the Lamb that was flain to enjoy it yet then gloriously of his fulness shall they receive and grace for grace They shall not then need those Mediums for their help that now they do whether they be Prophecies they shall fail whether there be tongues they shall cease whether there be knowledge it shall vanish away for we know in part c. 1 Cor. 13. 8 9. All those gifts of Apostles Prophets c. shall then cease for they are given from on high to continue till we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Eph. 4. 8 13. they shall not then â—each every man his neighbour and every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know him from the least to the greatest Jer. 31. 27 34. Heb. 8. 11. and it appears this perfect knowledge they shall have through the sight of him Now in looking to him they are lightned Psal 34. 5. But Oh! how shall they then be inlightned when they shall see him as he is Hence their knowing now and hereafter is put as the effect and consequent of their seeing 1 Cor. 13. 12. For now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face now I know in part but then shall I know even as also I am known signifying that according to the sight of him whether darkly or clearly such is and will be our knowledge And from this sight and knowledge of him they shall be filled with love to him and God in him and with love and charity one to another for charity never faileth 1 Cor. 13. 8. their hearts shall then be ravished with him from that clear and open discovery of his love and loveliness their love now to him which is in part is begotten and increased through the understanding of his we love him because he first loved us every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God for God is love in this was manifested the love of God towards us because he sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him whom having not seen ye love 1 Pet. 1. 8. but when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away and they shall compleatly love him and delight themselves in and be abundantly satisfied with his love 1 Joh. 4. 7 10 19. 1 Cor. 13. 10. and shall be filled with divine love one to another yea and with all heavenly vertues when they perfectly know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge even all discovery and manifestation of it vouchsafed for it is greater than is contained in any revelation of it and therefore it exceeds all our knowledge and perception of it they shall be filled with all the fulness of God Eph. 3. 19. and so they shall be like to the Angels that do his commandments hearkening to the voice of his word Luk. 20. 36. with Psal 103. 20. his will shall then be done on earth as it is in heaven Mat. 6. 10. And in seeing and beholding him they shall appear with him in glory then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the kingdom of their Father Mat. 13. 43. When Moses was in the Mount seeing and beholding the similitude of the Lord his face shone that the children of Israel were afraid Exod. 34. 29 30. with Numb 12. 8. yet he could not see his face or glorious appearance so no man hath seen him nor can see him but then they shall see his face and his name glory and dignity shall be upon their foreheads the Lord shall arise upon them and his glory shall be seen upon them Rev. 22. 4. Mat. 5. 8. Isa 60. 1 2. 35. 2. 6. In this glorious condition they shall then together keep an everlasting Sabbath in that rest or keeping of Sabbath which remains for the people of God Heb. 4. 9. and together shall they then sing for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion Isa 52. 8 9. they shall then sing Hallelujah salvation and glory and honour and power unto the Lord our God Rev. 19. 1 7. they shall sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb Rev. 15. 3. in which they shall with thankfulness and rejoycing remember the infinite grace of the Son and of the Father in him in what he hath done and is become in what he is now doing and in what he will then do all summed up in that new song of the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders mentioned in Rev. 5 9 10. to wit That the Lamb was not is slain and is raised again in that same body in which he bare our sins on the Tree and hath destroyed all our enemies by himself in the name and authority of the Father his own right hand and his holy arm hath gotten himself the victory he hath purged away our sins overcome and abolished death destroyed the devil and obtained all glory into himself in our nature and for us this is the song of Moses in the type The Lord hath triumphed gloriously thy right hand O Lord is become glorious in power thy right hand O Lord hath dashed the enemy in pieces Exod. 15. 1 12. God is gone up with a shout the Lord with the sound of a trumpet sing praises to our God sing praises sing praises to our King sing praises Psal 98. 1. 47. 1 6. and this the song of the Lamb that God hath brought him out of the horrible pit out of the miry clay and set his feet upon a rock c. And put a new song into his mouth praise to our God who hath so delivered him and made him triumph over all our enemies sin death hell Devil c. Psal 40. 1 3. 22. 19 25. This is the Psalm or song for the Sabbath day I hat God hath made Christ glad through his work in delivering him and us in him from all our enemies and exalting his horn like that of an Unicorn and anointing him with fresh oyl with the oyl of gladness above his fellows this is the day which the Lord hath made they shall then for ever be glad and rejoyce in and for it Psal 92. 1 4 10. 118. 21 24. And that he hath redeemed them unto God by his bloud in discovering the preciousness of it in his testimony and testimonies of his goodness out of every kindred and tongue and people and Nation when they were sometimes of them and so of the world children of wrath by nature even as others yet then God who is rich in mercy for the great love wherewith he loved them when dead in sins quickned them together with Christ as Eph. 2. 1 5. for this they are now instructed to sing Allelujah Psal 135. 1 4. Praise ye the Lord c. for the
who dye in the Lord his goodness extends so to them that it is far better with them than when at home in the body though for such to have abiden in the flesh till they had finished their days who are cut off in the midst of them had been more needful for the survivers of that body that their rejoycing might have been more abundant in Christ Jesus Phil. 1. 23 26. yet their condition is more excellent than any of the Saints here for his grace is more abundant to them according to what the Plalmist speaking in the person of and concerning Christ signifies My goodness namely Christ's goodness and grace extends not to thee not to his Father it adds nothing to him for he is infinitely perfect it extends not to him to give any thing to him or to advantage him but to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent ones in whom is all my delight Psal 16. 2 3. Surely by the excellent ones as distinguished from the Saints that are in the earth is meant those that dye in or according to the faith and they are more excellent than those of that body that are here continued They are free from sinning against God Gal. 4. 29. and so are taken away from the evil that here was present with them Isa 57. 1. While they were here they had sin dwelling in them and when they would do good evil was present with them when their hearts were set to seek after wisdom in the knowledge of Christ this sin was molesting them and seeking to divert them that they might not consider but let slip the things they had heard that the word might be unprofitable to them or to cause them to take offence at the reproofs of instruction Or when to will was present with them and they by the grace of God fixed to promote the things of Christ in word and conversation it was present moving them to ask counsel of their covetousness or to seek after praise of men and to be desirous of vain glory c. but now they are freed from that In this present world and while they were in it they had ungodliness and worldly lusts in themselves to be alwayes denying Tit. 2. 11 12. but they shall then each one walk in his uprightness before him as their blessedness Isa 57. 2. and that they shall then when absent from the body be delivered from the indwelling and molestation of sin may be signified by that of the Apostle Oh wretched man who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7. 17 24. as implying that when he should be delivered from this body of death which is dead by reason of sin Rom. 8. 10. he should then be delivered from those troubles and continual combats that here he was greatly exercised withal the spirits of those just men are then made perfect Heb. 12. 23. and their bodies sleep in Jesus shall be raised in the râ—surrection of the just Zech. 9. 11 12. They are free from the temptations of Satan and men which here they were exposed to and from those vexations wherewith their righteous souls were vexed by the filthy conversation of the wicked in seeing and hearing from day to day their unlawful deeds The Lord knoweth how to deliver and by this means will deliver the godly out of temptation 2 Pit 2. 7 9. the hour of temptation comes to try them that dwell upon the earth from which now after a peculiar manner they are delivered Rev. 3. 10. God doth set them in safety from those that here would have insnared them While here and all the time they were in this present world they had ungodliness and worldly lusts in others also to deny and abstain from and no way to be freed from their temptations and vexations though they might be preserved from the evil but when they are no more in the world they are delivered from those inticements and griefs so much the Apostle signifies I wrote unto you not to company with fornicators yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world c. for them must ye needs go out of the world implying that when they should be no more in it they should no more have such occasions of temptation or vexation 1 Cor. 5. 10. They have now rest given to them from the dayes of adversity till the pit be digged for the wicked and so from those great judgments wherewith God will punish the world the influences whereof will cause trembling of the belly and quivering of the lips and rottenness in the bones of the surviving righteous ones though they may still rejoyce in the Lord yea and at the sight of the coming to pass hereof lift up their heads because their redemption hasteneth Hab. 3. 1 16 18. Psal 94. 12 13. from the grief and exercise hereby occasioned these are free he shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds Isa 57. 2. they are taken from the evil to come ver 1. Hence that Come my people enter thou into thy chambers c. Hide thy self as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpast for behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity Isa 26. 20 21. They are free from all their labours and services which while here occasioned trouble and weariness to them there is no work in the grave where they are Eccl. 9. 10. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours Rev. 14. 13. This the Apostle reckons amongst his infirmities and those things which occasioned exercise to him that he was in journeyings often in weariness and painfulness in labours often 2 Cor. 11. 23 26 27. and they are freed from great grief which here they were exposed to in seeing so little fruit of their labours amongst men yea that those that listened to their doctrine and were hearers of it were not yet doers of it that they were so little gathered from among the Heathen and that some of them though they profess to know God yet in works deny him being abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobâ—te Tit. 1. 16. that such were still walking in pride covetousness or the more gross lusts of the flesh thtt they even laboured in vain and spent their strength for nought and in vain that though men received the love of the truth yet not so as to be saved by it this was matter of sadness and even an heart-breaking to them and indeed that whereby God himself is broken Ezek. 6. 9 this was matter of wailing and complaint to them that they have been like a woman with child that draweth near the time of her delivery they have been with child they have been in pain they have wrought little or no deliverance in the earth c. Isa 26. 17 18. Now they rest from this Isa 57
2. They are free from alâ— pâ—â—secutions in words gestures or actions they are hid in the secret of God's presence from the pride of man and kâ—pâ— secretly in a pavillion from the strife of tongues Psal 31 19. after the body is dead their enemies have no more that they can do Luk. 12. 4. there the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary are at rest there the prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the opprâ—ssor Job 3. 17 19. The reproaches laughâ—ers scorns and persecutions that here they met with did seem to be grievous to them as to what they themselves thereby indured Psal 69. 20. as well as also as to their enemies it caused great grief to them rivers of waters run down their eyes and they were troubled in spirit because men kept not God's Laws but persecuted them wrongfully and were enemies to them for following the thing that was good Joh. 13. 21. this caused heaviness to them to consider the greatness of their iniquity and severity of the judgment they were pulling upon their heads by such iniquities They are now out of the danger of miscarrying and from henceforth there is laid up for them a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give unto them in that day 2 Tim. 4. 8. there is now a great gulf fixed and no passing from one place to another no altering of their condition no not for ever Luk. 16. 26. Eccl. 11. 3. Now abiding in Christ they are safe he that abideth in him sinneth not transgresseth not and misseth not the mark but if a man abide not in him he is cast forth its possible that such as have begun to run well may turn aside from him that called them into the grace of Christ 1 Joh. 3. 6. Gal. 1. 6. 5. 7. but then no change of their state and their works follow them all their work of faith and labour of love and patience in tribulation these shall not be forgotten but be recompensed in the resurrection of the just Luk. 14. 14. And now they are present with the Lord as here they were not when at home in the body seeing and beholding in their spirits the glorified and glorious body of our Lord Jesus and then walking by sight as now they do not for they are more excellent and therefore sorrow not for them as those that have no hope Isa 57. 2. 2 Cor. 5. 6 7 8. Phil. 1. 23 24. 2. It discovers his grace to all of this body both in soul and body when Jesus Christ shall appear the second time without sin to salvation Heb. 9. 28. in which his Israel shall be saved with an everlasting salvation they shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end Isa 45. 17. this is that which Peter exhorts the believers to hope for Gird up saith he the lions of your minds be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 13. and this he calls the grace of life 1 Pet. 3. 7. and indeed that eternal life they shall then inherit gloriously it is not wages as death is of sin buâ— a gift of grace Rom. 6. 23. Zech. 4. 6. And this grace that shall then be brought to them is so exceeding great as none here fully knows Hence that admiration Oh! how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men Psal 31. 19. since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear by any thing they have heard in any declaration vouchsafed neither hath the eye seen O God besides thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him Isa 64. 4 These things were indeed revealed to the Apostles by the Spirit as in formâ—r times they were not and so they have declared them and yet they did but see in part and therefore Prophesie in part 1 Cor. 2. 9 10. with Chap. 13. 9. This grace is inexprâ—ssiâ—ly yea inconceivably great it hath not entred into the heart of man and much less can I declare it in order who have seen so little of it in the testimony but yet as I may be helped I shall speak a little of it 1. They that sleep in Jesus shall be raised and the living changed when Christ shall descend from heaven and so before the rest of the dead 1 Thes 4. 16. 1 Cor. 15. 51 52. As in Adam all dye so in Christ shall all be made alive but every man in his own order not all at once Christ the first fruits he is risen from the dead already and is become the foundation of the resurrection from and of the dead for if he be not raised there could be no resurrection and he shall be the effecter of it and is become the first fruits of them that are fallen a sleep in him especially like to whom shall be that lump Rom. 11. 16. afterward they that are Christ's at his coming then or afterward as ver 5. the end namely after the end of the thousand yeaâ—s of Christ's and his Saints reigning on the earth there will be the second and general resurrection when the dead small and great shall be raised and stand before God Rev. 20. 7 12 13 15. 1 Cor. 15. 22 24. So the Apostle John saith I saw to wit in vision the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God and which had not worshipped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished Rev 20. 4 6. Isa 26. 19. 2. In their being raised they shall be saved wholly from all sin death and other enemies And so From sin he shall present them to himself a glorious Church not having spot Eph. 5. 27. they shall then be sanctified wholly in spirit soul and body and be presented blameless before the throne of his glory 1 Thes 5. 23 24. 3. 13. Jude 24. No sin in them but as the first fruits Jesus Christ is holy so will be the lump then compleatly nor any imputation of sin to them or remembrance of sin upon them their sins shall then be compleatly blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send us Jesus who now is preached to us There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit but yet there is sin in them and if any of them say they have no sin they deceive themselves and the truth is not in them yea and there is some remembrance of sin upon them And as to those that dye in the
of heaven to the other Mat. 8. 11. 24 31. he will then bring the seed of Israel from the East and gather them from the West and will say to the North give up and to the South keep not back bring my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth every one that is called by my name c. Isa 43 5 6 7. Now they are scattered sometimes through persecutions and severed one from another through the fear of the wrath reproaches threats and oppressions of men and so chased from place to place when God gives permission unto men Act. 8. 1. Jam. 1. 1. So those Worthies of whom the world was not worthy wandred in deserts and in mountains and in dens and in caves of the earth Heb. 11. 36 38. and it is appointed to them that if they will live godly in Christ Jesus they shall suffer persecuâ—ion Act. 14. 22. 2 Tim. 3. 12. but then the extortioner shall cease and the oppressors be consumed out of the Land Isa 16. 4 5. the destructions of the enemy shall come to a perpetual end and their shepherd will seek his sheep that have been scattered deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day and feed them in a good pasture and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be Ezek. 34. 11 15. he will seek up that which was lost and bring again that which was driven away c. and they shall dwell safely and none shall make them afraid ver 15 28. Now they are separated one from another and severed by death many are taken out of the Land of the living the godly man ceaseth and the faithful fail from among the children of men and many times they are cut off untimely and this is a great wo and affliction to the survivers of that body and a great judgment to the children of men how insensible soever they are of it Psal 12. 1. Mic. 7. 1 2. for then they can be of no more personal usefulness to men they are then ignorant of us but then death as with respect to them shall be swallowed up into victory then shall be compleatly fulfilled what the High-Priest spake not of himself but by way of Prophecy for then shall be gathered together in one the children of God that now are scattered abroad Joh. 11. 51 52. Zech. 14. 4. Oh! how delightful and comfortable will this be to be alwayes with the Lord and one with another and no more for ever to be separated and in this blessed congregation and assembly of the righteous the sinners shall not stand Psal 1. 5. Ezek. 13. 9. 4. In this congregation and gathering together of the righteous unto the Lord and one to another they shall behold the Lord yea this is the end why Jesus Christ wills they should be with him where he is that they may behold his glory Joh. 17. 24. they shall see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads Rev. 22. 4. how refreshing and desirable was it to Moses to see his back parts so as at the sight thereof he made haste and prayed that he would go amongst them and take them for his inheritance Exod. 33. 22. 34. 8 9. and how comfortable was the hope of this to Job that his Redeemer should stand at the latter day upon the earth and that he should see him for himself and his eyes should behold him Oh! this was a great comfort to him in his affliction when God's hand was turned against him and his acquaintance were estranged from him his kinsfolk failed him and his familiâ—r friends had forgotten him c. Job 19. 6 27. Now while they see him by faith believing they rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1. 8. But oh how infinitely satisfying will it be then to see him as he is in whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore they shall then be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of his house and he shall make them drink of the rivers of his pleasures for with him is the fountain of life and in his light they shall see light when they awake they shall be satisfied with God's likeness or image even with Jesus Christ who is the image of the invisible God Psal 16. 11. 36. 8 9. 17. 15. Now through that sight they have of him by faith their souls are satisfied as with marrow and fatness Psal 63. 3 6. they are assured by faith of the truth and goodness of what is reported and set in hope before them and of the faithfulness of him that hath promised to perform all his good Word and have such a view of the desirableness and compleat contentment there is in these things as that iâ— crucifies their affections to the world and prevails with them to confess themselves strangers and pilgrims on the earth and to declare plainly they are seeking another Countrey and a better and more induring substance this preserves them from gadding about and prevails with them to sit down under Christ's shadow with great delight and his fruit is sweet to their taste buâ— yet they are hungring and thirsting after a full injoyment of what they now see darkly they are even sick of love till their desire comes and â—e accomplished and even longing and in heart breathing for his appearance Oh! when wilt thou come to visit me Oh! that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion As the Hart panteth after the water brooks so their soul pants after God their souls thirst for God for the living God Oh! when shall we come and appear before God And thus they are looking for with expectation and hasting from all things reproved and discovered to be evil deadly and unprofitable unto the coming of the day of God but when the desire cometh it will be a tree of life when the desire is accomplished it will be sweet to the soul Prov. 13. 12 19. the compleat injoyment will compleatly satisfie and abundantly delight them so as they shall hunger no more nor thirst any more 5. As the effect and consequent of seeing him they shall be perfectly made like him so the Apostle signifies 1 Joh. 3. 2. It doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Now in this day the seeing and beholding him as he hath revealed himself doth transform them in a first fruits in beholding him with open face as in a glass they are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 18. but when they shall behold him as he is they shall be compleatly changed into his likeness And so They shall then be made like him in knowledge though still he hath the preheminence in all things he being God-man and worthy is