Sermons Volume 4

SERMON XI.

HAving shewn you the Substance of the Lesson; let me now speak of the Season of it, when this is to be performed; and that is, in this present World.

Doct. That our Abode in the present World is the only time wherein we are to discharge the Duty of our Heavenly Calling. I shall,

• I. Draw forth the Force of the Expression.
• II. Give you the Reasons of it.

I. The Force of the Expression, In this present World. It implies three things; timely Beginning, zealous Discharge, and final Perseverance. Whatever we are to do upon the teaching of Grace, we are to do it speedily, earnestly, constantly: Speedily, now or never, take hold of the present Occasion: Earnestly, it is the Work of our Lives, wherefore we are sent into the World: and Constantly, that is, all the time of our living here.

1. Speedily: Now or never must it be done: We must set upon this Work speedily upon two Grounds; because time to come is uncertain, and it is not fit to neglect it. (1.) Time to come is uncertain: We have nothing to command but this Instant; that which is to come is not in our Power. One being invited to a Feast the next Day, made Answer, Ego à multis annis crastinum non habui ; For these many Years I never had a to Morrow. The present Time is put into thy Hands, thou hast no Security for the next Day but thy own Word; and how is he the better assured that is Security to himself? When you promise yourselves many Years, you are liberal upon another Man's Goods; and it is the Fashion of Mad-men to reckon other Men's Estates to be theirs. The Father hath reserved Times and Seasons in his own Power, and taken them into his own Hands. We are not Masters of a Day; therefore now or never must we set upon this Work of living soberly, righteously, godly. O how sad is it to be surprised, and Death to find us unprovided! 2 Pet. 3.14. Wherefore Beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in Peace. This is the great Business of our Lives, to be found in a Condition pleasing to God. A Man should live every Day as he would be found of God, for usually Death comes by way of Surprize, it finds us before we look for it, and steals upon us e're we are aware. (2.) Because it is not fit to neglect it till Death, and to provide Work for that time when we need Cordials: the Infirmities of Age and Sickness need Supports, and not Work. O how sad is this, that many times we are going out of the World before we begin to think why we came into it! Our great Business here is to save our Souls; and when Time is gone, then we begin to think of it. He is a foolish Traveler that would set out at Night, and begin his Journey when the Sun is setting, and the Darkness of the Night is coming on: so when Time appointed is gone, then to think of saving our Souls. It is too late to be sparing when we have spent all upon Prodigality. The foolish Virgins came to buy Oil too late. Who would expect to conquer then, when his Enemy is strongest, and himself weakest, or purposely delay it till such a time? If you do not presently set about the Work, you do but provide Grief and Sorrow for your last Age, when you are least able to bear it.

2. Earnestly: It is the Reason why we are sent into the present World: It is the Work of our Lives. We were not put into the World as Leviathan was put into the Sea, to take our fill of Pleasure; but we were sent into the World for our Trial and for our Exercise: For this End was Life given us, not to get Wealth and Honor, and great Estates; or only to eat, drink and sleep, and so live as if we were never to die, and then die as if we were never to live more; such lose the End of their Lives. God hath appointed a Time for everything under the Sun, and the Time of Life is appointed to work out our Salvation; and therefore it is but reason that our best Business should have the greatest Share of our Time and Strength, and that this Work should go forward according to our Years: still should you increase and be bettering yourselves in the great Business of your Lives. It is some Work of Grace to raise the Soul to desire Things within the Vail; it is more to hope for them; it is more to seize upon them as our Right and Portion, and lay hold of eternal Life, 1 Tim. 6.19. This is the great Work of our Lives, first to raise up the Soul and carry it within the Vail, to be always increasing our Assurance of Heaven, and looking after a better Life; John 9.4. I must work the Works of him that sent me, while it is Day; the Night cometh when no Man can work. Hereafter there is no Prophecy, nor Labor, nor Faith, nor Repentance. We have a little Time, and a great deal of Work, and a great many Temptations: It's a great Work to get out of a State of Nature into a State of Grace, to fit ourselves for a better World. Now because we have no long Continuance here, we should be doing it with all our Might: Therefore let us not forget the main thing, that which is the Business and Employment of our Lives; let not your Time pass unfruitfully, for the Night cometh wherein no Man can work.

3. Constantly: It is in the present World as long as we are here, without any Limitation, and therefore it hints final Perseverance, without which as good we had never begun. It is notable that under the Law, the Nazarite, if he had made a Vow he should touch no Wine, or anything that was forbidden, for so many Days or Months; but if he had defiled himself before the Days of his Purification were accomplished, he was to begin again; Numb. 6.12. The Days that were before shall be lost, because his Separation was defiled. So when we have renounced the Vanities and Delights of the World, and given ourselves to God, all is lost, when we turn Apostates, and go off from a Course of Godliness; Ezek. 18.24. But when the Righteous turneth away from his Righteousness, and committeth Iniquity, and doth according to all the Abominations that the wicked Man doth, shall he live? all his Righteousness that he hath done, shall not be mentioned; in his Trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his Sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die. As good never have begun, if we fall off and tire before we come to the End; nay in some respect it would have been better if we had never begun, than not to have continued; for it is said, the latter End is worse with them than the beginning, 2 Pet. 2.20. A Malefactor who hath made an Escape out of Prison, if he be taken again, he is loaded with Chains and Irons: So when any have made some show of Escape out of the Devil's Clutches, by keeping a constant Course of Duty and Communion with God, and then turns and breaks off again, none in such Bondage and Slavery as they. Nay, and this Apostasy is a mighty Dishonor to Christ, as well as a Disadvantage to yourselves: for a Man that hath begun to be strict, and careful, and holy, and righteous, and profess himself to be taken out of the Kingdom of Darkness, and made experience of the Ways of Christ, yet if he falls off, he doth as it were after Trial pronounce to the World that Satan's Service is better than Christ's. As Jacob kept wrestling till Day-light appeared, and would not let go his hold-fast; so till the Morning of Glory come, still keep on and continue your Courage. Or as Elisha would not leave his Master till he was taken from him into Heaven; so be constant to the last, let the World know you see no cause to leave Christ, or to be weary of his Service, and to begrudg the Strictness of Religion. Matth. 20. you read some were called into the Vine-yard sooner, some later, but they all kept working to the End and Close of the Day. There's a different time of Calling, some begin with God in Infancy, some in riper Age, but none must be weary of well-doing. But how apt are we to turn aside from God? Our Righteousness must be as the Morning Light, that always increaseth till High-noon; but our Righteousness is like the Morning-Dew, it is gone as soon as the Sun breaks out in Strength and Power. We have a great many Resolutions when we begin a Course of Godliness, but soon grow weary. Look as a tired Horse is ready to turn in at every Inn; so upon every Occasion and Temptation we are ready to turn away from God: but it is not enough to begin to live godly, strictly, righteously, but while Life lasteth, you must hold on in God's ways, it must be during your whole present State and Abode here in the World.

II. The Reasons why this Duty of our heavenly Calling must be in the present World.

1. Because this is the Time of Grace. There is no other Time to get the Favor of God, and an Interest in Heaven, but here upon Earth. Now we have the Means, hereafter the Recompences. Now Christ saith, Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, Matth. 11.28. Hereafter he will say, Come ye Blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World, Mat. 25.34. Now he calls us to receive Grace, hereafter we must receive either Vengeance or Glory. In the Angels Song we find, Luke 2.14. Peace upon Earth. Here God proclaims Tidings of Peace and Reconciliation to the Creature, if it will submit to God. Now the Golden Scepter is held out, and you will have no more such a Season. This is God the Father's, God the Son's, and God the Spirit's Time, but after this Life you shall have it no more: It is the Time of God the Father's Patience; and these are the Days of the Gospel when God the Son is offered to us; and now we have the Advantage of the Spirit's Impulses, and his Convictions upon our Hearts: But after this Life, there's neither Prophecy, nor Gospel, nor Conviction, nor Means offered anymore; then comes Recompence and Retribution. Zanchi speaks of some which had a Fancy that the Gospel should be preached hereafter in the other World, to those that never heard of Christ in this World; as to Children, to Turks and Pagans: to justify this Conceit, they allege that Place, 1 Pet. 3.19. By which he went and preached to the Spirits in Prison: But that's a clear Mistake. The Apostle speaks there how the Spirit of God went forth by Noah 's Preaching in warm Conviction upon the Hearts of those that are now in Prison, that were sometimes disobedient to the Warnings of Noah, and are now held with Chains of Darkness in the Prison of Hell. But however there is nothing to this World. Now you have the Means, and God's golden Scepter is held out. Now Christ saith, Come; but if you refuse, hereafter he will say, Depart: Now is the accepted Time, now is the Day of Salvation, 2 Cor. 6.1.

2. This is the Time of our Exercise and Trial.

(1.) There must be this Exercise before we come to Heaven. We do not leap into Heaven without any Preparation: The Vessels of Glory must first be seasoned with Grace; Col. 1.12. Who hath made us meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light. First we are qualified and seasoned, then filled brim-full. As when the Virgins were chosen for Ahasuerus, they were to accomplish their Months of Purification; so we must have a Time of purifying and cleansing from Corruption, before we can get to Heaven. Balaam would die the Death of the Righteous, but not live his Life; Numb. 23.10. Let me die the Death of the Righteous, and let my last End be like his. As it is said of the Snake, that when it is stricken with Death, stretcheth out itself straight, though crooked before; at oportuit sic vixisse, you should have so lived: You should be sober, righteous and godly. Enoch before his Translation had this Testimony, that he pleased God, Heb. 11.5. Some-thing must be done here; there is no Triumph without a Warfare. 2 Tim. 2.5. If a Man strive for Masteries, yet is he not crowned unless he strive lawfully ; that is, according to the Laws of the Race or Exercise: so we cannot expect to die in the Lord, unless we live in the Lord; Rev. 14.13. Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord, from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their Labors, and their Works do follow them. Your Works die not when you die; Eccles. 11.3. If the Tree fall toward the South, or toward the North; in the Place where the Tree falleth, there it shall be. In the time of the Law there was nothing to be gathered upon the Sabbath-Day, but a double Portion to be gathered before; those that provide nothing on the sixth Day, had nothing on the Sabbath-Day. The Sabbath is a Figure of Heaven, of that eternal Rest we shall have there; if we do not make Provision during the time of Life, there can be nothing done afterwards.

(2.) It is only here, this is the fittest Place for Exercise: Here are Difficulties, Snares and Temptations; and these serve to discover the Glory of Grace; and this makes it worthy of Praise, that we can act for God in the present World, where so many miscarry; 2 Tim. 4.10. Demas hath forsaken us, having loved this present World. Here is the fit Place for our Trial, where we have so many Difficulties, Snares, Baits, Avocations and Scandals, to take us off from performing the Duty of our Heavenly Calling. As Death leaves us, so Judgment finds us. Upon our Behaviour in the present Life, both our everlasting Woe or Weal depends. Hereafter is not a time of Labor, but of Reward and Punishment; there is no room for Exercise and Trial there, no Snares in the next World: Grace cannot be found worthy of Praise there, for that is God's Day, called the Day of the Lord, 2 Pet. 3.10. The Day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the Night. Here is our Day, because God affords Time to us as a Space and Season of Repentance and Reformation; but the Day of Judgment, that is the Lord's Day, the Day of Recompence, Rewards and Punishments.

Use 1. To reprove them that delay the Work of Repentance, and their Change of State. There is nothing more usual than Delays and Put-offs: Some are full of Employment, and after their Business is a little over, then they will think of saving their Souls; Luke 9.59. Suffer me first to go and bury my Father: still there is something in the way. Others when they have arrived to such a Degree of Wealth, and made such Provision for their Families, then they will look after their Souls. Others when their youthful Heats are spent, then they dream of a devout Retirement, and a religious Age: there is nothing more usual. The Lord knows these are our inward Thoughts, still there is something in the way when we should act holily, righteously and godly. This is Satan's last shift, to elude the Importunity of a present Conviction by a future Promise. As a bad Debtor promises Paiment for the future, to be rid of the importunate Creditor, though he means no such matter; so we make Promises for the future. Felix when his Conscience boiled, dreams of a more convenient Season; Acts 24.25. Go thy way for this time, when I have a more convenient Season, I will send for thee. And Matth. 22. when they were invited to the Wedding, the Answer is not scornful, but civil; it is not non placet, but non vacat: they do not deny, but make Excuse; they had present Business, and were not at leisure to comply with God's Will. Always God comes Unseasonably in the Sinner's Esteem, Reckoning and Account: and Satan's usual Clamour is, when we begin to be serious and mind our Salvation, Art thou come to torment us before our time? Matth. 8.29. The Devil would fain have a little longer Possession, and therefore something is pleaded by way of Bar and Hesitancy. You find it in particular Cases, when you go to perform anything that is good, to pray, to meditate, to renew your Communion with God, something is in the way; if such a Business were over, then I were at leisure. Thus we dream of another time, a more convenient Season, and we linger and draw back as Lot in Sodom. O consider, the Work must be once done, or you are forever miserable, and you will never have a better Season than now, when you are under Conviction, and the warm Impulses of the Spirit of God. David takes hold of the present Season when his Heart was engaged, and he had a religious bent towards God; Psal. 119.60. I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy Commandments. So when there is such a strong bent in your Souls, strike while the Iron is hot; you may have more Hindrances, but never more Helps. Again, we owe more than we are worth already, and why should we run more in Debt? The longer you continue in Sin, the higher will your Accounts rise. A Tenant that cannot pay the Rent of one Year, if he let it run on, how will he be able to discharge the Rent of two Years? So if it be so troublesome now, do you think it will be more easy hereafter, when the Heart is hardened by a constant Resistance? If there were a sound Conviction, you would not delay. A sensible Sinner is always in haste; Heb. 6.18. He flies for Refuge to lay hold upon the Hope set before him. It is an Allusion to the Man pursued by the Avenger of Blood; he that hath Wrath at his Heels, he runs as for Life to Jesus Christ. It is but a slender and insufficient Touch upon the Conscience. He that knows the Danger, can never make haste enough to come to Christ; as the pursued Man could never make too much haste to get into the City of Refuge that is before him. Nay, it argues little Love to God, and a great deal of Disingenuity of Spirit, to continue in Rebellion against God, and think to come in at last, when you can stand out no longer: This is merely Self-love, when you care not how much God is dishonored, and his Spirit grieved, provided at length we be saved. The Lord did not so deal with us, his whole Duration and Existence is for our sakes; from Eternity to Eternity he is God; and from Eternity to Eternity his Loving-kindness is great to them that fear him, Psal. 103.17. The Mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting to them that fear him. If God thinks of us from one Eternity to another, before the World, and after the World, can we be content to thrust him into a narrow Corner of our Lives? Can you satisfy your Hearts, when you have nothing to give God but the Rottenness, Weakness, and Aches of old Age and Sickness? Consider once more, Sin leaves thee in Sickness, thou dost not leave Sin, it is not a Work of Choice, but of Necessity; as a Merchant throws his Goods over-board in a Storm, though he loves them well enough. At least it is a very suspicious Act, a natural Aversation from our own Misery, and a desire of our own Happiness; it is a yielding upon force; when a Man never yields to God, but when God hath him under, and he can sin no longer. And what assurance have we, that we shall have a Heart to mind Salvation at all, and turn to God hereafter? When all our Distractions are out of the way, is Grace at our beck? There is an offer of it today, Heb. 3.15. While it is said, To day if ye will hear his Voice, harden not your Hearts. Nay, there's a shrewd Presumption to the contrary, that Obduracy, Hardness of Heart and Despair will grow upon us. Long use makes the Heart more obdurate, and long Resistance grieves the Spirit of God, and makes him more offended with us. By putting off the Change of your Lives, you put your Souls into Satan's hands by Consent, for a while. He that delays his Conversion, doth (as it were) pawn his Soul into the Devil's Hands, and saith, if he do not fetch it again at such a day, it is his forever. Again, it is a great Honor to seek the Lord betimes. Mnason was an old Disciple. Seniority in Grace is a very great Honor. The Apostle saith, Rom. 16.7. Salute Andronicus and Junia, — who were in Christ before me. And the Lord saith, Ier. 2.2. I remember thee, the kindness of thy Youth, and the love of thine Espousals. God prizeth these pure Virgin-Affections, when before our Hearts be prostituted to the World we apply ourselves to seek his Face. You lose the Advantage of much early Communion with God, whenever you are called to Grace; and if ever you taste of the Sweetness of Grace, it will be your Grief that you were acquainted with it no sooner, and all the time that remains will be little enough to repent the loss of that which is past. Consider, a Man can never come soon enough into the Arms of Mercy, nor soon enough out of the Power of Satan. Present Necessity admits of no Deliberation, therefore charge yourselves to be more solid and serious. Sin, if you let it alone, will gather more Strength. Jer. 13.23. Can the Ethiopian change his Skin, or the Leopard his Spots? then may ye also do Good that are accustomed to do Evil. When a Stick hath been long bent, it will hardly ever be set right again. Some that have been late converted, have much bewailed their Disadvantage, their standing out so long, till their Inclinations were fixed, and that they have got a stubborn Nature so strong, and ever apt to recoil upon them. Consider, we would not have God to put us off when we come for Mercy, and are in present need, and shall we put off God? We would count a Delay to be as bad as a Denial; therefore take heed of Delays in this kind, for if ever you be called to Grace, you will smart for it soundly. Christ waited upon the Spouse for Entrance, Cant. 5.2. My Head is filled with Dew, and my Locks with the drops of the Night: and then the Spouse waited for Comfort, ver. 6. I opened to my Beloved, but my Beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone; my Soul failed when he spake; I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no Answer. What is the Reason, when the Work is begun, and the first stroke is given to Sin, that Christians walk so mournfully for a great while? O they have made God wait long, and stood out many a Call, therefore the Lord exerciseth them with waiting. Let all this work thee to comply with the Importunity of the present Conviction of the Holy Ghost.

Use 2. Is to reclaim us, when we are greedily set upon other Businesses and Projects than the great Business of our Lives, as to get Wealth, Honor and great Estates. Remember what is thy Duty and Work in this present World. Consider,

1. The shortness of Life. We have a great deal of Work to do in a little time, therefore we should not waste it; every day we are nearer to the Grave. We are sensible of the Decays of others, but not of our own; thou seest others wax old and die, remember thou thyself art going that way. When two Ships meet one another in the Sea, the other Ship seems to fail faster than yours, though both pass away alike; because you are not sensible, or do not observe your own Motion. We see others are mortal, but do not number our own Days. This is a Point of Prudence, Psal. 90.12. So teach us to number our Days, that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom. A Man would think of all Points that were plainest and soonest learned, yet it is very hard to learn the lesson of our own Frailty; I mean to learn it by Heart, to learn it practically.

2. The Uncertainty of Life. We know not when Death will surprise us, it is ill to be taken unprovided; when Death comes, to say, Hast thou found me, O my Enemy? Every day we have cause to look to it; more are mistaken in reckoning upon Life than upon Death. Thou art asleep in the Wolf's Mouth; there is no Remedy but imploring the Shepherd's Help. A Carnal Man that goeth on in Sin, provoketh God to his Face, and trieth whether he will cut him off yea or no. We are sure to live to enjoy what we provide for Heaven, but we are not sure to live to enjoy what we provide for the World. A Man may not roast what he took in hunting; but when he cometh to enjoy his Estate, God cutteth him off: Luke 12.20. Thou Fool, this night thy Soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? And shall my Master come and find me idle?

3. After Death followeth Eternity, the great Amazement of the Soul. Now if Death find you at Peace with God, Eternity will be comfortable, and Death sweet; Body and Soul part, but God and the Soul meet. When we can see Angels ready to do their Office, and Conscience becometh our Compurgator, I bear you witness you have spent your time in this World in obeying and serving God; and then Body and Soul take leave of one another, it is a blessed parting. But now when you have not regarded your Work, you are then delivered up to Satan by such an Excommunication as shall never be reversed, Accursed till the Lord come; and then Body and Soul meet to be tormented forever. It is a sad parting, when Conscience falls a raving, and we curse ourselves, and the day of our Birth; O that ever such a Creature were born! O that I had been stifled in the Womb, and never seen the Light!

4. The necessity of working out our own Salvation. God's Stipulation with Mankind is not made up all of Promises, something is required; Holiness is the way to Salvation. Men that live as they list, can claim nothing. The World is a common Inn for Sons and Bastards; in the time of God's Patience he keeps open House for just and unjust; but no unclean thing entereth into Heaven. At the great Rendezvouz God maketh a Separation, Psal. 1.5. The Ungodly shall not stand in the Judgment, nor Sinners in the Congregation of the Righteous. The wicked shall not be able to look Christ in the Face, nor veil themselves in the glorious Assembly; 1 Cor. 6.9, 10. Know ye not that the Vnrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither Fornicators, nor Idolaters, nor Adulterers, nor Effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with Mankind, nor Thieves, nor Covetous, nor Drunkards, nor Revilers, nor Extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God. Our Desires settle into Opinions, we think God will not damn his own Creatures, and an universal Hope is natural.

5. The Folly of not doing our Business. To get bodily Supports is but our Errand by the by; these Souls were not given us to scrape up Wealth, and only to provide and purvey for the Body: Let us use them to the end that God gave them, to think of Eternity; Luke 10.41, 42. Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Martha was careful to entertain Christ in her House, but Mary to entertain him in her Heart. The one thing needful is the Care which everyone ought to have of his own Salvation. Every thing is best that helpeth us on towards Heaven, and that is evil that hindereth us in our pursuit of Heaven. This will appear to be the greatest Wisdom at length, and not to spend your Lives in getting Honors or Pleasures, or screwing yourselves into the Favor of great Personages. It is commonly said of a Man that hath gotten an Estate, that he hath spent his Time well; but the Apostle commands, Eph. 5.15, 16. See that ye walk circumspectly, not as Fools, but as Wise; redeeming the Time, because the days are evil. Those other are the worst Fools, who make no Provision for the future; they part with Jewels for Trifles.

SERMON XII.

I Observed, (1.) The Teacher, The Grace of God. (2.) The Lesson, the whole Duty of our Heavenly Calling, To deny Ungodliness, and Worldly Lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, &c. (3.) I come to the third general Branch, The Encouragements to Learning; here are two, Eternal Life, and Christ's Death. There are two great Principles of Obedience, Gratitude and Hope: Gratitude or Thankfulness, because of the Obligation that is left upon us from Christ's Death; and then Hope, because of the glorious Reward that is set before us. So that whether we look backward or forward, we meet with Obligations to Obedience: Backward, there is an excellent Merit, ver. 14. Who gave himself for us, to redeem us from all Iniquity, &c. Forward, there is a glorious Hope, Looking for that blessed Hope, &c. There is nothing lost by God's Service: the Lord might deal with us out of Sovereignty, and rule us with a Rod of Iron, but he is pleased to draw us with the Cords of a Man, and with Bands of Love, Hos. 11.3. to indent with us, and propound Rewards, as if we were altogether free before the Contract. Men do not use to covenant with their Slaves; we are bound to serve him whether there had been any Reward or no; but the Lord will not leave us without an Encouragement. We are apt to have hard Thoughts of God, and to think him harsh and austere, requiring Work, but not giving Wages. But consider, we have the highest Motives, as well as the noblest Work; we are not only to live soberly, righteously and godly in the present World, but to look to the blessed Hope. Life and Immortality is brought to light by the Gospel. There is no such Encouragement to virtuous living anywhere as in the Gospel. Lactantius saith of the Heathens, Virtutis vim non sentiunt, cujus premium ignorant ; They do not feel the force and transforming Power of Virtue, because they are ignorant of the Reward of Virtue. The Heathens had no such Encouragement as Immortality and Eternal Life, and the happy Enjoyment of God and Christ for evermore.

But to handle the words a little more distinctly: We have here, (1.) the Reward it self, called a blessed Hope. Then, (2.) the time when it shall be accomplished to the full, at the coming of the Lord. Both these things you must look for. Christians, as often as you think of Eternal Life, you must also think of Christ's Appearing. Before we enter into Glory, we must first give an Account. Carnal Men fancy a Heaven without a Day of Judgment; they would be saved, but they would not be called to an audit and reckoning with God. Many can brook sitting upon the Throne with Christ, but not coming before his Tribunal; but they that would live holily, must look for both, the blessed Hope, and the glorious Appearing of Christ. Many Points may be observed out of this Verse.

Doct. I. That looking for the blessed Hope, conduceth much to the Advancement of the Spiritual Life.

• I. What this Looking is.
• II. What Influence and Power it hath to work us to the Spiritual Life.

I. What this Looking is? It implies Patience, but chiefly Hope.

1. Patience in waiting God's Leisure. Patience is a Grace very needful in our Pilgrimage where we are exercised with so many Difficulties; Heb. 10.36. For ye have need of Patience, that after ye have done the Will of God, ye might receive the Promise: you do not only need Holiness, but Patience. It is long before we can bring our Hearts to do the Will of God; but after that is done, you have need of Patience, that you may wait God's Leisure for your Reward: For the Reward is not given, till there be time for Labor and Exercise; and Troubles coming on, make time seem very long. Whatever Grace we may spare, we cannot spare Patience, if we would persist in well-doing, for we are to wait for the blessed Hope. The good Ground bringeth forth Fruit with Patience, Luke 8.15. Look as the Ground endures the Plough, the Harrow, the Cold, the Frost, that in due time the Seed may spring up; so we have need of Patience, that we may wait upon God for the blessed Hope. And as Patience is very needful in the present Life, so it is inseparable from Hope, 1 Thess. 1.3. it is called the Patience of Hope. To every Grace he gives a proper Action; there is the Work of Faith, the Labor of Love, and the Patience of Hope. Faith propounds Work, Love makes us to labor and sweat at it, and Hope makes us wait with Patience for our Reward and Recompence. Rom. 8.25. But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with Patience wait for it: What we hope for, we wait with Patience for: between Hope and Having there is an intervening time to exercise Patience. There is want of the thing desired, and Delays are troublesome. Now to keep looking, is a Work of Patience.

2. It chiefly implies Hope. This looking for is the formal Act of Hope, an actual Expectation of Blessedness to come. Now because there's a bastard and blind Hope, and there is a regular and good Hope, 2 Thess. 2.16. Who hath given us everlasting Consolation, and good Hope through Grace: therefore let me tell you;

First ; What this Expectation is not.

Secondly ; What it is.

First; Negatively, what it is not.

1. It is not a blind Hope, such a Hope as is found in Men ignorant and presumptuous, that regard not what they do. Presumption is a Child of Darkness, as Hope is a Child of Light: Presumption is the Fruit of Ignorance and Inconsideration. When Men are once serious, they find it the hardest matter in the World to hope; for guilty Nature in itself is more presagious of Evil, more inclinable to Fear and Sorrow, than to Joy and Hope. But yet a blind Confidence is very common, because Men do not consider what they do, but hand over head make a full account that they shall go to Heaven, without Warrant and without Evidence. And therefore you shall find it is one of the first things God works by the Word, to break down our former carnal Hopes, and make Men see they are out of the way, lost and undone Creatures. Paul in his presumptuous State thought he had as much to show for Heaven as any Man in the World; Rom. 7.9. I was alive without the Law once; but when the Commandment came, Sin revived, and I died. The Commandment coming in full Conviction upon his Heart, he began to be serious, and then he found himself lost, and obnoxious to God's Judgment. The Excellency of Hope doth not lie in the Strength of Confidence, but in the Clearness of your Ground and Warrant. In Matth. 7. latter end, the Scripture takes notice of two Builders, the foolish, and the wise; there was no difference in the Building itself, both might raise a Structure equally • air; but the difference lay in the Ground-work and Foundation; the one built upon the Sand, the other upon a Rock: therefore you are not to look so much to the Strength of your Hope, as to the Evidence, the Ground, the Foundation of it. Do you know what you do, when you so confidently believe your Salvation? Presumption grows upon Men they know not how, it is not an Act of Advice and Consideration, and therefore will leave us to Shame. A Man had need have good grounds for his Hope. True Hope is a serious Act, arising from Grace, longing after its Perfection; and therefore we are said to be begotten to a lively Hope, 1 Pet. 1.3. Seed desireth Growth; everything aimeth at Perfection: when Grace is infused, presently there is a Tendency and Motion this way. Others may have strength of Confidence, though a weak Foundation whereon to build it, therefore their Hope comes to nothing but Shame, and the greater Confusion. Job 8.14. the Hope of the Hypocrite is compared to a Spider's Web: O what a curious Web doth she spin out of her own Bowels! but as soon as the Besom comes, down goes the Spider and the Web too, both are swept away, and trodden underfoot. So it is with Hypocrites, they spin a fine Web out of their own Bowels, conceive rash, but strong Hope, a Hope of their own forming and making; but when Death comes, the Man dies, and his Hopes die with him. So Prov. 11.7. When a wicked Man dies, his Expectation shall perish; and the Hope of the unjust Man perisheth. It is not meant only of his worldly Expectations; though that is true, he that aspired to be great, and to feather his Nest, and excel in the World, when he dies, all his Plots and Projects die with him: but it is meant of his heavenly Hopes: when they come to enter upon their everlasting State, then they are sensible of their Mistake. We are more sensible of what is near at hand, than what is at a distance: Men grow wise when they come to die: Eternity is near at hand, and Men begin to awake as out of their Dream, and lose all their Confidence; and when they thought they were full, they find themselves hungry. Again, the Hope of the Hypocrite is compared to the giving up of the Ghost, Job 11.20. Their Hope shall be as the giving up of the Ghost. When the Frame of Nature is dissolved, it is done with bitter Gripes and Pain; the Soul in a Moment takes an everlasting Farewell of the Body: so all the Hopes of the Wicked vanish, and are lost in an Instant, and they are full of Horrour and sad Despair. It is the greatest Evil that can befall you, to lose all your Hopes in an Instant. Well then, this looking for the blessed Hope, is not a slender Imagination, an unadvised rash Confidence, such as is lost whenever we begin to be serious, either by the conviction of the Word, or the approaches of Death.

2. It is not some Glances upon Heaven, such as are found in worldly and sensual Persons. Sometimes worldly Men have their lucida intervalla, their good Moods, and now and then have some sober Thoughts of Heaven that rush into their Mind. Balaam had his Wishes, Numb. 23.10. Let me die the Death of the Righteous, and let my last End be like his. And the Apostle speaks of some that had a Taste, Heb. 6.4. snatch now and then some savor of the Sweetness of Heaven and spiritual Comforts. A wretched Worldling, in whose Fancy the World plays all the day, riseth with him, goeth to Bed with him, yet now and then hath his Wishes, and some sudden Raptures of Soul, some Flashes and Motions; but alas, this is not the looking for the blessed Hope, for that is a constant viewing of Happiness to come. Sudden Motions are not operative, they come but now and then, and leave no Warmth upon the Soul; as Fruit is not ripened that hath but a glance of the Sun: and you know a sudden Light rather blinds a Man than shows him his way; so these sudden Flashes, Enlightnings, and heavenly Thoughts, vanish, and leave a Man never the better.

3. It is not a loose Hope, a possible Salvation, that can have such an Efficacy upon the Soul to urge and incline it to the spiritual Life. James 1.8. A double-minded Man is unstable in all his Ways. When a Man is double-minded, divided and distracted between Hopes and Fears, there will be much Irregularity and Unevenness in his Conversation, he will be off and on with God. As their Hearts are up and down, and divided, because the Success is doubtful; so also is their care of Strictness weakened and broken. 1 Cor. 9.26. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the Air. He alludes to the Istmich Games: In an ordinary Race a Man might run, and be out-stripped, the Event was very uncertain, he might miss of the Goal; if the other sensibly got ground, then he was discouraged, and began to slack his pace as out of hope: but saith the Apostle, I run not as one that is uncertain; here we are all sure to obtain, though we cannot keep pace with the foremost: And this is that which quickens Industry, and stirs up those holy Endeavors. The surer your Hope is, the greater Strength you find, and the greater Power upon your Conversation. Thus it is not a blind Hope, or some Glances upon Heaven, and the blessed Things to come, that rush into the Mind of a cursed Worldling, nor a loose Hope and bare Conjecture; a possible Salvation hath not such Efficacy and Power upon the Soul.

Secondly; Positively, what this Expectation is of Blessedness to come. It is an earnest and lively Hope, a solid Expectation of Blessedness to come: and it bewrays it self by three things, serious Thoughts, earnest Groans, and lively Tastes.

1. By frequent and serious Thoughts. Thoughts are the Spies and Messengers of Hope sent into the promised Land, to bring the Soul Tidings of what is to come. It is impossible for a Man to hope for anything, but his Mind will run upon it, and he will be thinking of it. We find it in all earthly Matters, that Hope sets the Mind on work; and so we preoccupy and forestal the Contentments that we expect; we enjoy them before they come, by serious Contemplation, feasting the Soul with Images and Suppositions of the Happiness we shall have when we come to Fruition. Contemplation of Heaven is the Feast of the Soul. Hope brings in the Image and Suppositions of what is to come, as if it were already present. Certainly where ever the Treasure is, the Heart, the Thoughts will be there. Hope carries the Mind above the Clouds, in the midst of the Glory of the World to come, as if we did see Christ upon his white Throne, and Paul with his Crown of Righteousness, and all the faithful Ones in Abraham 's Bosom. If a Beggar were adopted into the Succession of a Crown, would he not please himself in forethinking of the Happiness, Honor and Pleasure of the Kingly State? So we vile Creatures that are adopted to be Coheirs with Christ, if we did hope to be Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, Heaven would have more of our Thoughts, and take up more of the Musings of our Souls. We should still observe what we muse upon most: carnal Thoughts, and carnal Projects discover a carnal Heart. When we are always thinking of plucking down Barns, and building greater, advancing our Families, and providing worldly Encrease; when we are talking to ourselves, as Luke 12.18. He thought within himself, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my Fruits? And he said, This will I do, I will pull down my Barns, and build greater, &c. The word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 signifies, he was framing Dialogues with himself of bestowing his Goods; this shows a carnal Heart. So James 4.13. To day or tomorrow we will go into such a City, and continue there a Year, and buy and sell, and get Gain. It is usual with Men to live upon the Reversion of their Hopes, and feed themselves with the pleasure thereof. As young Heirs spend upon their Hopes, and run out their Estates e're they possess them; so doth the Soul either in Matters carnal or heavenly still feed upon its Hopes. And therefore if there be such an earnest Hope, you will be entertaining your Spirits with Suppositions of Heaven, and framing Images of the Glory of the World to come.

2. It bewrays itself by hearty Sighs, and Groanings, and Longings after this Happiness. Rom. 8.23. And not only they, but ourselves also, who have the first Fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the Adoption, to wit, the Redemption of our Body. They that have once tasted of the Clusters of Canaan, that have the first Fruits of the Spirit, have tasted of the Goodness and Sweetness of God in Christ, think they can never be soon enough with him in Heaven; When shall it once be? They are still looking out; and the nearer they come to Enjoyment, the more impatient they are of the Want. As natural Motions are swiftest in the end; a Stone the nearer it is to the Center, it moves the faster: so the longer a Christian lives in Christ, the more he sends forth his Desires and Heart after his Happiness, and therefore groans, waiting for the Revelation of the Sons of God, and for this blessed Hope. The Apostle says, The earnest Expectation of the Creature waiteth for the manifestation of the Sons of God, Rom. 8.19. The word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 signifies a lifting up of the Head, as we are wont to put out our Head to see if we can spy a thing a great way off; as Judge. 5.28. Sisera 's Mother and the Ladies looked out at the Window, and cried through the Latice, Why is his Chariot so long in coming? as if they would spy him afar off: So the Soul is still looking out, When will the Change come? when will it once be? They would have a fuller Draught of the Consolations of the Spirit, more Freedom from Sin, and a more entire Love of God: they have had some Taste already, therefore they long for the increase and full perfection of it.

3. By lively Tastes and Feelings. It is said of a Believer, He hath eternal Life, John 3.36. that is, in the beginnings of it, he hath some Taste here upon Earth. Hope is called not only Living, but lively Hope, 1 Pet. 1.3. because it quickens the Heart, and fills it with a solid spiritual Joy. And Rom. 5.2. We rejoice in hope of the Glory of God. It is a Joy that is for Enjoyment and Possession. In worldly things there is Pain, and Travel, and burdensome Expectation till we come to enjoy a thing; but a Christian rejoiceth in his Hopes. So 1 Pet. 1.8. In whom believing, ye rejoice with Joy unspeakable, and full of Glory. It is true all feel it not in such a degree, it depends on a Sense of Grace, which all Believers have not always; but all Believers whenever they meditate upon Heaven, they find Sweetness shed abroad in their Hearts when they think what is provided for them by Christ. Worldly Hope is only as a Dream of a Shadow, there is Pain and Travel in Expectation, and there is no Satisfaction when we come to Fruition; but our Hopes in Christ fill the Soul with this lively Joy. Look as the Patriarchs that waited for the Coming of Christ, the Consolation of Israel, they hugged the Promises; O here's a sweet Promise that will yield a Messiah at length, that shall save the World! Thus they rejoiced in what they foresaw concerning Christ in Vision, Type and Figure. So Christians that wait for Happiness and Blessedness to come, how do they find a great deal of Sweetness shed abroad in their Hearts, by meditating upon their Hope?

II. To show the Influence it hath upon the spiritual Life.

1. It purgeth the Heart from Lusts, and the Filthiness of Sin; 1 John 3.3. Every Man that hath this Hope in him, purifieth himself even as he is pure. How doth this Hope make him purify himself? Thus; the things we look for are all holy and pure; it is a great part of our Portion in Heaven, to be freed from Sin, to be Consorts of the immaculate Lamb: Now the Soul will say thus, Do I look upon this as my Happiness? Do I hope to be like Christ hereafter, and be freed from the Burden of Corruption, and can indulge and allow these Lusts in my Heart? A Man hopes for nothing de futuro, which he would not presently compass, were it in his Power. We do not look for a sensual Paradise, but for a pure and blissful Estate, that is made up of Sinlesness and Purity; and therefore whoever hath set his Heart upon the Hopes of Christianity, the Vision of God, and Fruition of Christ, he must needs begin here, especially since God hath required Preparation: here we are to be made meet, seasoned and qualified, to accomplish the Months of our Purification, to prepare ourselves more and more for these glorious Hopes.

2. It withdraws our Hearts from present things; Phil. 3.20. Our Conversation is in Heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. A Christian lives in the Earth as if he were in the midst of the Angels. We are weaned from the World by looking for better things, and so the World is out-shined. As a Man that hath looked upon the Sun, his Eyes are dazzled, and cannot see an Object less glorious: So when we look within the Vail upon our blessed Hopes, the Glory of the World is obscured. The Apostle renders this as a Reason why Abraham was a Stranger in the promised Land, there where he had most right, yet he dwelt in Tents; Heb. 11.9, 10. For he looked for a City which hath Foundations. Abraham had other Expectations, he did not look upon the walled Cities of the Amorites, but upon Heaven that was founded by God himself; he had other Thoughts. They that live to the World and to the Flesh, never tasted what eternal Life means. Look as the Israelites longed for the Flesh-Pots of Egypt, before they had tasted the Clusters of Canaan : so here, the Heart is carried out after better things; the Soul must have some Oblectation and Delight, for Love cannot be idle; it is carried out to present things if we know no better. See how fitly they are joined together in the Text; denying worldly Lusts, and looking for the blessed Hope ; thereby do we come to deny worldly Lusts, by looking for the blessed Hope. We should soon return to worldly Lusts, if we do not often look up and consider what God hath provided for us in Heaven. A Man whose Heart is much in Heaven, his Affections are preingaged, and therefore the World doth him little hurt. Birds are seldom taken in their Flight, but when they pitch and rest: O if we had more of these heavenly Flights, if the Soul did mount upward more, it would better escape the Snares of worldly things.

3. It urgeth to Care, Diligence and Constancy in Obedience. Hope is the great Spring that sets the Wheels a-going; Phil. 3.13, 14.— Forgetting those things that are behind, and reaching forward towards those things that are before, I press towards the Mark, for the Prize of the High-calling of God in Christ. What is the Reason Paul was so earnest, that a little Grace would not content him, but he was striving for more so earnestly and zealously? he was called to enjoy a high Prize, a glorious Reward. There is an excellent Glory set before us, this Race is not for Trifles: Christians are the more cold and careless in the spiritual Life, because they do not oftener think of Heaven. The End quickens to the Use of Means; as it is the measure of the Means, so it sweetens the Means, notwithstanding all Difficulty: Why? because it will bring us to such an End; 1 Cor. 15.58. Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the Work of the Lord; forasmuch as you know your Labor shall not be in vain in the Lord. You can never do enough for the Lord: Why? Your Labor is not in vain in the Lord. This will make you to be instant and earnest, and to hold out to the End in the midst of Difficulties; Heaven will pay for all. You have no cause to begrudg God any Service; though it put the Body to Pains and Labors, do not spare it, Christ will honor it sufficiently. The Apostle hath an Expression, 2 Thess. 1.10. That Christ will be glorified in his Saints, and admired in all them that believe. The Soul will remember the Body, as Pharaoh 's Butler did Joseph: How? in Prayer and Fasting, and holy Exercises. And when Christ comes to raise the Body, he will put so much Glory and Clarity upon it, that the Angels shall stand wondering what Christ is about to do with a poor Creature, that is but newly crept out of Dust and Rottenness. Before a Feast we use to take a Walk. There is a World of Glory provided for us in Heaven: though the Work of God be painful, yet it is very fruitful: God will reward you as much as you can desire; and this makes you to be earnest and zealous, and to labor in the spiritual Life. We compare the Pains of Duty with the Pleasure of Sin, but the Comparison is not rightly made; you should compare the Pleasure of Sin with the Reward. I confess you may compare Christ's Worst with the World's Best; the Pains of Duty with the Pleasure of Sin; the former is more sweet to a gracious Heart: but the Comparison should rather be made thus; Compare the base dreggy Pleasures of Sin, with those pure Pleasures that are at God's right Hand, and with the Happiness that is to come, which we expect in Christ.

4. It maketh us upright and sincere in what we do: That's Hypocrisy and Guile of Spirit to look a-squint upon secular Rewards. You know the Hypocrites that Christ taxeth, when they Pray, Fast, and do other Duties to be seen of Men, they have their Reward, Matth. 6.2. They have given God a Discharge, they look for no more than they have already. As hired Servants must have present Wages, and Pay in Hand, they wait not for the Inheritance as Children do: so carnal Affections they look to the Rewards here below: If they may have the World, and live in Honor and Pleasure here, they give God an Acquittance for anything else. But now this is Sincerity to make God our Pay-master, to do all we do upon the Encouragement of the blessed Hope; Col. 3.24. Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the Reward of the Inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. You have a Master good enough, you need not look else-where for your Wages. And nothing on this side Heaven will satisfy the Soul, nothing but these glorious Hopes.

5. This blessed Hope it supports the Soul under Afflictions and Difficulties that do befall us in a Course of Godliness. We counter-balance what we feel with what we expect. We feel nothing but Trouble, yet it is not in vain to serve God. I confess we are apt to think so: saith David, Psal. 73.13, 14. Verily I have cleansed my Heart in vain, and washed my Hands in Innocency. For all the Day long have I been plagued, and chastened every Morning. My Innocency is to no purpose. Mal. 3.14. Ye have said, it is in vain to serve God, and what Profit is it that we have kept his Ordinance? It is a usual Temptation; for we measure all things by Sense and Feeling, and Sense makes Lies of God. Ah but consider, that which you feel is not worthy to be named the same Day with that which you hope for; Rom. 8.18. I reckon that the Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed in us. Glory is revealed to our Ears in the Gospel, but it will be revealed in us hereafter; 2 Cor. 4.17. Our light Affliction which is but for a Moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory. Alas, this light Affliction is but the Scratch of a Pin, compared with the weighty massy Crown of Glory; For (saith the Apostle) we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things that are not seen. Christians, what do you make your Scope? (for that is the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ) Is it to preserve your Interests, to live delicately? then the blessed Hope is not for your turn: but when you have fixed your Hopes upon these things, you will see this is but a small matter in comparison of what God hath provided for you. A Christian's Blessings are future, his Crosses are present, therefore we need some Support. Now Hope is of great use in Affliction and Temptation, this appears by the Comparisons that are used; it is called an Anchor in the stormy Gusts of Temptations, and a Helmet in all Spiritual Conflicts. There are Fightings without, and Fears within; here is an Helmet, here is an Anchor, Hope is the Anchor of the Soul; and the Apostle reckons up all the Properties of a good Anchor, it must be firm, sharp and enter into good Ground; so saith he, Heb. 6.19. Which Hope we have as an Anchor of the Soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the Vail ; here is a sure hold-fast, upon good Ground, it is a weighty Anchor, which will not bow nor break. Mariners when they have cast out a good Anchor, which is fastened to the Ship with a strong Cable, they sleep quietly; though the Winds blow, and the Storms and Tempests arise, they know the Anchor will keep them from floating and dashing upon the Rocks: So Hope is a good Anchor. Then it is an Helmet, Ephes. 6.17. And take the Helmet of Salvation, that is, Hope; 1 Thess. 5.8. And for an Helmet, the Hope of Salvation. The Apostle reckons up all the pieces of the Spiritual Armor; Faith, that is a Shield for the Body; but Hope that is an Helmet for the Head; as long as we can lift up our Heads, and look up to Heaven, we are safe whatever befalls us, it will hold out in the midst of all the fiery Darts that are cast at us.

6. This looking for the blessed Hope is of use to resist Temptations. Sin makes many Promises, and so prevaileth by Carnal Hopes. Balaam was moved to curse God's People against his Conscience; but when he boggled and stuck at it, Come, saith Balac, I will give thee Gold and Silver, this puts quickening into him. The Fool in the Gospel promised himself long Life, Luke 12.19. Soul, Soul, thou hast Goods laid up for many Years, take thine Ease, eat, drink and be merry. So Ier. 44.17. We will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth out of our own Mouth, to burn Incense unto the Queen of Heaven, as we have done, we and our Fathers, our Kings, and our Princes, in the Cities of Judah, and in the Streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of Victuals, and were well, and saw no Evil. And so the Devil comes to Christ, and makes the Temptation as strong as he can, Mat. 4.8, 9. He showeth him all the Kingdoms of the World, and the Glory of them: And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. And Babylon 's Fornication was presented in a Golden Cup; there are Baits of Honor and Preferment to draw them to Popery and Heresy. Now Faith sets Promise against Promise, and Heaven against Earth, and the Pleasure at God's Right-hand against Carnal Delight. As one Nail drives out another, so one Hope, and one Promise drives out another. Carnal Motions are defeated by Spiritual Promises, and those Motions that are presented to the Soul.

SERMON XIII.

Use 1. INformation.

1. It informs us, that we may look for the Reward. Those Men would be wiser than God, that deny us a Liberty to make use of the Spirit's Motives, they begrudg God's Bounty. To what end should God propound Rewards, but that we should close with them by Faith? Graces may be exercised about their proper Objects without Sin. It requireth some Faith to aim at things not seen. The World is drowned in Sense and present Satisfactions, they are Mercenaries that must have Pay in hand, their Souls droop if they do not meet with Credit, Applause and Profit, they make Man their Pay-master: They have the Spirit of a Servant, that prizes present Wages above the Inheritance; but it is the Work of Grace to look for the blessed Hope, and a great help to us in our Work. It was the Comfort of Christ's Human Soul, Heb. 12.2. Who for the Joy that was set before him, endured the Cross, despising the Shame. Christ as Man, was to have rational Comforts and human Encouragements. Nothing is sinful, but coveting the Reward whilst we neglect the Work; when we will be Mercenarii, but not Operarii ; we would receive the Reward, but not do our Work. We are all born Libertines, we would sever the Reward from the Duty. Hosea 10.11. Ephraim is an Heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the Corn, but not to break the Clods; in treading out the Corn there was Pleasure and Profit, but in breaking the Clods Pain and Labor. Or else we sin, in having a carnal Notion of Heaven; our looking for Heaven, is like their looking for Christ as the Consolation of Israel. Some of the Jews look for a carnal Messiah, so do many Christians for a carnal Heaven, for base Pleasures, fleshly Delights; such Hopes debase the Heart: it is the Priviledg of our Profession, that we have a sublime Hope. Or else we sin in looking for the Reward as the Fruit of Merit; if we expect it as Wages for Work done, we are Mercenaries. Sin and Death are as Work and Wages, Rom. 6.23. The Wages of Sin is Death, but the Gift of God is Eternal Life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Eternal Life is a Donative. What is the reason of this Difference? because wicked Men stand upon their own bottom, but Christ hath obtained this Priviledg for us. Wicked Works are ours, merely evil, but the Good we do is by God's Grace, as a Servant tradeth with his Master's Estate. I am bound to do Good, and am forbidden to sin; when I do that which is forbidden, I deserve Punishment; but when I do that which is commanded, I do not deserve a Reward, because I am bound to do it: Jude 21. Looking for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life. It is Mercy that we are called, Mercy that we are glorified; neither before Conversion nor after Conversion do we deserve anything. We serve a good Master, he hath provided Comforts for us, not only against our Misery, but our Unworthiness; we have not only Glory as a Reward, but Mercy as the cause of it, Glory out of the hands of Mercy. Thus must you look for the Reward, and build your Hopes of it. As you pray, so must you expect: now you will not pray, Lord! give me Heaven, for I deserve it: natural Conscience would blush at the Immodesty of such a Request. Who would not have the Title of Inheritance rather than of Hire? Again, our own Happiness must not be our ultimate End; Man was made for a twofold End, to glorify God, and enjoy him forever; they must both go together, we must desire the Enjoyment of God, that we may glorify God to all Eternity, otherwise Interest swayeth us more than Duty. First, we love God out of Interest, and are drawn with the Cords of a Man; as first the Fire is kindled, and then it sendeth forth much Smoak; afterwards we love God out of pure Affection: at length as the new Nature gathers Strength and Perfection, Men rejoice in God's Glory as much as in their own Salvation; it is a simple Act of Adoration, in Heaven it will be so, we shall rejoice in God's Glory as much as in our own Interest and Profit.

2. It informs us of the Reason why the World and Sin have such a Power over Men, why they lie under the Power of present things; we do not awaken our Hopes, and consider Blessedness to come so much as we should. It is not only a difference between Sinners and Saints, but between Christian and Christian, one is more heavenly than another. As there is a difference between ordinary Subjects and Courtiers, those that are always in their Princes Eye and Company are more polite in their Manners than others: so the oftener the Soul is in God's Court, the more holy; our Hopes will have an Influence upon our Practice. It is Hope that carries the Soul aloft out of the reach of Temptation; as Birds when flying on high in the Air, need not fear Nets nor Snares, nor the Crafts of the Fowler. Keep Hope alive, and then a Christian cannot fail, Heb. 3.6. — Whose House we are, if we hold fast the Confidence, and the rejoicing of Hope firm unto the end. If a Man had such a lively Hope, and some taste and feeling of Heaven, and Blessedness to come, and a constant groaning after them; if we could but glory in our Hopes as much as if we had present Possession, then we need not fear miscarrying.

3. It informs us, that it is a false Hope that doth not urge to Practice and Strictness of Life. Some Men make full account to go to Heaven, but make no preparation for it, their Course is another way, there is not only an Unsutableness to their Hopes, but a Contrariety: If there were only an Unsutableness, it were enough to discover the Cheat, for we are to be made meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light, Col. 1.12. and to walk worthy of God, who hath called us to his Kingdom and Glory, 1 Thess. 2.12. and to walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith we are called, Ephes. 4.1. There is a Sutableness between a Man and his great Hopes. When David was a Shepherd, he spent his time in keeping his Father's Sheep, and had the Heart of a Shepherd; but when he was called to be King, then he behaved himself like a King, like a Shepherd of the People: So a Christian discovers his Hopes in his Disposition, and in his Practice, and doth walk as an Heir of the Grace of Life. There may be a slight Hope which hath no Efficacy, but those serious Sighs, and hearty Groans I speak of, certainly they will work a Sutableness in the Temper of our Hearts, and the Constitution of our Souls, and we shall be more holy, there will be more worthy walking, more Detestation of Sin, more Contempt of the World, more Diligence in the Spiritual Life. When you walk as if your Hopes were altogether in this World; when Princes in Scarlet embrace a Dunghil; when those that are called to great and glorious Hopes, live as if their Happiness were only here below, heaping up Wealth, Treasure and Worldly Conveniences to themselves, it is a Lamentation. If you saw a Man laboring in filthy Ditches, and sullying himself as poor Men do with Mire and Dirt, who would believe he were an Heir apparent to a Crown, and called to inherit a Kingdom? So when we live as Men of the World, when there is an Unsutableness between us and our Hopes, how do we walk as the Heirs of Grace? But now when there is not only an Unsutableness, but an open Contrariety in their Practice, and yet they think to go to Heaven; it is as if a Man whose Journey lay North, should travel just South. Can that Man look to be filled up with God, when God is not in all his Thoughts? Can he long for the Company of Christ that slights his Ordinances? Can he prize the Communion of Saints, to whom good Company is a Prison? Can he look for an immaculate and sinless State, to whom Purity is an Eyesore, and who hates the Power of Godliness? Yet many such deceive themselves with false Hopes, when there is not only Unsutableness, but a plain Contrariety.

4. It informs us, That an assured Interest in Heaven is no Ground of Looseness or Laziness. Comfort serves to quicken, but not to slacken our Endeavors. The more we look for Heaven, the more it engageth us to Strictness of Life. The Apostle after he had professed his Assurance, We are confident and willing rather to be absent from the Body, and to be present with the Lord, 2 Cor. 5.8. What then? v. 9. Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. Here is a sure Recompence, our great Care is, that we may live and die in his Grace, because we are confident we shall live with the Lord when we depart from the Body. Jude 21. Keep yourselves in the Love of God, looking for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life. When God is so gracious in Christ, providing such great things for such unworthy Creatures, as Eternal Life, and we come to receive Glory out of the hands of Mercy, what a mighty Engagement is this to make us watch against all Decays and Coolings of Love.

Use 2. To exhort us to this Expectation, or looking for the blessed Hope. The method and way is first to believe, then to apply, then to expect.

1. Believe it, that there is such a Happiness reserved for the Children of God. Next to God's Being, we are bound to believe his Bounty, Heb. 11.6. He that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him. These two Principles, that God is, and that he is a Rewarder, are the Fundamental Notions that keep up all Religion. There is a Mist upon Eternity to a carnal Heart, they are led by Sense, and believe no more than they see; Heb. 11.1. Faith is the Substance of things hoped for, and the Evidence of things not seen. Fancy and Nature cannot out-see Time, and look beyond Death. Faith holdeth the Candle to Hope, and then we are able to look into the other World, and to see a happy State to come. Now because Faith is weak in most, and we waver more in the Belief of God's Bounty, than of his Being; his Godhead is manifested by present sensible Effects, but we scruple his Rewards, which are wholly to come; therefore let us strengthen and help Faith as much as we can. The Word is clear in this Point. Now God hath been true in all things: Fidelis in omnibus, in ultimo non deficiet ; He that hath been faithful in all things, will not fail us at last. The calling of the Gentiles, the rejection of the Jews, the sending of the Messiah, these were things as invisible, and as much to come, as Heaven is to us: new all these things have been fulfilled, and why should we not trust God to the last? Experience is wont to beget Hope, Rom. 5.4. And Patience Experience, and Experience Hope. Can God lie, or Truth itself be false? What need hath God to flatter thee, or deceive thee? If we did preach a God that needed the Creatures, then you might suspect what we tell you in his Name; but he hath no Interest to be gratified: his vehement Longings are for your Good and Profit; Deut. 5.29. O that there were such an Heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my Commandments always, that it may be well with them, and with their Children forever! God doth not say, that it may be well with me, but with them. Again, let Reason be heard to speak how suitable it is to God's Nature. Consider, the Being of God is infinite and eternal, and so is the Reward; the Apostle calls it, 2 Cor. 4.17. a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory. Ara • nah gave like a King. God's Gifts are like himself, suitable to his infinite Mercy, and eternal Duration; how likely is it, that God will once show himself like himself! And they are suitable to the Merit of Christ: Is God at such expense for Trifles? The Comforts of this World may be bought with Gold and Silver; but the Apostle saith, 1 Pet. 1.18, 19. Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as Silver and Gold, &c. but with the precious Blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish, and without spot. Why would God give so great a Price out of his own Treasury, but to take a Debt upon himself, and to oblige his Justice to be our Friend? If Christ can be in the Womb, and in the Grave, why may not we be in Heaven? It is more credible to believe that a Creature should be in Heaven, than a God should be in the Grave: and Christ's Abasement (which is first) is more than our Advancement. There is not so great a distance between us and Happiness, as between Christ and Misery. Men naturally being made capable of an higher Condition of Mind and Affections, to love and know God, Godliness must have a better Recompence than is to be had in the World. These are but the Offals of Providence enjoyed by God's Enemies, they have the greatest Share; Psal. 17.14. From Men of the World, which have their Portion in this Life. The wiser Men are, the more they contemn these things: Children are taken with Rattles. Grace cannot be satisfied with the World, without an higher Enjoyment of God. Pleasures are common to us with the Beasts; wicked Men flow in Ease and Plenty. A Reward there must be; it is impossible a Creature should rest in its own Action. We see that natural Actions that tend to maintain Life, have a Sweetness and Pleasure mingled with them, that we may not neglect them, or our own Preservation, as Eating and Drinking, and the like. Therefore virtuous Actions, much more such as are against the hair and bent of Nature, must have a Reward, a Reward better than the Work, or else it would be lost Labor. There is a disposition and instinct of Nature towards Eternal Happiness: Man's Soul, like a Spunge, is thirsty, and seeketh to be satisfied; Psal. 4.6. Who will show us any Good? And every Good will not serve their turn. Men at first take up with the Creature, because it is next at hand, but it satisfieth not; their Sore runneth till they come to enjoy God: Acts 17.27. That they should seek the Lord, if haply they may feel after him, and find him. When we have all outward Blessings, the Soul of Man is not filled up; there is something wanting to our Peace and Quiet: Solomon made Experiments, but had no satisfaction. Thus you see there is no such Reward so suitable to what is declared of God, of Christ, of the Nature of Man, of Grace, as this blessed Hope.

2. Apply it. Besides the Truth of the Promises, look to the clearing up of your own Interest and Title. It is a poor comfortless Meditation to think of a blessed Hope, and the certainty of it, unless we have an Interest in these things; this will be but like the gaze of an hungry Man upon a Feast. The Reprobates hereafter are lookers on; and David speaks of a Table spread for him in the presence of his Enemies, Psal. 23.5. Hope hath never a more lively Influence, than when it is founded in Property, and a sense of our own Interest. Job 19.25. I know that my Redeemer liveth. And 2 Cor. 5.1. We know, that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a Building of God, an House not made with Hands, eternal in the Heavens. 2 Tim. 4.8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that Day. There is not only an Heaven, but for me. Thus are the Saints wont to profess their Interest and assured Hope. But is Hope only the fruit of Assurance? I answer, It is the fruit of Faith, as well as of Assurance or Experience: but certainly it is very comfortable, when we can discern our own Interest, and in some sort necessary. Before we can hope for ourselves, our Qualification is to be supposed, for that is our Evidence. Therefore I shall, 1 st. Press you to get this Assurance. 2 dly. Shew what kind of Application is absolutely required, that you may thus look for the blessed Hope.

1 st. Let me press you to get an assured Title to Heaven. In a Matter of such moment, would a Man be at an Uncertainty? Can he be quiet, and not sure of Heaven? Not to look after it, is a bad sign: A godly Man may want it, but a godly Man cannot slight it. A Man may want it, he may creep to Heaven: some are scarcely saved, 1 Pet. 4.18. Others have an abundant Entrance, 2 Pet. 1.10, 11. Give diligence to make your Calling and Election sure; for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an Entrance shall be ministered to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For want of this, you quite lose your Heaven upon Earth, which consisteth in Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost; and you lose much of the Influence of Hope: Uncertain wavering Thoughts have little Efficacy. But a good Man cannot slight it, it is a breach of a Command which requireth Diligence. It argueth spiritual Security, when Men can be content to live long, and yet do not know what will become of them: How can you think of the Coming of Christ without Terror? That which others look for, and long for, is your Fear: as Felix trembled as soon as he heard of Judgment to come.

2 dly. I shall tell you what Application there must be, if we cannot attain to Assurance. There are three degrees of Application beneath Assurance.

(1.) Acceptation of God's Offer, that is one degree of Application. Job 5.27. Hear it, and know thou it for thy good. Put in for these Hopes, and take God on his Word; stipulate with him, and undertake thy part of the Covenant, upon a confidence God will not fail thee. As Moses, when the Book of the Law was read, Exod. 24.6. took half the Blood, and sprinkled it on the Altar, to show that God undertook to bless them: and ver. 8. the other half he sprinkled on the People, by which they were engaged to obey. There must be in all Christians, the Answer of a good Conscience, 1 Pet. 3.21.

(2.) Adherence. Stick close to this Hope in a course of Obedience. If we do God's Work, we shall not fail of Wages: 1 Cor. 9.26. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the Air.

(3.) Affiance, noting waiting upon God, though with some Doubts and Fears, for the Revelation of this Glory. Tho you cannot say, It is yours, yet wait with hope till your Change come, looking for the Mercy of Christ; so that you durst venture your Soul in that Bottom. This is committing our Souls to him in well-doing, as to a merciful and faithful Creator, 1 Pet. 4.19. You put your Souls into God's Hands that made them.

3. Expect it. This is the formal Act of Hope, which is pressed in the Text. This Hope and Expectation of Blessedness, is the Strength of the inward Man. The Devils have a Faith, but because it is without Hope, it yieldeth no Refreshment: James 2.19. Thou believest that there is one God, thou dost well; the Devils also believe and tremble. The word signifies such a trembling as the raging of the Sea; it is a Light that does not refresh, but scorch. There would be Comfort in Hell, if there could be Hope there. It is the Duty now in season, here we must expect: Rom. 8.24. We are saved by Hope. In Innocency there was little or no use of Hope; and in Heaven there will be none at all; the Object of Man's Happiness will be present and enjoyed; but now all is to come: we have only a Taste and Pledg to make us long for more, and expect more. Faith by Hope maketh them present Substance; Heb. 11.1. Faith is the Substance of Things hoped for. Things of Eternal Life seem as a Shadow and Fiction to a carnal Heart. This Hope is an earnest Elevation of the Mind to look for what Faith counteth real.

Use 3. To direct us how to look for this blessed Hope.

1. Consider it. Hope is a temperate Extasy, a Survey of the Land of Promise. As God said to Abraham, Gen. 13.14, 15. Lift up now thine Eyes, and look from the Place where thou art, Northward, and Southward, and Eastward, and Westward. For all the Land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy Seed forever. So Psal. 48.12. Walk about Zion, and go round about her, tell the Towers thereof. It is a great Advantage to think often of Heaven, it maketh it present to us. Heaven deserveth our best Thoughts. We should always do it; in the Morning it were a good Preservative to keep us from being under the power of present things; Psal. 17.15. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy Likeness. In some special Seasons doth Hope set the Mind a-work: in times of Trouble and present Sufferings, we enjoy a happy Dedolency: the Mind is untouched, whatever the Body suffereth. When we are summoned to the Grave, and bodily Sicknesses put you in mind of Death, when Sense and Speech fail, the Love of God never fails; this pale Horse is sent from Christ to carry us to Glory: and though we go down to the Grave to converse with Worms and Skulls, this Hope may comfort us, Job 19.26, 27. And though • after my Skin Worms destroy this Body, yet in my Flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine Eyes shall behold, and not another, though my Reins be consumed within me.

2. Long for it. Hope cannot be without Groans. Every day wind up your Affections, for here is nothing but Conflicts and Sorrows. Love to Christ cannot be without him, it will never be content. Nature desires Perfection; Col. 3.1, 2. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right Hand of God. Set your Affections on Things above, not on Things on the Earth. There is our God, our Christ, our Rest: Where your Treasure is, there will your Heart be also, Mat. 6.22. not only the Mind, but the Heart: what we are much thinking of, the Desires will be working that way. The new Nature cannot be without these Desires; everything tendeth thither whence it came: Eph. 1.3. Who hath blessed us with all spiritual Blessings, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , in heavenly Places. God sits in Heaven that dispenseth Grace, Christ that conveyeth it; thence come our Mercies, Comforts and Joys: therefore it is against the tendency of the new Nature not to be tending thither, where Christ is, who is our greatest Happiness. There is your Father, your elder Brother, the best of the Family, and your spiritual Relations, whom you most valued; the best Company is in the other World. Here you have Maintenance, as in a foreign Land, but there is your Interest and Estate. How unworthy soever we are, there is infinite Mercy to give it, there it acts like itself; infinite Merit to purchase it, there we receive the full Fruits of our Redemption; and the present Fruits of the Spirit are the Earnest of it, as an Earnest is something in part of a greater Sum.

3. Wait for it. There are Groans of Expectation as well as of Desire. You have a fair Charter granted by God the Father, written with the Blood of Christ, sealed by the Spirit. To make your Expectation more firm, consider;

(1.) Christ's Goodness and Mercy. Looking for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal Life, Jude, v. 21. He never discovered any backwardness to thy Good, or inclination to thy Ruin.

(2.) God's Faithfulness. Heb. 9.18, 19. That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong Consolation. God stands more on his Word, than on Heaven and Earth. If an honest Man has made a promise of anything, he will make it good; much more may we depend on the faithful God.

(3.) God's Power. If our Souls were in our own keeping, we might fear; but we are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation, 1 Pet. 1.5. Abraham being persuaded of God's Power, against Hope believed in Hope, Rom. 4.18.

(4.) Christ's Merit and Intercession. Rom. 8.34. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right Hand of God, who also maketh Intercession for us. By his Merit our Right to Heaven is purchased, and by his Intercession it is maintained for us.

SERMON XIV.

Doct. II. THE Hope of Christians is a blessed Hope.

Hope is here put for the thing hoped for, as Col. 1.5. For the Hope that is laid up for you in Heaven. Where Hope is put for the Object of Hope. Now this Matter or Object of our Hope is sometimes called Life, sometimes Glory, sometimes Joy and Pleasure. It is a Life that never shall be quenched or put out; Jude 21. Looking for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal Life. It is a Glory that is Eternal for Duration; 2 Cor. 4.17. it is called a far more exceeding and Eternal Weight of Glory: for the measure of it, it is above our Conceit and Expression, as much as a Creature can bear. It is Joy and Pleasure without Mixture and without End; Psal. 16.11. In thy Presence is Fulness of Joy, at thy right Hand there are Pleasures for evermore. Now this Hope is said to be blessed, because it puts us into the Fruition of absolute Blessedness. We cannot conceive of it now to the full; when we come to enjoy it, we shall find it above all that ever we could conceive or hear of it: As much as we see and know of it, showeth it is a blessed thing; but we shall understand it best when we hear the great Voice calling us, Come up and see.

But a little to set it before you. In Blessedness there must be a Removal of all Evil, and a Coacervation and complete Presence of all that is Good. As long as the least Evil continueth, a Man is not blessed, only he is less miserable. If a Man had all things that Heart could wish for, what would it avail him? as Haman, when he wanted Mordecai 's Knee, Esther 5.13. All this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the King's Gate. Ahab had the Kingdom of Israel, but yet he fell sick for want of Naboth 's Vineyard. If a Man were never so well fitted for a Journey, a little Gravel in his Shoe would founder him. As in Carriages of War, though there be a great Train, yet if one Peg be missing or out of Order, all stoppeth. Or in the Body, if one Humour be out of Order, or one Joint broken, it is enough to make us sick, or ill at Ease, though all the rest be sound and whole; so if there be the least Evil, a Man cannot be a complete happy Man; Complaining will not suit with Blessedness. Now,

First; In the Hope that we look for, there is a Removal of all Evil. Evil is twofold, either of Sin or of Punishment; and in Heaven there is neither Sin nor Misery.

1. To begin with Sin, that is the worst Evil. Affliction is Evil, but it is not Evil in itself, but only in our Sense and Feeling; if a Man had a Dedolency, it is no Pain to a benumbed Joint to be scourged. But Sin is evil, whether we feel it or no, but it is worst when we feel it not. Certainly that is Evil which separateth from the chiefest Good; Affliction doth not separate from God, it is a means and an Occasion to make us draw nigh to him; many had never been acquainted with God, but for their Afflictions: but Sin separateth us from God; Isa. 59.2. Your Iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your Sins have hid his Face from you, that he will not hear. Let a Man be never so loathsome, yet if he be in a State of Grace, he is dear to God; the Lord taketh Pleasure in him, though rough-cast with Ulcers and Sores, and thrown into a Prison, yet God will kiss him with the Kisses of his Mouth. There is nothing so loathsome and odious to God as Sin: This grieveth the Saints most; Rom. 7.24. O wretched Man that I am! who shall deliver me from this Body of Death? If any Man had Cause to complain of Afflictions, Paul had, he was often in Perils, whipped, imprisoned, stoned; but he doth not cry out, When shall I be delivered from these Afflictions? O but this Body of Death was worst of all, Lusts troubled him more than Scourges, and his Captivity to the Law of Sin more than Chains and Prisons. This is the Disposition of the Saints, they are weary of the World, because they are sinning here, whilst others are glorifying God, not only that they are suffering here, whilst others are enjoying God. A Beast will forsake the Place where he hath neither Meat nor Rest. Carnal Men, when they are beaten out of the World, have a Fancy to Heaven, as a Place of Retreat; but that which troubles Godly Men is their Sin. Well, but in Heaven there is no Sin; Eph. 5.27. That he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having Spot or Wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy, and without Blemish. There is neither Spot nor Wrinkle upon the Face of the glorified Saints. Their Faces were once as black as yours, but now Christ presenteth them to God as a Proof of the cleansing Virtue of his Blood. And how pure and clean they are, without Spot or Wrinkle, the Apostle's Words, that he might present it, imply, as if Christ did glory and rejoice in their Purity, as the Fruits of his Purchase. There you are freed from all Sins. With much ado we mortify one Lust, but Nature recoileth: as Ivy in the Wall, if you cut it down, it breaketh out again. It is much here if the Dominion of Sin be taken away: there the being of it is abolished, in Heaven it is not at all; you will displease God no more, and are freed from all the immediate and inseparable Consequences of Original Sin, detraction in Duty, and the like. Here is no perfect Love, and therefore the Soul cannot be fixed in the Contemplation of God; that's the Reason of wandering Thoughts: but there the Heart cleaves to God without straggling. In Heaven we shall be freed from Pride, which lasts as long as Life, therefore called Pride of Life, 1 John 2.16. We cannot have a Revelation now, but we grow proud of it; 2 Cor. 12.7. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the Revelations, there was given to me a Thorn in the Flesh, the Messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. Nor can there be an Influence of Grace, but we are apt to be proud of it. There is a Worm in Manna, but then we are most high and most humble, because most holy. O Christians! is not this a blessed Hope, that telleth you of a sinless State, of being like Christ in Purity and Holiness? 1 John 3.2. Beloved, now are we the Sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. What is it that you have struggled with, and groaned under all your Lives, but Sin? Now that is blotted out, when the Days of Refreshing shall come. And as there is no Sin, so there are no Temptations: in Paradise there was a Tempter, but none in Heaven: Satan was long since cast out thence, and the Saints fill up the vacant Rooms of the Apostate Angels. The World is a Place of Snares, a Valley of Temptations; it is the Devil's Circuit, where did he walk but to and fro in the Earth? but in Heaven nothing entereth that defileth, Rev. 21.27. No Serpent can creep in there, though he could into Paradise. O Christians! lift up your Heads, you will get rid of Sin, and displease God no more. Here we cry, Lord deliver us from Evil! and then our Cries are heard to the full. Grace weakeneth Sin, but Glory abolisheth it, and the old Adam is left in the Grave never to rise more.

2. The next Evil is the Evil of Affliction. Whatever is painful and burdensome to Nature, is a Fruit of the Fall, a Brand and Mark of our Rebellion against God; therefore Affliction must be done away as well as Sin, if we be completely happy. As in Hell there is Evil, and only Evil, a Cup of Wrath unmixed, without the least Temperament of Mercy; so in Heaven there is Happiness, and only Happiness; Sorrow is done away as well as Sin. It is said, Rev. 21.4. God shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes, and there shall be no more Death, neither Sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be anymore Pain. The Afflictions of the Soul are gone, there are no more Doubts of God's Love, nor Sense of his Displeasure; here though we are pardoned, and the Wound be cured, yet the Scars remain. Absalom could not see the King's Face when he was restored. In wise Dispensation God sometimes hideth his Face from us here upon Earth. We need to be dieted, and to taste the Vinegar and the Gall sometimes, as well as the Honey and Sweetness, that we may the better relish our Christian Comforts. The World is a middle Place, standing between Hell and Heaven, and therefore hath something of both: the Saints have their Mixture of Pleasure and Sorrow; Job 2.10. Shall we receive Good at the Hand of the Lord, and shall we not receive Evil? But there is Fulness of Joy, and Pleasures for evermore; Psal. 16.11. Thou wilt show me the Path of Life; in thy Presence there is Fulness of Joy, at thy right Hand there are Pleasures for evermore: there is no Mixture of Sorrow. Here we complain that the Candle of the Lord doth not shine with a like Brightness as in the Months that are past; there our Sun remaineth in an eternal High-noon, without Clouds and Overcasting, Nox null • secuta est, no Night follows. The Afflictions of the Body are done away. Heaven is a happy Air, where none are sick, there is no such thing there as Gouts and Aches, and the grinding Pains of the Stone. Here it is called a vile Body, Phil. 3.21. as it is the Instrument of Sin, and the Subject of Diseases. We have the Root of Diseases in the Soul, and that is Sin; and the Matter and Fuel of them in the Body, peccant Humours and Principles of Corruption. As Wood is eaten out with Worms that breed within itself; so there are in our Bodies Principles of Corruption, that do at length destroy them; but there we are wholly incorruptible. Yea, because Deformity in the Body is a Monument of God's Displeasure, one of the penal Events of Sin, introduced by Adam 's Fall, it is done away; the Body riseth in due Proportion: Whatever was monstrous or misshapen in the first Edition, is corrected in the second, like the Errata 's in a second Edition. And for Violence without, Heaven is a quiet Place; when there are Tumults in the World, God is introduced as sitting in the Heavens, a quiet Posture; Psal. 2.4. He that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh. There is nothing to discompose those blessed Spirits, wicked Men cannot molest them nor abuse them. Here the very Company of wicked Men is a Burden; as Lot 's righteous Soul was vexed with the filthy Conversation of the Wicked, 2 Pet. 2.7. David complains, Psal. 120.5. Woe is me that I dwell in Mesech, and sojourn in the Tents of Kedar. But there the Son of Man shall send forth his Angels, and gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do Iniquity, Matth. 13.41. The Wicked shall be bound Hand and Foot, and cast into utter Darkness; as when Men will not be ruled, they are sent to Prison. Here poor Saints are subject to a Number of Infirmities, Labor, Thirst, Hunger, Cold, Nakedness and Want, which all cease then. It is a rich Inheritance, as well as a glorious one; Ephes. 1.18. That ye may know what is the Hope of his Calling, and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints. These Distinctions of Poor and Rich, as they are understood in the World, do not outlive Time; we shall have enough of true Riches, which is eternal Glory, and the full Fruition of God. Labor ceaseth, though there be a continual Exercise of Grace: all things rest when they come to their proper Place, so do they that die in the Lord; we still serve God, but without Weariness. Yea, we are freed from the Necessities of Nature, Eating and Drinking, and Sleeping, to which the greatest Potentates are subject. Though they are exempted from hard bodily Labor, yet they are not exempted from the Necessities of Nature: but there the Use of Meats and of the Belly and Stomach is abolished; 1 Cor. 6.12. Meats for the Belly, and the Belly for Meats, but God shall destroy both it and them. It is a piece of our Misery, that our Life is patched up of so many Creatures; as a torn Garment is pieced and patched up with Supplies from abroad; the Sheep or Silkworm supplies us with Clothing, the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea with Food, and all to support a ruinous Fabric, that is ever ready to drop about our Ears. But there we are above Meat and Drink and Apparel: it will be our Meat and Drink to do our Father's Will; Nakedness will be no Shame, we shall have Glory instead of a Robe. And the Body will not be a Clog to the Soul, but a Help. This Mass of Flesh we carry about with us, is now the Prison of the Soul, where it looketh out by the Windows of the Senses; but there it is no longer the Prison of the Soul, but the Temple of it. In short, all that I have to • ay upon this Branch, is comprised in Rev. 21.4. And God shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes; and there shall be no more Death, neither Sorrow, nor Crying, neither shall there be anymore Pain; for the former things are passed away. There is quite another kind of Dispensation, no Distraction of Business; our whole Employment there will be to think of God, and study God, but without Weariness, Satiety or Distraction.

Secondly; In Blessedness there is a Confluence of all Good. To the Happiness of the Creature it is necessary, that his Comforts should be full and eternal; Psal. 16.11. In thy Presence is Fulness of Joy, and at thy right Hand are Pleasures for evermore. 2 Cor. 4.18. The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. That they may be full for Parts, full for the Degrees, and the manner of Enjoyment, and that they should continue forever; that he may possess this Happiness without fear of losing it, let us examine these things.

1. He must enjoy all Good, for the Parts of it; the whole Man in all his Relations must be blessed: For Man being 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a sociable Creature, is to be happy not only in his Person, but in his Company and Relations; so we hope for an Estate when our Persons shall be happy, both in Body and Soul conformed to Christ, and we shall be blessed in our Company and Relations; we are brought into the Presence of God, which is Blessedness itself, and into the Sight and Fellowship of his blessed Son, and into the Company of blessed Angels and Saints.

First ; The Happiness of his Person, and there both of his Body and his Soul.

1 st. Of his Body. It is good to consider that: It is now a Temple of the Holy Ghost, and he cannot leave his Mansion, and quit his ancient Dwelling-Place, and therefore he raiseth it up, and formeth it again into a complete Fashion, like to Christ's glorious Body; Phil. 3.21. Who shall change our vile Body, that it may be like to his glorious Body, for Clarity, Agility, Strength and Incorruption. Solomon 's Temple was destroyed, but the latter Temple was nothing so glorious as the former: Men wept when they saw it; Ezra 3.12. But many of the Priests and Levites, and chief of the Fathers, who were ancient Men, which had seen the first House, when the Foundations of this House was laid before their Eyes, wept with a loud Voice. But it is not so here, what is raised shall be quite another Body. For the present there is to be seen a beautiful Fabric, wherein God hath shown his Workmanship, every Member, if it were not so common, would be a Miracle, all is so ordered for the Service and Comeliness of the whole: but now it is a vile Body, subject to Diseases, fed with Meat, humbled with Wants, many times mangled with Violence, dissolved by Death, and crumbled to Dust in the Grave, like a dry Clod of Earth. This is the Body that we carry about with us, a Mass of Flesh, dressed up to be a Dish for the Worms. Men labor with a great deal of do by embalming it with Spices, to keep it from Putrefaction, but all will not serve the turn, it moulders at last. But this vile Body shall rise in another manner, like to Christ's glorious Body. When the Sun appeareth, the Stars vanish, their luster is eclipsed and darkened. But the Sun of Righteousness, when he appears at the last Day, doth not obscure but perfect our Glory. But wherein shall our Bodies be like to Christ's glorious Body? The Apostle will tell us that in another Place; 1 Cor. 15.42, 43, 44. It is sown in Corruption, it is raised in Incorruption; it is sown in Dishonor, it is raised in Glory; it is sown in Weakness, it is raised in Power; it is sown a natural Body, it is raised a spiritual Body. Let me single out three Expressions, it is raised in Incorruption, it is raised in Glory, it is raised a spiritual Body.

(1.) It is an incorruptible Body. Now it yielded to the Decays of Nature, and is exercised with Pains and Aches, till at length it droppeth down like ripe Fruit into the Grave; but hereafter it shall be clothed with Immortality, wholly impassible. What a Comfort is this to them that are racked with Stone and Gout, humbled with Diseases, or withered with Age, to think they shall have a Body without Aches, and without Decays, that shall be always in the Spring of Youth! The Trees of Paradise are always green.

(2.) It is a glorious Body. Here it is many times deformed, at least Beauty, like a Flower, is lost in Sickness, withered with Age, defaced by the several Accidents of Life; but then we shall be glorious like Christ's Body. The naked Body of Man at first was so beautiful, that the Beasts of the Field admired it, and thereupon did Homage to Adam, but we shall not be conformed to the first Adam, but the second Adam : When Christ was transfigured in the Mount, it is said, Matth. 17.2. His Face did shine as the Sun, and his Raiment was white as the Light: There was such strong Emissions of the Beams of Glory, that they could not endure the Shining of his Garments, but it astonished the Disciples: his Garments could not veil, nor their Eyes endure those Beams of Glory. Paul could not endure that Light that shined on him, when Christ appeared to him from Heaven, but was utterly confounded and struck blind: Acts 9.3, 4. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a Light from Heaven; and he fell to the Earth, and heard a Voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? By this you may guess a little what the Glory of our Bodies shall be, for we shall be like him. Moses by conversing with God forty days, the Complexion of his Face was altered, so that he was forced to put a Vail upon it. In this low Estate in which we are, we must make use of these hints. If we lose a Limb or a Joint, he that healed Malchus his Ear will restore it again.

(3.) It is a Spiritual Body, either for Agility, caught up into the Air to meet the Lord, not clogged as now. Or rather, because more disposed for spiritual Uses, for the Enjoyments and Employments of Grace. Here it is a natural Body, a great Clog to us; it is not a dexterous Instrument to the Soul: we are not in a Capacity to bear the new Wine of Glory: there it is made more capacious, as wide Vessels, to contain all that God will give out. The Disciples fainted at Christ's Transfiguration, Mat. 17.6. And when the Disciples heard it, they fell on their Faces, and were sore afraid. We cannot receive such large Diffusions and Overflowings of Glory as we shall then have; every strong Affection, and raised Thought doth overset us, and causeth Extasy and Ravishment; eminent Objects overwhelm the Faculty. But there it is otherwise, God maketh out himself to us in a greater Latitude, and we are more able to bear it.

2 dly. For the Blessedness of the Soul, which is the Heaven of Heaven. Our Happiness is called the Inheritance of the Saints in Light: Col. 1.12. Giving Thanks to the Father, who hath made us meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light. It is not for a Man, that knows no other Heaven, but to eat, drink, sleep and wallow in filthy and gross Pleasures; it is an Inheritance in Light, and for Saints that know how to value Intellectual and Spiritual Delights. But wherein doth the Happiness of the Soul consist, in Knowledge, or in Love? Divines are divided, but certainly it is in both; our Happiness consists in the Love and Knowledge of God, from whence resulteth Union with God, and Fruition of God. But now which is to be preferred, to know God, or to love God? that is a Question. In one place it is said, John 17.3. This is Life eternal, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent: so that it seemeth to be the Heaven of Heaven, to have the Understanding satisfied with the Knowledge of God. And Psal. 17.15. As for me, I shall behold thy Face in Righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake, with thy likeness. That is our Happiness, we go to Heaven to know more of God, and the Acts of the Understanding are most noble. On the other side, 1 John 4.16. God is Love, and he that dwelleth in Love, dwelleth in God, and God in him. It is not Sight merely that makes us happy, the Embrace of the Soul is by Love, the Possession of the Soul is by Acts of Love. One saith, though not modestly enough, Libentius sine aspectu te diligerem, quam te videndo non amarem Stella de amore Dei ; I had rather not see thee than not love thee. Here in the World the Hatred of God is worse than the Ignorance of him, and therefore it should seem Love should have the Preeminence. But we need not make a Fraction between these Graces; by knowing, we come to love; and by loving, we come to know God: as Light is, so is Love, and so is Enjoyment. Here we love little, because we know little, John 4.10. If thou knewest the Gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked, and he would have given thee living Water. And the more we love, the more we know, this is a Fire that casts Light. But to speak more distinctly.

1. There is the Perfection of Knowledge. All the Faculties must be satisfied before we can be happy, especially the Mind, which is the noblest Faculty, and that which maketh us Men. There is a natural Inclination to Knowledge, and the Soul taketh a great deal of Contentment in the Contemplation of any Truth; Prov. 24.13, 14. My Son, eat thou Honey, because it is good; and the Honey-comb, which is sweet to thy Taste. So shall the Knowledge of Wisdom be unto thy Soul, when thou hast found it. Right and clear Thoughts of God breed a rejoicing; Psal. 19.10. More to be desired are they than Gold, yea, than much fine Gold; sweeter also than the Honey, and the Honey-comb. A Man given to Pleasures hath no such choiceness of Delight: Therefore this is no small part of our Happiness in Heaven to have more Light and Knowledge of God, and of his Ways. We shall know many Mysteries of Salvation, that now we are ignorant of; as the Nature of God, Psal. 17.15. As for me, I shall behold thy Face in Righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy Likeness. The Union of the two Natures in the Person of Christ, John 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 which thou hast given me. Our Union with Christ, and by Christ with God, John 14.20. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. The course of God's Decrees and Providences for our good, 1 Cor. 13.12. Now I know in part, but then shall I know, even as also I am known: that is, we shall be able to see how the unchangeable Counsels of God for our Salvation have been carried on, through all the Passages of the present Life, to bring us safe to the heavenly State. These are the Deeps of God; and now there is a Darkness on the Face of these Deeps. The Church is but a Grammar-School; Heaven is an University. We shall have better Eyes, and other Light: here Prophecy is but in part, but there our Intuition is immediate. 1 John 3.2. We know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. Now it is sicut vult, as he is pleased to reveal himself; then sicut est, as he is. Now we see what he is not, not corruptible, not mortal, not changeable, rather than what he is. Now we see him as he is in us, and as he is in other Creatures; we track him by the Effects of his Power, and Wisdom and Goodness: but then we shall see him as he is in himself: ipsum cognoscemus per ipsum, we shall know him by himself. 1 Cor. 13.12. Now we see through a Glass darkly, then face to face. In the Creatures there are Vestigium, the Tract and Foot-print of God; in the Law there is Vmbra, the Shadow of God; in the Gospel there is Imago, the Image of God, a fair Draught of God, as in a Picture; but in Heaven there is Facies Dei, the Face of God. We shall have excellent Books to study, the large Manifestations of Glory, the Majesty of Christ's Person, the Lamb's Face, who is the Bride; we shall be always sitting about the Throne, and the Lamb in the midst. There God maketh out himself in the highest Manifestations we are capable of.

2. There is complete Love. There is a constant clearing of Heart to God, without Change and Weariness, a Love that never ceaseth working, without Weakness and Distractions. If we delight in anything here, we soon grow weary, and have a Change of Objects; but God in heavenly Communion is always fresh and new. Here are Distractions and startings aside to the Creature; but there is an eternal Solace and Complacency, a continual Sabbath that never groweth weary and burdensome. All the Heart and Bowels run out after Christ, we shall never want the actual breathings of the Spirit: The Spirit came upon Sampson at times, so it doth upon us here, we have several Motions and Fleetings, but there Jesus Christ is a more lovely Object, and the Delights of the Soul are carried out to him without Satiety; we shall have a sweet Complacency in, and liking of him. Also outward things clog the Appetite, as soon as we have them we despise them, because our Desires are restless; we sip of them, as the Be doth of the Flower, and then we must have Change, and go to a new Flower; but here is an eternal Complacency in Christ. Here we are troubled when we want outward Comforts, and cloyed when we have them; Curiosity is soon satisfied, and Fruition discovereth their Imperfection: still the more they are enjoyed, the less they are beloved; as Amnon hated Tamar, when his Lust was satisfied. Imperfections that before lay hid, then appear to view, and so our Affections are confuted by Experience. But there the more we enjoy God, the more his Infinite Perfections are manifested, and our Pleasure is augmented by our Enjoyment.

3. There is a complete Union with God, and Fruition of him. 2 Cor. 5.6. Knowing that whilst we are at home in the Body, we are absent from the Lord. Phil. 1.23. I am in a strait between two, having a Desire to depart and to be with Christ. Here we are united to Christ by Faith, but that is nothing to Sight, and immediate Intuition; we lay hold upon Christ, but have not such an absolute Possession of him: He is a Head that gives out himself, not by Necessity, but Choice and Pleasure, therefore our Communion with Christ is not so perpetual and familiar as it shall be then. As an Iron that lieth long in the Fire, seemeth to be changed into the Nature of it; so we are then more conformed and changed into the Likeness of Christ: Psal. 16.11. In thy Presence is fullness of Joy; at thy Right-hand there are Pleasures for evermore. All Comforts in this Life we enjoy in God's Absence, and have them at the second, third and fourth hand, by the Ministration of the Creatures, Sun, Moon and Stars, or by the Ministry of Men. Now these are not Vessels capacious enough to convey so much of God to us, as we shall receive when God is All in All immediately; 1 Cor. 15.28. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be All in All. There is no Temple nor Ordinances in Heaven, but the Lamb is the Light thereof. We shall enjoy God without Means, or intervention of Ordinances. We are fed among the Lilies, but it is but till the Day break, and the Shadows flee away. Cant. 2.16, 17. My Beloved is mine, aend I am his; he feedeth among the Lilies, until the Day break, and the Shadows flee away: turn my Beloved, and be thou like a Roe, or young Hart upon the Mountains of Bether.

Secondly ; The Happiness of his Relations and Society. In our Company we shall be blessed, God, and Christ, and Saints and Angels, Heb. 12.22, 23, 24. But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and to the City of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable Company of Angels; to the general Assembly, and Church of the First-born, which are written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant, &c. We shall see God in Christ; the bodily Eye that cannot look upon the Sun, shall be perfectly glorified and strengthened; though it cannot see the Essence of God, yet it shall see greater Manifestations of his Glory, than it is able to behold here. How will the Father welcome us, as he welcomed Christ! Psal. 2.8. Ask of me, and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy Possession. So he will say to us, as Mat. 25.21. Well done, thou good and faithful Servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee Ruler over many things: enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord. We shall come into his Presence with Shame. Sin causeth Shame, and maketh us shy of God: but as the Eye cannot endure the Light if it be wronged, so a wronged Conscience makes us afraid of the Presence of God; but when we shall be perfectly sanctified, and Sin shall be done away, we shall be able to stand in the Presence of God. So as to Christ, he cannot be contented without your Company, and you should not be satisfied without his. John 14.3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and take you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. O what a joyful meeting will there be between us and our Redeemer! it will be much sweeter than the Interview between Jacob and Joseph. Christ longeth for the blessed hour as you do. The wise Men came from far to see him in a Manger; Zacchaeus climb'd up the Tree to see him riding to Jerusalem. There will be another manner of Sight of Christ in Heaven, than there was of him in the days of his Flesh. When Joseph discovered himself to his Brethren, and said, Gen. 45.4. I am Joseph, your Brother, what rejoicing was there? much more will there be Joy in Heaven, when Christ shall say, I am Jesus, your Brother, your Savior, your Redeemer; when he shall lead us to God in a full Troop, and goodly Company, and say, Behold, I and the Children which thou hast given me, Heb. 2.13. what a blessed Sight will that be? Then as to the Angels, what Welcome will there be between you and them? When Christ entered into Heaven, they entertained him with their Applauses and Acclamations: Psal. 24.11. Lift up your Heads, O ye Gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting Doors; and the King of Glory shall come in: So will they welcome the Saints to Heaven with Acclamations. They delight in the good of Men, in their Creation, Redemption, Conversion, so surely will they delight in the Glorification of a Sinner. And as to the Saints, your Acquaintance, with whom you have prayed, suffered, and familiarly conversed; Memory is not abolished in Heaven, but perfected: Those whom we knew here, we shall know again. A Minister shall see his Crown, and the Fruit of his Labors, 1 Thess. 2.19. You are our Crown and our Joy. And those which have been relieved by us, shall welcome us into Heaven, who therefore are said to receive us into everlasting Habitations, Luke 16.9. Yea, we shall know those that we never saw; why else is it made a part of our Priviledg to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven? Mat. 8.11. As Adam knew Eve as soon as he saw her; and in the Transfiguration Peter knew Moses and Elias, who were dead many hundred Years before; so shall we know one another: certainly we shall not go to a strange People where we know nobody. As Men at a Feast are free and familiar with one another, we shall be discoursing of God's Wisdom, Mercy and Justice in the Work of Redemption. So did Moses and Elias talk with Christ, Luke 9.30, 31. Behold, there talked with him two Men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in Glory, and spake of his Decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem: Of the wonderful Providence of God in conducting us to Glory; as Travelers in their Inn take Pleasure in discoursing with one another of the Dirtiness and Dangers of the Way. The Saints are clothed with Majesty and Glory, more lovely Objects than ever they were upon Earth; and here is an innumerable Company of them▪ With what Joy were the Disciples wrapped when they saw but these two Prophets, Moses and Elias? Mat. 17.4. Heaven is called not only a Palace, but a City, a World to come, where there is a Multitude which no Man can number. This for the Parts of this Happiness.

2. For the Manner and Degree of enjoying, it is full. We are filled with the Fulness of God, and shall eternally lose ourselves in an Ocean of Sweetness; the Soul is more capable, stretched out to the greatest Capacity of a Creature, yet God filleth it. Here we have but a few drops, there we shall be filled up to the Brim, and have as much as we can hold; Psal. 17.15. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy Likeness. There shall be complete Joy and Satisfaction, all Want, Sorrow and Sin shall be done away: we shall enter into our Master's Joy. We do not say, the Sea entereth into a Bucket or Cup, or a River into a Man. In Heaven the Soul is so full of Joy and Glory as is inexpressible.

3. For the Duration of it, it is eternal. Our Happiness is immortal, we can never lose it; which doubleth the Joy and Contentment of that State. God's Love is everlasting, and so shall our Happiness be, there will be no fear of losing it, Rev. 22.5. They shall reign forever and ever. We shall never lay aside our Diadem of Glory, it is a Garland that shall not wither. It is not only a certain and eternal State, but a State of actual Delights. Christ's Manifestations are not lessened by Enjoyment, but they are like the Widow's Barrel of Meal, and Cruse of Oil, never spent; but we shall always have the actual Comfort of his Presence.

SERMON XV.

Use 1. FOR Information, in seven Particulars.

1. That the Children of God are not so miserable as they appear, they have other Hopes and Enjoyments than are seen, a large Estate that lies in an invisible Country; it is not Terra incognita, a Land unknown, but it is a Land unseen. Pearls and precious things lie out of sight; so doth the Glory and Blessedness of a Christian. Our Happiness is a Mystery to a carnal Heart, it lieth in another World; 1 John 3.2. It doth not ye • appear what we shall be. Here we have a Right, but the Children of God are subject to the Chances and Accidents of the present World as well as others. Our Happiness is only to be seen with a spiritual Eye, and with spiritual Light; Ephes. 1.18. The Eyes of your Understanding being opened, that ye may know what is the Hope of your Calling, and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints. However Christians seem in the Eye of the World, mean, afflicted, despicable, yet they are blessed Creatures. Look as Beasts know not the Excellency of a Man, so carnal Men know not the Excellency of the Saints. The Whore of Babylon, the corrupt Church, is set out in her glorious Out-side, with a Golden Cup; so carnal Men (saith the Apostle ) make a fair show in the Flesh, Gal▪ 6.12. (that is) excel in Pomp and Worldly Splendor: but a Christian's Glory and Blessedness is under a Vail and Disguise, which shall not be fully taken off till the Day of Judgment; Col. 3.3, 4. Your Life is hid with Christ in God: When Christ, who is our Life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in Glory. Look as in a Dark-lanthorn the Light is hid; till the Cover be removed, little of the brightness of the Light is seen: So there is an Eclipse upon the Christian's Glory, now it is covered and veiled; and therefore now the Christian passeth under Censures and Reproaches: thus was Christ in the World, and we must be like him; but then all shall be discovered. A Garden and a Field differ little in Winter; so doth a Christian and other Men, till the great Imperial Day of Christ, then shall we put on our best Robes. Yea, this Happiness in a great part is hidden from ourselves. If we hearken to Sense and present Experience, there is not such a miserable sort of People in the World as God's dearest Servants are: 1 Cor. 15.19. If in this Life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all Men most miserable. It is true, by the Perspective of Faith, we may have a glimpse now and then. Holy Meditation strikes out and opens a Window into the New Jerusalem, and we have some sight of it. A young Heir doth not know the Particulars of his Estate, neither do we exactly know the Happiness of our Portion and Inheritance in Light.

2. It informs us what Cause we have, not only to be patient, but to be thankful during the time of our Pilgrimage here, while we are liable to Sin and Sorrow; we may bless God afore-hand. That's one Reason why God hath revealed these things before we came to enjoy them, that we may give Thanks for our Hopes. Abraham when he had only a Grant and a Promise of Canaan, not a Foot of Land actually possessed, there he built an Altar, and offered Sacrifice and Praise, Gen. 13.17, 18. So this is one Effect of the certainty of Faith, it beginneth the Life and Work of Heaven, and can praise God before enjoyment. Though we be subject to Sin and Misery here, yet in despite of Sense, Faith will praise God, and rejoice in him before we enjoy him. Thus the Apostle blesseth God for his Hopes, 1 Pet. 1.3, 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively Hope, by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead, unto an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you. Certainly we may bless God, where God blesseth us; our Blessing is but the Echo of his: Ephes. 1.3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual Blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And therefore we have cause to bless him for our Hopes as well as our Enjoyments, for the best of our Portion is to come: therefore whenever we think of Eternity, we should presently fall a blessing of God, however it be with us for the present.

To this end let me show you how much we expect, and how much we are engaged to every Person of the God-head.

1 st. How much we do expect. There is freedom from Eternal Torments, and possession of Eternal Glory: 2 Thess. 1.10. Even Jesus, who hath delivered us from Wrath to come. Wrath present, is nothing to Wrath to come. Now God manageth all things by Creatures, and no Creature is sufficient to manifest all God's Wrath. Those Everlasting Flames that are the Portion of the Damned, this is that from which we are delivered. We tremble at the Name of Hell; what should we do at the sense of those Torments that are without End and Ease? The Gripes of Conscience for an Hour, how terrible are they? Then what is it to lie under the Wrath of God forever and ever? We were involved in the same Guilt, in the same polluted Mass with others; therefore we might be bound up in the same Bundle, to be cast into Hell as well as they. Why are we taken, and others left to perish? O bless God for this, that we are as Brands plucked out of the Burning; we are bound up in the same Guilt and Misery; Zech. 3.2. Is not this a Brand plucked out of the Fire? Though you feel the smart of the Rod upon your Backs, remember this is nothing to Hell, Damnation, and Wrath to come: And this is given to prevent that, 1 Cor. 11.32. When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the World. What cause have we to bless God, that we may think of Hell as a Danger that we have escaped by Christ? But then for Heaven, the positive part of this Blessedness, you have a Right, though not an actual Enjoyment. Sometimes Heaven is said to be kept for us, and sometimes we are said to be kept for Heaven; 1 Pet. 1.5. Who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation. Christ holds Heaven in our Right, in our Stead, and in our Names; and we are kept by the Power of God for Heaven. Again, Heaven is prepared for us, Matth. 25.34. Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit a Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World. And we are prepared for Heaven: Rom. 9.23. And that he might make known the Riches of his Glory on the Vessels of Mercy, which he had afore prepared unto Glory.

2 dly. The greatness of your Engagement to all the Persons of the God-head.

(1.) To God the Father. Admire the Love of God, that poor Worms should be so exalted; that a Clod of Earth should shine as the Sun; that those dark and impure Souls of ours should be purified and glorified. God could not satisfy himself with temporal Kindness, with loving us for a while, but he must love us forever; Psal. 103.17. The Mercy of the Lord is from Everlasting to Everlasting, to them that fear him. From Eternity to Eternity, God is God, and our God. Nay, and small things would not content him, but we must be interested in a complete Blessedness. 1 John 3.1, 2. Behold, what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the Sons of God! Beloved, now are we the Sons of God, but it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know, that when he shall apappear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. O we should often work this upon our Hearts, the great Love of God in predestinating us to such a Glory. There is a great deal of Mercy laid out upon us during our Pilgrimage, but more laid up for us: Psal. 31.19. O how great is thy Goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee! O the greatness of Love! Infinite Mercy sets itself a-work, to see what it can do for Man, a poor wretched Creature, a thing of Yesterday, a Rebel, an Enemy to God: think of it we may, but we cannot express it to the full. The least of God's Mercies is more than we can acknowledge, and deserves praise; much more this full Portion, for here God sets himself to make a Creature as happy as it is capable. The Lord hath gone to the utmost in nothing but his Love; he never shown so much of his Wisdom and Power, but he could show more; but he hath no greater thing to give us than Himself, and his Christ, he cannot love us more; there can be no more done, there can be no higher Happiness, than the eternal enjoyment of Himself: All the Promises of the Word comes short of what you shall enjoy. That which Paul saw and heard in Heaven in his Extasy, were 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Words that could not be uttered, 2 Cor. 12.4. The Scriptures that are sufficient to make the Man of God perfect here, profess an Insufficiency, Weakness and Imperfection, when they come to speak of Heaven, and the Glory of it; 1 Cor. 13.9. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, is spoken with respect to Heaven and Happiness to come; there the Scripture can speak but in part, there are no Words nor Notions in the World sufficient to express what God hath provided; and we have not Ears to hear it. All the Notions now we have of things, must be taken from what is obvious to sense, and present apprehension; and therefore certainly, because Heaven surpasseth all that hath been, we cannot apprehend the Glory of it. The Scripture leaves it rather to be admired in silence; there are Joys unspeakable; there is no Language intelligible to us that is fit to represent Heaven. O then admire the Love of God the Father, that hath provided such great things for us.

2. Consider how deeply we are engaged to Jesus Christ, to deliver us from Wrath to come: He himself was made a Curse, and tasted the Vinegar and Gall; Gal. 3.13. Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law, being made a Curse for us. Something he suffered that answered Wrath to come. In Hell there is poena damni, and poena sensus, the Loss, and the Pain and Sense of God's Wrath. The Lord Christ had for a while the suspension of the Joys and actual Consolation of his Divine Nature, a loss that cannot be imagined: Mat. 23.46. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? there's his Loss. Then he had an actual feeling of the Wrath of God; therefore he saith, Mat. 27.38. My Soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto Death ; there was his Sense of Pain. He was forsaken, that we might not be separated from God forever; and his Soul was heavy to the Death, that we might not be cast into Eternal Burnings. Then for the positive Part, that we might have Everlasting Glory, Christ left his Heaven, that we might enjoy ours: he came from Heaven, and is gone to Heaven again, and will come from Heaven the second time, and all to bring us thither with the more triumph; so that going and coming, coming and going, he is still ours. He came at first out of the Bosom of God, to establish the Merit, and pay the Price for our Glory. God sold it not at an easy Rate; the Blood, and Agonies, and Shame of the Son of God, must go for our Glory: it was no easy matter to bring sinful Creatures so near to God. The Lord would not so much as treat with Apostate Angels; when once they were Sinners, they were no more to remain in his Presence, nor to come near him, but they were cast out of Heaven. The Door was shut against sinning Creatures, but Christ came to open it. Christ came to open Paradise, that was guarded with a flaming Sword; he catched the Blow, that we might have Communion with God, and therefore he sueth it out as the Fruit of his Sufferings. When Christ was about to die, he made his last Will and Testament. Heaven was his by Purchase, to bestow upon all his Heirs. He had bought it at a dear Rate, therefore now he shows what he would do with it; John 17.24. Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me, may be where I am, that they may behold my Glory. And then he is gone to Heaven again as our Harbinger, to prepare a Place for us; John. 14.2. I go to prepare a Place for you, to take up Mansions and Rooms for us in his Father's Palace. He is gone as a Guardian or Feoffee in trust, to seize upon Heaven in our Right, to keep it during our Non-age, and he will come again in Person, as the Husband of the Church, to bring us into his Father's House with Triumph: therefore it is said, Rev. 4.10. That the Elders did cast their Crowns before the Throne, not as despising their Glory, but as professing their Homage and Dependance; and Rev. 5.8, 9. The four Beasts, and four and twenty Elders, fell down before the Lamb, &c. saying, Thou art worthy to take the Book, and to open the Seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy Blood. His Abasement was for our Preferment; and therefore even here upon Earth may we bless God (for the Elders represent the Church upon Earth) for his great Mercy to us in Christ.

(3.) Consider how much we are engaged to God the Spirit, who fits and prepares us for this happy State, and seals up our Interest to us; therefore it is called the Earnest of the Spirit: Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing, is God, who also hath given to us the Earnest of the Spirit, 2 Cor. 5.5. The Holy Ghost shapes and fashions all the Vessels of Glory, fits and prepares them for Heaven. It is the Spirit of God dwelling in us, that wrought us, and fits us for this great and blessed Hope: therefore whenever you think of it, your Hearts should be raised in Thanksgiving. It is not only their Duty to praise God, that are in actual possession of Glory, but ours also to whom these Hopes are revealed. Rev. 5.8. There was a mixture of Harps, and Vials full of Odours, which are the Prayers of all Saints. Compare this with Vers. 11. And I beheld, and heard the Voice of many Angels round about the Throne, and the Beasts and Elders. Not only Angels, and blessed Spirits, but Saints on Earth, all join in Consort, praising the Lamb. We must praise the Lord in the time of our Pilgrimage, for this great Estate reserved for us in Heaven.

3. It informs us, how desperately wicked the Hearts of sinful Men are, that can run the hazard of eternal Death, and forfeit this blessed Hope of eternal Life, for a little carnal Satisfaction. Survey all the Temptations of the World, how much they come short of it. If the Heart were not desperately wicked, we would not be carried out to these things. What is Vain Glory to Eternal Glory? What are a few dreggy Delights, to those Pleasures which are at God's right Hand for evermore? What are the Riches of the World, to our glorious Inheritance? You would count him a mad Gamester, that would throw away whole Lordships and Manors at every Cast. A Sinner forfeits a blessed Hope, that is above all the Kingdoms and Possessions of the World. It is for this you will be the Scorn of Angels at the last Day: Psal. 52.7. Lo, this is the Man that made not God his Strength, but trusted in the abundance of his Riches, and strengthened himself in his Wickedness. This will make you ashamed in the great Congregation, that you were so foolishly bent to your own Ruin: Nay, this will torment you forever; nothing torments Men more, than their foolish Choice; Conscience will forever tell them, with what disadvantage they have forsaken God for a thing of naught. Disappointment to a reasonable Creature, is the worst vexation; and what Disappointment is more, than to be disappointed of our glorious Hopes, and that for Trifles, and a little carnal Satisfaction? This will be our Shame and Torment to all Eternity. We may guess at the gnawings of Conscience in the Damned, by the Horrors of carnal Men when they come to die: O then how do they bewail the Folly of their Choice! O that they had been as mindful to serve God, as to provide for the World! as careful to satisfy the Motions of the Holy Ghost, as to satisfy a Lust and carnal Desire! When they are on a Death-bed, and upon the Confines of Eternity, then all worldly Comforts cease; and there is a real confutation of the folly of their Choice, a Sting then begins that never ceaseth. Jer. 17.11. — At his End he shall be a Fool. When he comes to die, his Conscience will rage and call him Fool, Beast, and Madman, for hazarding such eternal Joys for a Trifle.

4. It informs us of the Excellency of the Gospel, or Christian Profession. Wisdom should be justified by her Children. And all that do profess Religion, should see the Excellency of it, what there is in their Beloved, more than in another Beloved, Cant. 5.9. This there is in the Christian Religion; there are purity of Precepts; Psal. 19.7, 8. The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the Soul▪ the Testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the Simple. The Statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the Heart; the Commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the Eyes. Then there is sureness of Principles, of Trust and Dependance established between us and God, that we may depend upon God with Comfort and Satisfaction; there do you find rest for the Soul, Ier. 6.16. Stand ye in the Ways and see, and ask for the old Paths, where is the good Way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your Souls. Then there are no such Rewards anywhere, as in the Christian Profession; 2 Tim. 1.10. Life and Immortality are brought to Light by the Gospel. The Heathens had Dreams of Elizium Fields; and Mahomet tells his Followers of a sensual Paradise; but Life and Immortality is a Revelation proper and peculiar only to the Gospel. The Heathens were at a loss for the Reward of Virtue: Austin out of Varro gives us an account of 288 Opinions concerning Happiness, and the chief Good of Man: but now here is all brought to Light; we may look beyond the Grave now, and there is not such a Mist and Darkness upon Things to come, God having acquainted us with the Gospel. Nay, there's more revealed than was in the time of the Law. If God had still kept this Secret in his own Bosom, what a Support should we have wanted in our Trouble, what Encouragement to the practice of Holiness? O therefore prize the Gospel, it is the Charter of your blessed Hope.

5. It informs us what little cause we have to be slack in God's Work, or to begrudg the pains of his Service; 1 Cor. 15.58. Be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your Labor will not be in vain in the Lord. The Children of God are wont to think they can never do enough for God, that hath found out such a Reward for them in Christ. A thousand Years Service will not deserve one hour's Enjoyment of this blessed Hope, much less eternal Happiness. When we come to see what shall be bestowed upon us, we shall be ashamed that we have done no more Work for God, having so much Wages, and such excellent Encouragement. Mat. 25.37. the Saints are brought in there, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee Drink? being ashamed. Ah Lord! this is nothing; What have we done? At the Day of Judgment there will be the highest Exaltation of the Saints, and yet the lowest Self-abasement; they will wonder even to admiration of Angels. There will be Christ's owning them, and they disclaiming their own Services, and all their Works, and Christ rewarding them. And therefore grudge not if you have the strictest Precepts of any Religion, remember you have the noblest and highest Reward.

6. It informs us, what cause we have to contemn all earthly things, though they be never so great and glorious, because of this blessed Hope. There are two Considerations that will make us contemn the World, and they are suited to the two essential Parts of Man; and we should ever think of them. We carry about us a mortal Body, and an immortal Soul; the Body lasts but for a while, and the Soul survives and out-lives the Body's Happiness. Now we toil ourselves in gathering Sticks to our Nest, when tomorrow we must be gone. Alas! here we dwell in Houses of Clay, whose Foundation is in the Dust, which are crushed before the Moth, Job 4.19. Our Estate in this World is represented by a Tabernacle, which is a moveable Habitation; but our Estate in Heaven is represented by a Temple. Here it is but a Tabernacle, and that of Clay, that will be crumbled into Dust; nay, we are said to be crushed before the Moth, and a Moth is but a little enlivened Dust, and so is Man. The World is but a House of Potters Vessels, that will be soon broken; And shall we for the Conveniences of a Temporal Life, prejudice, and run the hazard and loss of our Eternal Hopes? Shall we injure the Soul, to gratify the Body? that is the way to destroy both forever. Our great care should be for that Place where we live longest: in the other World we have the longest Life, and the most glorious Possession; therefore our great Care should be for that.

7. It informs us what little cause we have to envy carnal Men; the Hope of your Profession is a blessed Hope. This was David 's Preservative, he was daily in danger of his Life, and his Enemies were fat, and shining in the Pomp of the World; and how doth he comfort himself? Psal. 17.15. When I awake, I shall be satisfied with thy Likeness: as if he had said, Alas, their Felicity is but a sorry thing; they are filled, and I shall be filled too. David sums up their Happiness under two Heads. Whatever here we have, it is either for personal Use, or for our Posterity. A worldly State is only valuable upon these two Grounds, what we may use for the present, and what we may transmit to our Children. Now what a sorry Happiness is this to what I expect? (1.) For personal Use; ver. 14. Their Bellies are filled with thy hid Treasure ; that is, with the rarest Dishes, and best Meats which God's Store-house doth afford. By hidden Treasures, is meant Food and other worldly Comforts, therefore called hidden Treasures, because it doth not lie within everyone's grasp and reach, they are not vulgar and common Delights. The meaner sort their Hand will not attain to it: Lo, here is all that which God allows them for their Portion, the filling of the Belly; and alas, this is but the Happiness of Beasts, who eat with less remorse: yet all their Happiness is to fill their Belly with better Food than the poorer sort; which indeed is a Misery rather than a Happiness: for what doth this but nourish sensual Lusts, and strengthen and hearten our Enemy? And gorgeous Apparel is but a Supply from Creatures beneath us; it is but Stercus in volutum, Dung neatly wrapped up: here's the Sum of all a Carnal Man's Happiness, that which God allows him for his Portion. But a Christian hath better Fare; if he goes into the Sanctuary, there's enough; but if he goes into Heaven, there's a great deal more. David defeats the Temptation by this, Psal. 73.16, 17. When I sought to know this, it was too hard for me; until I went into the Sanctuary of God, to enjoy God in his Ordinances, and the present Glimpses of God's Face. Present Communion with God is far to be preferred above all the Dainties in the World. But that is not all, we shall be satisfied forever. We may go into Heaven as well as into the Sanctuary, and behold God's Righteousness: When I awake, that is, out of the Dust, I shall be satisfied with thy Likeness. A Child of God hath his Content and Happiness to the full, when he comes to die. A carnal Man his Back hath been richly clothed, and Belly filled; but when he comes to die, he hath a sad Doom; Son, remember thou in thy Life-time receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus his evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented, Luke 16.25. was said to Dives, who fared deliciously every day, and was clothed in Purple and fine Linen: Well, you have your Portion, and must look for no more, you give God a discharge for ought else. But for God's Children, then their Happiness begins, they are going down to sleep in the Grave; and when they awake, they shall be filled: they have not only God's Favor here, but Eternal Felicity hereafter. They that are called to a Feast, will not fill themselves at home with courser Fare. The rich Glutton who had his Belly full of hid Treasure here, was shut out; but Lazarus is carried into Abraham 's Bosom, and feasted there: for this was their Table-gesture to lie in one another's Bosoms. Christians, reserve your Appetite a little, you will be satisfied; it is but staying a little longer for a better Meal. We expect to be like Angels, let others be like Beasts, whose Happiness lieth in feeding. (2.) Then for the other part, the transmission of Honor and ample Revenues to Posterity. It is true, Man is much carried out this way, he would fain advance his House, and live gloriously in his Posterity. Posterity is a shadow of Eternity; Children are but the Father multiplied; when the Father's Thread is spun out, then the Knot is knit; his Name and Memory is continued in the World by his Children: therefore Men would live in their Posterity, and have their Families great. But this is a sad Exchange, to forfeit Heaven, that our Children may enjoy the World; as many times it falls out that the Father goes to Hell for getting an Estate, and the Son goes to Hell for spending it: Tho they have an ample Patrimony, yet they know not who shall enjoy it; Who knows whether he shall be a wise Man or a Fool? Eccles. 2.19. A Man hath no knowledge of future Events, nor no power of them. So that you see still, we have no cause to envy worldly Men even in this Happiness. We are better provided for, having a Covenant-Interest that countervails all, I am thy God, and the God of thy Seed. Tho we cannot leave them Gold, Land, and ample Estate, yet you leave them a God in Covenant, who hath undertaken for you and yours. And many times they have Temporal Blessings for their Father's sake, the Blessings of Ishmael, if not of Isaac.

Use 2. Direction, that we may not seek Blessedness elsewhere. Some seek it in a wrong way. Carnal Men think that there is no such Happiness as in letting loose the Reins to carnal Lusts, and living as they list. This is the basest Bondage that can be; 2 Pet. 2.19. While they promise them Liberty, they themselves are the Servants of Corruption: for of whom a Man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage. The Work is Drudgery, and the Reward is Death; they are entangled in Snares, and held in Chains; and is this an happy Life? This doth but increase our Misery, and make way for more Shame. Yet carnal Men are much taken with this kind of Life, they wonder how Men can abjure the Pleasure and Contentment which they fancy; 1 Pet. 4.4. Wherein they think it strange, that you run not with them to the same excess of Riot. They think themselves very wise in following the Counsels of their own Hearts, and doing as others do that are like themselves. You do but make yourselves more responsible to God's Justice. Worldly Comforts cannot make us happy, it appeareth by our many Inventions; Eccles. 7.29. God made Man upright, but he hath sought out many Inventions. Every Sinner hath his wanderings; Man being off from God, never cometh on again of himself, but wandreth infinitely, and beats out himself with his own Inventions: As a way-faring Man, who hath once lost his Directions, turneth up and down, and knoweth not where to pitch; so are all Endeavors fruitless till God direct us. We are to follow God's Counsel, not the Counsel of the Ungodly; Psal. 73.24. Thou shalt guide me with thy Counsel, and after receive me to Glory. As a Clock runs at random, when the Ballance is once out. The Lord is willing to direct us; Psal. 25.8. Good and upright is the Lord; therefore will he teach Sinners in the way. He is too wise to be deceived, and too good to deceive. O Sinners! learn the upright Way. When we are weary of wandering, and willing to be directed, such as submit themselves to God, shall never want a Guide. Creatures cannot make us happy: such is the Restlesness of the Soul, that we must have shift and change. Envying one another, showeth the narrowness of our Comforts. Gripes of Conscience spoil all; as Belshazzar in his Cups was affrighted with an Hand-writing upon the Wall. Says the young Man in the Gospel, Mat. 19.16. Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal Life? What lack I yet? saith the Moralist. In false Worship Men are unsatisfied. Micah 6.6. Wherewithal shall I come before the Lord? and bow myself before the High God? It is not a loose Profession of the Gospel that will make us happy: Mat. 11.29. Take my Yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in Heart, and ye shall find Rest for your Souls. Nothing can make us happy, but what is a full Relief from Sin and Misery. Here is Rest for our Souls, the Foundation is laid in Justification and Sanctification. Here is our Reconciliation with God, hereafter is our Advancement.

Use 3. It is an Invitation to the Practice of Holiness. Blessedness is a great Motive, David begins the Book of Psalms with it, and Christ his Sermons; there is enough in it to allay the Sorrows of the present Life, and fill up the Desires of the Life to come. All would be blessed and happy, but we must take the right course; say as Christ's Hearers, John 6.34. Lord, evermore give us this Bread. As Balaam, Numb. 23.10. Let me die the Death of the Righteous, and let my last End be like his. Be not content as Balaam with a Vision of Jacob 's happy Seats, Numb. 24.5. How goodly are thy Tents, O Jacob! and thy Tabernacles, O Israel! As the Noble-man that saw the Plenty of Israel, but did not eat thereof, 2 Kings 7.20. And so it fell out unto him, for the People trod upon him in the Gate, and he died. The Damned at the last Day are Lookers on, but not Partakers of the Blessedness of the Righteous; Luke 13.28. There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God, and your yourselves thrust out.

Use 4. Exhortation to those that have an Interest in this blessed Hope; Behave yourselves as those that are called thereunto; think of it often, discourse of it often, and live suitable to it.

1. Often meditate of the Happiness that is laid up for you, and warm yourselves with the thoughts of it. The Mind ruminateth on Happiness. Your Minds should be there; Col. 3.2. Set your Affections on Things above, not on Things on the Earth.

2. Confer of it often. 1 Thess. 4.18. Comfort one another with these Words, against all the Changes and Dangers of this Life. Alas, how carnal and flat is our Discourse? He that is of the Earth, is earthy, and speaketh of the Earth, Joh. 3.31.

3. Live more suitable to it. 1 Thess. 2.11, 12. As you know, how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged you, as a Father doth his Children, that ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his Kingdom and Glory. Make Eternity your Scope: 2 Cor. 4.18. Looking not to the Things that are seen, but to the Things that are not seen, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . There should be a greater proportion between your Hopes and your Lives. Behave yourselves as those that are interested in this blessed Hope; be not dejected with every Cross, nor overcome with every Bait and Temptation, nor live in a base and low manner; this is not becoming your Hopes. Show your Interest herein, by the Heavenliness and Courage of your Spirits.

SERMON XVI.

IN the Encouragement to the Duty of our Heavenly Calling, we have the Substance of our Hopes, and the Seasons when we shall come to enjoy them to the full.

1 st. The Substance of our Hopes, Looking for the blessed Hope.

2 dly. The Time when our Enjoyment shall be full, when Body and Soul shall be glorified, that is, at the time of Christ's Appearing; At the glorious Appearing of the Great God, and our Savior Jesus Christ. Everyone would have the blessed Hope; but first there is a glorious Appearing.

In this second Branch there is the Person that must appear, and the Kind or Manner of his Appearing.

1. The Person who must appear, Jesus Christ, described by a Name of Power, the Great God, and a Name of Mercy, and our Savior ; as usually such kind of Attributes are mingled in Scripture, Power and Goodness.

2. The Kind or Manner of his Appearing, it's glorious ; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the Appearance of the Glory of the Great God. The Apostle opposed the second Coming of Christ to the first; then it was an humble mean Appearance, now it is full of Glory. But what is meant by this glorious Appearing? Some dream of his Personal Reign before his coming to Judgment, but that is a Fancy. The Scripture only acknowledgeth two Comings of Christ; Heb. 9.28. He shall appear the second time without Sin to Salvation. There is only his first and his second Appearing. After he had once offered himself, and ascended into Heaven, and sat down at the Right Hand of God, there is no more Corporal Presence of Christ upon Earth. But will there not be at least a Glimpse? Will he not come in the Clouds for a while to convert the Jews, and set things to rights in the World? Will he not appear for a very little while, and so vanish again? as he appeared to Paul at his Conversion, Acts 9.3. So some think, and therefore distinguish between his Appearing and his Coming, but without Warrant from Scripture; for these two, Appearing and Coming, are all one; and the Expressions are promiscuously used in Scripture; Col. 3.4. When Christ who is our Life shall appear: 1 John 3.2. When he shall appear, we shall be like him. So that this Appearing is his Coming to Judgment; this is that we must look for. And therefore the Point I shall first observe is this;

Doct. That it is the Duty and Property of God's Children, to look for Christ's second Coming to Judgment.

There are two choice Scriptures that do describe the Communion of the Church with Christ, and the Dispensations of Christ to the Church; and they both conclude with a Desire of his Coming. In the Canticles, where the Churches Communion with Christ is described, this is the last, the Swan-like Note which the Church sings, Come, Lord! And so in the Revelations, where God's Providences to the Church are described, this is the last Note, the Swan-like Song, Even so, come Lord Jesus! Compare Cant. 8.14. with Rev. 22.20. In the former it is said, Cant. 8.14. Make haste my Beloved, and be thou like to a Roe, or to a young Hart upon the Mountains of Spices. Christ is not slack, but the Church's Affections are very strong and vehement; all the seeming Delay is occasioned by the Earnestness of our Desire. A Harlot would have her Husband defer his Coming; but the Church, like a chaste Spouse, thinks he can never come soon enough. Those that go a Whoring after the World, neither desire Christ's Coming, nor love his Appearing; but those that are faithful (as the Spouse is to Christ) this is the Desire of their Souls, Make haste, my Beloved! So Rev. 22.20. Christ saith, Surely I come quickly: and the Church, like a quick Echo, takes the Words out of Christ's Mouth; Even so, come Lord Jesus! There is the same Spirit in the Church that was in Christ, the Spirit of the Head is in all his Members, and therefore they speak the same thing, and long for the same thing. Christ speaks in a way proper to himself; Surely I come: and the Church speaks in a way proper to herself; Even so, come Lord Jesus! He by way of Promise, and we by way of Supplication; Christ's Voice and the Church's Voice are Unisons: Here is his Proclamation, Surely, I come: and here is the Churches Acclamation; Even so, come Lord Jesus! Christ says, I come, as desiring our Company; the Church says, Lord, come, as desiring his Company. And thus we are taught to pray in the Lord's Prayer, Thy Kingdom come ; that we may always keep those Desires a • oot, that Christ's Kingdom in the whole Flux, from the Beginning to the last Period, may come. The Day of Judgment is the most Imperial Act of Christ's Kingly Office; and therefore we do not only pray for the Beginnings here, but also for the Consummation hereafter. And mark, we that live in the latter Ages of the World, have an Advantage of the Church in the Primitive Time. It was the solemn Prayer of the Church heretofore, (as Tertullian showeth us) pro morâ finis, for the Delay of Christ's Coming, that his Designs and Decrees might be accomplished in the World; that the Kingdom of Grace might be spread far and near. And we that live in the Dregs of Time, pray for the hastening of Christ's Coming, for the embracing of our great and glorious Hopes; that the Name of God may be no longer dishonored, that the Kingdom of Sin, Satan and Antichrist may have an End. They expected the Revelation of Antichrist, and we his Destruction. Thus the Saints are described to be those that look for a Savior; Phil. 3.20. For our Conversation is in Heaven, from whence also we look for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul speaks in his own Name, and in the Name of all that were like himself; We look, &c. The Saints here are a Company of Expectants, always waiting for the good Hour of their Preferment, when Christ will come, that he may conduct them to everlasting Glory. And they not only looked for it, but longed for it; and therefore it is said, they love his Appearing, 2 Tim. 4.8. It is notable, Paul doth not mention there other Marks and Characters; not for me only, but all that believe and faithfully serve and obey Christ; but he describes them by this, which is an essential Character of the Saints, for it notes the Disposition of their Hearts, not for me only, but for all those that love his Appearing.

There are several Reasons may be given why this is the Duty and Property of the Children of God still to look for Christ's glorious Appearing: Look upon their Temper, their Relation, their Privileges, and the Profit they gain by this Expectation.

1. Look upon the Temper of the Saints; within them there's the Spirit, Faith, Love and Hope, and all these put them upon this Desire: there is the Spirit, Rev. 22.17. The Spirit and the Bride (that is, the Spirit in the Bride) say, Come. The Holy Ghost breeds and stirs up Desires, and begets those holy Motions in their Hearts, and the Church answereth his Motions. This is a Disposition above Nature: Carnal Nature saith, Stay; but the Spirit saith, Come. If it might go by Voices in the World, whether Christ should come or no, do you think carnal Men would give their Vote this way for Christ's Coming? The Voice of corrupt Nature is, Depart; Job 22.14. Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy Ways: that's the Language of their Hearts. Carnal Men are of the Mind of the Devil, when Christ wrought a Miracle in casting out a Devil, and discovered somewhat of his Divine Power, the Devils were afraid, as if he were coming to Judgment already; Matth. 8.29. Art thou come hither to torment us before the time? The Devil cannot endure to hear of Christ's Coming; no more can carnal Men, for they are of his Mind. If Thieves and Malefactors might have the Liberty to choose, whether there should be Assizes, yea or no, do you think they would look for and long for the Judge's Coming, and the Day of his Approach? So corrupt Nature hath no Desire of this Day. It is the Spirit in the Bride that says, Come; as soon as the Spirit of Grace works in us, there is a Bent and Inclination this way; 1 Pet. 1.3. Who hath begotten us again unto a lively Hope. Spiritual Desires come from Heaven, and thither they tend. As soon as the Spirit works Grace in the Heart, it looks out this way; the Heart is bent thither from whence it receives all it hath, as all Creatures love the Place of their Original. The great Work of the Spirit is to bring us and Christ together. The Spirit comes from the Father and the Son, to bring us to the Father by the Son; and therefore the Spirit stirs up those holy Groans in us, When will he come? Then look upon the Graces of a Christian; there is Faith, Love and Hope. (1.) Faith: The Ground of this Looking is the Promise; now Faith stands waiting for the Promise, as if it were already begun to be accomplished. Look as Rebeka espied Isaac a-far off; so Faith espies Christ a-far off. Faith is the Evidence of things not seen, and looks upon Christ as if he were already on his way, and so makes the Soul stand ready to meet and receive him. As a loving Wife stands upon the Shoar, and looks for the Return of her Husband; and the Sight of every Ship makes her to realize by an active and loving Fancy the Sweetness of an Interview: So Faith stands waiting for the Coming of Christ, and the Approaches he makes towards the Church. (2.) Love: 1 Pet. 1.8. Whom having not seen, ye love. The Saints love Christ whom they never saw. We know Christ by hear-say here in the Church, not by Sight; he woos us, as Princes use to do, by Picture; therefore they long for his Appearing. Whosoever is a Friend to Christ, will find his Heart long for Christ, of whom he hath so often heard in the Word, and so often tasted in the Supper. Love is an Affection of Union, it desires to meet the Party loved: so is Love to Christ; it is not satisfied with the present State, but it cries out, Come, come; Why is his Chariot so long a coming? It longs to see him whom it hath heard of so often and so much, and of whose Sweetness it hath already tasted; for this Love is not only kindled by the Knowledge we have of him by hear-say, but by Experience. Christ first comes in the Heart by Grace, and then the Soul having tasted the Sweetness of it, longs for another Coming; When will he come in the Clouds, that we may see him as he is? And as Love to Christ, so also Love to the Saints enkindles this Desire. We have not all our Company here in the World; and till we all meet together, we shall never be satisfied. (3.) Hope, that is another Grace: God sitteth us with Graces as well as Happiness. The Lord doth not only provide a glorious Estate for us, but Grace to expect it, and stirs up Affections in us suitable thereunto: As in the privative Part of Salvation, Christ doth not only deliver us from the Hurt of Death, but from the Bondage and Fear of Death. Despair is the Beginning of Hell. So in the positive Part of Salvation, the Lord doth not only provide Heaven and Happiness for us, but Hope that we may look for this Happiness: We are begotten again to a lively Hope, 1 Pet. 1.3. And to wait for his Son from Heaven, 1 Thess. 1.10. Hope was made on purpose for this thing, that we expect our full and future Happiness. When the Affection of Hope is elsewhere placed, and turned to carnal things, it is like a Member out of Joint. It was made and framed on purpose that we might look for this glorious Appearing of Jesus Christ.

2. Look upon their Relation to Christ. There are two Relations the Scripture usually takes notice of with respect unto the Day of Judgment, Christ is our Master and our Husband. As he is our Master, we must look for him. It is the Property of a good Servant to wait for his Master's Coming; Mat. 24.46. Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh, shall find so doing. Here we have only present Maintenance, but hereafter we shall receive our Wages; Rev. 22.12. Behold, I come quickly, and my Reward is with me. A Servant of God should remember, that when Christ comes, he will not come empty-handed; he is your good and bounteous Master. Here you have but an Earnest, as when you hire a Man, you give him Earnest. But now because God would not have our Affections to be servile, therefore there is a sweeter Relation; we are to look for him not only as a Lord and Master, but as an Husband; and therefore it is the Bride that saith, Come, Rev. 22.17. Here we are only contracted to Christ, he hath passed his Promise to us, but the Day of Judgment is the Day of solemn Espousals; Hos. 2.19. I will betroth thee unto me forever. Here in the Covenant of Grace, Christ doth pass a Promise to the Church; here he comes to give us a Pledg, and take a Pledg from us. As Tertullian saith, Christ took from us the Token and Pledg of our Flesh, and is gone to Heaven to make all things ready; and he hath left with us the Token of his own Spirit, that so we might long for the time when he shall come again for the Consummation of this happy and glorious Marriage that is between him and us. We are to wait for Glory, as a Servant for his Master; and as a Bride or Virgin betrothed, doth wait for the Coming of him that hath promised Marriage to her.

3. Look upon a Christian's Privileges which we shall then enjoy, and certainly Christians must needs desire Christ's Coming. The Day of Judgment is the Day of Manifestation, the Day of Perfection, the Day of Congregation, and the Day of Glorification.

(1.) It is called a Day of Manifestation of the Sons of God; Rom. 8.19. The earnest Expectation of the Creature waiteth for the Manifestation of the Sons of God. All now is under a Vail, your Christ, your Life, your Glory is hid. Our Persons are hid under Obscurity and Abasement; Col. 3.3, 4. Your Life is hid with Christ in God; but when Christ who is our Life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in Glory. Look as Moses told those Rebels, when they would level the Officers of the Church, Numb. 16.5. To Morrow the Lord will show who are his: So when once the Night of Death is past over, to Morrow when we awake out of the Dust of the Grave, then Christ the natural Son will appear in all his Royalty and Glory, as the great God and Savior of the World, and then also the adopted Sons shall be manifested; we shall put on our best Robes, and be apparel'd with Glory, even as Christ is. In Winter the Tree appears not what it is, the Life and Sap is hid in the Root; but when Summer comes, all is discovered: So now a Christian he is under a Vail, but in this great Day all shall be manifested.

(2.) It is a Day of Perfection. Every thing tends to its perfect State, and so doth Grace. We see the little Seed that lies under Ground, breaks through the Clods, and works its way farther, because it is not come to the Flower and Perfection: So Grace still tends and longs for Perfection; then we shall have perfect Holiness and perfect Freedom, Christ to the glorified Saints will be a perfect Savior. Death which is a Fruit of Sin, is still continued upon the Body, therefore Christ is but a Savior in part to the Spirits of just Men made perfect; but then the Body and Soul shall be united and perfectly glorified, that we might praise God in the Heavens. Christ's Coming is to make an End of his Redemption, of what he hath begun: At first he came to redeem our Souls, and break the Power of Sin, but then he comes to redeem our Bodies from the Hand of the Grave, and from the Power of Corruption; the one is done by Humiliation and Abasement, the other by Power. The Scripture speaks, as if all our Privileges in Christ were imperfect till that Day; Regeneration, Adoption, Union with Christ, they suffer a kind of Imperfection till then. Regeneration, the Day of Judgment is called by that Name; Matth. 19.28. In the Regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the Throne of his Glory. Then all things are made new; Heaven and Earth is new, Bodies new, Souls new. Then Adoption is perfect; Rom. 8.23. Waiting for the Adoption, to wit, the Redemption of our Bodies. What is the meaning of the Apostle's Expression? As soon as we are planted into Christ, are we not the Sons of God? Yes, now we are Sons, but the Heir is handled as a Servant during his Non-age; 1 John 3.2. Beloved, now we are the Sons of God, but it doth not yet appear what we shall be ; we wait for the Adoption. Justification that is perfect then; Acts 3.19. Repent therefore and be converted, that your Sins may be blotted out, when the times of Refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord: Then our Pardon shall be proclaimed in the Ears of all the World; and we shall have Absolution out of Christ's own Mouth; then shall we come to understand what it is that the Lord saith, I will remember your Sins no more, and your Iniquity shall be blotted out. Then for Redemption; Ephes. 4.30. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed to the Day of Redemption. Luke 21.28. Look up, and lift up your Heads, for your Redemption draweth nigh. O how doth the Captive long for his Liberty; so should we long for that Day, for it is the Day of our Redemption. Now the Body is a Captive; and when the Soul is set at Liberty, the Body is held under the Chains of Death. Ay, but then Christ comes to loosen the Bands and Shackles of the Grave, and free the Bodies of the Saints. Look as the Butler was not afraid when he was sent for by Pharaoh, because Joseph had assured him he should be set at Liberty: So Christ comes to set you fully at Liberty, not only the Soul, but the Body. Therefore to think and speak of that Day with Horror, doth ill become them that expect such Perfection of Privileges, to be acquitted before all the World, and to be crowned with Christ's own Hands.

(3.) It is a Day of Congregation or gathering together. The Saints are now scattered, they live in divers Countries, Towns and Houses, and cannot have the Comfort of one another's Society. But then all shall meet in one Assembly and Congregation. It is said, Psal. 1.5. The Ungodly shall not stand in Judgment, nor Sinners in the Congregation of the Righteous. There will be a time when Christ's Church shall be gathered all together into one Place. As the Stars do not shine in a Cluster, but are dispersed throughout the Firmament for the Comfort and Light of the World; so are the Saints scattered up and down in the World, according as they may be useful for God: but then when the four Winds shall give up their Dead, and the Saints shall be gathered from all the Corners of the World, this shall be the great Rendezvouz. Look as the Wicked shall be herded together, as Straw and Sticks are bound in a Bundle, that they may set one another a fire; Drunkards with Drunkards, Adulterers with Adulterers, and Thieves with Thieves: Matth. 13.40, 41, 42. As therefore the Tares are gathered and burnt in the Fire; so shall it be in the End of the World. The Son of Man shall send forth his Angels, and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do Iniquity: And shall cast them into a Furnace of Fire, there shall be Wailing and gnashing of Teeth. The Wicked shall be sorted with Men like themselves, and so increase one another's Torment: so shall all the World of the Godly meet in one Assembly and Congregation, and never separate more. In this Life we cannot enjoy one another's Fellowship for divers Reasons, God hath Service for us in divers Countries; but such a happy time shall come, when we shall all make but one Body: therefore the Saints are still groaning and longing for that happy Day; we for them, and they for us; not only the Saints upon Earth that are left to conflict with Sin and Misery, but the Saints in Heaven are still groaning, as the Souls under the Altar; Rev. 6.9, 10. How long, O Lord! Holy and True. Look as those in a Ship-wrack that have gotten to the Shore, stand longing and looking for their Companions: So glorified Saints that have gotten safe to Shore, still they are longing and looking when the Body of Christ shall be made perfect, and all the Saints shall meet in one solemn Assembly. This is the Communion between us and the Saints departed, they long for our Company, as we do for theirs. Here the Tares are mingled with the Wheat; and besides the Persecutions of the Wicked, their very Company is a Burden. Jacob 's Cattle, and Laban 's are together; but then they shall be separated, and the Saints shall be gathered together, and sit as Judges of them, giving their Vote with Christ in their Condemnation.

(4.) It is a Day of Glorification to Christ, and therefore the Saints long for it; a Day when Christ shall be honored, and get to himself a glorious Name. God got himself a great Name when he drowned Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the Sea: O what will it be when he shall cast all the Wicked into Hell! Now Christ will come to show the Fulness of his Majesty, the Terror of his Wrath, and to glorify his Justice upon wicked Men. Christ showeth his Majesty every day, but we have not Eyes to see it, our Eyes are dazzled with Worldly Splendor; but then all Mists shall vanish. The Saints that love the Glory of God, must needs long for that time when Christ shall be seen in all his Glory, when God shall be dishonored no more, and the Kingdom of Sin and Satan have an end, and wicked Men shut up under their everlasting State. And then from the Saints God hath perfect Glory in them and from them: here God hath not his perfect Glory from us, nor in us. This is the Comfort of God's Children, that God is glorified in their Glory, that they may live to praise him forever, without Weakness and Distraction; and that's the reason of those Expressions, To whom be Glory forever and ever. They delight in their own glorious Estate, because they shall ever be in a Capacity to bring Glory to God. Nay, then God shall be glorified in all his Counsels and Decrees, in the Wisdom of his Providence, and in the course of his Judgments; for in the Day of Judgment the full History of the World shall be brought before the Saints, whereas now we see it but by pieces.

4. Why the Saints look for Christ's Appearing, is the Profit of this Expectation which they shall receive; partly as it engageth to a heavenly Conversation, Phil. 3.20. Our Conversation is in Heaven, from whence we look for a Savior. Where should we converse most, but where Christ is? Now where is Christ but in Heaven? and therefore our Minds should be ever running upon it, our Eyes ever looking that way, and our Hearts ever longing for him. Partly as it engageth us to Faithfulness in our Relations: there is a Day coming when we shall give an account for the Duties of our Relations, because that is the particular Sphere of our Activity. 2 Tim. 4.1. I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus, who shall judge the Quick and the Dead at his Appearing, and his Kingdom. Paul there presseth Timothy to discharge the Duty of a Minister, and so for a Master of a Family, and for a Servant. Your Relations are not things of chance, but they fall under the special Care of God's Providence, and therefore you must be accountable for them: here God hath confined you by the Wisdom of his Providence to serve the great Ends of your Creation; therefore whatever is omitted, you are to give an account of your Relations; Magistrates, Ministers, Masters, Servants, all of their several Relations. Partly, as it calms the Heart against the Injuries and Molestations of the present Life: 1 Pet. 2.23. our Lord Christ when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judged righteously: So you must learn of him, when you meet with Trouble, and hard Usage, and unworthy dealing in the World, commit yourselves to God; the Judge is at the Door, and he will review all things again. Look as Paschalus, a Minister of the Albigenses, when he was burnt at Rome, cited the Pope and his Cardinals before the Tribunal of the Lamb; thus do you. Partly, as it engages to Perseverance. If a Man hath followed a distressed and afflicted Party for a long time, if nothing comes of it, he tires; but remember, if we follow Christ here, all our Pains will be recompensed to us; 1 John 2.28. Abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have Confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. Christ will come, and that with Salvation to them that look for him; therefore let me be faithful in my Duty.

Obj. 1. But how can we look for it, when we know there are some Signs that precede the Coming of Christ? therefore certainly he is not like to come in our days; Will he alter the prefixed time of his Approach, and change the Jacets of that great Journey?

Answ. (1.) Tho Christ keepeth his pace, yet it is good for us to alter ours; though we cannot hasten his coming, yet let us be always ready, 2 Pet. 3.12. Looking for, and hastening unto the coming of the Day of God. It is good for us to get ground upon our Fears, and our Sins, and to declare our readiness to meet with Christ: every day we live in the World, is a day lost in Heaven. (2.) If any Age had cause to think Christ would come, certainly we have. It was not far off in the Apostles days, they were called the last days; but ours are the very Dregs of Time. When we see an old Man weak and feeble, Aches and Diseases of the present Life increase upon him, we say, certainly he cannot live long: So if we look upon the Temper of the World, sure it cannot endure long; Christ will come to set all things at rights. One Forerunner of Christ's coming, are the Dreams and Delusions that are abroad. Mundus senescens patitur phantasias ; as the World grows old, it is much given to Fancies, as old Men are to Dotage and Dreams. (3.) If Christ come not in our days, yet Death is at hand; Heb. 9.27. It is appointed unto Men once to die, and after that the Judgment. Every Man's particular Judgment follows upon his departure out of the World, and then the general Judgment follows, as Death finds him, either among the Sheep or Goats. Judas died sixteen hundred Years ago; yet as he died, so shall he be found. After Death there's no change of State: therefore your business is always to be ready to depart in Peace, and hasten to an eternal State.

Obj. 2. How can this be the Property of God's Children to desire his coming? Are they always in this Temper and Frame? many weak ones tremble at the thought of it for want of assurance of God's Love, it is the Terror and Bondage of their Lives to think of Christ's coming; and sometimes the Saints do not actually feel such an Inclination and Strength of Desire.

Answ. (1.) The meanest Saint hath some Inclination this way: Can a Man desire that Christ may come into his Heart, and will there not be such Desires that he may come to Judgment? since Comfort and Reward is more naturally embraced than Duty. The very first Work of Grace is to raise and beget this Hope, 1 Pet. 1.3. Who hath begotten us again unto a lively Hope. (2.) There may be sometimes a Drousiness and Indisposition, when their Lamps are not kept burning, Luke 12.36. And be ye always ready, as those that wait for their Lord. When they are fallen asleep, they may for the present wish, that Christ may not come and take them in this condition. As the wise Virgins slept as well as the foolish; so God's own Children many times find themselves indisposed for his coming: careless Carriage weakens their Hope, and the Remisness of their Watch; yet in all there is a Spirit this way, which beginneth with the new Birth. A Wife desires her Husband's coming home, but it may be all things are not ready, and in so good order as they should: So all Christians desire the coming of Christ, but sometimes they are not so exact and watchful, and therefore their Affections are not so lively. Drousiness creeps upon their Hearts, and then God rouzeth them by Afflictions.

Obj. 3. But is this the Property of God's Children, when we see carnal Men sometimes out of Weariness of the present Life, and Trouble of the World, will even long for his coming, and wish for Death?

Answ. That is an Offer of Nature after Ease, this is a Desire stirred up by the Spirit. Sometimes God's Children in their Passions desire to be taken out of the World, as Jonah 4.8. He fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. And Elijah, 1 King. 19.4. He requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough, now, O Lord, take away my Life; for I am not better than my Fathers. But this is but a shameful Retreat from Duty, and the Heat and Burden of the Day, and the Labors of the present Life; these are froward Thoughts, not sanctified Desires; Words of a feverish Distemper, not of Affection, but it comes from the Sickness and Weakness of their Souls. But this I speak of is a solid looking for, desire and longing for the glorious Appearing of Jesus Christ.

Use 1. It showeth what they are, who wish that it may never come. Some would be glad in their Hearts to hear such News, that Christ's Coming would never be; it is their Burden and Torment to think of it; as Felix trembled when he heard of Judgment to come. These Men have the Spirit of the Devil in them; if they had the Spirit of God in them, would it be so? Surely no. A carnal Man cannot say the Lord's-Prayer, for he is afraid he shall be heard. Optas ut veniat, quem times ne adveniat? saith Austin. How canst thou say, Thy Kingdom come, when thou art afraid lest God should come?

Use 2. To press us to this earnest Looking. Christ looketh, he is not slack, 2 Pet. 3.9. The Lord is not slack concerning his Promise. If all things were ready, he would come presently. Before he came in the Flesh, his Delights were with us, Prov. 8.31. Rejoicing in the habitable Parts of the Earth, and my Delights were with the Sons of Men. And he longeth now he is in Heaven, Rev. 22.12. Behold, I come quickly, and my Reward is with me. The Angels expect it, they would not be found Liars, they told us of it, Acts 1.11. This same Jesus that is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven. The Saints groan. How long, O Lord! how long! Devils tremble at the thoughts of it, Mat. 8.29. Art thou come hither to torment us before the time? The Creatures expect it in their kind, Rom. 8.19. For the earnest Expectation of the Creature waiteth for the Manifestation of the Sons of God. All things by a natural Instinct are carried to their Perfection. Evil Men cannot endure to think of it; as Felix trembled at the thoughts of Judgment to come: Let not the Saints stand out, but expect it earnestly. How much was the first coming of Christ wished for and desired: Abraham rejoiced at the thoughts of it, John 8.56. Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my Day, and he saw it, and was glad. Kings and Prophets desired to see these things; Luke 10.24. For I tell you, that many Prophets and Kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. Old Simeon, Luke 2.25. was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel: yet then he was a Child in the Cradle, now in Glory riding on the Clouds; then he came in the Similitude of sinful Flesh, Rom. 8.3. God sent his own Son in the likeness of Sinful Flesh ; but now he shall appear without Sin, Heb. 9.28. Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without Sin, unto Salvation. This earnest looking implieth strong Faith, longing Desires, frequent Thoughts.

1. Strong Faith. Reason saith it may be, Faith saith it shall be. Divine Justice must have a solemn Triumph, Conscience is afraid of it. Our Reward may be delayed, but it cannot stand with the Justice of God, that it should be abolished and taken away. There is Confusion in the World: Dives flowed with Ease and Plenty, when Lazarus was rough-cast with Sores. We need to be awed with Shame, as well as Fear. Faith saith he will come, we have his Word for it: as unlikely things have come to pass that have been foretold. Were the old Believers deceived that expected his coming in the Flesh? That a few Fishermen should preach the Gospel to all Nations? this is already done. Christ is contracted with us now, he will come to marry us; he went not away upon Discontent: He that loved us so as to as to come from Heaven to Earth to take our Nature, will he not come in Glory? We have of his Spirit, and we enjoy his Ordinances as a Memorial till he comes, and we have many Love-tokens sent us as a Pledg that he will come.

2. Longing Desires. Our Hearts should even spring and leap within us when we hear of Christ's coming. Thus the Believers of the Old Testament, how did they rejoice to hear of a Messiah to come? John 8.56. Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my Day, and he saw it, and was glad. Abraham rejoiced to think that a Son should come of his Loins, in whom all the World should be blessed: Heb. 11.13. These all died in Faith, not having received the Promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them. How did the Patriarchs hug the Promises, O sweet Promise! this will yield a Messiah, a Christ to the World.

3. There should be frequent Thoughts of his coming, as if you always heard the Trumpet. Every time thou lookest to Heaven, think, I have a Christ there, a rich Jewel kept safe; and when ever you see the Clouds, think of Christ's coming and going: These Clouds were Chariots by which Christ went triumphing into Heaven, and in like manner he will come again; Dan. 6.10. Daniel went into his House, and his Windows being opened towards Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his Knees three times a day, and prayed and gave Thanks unto his God. Daniel had reason to look towards the Temple, though ruined, because of the Promise of God to his People that prayed towards the Temple; so now and then we should look up to Heaven, there is Christ above within the Heavens. We are called often to lift up our Hearts to God, and our Eyes to Heaven, from whence we look for a Savior; there's our Treasure and our Jesus.

Use 3. Of Trial. It is good to see how we stand affected towards this Appearing. Nothing can content true Christians in the World; Do we look beyond it? Whither is the bent of our Hearts? how is it with them?

1. If there were this Looking, there would be Preparing. A Man that expecteth the coming of a King to his House, he will furnish his House accordingly, and make all things ready. Surely you look for no Body, when you do not suit and prepare yourselves to entertain them: When the House is sluttish, and the Kitchen cold, do you look for great Guests? What are we to do to prepare ourselves for Christ's coming?

(1.) Judge yourselves. 2 Cor. 13.5. Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the Faith; prove your own selves: Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be Reprobates. By judging yourselves, God's Act is anticipated.

(2.) Get into Christ. Rom. 8.1. There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. They that are in Christ, need not fear God's Judgment; you may set Christ's Righteousness against Christ's Judgment. Guilty Felons desire not the Judge's Presence. Art thou in the Case wherein thou wouldst be found of him? 2 Pet. 3.14. Be diligent, that you may be found of him in Peace, without Spot, and blameless.

(3.) Walk strictly. We are between the two Comings of Christ, his first and his second Coming; let us live Soberly, Righteously and Godly. When a Man is providing Matter of Condemnation for himself, can he be said to look for Christ's Coming?

2. How do you entertain Christ for the present in your Hearts, and in his Ordinances? Can a Man slight Ordinances, and expect Christ's second Coming? A Woman that never careth to hear from her Husband, cannot be said to desire his Coming: So if Christ has often knocked at the Door of our Hearts, and we will not give him entrance, how can we be said to look for his Appearing?

SERMON XVII.

I Proceed to the Manner of his Appearance, the glorious Appearing.

The Note is,

Doct. II. That Christ's second Coming to Judgment will be very glorious.

Here I shall show,

• I. How glorious it will be.
• II. Why it will be so glorious.

I. How glorious it will be. You may conceive of it, if you consider, the Preparation for his Approach, the Appearance itself, and the Consequences of it.

First ; It will be glorious in regard of the Preparation for his Approach. The Scripture mentions two, the Trumpet of the Arch-Angel, and the Sign of the Son of Man.

1. There is that great Noise of the Voice of the Lord, that begets a Terror in the World, which is ministerially managed by an Arch-Angel, though the Power and Success be of God. That great Noise startles the Dead in their Graves, and summons all the World to appear before Christ's Tribunal. There's much spoken of this in Scripture; 1 Thess. 4.16. For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a Shout, with the Voice of the Arch-Angel, and with the Trump of God. Matth. 24.31. He shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet, and they shall gather together his Elect, from the four Winds, from one end of Heaven to the other. Some expound this Trumpet Analogically, some Literally. Analogically; some think it only signifies the Power and Virtue of Christ, by which all the Dead are awakened out of their Sleep, and forced to appear before his Tribunal; and they say it is therefore expressed by a Trumpet, because the solemn Assemblies of Israel were wont to be summoned by the sound of a Trumpet. But why may we not take it Literally, for the audible sound of a Trumpet? Look as at the giving the Law, the Voice of the Trumpet was exceeding loud; so such an audible Voice, like the Voice of a Trumpet is there, when Christ comes to Judgment, to require an Account of the performance of the Law; which is, as it were, a terrible Summons to all the World, and a near Sign of his coming. Look as at his first coming, Christ had his Fore-runner and Harbinger, John the Baptist, the Voice of one crying in the Wilderness, The Kingdom of God is at hand ; so at his second coming Christ hath his Fore-runner, an Arch-Angel, that shall sound a Trumpet, which maketh his Coming glorious, because it shall awaken and startle all the World. This Sound shall be heard all the World over by the Dead; as the Prophet speaks, Ezek. 37.7, 8. of a noise and clattering among the Bones, and Bone ran to Bone, and then they were clothed with Flesh and Sinews: so such a noise shall there be among the Bones when Christ comes to Judgment. Here in the Church God speaks in a stiller Voice, but it is not regarded: He speaks by his Angels and Messengers, they sound the Trumpet to the Spiritual Battle; they pipe, but few dance, till by his mighty Power he raiseth Sinners from the Dead. So at the last Day God hath his Messengers; there is the Arch-Angel that is to manage the Ministerial Excitation, and the mighty Power of God accompanies it to make the Dead live and awaken out of Sleep.

2. There is a Sign of the Son of Man; that is spoken of Mat. 24.30. Then shall appear the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven; and then shall all the Tribes of the Earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with Power and great Glory. What it is we cannot certainly tell, until Experience manifests; sure we are it must be such a Sign, as shall make the World sensible of his Approach. Some think it shall be some strange Star, such as there was at his first Coming, the wise Men were conducted to Christ by a Star: this is but a mere Conjecture. Others suppose it shall be the Sign of the Cross which shall appear in the Heavens, because that is Christ's Badge, by which he was known here in the World. The great Subject of the Gospel is Christ crucified, therefore it is called the Word of the Cross ; and so they think the Sign of the Cross shall be imprest upon the Heavens in the sight of all the World. To confirm the Conjecture, they urge the Appearance that was made to Constantine in his War against Maxentius the Tyrant and Persecutor of the Church, he saw the Sign of the Cross, say they, with this Inscription,