Come and See the Bliss of Brightest Beauty, To the reader
TO THE CHRISTIAN READER, BVT ESPECIALLY TO E. B. HIS VERY much respected friend, Grace, and Glory
LEt God arise, and let his enemiesPsal. 68. 1. be scattered, let them that hate him, flie before him. As the smoke vanisheth, so let them perish at thy presence (ô Lord) that hauehave euill will at Sion. But let them that louelove and seeke the Lord, be euer ioyfull and glad in him, let them be telling his praises from day to daie. And if there be any man so brutish, that loueth not the Lord Iesus, let him be had in execration Maranatha.1. Cor. 16. 22.
Seeing man being fallen is raised by Christ onelyonly, man is returned to God, hauing turned awaie from all good. The Angels that fell are damned, man that sinned is pardoned. To man God hath giuen a motion neuer toPicus Mirād. Hexapl. ceasse vntill he rest in him, grace to guide him, goodnes to imbrace him, messengers of glad tidings to instruct him, faith to furnish him with the fulnesse of perswasion, sanctimony to dignifie him in this life, glorie to deifie him in the other life. Seeing with Iesus Christ also is the fulnesse of ioy, whose name is saluation, whose passionZan…h. in Euchirid. redemption, whose sacrifice satisfaction, whose bloud purgation, whose resurrectiō sanctification, whose ascension eternall glorification. And seeing that the Lord Iesus Christ is louelove substantially, hauing nothingBern. de am. dei. in him selfe but himselfe, being louelove it selfe essentially, not accidentally, he is also louelove causally, causing it in others, as in the Elements, in the creatures, in the sweete symphonie of the whole vniuerse, and in the bitter iarres of mans corrupted nature, making men to be of one mind in an house, and of one heart in a commonwealth. He is louelove actiuely louing all things he hath made, man more particularly, his redeemed most especially, with a louelove to the end, in the end, without end.
Louing them in their election, when they could not louelove him; louing them in their redemption when they would not louelove him; louing them externally, for they hauehave a promise to enioy their outward blessings; louing them internally, for their hearts shall be comforted; louing them eternally, for they shall euer be blessed with him in heauenly things. He is louelove passiuely most worthie to be beloued, being louing euerie daie in multiplying his blessings, being louing eueryevery way in magnifying his mercies, louing vsus first in preuenting vsus mercifully, louing vsus in continuance in guiding vsus powerfully, louing vsus last in perfecting vsus eternally. Yea so louing that if he go to punish, he walkes a soft pace, he comes in the coole of the day: but to shew merciemercy he runnes; for he is gracious, righteous, yea our God is mercifull, punishing three, or fowre of the generation of the godlesse; but shewing mercy to thousands that louelove him, and liue in his feare. Taste then, and see how gracious the Lord Iesus is, and how plentifull is his goodnesse, which he hath layed vp for them that feare him, and prepared for them that trust in him, euen before the sonnes of men. He being the perfection of Priesthood and prophecie, of sacrifice and sacrament, so that now who so setteth his heart vponupon any thing but vponupon the Lord Iesus, is liable to the extreme curse of Gods desertion. Set not then your hearts on beautie, beloued, it is but a forward blossome soone nipt; nor on pleasure, it is but a bitter pill lapt in sugar; nor on your belly, it is but the pantrie for the draft house; nor on riches, they are but guiles, and baites to insnare vsus, which while they are in getting wearie vsus, while they are possessed, befoole vsus; and whenPicus Mirand. in Apolog. we lose them, they crucifie vsus. Set not your hearts on the fauour of Princes or Potentates, for they are but the sonnes of men; nor on ambition, it is but a feather tossed with the wind; nor on gay apparell, it is but rags; nor on goodly houses, they are but so many bonefiers against the day of doome; nor on any thing vnderunder the sunne: but only like, and louelove them in and for the Lord Iesus sake, as they are either remedies for sin, or directions in ordine ad Deum for our vsefull necessities, and furtherances to further our future happinesse. But as for those who despite the spirit of grace, and trample the blessed bloud of the new Testament vnderunder their feete, as do all sycophantizing Papists, schismatizing Puritans, neutralizing Atheists, satanizing scorners of all godlinesse, truth, and honestie: I will euer pray against their wickednesse, Psal. 69. Let their table be their snare, their eies dimmed, their habitation voide, their backes bowed downe, let them heape vp iniquitie vponupon iniquitie, and let their names be razed out of the booke of life. Let them be vntounto vsus as paganish Ethnicks, and Publicans, as vncleane leapers put out of the campe of Israel, as rotten members, cut off from the bodie of the Church, as dead branches, broken off from the true vine, as vncleane dogges, put out of the holy Citie, and as those of the Concision, of whom we must beware, Phil. 3. 2. Yea let all that is about them be hatefull vntounto vsus. Let theIosu. 6. Dan 3. goods of such be as the cursed things of Iericho, their houses as odious as a iakes, their possessions as direfull as Acheldama, their gaines as vile as the Pharisies Corban, their name as branded and as infamous as was Ieroboams, their posteritie as obscure as the vntimely fruite of a woman which neuer seeth the sunne. If they be honourable, and do not honor Christ, ô Lord lay their honor in the dust. If noble, let them be accompted base, vnlesse they be ennobled in Iesus Christ. If learned, let their learning be a by-word, and a fable among the vulgar, that studie not to be students in Christs schoole. If they be a whole nation, let their portion be as the men of Ashdod, 1. Sam. 5. If a king, let him be made as Nebuchadnezzar that he may know the Almightie. If a Courtier, let him be despised in the sight of the king: yea let all them be deliuered ouer that louelove not the Lord Iesus but despise him, vntounto Sathan by excommunication, that confession at least may be wrested from them as it was from Simon Magus, and Elimas the Bariesu, who craued aide of the Church which formerly they desperatly despised; that if it be the will of the Lord, they may be saued by repentance in this day of grace, before that fatall and finall diuorce from the Lord of their soules and bodies be denounced, before the curses of separation, Depart from me; of indignation,Mat. 25. ye cursed; of dolor, into fire; of desperatiō, into hell fire; of confusion, prepared for the deuil and his angels, be in the last iudgement awarded against them, for their contempt of the Lord Iesus Christ. But to them that seeke the Lord Iesus, mella fluant illis, and all the beatitudes of mount Gerazim, let their eares neuer heare the horrors of the vale of the children of Hinnon, but let Sions rayes shine vponupon them all their life, and let the Lord Iesus appeare vntounto them in his second coming to saluation, who louelove him, and looke for him from heauen,Heb. 9. 28. and long for him from the bottome of their hearts, crying come Lord Iesu. Let them heare ô Lord thy perfectApoc. 22. blessings of association, Come; of benediction, ye blessed; of inheritance, possesse; of glory, the kingdome; of election, prepared for you, before the foundations of Mat. 25.the world were layed. And God perswade Iaphet to dwell in the tents of blessed Sem. Euen so (ô Lord) be it.
Amen.