To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.
11. COnsider;* 1.1 Should not our interest in Heaven, and our Rela∣tion to it, continually keep our hearts upon it? Besides that excellency which is spoken of before. VVhy there our Father keeps his court; Do we not call him our Father which art in Hea∣ven: Ah ungratious unworthy children, that can be so taken up in their play below, as to be mindless of such a Father! Also there is
Christ our Head, our Husband, our Life: and shall we not look to∣wards him, and send to him, as oft as we can, till we come to see him face to face? If he were by Transubstantiation in the Sacra∣ments or other ordinances, and that as gloriously as he is in Heaven, then there were some reason for our lower thoughts: But when the Heavens must receive him till the restitution of all things; let them also receive our hearts with him. There also is our Mother, For Jerusalem which is above is that mother of us all, Gal. 4.26. And there are multitudes of our elder Brethren: There are our friends and our ancient acquaintance, whose society in the flesh we so much delighted in, and whose departure hence we so much lamented: And is this no attractive to thy thoughts? If they were within thy reach on earth, thou wouldst go and visit them; and why wilt thou not oftner visit them in Spirit? and rejoyce beforehand to think of thy meeting them there again? Saith old Bullinger, Socrates gaudet sibi moriendū esse, propterea quod Homerum, Hesiodum & alios praestantissimos viros se visurum crederet; quanto magis ego gaudeo qui certus sum me visurum esse Christum servatorem meum, aeter∣num Dei filium, in assumtâ carne, & praeterea tot sanctissimos & exi∣mios Patriarchas? &c. Socrates rejoyced that he should die, because he believed he should see Homer, Hesiod, and other excellent men; how much more do I rejoyce, who am sure to see Christ my Saviour, the eternal Son of God, in his assumed flesh; and besides, so many holy and excellent men? When Luther desired to dye a Martyr, and could not obtain it, he comforted himself with these thoughts, and thus did write to them in prison, Vestra vincula mea sunt, vestri carceres & ignes mei sunt, dum confiteor & praedico vobisque simul compatior & congratulor; Yet this is my comfort, your Bonds are mine, your Prisons and Fires are mine, while I confess and Preach the Doctrine for which you suffer, and while I suffer and congratulate with you in your sufferings: Even so should a Be∣liever look to heaven, and contemplate the blessed state of the Saints, and think with himself, Though I am not yet so happy as to be with you, yet this is my daily comfort, you are my Brethren and fellow Members in Christ, and therefore your joyes are my joyes, and your glory by this neer relation is my glory, especially while I believe in the same Christ, and hold fast the same Faith and Obedience, by which you were thus dignified; and also while I re∣joyce in Spirit with you, and in my daily meditations congratulate
your happiness. Moreover, our house and home is above. For we know if this earthly house of our Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. Why do we then look no oftner towards it? and groan not earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from Heaven? 2 Cor. 5.1, 2. Sure, if our home were far meaner, we should yet remember it, because it is our home: You use to say, Home is homely, be it never so poor; and should such a home then be no more remembred? If you were but banished into a strange Land, how frequent thoughts would you have of home? how oft would you think of your old companions? which way ever you went, or what company soever you came in, you would still have your hearts, and desires there; you would even dream in the night, that you were at home, that you saw your Father, or Mother, or Friends, that you were talking with Wife, or Children, or Neigh∣bors: And why is it not thus with us in respect of Heaven? Is not that more truly, and properly our home, where we must take up our everlasting abode, then this, which we are looking every hour, when we are separated from, and shall see it no more? VVe are strangers, and that is our Countrey, Heb. 11 14, 15. VVe are heirs, and that is our Inheritance; even an Inheritance, incorrupti∣ble and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for us, 1 Pet. 1.4. VVe are here in continual distress, and want, and there lies our substance; even that better and more enduring sub∣stance, Heb. 10.34. VVe are here fain to be beholden to others, and there lies our own perpetual Treasure, Matth. 6.20, 21. Yea, the very Hope of our souls is there; all our hope of relief from our distresses; all our hope of happiness, when we are here miser∣able; all this hope is laid up for us in Heaven, whereof we hear in the true VVord of the Gospel, Col. 1.5. VVhy, beloved Christians, have we so much interest, and so seldom thoughts? have we so near relation, and so little affection? are we not ashamed of this? Doth it become us to be delighted in the company of strangers, so as to forget our Father, and our Lord? or to be so well pleased with those that hate and grieve us, as to forget our best and dearest friends? or to be so besotted with borrowed trifles, as to forget our own possession and treasure? or to be so taken up with a strange place, as not once a day to look toward home? or to fall so in love with tears and wants, as to forget our eternal Joy, and
Rest? Christians, I pray you think whether this become us? or whether this be the part of a wife or thankful man? why here thou art like to other men, as the heir under age, who differs not from a servant; but there it is that thou shalt be promoted, and fully estated in all that was promised. Surely, God useth to plead his propriety in us, and from thence to conclude to do us good; even because we are his own people, whom he hath chosen out of all the world: And why then do we not plead our interest in him, and thence fetch Arguments to raise up our hearts, even be∣cause he is our own God, and because the place is our own posses∣sion? Men use in other things to over-love, and over-value their own, and too much to minde their own things: O, that we could minde our own inheritance! and value it but half as it doth de∣serve!
§. 13.