cleansed from dead works, what in this world can so much concern us as to keep it so? Which shall be done, if we shall give Christ the possession of our souls, and commit the keys into his only hands: so shall nothing be suffered to enter in that may disturb or defile, if we shall settle firm resolutions in our breasts never to yield to the commission of any known, enormous sin. Failings and slips there will be in the holiest of God's saints, while they carry their clay about them: for these we are allowed to fetch forth a pardon, of course, from that infinite mercy of our God, who hath set a fountain open to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness,' by the force of our daily prayers. But if, through an over-bold security and spiritual negligence, we shall suffer ourselves to be drawn away into some heinous wickedness, it must cost warm water to recover us. Neither can it, in such a case, be safe for us to suffer our eyes to sleep, or our eye-lids to slumber, till we have made our peace with heaven. This done, and carefully maintained, what can make us other than happily secure? Blessed is he whose conscience hath not condemned him, and who is not fallen from his hope in the Lord.'3 LXXVII. We cannot apprehend heaven in any notion but of excellency and glory; that, as it is in itself a place of wonderful resplendence and majesty, so it is the palace of the most high God, wherein he exhibits his infinite magnificence; that it is the happy receptacle of all the elect of God; that it is the Zech. xiii. 1. 2 Tears of repentance.-ED. 3 Ecclus. xiv. 2. glorious rendezvous of the blessed angels; that we have parents, children, husband, wife, brothers, sisters, friends whom we dearly loved, there. For, such is the power of love, that it can endear any place to us where the party affected is, much more the best. If it be a loathsome gaol, our affection can make it a delightful bower. Yea, the very grave cannot keep us off: the women could say of Mary, that she was gone to the grave of Lazarus to weep there; and the zeal of those holy clients of Christ carries them to seek their (as they supposed still dead) Saviour, even in his tomb. Above all conceivable apprehensions, then, wherein heaven is endeared to us, there is none comparable to that which the apostle enforceth to us, that there 'Christ sitteth at the right-hand of God." If we have a husband, wife, child, whom we dearly love, pent up in some tower or castle afar off, whither we are not allowed to have access, how many longing eyes do we cast thither! how do we please ourselves to think, within those walls is he inclosed whom my soul loveth, and who is inclosed in my heart! But, if it may be possible to have passage, though with some difficulty and danger, to the place, how gladly do we put ourselves upon the adventure! When, therefore, we hear and certainly know that our most dear Saviour is above, in all heavenly glory, and that the heavens must contain him till his coming again, with what full contentment of heart should we look up thither! How should we break through all these secular distractions, and be carried up by our affections, which are the wings of the soul, towards a happy fruition of him! Good old Jacob, when 1 Col. iii. 1. he heard that his darling son was yet alive in Egypt, how doth he gather up his spirits, and take up a cheerful resolution, 'Joseph my son is yet alive, I will go and see him before I die!'' Do we think his heart was any more in Canaan, after he heard where his Joseph was? And shall we, when we hear and know where our dearest Saviour, typified by that good patriarch, is; that he is gone before, to provide a place for us in the rich Goshen above; shall we be heartless in our desires towards him, and take up with earth? How many poor souls take tedious, costly, perilous voyages to that land, which only the bodily presence of our Saviour could denominate holy, (their own wickedness justly styles accursed,) only to see the place where our dear Saviour trod, where he stood, where he sat, lay, set his last footing, and find a kind of contentment in this sacred curiosity, returning yet never the holier, never the happier! How then should I be affected with the sight of that place where he is now in person, sitting gloriously at the right hand of Majesty, adored by all the powers of hea ven! Let it be a covenant between me and my eyes, never to look up at heaven, (as how can I look beside it?) but I shall, in the same instant, think of my blessed Saviour, sitting there in his glorified humanity, united to the incomprehensibly glorious Deity, attended and worshipped by thousand thousands of saints and angels, preparing a place for me and all his elect in those eternal mansions. 1 Gen. xlv. 26. 2 The numerous pilgrimages of Roman Catholics to the Holy Land were comparatively recent matters of popular tradition in Bishop Hall's time.-ED. LXXVIII. How lively doth the Spirit of God describe the heavenly affections of faithful Abraham, that he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.' What city was this but the celestial Jerusalem; the glorious seat of the great empire of heaven? The main strength of any building is in the foundation: if that be firm and sure, the fabric, well knit together, will stand; but if that be either not laid, or lie loose and unsettled, the tottering frame doth but wait upon the next wind for a ruin. The good patriarch had been used to dwell in tents, which were not capable of a foundation. It is like, he and his ancestors wanted not good houses in Chaldea, where they were formerly planted. God calls him forth of those fixed habitations in his own country, to sojourn in tabernacles, or booths, in a strange land; his faith carries him cheerfully along, his present fruition give way to hope for better things. Instead of those poor sheds of sticks and skins, he looks for a city; instead of those stakes and cords, he looks for foundations; instead of men's work, he looks for the architecture of God. Alas, we men will be building castles and towers here upon earth, or in the air rather; such as either have no foundation at all, or, at the best, only a foundation in the dust: neither can there be any other, while they are of man's making; for what can he make in better condition than himself? The city that is of God's building, is deep and firmly grounded upon the rock of his eternal decree; and hath more foun 1 Heb. xi. 10. dations than one, and all of them both sure and costly. God's material house, built by Solomon, had the foundation laid with great squared stone; but the foundations of the wall of' this city' of God are garnished with all manner of precious stones:''glorious things are spoken of thee, O thou city of God.' Why do I set up my rest in this house of clay, which is every day falling on my head, while I have the assured expectation of so glorious a dwelling above? For we know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens.'* 3 LXXIX. God, though he be free of his entertainments, yet is curious of his guests. We know what the great house-keeper said to the sordid guest: Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having on a wedding garment?' To his feast of glory none can come but the pure; without this disposition no man shall so much as see God, much less be entertained by him. To his feast of grace none may come but the clean, and those who, upon strict examination, have found themselves worthy. That we may be meet to sit at either of these tables, there must be a putting off, ere there can be a putting on; a putting off the old garments, ere there can be a putting on the new: the old are foul and ragged; the new clean and holy; for, if they should be worn at once, the foul under-garment would soil and defile the clean; the clean could not cleanse the foul. As it was in 1 Rev. xxi. 19. 2 2 Cor. v. 1. |