Early Piety Exemplified, Sermon 2
THE GOOD END OF A GOOD WALK.
GEN. V. 24.
foreign And he was not, for God took him.
THe Walk of Holy and Happy Men, has been the Subject of our Diſcourſe. Behold the End of that Walk, now offering it ſelf unto conſideration with us. The Pſalmiſt hath ſaid unto us, in Pſal. 37. 37. Mark the perfect, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace. In the bleſſed Enoch we may ſee ſuch an End of ſuch a Man. Two little Clauſes comprize the Account which Moſes has given of it; and the double Eſtate of this Great Saint is therein referred unto.
Firſt, It is ſaid, He was not. This points at that Eſtate which he paſſed from. You may conceive what he was, in regard of his Condition and Employment here: But now he was not that Sufferer, he was not that Preacher any more.
Secondly, It is ſaid, God took him. This points at that Eſtate which he paſſed into. Good took him to Himſelf, God took him unto all that Light, and Life, and Heaven, which the Angels themſelves had before the Aſcenſion of the Lord Jeſus Chriſt.
All that we have hitherto been told, ſeems to be no more than what befalls every godly Man. But no leſs an Interpreter than the Spirit of God himſelf, by the Apoſtle Paul, has illuſtrated this Text with a more ſurprizing Interpretation of it. Conſult Heb. 11. 5. and we have this Paraphraſe hereupon: Here it is ſaid, He was not: There 'tis ſaid, He was not Found. It ſeems that this Famous Prophet ſuddenly …ſappeared from the view of the World: All Mankind with Wonder ſought, and ask'd, and look'd after Enoch, as they did after Elijah at another time; but they could not find him. Why? What vvas become of him? Here 'tis ſaid, God took him: There 'tis ſaid, God had tranſlated him, that he ſhould not ſee Death. This was a very marvellous Providence! He had born a zealous Witneſs for the Worſhip, and the Truths, and the ways of God, againſt a wicked World. God vvould make them ſee that he own'd the Teſtimony, and the Converſation of this vvorthy Man. Hence, though Abel was murdered for his Piety, Enoch ſhall be tranſlated for his: He was immediately fetched, and changed into the Circumſtances of the Glorified. Thus he became, as Tertullian ſays of him, A Candidate of Eternity.
The Doctrine which we are hence allowed an Application of, is,
DOCT. To be taken by God from a Mortal Eſtate on Earth, to a Glorious Eſtate in Heaven, is the Priveledge of them that Walk with him.
PROP. I.
They that Walk with God, ſhall be Taken by God from their Mortal Eſtate on Earth. The Scholars of the Colledge at Bethel, ſaid once unto Elijah, in 2 King. 2. 3. Knoweſt thou that the Lord will take away thy maſter from thy head to day? And he ſaid, Yea, I know it. In like manner it may be ſaid unto the Body of the Chriſtian; Knoweſt thou that the Lord will take away thy Maſter, thy Spirit from thy Head, into another ſtate one day? Every Believer may reply, Yes, I know that it will be ſo. Our Estate in this World, is an Eſtate of Tryal; God is here Trying, and Framing, and Shaping of us, in order to everlaſting Happineſs or Miſery. And it is an Eſtate of Trouble too: Our Fall from God, is the occaſion of the many Diſtreſſes that belong unto it. This Mortal Estate of ours, the Lord will one day take us from. One day, but on what day ſhall this Deliverance be? Truly at our laſt day, at the Day of our Death, at the day that we are moſt ready to tremble at: On that Day the Lord will deliver us from the hand of all our enemies, and from the hand of ſin.
Firſt, God will take the Believer from the ſtate of a Sinner here. The dolorous Anguiſhes of the beſt Men alive, are like thoſe of the Apoſtle in Rom. 7. 24. O wretched man that I am! who ſhall deliver me from the body of this death? Soul, I will tell thee what ſhall do it; The Death of this Body ſhall. That, that will do the deed. The Believer is now lamenting, My iniquities are more than the hairs of my head; he is now lamenting, My wounds ſtink, and are corrupt, becauſe of my fooliſhneſs. But we ſhall not always be complaining ſo; God will take us from all our Corruptions; God will take us from all our Diſorders; God will take us from the reach of ſo much as one vain Thought for evermore. I may ſpeak after Moſes in Deut. 12. 8. Ye ſhall not do after all the things that we do here this day; though ye are not as yet come to the reſt which the Lord your God giveth you. When the Walls of this Clay Tabernacle are batter'd down, all the Leproſie which now cleaves unto us, will be done away. We ſhall ſhortly take an eternal farewel of every Luſt, and ſay, Be gone, thou vile thing, be gone, I will never ſee thee more. Indeed, it was the curſed Womb of ſin, from vvhichwhich Death at firſt came into the World. But O the Myſtery of Divine Wiſdom! The Daughter deſtroys the Mother, and by Death ſhall ſin go out of the World again.
Secondly, God will take the Believer from the ſtate of a Mourner here. There are many and mighty Temptations, which now cauſe us to vex, as Rebeckah did at her Annoyances, in Gen. 27. 46. I am weary of my life! Yea, but vvhen thy life is expired, they ſhall never weary thee any more. God will take us from all ſeducing Temptations, and remove all Evil Counſellors from our preſence for ever. The fiery Darts of the Devil ſhall not reach us and wound us as heretofore. We ſhall not be put upon ſaying, Get thee behind me, Satan; for Satan ſhall be far enough below us. The time will come, when we ſhall march as Conquerors thorough theſe Territories of the Prince of the Power of the Air; and at the utmoſt Borders thereof, we ſhall give ſuch a triumphant Shout, Adieu, foul Fiend, adieu! The Son of David will never let me come into thy devouring Jaws again. We ſhall go likewiſe from the Intanglements of the World. The things of this World, we ſhall turn our backs upon, as upon poor Trifles, poor Nothings, and miſerable Comforters; and vve ſhall ſay, To the Fire I leave you all. The Men of this World, vve ſhall be no more flattered or terrified vvithal; but laugh at all the Favour and all the Fury of thoſe poor Worms, and ſay, as our Saviour to the Jews, Whither I go, you cannot come. God will take us from all afflicting Temptations too. As for our Spirits, we ſhall not weep as we do now, under our Doubts and our Fears, nor any more ſay, God counteth me for his Enemy. As for our Bodies, we ſhall drop them; and all the Ails, and all the Pains of them, as Elijah did his Mantle of old. As for our Names, we ſhall be gone from the ſcourge of the Tongue; there ſhall be no Shimei to curſe us in the New-Jeruſalem which we go unto. No Loſſes, no Croſſes will then affect us; nor Cain's Club of Perſecution ever lay a blow upon us any more.
Thirdly, God will take the Believer from the ſtate of a Waiter here. It is the Voice of all good Men, in 2 Cor. 5. 2. We groan earneſtly deſiring to be cloathed upon with our houſe which is from Heaven. Our laſt groans will put a period unto thoſe groans. God will take us from our Faith, and from our Hope; it ſhall be turned into Sight, and Love, and Joy, World without end. We ſhall, e're long, leave looking for the Reſt which remaineth for the People of God: Leave looking for that City, whoſe Builder and Maker is God: Leave looking the Crown of Life, the Crown that fadeth not away. We ſhall have what we have been looking for; and we ſhall be taken from our humble, prayerful, careful Expectations of it. We ſhall no more be panting after the Promiſe, and ſaying, O when will it come unto me! All the ſure Mercies of the Covenant will ſay unto us, We are come, we are come; we are now thine for evermore.
PROP. II.
They that Walk with God, ſhall be taken by God unto a glorious Eſtate in Heaven too.
We ſhall be taken by God, when we are taken by Death. But unto what ſhall we be taken? A New Sight will chiefly conſtitute the New State vvhichwhich God will take us to. In ſhort, we ſhall be taken to a Full, Refreſhing, Transforming ſight of God in Chriſt, among the Righteous for ever. I ſhall give but a touch at theſe things; we do but ſtammer and ſtumble vvhen we attempt a Deſcription of them. Indeed, I know not vvhether I had beſt offer at any Deſcription of this glorious Eſtate; or inſtead thereof, only ſay as he ſaid unto Nathanael once, Go and ſee. Yet however, this little Cluſter of Notions we may carry with us to the heavenly Countrey, from vvhence they were brought unto us.
Firſt, God will take the Believer unto a ſtate wherein he ſhall be immediately beholding of himſelf in Chriſt Jeſus. We ſhall come into the Preſence of our Lord, and behold our Joſeph, our Jeſus, in all his glory. There ſhall then be fulfilled that part of our Lord's Interceſſion, in Joh. 17. 24. Let them be with me, where I am, that they may behold my glory. God will take us, where we ſhall ſee the Countenance, and hear the Conference too of that Man, in vvhom dwells the fulneſs of the Godhead bodily. God will take us into the Embraces of him vvho has loved us, and waſhed us away from our ſins in his own blood. And when we ſee him, we ſhall ſee God in him. I ſuppoſe that he is the large Golden Veſſel full of God, from which the heavenly Viſions of God are to be derived for evermore. Our Felicity ſhall be that in Mat. 5. 8. They ſhall ſee God. God will take us, vvhere we ſhall be made ſenſible of his Attributes and Perfections, in a meaſure that we are not us'd unto. God will take us, vvhere we ſhall not ſo much in any Creature as in the Mediator, ſee him that is Inviſible.
Secondly, God will take the Believer unto a State wherein he ſhall be wonderfully Conformed to Himſelf and Chriſt Jeſus. The Children of God have His Nature, His Image now upon them, they ſhall hereafter arrive to the fulneſs of it, and be filled with all the fulneſs of God: The Pſalmiſt could ſay, in Pſal. 17. 15. I ſhall be ſatisfied, when I awake with the likeneſs of God. God will take us vvhere our Knowledge will be enlarged like the ſands on the Sea-ſhore: Where our Vertue ſhall be compleated into an Heart after God's own Heart: God will take us, vvhere the Sun of Righteouſneſs will repleniſh us with bright Beams of Light and Love, until we be like him, for we ſhall ſee him as he is.
Thirdly, God will take the Believer into a State, wherein he ſhall enjoy the beſt Society of moſt Righteous Ones. We ſhall be able to ſpeak after the manner of the Apoſtle, in Heb. 12. 22. I am come to an innumerable company of Angels, and to the general Aſſembly of the firſt-born. The Angels they are our Guardians now: God will take us, where they ſhall be our intimate Companions. We ſhall move and live among thoſe morning Stars: The Firſt-born, they are our Familiars here; we covet their being ſo, notwithſtanding all the Folly and Error, and Ill humour that is often in them: God will take us, vvhere we ſhall aſſociate our ſelves with all that ever feared God, and not one breach of Charity, ſhall ever diſturb our Converſation there.
Fourthly, The State which God will take the Believers into the Comforts of, will be an Eternal State. God will take us to an Houſe; but what a one? We read in 2 Cor. 5. 1. It will be an eternal Houſe. God will take us to a Glory: But of what ſort is it? We read in 1 Pet. 5. 10. It is an eternal glory. God will take us to an Inheritance; But how long ſhall it laſt? We read in Heb. 9. 15. It is an Eternal Inheritance. Truly it is a Life Eternal which our God will take us to. We ſhall be in it as many Millions of Ages as there are Drops in the Ocean, or Atoms in the Univerſe; yet Believer thou ſhalt ſay, My Heaven will infinitely outlaſt as many Ages more:
Prop. III.
There is a variety of Diſpenſation uſed by God in his thus taking of them that Walk with him.
The Lords taking of Men is, in general by his changing of them, it is by making that they ſhall not be: Not an Annihilation, but a vaſt Alteration happens to Believers; when it ſhall be ſaid of them, They are not! And then they are taken by the Lord: And in particular it is managed three ſuch ways as theſe.
Firſt, It is by Dying; when we Dye, then we are not. The Dying Man may ſay, as in Pſal. 39. 13. I go hence, I am no more. The Dead Man is not a Man in ſuch a place, he is not a Man of ſuch a Thought, he is not acting upon ſuch Objects as he was before. When a Man is ready to Dye, we perceive it by Changing, as we call it, of the Man; much more, when a Man is dead he is a changed Man. Then it is that we are taken by the Lord: Thus it is ſaid, in Iſa. 57. 1. The Righteous is taken away. The Spirit is then taken to all the Delights and Pleaſures that a ſeparate Soul can feed upon.
Secondly, It is by Riſing. When vve Riſe at the laſt day, then vve are not; vve are not ſuch feeble vvretched things as we are this day. The Reſurrection will bring a marvellous Change on the Subjects of it: It is the Speech of Job, in Ch. 14. 14. If a man dye, ſhall he live again? He ſeems to refute vvhat he did recite juſt before as the Opinion of too many Men, and ſay now, Yes, that he ſhall find. And hence it is added, I will wait all the Dayes of my appointed time until my Change come. What Change is that? I will not exclude or oppoſe the common ſenſe of it; yet I would humbly ſuggeſt, vvhy may it not be the Change which the next Words referr unto? Thou ſhalt call and I will anſwer thee; thou wilt have a deſire to the work of thine Hands. At the Reſurrection it will be ſo; God will then have a Deſire to ſee our once Curious, but novv Rotten Body, ſet in order again, he ſhall then call, Ariſe, ye Dead, where are you? Ariſe! And we ſhall ſtart out of the Duſt, as it were, anſvvering, Lord! I come! This the Departed Soul is to keep waiting for. It ſeems more than a Moment, it may ſeem a long while to the Soul 'till this be accompliſhed: Then it is alſo that we are taken by the Lord: with ſome reſpect unto this our Lord ſaid unto his Diſciples, in Joh. 14. 3. I will come again, and take you unto my ſelf: The Body is then alſo taken, to be an Incorruptible, a Spiritual, and a Powerful Inſtrument of the Soul in all the motions of it.
Thirdly, There is another Taking that ſome have Experience of, and that is by Tranſlation. There are ſome Perſons, in whom the Ʋnion between their ſpirits and their bodies never is diſſolved; by the Miniſtry of Angels they are both in ſpirit and in body too made capable of a preſent entrance into the Kingdom of God, and ſo thoſe vvinged Meſſengers of Heaven carry them avvay, vvithout any more ado. This vvas the Prerogative of Enoch before the Law, and of Elijah under it: I believe this would have been the Caſe of all Men, if Adam had not ſinned vvhen he did; and there are many thouſands of Pious People vvith vvhom it will yet be ſo. At the ſecond Coming of our Lord, there will be multitudes of Chriſtians in the World; vvhat vvill become of them, vvhen the Fire of God ſhall be flaming and raging as far as Noah's Flood did extend of old? How ſhall they get out of the vvay of that horrible Fire that ſhall conſume and carry all before page missing
be? Hear Davids Anſwer to that Queſtion, in 1 Chron. 28. 15. Our days on Earth are as a Shadow, and there is none abiding: Let James anſwer it, in Jam. 4. 14. What is your Life? it is even a Vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and vaniſhes away: Let Jo… anſwer it, in Job. 9. 25. My dayes are ſwifter than a Poſt; they are paſſed away as the ſwift Ships; as an Eagle that haſtens to the Prey. Our Age is now contracted into Seventy Years, and how few reach to Seventy, in compariſon of them that never ſee Twenty of them! Beſides, a big part of our few dayes are already paſt and gone with many of us: How many may ſadly ſit and ſigh and ſay this day, I have been here but a little while, yet I cannot now be ſo long more, as I have already been!
Conſider, 2. If God then take us not, who will? I have read of a profane Monſter who on one ſide of his Sword had the Picture of Christ, on the other ſide the Picture of the Devil; with this Motto under it, Si tu non vis, iſte rogitat: If He won't Take me, here's One that will. Horrid Creature! But that Frenzy is almoſt equalled among us, by thoſe that wiſh the Devil to take them every day: Alas! that, that will be the horrible Deſtruction of them that ſhall not be taken by the Lord. It is a fearful Curſe upon the wicked Man, in Pſal. 109. 6. Let Satan ſtand at his right hand: Thus, O thus it will be. When the Soul of a wicked Man is going away, a Devil, a Dragon ſtands by his Bed-ſide, and will take, and hold, and wound that miſerable Soul. Yea, there is a more aſtoniſhing Vengeance to come upon ſuch a Man. If a Man be not taken by the ſaving Hands, he will be taken by the damning Hands of God himſelf. The Hands of the Great and Terrible God, will for ever take thoſe that fall thereinto; and ſmite them and ſlay them with immediate Impreſſions of his Fiery Wrath. But what ſayes the Apoſtle, in Heb. 10. 31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the living God.
What, what ſhall now be done by us? in ſhort; let us be Walking with God, and we ſhall be taken by God. Say now, every Soul, as in Mic. 4. 5. We will walk in the Name of our God for ever and ever. Elijah was taken as he was walking: Let us Walk thus, and God will take us: Be ſure God will take us, if we take Him. Let us take him as our Lord; take him as our End; take him as our exceeding great Reward. Thus take Him in our Walk, and He will take us from our Walk to our Crown.
ƲSE II. Conſolation.
Let it be our Joy, that when we are not, we ſhall be taken by the Lord.
Behold a Cordial here, againſt three ſorts of Exerciſes.
Firſt, Againſt all the Troubles of this Life.
We are apt to be diſcouraged at the Difficulties of this Evil World: But the Voice of our God unto us, is that, in Luke 21. 28. Lift up your Heads, for your Redemption draweth nigh. E're long you ſhall not be; and then your Afflictions too, they ſhall not be: God will take you from them all. And what ſays Paul's Calculation, in Rom. 8. 18. For I reckon (he ſpeaks like an Arithmetician, or an Accomptant) that the ſufferings of this preſent time, are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which ſhall be Revealed. When two Engliſh Proteſtants, one that was Blind, another that was Lame, were leading to be Burned, they ſo cheared one another, Well fare we, we ſhall need our Crutches and our Guides no more after this. Thus let us in all our Trials think, When I am beyond the Stars, I never ſhall be under the Clouds any more. Have you any Sorrows hard to bear? Are you afflicted in your Friends? Haſt thou like David, a Son that makes thee ſay, My life is ſpent with Grief? Haſt thou like Jephtah, a Daughter that makes thee ſay, Alas! thou haſt brought me very low, thou art one of them that trouble me? Haſt thou Job's or Abigail's Yoke upon thee? O think, I ſhall ſhortly be gone from the Light and Senſe of ſuch things as theſe. Are you afflicted in your Names? Are you like Elijah, counted a Troubler of Iſrael? or like Jeremiah, a Man of Contention; or like Paul, a Peſtilent Fellow, and a mover of Sedition? O think, I ſhall meet with none of theſe Reproaches where I am going? Are you afflicted in your Bodies, or your Eſtates? Are you like Timothy, cruciated with often Infirmities? Or like Naomi, going out full, and coming home empty of Temporal Goods? O think, I ſhall quickly be where a Spital or an Alms-houſe, tbere never was any occaſion for. Are there any ſnares that you are too often trepan'd into? O think of the Time when all this Earth ſhall be to you as an Inviſible point; think, The page missing Dy'd; and ſee how they Covenanted, and Walked and Lived with the Lord. Methinks theſe do now call unto us, as in Luk. 23. 28. Weep not for me, but weep for your ſelves: Does Jacob ſay, Joſeph is not? Does Rachel ſay, My Children are not? Why, has God taken them? they belo… ed unto Him. 'Tis ſaid, in Joh. 11. …. Jeſus wept over Lazarus: One of the Ancients affirms, it was not becauſe he was Dead, but becauſe he was about to be made Alive again. I do not juſtifie the Gloſs; but I am ſure our departed Ones, as it were call unto us, from the lofty Battlements of Heaven, We would not be with you again for all the World.
Let us then riſe, and waſh and change our Apparel, and ſay, I will go to them, they ſhall not return unto me.