A Christian Library, Chapter 21
CHAP. XXI.
Sect. 1. BUt for the better confirming of this so important a …
First, If the Sun which is but a creature, be so bright and glorious, that no mortal eye can look upon the brightness of it, how glorious then is the Creator himself? or that light from whence it receives its light? If the frame of the Heavens, and globe of the Earth be so glorious; which is but the lower house, or rather the foot-stool of the Almighty, as the Holy Ghost phraseth it, Isa. 66.1. Matth. 5.35. Act. 7.49. how glorious and wonderfull is the Maker thereof, and the City where he keeps his Court? Or if sinners, even the worst of wicked men, and Gods Enemies, have here in this earthly pilgrimage, such variety of enjoyments to please their very senses; as who can express the pleasurable variety of Objects for the sight; of meats and drinks to satisfie and delight the taste; of voyces and melodious sounds, to recreate the hearing; of sents and perfumes, provided to accommodate our very smellings; of recreations and sports, to bewitch the whole man: And the like of honour and profit, which are Idols that carnal men do mightily dote upon and take pleasure in: (though these earthly and bodily joyes are but the body, or rather the dregs of true joy,) what think we must be the soul thereof, viz. those delights and pleasures, that are reserved for the glorified Saints, and Gods dearest darlings in Heaven? Again,
Secondly, If natural men find such pleasure and sweetness in secular wisdom, lip-learning, and brain-knowledg; For even mundane knowledg hath such a shew of excellency in it, that it is highly affected both by the good and bad; As, O the pleasure that rational men take therein! It being so fair a Virgin, that every clear eye is in love with her; so rich a Pearl, … at none but Swine do despise it: yea among all the Trees in the Garden, none so takes with rational men as the Tree of knowledg; (as Satan well knew, when he set upon our first Parents) insomuch that Plato thinks, in case wisdom could but represent it self unto the eyes, it would set the heart on fire with the love of it. And others affirm, That there is no less difference between the Learned and the Ignorant, than there is between the …ing and the dead, or between men and beasts. And yet the pleasure … …atural and moral men take in secular and mundane knowledg and lea…g, is nothing comparable to that pleasure that an experimental Christian finds in the Divine and Supernatural knowledge of Gods Word: which makes David and Solomon prefer it before the honey and the honeycomb for sweetness; and to value it above thousands of gold and silver; yea, before Pearls and all precious stones for worth. How sweet then shall our knowledg in Heaven be? For here we see but darkly, and as it were in a glass, or by moon-light; but there we shall know, even as we are known, and see God and Christ in the face, 1 Cor. 13.12.
Thirdly, if meer Naturians have been so taken with the love of Vertue, that they thought if a vertuous soul could but be seen with corporal eyes, it would ravish all men with love and admiration thereof; yea if the very worst of men, drunkards, blasphemers, and the like; though they most spitefully scoff at, and backbite the people of God; yet when they know a man sincere, upright and honest, cannot choose … … touching Iohn, and King Agrippa touching Paul.
Sect. 2. Or rather if Gods own people are so ravished with the graces and priviledges which they enjoy upon earth, as the assurance of the pardon of sin, the peace of a good conscience, and joy of the Holy Ghost; which is but glorification begun: what will they be, when they shall enjoy the perfection of glory in Heaven? As see but some instances of their present enjoyments here below. First, if we were never to receive any reward for those small labours of love, and duties we do to the glory of God, and profit of others; we might think our selves sufficiently recompenced in this life, with the calm and quietness of a good conscience, the honesty of a vertuous and holy life: That we can do and suffer something for the love of Christ, who hath done and suffered so much to save us: That by our works the Majesty of God is magnified; to whom all homage is due, and all service too little. For Godliness in every sickness is a Physitian, in every contention an Advocate, in every doubt a Schoolman, in all heaviness a Preacher, and a comforter unto whatsoever estate it comes; making the whole life as it were a perpetual Halleluja. Yea, God so sheds his love abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, that we are in Heaven before we come thither. Insomuch, that as the fire flyeth to his Sphere, the stone hastens to the center, the River to the Sea, as to their end and rest; and are violently detained in all other places; so are the hearts of Gods people, without their Maker and Redeemer, their last end and eternal rest and quietness, never at rest: like the Needle touched with the Loadstone, which ever stands quivering and trembling until it enjoyes the full and direct aspect of the Northern Pole. But more particularly:
How does the assurance of the pardon of sin alone, clear and calm al… storms of the mind; making any condition comfortable, and the worst and greatest misery to be no misery?
To be delivered of a child, is no smal joy to the mother: but to be delivered from sin, is a far greater joy to the soul. But to this we may add the joy of the Holy Ghost, and the peace of conscience, otherwise called the peace of God which passeth all understanding. These are priviledges, that … Paul happier in his chain of Iron, than Agrippa in his chain of gold … Peter more merry under stripes, than Caiaphas upon the Iudgment-seat; and Steven the like under that shower of stones. Pleasures are ours, if we be Christs: whence those expressions of the Holy Ghost, The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we rejoyce. Be glad in the Lord and rejoyce ye righteous, and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart. Let all that put their trust in thee rejoyce, let them even shout for joy. Rejoyce evermore, and again, I say, rejoyce; rejoyce with joy unspeakable, and full of glory. Our rejoycing is this, the testimony of our conscience. Your heart shall rejoyce, and your joy shall no man take from you, &c. So that it is a shame for the faithfull, not to be joyfull; and they sin, if they rejoyce not, whatever their condition be. The Eunuch no sooner felt the pardon of sin, upon his being baptized into the faith of Christ, but he went on his way rejoycing, Act 8.39. He then found more solid joy, than ever he had done in his r…che… honours, and great places under Candace Queen of the Aethiopians. … same time when the Disciples were persecuted, they are said to be filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost, Acts 13.52. And as their afflictions do abound, so their consolations abound also, 2 Cor. 1.5. For these are comforts, that will support and refresh a Child of God in the very midst of the flames, as the Martyrs found: for maugre all their persecutors could do, their peace and joy did exceed their pain; as many of them mani…ested to all that saw them suffer.
Sect. 3. Where observe before we go any further; what sots they are; that cry out, It is in vain to serve God, and unprofitable to keep his Commandments; as it is in Malachy 3.14. For had these fools, but tasted the sweet co…forts that are in the very works of piety, and that Heaven upon earth, the feast of a good conscience, and joy of the inward man; they could not so speak. Yea then would they say, there is no life, to the life of a Christian. For as the Priests of Mercury, when they ate their figs and honey, cryed out, O how sweet is truth! So if the worst of a Believers life in this world be so sweet; how sweet shall his life be in that Heavenly Ierusalem, and holy City, where God himself dwelleth; and where we shall reign with Christ our Bridegroom, and be the Lambs wife? which City is of pure gold like unto clear glass; the walls of Iasper, having twelve foundations garnished with all manner of precious stones; the first foundation being Iasper, the second Saphir, the third a Chaleedony, the fourth an Emerauld, the fifth a Sardonyx, the sixth a Sardius, the seventh a Chrysolite, the eighth a …eryl, the ninth a Topaz, the tenth a Chrysoprasus, the eleventh a Iacinth, the twelfth an Amethyst; having twelve gates of twelve Pearls; the street …hereof of pure gold, as it were transparant glass: In the midst of which City, … a pure River of the water of life, clear as Cristal and of either side the …ree of life; which bears twelve manner of fruits, yielding her fruit every monethmonth; the leaves whereof serve to heal the Nations: Where is the Throne of God and of the Lamb; whom we his servants shall for ever serve, and see his face, and have his Name written in our foreheads. And there shall be no night, neither is there need of the Sun, neither of the Moon to shine in it: for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. Into which nothing that defileth shall enter; but they alone which are written in the Lambs Book of life; As is exprest, Rev. 21, & 22 Chap. The Holy Ghost speaking after the manner of men, and according to our slender capacity, for otherwise no words can in any measure express the transcendency of that place of pleasure. OnelyOnly here we have a taste, or earnest penny, one drop of those divine dainties, of those spiritual, supernatural and divine pleasures, reserved for the Citizens of that heavenly Ierusalem; some small smack whereof we have even in the barren desert of this perillous peregrination. God letting out as it were, a certain kind of Manna, which in some sort refresheth his thirsty people, in this wilderness; as with most sweet honey, or water distilled from out the Rock. As what else are those …ubilees of the heart; those secret and inward joyes which proceed from … good conscience, grounded upon a confident hope of future salvation? … do these great clusters of grapes signifie, but the fertility of … Land of Promise?
Sect. 4. True it is, none can know the spiritual joy and comfort of a Christian, but he that lives the life of a Christian, Joh. 7.17. As none could learn the Virgins Song, but they that sang it, Rev. 14 3. No man can know the peace of a good conscience, but he that keeps a good conscience: no man knows the hid Manna, and white Stone, with a new name written in it, but they that receive the same, Rev. 2.17.
The world can see a Christians outside: but the raptures of his soul, the ravishing delights of the inward man, and joy of his spirit for the remission of his sins, and the infusion of grace, with such like spiritual Priviledges, more glorious than the States of Kingdoms; are as a covered messe to men of the world.
But I may appeal to any mans conscience, that hath been softned with the unction of grace, and truly tasted the powers of the world to come; To him that hath the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost; in whose soul the light of grace shines; whether his whole life be not a perpetual Hallelujah, in comparison of his natural condition? Whether he finds not his joy to be like the joy of harvest? or as men rejoyce when they divide a spoil? Isa. 9.3. Whether he finds not more joy in goodness, than worldlings can do, when their wheat, wine, and oyl aboundeth? Psal. 4.7 & 53.17. Yea, he can speak it out of experience, that as in prophane joy, even in laughter the heart is sorrowfull: so in godly sorrow, even in weeping the heart is light and cheerfull. The face may be pale, yet the heart may be calm and quiet. So St. Paul, as sorrowing, and yet alwayes rejoyceing, 2 Cor. 6.10. Our cheeks may run down with tears, and yet o… mouthes sing forth praises. And so on the contrary,
Where (O God) there wants thy grace,
Mirth is onelyonly in the face; 2 Cor. 5.12
Well may a careless worldling laugh more, as what will sooner make a man laugh than a witty jest? but to hear of an Inheritance of an hundred pounds a year, that is faln to a man, will make him more solidly mer…y within. Light is sown to the righteous, and joy for the upright, Psal. 97.1… My servant, saith God, shall sing and rejoyce: but they shall weep, &c. Isa. 65.14.
Indeed we are not merry enough, because we are not Christians enough, because sin is a cooler of our joy, as water is of fire. And like the worm of Ionah his gourd, bites the very root of our joy, and makes it wither: Yea, sin like a damp, puts out all the lights of our pleasure, and deprives us of the light of Gods countenance, as it did David, Psal. 51.1… & 4.6. So that the fault is either; First, in the too much sensuality of a Christian, that will not forgo the pleasures of sin, or the more muddy joys and pleasures of this world, which are poysons to the soul, and drown our joyes: as Bees are drowned in honey, but live in vinegar. Men would have spiritual joy, but withall they would not part with their carnal joy: Yet this is an infallible Conclusion, There is no enjoying a worldly Paradise here, and another hereafter.
Or Secondly, The fault is in the taste, not in the meat; in the folly of … To taste spirit…al joyes, a man must be spiritual, for the Spirit relisheth onelyonly the things of the Spirit; and like loveth his like. Between a spiritual man, and spiritual joyes, there is as mighty an appetite and enjoying, as between fl…shly meat, and a carnal stomach. Therefore the want of this taste and apprehension condemneth the world to be carnal, but magnifies the joyes spiritual, as being above her carnal apprehension. Or,
Thirdly, Herein lies the fault; few feel these joyes in this life; because they will not crack the shell to get the kernell: they will not pare the fruit, to …at the pulp; nor till the ground, to reap the Harvest. They …lie the wars, and thereby lose the glory of the Victory. They will not dig the craggy mountain, to find the mine of gold. Nor prune the Vine, therefore enjoy not the fruit. They …lie mortification, and therefore attain not the sweet spiritual consolation, which ever attends the same. And so much for the Reasons. The Use may be manifold.