of

thy felf under his mighty Hand: To acknowledge and Blefs him even at all times: To reft Contented with his Will, in all Eftates; Whether he would have thee Rich or Poor, Honourable or Despicable, Well or Sick. For every thing that he Wills is Good; and all his Dealings are Righteous. Say then to God, I am Thine; Do to me Lord, as thou Wilt. I refift not; I murmur not: I make no Objection against thy Conduct and Government. My Heart is Ready; Tho' my Flesh is frail. And, not my Will, but Thine be done.

This is that Holocaust, which, in the fight of God, is of great Price. Our Goodness extends not to Him: But our Hearkening to his Voice renders us Acceptable in his Sight. In fhort; Denying of Thy felf is thy Price, for his Paradife. And in fo Denying thy felf, Thou shalt not Lofe Thy felf, but moft happily find thy felf. Thus faith our Lord, Mat. 10. 39. He that Lofeth bis Life for my fake, fhall find it. Yet, because this is a Wisdom hid from the Wife and Prudent of this World, (who are Fools with God; and of fuch Fools, O how great is the number!) Therefore, Many are Called, and Few Chofen.

K

THE

The Fifth BOOK

Of the Saints Eternal Felicity; Under PARABOLICAL Names.

CHAP. I.

Of the Treasure hid in a Field.

Itherto, (as God was pleas'd to direct our Meditations,) We have spoke of the Saints Eternal Felicity, under the Names of fuch Places, in which they are faid to Dwell, who are

truly Happy and Bleffed: As the Kingdom of Heaven, The City of God, The House of the Lord, and a Paradife of all Delights. Now let us add fomewhat further concerning the fame Felicity, under the Names of fuch things, to which our Lord has refembled it, in his Word.

And

And First, Take notice of this his Expreffion, [The Kingdom of Heaven is Like,] which he fo frequently ufes in his Parables. For it refers not only to the Words immediately following: As if when he faid, [The Kingdom of Heaven is like a Merchant man,] the Sense were, That this Heavenly Kingdom refembled fuch a Man. But it refers to the whole Narration coming after; Where, by Similitude, is defcribed the Way to that Kingdom. And fometimes the Kingdom it felf, and its Bliss is reprefented more obfcurely; fometimes more clearly; and fometimes, not fo much as touch'd at all. (To Explicate each Member:) When our Lord, Mat. 13. propofes the Parable of the Sower, he defcribes the Fruit which the Gofpel-Preaching ufually produces, according to the various Difpofitions of the Soil, where the Seed of the Word is caft. And this he calls the Mystery of the Kingdom of God. Tho' it mentions nothing at all of the Bluffedness of his Saints. But when he there adds a Parable of the Tares; he briefly touches the Saints Felicity, in mentioning the Wheat, to be gather'd into the Lord's Barn; while the Tares were to be bound up for the Fire. After this, bringing in the Parable of the Merchant Seeking godly Pearls, and of one finding the

Trea

Treasure bid in a Field; There he more plainly resembles the Heavenly Kingdom to a Pearl, and a Treasure.

And of this Laft kind, I find only Six Parables of our Lord; One of the Treafure, another of the Pearl, the Third of the Diurnal Peny, the Fourth of the diftribution of the Talents, the Fifth of the great Supper, and the Sixth of the Wedding. To which we may add Two Simile's of the Apostle; One of the Runners for the Prize; and the other of them that Strove in the Olympic Exercises for Victory. Thus, there will be Eight Confiderations of the Saints Bleffed Life under thefe Parabolical Notions.

The First Parable is that (Mat. 13.44.) which makes the Kingdom of Heaven like to a Treasure bid in a Field. And by what follows there, fhews us how it is to be Obtain'd: Even by Hiding it, and Selling all to Buy it. Now by a Treasure, we understand great ftore of Gold and Silver, and many precious Materials amafs'd together. And its being Hid may fignify, That 'twas laid up time out of Mind; fo as to have no proper Owner; but to fall to the Finder. What is the Treafure here then, but the Divinity, which lay hid in our Lord's Humanity? (As S. Hil, and Jer. do expound it.) For in him dwells all the

Fulness

Fulness of the Godhead bodily. Col. 2.9. The Deity is the trueft Treasure of all Good : And fo Ancient indeed, That it is beyond all Memory, from all Eternity. Neither has it any Owner; when as it felf is the Lord of all. Yet is it faid to fall to the Share of them that find it ;. Because the Lord does freely beftow himself upon them that are for Parting with all, to Gain him. 'Tis Hid, as under ground in a Field, in the Human Nature of our Lord: For tho' the Divinity be every where; Yet never more properly than in that Nature, to which it is fo United, that God and Man there are but one PerJon. 2 Cor. 5. 19. God is faid to be in Chrift, Reconciling the World to Himself. But tho it be no where more, Yet is it there fo Hid, that it needs a Light fet up, to Dif cover God in Chrift. Such a Light as was the Baptift, Job. 5. 35. Burning and Shining: Which might be the Lamp prophefy'd of fo long before. Pfal. 132. 16. which God ordained for his Anointed. Tho' no man bath feen God at any time; The only begotten Son, who is in the Bofom of the Father, he has Reveal'd him, Job. 1. 18. But as plain as ever the Light difcover'd Chrift the Son of God; Yet the blinded Jews could not, would not, own the Divinity in him. For bad they known it, They would not have Crucify'd the Lord of Glory. I Cor. 2.8.