-- 1\?Cabtn.S ~apptnefs. 46 3 ---------------- ~----------------~~. his own weight 6ecoming his own affii(tion: in this cafe were not a quick riddance his .liielt remedy? were not the news of death better than alingnng life? Lb then, to this eternal comfort, Chntt our Savtour ("'the fame condenmatton) grants h1m h1s de– fire: \Vhat would he have? a difpatch of pain? he fhall have it th" d,~y:J as Samuds appearance fa id to Saul, 7·o morrotv ( yea, to day) thoit j!Jalt be lVtth. me. . . . 1 Sam oB 1 9· But fcCOJl Hy, here is agr~at~r co!Ufort, hts mifer~es hav: an .end> .i!rlrl hu )oyes are f!t ha 11 d : whila he is even gafpmg m deaths pangs, he IS earned on~ fudden from earth to heaven, fwm his Crolfc to Paradife, from a world of wo to a Kingdome of happi– nclfe and eternal bliffe. 0 how bleffed is the change, when in the very moment of mifcry joy enters! Suppofc you a poor man in the night-time out of his way, wandring alone upon the mountains, far from company, delhtutc of money,. beaten wrth ram, ·terrified with thunder, lhffe With cold, weaned wnh labour, fanufhed w1th hunger, and near brought to difpair with the multitude of miferies; if this man upon a fudden, in the twinkling of an eye, fhould be placed in a goodly, large, and rich palact fur– nifhed with all kind of clear lights, warm fire, fweet fmels , dainty meats, foft beds, pleafantmufick, fine apparel, honourable company. and all thcfc prepared for him, ro ferve him, honour him, and to anoint and crown him a King for ever; what would this poor man do ? what could he fay? furely nothing, but rather in lilence weep for joy : Such, nay, far ·happier was the cafe of this poor malefactor: he was like the man wandring on the mountains,full of as much pain as the Croffe could make him;but on a fudden he and our Saviour crucified with him, borh meet in his. Kingdome : and now, Lord what a joy enters into him, when he entred into Heaven! on Calvary he had nothing about him, but the ]ewes at his feet,•and the nails in h,mds, and the Crolfe at his back) in J1ead whereof, no fooner comes he to Pa;-adife, but the Angels, Arch– angels, Cherubuns, Seraphims, all hug him, and embrace him; imagine how was he altonilhed, and as it were befides himfelf at this fudden mutation, and exccffive ho– nour done unto him ! Imagine what joy was that,when he m,et our Saviour in his glory, whom that very day he had feen buffeted, fcoutged, crowned, crucified; blejfed day that could ever bri11g forth Jnch a change! Beloved, I know not how to exprefs it, but let your fouls i·nfome meditation flie up from Cdvary to Heaven; in the morning you might have feen Chrift and this Thief hanging on two Croffes, their bodies.ftretched, their veins opened, their hands and feet bleeding in abundance: the one deliring io 'be remembred of the other, and the other complaining that he wasforgotten of his Father : t in this doleful cafe both leaving the world, ere night they,meet again, and now what M•tth. 2 7.4§, hugs, what kilLs are betwixt them ? When Jofeph met \~ith Jacob, hefell on his neck.., (faith /11ofcs) and JVept on hts neck_a good while; but never was any meeting on earth Gen. 4 6 • :C. like this in Heaven: here we have a 'Jofeph lift out of the dungeon to the Throne where no fooner fet , but our Saviour performs his promife of meeting him in Para~ difc, at which meeting the Angels fing, the Saints rtjoycc, all Harps wmblc, all Ht1nds clapfor joy, and the poor foul ofthis penitent Thiefravifhcd with delight, what does it or what can it do, but even weep for joy (if any weeping were in Heaven) to fee on; fuddcn fo great a change as this? · And if this. be his cafe, who will not fay with Balaa'm, Let me die the death (yea, let Vfe, me hve the Jtfe of the nghteow, and let my /aft end be 1:1(! hi• i' 0 let us CI befcech you) Numb, '3.1 0. )'refcnt untu our fouls the bleffed condition to come, and this will be effectual to ftir us up to every good duty, and to comfort us in allcof\ditipn3 whatfoever: what will a man care for croffes, and loffes, and difgraces in the world, that thinks of an heavenly Kmgd_ome? \Vhat will a man care for ill ufagc in his Pilgrimage, when he knowes h~ IS a Kmg at home? we arc all (in this time of our abfcnce from God) but even /hangers upon earth; here then mull: we fuffer indignities; yet here is the comfort, we have a better cflate to come,and all this in the mean time is nothing but a fitting of us to that heavenlyKmgdom: as Davids time ·between his anointing and invefiing was a very_ preparmg.ofhun, that he might know himfelf, and that he might learn fitneffe for to govern an~ht: fo we arc anointed Kings; affoon as we believe, we have•the fan1e· bleffed anomting that is poured on our head, and runnes down about us,; but we mull: be humbled and fitted, before we are invefied: a little time (and but a litde) we have ?ere to fpend; and let this be our comfort (howf.,cver we fare here) it is long ere we tnhertt. The affltEhons ofthiJ life are not worthy of the glory thrtt Jha/1 be jllCived us, Rom, 8, :,s. and therefore I.gna;im in a burning zeal <lurft fay it, Fire, gallorrs, beafts, break:; Rom. 8 . t9. ;.ng ofmybones, quarterzng of my members,, crupnng: of my body, all th3 tonncnts ufdevils'·, Hieron. ;n en! let to logo.
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