The Christian's charter shewing the priviledges of a believer by Thomas Watson. Watson, Thomas, d. 1686. 1654 Approx. 329 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 170 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-08 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A65287 Wing W1113 ESTC R27057 09626763 ocm 09626763 43863 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A65287) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 43863) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1345:19) The Christian's charter shewing the priviledges of a believer by Thomas Watson. Watson, Thomas, d. 1686. The third impression enlarged. [18], 318 p. Printed by T.R. & E.M. for Ralph Smith, London : 1654. Reproduction of original in the Union Theological Seminary Library, New York. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Meditations. Christian life. 2003-12 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2004-02 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-04 John Latta Sampled and proofread 2004-04 John Latta Text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Imprimatur . EDM. CALAMY . The Christian's CHARTER Shewing the PRIVILEDGES OF A BELIEVER BY THOMAS WATSON Master of Arts of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge and now Pastor of Stephens Walbrook LOND . He that spared not his own Son , but delivered him up for us all ; how shall hee not with him freely give us all things ? Rom : 8.32 . Godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come . 1. Tim. 4.8 . Quàm divites illi qui omnia possident ! Aretius . The third impression Enlarged . London Printed by T. R & EM for Ralph Smith at the signe of the Bible in Cornhil , neer The Royal Exchange . 1654. TO THE Right Honourable , and Religious , The Lady MARY VERE Baronesse of Tilbury , And My much Honoured LADY . MADAM , I Have presumed upon your Ladyship , humbly to present you with these few Meditations . As it is a rich mercy to have a spiritual Ioynture , so it cannot but be a comfort to know what it is . 'T is a joy to the young heir to have a view of his estate ; that is the work of this Treatise , to set before you the Land of promise . While we are here in the combate , we had need look to the Crown to make us fight the more valiantly . Moses had an eye at the recompence of reward , and that did animate him against sufferings ; yea , our blessed Saviour himself looked at the joy set before him . Madam , Could we live in the thoughts of these great things to come , what sublime , what sweet lives should we lead ! Surely , if there be any sad●nesse gathers in our spirits , if any despondency , it comes in at this leak of unbelief . Vnbelif is a bad neighbour , it is alwayes raising either Jealousies of God , as if he would not be as good as his Word ; Vnbelief with Sarah , laughs at the promise : Or scruples in the heart , whether all these promises belong to us . The Devil shot three fiery darts into the virgin-castle of Eves heart , whereof the first was the most deadly , Yea , hath God said ? He would induce this beliefe in her , that God had not spoken Truth : and when he had once wrought her to distrust , then she took of the tree , &c. All ●he train of tentation that Satan ●ayes , is to blow up the fort of our Faith. We had need maintain this grace , it is Faith must maintaine us . While the Pilot keeps his ship , his ship keeps him . Right Honourable , Blessed be the riches of Gods grace , who hath set this heavenly plant in your heart , and hath kept you in the faith , insomuch that all the shakings of the times have but settled you the more ; and I doubt not but he that hath begun a good work in you , will performe it untill the day of Jesus Christ. What an unparalell'd mercy is it to be kept free in the time of infection ? God hath given your Ladyship a sound judgement , and a tender conscience , both which are jewels of great price . I may say of you , as it is said of Jehoshaphat , his heart was lift up in the wayes of the Lord , 2 Chron. 17.12 . Yet I have observed , the more you have been lifted up in God , the more you have been cast down in your self . It is excellent , when the higher we grow in knowledge , the lower we grow in humility . I speak it to the praise of free-grace , God hath crowned your silver haires with golden vertues , every one of which doth shine as thos● precious stones , the Sardius , the Topaz , and the Diamond , Ezek. 28.13 . Holiness is a beautiful thing , it carries a majesty in the face of it ; even those that oppose it , cannot but admire it . Grace differs little from glory ; the one is the seed , the other the flower ▪ Grace is glory militant , and glory is grace triumphant . Theodosius thought it a greater honour that he was a Christian , then the head of an Empire . Your piety is a greater glory to you , then your Parentage ; it is more to be the daughter of faith then to descend from Nobles , or to have the blood royal running in your veins . Madam , There is a time shortly coming , when neither birth , estate , or any worldly embellishments will do us good ; you have laid in provision against that time , and gotten the new birth , when all other birth and Nobility must lie in the dust . This is that which makes your name smell in Gods Church , as the wine of Lebanon . Go on , Right Honourable , in those paths which have an immediate tendency to life and blessednesse . We are like to meet with many rubs in the way before we get to Heaven : It is said of Israel , their soul was much discouraged because of the way . Had we more grace , we should have need enough to use it : expect we must fiery serpents ; but , the righteous will hold on his way , Job 17.9 . Is not every Christian an Ensign-bearer to carry Christs Colours ? We must resolve to be good in good earnest . The almost Christian shall be almost saved . It is wise counsel our Saviour gives , that we should count what religion will cost us , Luk. 14.28 . It will cost us reproach ; this is a part of Christs livery which we must weare . Think not that our innocency will priviledge us from the reproaches and slanders of the world ; Christ was the most innocent person upon earth , never did any unholy thought come into his minde , yet his innocency would not shield him from slander ; he was called a friend of sinners . Let us not be discouraged ; shall we cease from being Saints , because others will not cease from being Devils ? Is it a wonder , when an army is in fight , to see the bullets fly abroad , and the fire-balls ? when the seed of the serpent is fighting with the seed of the woman , is it strange to see the bullets of tentation flie , & the fire-balls of slander ? But if our innocency will not keep us from being shot at , it will keep us from being hurt : for as no flattery can heal a bad conscience , so no slander can hurt a good . Again , Religion wil cost us persecution ; this is a part of Christs legacy which he hath left us , In the world ye shall have tribulation . Our ship would soon overturn , if it were not ballasted with some afflictions . A Christian is a compounded creature , he hath some evil in him , therefore God afflicts ; and he hath some good in him , therefore the Devil afflicts : Hence that of Cyprian * , When a man begins to be religious , he must think of going into the wine-presse : and perhaps the blood of the grapes may be pressed out ; but the meditation of things to come , should sweeten the tryals present , and make us , that though we cannot live without them , yet to live above them . What if the times are worse , if they make us better ? and if our burdens be heavy , seeing the way we are to go is but short ! Madam , I will not hold you longer , I make bold to devote this Manual to your Honour ; I acknowledge how weak and unfeathered it is , therefore unfit to flie abroad into the world ; but the importunity of some friends , and principally , the many favours received from your Honour when I was in your noble Family , and which have been since continued , did press upon me ( yet not without some reluctancy in my own thoughts ) to commit it to the publick . I hope the discourse may be seasonable , and doubt not but it will take some impression if it be as a naile fastned by the great Master of Assemblies . I have drawn but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or dark lineaments of that blessed condition which the Saints shall arrive at : expect not to see it in its orient colours till God himself give you the Pattern , and you shall both see and enjoy it at once . The Lord preserve your Ladyship , and all those Noble Branches descended from you , which is the prayer of , From my Study at Stephens Walbrook . Feb. 5. 1651. MADAM , Your honours most humble and faithful servant , THOMAS WATSON . THE CONTENTS . CHAP. I. THe preface , and entring into the words . p. 1 , 2 An Objection answered . pag. 3. All things in heaven and earth are a Beleevers . p. 6 CHAP. II. Reasons shewing how the Beleever comes to have this rich Charter . 1. Because he is an heire of the Covenant . p. 7. 2. Because he is so nearly related to Christ , who is heire of all . p. 10. CHAP. III. The unsealing of the Charter . p. 11. Things present are a Beleevers . p. 12. Section . 1. That Paul and Apollo are his . p. 12 , 13. The first inference . p. 15. The second inference . p. 17. The third inference , p. 18. Section . 2. That the world is his . p. 24. Section . 3. That life is his . p. 31. CHAP. IV. The enlarging of the Charter . p. 36. Section . 1. That remission is a Beleevers priviledge . p. 37 ▪ How we may know whether this be our priviledge . p. 39 , 40. Section . 2. That Regeneration is a beleevers priviledge . p. 41. Section 3. That Adoption is a Beleevers priviledge . p. 45. Section . 4. The inferences drawn from Adoption . p. 51. Section . 5. The signes of Adoption . p. 59. CHAP. V. The second part of the Charter . That things to come are a Beleevers . p. 63. CHAP. VI. The 12. Priviledges in reversion . 1. Death is a Beleevers . p. 66. Though death in it self be a privation yet to a childe of God it is a Priviledge . p. 67. To whom death is a priviledge . p 78 , 81 CHAP. VII . The second Prerogative Royal of a Beleever , he shall be carried up by the Angels . p. 84. CHAP. VIII . The third Prerogative Royal : the Beleever shall be with Christ. p. 89 Six priviledges growing out of this . 1. Vision . p. 92. 2. Union . p. 97. 3. Nobility . p. 99. 4. Ioy. p. 103. 5. Rest. p. 114. 6. Security . p. 118. CHAP. IX . The fourth Prerogative Royal : the glorious inheritance . p. 122. Which hath six Properties . 1. Sublimenesse . p. 124. 2. Magnificence . p. 125. 3. Purity . p. 126. 4. Amplitude . p. 128. 5. Light. p. 130. 6. Permanency . p. 131. Concerning the glory of this inheritance foure things superadded . 1. It is ponderous . p. 135. 2. It is satisfying . p. 135 , 136. 3. Though others have their portion paid out , there is never the lesse for us . p. 137. 4. The soules of the Elect enter upon possession immediately after death . p. 138. That the New creature only is the heir of this new Hierusalem . p. 149. CHAP. X. The fifth Prerogative Royal : our knowledge shall be cleare . p. 153. Five Mysteries God will clear up to us in heaven , so far as our humane nature is capable . p. 154. 1. The Mystery of the Trinity . ibid. 2. The Mystery of the Incarnation . p. 155. 3. The Mystery of Scripture . p. 159. 4. The Mystery of Providence . p. 160. 5. The Mystery of Hearts . p 163. CHAP. XI . The sixth Prerogative Royal : our love shall be perfect . p. 165. CHAP. XII . The seventh Prerogative Royal : the Resurrection of our bodies . p. 171. Several Corolaries , our Uses drawn from the Resurrection . 1. Use. p. 182. 2. Use. p 185. 3. Use. ibid. CHAP. XIII . The eighth Prerogative Royal : the bodies of the Saints shall be richly enameld with glory . p. 187. Five properties of glorified bodies . 1. Agility . p. 188. 2. Clarity . p. 189. 3. Beauty . p. 190. 4. Impassibility . p. 192. 5. Immortality . ibid. CHAP. XIV . The ninth Prerogative Royal : we shall be as the Angels in heaven . p. 194. CHAP. XV. The tenth Prerogative Royal : the Vindication of names . p. 199. CHAP. XVI . The eleventh Prerogative Royal : the Saints absolution . p. 203. Where is observable , 1. The Book of life opened . ibid. 2. The blessed sentence . p. 204. CHAP. XVII . The twelfth Prerogative Royal : a publick and honourahle mention of all the good the Saints have done . p. 205. CHAP. XVIII . Use. 1. Inform. 1. Branch . The first inference drawn from the proposition . p. 210. CHAP. XIX . Inform. 2. Branch . The second inference , shewing the difference between the godly and the wicked , the wicked have all their worst things to come . p. 212. The Reprobates black Charter . p. 213. CHAP. XX. Use. 2. Tryal . Second Use of Tryal : shewing how a Christian may know whether he hath any right to the Beleevers priviledges . p. 227. That faith gives a title . p. 229. The nature of faith opened In its Essentials . p. 230. The nature of faith opened In its Consequentials . p. 244. A reply to the sinners Objections . p. 256. CHAP. XXI . The Beleevers Objections answered . p. 259. CHAP. XXII . The third Use , Exhortation . 1. Branch . Shewing the duties of a Beleever by way of Retaliation . 1. Duty , Thankfulnesse . p. 270. 2. Duty , Exemplarinesse of life . p. 274. Walk as Christ did upon earth . 1. In Sanctity . p. 275. 2. In Humility . p. 279. 3. In Charity . p. 283. 3. Duty , Contentation . p. 285. 4. Duty , Anticipation of heaven . p. 288. 5. Duty , Chearfulnesse , p. 292. 6 Duty , Envy not them who have only things present . p. 297. 7 Duty , Comfort in the want of spiritual comfort . p. 299. 8. Duty , All our things must be Christs . p. 303. 9. Duty , Wait for these great things in Reversion . p. 306. Use. Exhortation . 2. Branch . To such as have only things here , that they would labour for things to come . p. 312 ▪ Sublunary things are but 1. Vain . p. 313. 2. Uncertaine . ibid. 3. Vexing . p. 314. 4. Dangerous . ibid. Our pursuit should be rather after the portion ●hen a few gifts . p. 317. THE CHRISTIANS Charter . 1 Cor. 3.21 , 22 , 23. For all things are yours , whether Paul , or Apollo , or Cephas , or the world , or life , or death , or things present , or things to come ; all are yours , and ye are Christs , and Christ is Gods. CHAP. I. The Porch or Entrance into the words , together with the Proposition . HAppinesse is the mark , and centre which every man aimes at . The next thing that is sought , after being , is being happy ; and surely , the neerer the soul comes to God who is the fountain of life and peace , the nearer it approacheth to happinesse ; and who so near to God as the Beleever , who is mystically one with him ? he must needs be the happy man : And if you would survey his blessed Estate , cast your eyes upon this text , which points to it , as the finger to the Diall : For all things are yours . The text may not unfitly be compared to the Tree of Life * , which bare twelve manner of fruits , and yielded her fruit every moneth ; there are many precious clusters growing out of this text , and being Skilfully improved , will yield much fruit . In the words we have the Inventory of a Christian , All things are your ; A strange paradox , when a believer can call nothing his , yet he can say , * all things are his . I have often thought a poor Christian that lives in a prison , or some old cottage , is like the Usurer , who though he goes poore , and can hardly find himselfe bread , yet hath thousands out at use : So it is with a child of God , * as having nothing , yet possessing all things . What once the Philosopher said , Solus sapiens dives , Only the wise man is the rich man ; give me leave to say , only the believer is the rich man ; here is his estate summed up , All things are his . Before I come to the words , there is an objection must be removed , If all things are ours , there seems to be a community : what is one mans , is anothers . Answ. The Apostle doth not speak here of civill Possessions ; Paul did not go about to destroy any mans propriety ; * for though he saith ▪ All things are yours ; yet he doth not say , what any man hath is yours . Object . But is it not said , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; They had all things . common ? Acts 2.44 . It is true : but first , This was purely voluntary : * non fuit praeceptum , sed susceptum ; there was no precept for it . If it be objected , that this was set downe as an example to imitate . 1. I answer ; Examples in Scripture are not alwayes Argumentative : The Prophet Elijah called for fire from heaven , to consume the Captaines and their fifties * ; but it doth not therefore follow , that when one Christian is angry with another , he may call for fire from heaven . Thus the Primitive Saints out of prudence and charity , had all things common ; it will not therefore follow , that in every age and century of the Church , there should be a common stock , and every one have a share . 2. I answer ; Though the Disciples had all things common , yet still they held their propriety , as is clear by Peters speech to Ananias * Whiles it remained , was it not thine own ? and after it was sold , was it not in thine own power ? It is true in one sense , what the Primitive Church had , was not their own ; so much as could be spared was for the reliefe of the Saints , thus all things were common ; but still they kept a part of their estate in their owne hand . There is as the Schoolmen observe , duplex jus , a double right to an estate , a right of propriety , and a right of charity . The right of charity belongs to the poor , but the right of propriety belongs to the owner . For instance , God made a law , * That a man must not put his sickle into his Neighbours corne . We reade that the Disciples being hungry when they went through the fields on the Sabbath , did pluck the ears of corne , there was charity ; but they must not put the sickle into the corn , here was propriety . This I the rather speak , because there are some , that when God hath made an enclosure would lay all common : It was Satan pulled down Iob's hedg . The Lord hath set the eighth Commandment as a fence about a mans estate ▪ and he that breaks this hedg , a serpent shall bite him . Thus having taken that objection out of the way , I come now to the Text. And it falls into three parts . 1. The Inventory , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , All things , 2. The Proprietors , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , All things are yours . 3. The tenure , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Ye are Christs . Which three branches will make up this one Proposition . Doct. That all things in heaven and earth , are the portion and prerogative of a believer . A large Inventory ▪ All things : we can have but all . And the Apostle useth an ingemination , he doubles it , to take away all hesitancy and doubting from faith . CHAP. II. The Arguments proving the Proposition . THere are two Reasons which will serve to illustrate and confirm the Proposition , All things are a beleevers . 1. Because the Covenant of Grace is his . The Covenant is our Great Charter , by vertue of which God settles all things in heaven and earth upon us . By sin we had forfeited all , therefore if all things be ours , the title comes in by a Covenant ; till then we had nothing to hold by . This Covenant is the issue and birth of Gods love ▪ it is the legacy of free-grace . This Covenant is enriched with mercy , it is embroydered with promises : you may read the Charter , * I will be their God. And there is a parallell to it , * I am God , even thy God : This is a sufficient dowry . If God be ours then all things are ours . He is , 1. Eminently Good. One Diamond doth virtually containe many lesser pearls : the excellencies in the creature are single , and want their Adjuncts . Learning hath not alwayes Parentage : Honour hath not alwayes Vertue . No Individuall can be the receptacle and continent of all perfections : But those Excellencies that lie scattered in the creature , are all united and concentred in God , as the beams in the Sun , the drops in the Ocean . 2. Hee is Superlatively Good. Whatever is in the creature , is to - be found in God after a more transcendent manner A man may be said to be wise , but God is infinitely so ; Powerfull , but God is eternally so ; Faithfull , but God is unchangeably so . Now in the Covenant of Grace , God passeth himself over to us to be our God ; I am God , even thy God. This expression , I am thy God , imports three things : 1. Pacification . You shall finde grace in my sight , I will cast a favourable aspect upon ▪ you , I will put off my armour , I will take down my Standard , I will be no more an enemy . 2. Donation . God makes himself over to us by a deed of gift , and gives away himself to us : he saith to the believer , as the King of Israel said to the King of Syria , * I am thine , and all that I have : This is alvearium divini mellis , an hive full of divine comfort : all that is in God is ours : his Wisdom is ours , to teach us ; his love is ours , to pity us ; his Spirit is ours , to comfort us ; his mercy is ours , to save us . When God saith to the soule , I am thine , it is enough , he cannot say more . 3. Duration . I will be a God to thee , as long as I am a God. 2. Reason . All things are a believers , because Christ is his Jesus Christ is , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the pillar and hinge upon which the Covenant of Grace turns . Without Christ , we had nothing to do with a Covenant . The Covenant is founded upon Christ , and is sealed in his blood . We read of the Mercy-seat * , which was a divine Hieroglyphick , typifying Jesus Christ. There will I meet thee , and I will commune with thee from above the Mercy-seat ▪ ver . 22. To shew that in Christ God is propitions . From above this Mercy-seat he communes with us , and enters into Covenant . Therefore it is observable , when the Apostle had said , All thing are yours , he presently adds , Ye are Christs . There comes in the title , we hold all in capite . This golden chain , Things present , and things to come , is linked to us , by vertue of our being linked to Christ. By faith we have an interest in Christ ; having an interest in Christ , we have an interest in God ; having an interest in God , we have a title to all things . CHAP. III. The opening of the Charter , Things present are a Beleevers . AND now I come to that great question , What are the things contained in the Charter ? Resp. There are two words in the text that expresse it , Things present , and things to come . I begin with the first . 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Things present are a beleevers . Amongst these things present , there are three specified in the text ; Paul and Apollo , the world , life , &c. Here is , me thinks , a row of pearl : I will take every one of these asunder , and shew you their worth , then see how rich a beleever is , that wears such a chaine of pearle about him . §. 1. Paul and Apollo are yours . 1. Under these words Paul and Apollo , by a figure are comprehended all the Ministers of Christ , * the weakest as well as the eminentest . Paul and Apollo are yours , viz. their labours are for * edifying the Church . They are * adminicula fidei , the helpers of your faith . The parts of a Minister are not given him for himself , they are the Churches * . If the people have a taint of errour , the Ministers of Christ must season them with wholesome words ; therefore they are called * the salt of the earth . If any soul be fainting under the burden of sin , 't is the work of a Minister to drop in comfort , therefore he is said to hold forth the brests as a nurse * . Thus Paul and Apollo are yours : All the gifts of a Minister , all his graces , are not only for himself , they are the * Churches . A Minister must not monopolize his gifts to himselfe , this is to hide his talents in a napkin ; such an one makes an enclosure , where God would have all common . Paul and Apollo are yours : The Ministers of Christ should be as musk among linnen , which casts a fragrancy ; or like that box of spiknard , which being broken open , fill'd the house with its odour * : So should they do by the savour of their ointments . A Minister by sending out a sweet perfume in his doctrine and life , makes the Church of God as a garden of spices . Paul and Apollo are yours : They are as a lamp or torch to light souls to heaven * . Chrysostome's hearers thought they had as good be without the Sun in the Firmament , as Chrysostome in the Pulpit . Paul and Apollo are springs that hold the water of life : as these springs must not be poisoned , so neither must they be shut up or sealed . A Minister of Christ is both a granary to hold the corn , and a Steward to give it out . 'T is little better then theft , to withhold the bread of life . The lips of Apollo must be as an hony-comb , dropping in season and out of season . The graces of the Spirit are sacred flowers , which though they cannot die , yet being apt to wither , Apollo must come with his water-pot * . It is not enough that there be Grace in the heart , but it must be poured into his lips . As Paul is a beleever , so all things are his ; but as Paul is a Minister , so he is not his own , he is the Churches . There are three corrolaries I shall draw from this . Use 1. If Paul and Apollo are yours , Every Minister of Christ is given for the edifying of the Church ; take heed that you despise not the least of these ; for all are for your profit . The least star gives light , the least drop moistens . There is some use to be made even of the lowest parts of men : There are gifts differing * , but all are yours . The weakest Minister may help to strengthen your faith . In the law , all the Levites did not sacrifice , onely the Priests , as Aaron , and his sons ; but all were serviceable in the worship of God ; those that did not sacrifice , yet helped to bear the Arke . As in a building , some bring stones , some timber , some perhaps bring only nailes ; yet these are usefull , these serve to fasten the work in the building : The Church of God is a spiritual building * , some Ministers bring stones , are more eminent and useful ; others timber , others lesse , they have but a nail in the work , yet all serve for the good of this building . The least nail in the Ministry serves for the fastning of souls to Christ , therefore let none be contemned . Though all are not Apostles , all are not Evangelists , all have not the same dexterous abilities in their work ; yet remember , all are yours , all edifie . Oftentimes God crowns his labours , and sends most fish into his net , who though he may be lesse skilful , is more faithful ; and though he hath lesse of the brain , yet more of the heart . An Ambassador may deliver his Ambassage with a trembling lip , and a stammering tongue , but he is honourable for his works sake , he represents the Kings person . Use. 2. If Paul and Apollo are yours , all Christs Ministers have a subserviency to your good , they come to make up the match between Christ and you : then love Paul and Apollo . All the labours of a Minister , his prayers , his tears , the pregnancy of his parts , the torrent of his affections , all are yours ; then by the law of equity , there must be some reflections of love from your hearts towards Paul and Apollo , such as are set over you in the Lord * . If they seek your establishment , you must seek their encouragement ; if they endeavour your salvation , you must endeavour their safety ; What an unnatural thing is it , that any should strive to bring them to death , whose very calling is to bring men to life ▪ The Minister is a spiritual Father * , it was a brand of infamy on them , Hos. 4.4 . For this people are as they that strive with their Priest. Was there none to fall out with but the Priest , even he that offered up their sacrifices for them ? and what is it , think we , for men to quarrel with their spiritual Fathers ? even those whom they once had a venerable opinion of , and acknowledged to be the means of their conversion ? Either love your spiritual Fathers or there is ground of suspicion that yours was but a false birth . Use 3. If Paul and Apollo are yours , they are for the building you up in your faith . Then endeavour to get good by the labours of Paul and Apollo , I mean such as labour in the word and doctrine . Let them not plow upon the rock : Answer Gods end in sending them among you . Oh labour to profit : you may get some knowledge by the word , such as is discursive and polemicall , and yet not profit . Quest. What is it to profit ? Resp. The Apostle tells us , Heb. 4.2 . When we mingle the word with faith , that is , when we so heare , that we believe , and so believe , that we are transformed into the image of the word ; Ye have obeyed from the heart that forme of doctrine , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , into which ye were delivered ▪ * It is one thing for the truth to be delivered to us , and another thing for us to be delivered into the truth : the words are a Metaphor taken from lead and silver cast into a mould . This is to profit , when our hearts are cast into the mould of the word preached : As the seed is spiritual , so the heart is spiritual . We should do as the Bee , when she hath sucked sweetnesse from the flower , she works it in her owne hive , and so turns it to honey : Thus when we have sucked any precious truth , we should by holy Meditation work it in the hive of our hearts , and then it would turn to hony : we should profit by it . Oh let the labours of Paul and Apollo have an influence upon us . A good hearer should labour to go out from the Ministery of the Word , as Naaman out of Iordan , his leprous flesh was healed and became as the other : So though we came to the word proud , we should go home humble ; though we came to the word earthly , we should go home heavenly : Our Leprosie should be healed . Ambrose observes of the woman of * Samaria , that came to Iacobs Well : She came peccatrix , she went away praedicatrix ; She came a sinner , she went away a Prophetesse . Such a metamorphosis should the Word of God make . Let not the Ministers of Christ say upon their death-beds ; the bellowes are burnt , and the lead consumed ; they have spent their lungs , and exhausted their strength ; but know not whether they have done any thing , unlesse preached men to hell . Oh labour to grow : some grow not at all , others grow worse for hearing ; * Evil men shall wax worse and worse , as Pliny speaks of some fish that swim backward : they grow dead-hearted in Religion , they grow covetous , they grow Apostates : It were far easier to write a book of Apostates in this age , then a book of Martyrs ; men grow riper for hell every day . Oh labour to thrive under the spirituall dew that falls upon you . Let not the Ministers of Christ , be as those which beat the air . Is it not sad , when the Spiritual clouds shall drop their rain upon a barren heath ? When the Ministers tongue is as the pen of a ready Writer , and the peoples heart is like paper when it is oiled ▪ that will take no impression . Oh improve in grace : If you have a barren piece of ground , you do all you can to improve it , and will you not improve a barren heart ? It is a great Encomium and honour to the Ministery , when people thrive under it ; Need we , as some others ▪ Epistles of commendation * ? Paul esteemed the Corinthians his glory and his crown ; hence , saith he , though other Ministers have need of letters of commendation , yet he needed none ; for when men should heare of the faith of these Corinthians , which was wrought in them by Pauls preaching , this was sufficient certificate for him that God had blessed his labours , there should need no other Epistle , they themselves were walking certificates , they were his letters testimonial . This was an high Elogium ; what an honor is it to a Minister , when it shall be said of him as once of Octavius , when he came into Rome he found the walls of brick , but he left them walls of marble ; So when the Minister came among the people , he found hearts of stone , but he left hearts of flesh . On the other side , it is a dishonour to a Minister when his people are like Labans lambs , or Pharaoh's kine . There are some diseases which they call , opprobria Medicorum , the reproaches of Physicians ; and there are some people who may becalled opprobria Ministrorum , the reproaches of Ministers : what greater dishonour to a Minister , then when it shall be said of him , he hath lived so many years in a Parish , he found them an ignorant people , and they are so still ; he found them a dull , slothfull people , ( as if they went to the Temple , as some use to go to the Apothecaries shop , to take a Recipe to make them sleep ) and they are so still ; he found them a profane people , and so they are still ▪ Surely there is some fault , or God doth not go forth with his labours ; such a people are not a Ministers crown , but his heart-breaking Oh let your profiting appear to all . God sends Paul and Apollo as blessings among a people , they are to be helpers of your faith ▪ if they toile all night , and take nothing * , 't is to be feared that Satan caught the fish ere they came at their net . §. 2. Shewing , That the world is a Beleevers . 2. The next thing is , the world is yours . 1. The lawfull use of the world . is a Believers . 2. The speciall use of the world , is a Believers . 1. The lawful use of the world is yours . The Gospel doth somewhat enlarge our Charter . We are not in all things , so tied up as the Jewes were ; there were several sorts of meat that were prohibited them , they might eat of those beasts onely that did chew the cud , and part the hoof * , they might not eat of the swine ; because though it did divide the hoof , yet it did not chew the cud ; nor of the Hare , because though it did chew the cud ; yet it did not not divide the hoof , it was unclean ; but to Christians that live under the the Gospel , there is not this prohibition . The world is yours , the lawfull use of it is yours ; every creature being sanctified by the Word and Prayer , is good * , and we may eat , asking no question for conscience sake . The World is a garden , God hath given us leave to pick of any flower . It is a Paradise , we may eat of any tree that growes in it , but the forbidden , that is sin ; * And they that use this World , as not abusing it . We are apt to offend most in lawful things . The World is yours to traffick in ; onely let them that buy , be as if they bought not : take heed that you do not drive such a trade in the world that you are like to break in your trading for heaven . 2. The special use of the world is yours . 1. The world was made for your sake . 2. All things that fall out in the world are for your good . 1. The world was made for your sake . God hath raised this great fabrick chiefly for a Believer . The Saints are Gods jewels , Mal. 3.17 . The world is the shrine or Cabinet where God locks up these jewels for a time . The world is yours * , it was made for you . The creation is but a theatre , to act the great work of Redemption upon . The world is the field , the Saints are the corn , the ordinances are the showers , the mercies of God are the Sunshine that ripens this corn , death is the sickle that cuts it down , the Angels are the harvesters that carry it into the barn . The world is yours , God would never have made this field , were it not for the corn growing in it . What use then is there of the wicked ? They are as an hedge to keep the corn from forrain invasions , though oft-times they are a thorn-hedge . Quest. But , alas , a childe of God hath oft the least share in the world , how then is the world his ? Answ. If thou art a believer , that little thou hast , though it be but an handfull of the world , it is blest to thee ; If there be any consecrated ground in the world , that is a believers . The world is yours ; Esau had the venison , but Iacob got the blessing : a little blest is sweet . A little of the world with a great deal of peace , is better then the revenues of unrighteousnesse . Every mercy a childe of God hath swims to him in Christs blood , and this sauce makes it relish the sweeter . Whatever he tastes , is seasoned with Gods love ; he hath not only the mercy , but the blessing : So that the World is a Believers . An Unbeliever , that hath the World at will ; yet the World is not his , he doth not taste the quintessence of it . Thornes and thistles doth the ground bring forth to him . He feeds upon the fruit of the curse , * I will curse your blessings ; he eats with bitter herbs : So that properly the World is a Believers . He only hath a Scripture-tenure , and that little he hath turnes to creame . Every mercy is a present sent him from heaven . 2. All things that fall out in the World , are for your good . 1. The want of the World , all is for your good . 2. The hatred of the World , all is for your good . 1. The want of the World is for your good . By wanting the honours and revenues of the World , you want the temptations that others have . Physicians observe , that men die sooner by the abundance of blood , then the scarcity ; 't is hard to say , which kills most , the sword or surfet : A glutton with his teeth digs his own grave . The world is a silken net , * the prosperity of fools shall destroy them . Him whom I shall kisse , ( saith Judas ) take him : so , whom the world kisseth , it often betrayes . The want of the world is a mercy . 2. The Hatred of the world is for your good . Wicked men are instruments in Gods hand for good , ( albeit they mean not so ; ) they are flails to thresh off our husks , files to brighten our graces , leeches to suck out the noxious blood . * Out of the most poisonful drug , God distils his glory and our salvation . A childe of God is beholding even to his enemies , The ploughers ploughed upon my back * , if they did not plough and harrow us , we should bear but a very thin crop . After a man hath planted a tree , he prunes and dresseth it . Persecutors are Gods pruning-hook , to cut off the excrescencies of sin ; and evermore the bleeding vine is most fruitful : the envy and malice of the wicked shall do us good : God stirred up the people of Egypt to hate the Israelites , and that was a meanes to usher in their deliverance . The frownes of the wicked make us the more ambitious of Gods smile ; their incensed rage , as it shall carry on Gods decree ( for while they sit backward to his command , they shall row forward to his decree ) so it shall have a subserviency to our good . Every crosse winde of providence shal blow a believer neerer to the port of glory . What a blessed condition is a child of God in ! kill him , or save him alive , it is all one . The opposition of the world is for his good . The world is yours . §. 3. Shewing , That life is a believers . 3. The next thing is , Life is yours . Hierome understands it of the life of Christ. It is true , Christs life is ours , the life which he lived on earth , and the life which he now lives in heaven ; his satisfaction and his intercession both are ours , and they are of unspeakable comfort to us . But I conceive by life in the text , is meant Natural life , that which is contradistinguished to death : So Ambrose . But how is life a Beleevers ? Two wayes . 1. The priviledge of life is his . 2 , The comfort of life is his . 1. The priviledge of life is a believers : that is , life to a childe of God , is an advantage for heaven : this life is given him to make provision for a better life . Life is the porch of Eternity ; here the Believer dresseth himself , that he may be fit to enter in with the Bridegroome . We cannot say of a wicked man , ( unlesse catachrestically ) that life is his . Though he lives , yet life is not his , he is dead while he lives . He doth not improve the life of nature to get the life of grace ; he is like a man that takes the lease of a farm , and makes no benefit of it . Diu fuit in mundo , non vixit ; he hath been so long in the world , as Seneca speaks , but he hath not lived . He was borne in the Reigne of such a King , his father left him such an estate , he was of such an age , and then he died ; there 's an end of him , his life was not worth a prayer , nor his death worth a tear . But life is yours ; 't is a priviledge to a Believer , while he hath natural life , he layes hold upon * eternal life , how doth he work out his salvation ? what a do is there to get his evidences sealed ? what weeping , what wrastling ? how doth he even take heaven by storme ? So that life is yours : It is to a childe of God a season of grace , the seed-time for eternity ; the longer he lives , the riper he grows for heaven . The life of a believer spends as a lamp , he doth good to himselfe and others ; the life of a sinner runs out as the sand , it doth little good . The life of the one is as a figure ingraven in marble ; the life of the other as letters written in dust . 2. The ●●●fort of life is a beleevers * . rejoycing●ake ●ake a childe of God at the 〈◊〉 disadvantage , let his life be ●ver-cast with clouds , yet if there be any comfort in life , the believer hath it . Our life is oft imbecill and weake , but the spiritual life doth administer comfort to the natural . Homo componitur ex mortali & rationali , Man ( saith Augustine ) is compounded of the mortal part and the rational part ; the rational serves to comfort the mortal . So , I may say , a Christian consists of a natural life , and a spiritual , the spiritual revives the natural . Observe how the spiritual life distils sweetnesse into the natural , in three cases . 1. In case of Poverty . This oft eclipses the comfort of life * . But what though poverty hath clipped the wings ? Poore in the world , yet rich in faith , Jam. 2.5 . The one humbles , the other revives 2. In case of Reproach . This is an heart-breaking , Psal. 69.20 . Reproach hath broken my heart . Yet a Christianhath his Cordial by him , 2 Cor. 1.12 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : For this is our rejoycing , the testimony of our conscience . Who would desire a better Jury to acquit him then God , and his own conscience ? 3. In case of losses . 'T is in it selfe sad , to have an interposition between us , and our dear relations . A limb , as it were pull'd from our body , and sometimes our estates strangely melted away ; yet a believer hath some gleanings of comfort left , and such gleanings as are better then the worlds * vintage . Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , knowing in your selves that you have in heaven a better and an induring substance , Heb. 10.34 . They had lost their estate , but not their God. Here is , you see , the drie rod blossoming . The spiritual life distils comfort into the natural . Take the sourest part of a Christians life , and there is comfort in it . When you heare him sighing bitterly , it is for sin ; and such a sigh , though it may break the heart , yet it revives it * . The tears of the godly are sweeter then the triumph of the wicked . The comfort that a wicked man hath is only imaginary , it is but a pleasant fancy ; as rejoycing , yet alwayes sorrowing : He hath that within spoiles his musick . But life is yours . When a believers life is at the lowest ebbe , yet he hath aspringtide of comfort . CHAP. IV. The Augmentation of the Charter . AMong these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Things present , There are yet three other priviledges which are in the beleevers Charter . 1. Remission of his sin . 2. Regeneration of his nature . 3. Adoption of his person . §. 1. Shewing , That remission of sin is a jewel of the Believers Crown . 1. The Remission of his sin . This is , 1. A costly mercy . 2. A choice mercy . 1. It is a costly mercy . That which inhanceth the price of it , is , 't is the great fruit of Christs blood : Without shedding of blood is no remission * ; Christ did bleed out our pardon : he was not onely a Lamb without spot , but a Lamb slaine . Every pardon a sinner hath , is written in Christs blood . 2. It is a choice mercy . This jewel God hangs upon none but his Elect. 'T is put into the Charter , I will forgive their iniquity ; and I will remember their sin no more * . This is an enriching mercy , it entitles us to blessednesse , Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not his sinne . Of all the debts we owe , our sinnes are the worst ; now to have the booke cancelled , and God appeased ; to heare God whisper by his Spirit , Sonne , be of good chear , thy sinnes are forgiven ; I will not blot thy name out of my book , but I will blot thy sinnes out of my book : This is a mercy of the first magnitude . Biessed is that man ; in the Originall it is in the plurall , * Blessednesses . Hast thou but one blessing , my father , saith * Esau ? lo , here a plurality , a whole chain of blessings . Pardon of sin is a voluminous mercy , there are many mercies bound up with it . You may name it Gad , for behold a troop comes * . When God pardons a sinner● , now he puts on ( if I may so speak ) his brightest robe : Therefore when he would proclaim himselfe in his glory to Moses , it was after this manner , The Lord , the Lord , mercifull * . His mercy is his glory : and if you read a little further , you shall see it was no other then pardoning mercy * , Forgiving iniquity , and transgression , and sin , &c. 'T is an high act of indulgence . God seals the sinners pardon with a kisse . This made David put on his best cloathes , and anoint himselfe * . It was strange , his childe newly dead , and God had told him , that the sword should not depart from his house , yet now he falls anointing himselfe : the reason was , David had heard good news , God sent him his pardon by Nathan the Prophet * , The Lord hath put away thy sin . This oile of gladnesse which God had now poured into his heart , made way for the anointing oile . Quest. How shall I know that this priviledge is mine ? Answ. He whose sins are pardoned hath something to shew for it . There are two Scripture-evidences . 1. The pardoned sinner is a weeping sinner . Never did any man read his pardon with drie eyes : Look upon that weeping penitent , She stood behinde Christ weeping * . Her heart was a sacred limbeck , out of which those teares were distilled . Quest. But to what purpose is all this cost ? what needs weeping after pardon ? Answ. Because now sinne and mercy are drawne forth in more lively colours then ever . The Spirit comes thus to a sinner ; Thou hast sinned against God , who never intended thee evill , thou hast abused that mercy that saves thee ; all this thou hast done , yet behold , here is thy pardon ; I will set up my mercy above thy sin , nay , in spight of it . The sinner being sensible of this , falls a weeping , and wisheth himselfe even dissolved into teares . He * looks upon a bleeding Christ , with a bleeding heart . Nothing can so melt the heart of a sinner , as the love of God , and the blood of Christ. 2. He whose sins are pardoned , his heart burnes in love to God : thus we reade of Mary Magdalene , as her eyes were broached with tears , so her heart was fired with love to Christ ; For she loved much * . Gods love in pardoning a sinner is attractive . The Law hath a driving power , but love hath a drawing power . §. 2. Shewing , That Regeneration goes along with Remission , and is a branch of the Charter . 2d. Priviledge . The Regeneration of his nature , which is nothing else but the transforming the heart , and casting it into a new mould : you have a pregnant place for this , * Be ye transformed by the renewing of your minde . In the Incarnation , Christ did assume our humane nature , and in Regeneration , we partake of his divine nature . This blessed work of Regeneration , is in Scripture called sometimes the new birth * , because it is begotten of a new seed , the Word , Iam. 1.18 . And sometimes the new creature * ; new , not in substance , but in quality . This is the great promise , Ezek. 36.26 . A new heart also will I give you . Observe , Remission and Regeneration are two twins . When God pardons , he takes away the Rebels heart . Where this work of Regeneration is wrought , the heart hath a new Byas , and the life a new Edition . How great a priviledge this is , will appear two wayes . Till this blessed work of Regeneration , we are in a spiritual sense , 1. Stil-born . 2. Illegitimate . 1. Stil-born ; Dead in trespasses and sinnes , Ephes. 2.1 . A man in his pure naturals is dead , 1. In respect of working . 2. In respect of honour . 1. In respect of working . A dead man cannot work . The works of a sinner in Scripture are called dead works : bid a natural man do any thing , you had as good set a dead man about your work : bring him to a Sermon , you doe but bring a dead corps to Church ; bring him to the Sacrament , he poisons the Sacramentall cup ; he may receive the Elements , but nothing concocts * . It is as if you should put bread and wine into a dead mans mouth . Reprove him sharply for his sinne * ; To what purpose do you strike a dead man ? 2. He is dead in respect of Honour . He is dead to all priviledges . He is not fit to inherit mercy . Who sets the Crown upon a dead man ? The Apostle calls it the Crown of life , Revel . 2.10 . it is only the living Christian shall wear the Crown of life . 2. A man unregenerate is spirituallly illegetimate : The Devil is his father . Ye are of your father the devil * . And sin is his mother . Sin is the womb that bare him , and the paps that gave him suck . Thus it is till Christ be formed in the heart of a sinner , then his reproach is rolled away from him . Regeneration doth ennoble a person , therefore such an one is said to be borne of God , 1 Iohn 3.9 . O how beautifull is that soul ! I may say with Bernard , O anima , Dei insignita imagine , desponsata fide , donata Spiritu , &c. O divine soul , invested with the image of God , espoused to him by faith ! A person regenerate is imbroydered with all the graces of the Spirit ; he hath the glistering spangles of holinesse ; the Angels glory shining in him ; he hath upon him the reflex of Christs beauty . The new creature is a new Paradise set full of the heavenly plants . An heart ennobled with grace ( to speak with reverence ) is Gods lesser heaven . §. 3. Shewing , The nature of Adoption , and that this is a part of the Beleevers Charter . 3. The third priviledge is the Adoption of his person : Having predestinated us to the Adoption of children by Iesus Christ * . A believer is made of the blood royall of heaven . This adoption , or son-ship consists in three things : 1. A transition , or translation from one family to another . As a plant must be taken out of one soile and put into another , else it cannot properly be said to be transplanted . He that is adopted , is taken out of the old family of the devil , Ephes. 2.2 . and Hell , ver . 3. to which he was heir apparent , and is made of the family of heaven , ver . 19. of a noble family , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . God is his Father , Christ his elder Brother , the Saints Co-heirs , the Angels Fellow-servants in that Family . 2. Adoption consists in an immunity and disobligement from all the lawes of the former family , Psal. 45.10 . Forget also thy Fathers house . He that is spiritually adopted , hath now no more to do with sin . Ephraim shall say , What have I to do any more with Idols * ? A childe of God hath indeed to do with sin as with an enemy , to which he gives battel ; but not as with a Lord , to which he yields obedience . He is free from sinne * , I do not say he is free from duty . Was it ever heard that a childe should be freed from duty to his Parents ? This is such a freedome as Rebels take . 3. Adoption consists in a legall investiture into all the rights and priviledges of the family into which the person is to be adopted . There are foure of these royalties , or priviledges . 1. He that is divinely adopted , the entaile of hell and damnation is cut off . Before , all the curses in Gods book were due to us ; adoption cuts off the entaile : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Rom. 1.1 . There is now therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus . A believer is out of the power of damnation . Will a father passe the sentence upon his own sonne ? He may , as in some cases Judges have done in their circuit : but God will not . God doth so love his eldest Son , that for his sake he will not destroy any of his adopted sons . Indeed , every believer is like to Christ the eldest Son ; He hath the same spirit , the same judgement , the same will : so that there being something of Christ the eldest Son in every adopted son , God will not destroy him ; for then he should throw something of Christ into hell . 2. The second royalty is , a new name . In two cases the name is changed ; in marriage the wife loseth her own name ; and in adoption , he that is adopted , assumes a new name ; before a Slave , now a Sonne ; of a sinner , a Saint ; To him that overcomes , I will give a white stone , and in the stone a new name written * . The white stone , that is remission , and the new name , that is adoption ; and the new name is put in the white stone , to shew , that our adoption is grounded upon our justification ; and this new name is written , to shew , that God hath all the names of his children enrolled in the Book of life . 3. The third Royalty or priviledge of adoption , is a new Scutchion . You may see the Saints scutchion , or coat armour : The Scripture hath set forth their heraldry . Sometimes they give the Lion , in regard of their courage , Prov. 28.1 . Indeed , they are neerly allied to him , who is the Lion of the tribe of Iudah . Sometimes they give the Eagle , in regard of their sublimenesse : They are ever flying up to heaven upon the two wings of faith and love , Isa. 40.31 . They shall mount up with wings as Eagles . Sometimes they give the Dove , in regard of their meekness and innocency , Cant. 2.14 . O my Dove , that art in the clefts of the rock . This is the dignity of a a believer , he hath a new Scutchion . 4. He that is adopted , is heir apparent to all the promises . There is never a promise in the Bible , but a childe of God may say , this is mine : therefore they are called the heirs of the promise * . The promises are called great and precious , 1 Pet. 1.4 . Great , for their extent : Precious , for their excellency . The promises are a Cabinet of jewels , they are brests full of the wine of consolation ; there is Christ and heaven in a promise ; now he that is adopted is made an heir of the promise , and he may lay a legall claim to it . An unbeliever hath nothing to do with these priviledges . Ishmael was the son of the bond-woman , he had no right to the family : Cast out the bond-woman and her son , as Sarah once said to Abraham , Gen. 21.10 . So the unbeliever is not adopted , he is none of the family ; and God will say at the day of Judgement , Cast out this son of the bond-woman into outer darknesse , where is weeping and gnashing of teeth . §. 4. The Corrolaries , or necessary inferences from adoption . This blessed state of adoption doth strongly infer two things . 1. Gods love . 2. Gods care . 1. Adoption sets forth Gods complacency , or love to the Saints . Adoption is enriched with love . For a King to take a galley-slave and adopt him for his son , what is this but love ? When we were galley-slaves to the devil , then did God invest us with the priviledge of son-ship , 1 Ioh. 3.1 . Behold , what manner of love hath the Father bestowed upon us , that we should be called the sons of God ? It is mercy that feeds a sinner , but it is rich mercy that adopts him . If the Saints are children , all Gods transactions toward them are love . Let him do what he will with them , yet he loves them , they are adopted . Object . But God is angry with them . Answ. Gods love and his anger towards his children are not opposita , but diversa , they may stand together , he is angry in love ; * As many as I love , I rebuke and chasten . A bitter pill may be as needfull for preserving health , as a julip or cordial : God afflicts with the same love he adopts : Deus irascitur cùm non irascitur : God is most angry , when he is not angry . Affliction is an argument of son-ship . If you endure chastnings , God dealeth with you as with sonnes * . God had one Sonne without sinne , but no sonne without stripes : Afflictions are refining , Prov. 17.3 . The fining pot is for silver ; and the furnace for Gold. Fiery trials make golden Christians . Afflictions are purifying , Dan. 12.10 . Many shall be tried , and made white . We think , God is going to destroy us , but he only layes us a whitening . God will make us at last bless him for our sufferings . Oculos quos peccatum claudit , poena aperit : The eyes that sin shuts , affliction opens . When Manasseh was in chaines , then he knew the Lord was God. Every Christian must go to heaven upon the crosse . First , the stones in Solomons Temple were hewn and polished , and then set up into a building : first , the Saints ( who are called * lively stones ) must be hewen and carved by sufferings , as the corner-stone was , and so made meet for the celestiall building . Object . 2. But sometimes those that are adopted are under the black clouds of desertion : How doth this consist with love ? Answ. 1. Yet God leaves a seed of comfort : He that believes , hath the seed of God in him * . Gods children when they want the Sun , yet they have a day-s●ar in their heart . They have the work of sanctification , when they want the wine of consolation : Grace is better then comfort . 2. I answer , God may forsake his children in regard of vision , but not in regard of union . Thus it was with Jesus Christ , when he cried out , My God , my God. There was not a separation of the union between him and his Father , only a suspension of the vision * . When the Moon doth intervene between us and the Sun , there follows an eclipse . Gods love , through the interposition of our sins , may be darkned and eclipsed , but still he is a Father . The Sun may be hid in a cloud , but it is not out of the Firmament . The promises in time of desertion may be as it were sequestred ; we have not that comfort from them as formerly ; but still the believers title holds good in law . 3. Whe● God hides his face from his childe , his heart may be towards him . God may change his countenance , but not his heart . It is one thing for God to desert , another thing to dis-inherit . * How shall I give thee up , O Ephraim ? Hos. 8.11 . This is a Metaphor taken from a father going to dis-inherit his son , and while he is going to set his hand to the deed , his bowels begin to melt , and to yearn over him : though he be a prodigal childe , yet he is a childe , I will not cut off the entail : So saith God , How shall I give thee up ? though Ephraim hath been a rebellious son , yet he is a son , I will not dis-inherit him . Gods heart may be full of love , when there is a vaile upon his face . The Lord may change his dispensation towards his children , but not his disposition . The believer may say , I am adopted , and let God do what he will with me , let him take the rod , or the staffe , 't is all one , he loves me . 2. Adoption sets forth Gods tender care . Will not a father take care for his child ? This care of God shines forth in two things . 1. Prevention . 2. Provision . 1. In Prevention : God ever lies sentinell to keep off evill from us . 1. Temporal evill . There are many casualties and contingencies , to which we are incident ; God shields them off , he keeps watch and ward for his people , Psal. 121.4 . He that keeps Israel , shall neither slumber nor sleep . The eye of providence is ever awake , and God gives his Angels charge over us , Psal. 91.11 . A believer hath a guard of Angels for his life-guard . There is an elegant expression to set this out , He bare you as upon Eagles wings * , an emblem of Gods providendentiall care to his adopted . The Eagle fears no bird from above to hurt her young , only the arrow from beneath ; therefore she carries them upon her wings , that the Arrow must first hit her , before it can come at her young ones : Thus God carries his children upon the wings of providence ; and they are such , that there is no clipping these wings , not can any Arrow hurt them . 2. Spirituall evils , Psalm 91.10 . There shall no evill befall thee : God doth not say , No afflictions shall befall us , but no evil . Question . But sometimes evil in this sense befals the godly ; viz. sin , they spot their garments . Answer 1. But that evill shall not be mortall . As quick-silver is in it selfe dangerous , but by oyntments it is so tempered , that it is killed ; so sinne is in it self deadly , but being tempered with repentance , and mixed with the sacred ointment of Christs blood , the venemous damning nature of it is taken away . 2. Though sinne in it selfe be evil , yet to believers God will bring good out of that evil ; he will humble them , and every trip shall make them the more watchful . Poison is in it selfe evil , but the wise Physician can turne it to a sovereign medicine . 2. In Provision . Hath God adopted us for children , and will he not provide for us ? Behold the fowls of the aire , &c * . Doth a man feed his bird , and will he not feed his childe ? Consider the lilies of the field * . Doth God cloath the lilies , and will he not cloath his lambs ? The Lord careth for us , 1 Peter 5.7 . As long as his heart is full of love , so long his head will be full of care . §. 5. Shewing , The signes of adoption . Quest. But how shall I know that I am adopted ? Answ. If thou hast in thee a child-like heart , which is , 1. A tender heart , 2 Chr. 34.27 . Because thy heart was tender . The heart that was before a flinty , is now become a fleshy heart . The heart is fearful of sin ; the least haire makes the eye weepe , so the least sin makes the heart smite . Davids heart smote him when he cut off the lap of King Saul's garment ; what would it have done if he had cut off his head ? A tender heart is like melting wax to God , he may set what seale he will upon it . A tender heart is like adamant to the threatnings of men ; in this sense , the more tender the heart is , the more hard . 2. A childe-like heart is a praying heart . The Spirit of adoption is a Spirit of supplication : Ye have received the Spirit of adoption , whereby ye cry , Abba , Father * . Before the childe is out of the womb , it cannot crie . While men lie in the womb of their natural estate , they cannot pray , so as to be heard ; but when they are born again of the seed of the Word , then they crie , Abba , Father . Prayer is nothing else but the souls breathing it selfe into the bosome of its Father . Prayer is a sweet and familiar intercourse with God ; He comes down to us upon the wings of his Spirit , and we go up to him upon the wings of prayer . It is reported in the life of Luther , that when he prayed , it was , * tanta reverentia , ut si Deo ; & tanta fiducia , ut si amico : it was with so much reverence , as if he were praying to God ; and with so much boldnesse , as if he had been speaking to his friend . This prayer must have constancy and instancy , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Rom. 12.12 . continuing constant : The heart must boile over . Prayer is compared to groanes unutterable * , it alludes to a woman that is in pangs : we should be in pangs when we are travelling for mercy : such prayer commands God himselfe * . 3. A childe-like heart is a loyall heart ; it is moulded into obedience , 't is like the flower that opens and shuts with the Sun ; so it opens to God , and shuts to tentation : This is the language of obedience , it is written in the volume of my heart ; I delight to do thy will , O my God. 4. A childe-like heart is a zealous heart . 'T is impatient of Gods dishonour . Moses was cool in his own cause ; but hot in Gods. When the people of Israel had wrought folly in the golden calfe , he breaks the Tables . As we shall answer for idle words , so for sinful silence . It is dangerous in this sense to be possessed with a dumb devil . David saith , the zeale of Gods house had * eaten him up . Many Christians , whose zeal once had almost eaten them up , now they have eaten up their zeal . Let men talk of bitternesse , for my part , I can never believe that he hath the heart of a childe in him , that can be patient when Gods glory suffers . Can an ingenuous childe endure to heare his father reproached ? Though we should be silent under Gods displeasure , yet not under his dishonour . When there is a fire of zeal kindled at the heart , it will breake forth at the lips . Zeale tempered with holinesse , this white and sanguine is the best complexion of the soule . Of all others , let Ministers be impatient when Gods glory is eclipsed and impeached . Let not them be either shaken with fear , or seduced with flattery ; they are Gods ensign-bearers , his warriours * , and therefore must discharge against sin . God never made Ministers to be as false glasses , to make bad faces look fair . ●or want of this fire of zeale , they are in danger of another fire , even the burning lake , Rev. 21.8 . into which the fearfull shall be cast . CHAP. V. Shewing that things to come are a Believers . AND so I slide into the second part of the Text , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Things to come are yours : here is portion enough ! It is a great comfort that when things present are taken away , yet things to come are ours . Me thinks , the very naming this word , Things to come , should make the spirits of a Christian revive . It is a sweet word ; our happinesse is in reversion , the best is behinde , all is not yet come that is promised . Truly , if we had nothing but what we have here , we were miserable (a) ; here are disgraces , martyrdomes ; we must taste some of that Gall and Vineger which Jesus Christ drank upon the Crosse : but O Christian , be of good chear , there is something to come : The best part of your portion is yet unpaid . All things to come are yours . God deals with us , as a Merchant , that shews the worst piece of cloath first . We meete sometimes with course usage in the world , that piece which is of the finest spinning , is kept till we come at heaven . It is true , God doth chequer his work in this life , a white spot with a black ; he gives us something to sweeten our pilgrimage here , the Praelibations and tastes of his love ; these are the earnest and first-fruits , but what is this to that which is to come ? Now we are the sonnes of God , 1 Iohn 3.2 . But it doth not yet appear what we shall be : expect that God should keep his best wine till last ; Things to come are yours . CHAP. VI. The first Prerogative ; To Come . BUt what are those things that are to come ? Answ. There are twelve things yet to come , the which I call twelve Prerogatives Royal , wherewith the Believer shall be invested . The first is set down in the Text which I will begin with . * 1. Death is yours . Death in Scripture is called an Enemy , 1 Cor. 15.26 . Yet here it is put in a Christians Inventory , Death is yours . 'T is an enemy to the mortal part , but a friend to the spiritual . It is one of our best friends next to Christ ; Death is a part of the joincture . When Moses saw his rod turned into a serpent , it did at the first affright him , and he fled from it ; but when God bade him take hold of it , he found by the miraculous effects which it wrought , it did him and the people of Israel much good ; so death at the first sight is like the rod turned into a serpent , it affrights ; but when by Faith we take hold of it , then we finde much benefit and comfort in it . As Moses rod divided the waters , and made a passage for Israel into Canaan * ; So death divides the Waters of Tribulation , and makes a passage for us into the land of promise . Death is called the King of Terrours * , but it can do a childe of God no hurt ; the sting is pull'd out * ; The Bee by stinging loseth its sting : While death did sting Christ upon the Crosse , it hath quite lost its sting to a Believer : It can hurt the soule no more then David did King Saul , when he cut off the lap of his garment . Death to a Believer , is but like the Arresting of a man for a Debt , after the Debt is paid ; Death , as Gods Sergeant at Armes , may Arrest us , and carry us before Gods Justice , but Christ will shew our discharge ; the Debt-book is crossed in his blood . Quest. How is Death ours ? Answ. Two wayes . 1. It is the Out-let to Sin. 2. It is the In-let to happiness . 1. Death to a Beleever , is an Out-let to Sin ▪ we are in this life under a sinful necessity ; even the best Saint ; There is not a just man upon earth , that doth good and sinneth not . * Evill thoughts are continually arising out of our hearts , as sparks out of a Furnace . Sin keeps house with us whether we will or no ; the best Saint alive is troubled with In-mates ; though he forsakes his sinnes , yet his sinnes will not forsake him . 1. Sin doth indispose to good ; How to performe that which is good I finde not , Rom. 7. ver . 18. When we would pray , the heart is as a Voyal out of tune : When we would weepe , we are as clouds without rain . 2. Sin doth irritate to evil ; The Flesh lusts against the Spirit * : There needs no winde of Tentation , we have Tide strong enough in our hearts , to carry us to Hell. Consider sinne under this threefold notion . 1. Sin is a body of death * , and that not impertinently . First , It is a body , for its weight . The body is an heavy and weighty substance : so is Sin a body , it weighs us down . When we should pray , the weights of Sin are tied to our feet that we cannot ascend . Anselm seeing a little Boy playing with a Bird , he let her flie up , and presently pulls the Bird down againe by a string : So , saith he , it is with me , as with this Bird ; when I would flie up to heaven upon the wings of meditation , I finde a string tied to my leg ; I am over-powered with corruption : but Death pulls off these weights of sin and le ts the Soul free . Secondly , Sin is a body of death for its annoyance . It was a cruel torment that one * used , he tied a dead man to a living , that the dead man might annoy and infest the living . Thus it is with a childe of God , he hath two men within him , Flesh and Spirit , Grace and Corruption ▪ here is the dead man tied to the living ; a proud sinful heart is worse to a childe of God , then the smell of a dead Corps . Indeed , to a natural man sinne is not offensive , for being dead in sinne , he is not sensible of the body of death : but where there is a vitall principle , there is no greater annoyance then the body of Death : Insomuch that the pious soule oft cries out , as David , Wo is me , that I dwell in Mesek , and sojourn in the tents of Kedar * . So saith he , Wo is me , that I am constrained to abide with sin . How long shall I be troubled with inmates ? How long shall I offend that God whom I love ? When shall I leave these Tents of Kedar ? 2. Sinne is a Tyrant , it carries in it the nature of a Law ; the Apostle calls it the law in his members * . There is the law of Pride ; the law of Unbelief ; it hath a kinde of jurisdiction , as Caesar over the Senate , perpetuam dictaturam * . What I hate that do I : The Apostle was like a man carried down the streame , and was not able to beare up against it . Sinne takes us prisoners ; whence are our carnal fears ? whence our passions ? whence is it that a childe of God doth that which he allows not ; yea , against knowledge ? only this , he is for a time Sinnes Prisoner : The Flesh oft prevailes ( though in coole blood , the elder shall serve the younger ; ) whence is it , that he who is borne of God , should be so earthly ? The reason is , he is captived under sin : but be of good chear , where grace makes a Combate , death shall make a Conquest . 3. Sin is a leprous spot . It makes every thing we touch uncleane : We reade , when the Leprosie did spread in the walls of the house , the Priests commanded them to take away the stones in the wall , in which the Plague was , and take other stones , and put in the place of those stones , and take other morter , Levit. 14.42 . * But when the Plague spread againe in the wall , then he must break downe the house with the stones and timber thereof , Vers. 45. * Thus in every man naturally , there is a fretting leprosie of sinne , pride , impenitency , &c. These are leprous spots : now in conversion , here God doth , as it were , take away the old stones and timber , and put new in the roome ; he makes a change in the heart of a sinner * , but still the leprousie of sinne spreads ; then at last , death comes and pulls down the stones and timber of the house , and the soule is quite freed from the leprousie . Sinne is a defiling thing , it makes us red with guilt , and black with filth * ; 'T is compared to a menstruous cloath * ; we need carry it no higher . Pliny tells us that the Trees with touching of it , would become barren * ; and Hierom saith , Nihil in lege menstruato immundius ; there was nothing in the Law more uncleane , then the menstruous cloath ; this is sinne . Sinne drawes the Devils picture in a man ; malice , is the Devils eye ; oppression , is his hand ; hypocrisie , is his cloven foot ; but behold , death will give us our discharge , death is the last and best Physician * ; which cures all diseases ; the aking head , and the unbelieving heart . Peccatum erat obstetrix mortis , & mors erit sepulchrum peccati . Sinne was the Mid-wife that brought Death into the World , and Death shall be the Grave to bury Sinne ; O the Priviledge of a Beleever ! he is not taken away in his sinnes ; but he is taken away from his sinnes . The Persians had a certaine day in the yeare , which they called vitiorum interitum , wherein they used to kill all Serpents and venemous creatures : * Such a day as that will the day of death be to a man in Christ. This day the old Serpent dies in a Beleever , that hath so often stung him with his temptations : this day the sinnes of the godly , these venemous creatures shall all be destroyed ; they shall never be proud more , they shall never grieve the Spirit of God more ; the Death of the body shall quite destroy the Body of death . 2. Death to a Believer , is an Inlet to happinesse : Sampson found an honey-combe in the Lions carcase ; so may a childe of God suck much sweetnesse from death . Death is the gate of life ; death pulls off our rags , and gives us change of rayment : all the hurt it doth us , is to put us into a better condition . Death is called in Scripture a sleepe , 1 Thes. 4.14 . Those that sleepe in Iesus : as after sleep the spirits are exhilarated and refreshed : so after Death , the times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord. Death is yours . Death opens the portal into Heaven , as Tertullian speakes : The day of a Christian's death , is the birth-day of his heavenly life ; it is his Ascension-day to glory ; it is his Marriage-day with Jesus Christ. After our Funerall begins our Marriage ; Well then might Solomon say , Better is the day of a mans death , then the day of his birth * . Death is the spiritual man's preferment , why then should he fear it ? Death , I confesse hath a grimme visage to an impenitent sinner , so it is ghastly to look upon ; it is a pursuivant to carry him to hell : but to such as are in Christ , Death is yours : It is a part of the Joincture . Death is like the Pillar of cloud * , it hath a dark-side to a sinner ; but it hath a light-side to a believer : Deaths pale face looks ruddy , when the blood of sprinkling is upon it ; in short , Faith gives us a propriety in Heaven , Death gives us a possession ; Feare not your priviledge ; the thoughts of death should be delightfull . Iacob , when he saw the Chariots , his spirits revived : Death is a Waggon or Chariot , to carry us to our Fathers house . What were the Martyrs flames but a fiery Chariot to carry them up to Heaven ? How should we long for Death ? This world is but a Desart we live in : Shall we not be willing to leave it for Paradise ? We say , It is good to be here ; we affect an earthly eternity : but grace must curb nature . Think of the priviledges of Death . The Planets have a proper motion , and a violent ; by their proper motion they are carried from the West to the East ; but by a violent motion they are over-ruled by the Primum Mobile , and are carried from the East to the West : So though naturally we desire to live here , as we are made up of flesh ; yet grace should be as the primum mobile , or master-wheele , that swayes our will , and carries us in a violent motion , making us long for death . Saint Paul desired to be dissolved : and 2 Corinth . 5.2 . In this we groane earnestly , desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven : we would put off the earthly cloathes of our body , and put on the bright robe of immortality ; we groane , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 'T is a Metaphor taken from a mother , who being pregnant , groanes and cries out for delivery . Austine longed to die , that he might see that head which was once crowned with thornes . We pray , Thy Kingdome come : and when God is leading us into his Kingdome , shall we be afraid to go ? The times we live in should , me thinks , make us long for death : we live in dying times , we may heare as it were Gods passing Bell , ringing over these Nations . Foelix Nepotianus , qui haec non videt , as Hierome said in his time ; Nepotian is an happy man , that doth not see the evils which befall us : they are wel that are out of the storm and are gotten already to the haven : To me to die is gaine * . Quest. But who shall have this priviledge ? Answ. death is certaine : but there are only two sorts of Persons , to whom we may say , Death is yours . 'T is your preferment . 1. Such as die daily : We are not borne Angels , die we must ; Therefore we had need carry alwayes a deaths-head about us . The Basilisk if it see a man first , it kills him ; but if he see it first , it doth him no hurt : The Basilisk death , if it sees us first , before we see it , 't is dangerous : but if we see it first by meditating upon it , it doth us no hurt : study death , often walke among the Tombs . It is the thoughts of death before-hand , that must do us good . In a dark night , one Torch carried before a man , is worth many Torches carried after him : one serious thought of death before-hand , one teare shed for sinne before death , is worth a thousand shed after , when it is too late . 'T is good to make Death our familiar , and in this sense to be in Deaths oft : * that if God should presently seal a lease of ejectment , if he should send us a Letter of Summons this night to surrender , we might have nothing to do but to die . Alas , how do we adjourne the thoughts of death ▪ 'T is almost death to think of it . There are some that are in the very threshold of the grave , who have one legge in the earth and another legge in hell : yet put farre from them the evil day * . I have read of our Lysicrates , who in his old age dyed his gray hairs black , that he might seeme young againe . When we should be building our Tombes , we are building our Tabernacles : die daily , lest you die eternally . The holy Patriarchs in purchasing for themselves a burying place , shewed us what thoughts they still had of Death . Ioseph of Arimathea erected his Sepulchre in his Garden : we have many that set up the Trophies of their victories ; others that set up their Scutchions , that they may blaze their honour : but how few that set up their Sepulchres ? who erect in their hearts , the serious thoughts of death ? Oh , remember when you are in your gardens , in places most delicious and fragrant , to keep a place for your Tomb-stone : die daily . There is no better way to bring sinne into a Consumption , then by oft looking on the pale horse , and him that sits thereon * . By thinking on death , we begin to repent of an evil life ; and so we disarme death before it comes , and cut the lock where its strength lies . 2. Such as are in Heaven before they die : death is yours . If we will needs be high-minded , let it be in setting our minde upon heavenly things . Heaven must come down into us before we go up thither . A childe of God breaths his faith in Heaven ; his thoughts are there : When I awake , I am still with thee , Psal. 139.17 . David awaked in Heaven , his conversation is there , Philip. 3.20 . For our conversation is in Heaven . The Believer often ascends Mount Tabor , and takes a prospect of glory . O that we had this celestial frame of heart ! When Zacheus was in the croud , he was too low to see Christ ; therefore he climbed up into the Sycomore-Tree * : When we are in a croud of worldly businesse , we cannot see Christ : Climb up into the tree by divine contemplation : If thou wouldest get Christ into thy heart , let Heaven be in thy eye : Set your affections upon things above * , Colos. 3.2 . There needs no exhortation to set our hearts upon things below . How is the curse of the Serpent upon most men ? Upon thy belly shalt thou go , and dust shalt thou eat all the dayes of thy life * . Those that feed onely upon dust , Golden dust , will be unwilling to returne to dust : Death will be terrible . The tribes of Reuben and Gad desired Moses that they might stay on this side Iordan , and have their portion there ; it being a place convenient for their Cattel * : It seems they minded their Cattel more then their passage into the holy Land : so many Christians , if they may have but a little grazing here in the world , in their Shops , and in their Farms , they art content to live on this side the River , and minde not their passage into the Land of Promise : you that are in heaven before you die , Death is yours . An earthly Saint , is a contradiction . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a man refined and separated from the earth : if an Astronomer , in stead of observing the Planets , and the motions of the Heavens , should take a reed in his hand , and fall a measuring of the earth , would not this be counted a solecisme ? and is it not as great a solecisme in Religion , when men that pretend to have Christ and heaven in their eye , yet minde earthly things ? Phil. 3.19 . Our souls , me thinks , should be like to a ship , which is made little and narrow downwards , but more wide and broad upwards : So our affections should be very narrow downwards to the earth , but wide and large upwards towards heavenly things . Thus we see death is a priviledge to believers ; death is yours : the heire , while he is under age , is capable of the land he is borne to : but he hath not the use or the benefit of it , till he comes of age ; be as old as you will , you are never of age till you die : Death brings us of age , and then the possession comes into our hands . CHAP. VII . The second Prerogative Royall of a Believer . NOw I proceed to the second Prerogative , which is yet to come : what holy David saith of Sion , Glorious things are spoken of thee , O thou City of God , Psalm . 87.3 . I may apply to these blessed things in reversion . 2. The second Prerogative royall of a Christian , is , he shall be carried up by the Angels : In this life , a believer is carried by the Saints ; they lift him upon the wings of their prayers , and when they can carry him no longer , after death the Angels take him , and carry him up : thus shall it be done to the man whom God will honour . Wicked men who are of the Devils life-guard , when they die , they shall have a black-guard of Angels to carry them : Thou who art an old sinner ( that hast an hoary head , but thy heart is as young in sinne as ever ▪ ) I may say to thee , as Christ said in another sense , to Peter : When thou art old , thou shalt stretch forth thy hands , and another shall gird thee , and carry thee whither thou wouldest not * . So I say , Thou old sinner , the time is shortly coming , when thou shalt stretch forth thy hands on thy death-bed , and another shall binde thee , and carry thee whither thou wouldest not ; thou shalt be carried by a black-guard : but a believer shall be carried by the Angels into Heaven : The begger died , and was carried by the Angels into Abraham 's bosome * . Abraham's bosome is a figurative speech , representing the seat of the Blessed : thither was he carried by the Angels : Poore Lazarus , when he was upon earth , he had no friends , but dogs to come at him ; when he was dead , he had ● convoy of Angels . After our fall ▪ the Angels ( as well as God ) fell out with us , and became our enemies ; hence , we reade that the Angels ( set out by the Cherubims ) stood with a flaming sword , to keepe our first Parents out of Paradise , Gen. 3.24 . but being at peace with God , we are at peace with the Angels : Therefore the Angell comes with an Olive-branch of Peace in his mouth , and proclaimes with triumph , the newes of Christs incarnation , Luk. 2.11 . For unto you is borne , in the City of David , a Saviour , which is Christ the Lord : the Angels blesse God for mans Redemption , Ver. 13. And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly hoast praising God , and saying , Glory be to God in the highest . The Angels love mankinde ( especially where there is the new-man ) and are ready to do all friendly offices for us : as in our life-time , they are our supporters Psal. 91.11 . He shall give his Angels charge to keep thee : So after death they are our Porters : Lazarus was carried up by the Angels . The Angels are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ministring Spirits * ; they are willing to minister for the good of the Saints : Hence some observe , it is said , Lazarus was carried , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by the Angels , in the plurall , not by one Angel : as if the Angels had been ambitious to carry Lazarus , and every one strived which should have a part : wicked men do not strive more , who shall have a part in the death of the godly , then the Angels do , who shall beare a part in their ascension . O in what pomp and triumph did Lazarus's soule now ride ! never was Dives so honoured in his life , as Lazarus was at his death . For a King to help to carry the Hearse of one of his Subjects , were an high honour ; but a believer shall have a guard of Angels to conduct him . Amasis King of Egypt , that he might set forth his magnificence , would have his Chariot drawn with foure Princes , which he had conquered in the War : but what was all this to the Chariot in which Lazarus , and the soul of every believer shall be drawn at their death ? they shall be carried by the Angels of God. CHAP. VIII . The third Prerogative Royal of a Believer . THe next great Prerogative is , The Believer shall be with Christ in glory , Phil. 1.23 . I desire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to be dissolved , or loosen anchor , and to be with Christ * . This is a priviledge of the first magnitude : surely , we can be no losers by being with Christ. A graft or scion , though it be taken out of the tree , it doth not perish , but is set into a better stock : thus it is with a Christian ; while he is here , ( even after Conversion ) there is much of the wilde Olive still in him ; now when this scion , by death is cut off , he doth not perish , but is set into a more noble and generous stock , he is with Christ , which is farre better : a state of perfection , is better then a state of imperfection . Our graces are our best jewels , but they are imperfect and do not give out their full lustre : they are like the Moon , which when it shines brightest , hath a darke spot . Our faith is mingled with unbeliefe , our humility is stained with pride ; the flame of our graces is not so pure , but it hath some smoake ; grace is but in its infancy and minority , it will never be of full growth till we are with Christ. This is the highest link in the chaine of glory , we shall be with Christ. What is it the pious soule desires in this life ? is it not to have the sweet presence of Christ ? he cares for nothing , but what hath aliquid Christi * , something of Christ in it ▪ he loves duties , only as they are manuductions to Christ ▪ why is prayer so sweet , but because the soul hath private conference with Christ ? Why is the Word precious , but because it is a meanes to convey Christ ? he comes down to us upon the wings of the Spirit ; and we go up to him upon the wings of Faith : An ordinance without Christ , is but feeding upon the dish in stead of the meat . Why doth the wife ●ove the Letter , but because it brings news of her husband ? Here we enjoy Christ by letters , and that is sweet ; but what will it be to enjoy his presence in glory ? Here is that which may amaze us , we shall be with Christ , Christ is all that is desirable ; nay , he is more then we can desire . A man that is thirsty , he desires onely a little water to quench his thirst ; but bring him to the Sea , and here is more then he can desire . In Christ , there is not onely a fulnesse of sufficiency , but a fulnesse of redundancy ; it overflows all the banks : a Christian that is most sublimated by Faith , hath neither an head to devise , nor an heart to desire all that which is in Christ ; onely when we come to Heaven , God will enlarge the vessell of our desire , and will fill us as Christ did the Water-pots with Wine , * up to the brim . Now this priviledge of being with Christ , hath six priviledges growing out of it . SECT . I. The first Priviledge of being with Christ. 1. VIsion , Job 19. ver . 26. In my flesh shall I see God * ; the sight of Jesus Christ will be the most sublime and ravishing object to a glorified Saint . When Christ was upon earth , his beauty was hid . He hath no forme or comelinesse * : the light of the divine nature was hid in the darke lanthorne of the humane : it was hid under reproaches , sufferings ; yet even at that time , there was enough beauty in Christ to delight the heart of God. My Elect in whom my soul delighteth * : then his vaile was upon his face , but what will it be when the vaile shall be taken off , and he shall appeare all in his embroydery ? In him dwels the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily , Col. 2.9 . Such glittering beames shall sparkle forth from Christ at that day as will infinitely amaze and ravish the eyes of the beholders . Imagine what a blessed sight it will be to see Christ wearing the robe of our humane nature , & to see that nature sitting in glory above the Angels ; Ipse Deus sufficit ad praemium : 'T is Heaven enough to see Christ. Whom have I in heaven but thee * ? * There are , saith Musculus , Angels and Arch-angels ; I but they do not make Heaven : Christ is the most sparkling Diamond in the ring of glory . Therefore the Apostle doth not say , I desire to be dissolved , and to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in heaven , but to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , with Christ : because his presence is the heaven of heaven . If Jesus Christ be so beautiful here in his ordinances , viz. Word , Prayer , Sacraments , ( they are the beauties of holinesse ) If there be so much excellency in Christ , when we see him by the eye of faith , through the prospective glasse of the promise : O what will it be , when we shall see him face to face ! When Christ was transfigured on the Mount , he was full of glory , Mat. 17.2 . His rayment was white as the light . If his transfiguration was so glorious , what will his inauguration be ? What a glorious time will it be , when , as it was said of Mordec●i * , we shall see him in the presence of his Father , arrayed in royall apparel , and with a great crown of gold upon his head . Oh look often upon him with a believing eye , whom you shall shortly see with a glorified eye . That which will adde to the Saints vision , and make it truly beatificall , is , that ( through Christ ) the dread , and terrour of the divine Essence shall be taken away ; Majesty shall appeare in God , to preserve reverence , but withal , Majesty cloathed with beauty , and tempered with sweetnesse to excite love and joy in the Saints . Through the face of Christ as through a bright Mirrour , or Crystall the glory of God , his wisdome , holinesse , mercy shall be sweetly transparent . We shall see God as a friend ; not as guilty Adam did , who was afraid and hid himselfe * ; but as Queen Esther looked upon King Ahashuerus holding forth the Golden scepter * . We shall have the smiles of Gods face , and the kisses of his lips . O what a blessed sight of God will this be ! surely it will not be formidable , but comfortable ; and to set off this vision the more , the Saints shall alwayes be beholding the Kings face ; while they live here in the world Gods eye is never off from them , and in heaven their eye shall be never off from God ; they shall be ever looking on that blessed object , and the more they behold the shining lustre of his glory , the more they shall be ravished both with desire , and delight . God must make us able to beare the sight of all this . We are no more able to beare a sight of glory , then a sight of wrath , but we shall be qualified , and made fit to receive these penetrating beames . SECT . II. The second Priviledge of being with Christ. THe next Priviledge is Union ; our being with Christ is not only locall , but conjugall : We shall so behold him as to be made one with him . What nearer then union ? what sweeter ? Union is the spring of joy , the ground of priviledge ; by vertue of this blessed union with Christ , all those rare beauties wherewith the humane nature of the Lord Jesus is bespangled , shall be ours . Let us compare two Scriptures , Ioh. 17.24 . Father , I will that they also whom thou hast given me , be with me , where I am , that they may behold my glory . That is , the glory of the humane nature ; but that is not all , Ver. 22. The glory that thou hast given me , I have given them . Christ hath not his glory onely for himselfe , but for us : we shall shine by his beames : * Here Christ puts his graces upon his Spouse , and in heaven he will put his glory upon her . No wonder then the Queens daughter is all glorious within , Psal. 45.14 . and her cloathing of wrought gold . How glorious will the Spouse be , when she hath Christ's jewels upon her ? Judge not of the Saints by what they are , but by what they shall be : It doth not yet appeare what we shall be , 1 Joh. 3.1 . Why , what shall we be ? We shall be like him . The Spouse of Christ shall not only be made one with Christ , but she shall be made like Christ : in other marriages , the Spouse changeth her condition , but here she changeth her complexion : not that the Saints in glory shall receive of Christ's Essence ( a Socinian errour , ) They shall have as much glory , as the humane nature is capable of : but though Christ conveys his Image , yet not his Essence . The Sun shining upon a glasse , leaves a print of its beauty there ; and it is hard to distinguish between the glass and the sun-beam : but the glass is not the beam , the sun conveys only it's likenesse , not it's essence . SECT . III. The third Priviledge of being with Christ. THe next priviledge , is , Nobility : which consists in Three Things . 1. Every Saint shall be a King : There are some that aspire after earthly Scepters , as if here were the place of the Saints reigne : then surely , the Church of God should not be militant upon earth , but triumphant . But , behold the honour of the Saints , they shall be all Kings ! ( though I say not in this life ) all Christs Subjects are Kings : therefore you read of , 1. Their Royal ●obe , Revel . 6. v. 11. 2. Their Throne , Revel . 3 , v. 21. To him that overcomes , I will give him to sit upon my Fathers throne . Perhaps here he had but a poor thatched house , but there a Throne . 3. Their Crown . In this world , the Saints weare a crown of Thornes , but there a crown of Glory : and this crown hath two Properties . 1. It is Incorruptible , 1 Pet. 5.4 . it fades not away ; it doth not wither : but after millions of years is as bright and flourishing , as at the first dayes wearing ; eternity is a flower of the Saints crown . 2. It is unmixed , it hath no cares woven into it : Kings crowns are so weighty in regard of the cares and sorrowes appendant , * that often they make their head ake . Cyrus the Persian King was wont to say , Did men but know the cares which he sustained under an Imperiall crown , he thought no man would stoop to take it up . The Crown Royall , though it may be made of pure gold , yet it is mixt mettal : but the Saints Crown in glory , is without mixture : it is not mingled with care of keeping , or feare of losing : oh then , let us be willing to suffer for Christ ; if we beare the Crosse , we shall wear the Crown . A second Part of the Saints honour is , they shall sit with Jesus Christ when he judgeth the world : Know ye not that the Saints shall judge the world * ? The Saints shall sit with Christ in Judicature , as the Justice of Peace with the Judge : the Saints are Christs Assessors ; they shall be with him upon the Bench , applauding his righteous sentence . O , what a glorious Tribunal will that be ! here the world judgeth the Saints , but there the Saints shall judge the world . 3. They shall sit nearer the Throne then the Angels : the Angels are noble and sublime Spirits , but Christ having taken our flesh , the knot being tied between the Divine and Humane Nature in the Virgins womb , we shall be ennobled with greater honour then the Angels : the Angels are Christs friends , but not his brethren ; we are flesh of his flesh . He is not ashamed to call them brethren * : and surely , Christ will see them of the blood royall advanced . To what Angels hath Christ said , Ye are my brethren ? This honour have all his Saints . As the Saints robes in glory shal be brighter then the Angels , ( their 's being only the righteousnesse of creatures , but these having upon them the Righteousness of God * ▪ ) So their dignity shall be greater . O infinite ! here we are prisoners at bar , but there Favourites at Court : the Saints shall sit down in glory above the Angels . SECT . IV. The fourth Priviledge of being with Christ. THe next priviledge is Joy : This joy of the Saints , proceeds from Union ; when our union with Christ is perfect , then our joy shall be full , Rev. 21.4 . And God shall wipe away all tears , and there shall be no more sorrow . 1. There shall be no weeping . Jesus Christ hath provided a Spunge to wipe off the tears of the Saints . Here the Spouse is in Sable , it being a time of absence from her Husband * : But in heaven Christ will take away the Spouses mourning ; he will pull off all her black , and bloody robes , and will cloath her in white robes , Revel . 7.13 . White , as it is an Embleme of the Saints purity , so it is a type of their joy ; heaven should not be heaven , if there were weeping there : hell indeed is called a place of weeping ; they that would not shed a teare for their sinnes , while they lived , shall have weeping enough ; but we never read of weeping in heaven . Christ will take downe our harps from the Willows ; there he will call for his Heralds and trumpeters : the Angels , those blessed Quiristers , shall sing the divine anthems of praise ▪ an● the Saints shall joyne in that heavenly Consort . If it were possible , that any teares could be shed , when we are with Christ , they should be the teares of joy , as sometimes we have seene a man weepe for exessive joy ; Christ will turne all our water there into wine . 2. There shall be no sorrow ; one smile from Christs face will make us forget all our afflictions : sorrow is a cloud gathered in the heart upon the apprehension of some evil : and weeping is the cloud of griefe dropping into raine : but in heaven the Sun of righteousness shall shine so bright , that there shall not be the least interposition of any cloud ; there shall be no sorrow there , nor any thing to breed it : there shall be no sin to humble ; heaven is such a pure soile , that the Viper of sin will not breed there ; there shall be no Devil to tempt ; the old Serpent is cast out of the heavenly Paradise . There shall be no Enemy to molest : When Israel had conquered Canaan , yet they could not get rid of all the Canaanites , they would live among them ; But the Canaanites would dwell in that land * : But when we are with Christ , we shall never be troubled with Canaanites more . In that day ( I may allude to that of the Prophet ) there shall be no more the Canaanite dwell in the house of the Lord * . God will keep the heavenly Paradise with a flaming Sword , that none shall come neere to hurt : Upon all that glory shall be a defence * . There shall be nothing to breed sorrow in heaven . There are two things that usually raise the clouds of sorrow , and both shall be removed when we are with Christ. 1. The frownes of great men : how ambitious are men of the Princes smile ? but alas , that quickly sets in a cloud , and then their comforts are in the wain , they are sad ! but when we are with Christ , we shall have a perpetual smile from God : the Saints shall never be out of favour , Jesus Christ is the great favorite at Court ; and as long as God smiles upon Christ , so long he will smile upon the Saints , they having on Christs beauty , and being part of Christ. 2. The losse of deare friends : a friend imparts secrets ; friendship is the marriage of affections , it makes two become one spirit . David and Ionathan tooke sweete counsel together , their heart was knit in one : now here is the grief , when this precious knot must be untyed : but be of good cheare , if thy friend belong to the election , after thou hast parted with thy sinnes , thou shalt meet with him and never part . If thy friend be wicked , though he were thy friend on earth , thou wilt cease to be his friend in heaven . The pious wife shall not complaine she hath lost her husband , nor the religious Parent , that he hath lost his childe ; all relations are infinitely made up in Christ , as the whole constellation in the Sunne , that great Lamp of Heaven . When a man comes to the sea , he doth not complaine that he wants his Cisterne of water : Though thou didst suck some comfort from thy relations ; yet when thou comest to the Ocean , and art with Christ , thou shalt never complaine , that thou hast left thy cistern behinde : There will be nothing to breed sorrow in heaven ; there shall be joy , and nothing but joy : Heaven is set out by that phrase , Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord * . Here joy enters into us , there we enter into joy : the joyes we have here , are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ those are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . These are from heaven , those are in heaven : the joyes that we shall have with Christ , are without measure , and without mixture : * In thy presence is fulness of joy . 1. The heart shall be filled . Nothing but Christ can replenish the heart with joy : the understanding , will , affections , are such a triangle , that none can fill but the Trinity . As Christs beauty shall amaze the eye , so his love shall ravish the heart of a glorified Saint ; must it not needs be joy to be with Christ ? what joy when a Christian shall see the great gulfe shot between heaven and hell ? What joy when Christ shall take us into the Wine-celler ? and kisse us with the kisses of his lips ? What joy when the match shall be at once made up , and solemnized between Christ and a believer ? these are the more noble and generous delights . 2. All the senses shall be filled with joy ; and , at once ; The eye shall be filled ; What joy to see that Orient brightnesse in the face of Christ ? there you may see the Lily and the Rose mixed , white and ruddy , Cant. 5.10 . The Eare shall be filled ; What joy to the Spouse to heare Christs voice ? The voice of God was dreadful to Adam , after he had listened to the Serpents voice : I heard thy voice in the garden , and was afraid , Gen. 3.10 . But how sweet will the Bridegrooms voice be ? What joy to hear him say , My Love , my Dove , my undefiled ? What joy to heare the musick of Angels , even the heavenly hoast praysing God ? If the eloquence of Origen , the golden mouth of Chrysostome did so affect and charme the eares of their auditours , Oh then what will it be to heare the glorious tongues of Saints and Angels , as so many divine Trumpets sounding forth the excellencies of God , and singing Hallelujahs to the Lamb ? The smell shall be filled ; What joy to smell that fragrancy and perfume that comes from Christ ? All his garments smell of myrrhe , aloes , and Cassia . The sweet breath of his Spirit blowing upon the soule , shall give forth its sent , as the wine of Lebanon . The taste shall be filled ; Christ will bring his Spouse into the banqueting house , and she shall be inebriated with his love ; O what joy to be drinking in this heavenly nectar ? This is the water of life : This is the wine on the lees well refined . The touch shall be filled ; the Saints shall be ever in the embraces of Christ ; Behold my hands and my feet ; handle me ▪ and see me , Luk. 24.39 . That will be our work in heaven ; we shall be ever handling the Lord of life : Thus all the senses shall be filled . Yet though there be a fulnesse of joy , there shall be no surfeit ; * the soule shall not be so full , but it shall desire : nor shall it so desire , but it shall be full : That which prevents a surfeit in heaven , is that there shall be every moment new and fresh delights springing forth from God into the glorified soul : Well might the Apostle say , to be with Christ is farre better . Great is the joy that faith breeds . Whom not seeing , yet believing , ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory * . If the joy of Faith be such , what will the joy of fruition be ? There is ioy when we fall into temptations , Jam. 1.2 . If Christs sufferings are full of joy , what then are his embraces ? If the dew of Hermon hill be so sweet , the first fruits of Christs love ; what will the full crop be ? In short , there will be nothing in heaven but what shall adde infinitely to the joy of the Saints . The very torments of the damned shall create matter of joy and triumph . I may allude to that of the Psalmist , The righteous shall rejoyce when he sees the vengeance * ; the elect shall rejoyce upon a double account to see Gods justice magnificently exalted , and to see themselves miraculously delivered . There shall be no unpleasant object represented ; nothing but joy . Such will that joy be , when we are with Christ , that as it is not possible , so neither is it fit for a man to speake , 2 Cor. 12.4 . We read that Ioseph gave his brethren money and provision for the way ; But the full sacks were kept till they came at their fathers house ; God gives us something by the way ; some of the hidden-manna : some taste of his heavenly joy in this life , but the full sacks of corne are kept for heaven . O what joy to be with Christ ? surely if there were such joy and triumph at Solomons coronation , That all the earth rang with the sound of it * ; What joy will be on the Saints coronation-day , when they shall be eternally united to Jesus Christ ? This shall inhance the joy of heaven ; It is for ever : 1 Thes. 4.17 . Then shall we ever be with the Lord. If this joy should after many years have a period , it would much abate the sweetnesse . But certainly , if we could by our Arithmetick reckon up more millions of ages then there have been minutes since the Creation ; after all this time ( which were a short eternity ) the joy of the Saints shall be as farre from ending , as it was at the beginning . SECT . V. The fifth Priviledge of being with Christ. I Proceed to the next priviledge , which is Rest * . A Christian in this life is like Quick-silver , which hath a principle of motion in it self , but not of rest : We are never quiet , but as the Ball upon the Racket , or the ship upon the waves· As long as we have sinne this is like the quick-silver : A childe of God is full of motion and disquiet ; I have no rest in my bones by reason of my sinne , Psal. 38.3 . While there are wicked men in the world , never look for rest . If a man be poor , he is thrust away by the rich : if he be rich , he is envied by the poore ; sometimes losses disquiet , sometimes law-suits vex : 'T is onely the prisoner lives in such a Tenement as he may be sure none will go about to take from him : one trouble doth succeed another , Velut unda supervenit undae : sometimes the flood-gates of persecution are opened ; * sometimes the Tombstone of disgrace is laid upon the Saints : either the body is in trouble , or the minde , or both ; The Saints in this life are in a pilgrim-condition : the Apostles had no certaine dwelling place , 1 Cor. 4.11 . We are here in a perpetual hurry , in a constant fluctuation : our life is like the Tyde , sometimes ebbing , sometimes flowing : here is no rest : And the reason is , because we are out of our centre ; every thing is in motion till it comes at the centre ; Christ is the centre of the soule : the Needle of the compasse trembles , till it turns to the North-pole . Noahs Dove found no rest for the sole of her feet , till she came at the Ark : This Ark was a Type of Christ ; when we come to heaven , the Kingdome that cannot be shaken * , we shall have rest , Heb. 4.9 . There remaines therefore a rest for the people of God. Heaven in Scripture is compared to a granary , Mat. 3.12 . * an emblem of rest . Wheat while it stands on the ground is shaken to and fro with the winde , but when it is laid up in the granary , it is at rest : the Elect are spiritual wheat , who while they are in the field of this world are never quiet , the winde of persecution shakes this wheat , and every one that passeth by will be plucking these sacred eares of corne , but when the wheat is in the heavenly Garner it is at rest . There remaines a rest , &c. Not but that there shall be motion in heaven ( for Spirits cannot be idle ) but it shall be a motion without lassitude and wearinesse . They that die in the Lord rest from their labours * . The work which the Saints shall do in heaven shall be delightsome and pleasant , it shall be a labour full of ease , a motion full of rest . When a Beleever is in heaven , he hath his Quietus est . The lower Region is windy and tempestuous ; when we are once gotten into the upper Region of glory , there are no winds or noxious vapours , but a serene calmnesse ; this it is to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , with Christ. SECT . VI. The sixth Priviledge of being with Christ. THe last is Security . 'T is possible a man may have a few minutes of rest ; but he is not secure , he knowes not how soon Eclipses and changes may come : he is still in feare , * and feare makes a man a servant , ( saith the Philosopher ) though he know it not . There is torment in feare , 1 John 4.18 . He that hath great possessions , thinks thus ; But how soone may I fall from this Pinacle of honour ? how soone may the plunderer come ? Nay , a beleever , that hath durable riches , yet is still pendulous and doubting concerning his condition . 1. He somtimes questions whether he be in the state of grace or no : and thus he thinks with himselfe ; perhaps I believe ; perhaps I do not believe : I have something that glisters , perhaps it is but a counterfeit chaine of Pearle ? my Faith is Presumption , my Love to Christ is but self-love ; and when the Spirit of God hath wrought the heart to some sound perswasion , he is soone shaken againe ; as a ship that lies at anchor , though it be safe , yet it is shaken and tossed upon the water : and these feares leave impressions of sadnesse upon the heart . 2. But secondly , he feares , that though he be in the state of Grace , yet he may fall into some scandalous sinne , and so grieve the Spirit of God , sadden the hearts of the righteous , wound his own conscience , harden sinners , discourage new beginners , put a song into the mouth of the prophane ; and at last God hide his face in a cloud . A childe of God after a sad declension , having by his sinne put black spots in the face of Religion , though I deny not , but he hath a title to the Promise ; yet he may be in such a condition that he cannot for the present apply any Promise , he may go weeping to his grave . These sad feares like black vapours , are still arising out of a gracious heart ; but when once a believer is with Christ● , there is full security of heart : he is not onely out of danger , but out of fea●e . Take it thus , a man that is upon the top of a Mast , he may sit safe for the present , but not secure . Perhaps the Pirates may shoot at the ship , and take it ; perhaps the windes may arise suddenly , and the ship map be cast away in the storme ; but a man that is upon a rock , he stands impregnable : his heart is secure . A Christian in this life is like a man upon the top of a Mast , sometimes the Pirates come abroad , viz. cruel persecutors , and they shoot at his ship , and oft , though the passenger ( the precious soule ) escapes , yet they sink the ship ; sometimes the windes of tentation blow , those northern windes ; and now the Christian questions whether God love him , or whether his name be enrolled in the book of life ; and though being in Christ , there is no danger , yet his heart doth hesitate and tremble : but when he is with Christ , off from the top of the Mast ; and is planted upon the rock , his heart is fully secure ; and you shall heare him say thus , Now I am sure , I have shot the gulf , I am now passed from death to life , and none shall pluck me out of my Saviours armes . CHAP. IX . The fourth Prerogative Royal. LEt the Lucianists and Epicures place their happinesse in this life ; a beleevers is in reversion ; the golden world is yet to come . I passe to the next Prerogative , which is : 4. The blessed inheritance , Col. 1.12 . Giving thanks unto the Father , which hath made us meete to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light . This world is but a Tenement , which we may be soone turned out of ; heaven is an inheritance , and a glorious one . Heaven hath no Hyperbole * : if the skirts and Suburbs of the Palace , viz. the Stars and Planets be so glorious , that our eyes cannot behold the dazling lustre of them . What glory then is there in the Chamber of presence ? What is the Sanctum Sanctorum ? Of this blessed place , we have a figurative description , Revel . 21. Iohn was carried away in the Spirit , and had a Vision of heaven , Ver. 2. That it was the Hierusalem above , is cleare , if we consult with Ver. 22. And I saw no Temple therein : while we dwell upon earth , there is need of a temple ; we shall not be above Ordinances till we are above sinne : but in heav●n , God will be in stead of a temple , He shall be all in all * . And Ver. 25. There shall be no night there : No City is to be found , not the most glorious Metropolis under heaven , where it is alwayes day : for though some Regions which lie immediately under the Pole , have light for several moneths together ; yet when the Sunne with-drawes from the Horizon , they have as long a night as before they had a day : but saith the Text , There shall be no night there : In hell it is all night ; but in heaven , the day will be ever lengthening . Now this blessed Inheritance , or Kingdome which the Saints shall possesse , hath six Properties , or rather Priviledges , worth our serious thoughts . 1. Sublimenesse , It is set out by a great and high mountaine , Revel . 21. ver . 10. It is placed above the Aëry and Starry Heaven , saith Musculus ; it is the Empyraean Heaven , which Saint Paul calls the third Heaven * . For the situation of it , it is far above all heavens , where Christ himselfe is * . This is Sedes beatorum , the Royall Palace , where the Saints shall dwell . The men of this world are high in power , and in pride ; but if they could build their Nests among the Stars , the elect shall shortly be above them ; they shall take their flight as high as Christ : here is a preferment worth looking after . 2. Magnificence , It is set out by pearls and precious stones , the richest jewels * , If the streets are of gold , what is the furniture and hangings ; what is the Cabinet of Jewels ? I wonder not , that the violent take it by force , Mat. 11.12 . I rather wonder others are no more violent : What are all the rarities of the world to this ? the Coasts of Pearle , the Islands of Spices , the Rocks of Diamonds ? What a rich place must that needs be , where God will lay out all his cost ; where Wisdome doth contrive , and Bounty doth disburse ? Fulgentius beholding the pomp and splendor of the Romane Senate-house cried out , O how beautiful is the celestial Hierusalem , if the terrestrial Senate-house be so glorious ! In this blessed inheritance there is nothing but glory ; there is the King of glory ; * there are the Vessels of glory ; * there are the Thrones of glory ; * there is the Weight of glory ; * there are the Crownes of glory ; * there is the Kingdome of glory ; * there is the Brightnesse of glory ; * This is a purchase worth getting . What will men adventure for a Kingdome ? The worst come to the worst ; 't is but venturing our blood , we need not venture our conscience . 3. Purity , Heaven is set forth under the Metaphor of pure gold , and transparent glasse ▪ Revel . 21.21 . The Apostle calls it an inheritance undefiled * . Heaven is a pure place . It is compared to the Saphyr , Rev. 21.19 . The Saphyr is a precious stone , of a bright skie-colour * , and it hath a vertue in it , saith Pliny , to preserve chastnesse and purity . Thus Heaven is represented by the Saphyr ; it is a place , where onely the refined sublimated spirits do enter . And Heaven is compared to the Emerald , ver . 19. which ( as Writers say of it ) hath a precious vertue to expell poison . Heaven is such a pure soile , that as no fever of lust , so no venome of malice , shall be there , with the Emerald ; it will expell poison . There shall not enter into it any thing that defileth , Revel . 21. vers . 27. It is a Kingdome wherein dwells righteousnesse , 2 Pet. 3.13 . In this lower Region of the world , there is little righteousnesse , They set up wickednesse by a law , Psal. 94.20 . and the wicked devours his neighbour , which is more righteous then he , Hab. 1.13 . Homo homini lupus . The just man is oppressed because he is just . One saith , There is more justice to be found in hell , then here among men : for in hell no innocent person is oppressed ; but here righteousnesse is the thing that is persecuted * . A man can hardly tread two steps , but either into sin or into suffering . In this world the law is made * only for the righteous man. The sinner need not feare any punitive vindictive act of justice , rather he that reproves sinne may feare . Holinesse is the white that the devil shoots at . But heaven is a kingdome , wherein dwells righteousnesse : there is the Judge of the world ; who puts on righteousnesse , as a Brest-plate * : who loves righteousnesse * . There is the sun of righteousnesse * . There is the robe of righteousnesse * . There is the crown of righteousnesse * . 4. Amplitude , The inheritance is sufficiently spacious for all the Saints . The garner wide enough to receive all those infinite graines of wheat that shall be laid in it : and he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the City , &c. The City lieth foure-square , and the length is as large as the breadth , and he measured the City with the reed twelve thousand furlongs * . Or , as I finde it in some Greek Copies , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Twelve times twelve thousand furlongs . Here is a finite put for an infinite ; impossible it is that any Arithmetician should number ; or Rhetorician expresse these furlongs . It is a phrase only that darkly shadows out the amplitude and largenesse of this celestial City , though there be innumerable company of Saints and Angels in heaven , yet there is infinitely enough roome to receive them , In my fathers house are many Mansions * . Some are of opinion that every beleever shall have a particular Mansion in glory . Every Saint shall have his Kingdome , saith Iansenius . We know our Saviour told his Apostles that they should sit upon twelve thrones * . Certainly the Saints shall not be straitened for roome . The continent of glory is wide enough for the most vast sublime spirits to expatiate in . 5. Light , It is called an inheritance in light * ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . If every star were a Sun it could never shadow out the bright lustre of this celestial Paradise . Light is a glorious creature ; what were all the world without light but a dark prison ? What beauty is there in the Sunne when it is masqued with a cloud ? Lumen actuat colores , saith the Logician : Light doth actuate the colours , and make every flower appear in its fresh beauty . Heaven is a diaphanum or bright body all over embroydered with light , not like the Coelum stellatum , or starry heaven , here and there bespangled with starres , but other parts of it like checquor-work interwoven with darknesse . Here Christ as a continual Sunne shall give light to the whole heaven . The lamb shall be the light thereof * ; indeed all other light in comparison of this , is but like the twilight , or rather the midnight . Here alone are the shining rayes of beauty , which every glorified eye shall be inabled both to behold and to possesse ; and this light shall have no night to Eclipse it , no snuffers of death to extinguish it ; when once the Sunne of righteousnesse hath risen upon the soule it shall never set any more . This is an high Gradation of the glory of heaven , it is an inheritance in light . When the Scripture would set forth the blessednesse of God himselfe , it makes it consist in this , He dwelleth in light * . 6. Permanency , It is an inheritance incorruptible * . It runs parallel with eternity : Eternity is a circle , that hath neither beginning nor end ; a Sea that hath neither bottome nor b●nks . This is the glory of the celestial Paradise ; it abides for ever . The world passeth away * , 1 Joh. 2.17 . Every thing is passing : 'T is good to look upon the world , as the Heathens did upon pleasure ; they looked upon the back-parts of pleasure , and saw it going away from them , and leaving a sting . The world is passing away , but Heaven never passeth ; therefore surpasseth evil things ( as paine and misery ) length of time makes them worse , but good things ( as joy and pleasure ) length of time makes them better . Heavens Eminency is its Permanency . Things are prized and valued by the time we have in them , lands , or houses in fee-simple which are to a man , and his heirs for ever , are esteemed far better then leases which soon expire : The Saints do not lease heaven , it is not their Landlords house , but their Fathers house : And this house never falls to decay , it is a mansion-house , Iohn 14.2 . There is nothing excellent , ( saith one of the Fathers ) that is not perpetual ; The comforts of the world are fluid and uncertain like a fading garland ; therefore they are shadowed out by the Tabernacle , which was transient , but Heaven is set out by the Temple , which was fixed and permanent : It was made of strong materials , built with stone , covered with Cedar , over-laid with gold . This is the Heaven of Heaven , We shall be ever with the Lord , 1 Thes. 4. ver . 17. Eternity is the highest link of the Saints happinesse ; the soul of the believer shall be ever bathing it selfe in the pure and pleasant fountaine of glory . As there is no intermission in the joyes of heaven , so no expiration . When once God hath set his Plants in the celestial Paradise , he will never pluck them up any more ; he will never transplant them : never will Christ lose any member of his body : you may sooner separate light from the Sunne , then a glorified Saint from Jesus Christ. O eternity , eternity ! what a Spring will that be , that shall have no Autumne ? what a day that shall have no Night ? Me thinks , I see the morning-Star appear , it is break of day already . And this inheritance of glory fades not away , 1 Pet. 1.4 . Had it not been enough for the Apostle to have said , It is an inheritance incorruptible ? Nay , but he addes , It fadeth not away . There is a sacred climax in this ▪ the meaning is heaven doth not lose its glosse or vernancy . A Rose may continue in its being when it doth not retaine its beauty . The substance of it may be preserved when the colour and savour is lost : but such is the glory of this inheritance , that it cannot be made so much as to wither but like the flower we call Semper-vivens , it keeps fresh to eternity . Concerning the glory of this blessed inheritance , let me super-adde these foure things : 1. The glory of heaven is ponderous and weighty ; It is called , A weight of Glory , 2 Cor. 4.17 . Immensum gloria calcar habet . God must make us able to beare it . This weight of glory should make sufferings light : This weight should make us throw away the weights of sinne out of our hands , though they be golden weights : who would for the indulging of a lust , forfeit so glorious an inheritance ? Lay the whole World in scales with it , it is lighter then vanity . 2. It is infinitely satisfying ; there is no vacuity , or indigency , This Encomium can be given properly of nothing but heaven . You that Court the world for honour , and preferment , remember , the creature saith concerning satisfaction It is not in me . The world is made in manner of a circle , the heart in manner of a Triangle ; a circle can never fill a triangle ; heaven only is commensurate to the vast desires of the soul. Here the Christian cries out in a divine extasie , I have enough , my Saviour , I have enough . Thou shalt make them drink of the Rivers of thy pleasures * , not drops , but rivers ; and these onely can quench the thirst . It shall be every day festivall in Heaven ; there is no want at a feast . There shall be excellency shining in its perfection * . The world is but a Jaile , the body is the Fetter with which the soule is bound ; if there be any thing in a Jaile to delight , what is the Palace and the Throne , what is Heaven ? If we meet with any comfort in Mount Horeb , what is in Mount Sion ? All the world is like a Landskip , you may see Orchards and Gardens curiously drawn in the Landskip , but you cannot enter into them ; you may enter into this heavenly Paradise , 2 Pet. 1. ver . 11. For so an entrance shall be made abundantly into the everlasting Kingdome , &c. Here is soul-satisfaction . 3. Though an innumerable company of Saints and Angels have a part in this inheritance , there is never the lesse for thee : Here is a propriety in a community ; another mans beholding the Sunne , doth not make me to have the lesser light : Thus will it be in glory . Usually here , all the land goes to the Heire , the younger are put off with small portions : In Heaven , all the Saints are Heires ; the youngest Believer is an heire ▪ and God hath land enough to give to all his heires : All the Angels and Arch-angels have their portion paid out ; yet a Believer shall have never the lesse . [ Hereditas illa non minuitur copiâ possessorum , non fit angustior numero cohaeredum : Aug. in Psal. 49. ] Is not Christ the heire of all things ? Heb. 1. vers . 2. and the Saints co-heires ? Rom. 8. vers . 17. They share with Christ in the same glory . 'T is true , one vessel may hold more then another , but every vessel shall be full . 4. The soules of the Elect shall enter upon possession immediately after death , 2 Corinth . 5. vers . 8. We are willing rather to be absent from the body , and to be present with the Lord. There are some that say , the soules of the Elect sleep in their bodies ; but the Apostle here confutes it ; for if the soule be absent from the body , how can it sleep in the body ? There is an immediate transition and passage from death to glory , The soule returnes to God that gave it * : Christs Resurrection was before his Ascension ; but the Saints Ascension is before their Resurrection . The body may be compared to the bubble in the water , the soule to the winde that fills it : you see the bubble riseth higher and higher , at last it breakes into the open aire : so the body is but like a bubble * , which riseth from infancy to youth , from youth to age , higher and higher ; at last this bubble breakes , and dissolves into dust , and the spirit ascends into the open aire : it returnes unto GOD that gave it . Be of good comfort , we shall not stay long for our inherirance ; it is but winking , and we shall see God. O the glory of this Paradise ! when we are turned out of all , let us think of this inheritance which is to come , * Praemium , quod fide non attingitur ; faith it selfe is not able to reach it ; it is more then we can hope for : There can be no want , where Christ is , who is all in all , Ephes. 3.11 . * In Heaven , there is health without sicknesse , plenty without famine , riches without poverty , life without death . There , is unspotted chastity , unstained honour , unparallel'd beauty : there , is the Tree of Life , in the middest of Paradise ; there , is the river that waters the garden ; there , is the Vine flourishing , and the Pomegranates budding , * there , is the banquetting-house , where are all those delicacies and rarities , wherewith God himselfe is delighted : while we are sitting at that Table , Christ's Spiknard will send forth its smell * . There , is the bed of love , there are the curtaines of Solomon , there are the Mountaines of Spices , and the streames from Lebanon ; there are the Cherubims , not to keep us out , but to welcome us into Paradise ; there , shall the Saints be adorned , as a Bride with Pearles of glory ; There , will God give us abundantly , above all that we are able to aske or think * . Is not here enough ? what cannot an ambitious spirit ask ? Hamans aspiring heart could have asked not only the Kings royal Robe and the ring from his hand , but the Crown from his head too ; a man can ask a century of Kingdomes , a million of worlds . But in heaven God will give us more then we can ask . Nay , more then we can think . An high expression ! what cannot we think ? we can think , what if all the dust of the earth were turned to silver , what if every stone were a wedge of gold , what if every flower were a ruby , every pile of grasse a pearle , every sand in the Sea a diamond ; yet , what were all this to the New Hierusalem which is above . It is as impossible for any man in his deepest thoughts to comprehend glory , as it is to mete the heaven with a span * , or draine the great Ocean . O incomparable place ! Surely , were we carried away in the spirit , I meane , elevated by the power of Faith , to the contemplation of this royal and stately Palace , I know not whether we should more wonder at the lustre of heaven , or at the dulnesse of such as minde earthly things . How is the world adored , which is but a Pageant or apparition ! It is reported of Caesar , that travelling on a time through a certaine City , as he passed along , he saw the women for the most part , playing with Monkies and Parrets : at which sight , he said , What ? have they no children to play with ? So I say , when I see men toying with these earthly and beggarly delights , What ? are there not more glorious and sublime things to look after ? That which our Saviour saith to the woman of Samaria , If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee , Give me to drink , thou wouldest have asked of him , and he would have given thee living water * ; the same may I say , Did men know these eternal Mansions , and what it were to be digging in these rich Mines of glory : would God give them a Vision of heaven a while , as he did Peter , who saw heaven opened , Act. 10.11 . how would they fall into a Trance , ( being amazed and filled with joy ! ) and being a little recovered out of it , how importunately would they beg of God , that they might be adopted into this stately inheritance ! But what do I expatiate ? these things are unspeakable and full of glory . Had I as many tongues as haires on my head I could never sufficiently set forth the beauty and resplendency of this inheritance . Such was the curious art of Apelles in drawing of Pictures , that if another had taken up the Pensil to draw , he had spoiled all Apelles work . Such is the excellency of this celestial Paradise , that if the Angels should take up their Pensill , to delineate it in its colours , they would but staine and eclipse the glory of it . I have given you only the dark shadow in the Picture , and that but rudely and imperfectly . Such is the beauty and blisse of this inheritance , that as Chrysostome saith , if it were possible that all the sufferings of the Saints could be laid upon one man , it were not worth one houres being in Heaven . Augustine is of opinion , we shall know our friends in heaven . Nor to me doth it seeme improbable , for sure our knowledge there shall not be eclipsed , or diminished , but encreased . And that which Anselme doth assert , that we shall have a knowledge of the Patriarchs , and Prophets , and Apostles , all that were before us and shall be after us , our predecessors and successors , to me seemes very rational ; for society without acquaintance is not comfortable , and my thinks the Scripture doth hint thus much ; if Peter and Iames , having but a glimpse of glory ( when our Lord was transfigured on the Mount ) were able to know Moses and Elias whom they had never seen before : how much more shall we , being infinitely irradiated , and enlightened with the Sun of righteousnesse , know all the Saints , though we were never acquainted with them before ? And this will be very comfortable . Certainly there shall be nothing wanting that may compleate the Saints happiness . Now that this glorious inheritance is the Saints Prerogative , I shall evince by two Arguments . It is so , 1. In respect of the many obligations that lie upon God for performing this . As , 1. In regard of his promise , Tit. 1.2 . In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie hath promised . Gods promise is better then any mans bond . 2. In regard of his oath . He who is truth hath sworne , Heb. 6.17 . 3. In regard of the price that is paid for it , Christs blood . Heaven is not only a promised possession , but a purchased possession , Eph. 1.14 . 4. In regard of Christs prayer for it : Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me , be with me where I am . * Now God can deny Christ nothing being the onely favourite . I know thou alwayes hearest me , Joh. 11.42 . 5. In regard of Christs ascension . He is gone before to take possession of heaven for us . He is now making preparations against our coming , Joh. 14.2 . I go before to prepare a place for you . We reade that our Lord sent two of his disciples before to make ready a large upper roome for the Passeover , Mar. 14.15 . So Jesus Christ is gone before to make ready a large upper roome in heaven for the Saints . 6. In regard of the anticipation of the Spirit in the hearts of the godly , giving them an assurance of , and stirring up in them passionate desires after this glorious inheritance ; hence it is , we read of the earnest of the Spirit , 2 Cor. 1.22 . and the first-fruits of the Spirit , Rom. 8.23 . and the seale of the Spirit , Eph. 1.13 . God doth not still his children with rattles . Heaven is already begun in a beleever , so that the inheritance is certaine . You see how many obligations lie upon God ; and to speak with reverence , i● stands not onely upon Gods mercy , but upon his faithfulness to make all this good to us . The second argument is in respect of the Union which the Saints have with Jesus Christ. They are members of Christ , therefore they must have a part in this blessed inheritance ; the members must be where the head is . Indeed , the Arminians tell us , that a justified person may fall finally from grace , and so his union with Christ may be dissolved , and the inheritance lost . But how absurd is this doctrine ? Is Christ divided ? can he lose a member of his body ? then his body is not perfect ; for how can that body be perfect which wants a limb ? and if Christ may lose one member from his body , why not as well all by the same reason ? and so he shall be an head without a body ; but be assured , the union with Christ cannot be broken * , Ioh. 17.12 . and so long the inheritance cannot be lost . What was said of Christs natural body , is as true of his mystical : A bone of it shall not be broken . Look how every bone and limb of Christs natural body was raised up out of the grave , and carried into heaven : so shall every member of his mystical body , joyned to him by the eternal Spirit , be carried up into glory . Feare not , O ye Saints , neither sinne nor Satan can dissolve your union with Christ , nor by consequence hinder you of that blessed place where your Head is . Quest. Here it will be asked , Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord ? Psal. 24.3 . who shall be a Citizen of this new Hierusalem , which is above ? Answ. The new creature : this you reade of , 2 Cor. 5. vers . 17. This new creature doth disponere ad coelum , prepare for the new Hierusalem . This is the Divine and curious Artifice of the Holy Ghost in our hearts , forming Christ in us : the same Holy Ghost that overshadowed the Virgin Mary , and formed the Humane Nature of Christ in her wombe , doth work and produce this new creature . O thou blessed man and woman , in whom this new creature is formed ! I may say to thee as the Angel to Mary : That which is conceived in thee is of the Holy Ghost : Of all God's creatures , the new creature is the best . Then let me aske , Art thou a new creature ? Art thou a scion , cut off from the wilde Olive of nature , and ingrafted into a new stock , the Tree of Life ? Hath God defaced , and dismantled the old man in thee ? doth some limbe drop off every day ? Hast thou a new heart ? Ezek. 36. verse 26. Till then , thou art not fit for the new heaven : Art thou new all over ? Hast thou a new eye , to discerne the things that differ ? Hast thou a new appetite ? Doth the pulse of thy soul beate after Christ ? It is onely the new creature , which shall be heire of the new Hierusalem . When thou wert sailing to Hell , ( for we have both winde and tyde to carry us thither ) hath the North and South-winde awaked ? Hath the gale of the Spirit blown upon thee , and turned thy course ? Art thou now sailing to a new Port ? Hath the seale of the Word stamped a new and heavenly print upon thee ? Then I am speaking all this while to thee , this blessed inheritance is entailed upon thee . But if thou art an old sinner , expect that heaven should be kept as Paradise , with a Flaming Sword , that thou mayest not enter : Be assured , God will never put the new Wine of glory into an old musty bottle . Heaven is not like Noah's Arke that received cleane beasts into it , and uncleane * : this inheritance doth not receive all comers . It is only the wheat that goes into Christs garner , what hath the chaffe to do there ? this inheritance is only for them that are sanctified , Act. 20.32 . Is thy heart consecrated ground ? We read that in the time of Ezra after the returne of the people from the captivity , some who were ambitious of the Priesthood , sought the writings of the Genealogies , but they were not found among the numbers of the Priests , therefore they were put by as polluted from the Priesthood * : So whosoever they be that think to have a part in this blessed place , if their names be not found ; that is , if they are not new creatures , they shall be put away as polluted from this inheritance . CHAP. X. The fifth Prerogative Royal. I Passe on to the next thing to come , which is . 5. Our Knowledge shall be clear . Knowledge is a beautifull thing ; such was Adam's ambition to know more , that by tasting the Tree of Knowledge , he lost the Tree of Life : In Heaven our knowledge shall be cleare . Religion is a continued riddle ; many things we have now but in the notion , which then we shall see perfectly ; now we know but in part * . The best Christian hath a vaile upon his eye , as the Iews have upon their heart ; hereafter the vaile shall be taken off . Here we see through a glasse darkly , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in a riddle , or mystery ; then face to face : that is , clearly . There are five Mysteries which God will clear up to us when we are in heaven . 1. The great Mystery of the Trinity : this we know but in part . Unity in Trinity , and Trinity in Unity , where One makes Three , and Three make but One : this is bad Arithmetick , but good Divinity ; we have but dark conceptions of it : it is a Mystery so deep , that we may soon wade beyond our depth . Augustine being to write his Books of the Trinity , was taught modesty by a childe , who was lading the Sea into a little Spoon ; to whom Augustine said , that he laboured in vaine , for his little Spoone would not containe the Sea ; to whom the childe answered , My little Spoone will sooner hold this vast Ocean , then your shallow brain can containe the depth of the Trinity . How little a portion is known of God ? If Iob asked the question , Who can understand the Thunder ? we may much more ask , Wo can understand the Trinity ? but in heaven we shall see God as he is * , that is , perfectly . Quest. But shall every Saint enjoy God so perfectly that he shall have the same knowledge that God hath . Answ. the infinite essence of God shall app●ar to the Saints Tota , but not totaliter * ; we shall have a full knowledge of God , but not know him fully , yet we shall take in so much of God as our humane nature is capable of ; it will be a bright and a glorious knowledge : here we know him but ab effectu , by his Power , Wisdom , Mercy : we see but his back-parts , there we shall see him face to face . 2. The Mystery of the incarnation , * Christ assuming our humane nature , and marrying it to the divine . Therefore call'd , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . God-man . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God with us . A Mystery which the Angels in heaven adore * . God said , The man is become as one of us , Gen. 3.22 . but now we may say , God himselfe is become as one of us ! it was not only mirandum , but miraculum . There was nothing within the sphere of natural causes to produce it . The incarnation of Christ is catena aurea , a golden chaine made up of several links of Miracles . For instance , that the Creatour of heaven should become a creature ; * that eternity should be born ; that he whom the heaven of heavens cannot containe , should be enclosed in the womb ; that he who thunders in the clouds , should crie in the cradle * ; that he who rules the starres , should suck the breasts ; that he who upholds all things by the Word of his Power , * should himself be upheld ; that a Virgin should conceive , that Christ should be made of a woman and of that woman which himself made ; that the creature should give a being to the Creatour ; that the Starre should give light to the Sunne ; that the branch should beare the Vine ; that the mother should be younger then the childe she bare , and the childe in the womb bigger then the mother ; that he who is a Spirit should be made flesh ; that Christ should be without father and without mother , yet have both , without mother in the God-head , without father in the Man-hood ; that Christ being incarnate should have two natures ( the divine and humane ) and yet but one Person ; that the divine nature should not be infused into the humane , nor the humane mixed with the divine , yet assumed into the Person of the Sonne of God , the humane nature not God , yet one with God. Here is , I say , a chaine of Miracles . I acknowledge the mercy of the incarnation was great , we having now both affinity and consanguinity with Jesus Christ ; Christs incarnation is the Saints inauguration . The love of Christ in the incarnation was great ; for herein he did set a patterne without a parallel , in clothing himself with our flesh , which is but walking ashes ; he hath sowed as it were sackcloth to cloth of Gold , the humanity to the Deity . But though the incarnation be so rich a blessing , yet it is hard to say which is greater , the Mercy or the Mystery * . It is a sacred depth , how doth it transcend reason , and even puzzle faith , We know but in part we see this only in a glasse darkly , but in heaven our knowledge shall be cleared up , we shall fully understand this divine riddle . 3. The Mystery of Scripture : The hard knots of Scripture shall be untied , and darke Prophecies fulfilled . There is a sacred depth in Scripture which we must adore : some places of Scripture are hard in the sense , others dark in the phrase , and cannot well be translated in regard of ambiguity ; one Hebrew word having such various and sometimes contrary significations , that it is very difficult to know which is the genuine sense . As it is with a traveller which is not skilled in his way , when he comes to a turning where the way parts , he is at a stand , and knowes not which way to take ; I might give some instances . It is true , all things purely necessary in the Word of God , are cleare : but there are some sacred depths that we cannot fathom , and this may make us long after Heaven , when our light shall be clear . So for Prophecies , some are very abstruse and profound ; Divines may shoot their arrowes , but it is hard to say how neare they come to the mark : 't is dubious whether in such a particular age and century of the Church , such a Prophecie was fulfilled . The Iewes have a saying when they meet with an hard Scripture they understand not , Elias veniet & solvet nodos : Elias will come and interpret these things to us ; we expect not Elias , but when we are in Heaven we shall understand Prophecies , our knowledg shall be clear . 4. The great Mystery of Providence shall be cleared up . Providence is Regina mundi , the Queen of the world ; it is the hand that turns all the wheels in the universe ; Chrysostome calls it the Pilot that steeres the ship of the Creation . Providences are often darke ; God writes sometimes in short-hand ▪ the characters of Providence are so various and strange , and our eyes are so dimme , that we know not what to make of Providence : hence we are ready to censure that which we do not understand : we think that things are very excentrick and disorderly ; Gods Providence is sometimes secret ▪ alwayes wise . The dispensations of Providence are often sad , judgement beginning at the house of God , and the just man perishing in his righteousnesse , Eccles. 7.15 . that is , while he is pursuing a righteous cause : though his way be pious , it is not alwayes prosperous : and on the other side , those that work wickednesse are set up , yea , they that tempt God are delivered , Mal. 3.15 . though now our candle be in a dark lanthorn , and the people of God cannot tell what God is a doing , yet when they are in heaven they shall see the reason of these transactions * : they shall see that every Providence served for the fulfilling of Gods Promise , viz. that all things shall work together for good , Rom. 8.28 . In a Watch the wheeles seeme to move crosse one to another , but all carry on the motion of the Watch , all serve to make the Alarm strike ; so the wheeles of Providence seeme to move crosse , but all shall carry on the good of the elect ; all the lines shall meet at last in the centre of the Promise ; in heaven , as we shall see Mercy and Justice , so we shall see Promises , and Providences kissing each other : Our light shall be cleare . When a man is at the bottome of an hill , he cannot see very farre : but when he is on the top , he may see many miles distant . Here the Saints of God are in the valley of tears , they are at the bottome of the hill , and cannot tell what God is a doing : but when they come to Heaven , and shall be on the top of the mount , they shall see all the glorious transactions of Gods Providence ; never a Providence but they shall see either a wonder or a mercy wrapt up in it . A Limner at the first makes but a rude draught in the picture , here an eye , there an hand ; but when he hath limn'd it out in all its parts and lineaments , and laid them in their colours , it 's beautifull to behold . We that live in this age of the Church , see but a rude draught , as it were some dark pieces of Gods Providence represented , and it is impossible that we should judge of Gods work by pieces ; but when we come to Heaven & see the full body and portraiture of Gods Providence drawne out in its vive colours , it will be a most glorious sight to behold : Providence shall be unridled . 5. The Mystery of hearts . We shall see an heart - anatomy , Eccles. 12.14 . For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing . We shall see the designes and cabinet-counsels of mens hearts discovered ; then the hypocrites mask shall fall off . O the black conclave that is in the heart of man * ; The heart is deep : it may be compared to a River , which hath faire streames running on the top , but when this river comes to be drained , there lies abundance of vermine at the bottome : thus it is with mans heart , there are fair streames running on the top , a civil life , a religious profession ; but at the day of judgement , when God shall draine this river ▪ and make a discovery of hearts , then all the vermine of ambition , covetousnesse , shall appeare , all shall come out : then we shall see whether Iehu's designe was zeal for God , or the Kingdome : we shall see clearly whether Iezabel had more minde to keep a fast , or to get Naboths Vineyard : then we shall see whether Herod had more minde to worship Christ , or to worry him ; all the secrets of mens hearts shall be laid open : Me thinks , it would be worth dying to see this sight . We shall then see who is the Achan , who the Iudas ; the womens paint falls off from their faces , when they come neere the fire ; before the scorching heat of Gods justice , the hypocrites paint will drop off ▪ and the Treason hid in the heart will be visible : These mysteries will God reveal to us : our knowledge shall be clear . CHAP. XI . The sixth Prerogative Royal. THE next priviledge , is , Our Love shall be perfect : * Love is the Jewell with which Christ's Bride is adorned : in one sense it is more excellent then Faith ; for Love never ceaseth , 1 Cor. 13.8 . The Spouse shall put off her Jewel of Faith , when she goes to heaven ; but she shall never put off her Jewel of Love : Love shall be perfect . 1. Our love to God shall be perfect : The Saints love shall be joyned with Reverence , for a filial disposition shall remaine , but there shall be no servile feare in Heaven : Horrour and trembling is proper to the damned in hell ; though in Heaven there shall be a reverencing fear , yet a rejoycing fear : we shall see that in God which will work such a delight that we cannot but love him . And this love to God shall be , 1. A fervent love : we love him here secundùm studium , there secundùm actum , as the Schoolmen speak : Our love to God in this life is rather a desire , but in Heaven the smoak of desire shall be blown up into a flame of love , we shall love God with an intensenesse of love : here our love is lukewarme , and sometimes frozen : a childe of God weeps that he can love God no more ; but there is a time shortly coming when our love to God shall be fervent , it shall burn as hot as it can ; the damned shall be in a flame of fire , the elect in a flame of love . 2. A fixed-love : Alas , how soon is our love taken off from God! other objects presenting themselves steal away our love . Your goodnesse is like a morning cloud , and as the early dew it goeth away * : In the morning you shall see the grasse covered with drops of dew , as so many pearls , but before noon all is vanished : so is it with our love to God : perhaps at a Sermon , when our affections are stirred , the heart melts in love : and at a Sacrament , when we see Christs blood as it were trickling downe upon the crosse , some love-drops fall from the heart ; but , within a few dayes all is vanished , and we have lost our first love , this is matter of humiliation while we live . But O ye Saints , comfort your selves , in Heaven your love shall be fixed , as well as fervent ; it shall never be taken off from God any more : such beauty and excellency shall shine in God , that as a divine loadstone it will be alwayes drawing our eyes and hearts after him . 2. Our love to the Saints shall be perfect : Love is a sweet harmony , a tuning and chiming together of affections . * It is our duty to love the Saints , 1. Though they are of bad dispositions ; sometimes their nature is so rugged & unhewn , that grace doth not cast forth such a lustre ; it is like a gold ring on a leprous hand , or a Diamond set in iron : yet if there be any thing of Christ , it is our duty to love it . 2. Though they in some things differ from us , yet if we see Christ's image and portraiture drawn upon their hearts , we are to separate the precious from the vile . But alas , how defective is this grace ? how little love is there among Gods people ? Herod and Pilate can agree : wicked men unite , when Saints divide . For the divisions of England there are great thoughts of heart . Contentions were never more hot , love never more cold . Many there are whose musick consists all in discords , whose harp is the Crosse ; that pretend to love truth , but hate peace , * Divisions are Satans Powder-plot , to blow up Religion . Sin brought forth separation , and this daughter of separation hath brought forth the grand-childe of division . For these things there are great searchings of heart . It were not strange to hear the harlot say , Let the childe be divided ; but to heare the mother of the child say so , this is sad . If Pope , Cardinall , Jesuite , all conspire against the Church of God , it were not strange ; but for one Saint to persecute another , this is strange . For a Wolfe to worry a Lamb is usuall ; but for a Lamb to worry a Lamb is unnatural . For Christs Lily to be among the thorns , is ordinary ; but for this Lily to become a thorne , to teare and fetch blood of it self , this is strange ! How will Christ take this at our hands ? Would he not have his Coat rent , and will he have his Body rent ? Oh that I could speak here weeping : Well , this will be a foyl to set off heaven the more ; there is a time shortly coming , when our love shall be perfect , there shall be no difference of judgement in heaven ; there the Saints shall be all of a piece . Though we fall out by the way , and about the way , we shall all agree in the journies end . When once the blessed Harp of Christs voice hath sounded in the ears of the Saints , the evill spirit shall be quite driven away . When our strings shall be wound up to the highest peg of glory , you shall never hear any more discord in the Saints Musick . In Heaven there shall be a perfect Harmony . CHAP. XII . The seventh Prerogative Royal. THe next glorious priviledge to come , is the Resurrection of our bodies . This is an Article of our faith . Now for the illustration of this , there are three things considerable : 1. That there ●s such a thing as the Resurrection . 2. That this is not yet past . 3. That the same body that dies shall rise again . 1. I shall prove the Proposition , that there is a Resurrection * of the body . There are some of the Sadduces opinion , that there is no resurrection , then let us eat and drink , for to morrow we die , 1 Cor. 15.32 . To what purpose are all our prayers and tears ? and indeed it were well for them who are in their life-time as bruit beasts , if it might be with them as beasts after death ; but there is a resurrection of the body * , as well as an ascension of the soul * ; which I shall prove by two Arguments . 1. Because Christ is risen , therefore we must rise : the head being raised , the rest of the body shal not alwayes lye in the grave , for then it would be an head without a body : his rising is a pledge of our resurrection , 1 Thes. 4.14 . 2. Ex AEquo , in regard of justice ▪ and equity ; the bodies of the wicked have been weapons of unrighteousnesse , and have joyned with the soul in sinne ; their eyes have been a casement to let in vanity , their hands have been full of bribes , their feet have been swift to shed blood ; therefore justice and equity require that they should rise again , and their bodies be punished with their souls . Againe , The bodies of the Saints have been members of holinesse : their eyes have dropped down tears for sinne , their hands have relieved the poor , their tongues have been trumpets of Gods praise , therefore justice and equity require that they should rise again , that their bodies as well as their soules may be crown'd : There must be a resurrection , else how should there be a remuneration ? We are more sure to arise out of our graves then out of our beds : the bodies of the wicked are lockt up in the grave as in a prison , that they may not infest the Church of God ; and at the day of judgement they shall be brought out of the prison to tryall : and the bodies of the Saints are laid in the grave as in a bed of perfume , where they mellow and ripen against the resurrection . Noah's olive-tree springing after the flood , the blossoming of Aaron's dry rod , the flesh and sinews coming to Ezekiel's dry bones , what were these but lively emblems of the resurrection ? 2. That this resurrection is not yet past : some hold that it is past , and make the Resurrection to be nothing else but Regeneration , which is call'd a rising from sinne , and a being risen with Christ * ; and do affirme , that there is no other resurrection but this ; and that only the soul is with God in happinesse , not the body . Of this opinion were Hymeneus and Philetus , 2 Tim. 2.18 . But the rising from sinne is call'd the first resurection , Rev. 1.6 . which implies that there is a second resurrection ; and that second I shall prove out of Dan. 12.2 . And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake ; he doth not say , they are already awake , but they shall awake . And Iohn 5.28 . The houre is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice , and shall come forth , they that have done good , unto the resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil , unto the resurrection of damnation . Observe , Christ doth not say , they are come forth of the grave already , but they shall come forth . Here a question may be moved , Whether the bodies of some of the Saints are not in Heaven already , then it will seem that their resurrection is not yet to come ? as we read that Elias was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot : and Enoch , Heb. 11.5 . was translated , that he might not see death . Answ. I know the Question is controverted among Divines : But there are some reasons do perswade me that Enoch and Elias are not yet bodily in Heaven , nor shall be till the resurrection of all flesh , when the rest of the Elect , like a precious crop , being fully ripe , shall be translated into glory . The first is Heb. 11.13 . where it is said , These all died in faith , where Enoch was included . Now why we should restraine this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , these , only to Abel , Noah , Abraham , and not also to Enoch , I see no rational ground . Quest. But is it not said , he was translated , that he might not see death ? How can these two stand together , that Enoch died , yet he did not see death ? Answ. This word , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that he might not see death , I conceive , ( with some Divines ) the meaning is , that he might not see it in that painful and horrid manner as others : his soule had an easie and joyful passage out of his body ; he died not after the common manner of men ; so saith Peter Martyr . Seeing and feeling , are in Scripture oft exegetical , the one is put for the other , as Rom. 7.23 . I see a law in my members , that is , I feel a law . 2. My second Argument , is , 1 Iohn 3.2 . It doth not yet appeare what we shall be , but we know , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , when he shall appeare , we shall be like him . We read in Scripture but of two Appearings of Christ , his appearing in the flesh , and his appearing at the day of judgment . Now his appearing in this text , must needs be meant of his last appearing ; And what then ? then saith the Apostle , we shall be like him , that is , in our bodies , Phil. 3.21 . The spirits of just men being already made perfect , Heb. 12.23 . Whence I infer , Enoch is not yet ascended bodily into heaven , because none of the bodies of the Saints shall be fully made like Christ till his second appearing . 3. Besides this may be added the judgement of many of the Fathers , who were pious and learned . It is not probable that Enoch and Elias should be taken up in their bodies into heaven , saith Peter Martyr , and he urgeth that saying of our Lord , * No man hath ascended into heaven , ( that is , saith he , corporeally ) but the Son of man that descended from heaven . Of this opinion also is Oecolampadius , Martinus Borrhaeus , and learned Doctor Fulk , who in his marginal notes upon the 11th . to the Hebrews , hath this descant . It appeareth not , saith he , that Enoch now liveth in body , no more then Moses , but that he was translated by God out of the world , and died not after the common manner of men . And concerning Eliah , the same reverend Authour hath this passage , It is evident , that he was taken up alive , but not that he continueth alive . And again , because we read expresly , that he was taken up into heaven , 2 King. 2.11 . It is certaine , ( saith he ) that his body was not carried into heaven . Christ being the first that in perfect humanity ascended thither : 1 Cor. 15.20 . Christ is become the first-fruits of them that sleep : He is called the First-fruits , not only because he was the most excellent , and sanctified the rest , but because he was the first Cluster which was gathered , the First that went up in a corporeal manner into the Seat of the Blessed . For my part , I see not how Christ could properly be called the First-fruits ; if Enoch , and Eliah were bodily in heaven before him . Hence we see that the Resurrection is yet to come . 3. The third thing is , That at the resurrection every soul shal have its own body : the same body that dies shall arise . Some hold that the soul shall be cloathed with a new body , but then it were improper to call it a Resurrection of the body , it should be rather a Creation . It was a custome in the African Churches * , to say , I believe the resurrection hujus carnis , of this body . I confesse , the doctrine of the resurrection is such , that it is too deep for reason to wade here , you must let faith swim . For instance , Suppose a man dying , is cast into the Sea , several Fishes come and devour him , the substance of his body goes into these fishes , afterwards the fishes are taken and eaten , and the substance of these fishes goes into several men ; now how this body , thus devoured , and as it were crumbled into a thousand fractions should be raised idem numero , the same numerical body , is infinitely above reason to imagine , we have scarce faith enough to believe it . Quest. How can this be ? Answ. To such I say as our blessed Saviour , Matth. 22.29 . Ye do erre , not knowing the Scriptures , nor the power of God. 1. Not knowing the Scriptures : The Scripture tells us expresly , that the same body that dies shall rise again , Iob 19.26 . In my flesh shall I see God , not in another flesh . And vers . 27. My eyes shall behold him , not other eyes . So 1 Cor. 15.53 . This mortal shall put on immortality * : not another mortall , but this mortall . And 2 Cor. 5.10 . That every one may receive the things done in his body , &c. not in another body . Death in Scripture is called a sleep ; it is farre easier with God to raise the body , then it is for us to awake a man when he is asleep . 2. Ye erre not knowing the power of God : that God who of nothing created all things , cannot he reduce many things to one thing ? when the body is gone into a thousand substances , cannot he make an abstraction , and bring that body together againe ? Do we not see the Chymist can out of several metals mingled together , as gold , silver , alcumy , extract the one from the other , the silver from the gold , the alcumy from the silver , and can reduce every metall to its own species or kinde : and shall we not much more believe , that when our bodies are mingled and confounded with other substances , the wise God is able to make a divine extraction , and re-invest every soul with its own body ? Use 1. This is comfort to a childe of God : As Christ said to Martha , John 11.23 . Thy brother shall rise againe : so I say to thee , thy body shall rise again . The body is sensible of joy as well as the soul ; and indeed , we shall not be perfect in glory till our bodies be re-united to our souls . Therefore in Scripture , the doctrine of the resurrection is made matter of joy and triumph , Isa. 26.19 . The dead men shall live , together with my dead body shall they arise : Awake & sing ye that dwell in the dust . Death is as it were the fall of the leafe , but our bones shall flourish as an herb , in the spring of the resurrection . That body wich is mouldred to dust shall revive . Sometimes the Saints do sowe the Land with their bodies , Psal. 142.7 . and water it with their blood , Psal. 79.3 . But these bodies , whether imprisoned , beheaded , sawn asunder , shall arise and sit down with Christ upon the Throne . O consider what joy will there be at the re-uniting of the body and soul at the resurrection . As there will be a sad meeting of the body and soul of the wicked , they shall be joyned together as briars to scratch , and teare one another : So what unspeakable joy will there be at the meeting together of the soul and body of the Saints ? how will they greet one another ( they two being the nearest acquaintance that ever were ? ) what a welcome will the soul give to the body ? O blessed body , thou didst suffer thy self to be martyrd , and crucified , thou wert kept under by watchings , fastings , &c. when I prayed thou didst attend my prayers with hands lifted up and knees bowed down . Thou wert willing to suffer with me , and now thou shalt reigne with me ; cheare up thy self my deare friend ; thou wert sowne as seed in the dust of the earth with ignominy , but now art raised in glory ; thou wert sowen a natural body , but now art raised a spiritual body . * O my dear body , I will enter into thee again as an heavenly sparckle , and thou shalt cloath me againe as a glorious vestment ; I will ( I say ) enter into thee againe , and both of us will enter into our Masters joy . Use 2. It shews the great love and respect God bears to the weakest believer ▪ God wil not glorifie the bodies of his dearest and most eminent Saints , not the Patriarchs or Prophets , not the body of Moses , Elias , till thou risest out of thy grave . God is like a Master of a Feast , that stayes till all his guests are come . Abraham the father of the faithful , must not sit down bodily in Heaven , till all his children are born ; and the body of every Saint perfectly mellow and ripe for the resurrection . 3. If the bodies of the Saints must arise , then consecrate your bodies to the service of God : these bodies must be made one with Christs body . The Apostle makes this Use of the Doctrine of the resurrection , 1 Cor. 6.14 . And God hath both raised up the Lord , and will also raise up us by his own power : there is the Doctrine . Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ ? shall I then take the members of Christ , and make them the members of an harlot ? ver . 15. there is the Use. It is enough for wicked men , to adulterate and defile their bodies . The drunkard makes his body a tunnel for the wine and strong drink to run thorow . The Epicure makes his body a living tombe to bury the good creatures of God. The adulterer makes his body a stewes . The body is called a vessell in Scripture * ; these vessels will be found musty at the resurrection , fit only to hold that wine which you read of ▪ Psal. 75.8 . In the hand of the Lord there is a cup , and the wine is red ; this is the wine of Gods wrath . It is enough for those bodies to be defiled which shall be joyned to the devil : but you that are believers , that expect your bodies shall be joyned with Christs body ; oh cleanse these vessels ; take heed of putting your bodies to any impure services . Present your bodies a living sacrifice , Rom. 12.1 . Have a care to keep all the passages and cinque-ports ; sometimes the devil comes in at the eye ; therefore Iob made a covenant with his eyes : and goes out at the tongue ; therefore David set a watch before his lips : Surely those that have their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience , that is , the guilt of known sinne , will have a care to have their bodies washed with cleane water * . CHAP. XIII . The Eighth Prerogative Royal. I Proceed now to the next Priviledge which is to come , viz. The bodies of the Saints shall be enamel'd with glory . In this life the body is infirme , Physicians have much ado to piece it up ; it is like a Picture out of frame , or an house out of repaire , every storm of sicknesse it raines thorow . O anima , quàm deforme hospitium nacta es ! How doth the excellent soul oft lodge in a deform'd body ? The body is like a piece of rotten wood , diseases like wormes breed there , feavers , plurisies , aches , &c. But this body shall be made glorious at the resurrection , it shall neither have diseases nor defects ; Leah shall no more complain of her blear eyes , nor Barzillai of his lamenesse . There are five Properties of the glorified bodies . 1. They shall be agil and nimble : the bodies of the Saints on earth are heavy in their motion , and subject to wearinesse , but in Heaven there shal be no elementary gravity hindering , but our bodies being refined , shall be swift and facile in their motion , and made fit to ascend , as the body of Elias . In this life the body is a great hindrance to the soule in its operation , The spirit is willing , but the flesh is weak . The soul may bring its action against the body , when the soul would flie up to Christ , the body as a leaden lump keeps it down ; 't is vivum sepulchrum : but there is a time coming when it shall be otherwise ; the bodies of the Saints shall be agil and lively , they shall be made fully subject to the soul , and so no way impede or hinder the soul in its motion . 2. The bodies of the Saints shall be transparent , full of clarity and brightnesse ; as Christs body when it was transfigured , Matth. 17.2 . our bodies shall have a divine lustre put upon them : here they are as iron when it is rusty , there they shall be as iron when it is filed and made bright : they shall shine , tanquam Sol in fulgore , saith Augustine , as the Sun in its splendour ; nay , seven times brighter , saith Chrysostome : here our bodies are as the gold in the oar , drossy and impure ; in heaven they shall be as gold when it spangles and glisters : so cleare shall they be , that the soule may sally out at every part , and sparkle through the body as the wine through the glasse . 3. They shall be amiable ; beauty consists in two things . 1. Symmetry and proportion , when all the parts are drawn out in their exact lineaments . 2. Complexion when there is a mixture and variety in the colours , white and sanguine : thus the bodies of the Saints shall have a transcendency of beauty , put upon them . Here the body is call'd a vile body : Vile ortu , in its birth and production : * de limo terrae , of the dust of the earth : The earth is the most ignoble element * . And vile officio , in the use that it is put to , the soul oft useth the body as a weapon to fight against God * ; but this vile body shall be ennobled and beautified with glory , it shall be made like Christs body * . How beautiful was Christs body upon earth , in it there was the Purple and the Lily , it was a mirrour beauty : * For all deformities of body issue immediately from sinne , but Christ being conceived by the holy Ghost , and so refined and clarified from all lees and dregs of sin he must needs have a beautiful body , and in this sence he was fairer then the children of men * . Christs body , as some Writers aver , was so fair by reason of the beauty and grace which did shine in it , that no limner could ever draw it exactly ; and if it was so glorious a body on earth , how great is the lustre of it now in heaven ? That light which shone upon Saint Paul surpassing the glory of the sunne * ; was no other then the beauty of Christs body in heaven ; O then what beauty , and replendency will be put upon the bodies of the Saints ! they shall be made like Christs glorious body . 4. The bodies of the Saints shall be impassible , free from suffering . We read that Iob's body was smitten with biles , and Paul did beare in his body the marks of the Lord Iesus , but ere long our bodies shall be impassible : not but that the body when it is glorified , shall have such a passion as is delightful ( for the body is capable of joy ) but no passion that is hurtful , as cold , or famine , it shall not be capable of any noxious impression . 5. They shall be immortall : here our bodies are still dying , quotidiè en im dempta est aliqua pars vitae , & cúm crescit vita , tum decrescit * . It is improper to ask when we shall die , but rather when we shall make an end of dying : first the infancy dies , then the childhood , then youth , then old age , and then we make an end of dying : it is not only the running out of the last sand in the glass that spends it , but all the sands that run out before . Death is a worm that is ever feeding at the root of our gourds : but in Heaven our mortal shall put on immortality . As it was with Adam in innocency , if he had not sinned , such was the excellent temperature and harmony in all the qualities of his body , that it is probable he had not died , but had been translated from Paradise to Heaven . Indeed , Bellarmine saith , that Adam had died though he had not sinned ; but I know no ground for that assertion , for sinne is made the formal cause of death * : however there 's no such thing disputable in Heaven , the bodies there are immortal , Luke 20.36 . Neither can they die any more . If God made Manna ( which is in it selfe corruptible ) to last many hundred years in the golden pot , much more is he able by a divine power , so to consolidate the bodies of the Saints , that they shall be preserved to eternity . Rev. 21.4 . And there shall be no more death : our bodies shall run parallel with eternity . CHAP. XIV . The Ninth Prerogative Royal. THE next Priviledge , is ; we shall be as the Angels in Heaven , Matth. 22.30 . Christ doth not say , we shall be Angels , but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Angels . Qu. How is that ? R. Not only that we shall not die ; but , in regard of our manner of worship . The Angels fulfill the will of God. 1. Swiftly . 2. Perfectly . 3. Chearfully . 1. Swiftly : When God sends the Angels upon a Commission , they do not hesitate or dispute the case with God , but presently obey ▪ The Angels are set out by the Cherubims , which had wings : this was not to represent their Persons ( for spirits have no wings ) but their Office ▪ to shew how swift they are in their obedience ; it is as if they had wings , Dan. 9.21 . The man Gabriel ( this was an Angel ) was caused to flie swiftly : as soone as ever God speaks the word , the Angels are ambitious to obey ; now in Heaven we shall be as the Angels . This is a singular comfort to a weak Christian : alas , we are not as the Angels in this life ; when God commands us upon service , to mourne for sinne , to take up the Crosse , O what a dispute is there ? how long is it sometimes ere we can get leave of our hearts to go to prayer ? Jesus Christ went more willingly to suffer , then we do often to pray : how hardly do we come off in duty ? God had as good almost be without it . Oh , but ( if this be our grief ) be of good comfort , in Heaven we shall serve God swiftly , we shall be winged in our obedience , we shall be even as the Angels . 2. The Angels serve God perfectly : they fulfill God's whole will : they leave nothing undone ; when God commands them upon duty , they can shoot to an haires breadth . Alas , our services how lame and bedrid are they ? we do things by halves ; in stead of using the world as if we used it not , we pray as if we prayed not , we weep for sinne as if we wept not : how many blemishes are there in our holy things ? as the Moon when it shines brightest hath a dark spot in it : how many graines should we want , if Christ did not put his merits into the scales ? our duties , like good wine , do relish of a bad cask : the Angels pouring sweet odours into the prayers of the Saints , Rev. 8.3 . sheweth , that in themselves they yield no sweet savour , u●●esse perfum'd with Christs incense ; but in Heaven we shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even as the Angels , we shall serve God perfectly : how should we long for that time ! 3. The Angels serve God Chearfully : 't is their heaven to serve God : when they are singing hallelujahs , they are ravished with holy delight : though being spirits they need no food , yet it is their meat and drink to serve God. As Adam in innocency , if he had stood though he was set to dresse the garden , and should have been imployed in manufacture , yet this labour would have been without paine and travel , it would have been delightful to him . Thus the Angels serve God without lassitude and weariness The joy of the Lord is their strength . When we shall arive at Heaven , we shall in this sense be as the Angels , we shall serve God chearfully , we shall 〈◊〉 and not be weary : what a blessed priviledge is this , we that now are accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * , as the off-scouring of men , shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as the Angels ! CHAP. XV. The Tenth Prerogative Royal. THE next Priviledge to come is the Vi●dication of Names . Those which have a good Conscience , have not alwayes a good Name . The old Serpent spits his venome at the godly through the mouthes of wicked men : if Satan cannot strike his dart into our Consciences , he will put a dead flie into our Name . The people of God are represented to the world in a very sad manner ; how strangely doth a Saint look when he is put in the devils dresse ! as those Primitive Christians that were cloathed with Bears skins , and painted with red devils , Iob was represented to the world as an hypocrite , and by his friends too , which went near to him . Paul was called a seditious man ; and he suffered in the opinion of some as an evil doer , 2 Tim. 2 9. Wherein I suffer trouble as an evill doer , even unto bonds : he did not onely bear Christs marks in his body , but in his Name . Our blessed Saviour was call'd a deceiver of the people . It hath ever been the manner of the wicked world , to paint Gods children in very strange colours . It is a great sinne to defame a Saint , it is murder ; better take away his life then his Name ; it is a sinne which we can never make him reparation for ; a flaw in a mans credit being like a blot in a white paper , which will never out : The defaming of a Saint is no lesse then the defaming of God himselfe ; the Saints have Gods picture drawn in their hearts ; a man cannot abuse the picture of Caesar , without some reflection upon Caesars person . Well , either God will cleare his peoples innocency here , which he hath promised , Psal. 37.6 . And he shall bring forth thy righteousnesse as the light : thy good Name may be in a cloud , but it shall not set in a cloud ; or else at the day of judgement , then there shall be a Vindication of Names . In this life the godly are called the troublers of Israel , they are seditious , rebellious , what not ? but a day is shortly coming when God himselfe will proclaime their innocency . Believe it , as God will make inquisition for blood , so for Names ; The Name of a Saint is precious in Go●s esteem , it is like a statue of gold which the polluted breath of men cannot stain ; and though the wicked may throw dust upon it , yet as God will wipe away tears from the eyes of his people , so he will wipe off the dust from their Name . The time is shortly coming when God will say to us , as once to Ioshua * , I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you : Even as it was with Christ , the Iews rolled a great stone upon him , and as they thought , it was impossible he should rise againe ; but an Angel came and rolled away the stone , and he arose in a glorious triumphant manner : So it shall be with the godly , their good Name oft lies buried , a stone of obloquy and reproach is rolled upon them ; but at the day of judgement , not an Angel , but God himself will roll away the stone , and they shall come forth from among the pots , where they have been blacked and sullied , * as the wings of a dove covered with silver , and her feathers with yellow gold . O what a blessed day will that be , when God himselfe shall be the Saints compurgator ! CHAP. XVI . The Eleventh Prerogative Royall . THE next blessed Priviledge , is the sentence of Absolution . Here take notice of two things : 1. The Processe in Law , Rev. 20.12 . The books were opened : It is a metaphor taken from the manner of our Courts of Judicature , where there is the whole Processe , every circumstance traversed , and the Witnesses examined : So here , the books are opened , the book of Gods Account , the book of Conscience : now observe another book was opened , which is the book of life ; that is , the book of God's Decree , the book of Free-grace , the book that hath our Names written in it , and our Pardon ; and the elect shall be judged out of this book : surely the sentence cannot be dismall , when our Husband is Judge , and will judge us by the book of life . 2. The Sentence it self , Matth. 25.34 . Come ye blessed of my Father : wich implies two things . 1. The Saints Acquittance : the Curse is taken off , they have their discharge in the Court of Justice and shall have the broad Seal of Heaven , Father , Son and holy Ghost , all setting their hands to the Pardon , and this Christ shalll proclaim . 2. It implies the Saints Instalment . Come ye blessed . As if Christ should say ; Ye are the heirs apparent to the Crown of Heaven , Heaven is your freehold ; come in ye blessed of the Lord , enter upon possession . And this sentence can never be reversed to eternity ; but as Isaac said , I have blessed him , and he shall be blessed . At the hearing of this comfortable sentence , O with what ineffable joy will the Saints be filled ! it will be * like musick in the ear , and a Jubily in the heart . Even as Elizabeth once said to the Virgin Mary , as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears , the babe leaped in my womb for joy : so the heart of a believer will leap in him at the hearing of this blessed sentence , and be ready to leap out of him for joy . O what trembling now among the devils , what triumph among the Angels ! CHAP. XVII . The last Prerogative Royal. THE last Priviledge to come is , God will make a publick and honourable mention of all the good which the Saints have done . This I ground upon three Scriptures , Matth. 25.21 . Euge , bone serve , Well done , thou good and faithful servant . The world maligns and censures ; when we discharge our conscience they say , ill done ; but God will say , well done , thou good and faithful servant ; he will set a trophy of honour upon his people , Matth. 25.35 . I was an hungred , and ye gave me meat ; I was a thirsty , and ye gave me drink ; I was a stranger , and ye took me in ; naked , and ye cloathed me , &c. King Ahashuerus had his book of Records , and when he did read in his book , he took notice of Mordecai's good service , and caused him to have publick honour * . Be assured , God hath his book of Records , and will openly take notice of all the good service you have done , and he himselfe will be the Herald to proclaim your praises , 2 Cor. 4.5 . Then shall every man have praise of God. I speak this the rather , to encourage you in Gods service . Perhaps thou hast laid out thy selfe for the Cause of God , and thou seest Providence blows upon it , and thou beginnest to think , it was a desperate venture , all is lost . No : thy Faith and Zeal is recorded , thy Name is taken in Heaven , and God will shortly give thee a publick testimonial of honour , Well done , thou good and faithful servant . What a whetstone is this to duty ? how should it adde oyl to the flame of our devotion ? thou perhaps hast prayed a great while , and watered this seed with thy teares ; be of good comfort , thy tears are not lost , God bottles them as precious wine , and it is not long before he will open his bottle , and this wine which came from the winepresse of thy eyes , shall sparkle forth in the sight of men and Angels . Nay , God will not only take notice of what we have done for him , but what we would have done . David had an intention to build God an house , and the Lord did interpret it as if he had done it , 1 King. 8.18 . Whereas it was in thy heart to build an house unto my Name , thou didst well that it was in thine heart * . Intentional goodness is recorded , and it shall adde to our Crown . What a good God do we serve ! who would ever change such a Master ! it were , one would think , enough , that God should give us wages for our work ( especially seeing he gave us ability to work ; ) but that God should applaud us , Well done ! Think how sweet it will be to heare such a word from God , how amazing and ravishing , when he shall say openly , These are the servants of the most high God , these are they that have feared an Oath , that have wept in secret for that which it was not in their power to reform ; these are they that have kept their garments pure , that have valued my favour above life , that did rather choose to honour me then humour men : These are they that were willing to wash off the staines from the face of Religion with their blood , and to make my Crown flourish though it were in their ashes . Well done , good and faithful servants , enter into the joy of your Lord. Thus shall it be done to them whom God delights to honour . These are those glorious things which are to come : I have led you up to the top of the mount , and given you a prospect of Heaven , I have shewn it you at the little end of the Perspective ; I shall say of this glory of heaven , as once the Queen of Sheba of Solomons pomp and magnificence * , The half of it hath not been told ; the Angels here must be silent . CHAP. XVIII . The first Inference drawn from the Proposition . IT shews us what an high valuation and esteeme we should set upon the godly . They are , we see , men greatly in favour with God , as the Angel once proclaimed to Daniel * . and they are invested with glorious Priviledges ; they are of an heavenly descent , borne of the Spirit ; and they are very 〈◊〉 , for they are Heires of the Kingdome * . God hath not onely laid out some parcels of land , or divided heaven to them , as Canaan was divided to Israel by lot * . The Tribe of Iudah to inhabit in one Countrey , the Tribe of Reuben , another , &c. God , I say , doth not parcel out heaven thus to the Saints , no ; heaven is theirs with all its Perquisites , with all its Royalties . There are no enclosures or Land-marks in heaven : There can be no confinement , where every thing is infinite : Oh what an high value and estimate then should be put upon the Saints ! they are heirs ! How doth the world respect great heirs ? What honour then should we give to the godly ! 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . They are adopted into all the stately priviledges of heaven ! It is true , an heir in his young age may be kept short , but how rich is he when he is possessed of the inheritance ? how rich shall the Saints be , when God shall poure out of his love , and shall empty all the treasures of glory into them ! The Saints are jewels , but their worth and riches , is not known ; therefore they are trampled upon by the world . It doth not yet appeare what they shall be : all things are theirs . CHAP. XIX . The second Inference drawn from the Proposition . IT shews us a maine difference between the godly and the wicked ; the godly man hath all his best things to come , the wicked man hath all his worst things to come : as their way is different , so their end ; Thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things * . The wicked have all their good things here ; they have not only what heart can wish , but They have more then heart can wish * : their worst things are to come : Why , what is to come ? the Apostle answers , 1 Thes. 1.10 . wrath to come . And here I shall briefly shew you the wicked mans Charter : which consists in five things . §. I. 1. The awakening of Conscience : this is to come . Conscience is Gods deputy in the soul , his viceroy ; a wicked man doth what he can to unthrone conscience , and put it out of office . Conscience is Gods Echo , and sometimes it is so shrill and clamourous , that the sinner cannot endure the noise , but silenceth conscience , and at last by often sinning , conscience begins to be sleepy and seared ; having their conscience seared with an hot iron , 1 Tim. 4.2 . this conscience is quiet , but not good , * for the dumbnesse of conscience proceeds from the numbnesse of it * : It is with him as with a sick patient , who having a confluence of diseases upon him , yet being asleep , is insensible of the pain . The conscience of many a man , is like the body of Dionysius , so grosse and corpulent , that though they did thrust needles into his flesh , he felt no paine . Time was when conscience was tender , but by often sinning he is like the Ostrich , that can digest iron ; or as it is said of Mithridates , that by often accustoming his body to poyson , it never hurt him , but he could live upon it as his food . That sinne which was before as the wounding of the eye , now is no more then the cutting of the naile . Well , there is a time coming when this sleepy conscience shall be awakened . Belshazzar was drinking wine in bowls , but there came out fingers on the wall , and his countenance changed * , there conscience began to be awakened . Conscience is like a looking-glasse , if it be foul and dusty , you can see nothing in it , but wipe away the dust , and you may see your face in it clearly : there 's a time coming , when God will wipe off the dust from the glasse of a mans conscience , and he shall see his sins clearly represented . Conscience is like a Lion asleep , when he awakes he roars and tears his prey : when conscience awakes , then it roars upon a sinner , and tears him , as the devil did the man into which he entred ; Mark 9.22 . he ●ent him , and threw him into the fire . When Moses rod was turned into a Serpent , he was afraid , and fled from it ; oh what is it when conscience is turned into a Serpent ? Conscience is like the Bee , if a man doth well , then conscience gives honey , it speaks comfort ; if he do ill , it puts forth a sting : it is called a worm , Mark 9.44 . Where the worm never dies . It is like Prometheus's Vulture , it lies ever gnawing : it is Gods blood-hound that pursues a man. When the Jaylour * saw the prison-doors open , and as he thought the prisoners were missing , he drew his sword and would have killed himselfe : when the eye of conscience is opened , and the sinner begins to look about him for his evidences , Faith , Repentance , &c. and sees they are missing , he will be ready to kill himselfe : a troubled conscience is the first-fruits of hell ; and indeed it is a lesser hell . That it is so , appears two wayes . 1. By the suffrage of Scripture , Prov. 18.14 . A wounded spirit who can bear ? a wound in the Name , in the estate , in the body , is sad ; but a wound in the conscience , who can bear ? especially when the wound can never be healed : for I speak of such as awake in the night of death . 2. By the experience both of good and bad . 1. By the experience of good men : when the storme hath risen in their conscience ( though afterwards it hath been allayed ) yet for the present they have been in the suburbs of hell . David complaines of his broken bones * , he was like a man that had all his bones out of joynt . What is the matter ? you may see wherein his pain lay , Psal. 51.3 . My sin is ever before me ; he was in a spiritual agony : it was not the sword threatned , it was not the death of the childe , but it was the roarings of his conscience , some of Gods arrows stuck fast there : though God will not damn his children , yet he may send them to hell in this life . 2. By the experience of bad men , who have been in the perpetual convulsions of conscience : I have sinned , saith Iudas : before he was nibling upon the silver bait , the thirty pieces ; but now the hook troubles him , conscience wounds him : such was Iudas his horror , being now like a man upon the rack , that he hangs himself to quiet his conscience . This shews what the hell of conscience is , that men account death easie to get rid of conscience , but in * vaine : it is with them as with a sick man , he removes out of one room into another , and changeth the aire , but still he carries his disease with him . Thou mayest think , O sinner , to laugh thy sinnes out of countenance ; but what wilt thou do when conscience shall begin to flie upon thee , and shall examine thee with scourgings * ? it is a mercy when conscience is awakened in time , but the misery is when the wound is too late , there being then no balm in Gilead . §. II. The second thing to come , His appearing before the Judge ; * For we must all appear before the judgement-seat of Christ : Hierome thought he ever heard that sounding in his ears , Surgite mortui , Arise ye dead , & come to judgement . What solemnity is there at an Assizes , when the Judge comes to the Bench , and the Trumpets are sounded ? Thus Christ the Judge shall be accompanied with Angels and Archangels , and the Trumpets shall be blown , 1 Thes. 4.16 . For the Lord himselfe shall descend from Heaven with a shout , with the voice of the Archangel , and with the Trump of God. This is the great and general Assizes . Then shall Christ sit down upon the Throne of Judicature , holding his sword in his hand , and a flame coming out of his mouth * . Now the sinner being summoned before him as a prisoner at bar , he hath his guilt written in his forehead , he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , condemned before he comes , I mean in his conscience , which is the consistory or petty Sessions : and appearing before Christ , he begins to tremble and be amazed with horrour ; and not being covered with Christs righteousnesse , for want of a better covering , he cries to the mountains to cover him : * And the Kings and the great men said to the mountains and rocks , fall on us , and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne , and from the wrath of the Lamb. Nothing so dreadfull as the sight of mercy abused . Now the Lamb will be turned into a Lion ; and he who was once a Saviour , will be a Judge . §. III. The third thing to come , is , His Charge reade : I will reprove thee , and set thy sinnes in order before thee , Psal. 50.21 . As God hath a bottle for tears , so he hath a book to register mens sins , Rev. 20.12 . * The books were opened . Oh what a black charge will be read against a sinner ; not only the sins which have damnation written in their forehead , as drunkenness , swearing , blasphemy , shall be brought into the charge , but those sinnes which he slighted ; As 1. Secret sinnes , such as the world never took notice of : many a man doth not forsake his sins , but grows more cunning : with the Vintner , he pulls down the bush , but his heart gives as much vent to sinne as ever ; his care is rather that sinne should be covered then cured : Not unlike to him that shuts up his shop-windows , but follows his trade within doors ▪ he sits brooding upon sinne ; he doth with his sins as Rachel did with her fathers Idols , she put them under her that he might not finde them ; so doth he put his sins in a secret place * : all these sinnes shall be set in order before him : Luk. 12.2 . For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed : God hath a key for the heart * . 2. Little sinnes , as the world calls them ; Though I know no such thing as little Treason ; the Majesty against which it is committed , doth accent and inhance the sinne . Besides , little sins ( suppose them so ) yet multiplied , become great . What is lesser then a grain of sand , yet when multiplied , what is heavier then the sands of the sea ? a little summe multiplied is great ; a little sinne unrepented of will damne ; as one leak in the Ship , if it be not lookt to , will drown * . You would think it is no great matter to forget God , yet , Psal. 50.22 . it hath a heavy doom . The non-improvement of Talents , the world looks upon as a small thing ; yet we read of him that hid his Talent in the earth , Mat. 25.25 . he had not spent it , only not trading it , is sentenced . 3. Sinnes that in the eye of the world were looked upon as graces ; sinnes that were coloured and masqued over with 〈◊〉 for God and good intentions , &c. men put fine glosses upon their sinnes , that they may obtain credit , and be the more vendible . It is said of Alcibiades , that he embroidered a curtaine with Lions and Eagles , that he might hide the picture under , full of Owls and Satyres . * So doth Satan embroider the curtain with the image of Vertue , that he may hide the foul picture of sinne under . The devil is like the Spider , first she weaves her web and then hangs the flie in it : so he helps men to weave the web of sinne with religious pretences , and then he hangs them in the snare ; all these sinnes shall be read in the sinners charge , and set in order before him . §. IV. 4. The next thing is , The passing of the Sentence , Matth. 25.41 . Ite maledicti , Depart from me , ye cursed . At the hear●●● of this sentence , the heart of a sinner will be rent thorow with horror ; that heart which before would not break with sorrow for sin shall now break with despair . At the pronouncing of this dreadful sentence , depart from me , the sinner would be glad if he could depart from himself , & be annihilated ; O it will be a sad departing ! We use to say , when a man is dead , he is departed ; but this will be a departing without a deceasing . As soon as Christ hath pronounced the curse , the sinner will begin to curse himselfe . Oh what have I been doing ! I have layn in wait for my own blood * , I have twisted the cord of my own damnation . While he lived , he blessed himselfe ; oh how happy am I , how doth providence smile upon me ! Psal. 49.18 . Though whiles he lived he blessed his soul , yet when this sentence is passed , he is the first that will curse himself . §. V. 5. The pouring out of the Vial , Psalm . 75.8 . For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup , and the wine is red , it is full of mixture , and he poureth out of the same . This is the sad execution : hell is set out by Tophet , Isa. 30.33 . which was a place situated neare Hierusalem * , where they offered their children in the fire to Moloch . A Metaphor to figure out the infinite torments of hell : the sinner shall lie in the furnace of Gods wrath , and the breath of the Lord , as a pair of bellows , shall blow the fire . Hell is said to be prepared , as if God had been sitting down to study and devise some exquisite torment : Hell is set out in one place by fire * , and in another place by darknesse * ; to shew that hell is a fire without light : the hypocrite while he lived , was all light , no fire , and in hell he shall be all fire , no light ; nothing there to give comfort , no musick but the shriekes of the damned ; no wine but what is burnt with the flame of God's wrath : There shall be weeping , and wailing , and gnashing of teeth . The weeping hypocrite shall go to the place of weeping : while he lived , he lifted up his eyes in a false devotion , and now being in hell he shall lift up his eyes * . He that gnashed his teeth at the godly , shall now have gnashing enough ; before he gnashed in envy , now in despair ; and this for ever . He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire , the word unquenchable scorcheth hotter then the fire . * The fire of hell is like that stone in Arcadia I have read of , which being once kindled , could not be extinguished . Eternity is the hell of hell ; the losse of the soul is irreparable ; if all the Angels in Heaven should go to make a Purse , they could not make up this losse . Si rursum corruerit anima , unde reparabitur ? num potest alter Christus , aut idem iterum crucifigi * ? When a sinner is in hell , shall another Christ be found to die for him , or will the same Christ be crucified again ? oh no : they are everlasting burnings . * Thus the sinner hath all his worst things to come : but a believer hath all his best things to come , the things which eye hath not seen , nor eare heard , viz the beatificall vision , the crystall streams of joy that run at Gods right hand : his Heaven is to come . CHAP. XX. A serious Scrutiny about the Believers Charter . I Hear , me thinks , a Christian say ▪ Great are the Priviledges of a Beleever , but I fear I have no title to this glorious Charter : All depends upon an interest . Were there a dispute about our Estate , whether such an Inheritance did belong to us , we would desire that there should be a triall in Law to decide it . Here is a large Inheritance , things present , and things to come ; but the question is , whether we are the true Heirs to whom it belongs ? now for the deciding this , we must seriously examine what right we have to Christ ; for all this Estate is made over to us through Christ : so we finde it in the text ; All things are yours , and ye are Christs : There comes in the Title . Jesus Christ is the great Magazine and store-house of a Christian , he hath purchased Heaven in his blood ; now if we can say , we are Christs , then we may say , All things are ours . Quest. But how shall we know that we are Christs ? Answ. Those that are Christs , Christ is in them , 2 Cor. 13.5 . Know ye not that Christ is in you ? Quest. But how shall we know that ? Answ. If we are in the faith ; It is observable , before the Apostle had said , Know you not that Christ is in you , first he puts this query Examine whether ye are in the faith ? Christ is in you , if you are in the faith : Here lies the question , Have you faith ? Now for the deciding this , I shall do two things : shew you first the essentials of faith , then the consequentials . 1. The essentials of faith . Faith ere it be wrought must have some preparatories : there must be some legall bruisings in the soul , some sense of unworthinesse . Now to this blessed Grace of Faith , there are three things especially requisite . §. I. Shewing that Knowledge is requisite to faith . The first is Knowledge . Faith is an intelligent grace ; though there may be knowledge without faith , yet there can be no faith without knowledge : They that know thy Name will put their trust in thee , Psal. 9.10 . Philo calls it , fides oculata , quick-sighted faith . Knowledge must carry the Torch before faith : 2 Tim. 1.12 . For I know whom I have believed . As faith without works is dead , so faith without knowledge is blind . Devout ignorance damnes : which condemns the Church of Rome , that think it a piece of their religion to be kept in ignorance ; these set up an Altar to an unknown God : they say , Ignorance is the mother of devotion ; but sure , where the Sun is set in the understanding , there must needs be night in the affections . So necessary is knowledge to the being of faith , that the Scripture doth sometimes baptize faith with the Name of knowledge ; Isa. 53.11 . By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many ; knowledge is put there for faith . Now this knowledge of Christ which goes before faith , or rather is the embrio and first matter of which faith is formed , consists in four things : The soul through this optick glasse of knowledge , sees 1. A preciousnesse in Christ , he is the chief of ten thousand , the pearl of price . Christ was never poor but when he had on our rags : there is nothing in Christ but what is precious ; he is precious in his Name , in his Nature , in his Influences ; he is called a precious stone * ; he must needs be a precious stone , who hath made us living stones . 2. A fulnesse in Christ ; the fulness of the Godhead , Col. 2.9 . all fulnesse , Col. 1.19 . a fulnesse of merit ; his blood able to satisfie his Fathers wrath : a fullnesse of Spirit ; his grace able to supply our wants ; by the one he doth absolve us , by the other he doth adorn us . 3. A suitablenesse in Christ ; that which is good , if it be not adaequatum , suitable , it is not satisfactory : If a man be hungry , bring him fine flowers , this is not suitable , he desires food : if he be sick , bring him musick , this is not suitable , he desires Physick : in this sense there is a suitablenesse in Christ to the soule ; he is quicquid appetibile , as Origen speaks , whatever we can desire . If we hunger and thirst , he is pabulum animae , the food of the soul ; therefore he is called the bread of life . If we are sick unto death , his blood is a sacred balm : he may be compared to the trees of the Sanctuary * , which were both for meat , and for medicine . 4. A Propensenesse and readinesse in Christ to give out his fulnesse : Isa. 55.1 . Ho , every one that thirsteth , come ye to the waters ; and he that hath no mony , buy and not , &c. Behold here , at what a low price doth God set his heavenly blessings ! it is but thirsting , bring but desires . Behold the Propensenesse in Christ to ●●spense and give out his fulnesse : buy without money ; a strange kind of buying ! there 's bounty in Christ as well as beauty . As he is all fulnesse , so he is all sweetnesse , of a noble and generous disposition ; he doth not only invite us , but charge us upon pain of death to come in and believe : he threatens us if we will not lay hold of mercy : he waits to be gracious * : This is the lenocinium , and enticer of the affections : this draws the eyes and heart of a sinner after him : what are the blessed Promises but Christs golden Scepter held forth ? what are the motions of the Spirit , but Jesus Christ coming a wooing ? and such a knowledge and sight of Christ is necessary to usher in faith : now the soul begins to move towards him ; he sees all this variety of excellency in Christ , and withall sees a possibility , nay , a probability of mercy : there is nothing that hinders him , God doth not exclude him unlesse he exclude himself : Then he thinks thus , What is it keeps me off from Christ ? is it my unworthinesse ? behold , there is merit in Christ : is it my wants ? there is enough in the fountain , and Jesus Christ doth not expect that I should carry any thing to him , but rather that I should bring something from him : he doth not expect that I should carry water to the well , only an empty vessel : why then should not this fulnesse in Christ be for me as well as others ? While he is thus parlying with himself , the Spirit works a kind of perswasion , that Christ is willing that he in particular should taste of this mercy ; then follows the second act which faith puts forth , and that is consent ; Well , I will have Christ whatever it cost me . §. II. That Consent is requisite to faith . Though Knowledge be a necessary antecedent to Faith , yet it is not enough , there must be secondly Consent : Faith is seated as well in the heart and will , as in the understanding : as well in the affection , as in the apprehension . With the heart man believes * . Scepticks in religion , may have a faith in the head , but not in the heart ; they are more Notion , then Motion : the soul consents to have Christ , and to have him upon his own terms . 1. As an Head ; the head hath a double office : it is the fountaine of spirits , and the seat of government : the head is as it were the Pilot of the body , it rules and steers it in its motion . The believer consents to have Christ not only as an Head to send forth spirits , that is comfort ; but as an head to rule : A sinner would take Christs Promises , but not his Laws : he would be under Christs benediction , but not under his jurisdiction . A believer consents to have whole Christ ; non eligit objectum , he doth not pick and choose ; but as he expects to sit down with Christ upon the throne , so he makes his heart Christs Throne . 2. The believer consents to have Christ for better for worse , a naked Christ , a persecuted Christ : faith sees a beauty and glory in the reproaches of Christ * , and will have Christ not only in purple but when with Iohn Baptist he is cloathed in Camels haire . Faith can embrace the fire , if Christ be in it . Faith looks upon the Crosse as Iacobs ladder , to carry him up to Heaven : Faith saith , Blessed be that affliction , welcome that Crosse which carries Christ upon it . 3. The Believer consents to have Christ purely for love ; if the wife should give her consent only for her husbands riches , she should marry his estate rather then his person ; * non est amicitia , sed mercatura ; it were not properly to make a marriage with him , but rather to make a merchandise of him : the believer consents for love , * amat Christum propter Christum , he loves Christ for Christ : Heaven without Christ is not a sufficient dowry for a believer : there 's nothing adulterate in his consent , it is not sinister ; there 's nothing forced , it is not for feare ; that were rather constraint then consent : a consent forced will not hold in Law , it is voluntary . The beauty of Christs person , and the sweetness of his disposition , draws the will , which as the Primum mobile or master-wheel , carries the whole soul with it . 4. The believer consents to have Christ pro termino interminabili , never to part more ; he desires an uninterrupted communion with him , he will part with life , but not with Christ : indeed , death when it slips the knot between the soul and the body , it ties it faster between the soul and Christ. 5. The Believer doth so consent to have Christ as he makes a deed of gift * , resigning up all the interest in himself to Christ ; he is willing to lose his own Name , and sirname himselfe by the Name of Christ : to lose his own will , and be wholly at Christs dispose : Ye are not your own * ; he resigns up his love to Christ. In this sense the Spouse is said to be a spring * shut up . She hath love for Relations , but the best of her love is kept for Christ : The world hath the Milke of her love , but Christ hath the Cream of it : the choisest and purest of her love is a Spring shut up , it is broached onely for Christ to drink . This is the second Act of faith . §. III. Opening the nature of Recumbency . The third thing is Recumbency . The soul having given its consent that the match should be made up , and done it out of choice , now it casts it selfe upon Christ as a man that casts himselfe upon the stream to swim , it makes an holy adventure , it clasps about Christ , and saith , My Lord , my Jesus , which is as it were the joyning of hands . This Act of Recumbency is sometimes in Scripture call'd a coming to Christ * , sometimes a leaning upon Christ * . This is that faith which justifies . Now concerning this faith , I shall lay down two Rules . 1. That faith justifies not as a formal cause , but purely as an instrument , viz. as it lays hold on Christ the blessed object , and fetcheth in his fulnesse : and in this sense it is call'd a precious faith * : the worth lies not in faith , but in Christ , on which it doth centre and terminate ; Faith in it selfe considered , is not more excellent than other graces . Take a piece of Wax , and a piece of Gold , of the same Magnitude , the Wax is not valuable with the Gold ; but as this Wax hangs at the lavell of some Will , by vertue of which a great Estate is confirmed , and conveighed , so it may be worth many hundred pounds . So faith considered purely in it self , doth challenge nothing more than other graces , nay , in some sense , it is inferiour , it being an empty hand : But as this hand receives the precious Almes of Christs Merits , and is an instrument or channell thorow which the blessed streams of life flow to us from him ; so it doth challenge a superiority above other graces . Indeed , some affirme , that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the very Act of believing , without reference to the Merits of Christ , justifies . To which I shall say but this ; 1. Faith cannot justifie as it is an Act , for it must have an object : we cannot ( if we make good sense ) separate between the Act and the Object . What is faith , if it do not fix upon Christ , but fancy ? It was not the people of Israels looking up that cured them , but the fixing their eye upon the Brazen Serpent . 2. Faith doth not justifie as it is a Grace . This were to substitute faith in Christs roome , it were to make a Christ of Faith. Faith is a good Grace , but a bad Christ. 3. Not as a Work : which must needs be , if ( as some affirme ) it be in lieu of obedience to the Moral Law. Then we should be justified by Works , contrary to that , Ephes. 2.9 . where the Apostle speaks expresly , Not of works . So that it is clear , faith's excellency lies in the apprehending and applying the object Christ : therefore in Scripture we are said to be justified , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , through faith as an Instrument deputed * ; not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , for faith as a formall cause . The second Rule is , that Faith doth not justifie , as it doth exercise grace . It cannot be denied but faith hath an influence upon the graces ; it is like a silver thred that runnes thorow a Chain of Pearl : it puts strength and vivacity into all the vertues ; but it doth not justifie under this Notion . Faith begets obedience : By faith * Abraham obeyed : But Abraham was not justified as he obeyed , but as he beleeved * . Faith works by love , but it doth not justifie as it works by love . For as the Sun shines by its brightnesse , not by its heat ; though both are inseparably joyned : so faith and love are tyed together by an indissoluble knot , yet faith doth not justifie as it works by love , but as it layes hold on Christ. Though faith be accompanied with all the graces , yet in point of justification , it is alone and hath nothing to do with any of the graces . Hence that speech of Luther ; in the justification of a sinner , Christ and faith are alone , Tanquam sponsus & spomsa in thalamo ; As the Bridegroom and Bride in the Bed-chamber . Faith is never separated from the graces , yet sometimes it is alone . And thus I have shewn you the Essentials of faith . §. IV. Shewing what are the fruits and products of faith . I proceede to the Consequentials of faith . There are many rare and supernatural fruits of faith . 1. Faith is an heart-quickning grace , it is the vitall Artery of the soul : The just shall live by his faith , Hab. 2.4 . When we begin to believe we begin to live . Faith grafts the soule into Christ , as the cion into the stock , and fetcheth all its sap and juyce from that blessed Vine . Faith is the great quickner ; it quickens our graces , and our duties . 1. Faith quickens our graces ; the Spirit of God infuseth all the seeds and habits , but faith is the fountain of all the acts of grace ; it is as the Spring in the Watch that moves the Wheels : not a grace stirs till faith set it a work . How doth love work ? By faith ! When I apprehend Christs love , this doth pullize and draw up my love to him again . How doth humility work ? By faith ! Faith humbles the soul ; it hath a double aspect , it looks upon sin , and a sight of sin humbles : it looks upon Free-grace , and a sight of mercy humbles . How doth patience work ? By faith * ! If I believe God is a wise God , who knowes what is best for me , and can deliver not onely from affliction , but by affliction : This spins out patience . Thus faith is not only viva , but vivifica : it puts forth a divine Energy and operation into all the graces . 2. Faith animates and quickens our duties . What was the blood of Bulls and Goats to take away sin * ? It was their faith in the Messiah , that made their dead Sacrifices become living Services . What are Ordinances , but a dumb shew , without the breathings of faith in them ? therefore in Scripture it is called , the prayer of faith * , the hearing of faith * , and the obedience of faith * , dead things have no beauty in them , it is faith that quickens and beautifies . 2. Faith is an heart-purifying grace : Having purified their hearts by faith , Acts 15.9 . Faith is a Virgin-grace , of a pure and heavenly nature . Faith is in the soule as lightning in the Air , which purgeth ; as fire in the Metals , which refines ; as Physick in the Body , which works out the disease . Faith works out pride , self-love , hypocrisie : it consecrates the heart : That which was before the Devils Thorow-fare , is now made Gods Enclosure , 1 Tim. 3.9 . Holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience . Faith is an heavenly plant , which will not grow in an impure soile . Faith doth not only justifie , but sanctifie : as it hath one work in heaven , so it hath another work in the heart : He that before was under the power of some hereditary corruption , as soone as faith is wrought there is a sacred vertue coming from Christ for the enervating , and weakening that sin : the waters are abated . The woman that did but touch the hemme of Christs Garment felt vertue coming out of him * . The touch of faith hath an healing power : Faith casts the Devil out of the Castle of the heart , though still he keeps the Out-works . Satan hath a party in a Beleever , but there 's a Duel fought every day : and faith will never give over , till , as a Prince , it prevails . This is the faith of Gods Elect * . Thou that say'st thou believest , hath thy faith removed the Mountain of sin , and cast it into the Sea ? What , a beleever , and a drunkard ! a beleever , and a swearer ! a beleever , and an Apostate ! for shame , either leave thy sins , or leave thy profession : Faith and the love of sin can no more stand together , then two contraries in the same part of the Subject gradu intensivo ; as light and darknesse ; Faith is an heart-pacifying grace ; Peace is the daughter of faith , Rom. 5.1 . Being justified by faith , we have peace with God , Faith is the Dove that brings an Olive-branch of peace in its mouth ; Faith presents God reconciled , and that gives peace . What is it makes Heaven , but the smile of God ? Faith puts the soul into Christ , and there 's peace ; Iohn 16. ult . That in me ye may have peace . When the Conscience is in a Fever , and burns as hell , faith opens the Orifice in Christs sides , and sucks in his blood , which hath a cooling and pacifying vertue in it . Faith gives us peace in Trouble , nay , out of Trouble . 1. It gives Peace in Trouble : Faith is an heart-pacifying , because an heart-securing grace . When Noah was in the Ark , he did not fear the Deluge : he could sing in the Ark. Faith shuts a beleever into the Ark Christ : Lead me to the Rock which is higher than I , was Davids prayer * . Faith plants the soul upon this Rock . The West-Indians built their Palaces upon the tops of hills : in the Flood the waters covered the hills ; but a beleever is built higher : Isa. 33.16 . His place of defence shall be the munition of Rocks : but a man may starve upon a Rock ; therefore it follows , Bread shall be given him , &c. Faith builds a Christian upon the power , wisdome , faithfulnesse of God : This is the munition of Rocks : and it feeds him with the hidden Manna of Gods love : here is bread given him . The way to be safe in evil times , is to get faith ; this ushers in peace , and it is such a peace as doth garrison the heart , Phil. 4.7 . The peace of God shall keep your heart , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : It shall keep it as in a Tower or Garrison . 2. Faith gathers peace out of trouble : joy out of sorrow * , glory out of reproach * . This is the key to Samsons Riddle , Out of the eater came meat ; this explaines that Paradox , * Can a man gather Grapes of Thorns , or Figs of Thistles ? Yes , of Trials and Persecutions faith gathers joy and peace : here are Figs of Thistles . How were the Martyrs ravished in the Flames ? The Apostles were whipt in prison , but it was with Sweet Briar . O how sweet is that peace which faith Breeds ? it is a Plant of the Heavenly Paradise ; it is a Christians Festival ; it is his Musick : it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as Chrysostome speaks , the anticipation of Heaven . 4. Faith is an heart-strengthening grace : a beleever is heart of oke , he is strong to resist tentations , to bear afflictions , to foil Corruptions ; he gives check to them , though not full mate . An unbeliever is like Reuben , unstable as water , he shall not excell . A state of infidelity , is a state of impotency . A Beleever is as Ioseph , who though the Archers shot at him , his bowe abode in strength . If a Christian be to do any thing , he consults with faith ; this is the sinew , which if it be cut , all his strength goes from him . When he is call'd out to suffering , he harnesseth himself with Faith , he puts on this coat of maile ; Faith layes in suffering strength , furnisheth the soul with suffering Promises , musters together suffering graces , propounds suffering rewards . But how comes Faith to be so strong ? Answ. 1. Because it is a piece of Gods Armour ; it is a shield he puts into our hand : Eph. 6.16 . Above all , taking the shield of Faith : a shield will serve for a brest-plate , a sword , if need be , an helmet ; it defends the head , it guards the vitals ; such a shield is Faith. 2. Faith brings the strength of Christ into the soul ; Phil. 4.13 . I can do all things , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , through Christ that strengthens me . The strength of faith lies out of it self , it grafts upon another stock . When it would have wisdome , it consults with Christ , whose Name is wonderful , Counsellour ; when it would have strength , it goes to Christ , who is call'd the Lion of the Tribe of Iudah . Christ is a Christians Armory , Faith is the key that unlocks it . Faith hangs upon the lock of Christ , all its strength lyes here ; cut it off from this lock , and it is weaker then any other grace . Christ may be compared to that tower of David * , on which there hang a thousand bucklers , all shields of mighty men . The faith of all the Elect , these shields hang upon Christ. Faith is an Heroicall grace ; the Crown of Martyrdom is set upon the head of faith . By faith they quenched the violence of the fire * ; the fire overcame their bodies , but their faith overcamr the flame . 5. Faith is a life-fructifying grace , it is fruitfull . Iulian upbraiding the Christians , said , that their Motto was Only beleeve ; and the Papists call us solifidians : Indeed , when faith is alone , and views all the rare beauties in Christ , then faith sets a low value and esteem upon works : but when faith goes abroad in the world , good works are the handmaids that wait on this Queen . Though we place faith in the highest Orb in matter of Justification , yet good works are in conjunction with it in matter of Sanctification . 'T is no wrong to good works to give faith the upper hand , which goes hand in hand with Christ. Good works are not separated from faith , only faith challengeth its seniority . Faith believes as if it did not work , and it works as if it did not believe . Faith hath Rachels eye , and Leahs womb : Rom. 7.4 . That ye should be married to another , even to him who is raised from the dead , that ye should bring forth fruit unto God. Faith is that Spouse-like grace which marries Christ , and good works are the children which faith bears . Thus having briefly shewn you the Nature of Faith , I now come to the reflexive Act : Have you faith or no ? And here let me turne my self , first to Unbelievers , such as cannot find that they have this uniting , this espousing grace ; what shall I say to you ? Go home and mourn ; think with your selves , what if you should die this night ? what if God should send you a Letter of summons to surrender , what would become of you ? you want that grace which should intitle you to Christ and Heaven : oh , I say , mourn : yet mourn not as them without hope , for in the use of means you may recover a Title . I know it is otherwise in our Law-Courts ; if a Title to an Estate be once lost , it can never be recovered : but it is otherwise here ; though thou hast no Title to Christ to day , yet thou may'st recover a Title : thou hast not sin'd away the hope of a Title , unless thou hast sinn'd away the sense of sinning . To such as are resolv'd to go on in sinne , I haue not a word to say , they are upon the spur to go to hell : but to you that have been prodigall sonnes , but are now taking up serious resolutions to give a bill of divorce to your sins ; let me encourage you to come to Christ , and to throw your selves upon his blood ; for yet a Title to Heaven is recoverable . Object . 1. But saith the sinner , Is there hope of mercy for me ? sure this is too good news to be true : I would believe , and repent , but I am a great sinner . Ans. And who else doth Christ come to save * ? whom doth God justifie but the ungodly * ? did Christ take our flesh on him , and not our sins ? 2. But my sins are of no ordinary die ? Answ. And is not Christs blood of a deeper purple then thy sins ? is there not more vertue in the one , then there can be venom in the other ? what if the devil doth magnifie thy sins , canst not thou magnifie thy Physician ? cannot God drown one sea in another , thy sinnes in the Ocean of his mercy ? 3. But my sins are of a long standing ? Answ. As if Christs blood were only for new and fresh wounds ? We read that Christ raised not only the daughter of Iairus , which was newly* dead , and the widows sonne which was carried forth to burying ; but Lazarus , that had layn four dayes in the grave , and began to putrefie : and hath Christ lesse vertue now in Heaven then he had upon earth ? if thine be an old wound , yet the medicine of Christs blood applied by faith , is able to heale it : therefote sink not in these quick-sands of despair . Iudas his despair , was worse in some sense then his Treason . I would not encourage any to go on in sinne , ( God forbid , ) 't is sad to have old age and old sins . It is hard to pull up an old tree that is rooted , it is easier to cut it downe for the fire ; but let not such despair : God can give an old sinner a new heart , he can make springs in the desart * : Have not others been set forth as paterns of mercy , who have come in at the twelfth houre ? Therefore break off the league with sinne , throw thy self into Christs arms say , Lord Jesus , thou hast said , * Those which come to thee , thou wilt in no case cast out 2. Let me turne my self to the people of God , such as upon a serious scrutiny with their own hearts , have ground to beleeve that they have faith , and being in the faith are ingrafted into Christ : read over your Charter , All things are yours : things present , and to come : You are the heirs on which God hath setled all these glorious priviledges Give wine , saith Solomon , to them that are of heavy hearts * . But while I am going to pour in this wine of consolation , me thinks , I hear the Christian sadly disputing against himself , that he hath no right to this Charter . CHAP. XXI . The Beleevers Objections answered . THere are three great Objections which he makes : Object . 1. Alas , saith he , I cannot tell whether I have faith or no ? Answ. Hast thou no faith ? how didst thou come to see it ? a blind man cannot see : thou canst not see the want of grace , but by the light of grace . Quest. But sure , if I had faith I should discern it ? Ans. 1. Thou mayest have faith , and not know it : a man may seek for that sometimes which he hath in his hand . Mary was with Christ , she saw him , she spake with him , yet her eyes were held that she did not know it was Christ : the child lives in the womb , yet doth not know that it lives . 2. Faith oft lies hid in the heart , and we see it not for want of search ; the fire lies hid in the embers , but blow aside the ashes , and it is discernable : Faith may be hid under fears , temptations ; but blow away the ashes . Thou prizest faith ; hadst thou a thousand Jewels lying by , thou would'st part with all for this Jewel : no man can prize grace but he that hath it . Thou desirest faith , the true desire of faith is faith . Thou mournest for want of faith ; dispute not , but beleeve ; what are these tears but the seeds of faith ? Object . 2. But my faith is weak , the hand of it so trembles , that I fear it will hardly lay hold upon Christ ? Answ. There are seven things which I shall say in reply to this . 1. A little faith is faith ; as a sparkle of fire is fire : though the pearl of faith be little , if it be a true pearl , it shines in Gods eyes . This little grace is the seed of God * , and it shall never die , but live as a sparkle in the main sea . 2 A weak faith will entitle us to Christ as well as a stronger . To them that have obtained like precious faith , 2 Pet. 1.1 not but that there are degrees of faith ; as faith purifies , so all faith is not alike one is more then another ; but as faith justifies , saith is alike precious ; the weakest faith justifies as well as the faith of the most eminent Saint ; a weak hand will receive the almes : for a man to doubt of his grace because it is weak , is rather to rely upon grace , then upon Christ. 3. The Promise is not made to strong faith , but to true . The Promise doth not say , Who ever hath a faith that can remove mountains , that can stop the mouth of Lions , shall be saved ; but whoever believes , be his faith never so small , the Promise is made to true faith , and for the most part to weak . What is a grain of mustard-seed , what is a bruised reed , but the emblem of a weak faith ? yet the Promise is made to these : A bruised reed he will not break * . The words are a miosis , where the lesser is put for the greater : He will not break . that is , hee will bind up : Though Christ chides a weak faith , yet that it may not be discouraged , he makes a Promise to it . Hierom observes upon the Beatitudes , there are many of the Promises made to weak grace : Matth. 5.3 Blessed are the poor in spirit ; Blessed are they that mourn , ver . 4. Blessed are they that hunger , ver . 5. 4. A weak faith may be fruitfull ; weakest things do multiply most . The Vine is a weak tree , it is born up and underpropt , but it is fruitfull ; it is made in Scripture the Emblem of fruitfulnesse * . The Thiefe on the Crosse , when he was newly converted , he had but a weak faith ; but how many precious clusters grew upon that vine ! Luk. 23.40 . he chides his fellow-thief ; Dost thou not fear God ? he falls to self-judging , we indeed suffer justly : he believes in Christ when he said , Lord : he makes an heavenly prayer , remember me when thou comest into thy kingdome : here was a young plant , but very fruitful . Weak Christians oft are more fruitful in affections ; how strong is the first love , which is after the first planting of faith ! 5. A Christian may mistake , and think he is weak in faith because he is weak in assurance , whereas faith may be strongest when assurance is weakest ; assurance is rather the fruit of faith : The woman of Canaan was weak in assurance , but was strong in Faith. Christ gives her three repulses , but her faith stands the shot ; she pursues Christ with an holy obstinacy of faith , insomuch that Christ sets a trophy of honour upon her faith , * O woman , great is thy faith : it may be a strong faith , though it doth not see the print of the nailes : it is an heroicall faith that can swim against winde and tyde , believe against hope * . Christ sets the crown upon the head of faith , not of assurance . Ioh. 20.29 . Blessed are they that have not seen , and yet have believed . 6. God hath most care of weak believers ; the mother tends the weak child most : God will gather the lambs with his armes , and carry them in his bosome * . The Lord had a great care of his weak Tribes : when Israel march'd towards Canaan , the Tribes were divided into several companies or Brigades : now it is observable , all the weak Tribes were not put together , lest haply they should discourage one another , and so have fainted in their march ; but God puts a strong Tribe to two weak Tribes ; as Issachar , Zebulon , two weak Tribes , and Iudah a victorious Tribe ; therefore he gives the Lion in his standard : surely this was not without a mystery ; to shew what care God hath of his weak children , CHRIST the Lion of the Tribe of Iudah shall be joyned to them . 7. Weak faith is a growing Faith ; 'T is resembled by the grain of Mustard-seed , of all seeds the least ; but when it is grown , it is the greatest among herbs , and becometh a Tree , so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the Branches thereof * . Faith must have a growing time ; The seed springs up by degrees ; First the Blade , and then the Eare , and then the full Corn in the Eare : the strongest faith hath sometimes been weak . The faith that hath been renowned in the world , was once in its infancy and minority : Grace is like the waters of the Sanctuary , which did rise higher and higher . Wait on the Ordinances , these are the brests to nourish faith : be not discouraged at thy weak faith , though it be now in the blossome , and bud , it will come to the full flower . Object . 3. But , saith a childe of God , I fear I am not elected ? Answ. What , a Beleever and not elected ? Who told thee thou wert not elected ? Hast thou any skill in the black Book of Reprobation ? The Angels cannot unclasp this Book , and wilt thou meddle with it ? Which is our duty to study , Gods Secret will , or his Revealed ? 'T is a sin for any man to say he is a Reprobate . That which keeps him in sinne , must needs be a sinne ; but this Opinion keeps him in sinne , it cuts the sinews of endeavour . Who will take paines for heaven that gives up himselfe for lost ? O Beleever ! be of good comfort ; thou needest not look into the Book of Gods Decree , but look into the Book of thy heart , see what is written there : he that findes the Bible copied out into his heart , his nature transformed , the byasse of his will changed , the signature and engravings of the Holy Ghost upon him , he doth not look like a Reprobate . When you see the fruits of the earth spring up , you conclude the Sun hath been there ; 'T is hard to climb up into Election : but if we finde the fruits of holinesse springing up in our hearts , we may conclude , the Sun of Righteousnesse hath risen there , 2 Thes. 2.13 . God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation by the Sanctification of the Spirit . By our Sanctification we must calculate our Election . Indeed , God in saving us , begins at the highest Link in the Chaine , Election ; but we must begin at the lowest Link of the Chaine , Sanctification , and so ascend higher . Therefore laying aside all disputes , let me poure in of the Wine of consolation . Thou who art a Beleever , ( and though thou wilt not affirm it , yet thou darest not deny it without sin ) let me do two things , shew you your happinesse , then your duty . 1. Behold your happinesse : all the things which you have heard of , present and to come , are your portion and prerogative . What shall I say to you ? All my apprehensions fall short : When I speak of things to come , I know not how to expresse my selfe but by a deep silence , and astonishment . O the Magnitude and Magnificence of the Saints glory ! The ascent to it is so high , that it is too high for any mans thoughts to climb : The most sublime spirit would here be too low and jejune . How happy art thou , O Beleever ! if God himselfe can make thee blessed , thou shalt be so : If being invested with Christs Robes , enamell'd with his beauty , replenished with his love : If all the dimensions of glory will make thee blessed , thou shalt be so . O the infinite superlative happinesse of a Beleever ! All things to come are his . What ? To have the same Joynture with the Angels , those blessed Spirits ! Nay , to speake with reverence , to have a partnership with God himself ! to share in the same love , to be enriched with the same glory which did sparkle forth in the humane nature of Christ * ! How amazing is this ! the thoughts of it are enough to swallow us up . O what an inheritance is he born to , who is new borne ? Suppose he is poore in the world , and despised , ( The King of the Moors was offended at Religion , because the Professors of it were poore , ) I say to him as our Saviour , * Blessed are ye poore , for yours is the Kingdome of God. All things to come are yours . Who would not be a Beleever ! O that I might tempt such to Christ as yet stand out . 2. Learn your duty . Mercy calls for Duty . CHAP. XXII . Shewing the Duties of a Beleever by way of Retaliation . THere are severall Duties which I would presse upon Beleevers ; and they branch themselves into nine particulars . 1. Admire , and thankfully adore the love of God in setling this rich Charter upon you . How was David affected with Gods goodnesse ? 2 Sam. 7.19 . Thou hast spoken of thy servants House for a great while to come . So should we say , Lord , thou hast not only given us things present , but thou hast spoken of thy servants for a great while to come , nay , for ever . It will be a great part of our work in heaven to admire God : let us begin to do that work now which we shall be for ever doing . Adore free-grace ; free-grace is the hinge on which all this turns ; Every link in this golden chaine is richly enamell'd with free-grace ; Free-grace hath provided us a plank after shipwrack . When things pas● were forfeited , God hath given us things to come . When we had lost Paradise , he hath provided heaven . Thus are we raised a step higher by our fall . Set the Crown upon the head of free-grace . O to what a Seraphicall frame of spirit should our hearts be raised ! How should we joyn with Angels and Arch-Angels in blessing God for this ! 'T is well there is an eternity coming ; and truly that will be little enough to praise God. Say as that sweet Singer of Israel , Psal. 103.1 . Blesse the Lord , O my soul ; Or as the Original will bear , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Bow the Knee , O my soul , before the Lord. Thus should a Christian say , All things in heaven and earth are mine ; God hath setled this great portion upon me , Bow the Knee , O my soul , praise God with the best instrument , the heart ; and let the instrument be screwed up to the highest , doe it with the whole heart . When God is tuning upon the string of mercy , a Christian should be tuning upon the string of Praise , I have given you but a taste of this new Wine : yet so full of Spirits it is , that a little of it should enflame the heart in thankfulnesse . Let me call upon you , who are the heirs apparent to this rich inheritance , Things present and to come ; that you would get your hearts elevated , and wound up into a thankfull frame . 'T is not an handsome posture , to see a Christian ever complaining when things go crosse . O do not so look upon your troubles , as to forget your mercies . Blesse God for what is to come : and to heighten your praises , consider God gives you not one●●●hese things , but he gives y●●●●mself . It was Austins praye● . Lord , saith he , What ever thou hast given me , take all away , only give me thy self : You have not only the gift , but the Giver . O take the Harp and Violl ; if you do not blesse God , who shall ? where will God have his praise ? he hath but a little in the World. Praise is in it self an high Angelical work , and requires the highest spirited Christians to perform it . Wicked men cannot praise God : they can say , God be thank'd ; but as it is with the Hand-Diall , the finger of the Diall is at twelve , when the Diall hath not moved one minute . So , though the tongues of wicked men are forward in praise , yet their hearts stand still . Indeed , who can praise God for these glorious priviledges to come , but he that hath the Seale of the Spirit to assure him that all is his ? O that I might perswade the people of God to be thank●●ll , Make Gods Praise glorious * . Let mee tell you , God is much taken with this frame ; Repentance is the joy of Heaven , and Thankfulnesse is the musick of Heaven : let not God want his musick ; let it not bee said , God hath more Murmurers than Musicians ; Who so offereth praise , glorifies me * . 2. If all things to come are yours , live suitable to those glorious hopes : you that look for things to come , let mee tell you , God looks for something present from you ; namely , that your lives be answerable to your hopes What manner of persons ought you to be ? 2 Pet. 3.11 . You have heard what manner of priviledges you shall have ; I , but what manner of persons ought you to be ? Those that look to differ from others in their Condition , must differre from them also in their Conversation . Wherefore beloved , seeing you look for such things , be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot * . We would all be glad to be found of God in peace , then labour to bee found without spot . Spot not your faces , spot not your consciences ; live as those who are the Citizens and Burgesses of this new Ierusalem above . Walk as Christ did upon earth . There are three steps in which we should follow Christ. 1. In sanctity : his was an holy life ; Which of you convinceth me of sinne ? Though he was made sin , yet he knew no sinne . The very divels acknowledged his holinesse : we know thee who thou art , The holy One of God. Oh be like Christ ; tread in his steps . In the Sacrament , wee shew forth the Lords death * : And in an holy conversation wee shew forth his life . The holy oyle , wherewith the Vessels of the Sanctuary were to be consecrated , was compounded of the purest ingredients * , which was a Type and Embleme of that Sanctity which should rest upon the godly ; their hearts and lives should be consecrated with the holy oyle of the Spirit . How doth it discredit and as it were intomb the honor of religion when men profess they look for heaven , yet there is nothing of heaven in them ; if there be light in the lanthorn , it will shine out : and if grace be in the heart , it will shine forth in the conversation . It is a great sinne in these times to be bewailed , the looseness of Professors : even those that we hope ( by the rule of charity ) have the sap of grace in their heart , yet do not give forth such a sweet savour in their lives : How many under the Notion of Christian Liberty , degenerate into Libertinisme . The carrage of some that go for Saints is such , that it would make men afraid to embrace Religion . What Chrysostome saith of the Contentions of the Church in his time ; ( If , saith he , a Gentile should come and say , I would bee made a Christian ; yet when hee sees such a spirit of Dissension among them ; one of Paul , and another of Apollo , such are the diversity of opinions , that hee knowes not which to chuse , but must returne to his Gentilism againe : ) The same may I say of the loosenesse , if not scandals of some Professors ; If a stranger should come from beyond Sea , and see the miscarriages of many , their Covetousnesse , their Licentiousnesse ; had hee no other Bible to read in , but the lives of some Professors , hee would turne back again , and resolve never to be made a Christian. Pudet haec opprobria nobis — . What a shame is this ? Did Christ walk thus when hee was upon earth ? His life was a pattern of Sanctity ! You that are Professors , your sinnes are sinnes of unkindnesse , they go nearest to Christs heart . Do you live as those who have hope of things to come ? is Christ preparing Heaven for you , and are you preparing Warre against him ? Is this your kindnesse to your friend ? O consider how you wound Religion ; Your sinnes are worse then others . A staine in a black cloth is not so easily seen or taken notice of ; but a spot in a piece of Scarlet , every ones eye is upon it . The sinnes of wicked men are not so much wondred at , they can do no other , theirs is a spot in black ; but a sinne in a Professor , this is like a spot in a bright Scarlet , every ones eye is upon it ▪ this wounds the honour of Religion : The deviation of the godly is as odious as the devotion of the prophane . Oh that there were such a lustre and majesty of holinesse in the lives of Professors , that others might say , These look as if they had been with Jesus , they live as if they were in Heaven already . Aaron must not onely have Bels ▪ but Pomegranates , which were for savour , as the other were for sound . It is not enough to discourse of godlinesse , or to make a noise by a Profession : What are these Bels without the Pomegranates , viz. a life that casts a savour in the Church of God ? 2. Walk as Christ did , in Humility . His life was a pattern of Humility . He was the Heir of Heaven , the God-head was in him , yet he washeth his Disciples feet Iohn 13.6 . He poured water into a Bason , and began to wash his Disciples feet , and to wipe them with the Towel . No wonder it is said , that he came in the form of a servant ; he stands here with his Bason of water and a Towel ; nay he did not onely humble himself to the Disciples feet , but he humbled himself to the death , even the death of the cross , Phil. 2.8 . Tread in this step of Christ ▪ be humble ; the humble Saint looks like a Citizen of heaven . Humility is the vail of a Christian : Christs Bride never looks more beautifull in his eye , than when she hath on this vail ▪ Be ye clothed with humility * . Humility , as it hides anothers error , so it hides its own graces ; grace shines brightest thorow the Mask of humility . Moses face shined , but he wist not that it shined . What are all our duties without humility ? Incense smells sweetest when it is beaten small * ; when the Incense of our duties is beaten small , then it sends forth its most fragrant perfume . Humility studies its own unworthinesse , it looks with one eye upon grace , to keep the heart chearful , and with the other eye upon sinne , to keep it humble . Better is that sinne which humbles me , then that duty which makes me proud ! Humility gives all to Christ ; as Ioab when he had gotten a victory , sends for King David , that he might carry away the Crown of it : So doth the humble Christian , when he hath gotten the victory over a corruption , he sets the Crown upon the head of Christ : if he hath strength to go thorow duties , he writes Christ and free grace upon all . I laboured more abundantly then they all ; yet not I , but the grace of God which was with me , 1 Cor. 15.10 . You that look for things above , let me tell you , the way to ascend is to descend ; the lower the tree roots , the higher it shoots up : would you shoot up in glory , would you be tall Cedars in the Kingdome of God ? be deeply rooted in Humility . Humility is compar'd by some of the Fathers to a Valley ; we must walk to heaven thorow this valley of Humility . Humility is such a precious Herb , as growes not in the garden of Philosophy ; that is rather Humanity , then Humility . Humility distinguisheth Christs Spouse from harlots . Hypocrites grow in knowledge ; but not in humility . Knowledge puffs up , 1 Cor. 8.1 . 'T is a Metaphor taken from a pair of Bellowes , that are blown up and fill'd with winde . He that is proud of his knowledge , the Devil cares not how much he knows . It is observable in the old law that God hated the very resemblance of the sinne of pride , he would have no honey mingled in their offering ; Ye shall burne no leaven , nor any honey in any offering of the Lord made by fire * . Indeed , leaven is soure , but what is there in honey that should offend ? why no honey ? because honey when it is mingled with meale or flower , maketh it to rise , and swell , therefore the people of Israel must mingle no honey in their offering . This was to let us see how God hated the resemblance of this sinne of pride . Be humble . 3. Be like Christ in Charity ; Christs life was a life of charity ; he breath'd nothing but love ; he was full of this sweet perfume : as his Person was lovely * , so was his Disposition , he was compos'd all of love : his lips dropp'd honey , his side dropp'd blood , his heart dropp'd love . You that expect these glorious things to come , live as Christ did , live in love : Oh that this spice might send out its fragrant smell among Christians ! We know we are passed from death to life , because we love the brethren * . Dost thou love the Person of Christ , and hate the picture ? He that loves him who doth beget , loves him also that is begotten * . There are two Devils which are not fully cast out of Gods own people , The devil of vaine glory , and the devil of uncharitablenesse . Are we not Fellow-Citizens ? Doe wee not all expect the same Heaven ? Nay , are we not Brethren ? which should be a sufficient bond to knit us together in amity . We have all the same Father , God ; We are borne of the same Mother , the Church ; we are begotten of the same seed , the Word ; We suck the same brests , the Promises ; Wee feed at the same Board , the Table of the Lord ; We wear the same cloathing , the Robe of Christ's Righteousnesse ; We are partners in the same glory , the inheritance of the Saints in light . And shall we not love ? There is indeed a blessed strife , when the Saints strive for the faith : but this is a strife that consists of unity ; Striving together for the faith of the Gospel , Phil. 1.27 * . You that look for things to come , live suitably to your hopes : Walke as Christ did , that some of his beams may shine in you , and his life may be as it were copied out in yours . 3. The third duty is , If things to come are a Beleevers , be content though you have the lesse of things present : Having food and rayment , let us be therewith content * . Oh what a rich estate hath a Beleever ! he is to be valued according to that which is in reversion . Things to come are his . If you were to take an estimate of a man's Estate , would you value it by that which hee hath in his House , or by his Land ? Perhaps he hath little in his house , little money , or plate ; but he is a landed man , There lies his Estate . While we are in this House of Clay , we have but little . Many a Christian can hardly keepe life and soule together ; but , hee is a landed man , things to come are his ; then be content with the lesse of things present : If wee have but a small fore-crop , we shall have a great after-crop ; it is sufficient if we have but enough to beare our charges till we come to Heaven . An Heire that hath a great Estate beyond Sea , though hee hath but a little money for his voyage thither , he will bee content . If a Christian hath but enough to pay for his passage , till he comes at Heaven , it is sufficient ; as Seneca said to his friend Polibius * , Never complaine of thy hard fortune , as long as Caesar is thy friend . So I say to a Beleever , Never complaine as long as Christ is thy friend ; hee is preparing the Heavenly Mansions for thee . If thou complainest of any thing , let it be of thy complaining . Should not Hagar have been content , though the water were spent in her Bottle , when there was a Well so neare ? God hath made a Deed of gift , he hath given Christ to a Believer , and in him all things , things present and to come , Grace and Glory * ; is not here enough to make him content ? But , saith the Christian , I want present comforts . Consider , the Angels in Heaven are rich , yet they have no money ; thou hast things to come , Angels riches , such as cannot stand with reprobation ; bee content then with the lesse of things present . The Philosophers , who never understood one syllable of this Charter , did contemne riches , and preferr'd a contemplative life ; what poore contemplations were those ? certainly a man that lives by faith , may have more sweet content in his soule by the meditation of things to come , then a worldly man by the enjoying things present . 4. Labour for such an high degree of faith , as to make these things to come , present . Faith and Hope are two Sisters , and are very like , they differ thus ; Hope looks at the excellency of the Promise , faith at the certainty of it : now faith looking at the infallible truth of him that promiseth , thus it makes things to come present . Faith doth antedate glory , it doth substantiate things not seen * : Faith alters the Tenses , it puts the Future into the Present Tense , Psalm . 60.6 . Gilead is mine , Manasseh is mine , Ephraim is the strength of my head , &c. Those places were not yet subdued , but God had spoken in his holinesse , he had made David a promise , and he beleeved it , therefore hee looked upon them as already subdued : Gilead is mine , &c. So saith faith , God hath spoken in his holinesse , hee hath made me a promise of things to come , therefore Heaven is mine already . When one hath the reversion of an house , saith hee , This house is mine , Oh that wee had this Art of Faith , thus to anticipate Heaven , and make things to come present . Thou who art a Beleever , Heaven is thine now ; thy head is already glorified ; nay , heaven is begun in thee , thou hast some of those joyes which are the primitiae , the first-fruits of it . A Christian by the eye of faith , through the Perspective-glass of the promise , may see into Heaven . Faith sees the Promise fulfilled before it be fulfilled . Faith sets to its hand : Item , Received so much , before it be paid . Had we a vigorous faith , we might be in Heaven before our time : That which a weake beleever hopes for , a strong beleever doth in some kinde possesse . Oh that wee could often take a prospect of the Heavenly Paradise : Walke about Sihon , and go round about her , tell the towers thereof , mark ye well her bulwarks , consider her Palaces * : So , Walke into the Heavenly Mount , see what a glorious situation it is , go tell her Towers , see what an inheritance you have ; see your beauty and Nobility , behold your Scutchion : Oh that wee could thus breath our faith up this Mount of Heaven every day . Do not say , All this shall be mine ; but , It is mine already : my Head is there , my faith is there , my heart is there : could we thus living up to the height of our faith , reallize and antedate things to come , how would all present thing vanish ! if a man could live in the Sunne , the earth would not appear : when Saint Paul had been wrapped up into the third Heaven , the earth did hardly appeare ever after : see how he scornes it , I am crucified to the world : it was a dead thing to him , hee had begun Heaven already ; thus it is with a man that is Heavenlized . You Saints that are earthly , the eye of your faith is blood-shot : it is the character of a sinner , he cannot see afarre off * , 2 Pet. 1.9 . like a man who hath bad eyes , that can see but just before him . Faith carries the heart up to Heaven , and brings Heaven downe into the heart . 5. If all things to come are yours , then walke chearfully with God , put on your white robes : hath a Beleever a title to Heaven ? what , and sad ? Wee rejoyce in hope of the glory of God , Rom. 5.2 . It is but a while , 't is but putting off the earthly clothes of our body , and wee shall bee clothed with the bright robes of glory , and can a Beleever bee sad ? See how Christ doth secretly check his Disciples for this , Luke 24.17 . What manner of communications are these , while you walke and are sad ? What , sad and Christ risen ? So I say to beleevers ; Things to come are yours : why walke ye and are sad ? let them bee out of heart , who are out of hope . Oh rejoyce in God : when the lead of the flesh begins to sink , let the cork of faith swim above ! How doth the heir rejoyce in hope of the Inheritance ! How doth the Apprentice rejoyce to think of coming out of his time ! Here we are kept under by sinne , and a childe of God is forced sometimes to do the devils work , but shortly death will make us free ; there is an eternall Jubile coming , therefore rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God. Can wicked men rejoyce that have their portion in this life , and cannot hee rejoyce that hath a reversion of Heaven ? Are the waters of Abanah and Pharpar like to the waters of Iordan ? O ye Saints , think into what a blessed condition you are now brought ! is it not a sweet thing to have God appeas'd ? is it not a matter of joy to be an heire of the promise ? Adam in Paradise had choice of all the trees , one only excepted . The Promises are the trees of life , thou may'st walk in the garden of the Bible , and pluck from all these trees . Who should rejoyce if not a Christian ? he hath never so much cause to be sad , as he hath to bee chearfull . Object . 1. But my sinnes trouble me . Answ. 'T is true : That sinne will not forsake thee , is matter of sadnesse ; but that thou hast forsaken sinne , is matter of joy : Sinne is a talent of lead . That thou canst not runne so fast as thou would'st in the wayes of God , is matter of sadnesse : but that thou goest without halting , ( in regard of uprightnesse , ) this is matter of joy ; and for your comfort remember , shortly you shall sinne no more , all things shall be yours but sinne . Object . 2. But we are bid to mourn . Answ. I would not speak against holy mourning ; while we carry fire about us , we must carry water ; as long as the fire of sinne burns in our brests , we must carry tears to quench it . But consider , 1. Spirituall joy and mourning may stand together ; sometimes it rains and shines at once : when there is a shower in the eyes , there may be sunshine in the heart : in religion , mourning and musick are not inconsistent . 2. The end why God makes us sad , is to make us rejoyce ; he doth not require sorrow for sorrow , but it is ordain'd to be sal & condimentum , as sauce to make our joy relish the better : we sowe in tears , that we may reap in joy : 3. The swetest joy is from the sourest tears : Christ made the best wine of water * : the purest and most excellent joy is made of the waters of true repentance : the Bee gathers the best honey off the bitterest herbs : Tears are the breeders of spirituall joy . When Hannah had wept , she went away , and was no more sad . Those clouds are very uncomfortable that never have any sunshine : That mourning which dies the soul all in sable , viz. that hath no place for rejoycing , I shall rather think it despair , then true remorse ; The same God who hath bid us mourn , hath also bid us rejoyce , Phil 4.4 . 'T is an excellent temper to be serious , yet chearfull . Jesus Christ loves the sanguine complexion : joy puts liveliness and activity into a Christian , it oyls the wheels of the affections ; an heavy mind makes a dull action : the joy of the Lord is your strength * . The pensive melancholy Christian doth disparage the glory of Heaven : What will others say ? Here is one that speaks of things to come , and of a Crown laid up , but sure he doth not believe it : see how sad he is ! what ado is here to make a child of God chearfull ! shall we need bid an Heire rejoyce in the Estate befallen him ? let me tell you You who refuse consolation , are not fit persons to praise God : 'T is a kind of Solecisme , to praise God with a sad heart : I will sing praises , Psal 108. v. 1. 'T is more proper to sing praises , then to weep them . Rejoyce , O Christian , lift up thy crest , triumph in the hope of these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , things to come : it is not enough that there be joy within the firmament of a Christians heart but it must shine out in his countenance . Sixth Duty . If all things to come are a believers , let him not envy them who have only things present . God often wrings out the waters of a full cup to wicked men , but there are dregs at the bottom . Indeed , the prosperity of sinners is a great temptation : David stumbled at it , and had almost fallen ; Psal. 73. My feet had well nigh slipt : It is not matter of envy but pity , to see men thrive in a way of sinne ; a fool is in gay cloaths , but do you envy him ? a man under a sentence , going up the ladder , do you envy him ? They that will be rich fall into temptations and a snare , 1 Tim. 6.9 . Do you envy a man who is fallen into a snare ? wicked men have that guilt which imbitters their comforts , so that they may be said to want what they have * : as a man who hath great possessions , yet having a fit of the Stone or Gout , while he is in that torment he may be said not to have them , because the comfort of them is taken away . A believer hath better things then these ; things to come : Wicked men have a Crowne of unrighteousness , he hath a Crown of righteousness ; they have robes ( and perhaps stained with the blood of innocents ) * , he hath the bright robe of glory . Envy not the oppressour , and choose none of his wayes : * better is sanctified adversity , then successefull impiety . Seventh Duty . Be supported in want of spirituall comfort : spiri●uall joy is a sweet thing 〈◊〉 is the spiced wine that 〈…〉 lips of them who are asleep to speak : * this is the hidden Mannah , the bunch of grapes that growes upon the true vine ; this is the Saints banqueting stuffe ; how sweet is it to have Word ▪ and Spirit , and Conscience speaking peace ! in the mouth of these three witnesses faith is confirmed . But , saith the poor soul that goes mourning , It is not so with me , I have not the Privy Seale of Heaven , I want assurance . Well , do not give over waiting . We read , Iohn 6.19 . the Disciples were in the ship , and there arose a great storm , And when they had rowed about twenty five , or thirty furlongs , they see Iesus . This , O Christian , may bee thy case , there is a tempest of sorrow risen in thy heart ; and thou hast rowed from one Ordinance to another , and hast no comfort : Well , bee not discouraged , do not give over rowing ; thou hast rowed but three or foure furlongs , perhaps when thou hast rowed twenty five or thirty furlongs , thou may'st see Jesus , and have a comfortable evidence of his love ; but suppose thou shouldest row all thy life long , and not have assurance , there are tw● things should support the heart in want of spirituall joy . 1. God denies comfort to exercise grace . We are impatient if we have not comfort presently ; and truly , did we carve for our selves , we should often cut the worst piece ; a Christian would ever bee upon Mount Tabor , looking into Canaan , he is loath to come downe into the valley , and be in trials , agonies , temptations , as if God could not love us except hee had us in his armes : God will have us without comfort sometimes ; to make us row against tyde , beleeve against hope . Of what use were the Starres , if the Sunne did alwayes shine ? how could patience have it's perfect work , how could repentance ' if we were alwayes upon the Mount of joy ? Rachel is more fair , but Leah is more fruitfull ; comfort is fair to look upon , but grace is better then comfort . A Christian should rather pray for a fruitfull heart then fair weather ; oftentimes when God lets downe comfort into the heart , wee begin to let down care . As it is with Musicians , before they have money , they will play you many a sweet lesson ; but as soone as you throw them down money , they are gone , you heare no more of them : Before joy & assurance , oh the sweet musick of Prayer and Repentance ! but whē God throws down the comforts of his Spirit , we either begin to leave off duty ; or at least slacken the strings of our Vial , & grow remiss in it : thou art taken with the mony , but God is taken with the musick ; thou art taken with comfort , but God is more taken with thy faith : when there is too much sunshine , oftentimes there follows a drought in our graces . 2. The second thing to support the heart , is , Things to come are yours : it is but staying a while , and you shall be brim-full of comfort : now a beleever is an heir of this joy , let him stay but while he is of age , and hee shall bee fully possessed of the joyes of Heaven . For the present , God leaves a seed of comfort in the heart , * the seed of God ; there 's a time shortly coming when we shall have the full flower ; We shall drink of the fruit of the vine in the Kingdome of Heaven * . As Paul said of Onesimus , Philem. v. 15. For perhaps he therefore departed for a season , that thou mightest receive him for ever : so I say of the comforts of Gods Spirit , they may bee withdrawn for a season , that we may have them for ever : there 's a time coming when we shall bathe our selves in the rivers of divine pleasure . 8. The next duty is , If all Christs things are ours , then all our things must be Christs ; this is Lex Talionis , justice and equity require it . There 's a joynt interest between Christ and a believer : Christ saith , All mine are thine , things present , and things to come ; then the heart of a believer must echo back to Christ , Lord , whatsoever I have is for thee ; my parts , my estate ; it was the saying of a reverend Father ▪ Lord , thou art my all , and my all is thine * . Oh be willing to spend , and be spent ; do , and suffer for Christ. 1. Let us to our power advance the Honour and Interest of Jesus Christ : Alas , what is all that we can do ? If a King should bestow upon another a Million per annum , with this proviso , that in lieu of his acknowledgement he should pay a Peppercorn every year to the King , what proportion were there between this mans rent and his revenue ? Alas , we are but unprofitable servants * , all that we can do for Christ is not so much as this peppercorn ; yet up and be doing : Christ hates complements : we must not only bow the knee to him , but with the Wise men * , present him with gifts , gold , frankincense , and myrrhe . Be not like the sonnes of Belial , who brought their King no presents * . But , saith the Christian , I am poor , and can do little for Christ. Canst thou not make a Deed of gift , and bestow thy love upon Christ ? In the Law , he that could not bring a Lamb for an offering , if he brought but two Turtle-doves , it was sufficient . The woman in the Gospel that threw in but her two mites , yet it was accepted * . God is not angry with any man because he hath but one Talent , but because he doth not trade it . 2. Suffer for Christ , be willing to sell all , nay , to lose all for Christ : we may be losers for him , we shall never be losers by him ; if he calls him for our blood , let us not deny it ; we have no such blood to shed for Christ as he hath shed for us . It was Luthers saying , That in the cause of God he was cont●nt , totius mundi odium & impetum sustinere ; to indure the odium and fury of the whole world . Basil affirmes of the Primitive Saints , they had so much courage in their sufferings , that many of the Heathens seeing their Heroick zeal , turned Christians ; they snatched up torments as so many Crowns . Oh think nothing too dear for Christ. We that look for things to come , should be wiling to part with things present for Christ. 9. Lastly , If all things to come are ours , be content to wait for these Great Priviledges : it is not incongruous to long for Christs appearing , and yet to wait for it : you see the glory a beleever shall be invested with ; but though the Lord gives a great portion , he may set a long day for the paiment . David had the promise of a Crown , but it was long before he came to weare it . God will not deny , yet he may delay his promise , to teach us to wait : 't is but a short-spirited faith that cannot waite . The husbandman waites for the seed : there is a seed of Glory sowne in a beleevers heart , waite till it spring up into a harvest . Truly , it is an hard thing to waite for these things to come ; so many discouragements from without , so many distempers from within , that the Christian is willing to be at home : therefore we need patience , Heb. 10 36. For yee have need of patience . But how shall we get it ? nourish faith ; ver . 35. Cast not away your confidence . Patience is nothing else but faith spun out ; if you would lengthen patience , be sure to strengthen faith . There 's a great deale of reason why a beleever should be content to wait for Heaven . 1. God is faithfull who promiseth * : Gods Word is security enough to venture upon , his Bond is as good as ready money : all the world hangs upon the word of his power ▪ and cannot our faith hang upon the word of his promise ? we have his hand and seal , nay , his Oath . 2. While we are waiting , God is tuning and fitting us for glory ; Giving thanks to the Father ▪ who hath made us meet for the inheritance , Col. 1.12 . we must be made meet . Perhaps our hearts are not humble enough , not patient enough ; our faith is but in its swadling bands , we should be content to wait a while , till we have gotten such a vigorous faith as will carry us full-sail to Heaven . As there is a fitting of vessels for hell , Rom. 9.22 . so there is a ripening and a preparing of the vessels of mercy , ver . 23. A Christian should be willing to wait for glory till he be fit to take his degree . 3. While we are waiting , our glory is encreasing ; while wee are laying out for God , he is laying up for us , 2 Tim. 4.8 , If we suffer for God , the heavier our Crosse , the heavier shall bee our Crown . Would a Christian be in the Meridian of glory , would he have his robes shine bright , let him stay here and do service ; God will reward us , though not for our works , yet according to our works * : the longer We stay for the principall , the greater will the interest be . 4. Wait for these things to come out of ingenuity : The longer a Christian lives , the more glory he may bring to God. Faith is an ingenuous grace , as it hath one eye at the reward , so it hath another eye at duty ▪ The time of life is the only time we have to work for God. Heaven is a place of receiving , this of doing . Hence the Apostle being enflamed with divine love , though he could with all his heart bee with Christ , yet hee was content to live a while longer , that he might build up souls , and make the Crown flourish upon the head of Christ * : 'T is self-love saith , Who will shew us any good ? divine love saith , How may I do good ? The prodigal son could say , Father , give me my portion ; he thought more of his portion , then his duty . A gracious spirit is content to stay out of Heaven a while , that he may be a means to bring others thither . He whose heart hath been divinely touched with the love of God , his care is not so much for receiving the talents of gold , as for improving the talents of grace . Oh wait a while , learne of the Saints of old , they waited : if we cannot wait now , what would we have done in the times of the long-liv'd Patriarchs ? look upon worldly men , they wait for preferment ; shall they wait for earth , and cannot we wait for Heaven ? If a man hath the reversion of a Lordship or Manor when such a Lease is out will he not wait for it ? We have the reversion of Heaven when the lease of life is run out , and shall we not wait ? Look upon wicked men , they wait for an opportunity to sin ; the adulterer waits for the twilight * ; sinners lye in wait for their own blood , Prov. 1.18 . Shall men wait for their damnation and shall not we be content to wait for our salvation ? Wait without murmuring , wait without fainting ; the things we expect are infinitly more then we can hope for . And let me adde one caution ; wait on the Lord , and keep his waies , Psal. 37.34 . while we are waiting , let us take heed of wavering . Go not a step out of Gods way , though a Lyon be in the way , avoid not duty to meet with safety : keep Gods high-way , the good old way , Jer. 6.16 . the way which is paved with holiness , Isa. 35.8 . and an high-way shall be there , and it shall be called the way of holiness : avoid * crooked pathes , take heed of turning to the left hand , lest you be set on the left hand . Sin doth crosse our hopes , it barracadoes up our way ; a man may as well expect to find Heaven in hell , as in a sinful way My last Use is to such as have only things present , that they would labour for things to come . You have seen the blessed condition of a man in Christ , never rest till this be yours : Alas , what are the great possessions of the earth ? the world hath vanity written upon the frontispiece ; there 's a transiency and a deficiency in these things . What is Honour ' but a rattle to still mens ambition ? it is like the Meteor which lives in the ayr , so doth this in the breath of other men * : it 's like a gale of wind which carries the ship ; sometimes this wind is down , a man hath lost his Honor , and lives to see himself intombed : som●●mes this wind is too high : how many have been blown to hell while they have been sailing with the wind of popular applause ! Honor is but magnum nihil * , a glorious fancy , Acts 25.23 * . It doth not make a man really the better , but often the worse : a man swell'd with honour ( wanting grace ) is like a dropsy-man whose bigness is his disease . And for riches ( the silver goddess which men a dore , ) what are they ? 1. They are vain : I gathered me silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of Kings and of the Provinces , Eccl. 2.8 . and behold , all was vanity , vers . 11. That must needs bee vain which cannot fill the heart . Covetousness is a drie drunkenness ; the more men have , the more they thirst ; like the fire , the more fuell is thrown into it , the more it is inflamed . 2. They are uncertain , 1 Timothy 6.17 . they are ever upon the wing : Outward comforts , as one saith * , are Dei ludibria , quae sursum ac deorsum suo coelo feruntur , like Tennis-bals , which are bandied up and downe from one to another . 3. They are vexing : It was a fruit of the curse , Genesis . 3.18 . Thorns and thistles shall the earth brin● forth : The comforts of this life have more or lesse of the Thorn in them : They are sweet-briar : Riches may well be called Thorns , they pierce both head and heart , the one with care of getting , the other with griefe in parting with them . 4. They are dangerous , they oft turn to the hurt of the owner , Ecclesiastes 5.13 . they are * dulce venenum ; a sweet poison ; how many have pull'd down their soules to build up an estate ! A ship may bee so loaded with gold and silver that it sinks ; A gift blindes the eye * , the same may bee said of riches , the golden dust of the world puts out the eye of the soule , that men neither know God nor themselves : Iudas ( as Tertullian thinks ) was pretty honest till he carried the bag * . It 's hard to bee in office , and not put conscience out of office ; oh what are these present things in comparison of things to come ! Christ who had all riches , scorn'd these earthly riches ▪ hee was borne poore , the Manger was his cradle , the Cobwebs his curtaines : hee lived poore , Hee had not where to lay his head * ; hee died poore ; for as Austin observes , when Christ died , hee made no Will , hee had no Crown-lands , only his coate was left , and that the Souldiers parted among them ; and his Funeral was suitable , for as he was borne in another mans house , so hee was buried in another mans Tombe . To shew how hee did contemne earthly dignities and possessions . His Kingdome was not of this world : Suppose an houre of adversity come , can these present things quiet the minde in trouble ? riches are call'd thick clay * , which will sooner breake the backe , then lighten the heart : When pangs of Conscience and pangs of Death come , and no hope of things to come , what peace can the world give at such a time ? surely it can yield no more comfort then a silken stockin to a man whose legge is out of joynt ; a fresh colour delights the eye , but if the eye be sore , this colour will not heale it ; Riches availe not in the day of wrath * . Thou canst not hold thy wedge of gold as a Screene to keepe off the fire of Gods justice : Let this sound a retreate to call us off from the immoderate pursuite of present things , to labour for things to come ; what are these neather springs to the upper springs ? As Abraham said , Lord , what wilt thou give me , seeing I go childless * ? So say , Lord , what wilt thou give mee , seeing I go Christlesse ? Luther did solemnly protest , God should not put him off with these things : Valde protestatus sum me nolle sic satiari ab eo * : Oh labour for those blessings in heavenly places * . Things present are pleasing , but not permanent ; be not content with a few gifts : Abraham gave unto the sons of the Concubines gifts , and sent them away ; but unto Isaac , Abraham gave all that he had * . Reprobates may have a few jewels and ear-rings which God scatters with an indifferent hand , these with the sons of the Concubines are put off with gifts , but labout you for the portion * , that portion which the Saints and Angels are spending upon , and can never spend : get by faith into Christ , and then all is yours ; so saith the Apostle , All things are yours , and ye are Christs . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A65287-e240 Num. 21.4 . * Cum coeperis in Christo piè vivere , ingrederis torcular . Notes for div A65287-e3990 * Rev 22.2 . * Eae sunt fidelium opes , ut vel cum Croeso Rege certare ausint , quantum . vis summā premantur & injuriâ , & inopiâ . Weinrichius . * 2 Cor. 6.10 . Object . Answ. * Omniae vestra quae in sacris li●er is non excep●a . Pet. Mar. Object . Answ. * Piscator . * ● King. 1.10 . * Act. 5.4 . Aquin. * Deut. 23.24 , 25. Doctr. Reas. 1. * Jer. 31 34 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Ps 5● . 7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 1 King. 20.4 Reas. 2. * Exo. 25.17 Quest. Answ. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Summi & in●imi . Pareus . * Vo●is ad bonum inserviunt . Aretius . * Beza . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Oecumenius in locum . * Mat. 5.13 . * 1 Thes. 2.7 . * Eph. 4.8 . * Joh. 12.3 . * Rev. 1.20 . * 1 Cor. 3.6 . Vse 1. * Rom. 12.6 . * 1 Cor. 3.9 Vse . 2. * Phil. 2.29 . * 1 Cor. 4.16 . Vse . 3. * Rom. 6.17 . * Joh. 4.7 . * 2 Tim. 3.13 . * 2 Cor. 3.1 . 1 Tim. 4 ▪ 15. * Luk. 5.5 . 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Lev. 1.3 . * 1 Tim. 4.4 . * 1 Cor. 7.31 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Oecumen . Quest. Answ. Ps 37.16 . * Mal. 2.2 . Mundi indigentia . * Prov. 3.32 . Mundi inimicit●a . * Dant preciosa balsama . Hier. * Ps. 129.3 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ambrose . * 1 Tim. 6.12 . * 2 Cor. 6.10 . Aug. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Menand . * Judg 8.2 . * Isa 57.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Heb. 9.22 . * Jer. 31.34 . Psal. 32.1 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Gen. 27.38 . * Gen. 30.11 * Ex. 34.1 . * Ver. 7. * 1 Sam. 1.20 . * 1 Sam. 12.13 . Quest. Answ. * Luk. 7.38 . Quest. Answ. * Zach. 12.10 . * Luk. 7.47 . 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Rom. 12.2 . * Joh. 3.3 . * Gal. 6.15 1. Respectu operis . Heb. 9.14 * Christus fide dege●●●dus . Tertul. * Tit. 1 . 1● 2. Respectu honoris . * Joh. 8.44 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Eph. 1.5 . * Hos. 14.8 . * Rom. 6.18 . * Rev. 2.17 * Heb. 6.17 . Object . 1. Answ. * Rev 3.19 Bern. * Heb. 12.7 . Greg. * ● Pet. 2.5 Col. 1.12 . Object . 2. Answ. 1. * 1 Joh. 3.9 * No● fuit divulsio unionis , sed tantùm suspensio visionis . * Hos. 8.11 * Ex. 19.4 . Quest. Answ. 1. * Mat. 6.26 . * ver . 28. Quest. Answ. * Rom. 8.15 . * Theodor ? in vit . Luth. pag. 142. * Rom. 8.26 . * Is. 45.11 * Ps. 69.9 . Psal. 39.3 . * 2 Tim. 2.3 . (a) 1 Cor. 15.9 . Quest. Answ. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Ex. 19.16 . * Job 18.14 . * 1 Cor. 15 55. * Eccles. 7.20 . * Gal. 5.17 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Rō . 7.24 . * Meze●ti●us * Ps. 120.5 * Rom. 7.24 . * Vers. 15. * Lev. 14.42 . * Ver. 45. * Ezek. 36.26 . * Quanta foeditas vitiosae mentis . Tull. * Is. 30.22 * Ejus tactu sterilescunt f●uges , ejus gustu in rabiem adiguntur canes . Plin. * Ultimus morborum medicus mors . * Brisson . de reg . persi . lib. 2. Nemo ante funera foel●x . Solon . * Eccles. 7.1 . * Ex. 14.19 2 Cor. 5.2 . * Phil. 1.21 . * 2 Cor. 11.23 . * Am. 6.3 . * Rev. 6.8 . * Luk. 19.4 * Col. 3.2 . * Gen. 3.14 * Num. 32.41 . * Joh. 21.18 . * Luk. 16.22 . * Heb. 1.14 * Phil. 1.23 * Bucer . * Joh. 2.7 . * Job 19.26 * Is. 53.2 . * Isa. 42.1 . Bern. * Ps. 73.25 * Ibi sunt Angeli & Arch-angeli . * Est. 8.15 * Gen. 3.10 * Est. 5.2 . * Non tantum aderit gloria sed ine●it . Bernard . * Non ita ●●rona circundat ca●ut S●cut a●●m●m solli●citudo . * 1 Cor. 6.3 * Heb. 2.11 . * Jer. 23.6 . * Mat. 9.15 * Judg. 1.27 . * Zac. 14.2 Nullus ibi hostium metus , nullae infidiae Daemonum . Bern. * Isa. 4.5 . * Mat. 25.21 . * Ps. 16.11 * Ibi nec fames , nec fastidium . Bern. * 1 Pet. 1.8 . * Ps , 58.9 . * 1 King 1.40 . * Felix transitus à labore ad requiem , à pe●●g●i●atione ad patr●am . Bern. * Rev. 12.4 , 5. * Heb. 12.28 . * Mat. 3.12 * Rev. 14.13 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. Antis●hen . * Coelo non datur Hyperbole . Rev. 21. Vers. 22. * 1 Cor. 15.28 . Rev. 21.25 * ● Cor. 12.2 . * Eph. 4.10 * Rev. 21.19 . * Ps. 24.7 . * Rom. 9.23 . * Mat. 19.28 . * 2 Cor. 4.17 . * Rev. 4.4 . * 1 Thes. 2.12 . * Heb. 1.3 . * 1 Pet. 1.4 * Caeruleo colore . Plin * Mat. 5.10 * 1 Tim. 1.9 * Isa. 59.17 * Ps. 11.7 . * Mal. 4.2 . * Isa 61.10 * 2 Tim. 4.8 . * Rev. 21.15 , 16. * Joh. 14.2 * Mat. 19.28 . * ●ol . 1.12 * Rev. 21.23 . * 1 Tim. 6.16 . * 1 Pet. 1.4 * 1 Joh. 2.17 . Greg. Nazian . 1 Pet. 1.4 . * Ps. 36.8 . * Id perfectum cui nihil addi potest . Lac. lib. 1. cap 3 Augustin . * Eccl. 12.7 . * Jam. 4.14 * Aug. * Eph. 3.11 * Cant. 6.11 . * Cant. 1.12 . * Eph. 3.20 . * Isa 40.12 * Joh. 4.10 1. Argum●n● . * Joh. 17.24 . 2. Argument . * Joh. 17.12 . Quest. Answ. * Gen. 7.8 . * Ezr. 2.62 * 1 Cor. 13.9 . Job 26.14 . * 1 Joh. 3.2 . * Ioh. de combis comp●nd . Theol. lib. 7. cap. 26. * Joh. 1.14 * 1 Pet. 1.12 * Creator coeli creatus sub coelo . * Qui to●itruat in coelis , clamat in cunabulis . * Heb. 1.7 . * 1 Tim. 3.16 . * Joh. 13.7 Eccles. 12.14 . * Ps. 64.6 . * Nulla vrtus sine charita●e . Aquin. 22 ae . qu. 23. a. 7. * Hos. 6.4 . * Non erit invidia disparis claritatis , quia erit in omnibus unitas charitatis . Aug. in Io● . Hom. 3. * Ps. 120.7 * Sublatâ fide resurrectionis , totum Religionis aedificium corruit , &c. * Joh. 11.24 . * 1 Cor. 15.12.52.1 . * Col. 3.1 . Joh. 5.28 . Quest. Answ. Quest. Answ. * Joh. 3.13 Dr. Fulk . * Cyprian . Quest. Answ. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Use 1. Isa. 26.19 Ps. 142.7 Psal 79.3 . * 1 Cor. 15 43. Use 2. 3. * 1 Thes. 4.4 * Heb. 10.22 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Phil. 3.21 * Job 30.8 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Rom. 6.13 * Phil. 3.21 . * Rivet . Genebrard * Ps. 45 ▪ ● * Act. 26.13 . * Sen. * Rom. 5.12 . Luk. 20.36 . * 1 Cor. 4.13 . * Josh. 5.9 . * Ps. 68.13 * Melodia in aure , Iubilum in corde . Bern. Mat. 25.35 * Esth. 6. Ver. 1 , 10. * 1 King. 8.18 . * 1 King. 10.7 . Use 1. Informa . 1. Branch * Dan. 9.23 . * Jam. 2.5 . * Josh. 15 Inform. 2. Branch * Luk. 16.25 . * Ps. 73.7 . * Bernard . * Idèo te plango quia te ipsum non pla●gis . Hierom. * Dan. 5 5 * Acts 16. * Psal. 51.8 * Nemo potest à seipso recurrere . Isid. * Act. 22.24 . * 2 Cor. 5.10 . * 2 Thes. 1.7 . * Rev. 6.26 * Rev. 20.12 . * Deut. 27.15 . * Jer. 17.10 . * Navis si unam habuerit t●bulam pe●foratam , mergitur fluctibus . Aug. * Plutarch . * Prov. 1.18 . * Calvin . * Mat. 18.8 * Mat. 12.13 . * Luk. 16. * Mat. 3.12 * Bern. * Isa. 33.14 . Use 2. Tryal . Quest. Answ. Quest. Answ. * Isa. 28.16 * Ezek. 47 12. * Isa. 30.18 * Rom. 10 10. * 1 Pet. 4.14 . * Seneca . * August . * Amor non nisi donum amantis . Guil. Paris . * 1 Cor. 6.19 . * Cant. 4.12 . * Joh. 6 , 37 * Cant. 8.5 * 2 Pet. 1.1 * Eph. 2.8 . * Heb. 11. * Rom. 4.3 * Jam. 1.3 . * Heb. 10.4 * Jam. 5.7 . * Heb. 4.2 . * Rom. 16.26 . * Mark. 5.27 . * Tit. 1.1 . * Ps. 61.1 . * Joh. 16.20 * 1 Pet. 4.14 . * Mat. 7.16 * Cant. 4.4 * Heb. 11.34 . Rom. 7.4 . Object . 1. * 1 Tim. 1.15 . * Rom. 4.5 * Isa. 30.19 * Joh. 6.37 * Prov. 31.6 . Object . 1. Answ. Quest. Answ. 1. Object . 2. Answ. * 1 Joh. 3.9 * Mat. 12.20 . * Psal. 128. Luk. 23.40 . Verse 41. * Mat. 15.28 . * Rom. 4.18 * Isa. 40.11 * Mat. 13.32 ▪ Object . 3. Answ. * Joh. 17.22 . * Luk. 6.20 . 1. Branch . Ps. 103.1 , Da mihi te Domine . * Psa. 62.1 * Ps. 50. ult * 2 Pet. 3.14 Joh. 8.46 . * 1 Cor. 11 26. * Exod. 30 32. * 1 Pet. 5.5 Exod. 34.29 . * Species aromaticae cûm in pulverem rediguntur , suavissimè redolent . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Lev. 2 . 1● * Cant. 5.16 . * 1 Joh. 3.14 . * 1 Joh. 5.1 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 3. Branch . * 1 Tim. 6.8 . * Fas tibi non est de fortuna conqueri , salvo Caesare . Sen. * Psal. 84.11 . 4. Branch . * Heb. 11.1 . * Psal. 48.12 , 13 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 5. Branch . Object . 1. Answ. Object . 2. Answ. * Joh. 2. * Neh. 8.10 . 6. Branch . Quis aerario , qui● ple●is loculis invide● ? Sen. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Jer. 19.3 . * Prov. 3.31 . 7. Branch . * Cant. 7.9 1. Supporter . 2. Supporter . * 1 Joh. 3.9 * Mat. 26.29 . 8. Branch ▪ * Anselm . * Luk. 17.10 . * Mat. 2.11 * 1 Sam. 10. ult . * Mar. 12.42 . 9. * Heb. 10.23 . * Mar. 16.27 . * Phil. 1.24 . * Job 24.15 . * Ps. 125.5 Use ult . * Hon●r est in honora●te . * Sen. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Eò majora cupimus , quò majora habemus . * Plato . * Bern. * Deut. 6.19 . * Usque ad 〈◊〉 ●ssici●m . * Mat 8.20 ▪ * Hab. 2.6 * Prov. 11.4 . * Gen. 15.12 . * Luther . * Eph. 1.3 . * Gen. 25.5 * Ps. 119.57