Forty Sermons, Sermon 6
The Sixth SERMON, Preached at WHITE-HALL.
PSALM LXXIII. v. 25.
Whom have I in Heaven but thee? and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee:
MY Text is the result of the Pious man's Audit, the foot of the account in summing up his whole that he hath either in Possession or Desire; and instead of nice Division of the Words I shall observe in them these Subjects of Discourse.
First, the different tenure, or condition of Estates in the two different Countreys we relate to, this here is a Land onelyonly of desires, the other is a place of enjoyments, Have in Heaven, Desire on Earth. Yea
Secondly, Though our estate here in this Earth be present, and that other seem removed far off, yet the possessions of that are present and in hand, but the most native satisfactions of the Earth are still at distance, onelyonly the object of our aims and expectations I have, now I have in Heaven, on the Earth I but desire.
Thirdly, Here is the matter of both these desires and enjoyments to the Pious man; No Person or no thing (for so it bears also) but God: There is nothing upon Earth that I desire besides thee. And as to Heaven the negation is express'd emphatically by a Question, Whom have I in Heaven but thee?
Yet least this Question should look like an Expostulation, and he that asks it seem unsatisfied with his Portion, we will therefore,
Lastly, see the Importance of it to the Christian, since our Saviour is gone up into Heaven, see whom the Christian hath there: And if the Psalmist could find none but God, and David (if he were the Author) could not see the Son of David there, yet since Christ is set at the Right hand of God, the Christians present Interest in Heaven is such, that looking with contempt on all that worldly men applaud themselves in the enjoyment of, rejecting all but thee O Christ, he justly triumphs in resolving of this question to himself, and being satisfied in having thee, he does renounce even the desiring any thing but thee.
Of these in their order beginning here on Earth, where our tenure even of earthly things is but desire, this World does give no satisfactions in hand, but still they are onelyonly the objects of our Expectations and wishes.
When God hath given Man an erect Countenance, Eyes that do naturally look towards him, and the very frame of him is such, that Heaven is his constant Object; it were no wonder if his looks and thoughts were always there, since both the duty and necessity of that does seem imprest upon him in his making, and to desire things above, is, as it were, the Law in his members.
But when he swims in delicacies here upon the Earth, is immerst in the plenties of all kinds, that these should give him nothing but desires of themselves, that the delights should not be present to him, but he should still pursue and need that which he is encompast with, that while with open mouth and in a most intemperate current he swills down the pleasures, yet his open mouth should gape only with thirst, and he be sensible of nothing but the want of these, is strange even to astonishment: Yet such it seems the nature of them is. When S. John would enumerate all that is in the World the particular that he gives in is thus, 1 John ii. 16. All that is in the world, the lust of the Flesh, the lust of the Eyes, and the Pride of Life. He does not say, the objects of these Lusts that are to serve and satisfie them, for there's no such thing as satisfaction, but onelyonly lust; and if we make enquiry into the particulars we shall find it.
To begin with that of the Eyes, Covetousness, or the love of Money: 'Tis evident that where an Object is not useful to the faculty, it cannot satisfie, for satisfaction is fulfilling of our needs and uses, but Money is not useful to the sight, nor indeed does it prove useful to, or serve any of the Covetous mans occasions or faculties; rather the contrary in every kind, he does bereave himself of good because he hath it; He is in agonies of trouble and sollicitude, lest he should need, and not have that, which when he hath acquir'd he will still need, and will not have enjoyment of. Nor is it possible it should be otherwise, for since there is no natural original or cause of this his Appetite, for 'tis not emptiness that makes him hungry, who is more ravenous the more full he is, whose most empty bowels shrink and cling together, and having learn'd not to expect repast, while his bags and desires stretch, and are enlarg'd by being stuff'd.
Nor is it fear of future want that makes him eager to provide so, for why should he be so unsatisfied in his providing against want, that will want more the more he is provided?
And since as there is no natural cause, so there is also no natural measure for this Appetite of his; for Natures measure is our real uses of the Object. But this man heaps up useful things that he does never mean to use: Since therefore it hath neither bound nor cause in Nature, 'tis monstrous, and must needs be an unlimited lust, uncapable of satisfaction: And all this man's Wealth does purchase nothing for him but desires, and is not the content but the Lust of his Eye.
And the same reasoning will conclude the next, the Pride of life, which is the Lust of a Sense as wholly unconcern'd in all the Pomps and garnishes of Pride, as the Eye is in Wealth: 'tis a Lust of the Ear, all is but the man's passion to hear himself, his trappings, or condition commended. The Learned man that's proud, does think of no return for all his toyls and watches, all the present racks and tortures of his mind, and all the after-ones that he does pull upon his body, but to be spoken well of: He fasts, mortifies, and denies himself more than the Covetous man can do, meerly to fill himself with wind; he reconciles the Babel of all Languages, and Sciences too in his own head but for a word, onelyonly to hear an Euge, and this with such solicitude that if the breath of mens Applause should fail him he would straight expire, as if his Soul breath'd onelyonly at his Ear. If my pride lies in gayeties, all Natures Wardrobe must be rifled, the beauties of the Universe desloured, the Art and Sweat too of all Nations employed to attire my person, or to dress my Room, rather indeed to dress the Tongues and furnish, out the talk of other persons, who must entertain mine Ears with the discourse of my own splendors; which is all the use I can make of it; the Eastern Rocks must send me Diamonds, meerly to dart a line of light into anothers eyes, which may return to me in a report that I have such fine Jewels, and I have nothing else of all my sumptuous glories but the meer Eccho of their shine, which is reflected and beat back to me in commendations. With so much expence anxiety and sin, I do provide onelyonly for other mens discourses, or it may be, envies. Now these are none of my enjoyments, and therefore I have nothing of them but the Lust and the desire.
As for those of the flesh, the third remaining kind, they seem indeed to be exempted from this reasoning; the sensual person gorges his desires, and in Solomons phrase makes his Soul enjoy good: Yet the same Solomon salves that appearance too, in saying when provisions encrease, they are encreased that eat them;Eccles. v. 11. and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? My broad and my cramb'd Tables do not more enlarge or serve my appetite, give me no satisfaction but onelyonly that of seeing many Dishes full, and many men consuming them, as if Luxury also were a lust of the Eye. It hath been said indeed, that the Eye is the Gluttons most unsatisfied and greedy part, and it must needs be so if its lust lie to all that other men devour, and if it crave not onelyonly for the mans own stomach, but for throngs of Clients, Parasites, and attendants. And 'tis too plain the other Twin Intemperance lusts by the same rules and laws: It does not onelyonly claim its seat in the Eye, which makes it self a Judge of Liquors for the Palate, and does not choose them by the uses of their moisture, but by their body, by their air, and by the mode, and other Rules of the authentick standard Drinkers; as if men thirsted in the fashion onelyonly: But this Eye also, as the Riotous mans did, gapes for company, and thirsts to see the Vice go round, it drinks in nothing with so much delight as the Wine, when a weaker Companion returns it back again in Vomit, at that foul horrid spectacle it sparkles and triumphs. Now 'twere in vain to ask Solomons question, What good is there in this? or what enjoyment? to urge that meats and drinks cannot give satisfaction to the Eye that hath no Palate, and then cry out Oh Prodigy that it should Lust thus! As for the other kind of Riots, where with arts of Epicurism men contrive to feast and entertain their private Appetites, and put a Patrimony into sauce for their own Palats, men sordidly Luxurious. 'Tis evident that these are studied to provoke, men choose such Wines as they may longest drink, and with elaborate condiments make forc'd hunger as well as dishes, so that the Riotous design onelyonly to Lust, and the whole mystery of Luxury is to create desires.
Lastly, for that one that hath ingross'd the name of Lust, it gives in a full Evidence against it self. For the Adulterer, much more irrational than the most greedy Miser; is insatiate in desiring what he hath, and his Lust will not use his remedy, lest so it should allay and quench the Lust: And whilst with so much feaver of desire, he courts nothing else but the change, and values that alone equal with all the discontents of this life, all the miseries of that to come, and will go to the Devil meerly for variety, as it is plain: Adultery hath nothing proper to it self but the desire, is a meer loosness of the Fancy, which ranges in wild lusts, and which hath no enjoyment that's peculiar to it but the lusting onelyonly; so 'tis also plain that this Lust must be endless, for that principle of Change which gives it all its incitation must never let it rest; for then 'tis not variety. S. John said therefore most expresly, All that is in the World is Lust; men onelyonly can desire here, pursuing their desires just as they do their shadows, no eagerness or hast can bring them nearer, still they onelyonly pursue, yea like him that would hugg and force a Cloud, his empty arms return upon his breast with strokes; and while they seek to catch the Object wound his Bosom: And thus it must be till we fix our passion there, where onelyonly there is satisfaction even on God; the object of the pious mans desire, and my next Part.
Nothing besides thee, or with thee: so it signifies also.
There is nothing upon Earth that I desire with thee.
Had he said, Nothing without thee, the emptiness of every thing below which the Lord and his Blessing is not in, had made this his determination just and necessary: But sure when God hath put other needs in my making, and hath provided supplies for them, those also are as just and necessary objects of desire, while they are with and under him: But yet, he that had brought all his affections into Davids frame, might well say he desired nothing upon Earth besides, nothing with God; for he had weaned his very Flesh and all the craving appetites of Sense from their own objects, and had fix'd them upon God in all their strength and vigour. My Soul, saith he, thirsteth for thee, (elsewhere, my Soul gaspeth unto thee, even as a thirsty Land,) and my flesh also longeth after thee, Psalm lxiii. 1.Psal. xxxvi. 9. How! My Soul thirsteth for thee? with thee indeed is the Well of Life: But Thirst is an Appetite, gasping a consequent defailance and impatience of the Body; to both which the Soul is a meer stranger, as it is also to the ways by which the Body does desire; …or the Soul is drawn by moral engagements, by persuasions and motives, there is place for deliberation and Choice in her Desires, she can demur in her pursuits, divert her Inclinations, and quench a Desire with a Consideration; but the Flesh pursues in a more impulsive manner, is drawn and spurr'd on by such impetuous propensions as are founded in matter: You can no more persuade a thirsty Palate not to thirst, than you can woo a falling Stone to stay its hast, or invite it to turn aside from its direction to the Center. Yea but the Soul also exerts it self in all these appetites of flesh and matter, and with all their violence when it looks on God, when we have once had a taste, or when indeed we but discern our needs of him, whether our Temporal, or Spiritual, those of the Soul or Flesh, all the desires of both then fly at him, and with a tendency most close and uncontrollable, then nothing besides him. For all the appetites of Body croud into the Soul that they may catch at God, that Thirsts and Gaspes. And the Soul does put on the violent impetuous agitations of the Bodies Appetites; My Soul thirsteth for thee, and my Flesh also longeth after thee. What Longing is, whether an Appetite or Passion of the Flesh or Mind, whose signatures are more express indeed upon the Flesh than those of any other, yet whose impulses are so quick and so surprizing, as they were Spirit; I shall not now enquire: but sure if the Flesh long it should be for some carnal Object, for that is proportion'd to it; Flesh and the Creature use to close indeed, and they imbibe each other, as if they knew to fill and satisfie each other; yea some there are that have brought down their Souls to the propensions of Flesh, have given to their very Spirits an infusion of carnality, for they mind onelyonly fleshly things. But by the rates of David's practice it should seem the pious man does the just contrary; sublimes his Flesh into a Soul, drains all the carnal Appetites out of it, weans it from all its own desires, and teacheth it those of the Spirit onelyonly, makes it long for God. Now he whose flesh is defaecated thus, and as it were inur'd to the condition which it shall put on, when it awakes from its corruption, as if it were already in that place, whose happiness and desires have no use of Body, and were in that state where their Bodies neither hunger or thirst, for these he hath translated from his flesh; 'tis his Soul onelyonly thirsts, and that for God: As if he were indeed like Angels now, how can this man desire any thing on Earth besides the Lord, who is and does already what they are and do in Heaven, where we have nothing but thee?
But notwithstanding this exalted temper, though we should arrive at this Seraphick constitution of desires, and though God hath now made himself to us the proper object of these appetites, for since God struck the Rock for us which Rock was Christ; 1 Cor. x. 4. John vi. 32, 34. ver. 55.since the true Bread came down from Heaven, if our Flesh long for God there is a satisfaction ready, he hath made his Flesh be meat indeed; if our Souls thirst for God, he can furnish drink for a Soul, the Blood of God.
But yet while this Soul sojourns in this earthly Tabernacle, the man will still want other supplies, and may be not desire them; or can he choose indeed? For they that tell us stories of some men, whose hungers and thirsts after God as they devour'd all other desires in them, so also gave themselves no other satisfaction but panem Dominum, that foreign Supersubstantial daily Bread, the Lord; these men I say, would find it hard to make out how bare Species could nourish and sustain a bodily life. Yea Christ himself when he was upon the Earth did hunger, and although it was his meat to do his Father's Will, John vi. 54.yet when he was an hungered Angels came and ministred unto him, Matth. iv. 11.and then may not our earthly needs desire something besides him?
That while we are upon the Earth all those necessities are in our constitution is certain; but that we need not desire for them, or any thing besides Him, is as certain: Because to them that desire him all these things shall be added, they are annex'd by Promise, Matth vi. 33. it is for such to be sollicitous who would have something they must have alone; something that cannot come along with God. But if I be assur'd that all my needs shall be supply'd in him, I need desire nothing besides him; now this Promise he must perform; for he that when he put Man in a state of Immortality in Paradise, provided him a Tree of Life that might for ever furnish and sustain him: For that Age also that he does design a man a being for his Service here upon the Earth, he must allow him necessaries for his being and his Service, otherwise he can nor serve, nor be: And then if they be certain what need he desire them? foreign saith S. Chrysostome; These are not objects for our careful wishes, but our trusts and confidences, we may assure our selves of these if we have him, these are his Appendages, and then why should I put them with him into my Devotions? when my Soul lies gasping towards God in Prayer, my desires seizing on his Blessednesses, to take them off from him, and to make my desires turn aside to little earthly things and fix them there, is to affront not my God onelyonly, but my Prayer too; and when these things are sure, seems to betray a mind too Earthly and too apprehensive of these needs: Surely I were most strangely necessitous, or strangely greedy, if both God and that which shall be added to him were not enough for me: More wretched, or else more unsatisfied than Hell, if the Almighty were not sufficient for me; if he be my provision, then I need desire nothing besides him.
But yet Necessities will crave; Hunger does croak aloud, Thirst makes the insensate Earth to gasp; as if with open mouth it gap'd not onelyonly to receive but beg Gods showers, and God expects to be intreated for these things:Psal. Cxlvii. 9. He feeds but those young Ravens that do call upon him, and the young Lions roar to him and seek their meat at God:Psal. Civ. 21. The eyes of all things wait on him for that;Psal. Cxlvi. 15. yea, this our Psalmist in this very Psalm desires other things; and Christ himself hath put into his little Summary these needs and these desires, Give us this day our daily bread; and my Text does but regulate not exclude these desires, if we shall read it in the old Translation, there is none upon Earth that I desire in comparison of thee foreign There's none or nothing that I desire or delight in equally with thee, like thee, so we translate the same word, ver. 5. I shall not doubt to beg what my needs crave: But if God, and any the most signal earthly advantage stand in competition, and I cannot have one with the other, his Providence or his Commands have made them inconsistent, that I will not desire with him, then he shall be my Choice alone: Rather Obedience and my God than any satisfaction how desirable soever!
This is the Touchstone of a Pious mans desires; 'tis not unusual for inclinations to things below, more to possess our thoughts, employ our faculties than any other, and we are far more sensible of their impressions, more busie in the pursuit, and more tender in our cares of them: But if upon contest betwixt God and our inclinations, upon debate betwixt a Pleasure and Command, we can decree for God and for Obedience, pass Sentence with the Precept, we are safe, here the desire is not inordinate. 'Tis a known instance, and you may have seen, a tender Mother spending almost her whole time in caressing her little Infant, you would think she had Eyes for no uses but to view it, and that she had her Arms and Breasts but to embrace and suckle it, to whom these are so wholly given up as if they had no part for any other, as the Husband, had no share in her entertains and caresses of whom are far more sleight and not so pressing: But should it come to this pinch once, that she must straight resolve to part with one of these, however close her Arms would grasp her Child to rescue him (to force whom thence were like the tearing of her bowels from her) yet would she give those bowels to redeem her bosom guest, and the Husband would be the Choice; so that although the other inclinations were more expressive, these are the stronger and the better setled. So it may happen, we may be more sensibly affected to some dear things here below, our thoughts, and Eyes, and our embraces cling and fasten more to these; but if it come to this that we must leave one, break with the Duty or the Passion; if we resolve however not to part with God, but lay hold there and let the other go, then our affections are not onelyonly regular when we desire nothing in comparison with him, but our desires are enjoyments, seize and take possession of him, and we have him: So my Text implies here, Whom have I in Heaven but thee? importing that we have him: Which brings me to the other parts that yet remain to be discours'd of.
Three things are here to be considered.
1. That Heaven is the place of Possessions in opposition to this Land of Desires. 2. That God is the possession there. 3. That the Pious man hath this possession in present.
The first of these is so much common place, I shall not stay upon it; those onelyonly qualities that make this World to be a Land of Desires, have no place there, to wit, the instability and emptiness of all things in it, he that lays hold on them does but grasp Mercury, which the more he clasps the more he forces it to slip away, and he retains onelyonly the soyl and the defilement of it, like Lightning which but passes by, stays not to cherish, onelyonly dazels, and, it may be, scorches: So the shine of Earthly glories startles the mind, amuses us, inflames desires of them, and goes out. But then above the tenure is Eternity, and that assures immutability; yea, if it be nunc stans, an indivisible Infinity of permanent duration, whose every point does coexist to every point, a perfect and entire possession, all at once, of an interminable life that never can be all possest; then nothing can pass by us, or cease from us, but we shall always every moment have, what we shall have in every any moment: Our enjoyment also being like him that we enjoy, all in the whole and all in every part; being not onelyonly endless in the mass, but every moment of it is immortal: And then there can be nothing but enjoyment; no place for desire there, where there is nothing absent, where all past and all futurity is always present; and where also the Infinite and all-sufficient God is the Possession; which is my next Proposition, and that God himself affirms.
Gen. xv. i. I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. Yea, this he hath present possession of, which my third Proposition and my Text asserts, in saying, Whom have I in Heaven but thee? importing thee I have.
The things we call most our possessions hee both personal and real, and our portions and inheritances: Now David claims God under both these dues,Psal. Cxix. 57, 16. 6. Thou art my portion O Lord and the lot of mine Inheritance; as other men maintain themselves by these, so I live upon thee: And that we may not think that God is such but in Reversion, those are present possessions which men reap the uses of in present to themselves.
Now what is there of God the Pious man hath not the present uses of?1 Pet. iii. 12. His Eyes are over him, and his Ears are open to his Prayers, watch to attend each motion of his heart,Deut. xxxiii. 27. and underneath him are the everlasting Arms to carry and sustain him,Hagg. ii. 23. Jer. xxii. 24. Psalm xvii. 8. 36. 7. his right hand wears him as his signet, and his left hand pours down Blessings on him; his wings are spread for him to nestle in that warm security, and hide him in the shadow of; his bowels found and turn within him with compassion over him,Isai. lxiii. 15. Psal. Cxxxix. 2. and himself self is about his Bed and about all his paths; not so much to spy out his ways,Isai. xxx. 18. as to preserve him in them all, and he waits that he may be gracious. In a word, all the Securities that Gods Preserving Mercies signifie, the watches of his Providence, the Blessings that fulfill his Attributes of goodness, all are exerted upon his occasions, are made the present objects and the satisfactions of his nearest senses, and he may taste and see how gracious God is.Psal. xxxiv. 8.
And then give me O Lord! seizin of this the Pious man's Estate, I shall not envy other mens possessions; though one lay House to House, and Land to Land till he become the Lord of his Horison, and his Eyes cannot travel out of his Demesne: For notwithstanding that we may have known ill Courses or ill Accidents consume all this, or Force throw him out of all, and that great Lord have no House but a Goal, nor Land enough to make a Grave: But sure I am, that I shall be provided for in all necessities, unless there happen such a one for which there's no relief in God; nor can I be disseis'd, they must void Heaven e're they can disfurnish me: For thee I have in Heaven.
But yet, though chance nor violence cannot put me out, yet I may forfeit this Possession too;Isai. lix. 2. for Sin will separate betwixt me and my God, cast me out of his presence and enjoyments, as sure as it did Adam out of Paradise. And then alas! if I had none but him in Heaven, he is now become my Adversary, holds possession against me, as he did that of Paradise with flames; so he does Rain snares, fire and brimstone thence, and this is all the Sinner's portion, Psalm xi. All that I am like to get, unless I have a person that will attribute the cause, or mediate, there is no hopes of a recovery for me if I have none in Heaven but thee.
Now here my last Consideration will come in.
If while my Soul lies grovling under fearful Apprehensions of its Forfeiture, casting about for help and finding none upon the Earth, if it look upwards and enquire whom have I in Heaven? have I none there but my offended Adversary God? it may resolve it self with comfort he hath other interests there. For,
First, I have an Intercessor there, Rom. viii. 34. a Master of Requests, one that will not onelyonly hand in my Petitions, get access for my Prayers and my tears to God, but will make them effectual: For saith S. Paul, Seeing we have a great High Priest that's passed into the Heavens, let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace in time of need, Heb. iv. 14. 16. For though my supplications have not strength nor ardour that can mount them into Heaven, and are too impure, however wash'd in my repenting Tears, to draw nigh to the Lord, yet being put into the High Priests Censor with the Altar coals to give them holy flame, and wrap'd up in his Cloud and Smoak of Incense that will cover all the failings of my Prayers, they may get access into his Ears and his Compassions. Indeed how can they choose when Christ does joyn his Intercessions? for my requests will go where the High Priests do go; he carries them, now He himself doth sit at the right hand of God: The intercessions that are made for me are made upon the Throne, and therefore cannot be repuls'd from thence, and such desires command and they create effects.
But should my Prayers fail,Psalm iv. 1. and should God hide himself from my Petitions, withdraw himself and hide his face from them, although they be even before his face. Yet.
Secondly, I have an Advocate there too, 1 John ii. 1, 2. If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins; one that not onelyonly pleads for me, but brings the satisfaction of my Forfeiture in his hands, makes the just value plead; appears there with his Blood, and proves a recompence.
'Tis Jesus Christ the righteous Advocate, that does propitiate and atone son, what he pleads for; purchase what he begs. 'Tis true, that poor Worm, saith he, hath provok'd thee often Lord! but thou didst smite the Man that is thy fellow for it;Zech. xiii. 7. Behold my Hands, and look into my Sides, see there thy Recompence; wilt thou refuse that Satisfaction thy self didst contrive, and thy beloved Son did make? why did a Person of the blessed Trinity descend from Heaven and Divinity to be made Sin and be a Curse; but to Redeem him from the Curse and Sin, and to entitle him again to the possession of Heaven and God? Why was I Crucified but that thou might'st be aton'd and he be pardon'd? Thus he solicites for us there, presents himself in our stead, as our Attorney. He was not a publique Person onelyonly on the Cross, but he is so at the right hand of God; as he was there our Representative and bore our sins, so he is here our Representative and bears our wants; was there our Proxey to the Wrath of God, is here our Proxey to his Mercies and Compassions. He looks upon himself as in our case, whose Cause and Persons he supplies, and so is prompted to desire and beg for our poor sakes, and he looks upon us as on himself, and so obtains as for his own beloved sake, pleads as our selves, and then as to himself he does decree Sentence and grant: For
Thirdly, I have there a Judg, and this is he, who sits at the right hand of God to Judg the quick and dead; I might have said a Saviour, for he was exalted to a Saviour to give Remission of Sins: Acts v. 31.But my Judg is as kind a word. For however there be some will cry for Rocks and Hills to hide them from his Face, yet this they are afraid of is the Face but of the Lamb, Apoc. vi. 16.
And it is strange that they who can look upon Hell, and charge Fiends in a sin, should tremble at a Lamb, and fly him so: But to the Faithful and sincere endeavouring Christian though be sins, as his Advocate is his propitiation, so his Judg is his Sacrifice; is that Lamb that does take away the sins of the World, is his …in-offering, his expiation onelyonly remov'd off from the Altar to the Judgment-Seat, indeed the Mercy-Seat, the Throne of his Atonement, and his Absolution: Where his Judg notwithstanding that his Forseit shall Decree Possession to him,Mat. xxv. 34. Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you.
Lastly,1 Cor. xv. 23. we have our first fruits, for so S. Paul does call our Saviour; and then in whatsoever sense that which is done to the first Fruits is applicable to the Harvest (all this being hallowed in their Consecration) in that sense we our selves are raised to the right hand of God together with this our First Fruits. And now O Lord! whom have I in Heaven but thee? I have my self in pledg and earnest there.
And then they that rather than have these Interests, these Heavenly possessions in present, will have onelyonly desires here on Earth, are certainly of a preverse and Reprobate choice. Sure it would make Consideration sick to think of the comparison betwixt the after-expectations of a Pious man, and those things which our worldly persons call present Enjoyments; how for the little spangles of their pride, they are so taken with its rustling Pomp, they reject Glory that can never wither, fade, or sully; forfeit the being cloath'd upon with Immortality. How they lose all that everlasting Heaven means, for little things that go by in a Whirl-wind, come in storm and so they pass away; refuse inmortal Hallelujahs for a Song, cast away solid Joys, and an Eternal weight of Blessedness for froth, for the shadow of smoak. Perchance this may be said for them, the nearness of the object does impose upon them, they choose something in present rather than dry future hopes. But then when that advantage to lies on the other side, their Choice hath no Temptation; when the Pious mans possessions are in hand, the others onelyonly in desire; in view indeed they may be, he does catch at and pursue them still; But the hinder Wheel of the Chariot that presses and with larger turns and rowlings hastens after, may as soon hope to undertake the first, as that man reach a satisfaction; still it removes, and he does onelyonly heat his appetite in posting after it, onelyonly get more desire. Now 'tis prodigious that these great Men of Sense should be men of such Faith and Expectation as to trust and hope in things that have so constantly, so daily mock'd their confidences and desires, yet be not onelyonly Infidels to all Gods blessed preparations which they have nor reason nor Experience against, but also have no sense nor relish of himself in present: Not taste nor see how gracious the Lord is.
'Tis said, that the desires of Earthly sensual things do make the greatest part of the Torments of Hell: Now though this Doctrine be false and pernicious, yet 'tis plain that Torment must attend strong passions, and most infinite desires which are radicated in the Sinner's heart, and which he carries hence and cannot there deposite, and to which yet satisfactions are impossible, against his knowledg to be mad, to have what he knows all the World cannot make it possible for him to have, this tears his Soul. Affections, these that may be said in some sense to fulfil some of the expressions of the Torments of that place, their Envy makes the gnashing of their Teeth, and their Desires are their Vultures. Thus Tantal…s's riotous hunger that does gnaw his bowels, is his Worm that never dies; and his intemperate thirst his everlasting burnings; and his Water that he cannot reach or taste of, is his Lake of fire without Metaphor; So that desire alone without its satisfaction, is so much of Hell, and yet this is the worldly sensual mans estate exactly here on Earth; for he hath nothing but desires and lusts; and his condition is not easier at all, for how is Tantalus more wretched than a Midas, or than any covetous wretch, who in the midst of affluence and heaps, hungers as much as Midas did for meat and for Gold too, and an touch neither for his uses? so that the Worlds delights are very like the miseries of Hell, and men with so much eager and impatient pursuit do but anticipate their torments, and invade Damnation here.
And if the case be so, sure there is no great self-denial in our Psalmist here, when he resolves to desire nothing upon Earth in comparison of his God: 'Tis no such glorious conquest of my Appetite to make it not pursue a present Hell, and an eternal one annex'd to it before a Saviour: Yet the World does so.
Some there are that desire Money rather; and although when Judas did so, this desire could not bear it self, but cast all back again; and though it did disgorge, it burst him too; the Sin it self supply'd the Law, and his guilt was his Execution. Yet this will not terrifie, men will do the like, betray a Master, a Saviour, and a God; onelyonly not for so little money peradventure. Others, when the Lord paid his own Blood for their Redemption, yet if their wrath thirsts for his Blood that does offend them, their revenge makes their Enemies the sweeter blood, though their own Soul bleed to death in his stream. To others the deservings of the Partner of an unclean moment, are much greater than all that the Lord Jesus knew to merit at their hands or purchase for them. And it is no wonder they are so ungrateful to their Saviour, when they are so barbarous to themselves, as to choose not to have present Divine Possessions rather than not suffer the vengeance of their own Appetites; choose meerly to desire here, though that be to do what they do in Hell, rather than have in Heaven. O thou my Soul! if thou wilt needs desire, propose at least some satisfaction to thy Appetite, do not covet onelyonly needs thirst for a feaver, and desire meerly to inflame desire and Torments: But seek there where all thy wants will find an infinite happy supply, even in thy Saviour;Rom. ii. 4. Ephes. i. 7. Zech. xiii. 1. Hagg. ii. 7. covet the riches of his Grace and Goodness, thirst for the fountain opened for transgression, for the waters of the well of Life, desire him that is the desire of all Nations; yet why should we desire even him? when we have him in Heaven, and we have nothing upon Earth left to desire, but that God who hath exalted him unto his Kingdom in Heaven, would in his due time exalt us also to the same place, whither our Saviour Christ is gone before. To whom, &c.