Moses Choice, Treatise · Part 3 · Chapter 54
CHAP. LIV. Gods people to be highly honored.
SEventhly, if there be ſuch bleſſed things reſerved 7.for the people of God: Hence let us look upon all the ſervants of God as honorable in our eyes, and let them be honored in our thoughts, for great are the thoughts of God upon them and towards them, and therefore great and honorable ſhould be our thoughts of them, though they be never ſo poor and mean in the world. We uſe to look upon great heirs with admiring thoughts, and bleſſing of them every time we look upon them. Do you ſee one walking in the ways of God? whatſoever he be for his outwards, let your hearts bleſs him, and ſay, Here is one indeed born to great things, other maner of things then any the world affords. Did we know what were the things that the people of God ſhould be poſſeſſed of within a while, we would ſay in our hearts, O bleſſed that ever they were born, bleſſed is the womb that bare them, and bleſſed are the paps that gave them ſuck: Did we with a ſpiritual believing eye behold what things they ſhould have, and ſaw them as now poſſeſſed of them, we would ſee cauſe to fall down and kiſs the ground upon which they tread: The bleſſed Angels look upon them as great ones, as the glory of the world, and therefore do joyfully miniſter unto them, becauſe they know they are the great heirs of Heaven, for whom ſuch great things are prepared: Great things are ſpoken of thee, O thou City of God, ſays the Pſalmiſt; Great things are ſpoken of you, O ye Saints of God. If Heaven muſt be ſo glorious to entertain the Saints, how glorious are thoſe for whom heaven is prepared? Says Ahaſuerus, What ſhall be done to the man whom the King will honor? O what ſhall be done to thoſe whom an infinite God hath ſet his heart upon to raiſe to honor, and to manifeſt to Angels, and to all the world, what his infinite power is able to do in raiſing of a creature to glory: In the Saints there is a meeting, as it were of the beams of Gods grace and goodneſs as in a center, and that muſt needs be very warm and hot indeed. The beams of the Sun in the circumference ſcattered in the ayr, are warm; but in a glaſs, where they are united together as it were in a center, there they warm after another maner, there they burn; ſo all the works of Gods grace abroad in the world, they are as the beams of the Sun in the circumference, that are ſcattered abroad; but in his people there is the center where they are united together, and there they burn, and are glorious indeed, and therefore high and honorable thoughts you ought to have of the Saints. It is a great argument to ſhew Gods greatneſs, that all the creatures in the world are his, and for him. What an argument then is it to ſet forth the greatneſs of a Chriſtian, that Heaven, and God, and Chriſt, and all are his and for him? and this hath been ſhewn in this glorious recompence of reward: How great and honorable then ſhould they be in our eyes?
Eighthly, if there be ſuch a glorious reward, and 8.great things prepared for Gods people, then what love is due to Chriſt, and to the Goſpel, and to the ways of godlineſs?
Firſt, love to the Lord Chriſt, who is the cauſe of all this.1.
Secondly, to the Goſpel that reveals theſe things 2.to us.
Thirdly, to the ways of godlineſs that leads to all 3.this: great and bleſſed are the things of the Kingdom What love is due to Chriſt.of Heaven; from whence is all this? It is the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, from whom all this comes, another reward was due to us, we were wretched guilty creatures, fire-brands of hell, children of perdition, caſt out unto an eternal curſe; but the Lord Chriſt, who was the wiſdom of the Father, ſet his heart upon us, and ſpake for us from all eternity, and would not ſatisfie himſelf in delivering of mankinde from that miſerable and loſt condition in which they were, but ſo ſet his heart upon them, as he intended to make it his great work for the manifeſtation of the riches of his grace, to raiſe this poor wretched creature to a height of happineſs and glory, that it might appear to Angels, to the world, yea to the bleſſed Trinity it ſelf, what the Son of God is able to do, to raiſe a creature from miſery unto glory; and ſo his heart was ſet upon mankinde, that though it muſt coſt him the eclipſing of his own glory, though he muſt come to be made a prey to the world, and if a man, a man of ſorrows, yea, made a curſe it ſelf in the abſtract, that man might have this glory and happineſs, and yet he was content with all; and at laſt this is all he prays for as a fruit of his ſufferings and merits, Father, I will that they alſo whom thou haſt given me, be where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou haſt given me; as if he ſhould ſay, If I can but have this, I am well, I have enough for all the ſufferings that I did endure. This indeed is called a reward, but it is the reward of another maner of righteouſneſs then our own; were it that there were no other righteouſneſs but our own, though our own ſhould be true righteouſneſs, the reward would never come to this height; but this is firſt the reward of the merit, of the death, of the blood, and of the perfect righteouſneſs of the Son of God, and ſo in him it comes to be our reward, therefore it is Chriſt that is our life, and happineſs, and glory. O let us joyn with thoſe bleſſed Elders in Rev. 5. 8, 9. that fell down before the Lamb, having all harps in their hands, and golden vials full of odours, and ſung, Worthy art thou who waſt ſlain, and haſt redeemed us unto God by thy blood, to receive honor, and bleſsing, and glory; and that we might joyn in that bleſſed melody that St. John heard in that Chapter, in Verſe 13. He heard all creatures in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and in the Sea, ſaying, Bleſsing, honor, glory and power, be unto him that ſitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever; that we might ſay Amen to this. If any man wiſh good to us, we count it worthy of love; but the Lord Chriſt having wrought ſuch infinite good for us as this, how ſhould our hearts be enflamed to him, and that none ſhould be dear to us, and prized of us in compariſon of Chriſt: Let us cry out with that bleſſed Martyr, None but Chriſt, none but Chriſt.
Again, how ſhould our ſouls love the Goſpel, and prize the Goſpel, that hath revealed all this to us? In 2 Tim. 1. 10. it is ſaid, Life and immortality is brought to light by the Goſpel: Theſe are the things that in compariſon were kept hid from the beginning of the world, before the manifeſtation of the Goſpel, but now they are revealed: O bleſſed be God that we had the preaching of the Goſpel amongſt us, to open the treaſures of grace to us in this maner. What poor low thoughts ſhould we have had of the happineſs of mankinde, had not God made known theſe glorious things in the Miniſtery of the Goſpel? Many wiſe men by the light of nature have riſen high in the contemplations of happineſs, that mans nature is capable of, but how far beneath theſe things have their higheſt thoughts been? It is a great part of the glory of the Goſpel, that it ſets out unto us theſe high and glorious things.
And then the ways of godlineſs, thoſe we ſhould 3.love, becauſe thoſe are the ways that lead and tend How we ſhould love the ways of godlineſs.to all this; godlineſs hath the promiſe of the life to come, as well as the promiſe of this life annexed to it: Were the ways of godlineſs never ſo hard and rough, never ſo difficult, yet they are glorious ways, and to be loved, becauſe of the glorious end they tend unto: Great is the gain of godlineſs, if theſe things be believed. You that are Merchants love and prize trading and merchandizing that brings in great gain; as ſome in a way of trading and merchandizing, by a bargain in a morning will bring in a hundred pounds, when as many other poor people are fain to work hard to get a ſhilling or eighteen pence a day; now you prize that trade that with a few words can get in ſo much: O prize the trade of godlineſs then, there is gain to be had. I may compare all the works of morality, and common grace, to the poor mean trade of the laboring man, that is fain to work hard for a ſhilling or eight pence a day, they work, and get but ſome few outward bleſſings from God, but godlineſs is the trade of merchandiſing, that brings in hundreds together, and that our hearts ſhould be upon; God would have our hearts to be after great and glorious things. It is an expreſſion of Cleopatra to Marcus Antonius, It is not for you to be fiſhing for Gudgeons, but for Towns, and Forts, and Caſtles: And ſo thoſe that are acquainted with the ways of godlineſs, it is not for them to be trading for poor things, but for eternal life, glory and immortality.
The ninth Uſe, is an Uſe of Examination, to know who thoſe are that have intereſt in theſe glorious 9.things, to the anſwering of that queſtion in Pſalm 15. Who ſhall abide in thy Tabernable? who ſhall dwell in thy holy hill? I confeſs that Pſalm does principally aim at communion with the Church of God; ſuch as are fit for communion with a Church, are fit for heaven, and therefore the queſtion may be true, Who ſhall dwell in thy holy hill? who ſhall be partakers of theſe things? Bleſſed are they that ſhall eat bread in the Kingdom of God; But who are they? It is neceſſary you ſhould labor to make this ſure, becauſe it is a matter ſo great, and ſo glorious, and not to lay the weight of that which is of infinite conſequence, upon poor, weak, ſlight, and ſandy foundations; certainly we do not know what the grace of God towards mankinde is, if we content our ſelves with ſlight hopes; but if God hath enlightned your ſouls to know the reality and glory of them, they wil never be at reſt, till you have got certain and infallible grounds for them. In things of ſmall conſequence we are content with ſlight evidences, but if a man have to deal in any buſineſs upon which his whole eſtate depends, he would not have any man think it ill if he does make ſure, if he will have bonds and ſeals: ſo we ſhould make ſure of heaven, and of glory, becauſe it is ſuch a great matter.
Some I ſuppoſe, that meerly upon the hearing of the greatneſs of theſe things, cannot but have ſome miſgiving thoughts; If theſe things be ſo great, ſurely they concern not me, they belong not to me; Can I think in my conſcience that I am that man or woman that God ſhould have ſuch great thoughts upon, and ſhould look upon me, ſo as to make it the greateſt deſign that he hath to glorifie the riches of his mercy upon me? What work of Gods grace have I ever had upon me? I would not have thoſe that are affected with the greatneſs of Gods grace to mankinde, think that theſe things do not belong to them becauſe they are great. But thoſe that never had their hearts affected with the excellency and glory of Gods grace toward man, when they hear of the greatneſs and glory of thoſe things that are reſerved for the Saints, they may juſtly have their conſciences miſgive them, and think ſurely they do not belong to them. Canſt thou that art a baſe drunkard, that prizeſt nothing but a little drink, and ſome outward things, think that God ſhould make it the greateſt work that he hath in the world, for to communicate the riches of his grace and goodneſs unto thee? The greatneſs of theſe things may be enough to caſt thee off; As it is with a Beggar, a Beggar comes and asks an alms, if a man put his hand in his pocket, and take out a peny or two pence, he hath hope to have that; but if he take out a piece of gold, he hath no hope of that, becauſe it is ſo much: So when men have but natural thoughts of heaven and happineſs hereafter, you think you might have that, but when you come to have heaven opened to you, and you ſee it is ſuch a great and glorious thing, your hearts may juſtly think it is not for us. Caſt a bone to a Dog, he falls to it preſently, but ſet a joynt of meat before him well dreſt, in a large diſh, and he goes away, he dares not venture upon that: So for theſe things in the world, the ordinary favors of God, theſe bones that God caſts to Dogs, you may fall upon them, and think theſe are for you; but when you come to the dainties, and infinite treaſures of God, can ſuch a ſwiniſh heart, ſuch a baſe, filthy, unclean ſpirit as yours is, that never minded nothing but the ſatisfying of your baſe luſts, think that theſe are for you? you cannot but have miſgiving thoughts, and think either theſe things are but notions, or elſe I have no part in them.