed on nothing else but the sweetest comforts of seeing thy blessed face smileing on us And that we may have no other business nothing else to do but to enjoy thee in all that we see not so much imployment besides as to spend any time as now we are forced to do in wishing to enjoy thee X. And yet there is still a greater reason remaining why we should love our Lords appearing because we shall be brought by that to the very top and highest pitch of bliss which is to SEE GOD Matth. v. 8. and to SEE HIM AS HE IS 1 John iij. 2. Not as the old Prophets saw him in visions and dreams nor as others saw him in the Angels of his presence But alas who can tell what this sight is What tongue unless touched as the Apostles were by the Holy-Ghost can declare any thing of such a bliss The day of Pentecost must return again if we expect to have any language to express or thoughts to conceive the meaning of these words We must intreat some Angel to come and tell us if he can what it is to see God Or rather we must confess that if he should we cannot understand such celestial language It is above our reach and we do but babble we do not speak when we adventure to discourse of it Nay when we depart this world and shall be admitted into the blessed company above we may not be able to comprehend much of it if the opinion of many of the Ancient Fathers be true that the Saints shall not enjoy that which is properly meant by the Vision of God till after the great day of our Lord. And therefore it will be our best way now to do as the Painter did who being to make a picture of Love drew nothing on his Table but a Veil which covered no body knew what under the shadow of it Not so much to show as some have poorly conceived that Love is blind as to declare that it is an ineffable thing a mysterious passion not to be described by humane art Such I am sure is this Vision of God and such is the love that it will beget It is a secret never to be known but by the enjoyment of it A mysterie reserved in the holy Place to be beheld only by entring into it We have all a natural desire indeed to pry into this as well as all other secrets A strong appetite we find within us to be admitted into an intimate acquaintance with those things which are closely lockt up from us We cannot chuse but long to go within the Veil and would fain have the curtain drawn aside that the glorious face of the Divine Majesty may appear But after all our search and busie enquiry we are able to say no more at present but this O happy Darkness O blessed O most glorious obscurity For I do not know what else to call thee How joyful is it to think that thou art more than we can ask or think What a pleasure is it to know that thou surpassest all that can now be known How comfortable is it to believe that thou art hid from our eyes only because we are not capable to behold thy brightness Thou shamest indeed hereby our small understanding but publishest thine own most excellent Greatness We are laid very low when we hear thee speaking thus at present but it lifts us up and highly exalts us in our future hopes We have no means to comprehend this gracious promise nor know we what to think when we read these words you shall SEE GOD. We must confess our weakness which is absolutely puzled with so few and so plain words If we have any thing to boast of it is only this advantageous ignorance All that we have to glory in is that such our hopes we know not what to conceive of this dark so we must now speak this unseen and hidden brightness But this we know because thou O God hast told us that when this present darkness is done away and we shall see thee as thou art WE SHALL BE LIKE THEE O most desireable sight which will so happily transform us O much wisht for day which will set us in such a light as will make us all bright and shining too Shining in the light of the wisdom of God in the light of his Purity and of his Bliss and Immortality In the light which makes the eyes of Angels shine so brightly and which preserves the youth of Saints The light which no man can approach unto till thou O God who art that Light shalt finish our hope and bring us to see thee face to face And may we not be confident of this also though we know so little that when thou O blessed God shalt cause thy Son to appear and shalt show thy self unto us the very first glimpse of thy glory at the greatest distance from thee will mightily attract our hearts unto thee No arrow sure flies more swiftly from the strongest bow no bullet can be sent with greater violence from the bended force of steel than our souls shall then move or rather shoot themselves towards thee that they may know what it is to see thee and that they may be like thee And till that joyful day shall come shine thou O blessed Light perpetually in these eyes Strike through all the clouds that incompass me round about and by the bright hopes of thee chase away all my gloomy thoughts and put out the false lustre of this deceitful world Shed O thou blessed light thy glorious beams into this heart and kindle there such holy flames as may consume all sinful desires and purifie my soul as thou art pure Let me burn continually with an ardent love of thee till thy bright day appear Till not only these walls of flesh be pulled down which intercept thee from me but my spirit fly up in a lightsome body that I may see thee That I may see thee by whose power the Heavens and the Earth were made
thee by whose Wisdom all things are governed thee by whose infinite kindness mankind was redeemed What a joy will it be to me to see thee who didst conduct me in my way direct me at every turn support me in every step assist me in all the various passages of my life secure me from innumerable temptations preserve me from as many dangers and at last broughtest me safe to see thee and rejoyce with thee for ever CHAP. XVI Of the mighty power and pleasure of Love when it is setled in the heart AND thus I am come to the end of this other part of my Discourse Wherein the reasons of placing our best affections on the appearing of Christ have been so plainly deduced that as they cannot but be understood so they cannot but move those hearts which do not quite turn away their minds from all consideration of them And that it should be hard to do one would think if we have the least acquaintance with the Christian Religion Which hereby most strongly recommends it self unto us that it gives us such great and glorious hopes and entertains our tiresome Pilgrimage with such delightful contemplations of the joys and pleasures we shall have in another world especially when we come to rest with our Lord for ever No man that is in his wits would be without the comfort of this expectation It far exceeds all our present enjoyments and is in it self so desireable that we may truly say Faith doth not beg to be admitted by us but rather commands us to open our hearts and let it in if we would have any constant pleasure and setled peace and satisfaction there which nothing but the Christian belief can establish in us And this is the misery of all those who do not faithfully receive the Gospel that as they shall miss of the greatest blessings hereafter so they want the highest comfort in the world at present Which is to wait with assured hope for those good things which our Lord will give us at his appearing By the expectance of which we are not only a little pleased while we imploy our minds in such meditations as these but they put us into a state of pleasure and constant satisfaction by drawing our hearts to Heaven and placing us out of the power though not out of the reach of all worldly accidents For such is the condition of man as the Disciples of Plato's School have well expressed it that there are two effusions and ecstasies as we may call them of his soul two sorts of inebriation as some of them love to speak whereby he is dispossessed of himself By the one which is a Divine rapture we are carried out and placed above our selves by the other which is the witchery of sense we are hurried away and thrust down into a condition below our selves Their meaning is that man being of a middle nature between Angels and Beasts by his intellectual part partaking of the nature of those heavenly beings and by his sensitive of the nature of the brutes he may so apply himself either to the one or to the other that he come in great measure out of his middle condition and go either upward to the former or downward to the later And this strange feat is wrought by nothing else but by the power of Love which evidently intrances our souls and transports us out of our selves either to the celestial natures if it be Divine or to the brutish if it be founded only in the flesh By exercising our minds in the actions of spiritual life and placing our affections on things above we may deliver and infranchise our selves from a servile base condition and approach nearer to the degree of Angels than of ordinary men As on the contrary by applying our minds and hearts wholly to corporeal actions and addressing all our services to the things of this world we may so inthrall our selves and bring our souls into such bondage that we shall sink down into a vile estate and become more like beasts than men O strange power of Love which makes such transformations turning men either into Angels or into the most sordid creatures How careful should we be to observe its motions What diligence should we use to watch whither it goes and to see that this mighty passion be directed to the most excellent good And if we do but open our eyes to receive the light of the glorious Gospel and all the beauties that it presents unto us we cannot easily be deceived There are a world of noble enjoyments to which our Saviour invites us if we will vouchsafe to look upon them and not be so sottish as to fasten our eyes only on a few objects here before us He hath opened to us the Kingdom of Heaven and tells us he will show us all the glory of his Fathers house if we will but wait a while till he be ready to come and fetch us thither Why should we not believe him and daily look up unto him with hearts full of joy that we are beloved of the Lord of life and have a good hope to live together with him What a change would this work in us And how happy should we be to think of the far more glorious change which the sight of him will make when by seeing him we shall become what he is O the joy that begins to spring up in my heart O what ravishing words are those WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM FOR WE SHALL SEE HIM AS HE IS How sweetly they enter into mine ears How deliciously they spread and diffuse themselves all over my mind and strongly penetrate to my very heart I am changed already I am not what I was but quite another man All light and joy all spirit and life while I think of these things And can I ever so forget them as to be allured and drawn away from my self and my Saviour from my enjoyments and my hopes by any earthly pleasures What comparison is there between those two states I now described that I should be in danger of such temptations Is there any need to ask which is most to be chosen To suffer my heart to be touched with such a sense of Divine pleasures as to be ravisht out of my self and become more than man or to expose it so to the solicitations of sensible delights as to be inticed by them another way out of my self and transformed into the nature of the beasts that perish We are all desirous and forward enough to climb higher and our ambition tempts us to mount to as noble a station as it is possible to reach And therefore let us ascend O my soul to the Lord Jesus let us lift up our thoughts still towards the holy place where he reigns and look for the time of his appearing to make us reign with him for ever This is the most pleasant object we can behold or rather is a coliection of innumerable pleasures which all here meet
together and therefore cannot but be of mighty power to ravish our spirits and ennoble our natures by making them divine Hither let us vigorously and cheerfully bend our thoughts let our hearts send many and many a wish this way and then it will be as impossible for any thing to hinder us from being made heavenly as it is to keep the stone from its centre or the tenderest heart from becoming like to that which it dearly loves Here we see what God the Father Almighty will do for his Son Jesus and what our Lord Jesus will do for us who depend upon his Love We behold our selves here ranked among the Heavenly host changed into spirits made perfect in love crowned with immortality beautified with the light of Divine knowledge and with unspotted purity of heart brought into the presence of our Lord and unto the sight of God On which incomparable happiness while we fix our eyes it must needs snatch us quite from all other things and make us live out of our selves But it will be only to place us above our selves and by a most desireable departure from what we are to put us into so blessed a condition that we shall never wish to return to our selves any more And indeed the more or less our souls are drawn forth of themselves either way so much the harder or easier it is to go back into themselves again For if we be much ravished with these heavenly things if we love the Appearing of Christ exceedingly and attentively fix our minds in expectation of it we shall have little mind to turn our hearts towards corporeal enjoyments during the sense and lively relish of those Divine pleasures which have withdrawn us from them And when the inclinations and necessities of our earthly Nature call us back again unto them it will be with a remembrance of those celestial joys still remaining which will preserve our souls from immersing themselves in things below them Just as when a mans heart is engaged in the strictest bonds of love which have tied him fast to a very agreeable person whatsoever company he comes into he will secretly steal out of it to cast a glance upon that beloved object So will our mind be apt to look up towards Heaven even when we are in the charming society of that person if the Lord and the glory of his appearing be our chiefest love and highest delight As on the contrary if we have but a slight touch and taste of these heavenly truths we shall be the easier diverted from them and perswaded to yield up our selves to seek our satisfaction in the cold enjoyment of these earthly delights And thus it is in like manner when men follow brutal pleasures the more strongly they are ravisht with them and addict themselves to them the more they lose the use of their reason and understanding and the more uncapable they grow being so attentive to these delights to receive any gust of nobler enjoyments Whereas if our taste of these things be more superficial and we do not apply our minds with all their force unto them nor dwell upon them we shall be the easier called off from them and stand in need of fewer importunities to quit their company for better entertainments Which demonstrates how necessary it is that we should indeavour to be well acquainted with the coming of our Lord to believe it with an unshaken faith to perswade our selves of it as if we saw it to set our hearts upon it and place our comforts in it that so it may have the greater authority over us and command us irresistibly from all things beneath us and force us to give our selves intirely to our Lord Jesus CHAP. XVII Of the means whereby this Love may be setled in our hearts and the Benefit thereof AND for the better effecting this which so nearly concerns us we ought as to think frequently and seriously of it so to use all the means that are in our power to represent our blessed Lord and his glorious Appearing in the most lively manner unto our hearts Among which I believe you will find none more effectual than to frequent his society in the Communion of his Body and of his Blood Where we not only meet with a fair occasion both to imprint upon our hearts a sense of his love and to express all the love we have to him but have a most powerful instrument also put into our hands to enkindle and stir up the most hearty vehement and burning Affection towards him For there he is set before our eyes in such a posture of love as cannot but wound any heart that hath the grace to consider what it sees There we behold him hanging for our sake upon a Cross from whence his mighty love shoots the most piercing darts into our breasts We see him there in such flames as offered him up intirely to do the will of God and if we come near them will touch us so sensibly that we shall be disposed to make our selves also a devout oblation to him His Body broken his Blood shed his very Life sacrificed for our safety are there so evidently and distinctly set before our eyes that as it will be hard for us not to be tenderly affected with his astonishing love to us so we are hereby assured of his continued kindness till he bring us to eternal life We do not indeed behold him there as sitting on the throne of his glory nor as appearing again the second time to give us salvation But yet it plainly shows us what he underwent to purchase for us as well as for himself that glory wherein he is and bids us rest satisfied he will do more for us even all that he hath promised of which by these tokens and pledges of his love which he hath left behind him when he departed this world he doth most affectionately assure us And by partaking of them we become also one body with him and have communion with him in his death and passion and all the benefits he hath thereby obtained for his Church Among which this is the last and the greatest that we shall be with him where he is and see the glory which the Father hath given him We ought not to doubt of it being thus incorporate with him and so united to him that in him we already live and reign and are glorious and can no more fail of appearing at last with him in his glory than the Members can fail to be advanced when the Head to which they are firmly and inseparably joyned is highly honoured and dignified As a loving Wife therefore married to an Husband most completely qualified but gone into a remote country cannot but fix her thoughts very much upon his coming and often wish for the happy day which will bring them nearer and make them meet and live together and in the mean time if she have his picture exactly taken cannot refrain from looking often on it and
pleasing her eyes and her mind with the very shadow of that dear Person or if she have any token of his love left or sent her whereby to remember him is ever and anon taking it into her hands and imprinting her kisses on it so it becomes all those to do who pretend any love to our Lord Jesus who hath endeared himself to us by such incomparable loving kindness and merited so highly of us that it would be exceeding strange if we should be either insensible of his favours or let them slip out of our minds when among the rest of the expressions of his wonderful love he hath taken great care to preserve the remembrance of them there Our gracious Lord the Bridegroom of our souls is gone a long journey even as far as Heaven He hath espoused us to himself it is true in great love most assured love but hath left us for a time here in this world and removed himself so far from us that though there be nothing so desireable as his company to those who are acquainted with him and have any affection for him yet they find the distance is so exceeding great between them that they cannot attain their much wisht for enjoyment of him And therefore every good soul should look towards him and sighing within it self should often say When will he come when will he come and let me have the long desired sight of him When will he come and finish what he hath so graciously begun O that he would come and take me to him O that he would come and satisfie this soul which is ready to dissolve and sweetly melt into that blissful union with him And till he please to grant this desire we should often fasten our expecting eyes on the Picture he hath left us of himself drawn as I may say by his own hand which tells us he will certainly come and requires us to rest assured he will be as good as his word and give us immortal life in the glory where he is We should frequent I mean the holy Sacrament of his body and blood we should love there to communicate with him and knit our selves to him it should be our greatest pleasure to solace our selves in that representation of him till he comes We should affectionately receive into our hands those tokens and pledges of his love which he continually sends us by his Ministers we should take them into our mouths yea let them into our hearts and embracing him in those signs and seals of his grace towards us should rejoyce in his love till he himself appear and lay our souls to rest in his bosom for ever If there were no other benefit we should receive by this means than that thereby our love will be mightily excited towards him who hath loved us so dearly it were sufficient to commend this duty to us But we shall also grow thereby more confident of his appearing again to perfect his love towards us and in the mean time be still receiving fresh tokens of the affection he now hath for us For as the thoughts of his love hath the greatest power over our hearts so we need not fear to say that the love he sees in us is of such force and efficacy with him that it strongly moves his tender compassions towards us If any man love me saith he himself xiv Joh. 21 23. he shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him O what a word is this I will love him How it pierces into the heart How it stirs and works how it revives and refreshes there Can there be any thing greater than this to be beloved of the Lord of Heaven the Prince of Life the King of Glory What will not he do for those whom he loves when we see he did not stick to dye for them even before they loved him You know that when Lazarus was sick as I think I have somewhere observed in another Treatise his Sisters sent this news to our Saviour saying Lord behold he whom thou lovest is sick xi Joh. 3. This was a very short Letter And their grief perhaps would not permit them to write a longer But they did not fare the worse because they were not more ceremonious in their addresses this alone did the business O how great a power was there in these few words They say no more to move him but only this Lord thou lovest him and what doth not our Saviour do to show they were not mistaken Up he rises away he goes to the place of his abode there needed no more prayers to bring him thither And though there were many dangers in the way as the story relates though to go thither his Disciples thought was to cast himself into a showr of stones v. 8. though the Jews he knew very well sought to take him and kill him x. 39. yet love being as strong as death carried him through all impediments He could not chuse but go when he heard this charming word he whom thou lovest is sick By which we may learn that to obtain the favour and grace the help and assistance the comfort and the presence of our blessed Saviour we need no long Petitions no great address of words no courtship nor studied complements Let us be able only to tell him that he loves us and it is enough If we can but win his good affection we need no more We may then remember to him his own dear love more than ours We may tell him how much good he hath done us and that is argument sufficient to move him to do more We may relate his graciousness and sweet disposition when we can perceive in our own hearts but disgusts at our selves We may say O my Lord I have seen by many arguments the wonderful great good will thou bearest to me For thou hast instructed my ignorance pitied my weaknesses cured many of my diseases delivered me from the power of temptations I cannot tell what thou hast done for me O most merciful Saviour who art still going on by innumerable ways to testifie thou lovest me And this humble devout acknowledgement will certainly invite a further effusion of his favours For it is a pleasure to him to do benefits especially to those he loves He rejoyces over them to do them good He loves to accomplish his own good purposes and delights as much as they can desire to perfect what he hath happily begun in them And therefore we may intreat him to give himself that pleasure not to lose any of that joy which will so much please and rejoyce us also and make us his debtors his admirers his adorers and lovers to all eternity We may desire him even that it would please him to come again according to his promise because he loves us and because he loves to finish his works of love and we may be confident he will and bring his rewards with him Though he stay we think
is the cause that we who are made to love should not let our love turn divine and address it most devoutly to him who best deserves the Love of all the world Or what may it be that keeps us from running with the whole current of our affections towards that heavenly Lover who sues so earnestly to us for our hearty love Hath he not loved us enough to make us love him Was he a cold and indifferent Lover that could not touch the heart with a sense of his kindness Was he perfectly frozen and careless in our concerns when the urgent wants of our souls called for his kind and compassionate relief Or did he pretend a great deal of kindness and made long protestations of his love but did just nothing to merit our affection There need no answer to such questions which serve only to reproach and confound our insensibleness and negligence who have nothing to say why we do not love him For so apparent is his love so confessedly great so costly and expensive so tender and obliging that as it had no example nor can be ever exactly imitated so it must needs attract all those and fill them with the greatest love who do not turn away their eyes and their ears and their hearts from this Lord of love Let us but listen a while to him and we shall hear him say was there any love like unto my love What is it that you would have had me done for you more than I have done without your desire to win your love Hath any man greater love than this that he lay down his life for his Friends But what were you for whom I died Herein God commended his love towards you in that while you were yet sinners I dyed for you And what was the purchase I made by that price which I laid down for you Who is it that hath the keys of Hell and death To whom is all power given in Heaven and in Earth Can any but I forgive your sins and open to you the Kingdom of Heaven and restore you to the joys of Paradise nay make you eat of the tree of life in the midst of the Paradise of God Where do you read of any King who at his Coronation gave such royal gifts to men From whom do you expect the Crown of righteousness and an eternal inheritance of which I gave the earnest so long ago Can you think of any thing comparable to the glory of my appearing Or is there any doubt whether I will come or no or whether you shall appear with me in that celestial glory What would you have me do to satisfie and assure you more than I have already done by my Word and by my Blood and by my Angels and by my Holy Spirit which I have sent down from Heaven to bear witness to me and to tell you that I will certainly come again and give you the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Believe it I will as surely come again as I died and rose from the dead and visibly ascended into Heaven and according to my promise poured out the Holy-Ghost upon my Apostles and inspired them to proclaim this in all tongues and languages that I still live and that because I live you shall live also And is it possible for us to think we hear him speaking to us in this manner as he doth in his blessed Gospel and not be provoked to summon all the powers of our soul to offer up themselves in devout and hearty love to him What hath the dearest friend whom we love with so much passion nay even our tenderest Parents done for us in comparison with this love Or what can the favour of all the Princes on earth should they unite all their powers to love and honour us bestow and heap upon us worthy to be named together with this miraculous love It ought to call us from all vain delights Our minds should continually study to comprehend the breadth and length the depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge Our wills ought to be more passionately bent towards him and grow every day stronger in his love Our memories should be a most faithful Treasury of the manifold tokens of his Love Our tongues and our hearts should never cease to meditate and sing the praises of his wondrous love For if we could speak to him as we may conceive him speaking to us and ask him what he did before the world he would tell us that He loved If we could ask him what moved his Almighty Wisdom to make the world he would tell you that he loved If we could further ask what he hath done ever since he would still say he loved And what brought him down from Heaven if we could ask again to be partaker of our miseries he would tell you again that he loved And could we ask again why he would humble himself so low as to take the form a servant and dye a base servile and ignominious death the death of the Cross he would again tell you that he loved And if you could still go on to ask what moved him to send the Holy Ghost and give such gifts to men you would still receive the same answer because he loved And could you beseech him not to be angry and you would inquire again what he hath been doing since those days and what he now does he would give you no new answer but that he loves And if you should pray him once more to tell you what he loves he would let you know it is nothing but love abundance of love This is the thing he would win by his love This is all that he asks and desires at our hands though he hath obliged us so much For this he solicites and beseeches having set his heart upon it as the fruit of his incomparable love He intreats for this as if it were for his life that we would be at last so sensible of all his kindness as to let him have our unfeigned love For he being Love himself loves nothing else but sincere and hearty love O blessed Jesus should all our hearts then say how much doth thy love differ from ours Love brought thee down from Heaven to us but how few of us and how slowly doth it carry up thither unto thee Love made thee dye the most shameful death but it doth not make us live the most glorious life It made thee endure the sorest pains but alas it doth not make mankind take the pleasure of following thy steps to the greatest happiness It made thee think perpetually on such poor wretches as we are but how seldom are our minds fixed or how small is the number whom love inclines to think upon so glorious a person as thy self It perswaded thee to come to us when there was nothing to call thee but only our great miseries but it doth not bring us all to thee when we are
moved by the merits and the pretious promises of so great a love Thy Preaching was Love thy Miracles were love thy whole Life was love thy Death was the most singular love thy last breath in a manner was love one of thy last words was love even to the bitterest enemies thy Sacraments are love the Holy-Ghost the Comforter is love thy Embassadors were love thou art we see All love and yet dull and stupid blocks that we are we are nothing less than this Divine love O sweet Saviour what wilt thou do with such vile such wretched hearts as these of ours Canst thou endure so much as to look upon such souls as are so frozen before thy fires Canst thou shed one beam more upon such icy hearts that are so insensible of all thy flames Is it possible that thou shouldest be so patient as to bear with the prayers of those whose breasts are so full of love so propense to this affection so free to pour it out to every thing and yet allow so few or no drops of it unto thee who deservest all the love we have O Dearest Lord if there be any room still left in thy heart for such as we are be pleased once more to cast thine eyes upon us most miserable sinners If thou canst lend thine ears to the requests of such foolish such obstinate hearts as have been so senslesly deaf to all thy gracious intreaties hear the sighs and the groans of all those penitent souls who cry unto thee and say Lord Jesus look upon us Spare us Good Lord if it be but one dram of thy pity and tenderest compassion O spare us but the least touch more from thine all-powerful hand if thou art not weary of striking such rocky hearts as now petition thee for thy love O mollifie them most gracious Lord mollifie them we beseech thee with thy Dear love towards us Now that they are a little tender and yielding to thee melt and dissolve them into the like love towards thee Enter into all our hearts O that thou wouldst enter and fill them with thy love Overcome them with this powerful engine thy mighty thy wonderful Love Thy love I say thy most stupendious love for no word pleases me so much as love Give me leave therefore to repeat it over again and to pray thee by thy love by thy dear and tender love that thou wilt not pass by this heart of mine among all the rest which now at last would fain be replenished with thy love I lye here in the humblest devotion prostrate at thy feet and gasping there before thee my soul pants and says O Love inspire me O Love breath thy soul and life into me As thou hast overcome so possess this heart intirely and vouchsafe to dwell in me And do thou my incomprehensibly loving Saviour make me ever thus to sigh and groan out of the very center of mine heart after thee Make me always to be saying thus to thee O my life my joy my hope my all do not despise this languishing soul which intreats thee to dwell in it by thy surpassing love Draw me after thee and touch me so that I may look upon nothing so much as thy love Turn my heart about and bend it wholly to thy love Make me to speak of nothing with such delight as of thy love to breath nothing to study nothing to desire to do nothing but only love Let no day at least pass without some serious meditations of thy love Let no Sun shine but what shows me thee and thy love shining brighter by far upon me Let no night close mine eyes but do thou shut up a sense of thy self and thy love in my breast Let no friend come to visit me but give him thy love to bring along with him and let him present thy self unto me Let the sight of him enkindle thy love in me Let the embraces of him knit me in faster affection to thee Let the remembrance of him and his kindness recall to mind thy infinitely greater love to me Let every motion of my heart towards him rest at last in the love of thee who art the hope and the satisfaction both of him and me Still may I therefore think of thee more frequently Still may I desire thee more passionately Still may I obey the more universally May the following acts of love and vertue still out-strip the former and one conquest of my self make way for a nobler May thine Almighty love still grow and prevail till there be no affection that dare appear no passion that dare presume to show its head against the soveraign power of thy love in mine heart And now O my Lord I know not how to leave thee untill I hear thee say Thou lovest me Prostrate still will I here lye at thy feet for I cannot have the heart to rise up again unless thou wilt speak that kind that gracious word and tell me that thou dost not cease to love me Nay I dye unless thou lovest me I shall make my grave here in this very place and expire with these words in my mouth LORD WHETHER I LIVE OR DYE IT MATTERS NOT LET ME BVT KNOW THAT THOV LOVEST ME. And may I be so bold as to conclude thou hast some love to me because I feel my heart beat thus passionately towards thee and my soul thirsts and cryes thus after thee Will it not be too great a presumption to think thou hast not forsaken me because I cannot forsake my request but above all things long and labour to be beloved of thee Is this love thou hast wrought in my heart to thee an incouragement to hope thou lovest me Truly then my Lord I am well satisfied Then I know thou bearest a favour to me For my soul follows hard after thee it cleaves unto thee it loves thy memory and delights it self in thy Commandments It sayes continually nothing but more of thy love nothing but abundance of thy love I open my heart unto thy exuberant love I expose my self to the power of thy transcendent love I chuse and desire the pleasures of thy love above all the delights wherewith the world can entertain me Above the admired heaps of wealth and the dazling heights of honour Above the loudest praises of fame and the bewitching applause of numerous spectators Above the charms of beauty and the more inticing delights of curious knowledge Nay above the solid joyes of health and the most necessary refreshments of nature Above all that even thine own bounty can give to those that love thee O let me but love thee make me but always thus to love thee alwayes despise all other delights compared with those of loving thee do but fill my heart with that love and with those delights and I am perfectly satisfied I am at rest now I have given my self to thee intirely And if I had a thousand hearts they should be devoted to thy service with the most affectionate
endeavour to render our selves as a beautiful body without any spot and blemish and thereby be found acceptable in His sight at His appearing And if you would know what Commandments they were which He would have Timothy in consideration of this appearing of Christ and the certainty thereof to keep without spot you need but look back to the eleventh and twelfth verses and there you may find them Follow after righteousness godliness faith love patience meekness Fight the good fight of faith lay hold on eternal life whereunto thou art also called c. That is Shun Covetousness and all the vices that issue from it ever rendring to every man what is his due Have God always before thine eyes and put thy trust and confidence in him Deceive no man that relies on thy word exercise mercy and charity to all suffer wrongs rather than do them and suffer them with a patient humble mind bridle anger repress all Cholerick motions and use such gentleness to others as thou wouldst desire thy self in the like cases And for this end contend earnestly for the Christian faith that is suffer not thy faith in Christ to be shaken much less overthrown by any persecution pain or death it self As thou hast begun to show thy self a good Christian so continue Remember thy Calling and Profession and resolve to quit all thou hast rather than fall short of Eternal Life And this I give thee in charge v. 13. as thou wilt answer it before God who raises even the dead and before our Lord Jesus Christ who constantly professed the truth before Pontius Pilate that thou keep these things inviolable and endeavour to be found pure and holy when Christ shall appear again As certainly He will for we have his word for it and God the blessed and only Potentate the King of kings and Lord of lords c. is able and lives for ever to make it good These two Uses you see the Apostle plainly directs us to make of the Doctrine here delivered And there is a Third which he teaches us in the place I am now treating of when he describes all good Christians who keep the faith by the Name of those who LOVE this APPEARING of Christ Jesus All they who observe the Commandments of our Lord and Saviour with seriousness and care ought to set their hearts upon this glorious appearing which they expect as the most goodly sight the most blessed spectacle that eyes can behold This is the very Character you see that St. Paul gives of the faithful and so it hath ever since been esteemed by all those who understood our Religion Which disposes and inclines all those that heartily embrace it and live according to it to have a great affection for that happy day which so many pious souls through so many Ages have most passionately longed to see So Andreas Caesariensis hath most excellently expressed the sense of all right Christians when he sets this down for the Contents of the last Chapter of the Revelation according to the old division * Chap. lxxii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. How the Church and that Spirit which is in it wishes for and desires the glorious appearing of Christ Which will bring with it so transcendent a bliss that they have little faith or little goodness who do not only wait for it but rejoyce in hope of it before it come For when the Apostle calls this appearing of Christ his Revelation saith an ancient Writer in Oecumenius * In 2 Thes i. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He bids them look for the greatest things and please themselves in the very thoughts of his coming before they receive the recompence of the reward For as his appearing will be infinitely affrighting to the wicked and they have reason to dread it before-hand so it will be no less comfortable to the godly who ought now to entertain themselves with delightful hopes of it and fetch great contentment and consolation from it because they shall then see and hear such things as will ravish their hearts with joy unconceivable That 's the chiefest thing of all and which is principally by me intended in these Papers Unto which therefore without any further evidence that might be produced of the certainty of this appearing I shall apply my self in the remaining Third Part of this Discourse CHAP. VI. Of the means to excite that LOVE in our hearts which we ought to have for Christs APPEARING I Have passed over the other two with the greater speed because I intend to take the more pains in this by endeavouring to show and to express as lively as I can what the LOVE is which we should bear to this Appearing if we hope to partake in the comforts of it And how to do this better than by describing the original and progress of this passion I cannot devise And therefore I shall use that Method for the conveying this Appearing of Christ into your minds under such a notion and character as shall not fail to stir up in your heart the devoutest affection for it I. Let it then in the first place be remembred that there cannot be the least beginning of this love unless we look upon the appearing of our Saviour as a GOOD and that of the greatest size For else it will be so far from touching us with any inclinations towards it that it will excite either our hatred or our contempt of it It is the GOOD which we discern in any thing that charms our souls and attracts our desires Though an object be never so near us and present it self to our very hands and would thrust it self upon us yet if we see no good in it we either hate it for disturbing our quiet or at least are perfectly cold to it as feeling no power it hath to stir up any passion for it Nay though we do perceive a thing to be good for us and defirable to be enjoyed yet if it stand at such a great distance and seem so very far off as the Appearing of Jesus Christ for any thing we know may be it will not sensibly affect our hearts nor move us to bear much regard to it unless it have the face of a very great happiness and promise us exceeding much contentment This Appearing therefore of our Lord is called by this Apostle in another place li. Tit. 13. that BLESSED HOPE to express the incomparable happiness and bliss which it will bring along with it He would have us look upon it as a thing that far more imports us than all our present enjoyments or all that is possible to be here enjoyed For there is nothing in this world that is worthy to be spoken of with such an Emphasis as to be called that blessed thing that happy possession This is a peculiar respect belonging only to the appearing of Christ which is the summ of all a Christians Hopes and those Hopes the great treasure of his soul
with all our souls and wish we might likewise see all Nations fall down before thee and worship thee What a joy would it be to see all the kingdoms of the earth become the kingdoms of thee O Christ What greater pleasure can our hearts desire which are not able to express the satisfaction it would give them to behold the kingdom of darkness which is shaken already falling flat upon the ground Overturn it overturn it O thou most Mighty utterly overturn it O come and do that which we endeavour but cannot do Come and let us see thee vindicate thy self from the affronts of all thine insolent enemies Let us see all the Legions of Evil-Spirits haled as Captives at the wheels of thy triumphant Chariot Let us see all the Powers of the Air flying away at thy presence to hide themselves in the pit of Hell for ever O thou who hast subdued us unto thee subdue them likewise and bring them under thee Thou who didst wrest us out of their hands wrest from them all their power and leave them none to get any more into their hands As thou hast conquered so we would gladly see thee triumph As thou hast overcome so we would fain see thee carried in magnificent and royal state as the most victorious LORD OF HOSTS Haste thee therefore O sweet Saviour to receive our Ovations Come that all the world may give thee the acclamations which thou deservest Why is thy Chariot so long in coming Why stay the wheels of thy Chariot O that it would please thee to come while our souls are peeping out of their windows to look for thee while they call and cry and sigh after thee while they are full charged with shouts and praises to bestow upon thee III. There is very great reason you cannot but see that they should be thus desirous of his appearing because it is manifest by what hath been now said it will bring along with it some addition of Glory to our Dearest Lord. If we had a Friend who was elected to be a King should we not often call for the day that would place him on his Throne Or if he were seated there but had some rebellious Subjects still in arms in a corner of his Country should we not be in some pain till we saw his conquering banners return with their spoils Or if that were done and a time then prefixt for a solemn meeting of all the Estates of his Realm in the midst of which he intended to sit himself with the greatest Pomp should we not think it long till we saw him shine there and receive the homage of so many illustrious Persons Tell your selves then with what ardors you should wait for the coming of your Lord. Who though he be now Crowned yet doth not for the present see all his enemies sudued nor appears as yet in the grand assembly not only of the Angels and mighty men but of all people whatsoever who shall be gathered before his Majesty It is true indeed he being inthroned in the Heavens sits there in royal Honour and Glory But St. Luke tells us as you heard before ix 26. that he will appear in the end of the world not only in his own glory but in the glory of his Father also As if that were something more than what he hath already received at his right hand That is he will come from thence to judge the quick and the dead Which will be an exceeding great glory such an high honour as was never conferred upon any person whatsoever to have all judgement committed unto him and sustain the very place of the Supreme Lord and Governour of the World to whom Men and Angels are accountable for their actions This is a thing that is still behind and there are it seems some royal Majestick robes belonging to this high Office which he hath not yet put on O how much should we desire to have Him clothed with them How earnestly should we look to behold him decked with that Majesty and arrayed in his most glorious attire It should not be enough to us to believe that he reigns but we should long to see the last exercise and the greatest proof of his Kingly Authority which is to judge the world in righteousness and to reward all men according to their works O God should every true Christian say who according to thy faithful word hast glorified thy Son Jesus and committed all Judgement to him hasten the day when thou wilt complete the glory thou hast given him and gather all nations before him Cloath him in the Glorious Robes of thy Majesty and let him appear in his Meridian brightness Send him forth of thy Sanctuary and let him outshine the Sun in his strength O that he would shine forth and shoot his rayes as far as this earth Let them not be confined to the highest Heavens but let the air and these inferiour regions be all gilded with the splendor of his beams O blessed Jesus that we might behold thy light breaking out to banish all this smoak and disperse these vapours wherein we are inclosed Let the Troops of thy holy Angels come and expel those evil Spirits which have possessed themselves of these aerial places Let thy glorious throne be set there where they have so long ruled Arise and show thy self O thou Judge of the World Let them all know that they are subject to thy tribunal And sentence them to their proper habitations that after thy appearing they may disappear and never break loose to infest or trouble us any more Then will thy faithful servants shout aloud for joy and triumph in thy praise They will sing a new Song before thy Throne and magnifie thee in some such words as these Who in the Heavens can be compared unto the Lord Who among the Sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord lxxxix Psal 6. xv Rev. 3 4. Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name For thou only art holy All Nations are come to worship before thee for thy judgements are made manifest IV. And upon this account we should be the more desirous to see that great day because till then he will want the glory of having us and all his faithful Subjects attend upon him in his heavenly Kingdom It is a very small glory indeed you may be apt to think that he can receive from such poor things as we are Who must acknowledge that we are unworthy utterly unworthy of the favour to approach unto him and if we should be so vain as to think otherwise deserve to be banished for ever from his blessed presence But when we remember how great his love is and what he hath promised to do for us we must likewise confess to the glory of his Grace that he can and will raise us so much above our selves that it