you wee can doe no more Math. 10. 14. If they will not retaine it saith he shake off the dust of your feete as a testimony against them If yee looke not to your selves in this life this will be the event of it Oh how will it fret you to the heart what inutterable perplexities will you be in when you see others follow Christ to his glory and you your selves have that curse denounced against you Goe you cursed c. Alasse then it will bee too late to get Heaven oh what terrour and amazement what bitter anguish to thinke Heaven came neere unto me it was offered me and yet because I would not part with some darling sinne some beloved corruption some base lust I have lost my interest in it I must not partake of those rivers of pleasures in Heaven This certainely will be the issue except here whilst you have space you make sure this Crowne to your selves by Faith and Repentance 3. Cause I proceed in the third place to the exemplary cause and the greatnesse of this glory appeares from this and this is the glory of Jesus Christ himselfe consider the great glory of the Lord of glory is the neerest patterne of it and therefore in Scripture that glory the Saints shall have in Heaven is said to be like his wee shall be like the Lord of glory hee is not onely made the efficient and meritorious cause but also the exemplary cause of this glory what can bee said more then this we shall be made like to Christ Jesus who is the Lord of glory the eye of all things the first-borne of every living creature in whom all excellencies remaine and all fulnesse dwels oh then what infinite glory to bee like what Jesus Christ now is why thou shalt bee made like to him Iohn 17. 24. That they may behold my glory which thou hast given me but that is not all though this was sufficient to make us happy A beggar may behold the glory of a King and bee never the happier for it nay bee more sad in his thoughts because none of his glory reflects upon himselfe but saith our Saviour Iohn 17. 22. The glory which thou gavest mee I have given them that they may bee one even as wee are one we shall weare the same kinde of glory which Christ weares and hee weares all the glory both of Heaven and earth about him at all times what kind of glory shall wee then weare We shall be made like unto his glorious body As we were all borne like Adam so wee shall be made like Christ wee are said to be predestinated to be made conformable according to the Image of his sonne so that as wee were predestinated to be made like him in grace and sufferings here so likewise in glory wee see here but as in a glasse the glory of Christ and yet are changed into the same Image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 5. last But we all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord If we seeing him here upon earth as an holy and a righteous man conceive and have such glory in him consider brethren what that shall be when we shall see him as he is what a comfort will that be when we shall see him face to face in Heaven and be made partaken of his glory we shall be like him 1 Iohn 3. 2. Behold now wee are the sonnes of God and it doth not yet appeare what wee shall be but wee know that when hee shall appeare we shall be like him In the fourth place let us consider the matter of this glory both Materia in qua circa quam the obiect and subject of this glory And first the object of this happinesse why it is not any other creature but God himselfe no creature in Heaven and Earth is the matter of our happinesse but God himselfe will be made happinesse to us he will not onely be the efficient cause but the materiall cause of our happinesse Gen. 17. He sums up all in himselfe I will bee an al-sufficient God unto thee he promises himselfe not heaven separated from himselfe but he will give us his owne glory he doth not onely promise us great and glorious things to bee created by him but hee himselfe will be our Heaven Psalm 73. Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none that I desire on earth besides thee marke the phrase indeed there are all other things here on Earth which we may stand in need of but saith David though I have neede of them why yet none of them all I desire besides thee God alone made David happy for indeed God himselfe makes Heaven though there were neither Saint nor Angell indeed they are all there but wee need nothing but God and Christ to make us happy of this glorious City which is the forerunner of Heaven if it be not Heaven it selfe yet of that glorious condition which indeed is the immediate forerunner of Heaven Revel 21. 23. The City had no need of Sunne or Moone to shine in it for saith he The glory of God did lighten it and the Lambe is the light thereof why my brethren though there be many glorious things in Heaven though there be the fruition of the company of Saints and Angels yet that is not it which makes us happy but God is our happines Indeed the glorious societies of the glorified bodies of Saints is very delectable and ten thousand times excels all the delights of creatures here below yet I say we have no need of them to make us happy it is but overplus God himselfe and Christ Jesus make our Heaven happinesse Thinke now my brethren with your selves what Heaven is are you all able to consider what it is to have God to be our happinesse It is impossible for you to conceive it and for me to expresse it I can no more reveale what God will doe to you then this light can reveale the light of the Sunne which can bee knowne by no light but its owne In the first place God containes all things all manner of divine perfections are bound up in him The pleasures of this earth are scattered here and there and therefore the soule goes wandering up and downe from one creature to another from one flower to another because some part of his happinesse is in one some part in another but my brethren in God we have all happines summed up and wrapped together all our delights are together in him Revel 21 7. He that overcomes shall inherit all things and I will be his God and hee shall be my sonne Consider with your selfe that God himselfe can but inherit all things and indeed he is all things and if we have God for our God wee shall inherit all things hee will be meate and drinke wife husband and whatsoever else unto
THE HAPPINESSE OF THE SAINTS in Glory OR A Treatise of Heaven On ROM 8. 18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us By THO. GOODWIN B. D. LONDON Printed by E. Griffin for Robert Dunscomb in Lillipot-lane 1638. The scope of the Treatise IS to open and describe Heaven and the glory of the Saints therein pag. 2 1. Comparatively in foure respects 1. By comparing it with all the good things which this World affords as pleasures honours riches beauty p. 4 2. By comparing it with all the aflictions which we suffer in this life p. 7. 3. By comparing it to that joy of the Holy Ghost which Gods children are capeable of in this World p. 8 4. By comparing it with those joyes and that glory which the Saints now in Heaven enjoy before the day of Judgment p. 15 2. Simply as it is in it selfe and that first by the causes of it 1. The efficient cause the great God of Heaven and Earth p. 19 2. The materiall cause Christ Iesus the Lord of glory p. 25 3. The exemplary cause the glory of the Lord Jesus p. 33 The Object of this glory is God himselfe p. 37 The Subject of this glory or the vessell which shall receive it is the soule of man p. 53 4. The finall cause in which First the persons for whom God hath prepared this glory viz. his Saints p. 66 Secondly the end for which to manifest his owne glory p. 70 Secondly by the properties of it 1. It is an inheritance and that of every beleever p. 75 2. An eternall inheritance p. 78 3. An inheritance incorruptible undefiled p. 83 Imprimatur Iohan. Oliver Reverend in Ch. patri Dom. Arch. Cant. Cap. Dom. Decemb. 11. 1637. THE HAPPINESSE Of the SAINTS in Glory ROM 8. 18. For I reckon that the sufferings this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us MY scope is to raise up your hearts to heaven and to consider that great glory which God hath prepared for them that love him to open and describe heaven whereof there are many uses both to those that are in the state of nature and those that are in the state of grace There is nothing more powerfull with the wicked for to bring them to Christ nothing more proportionable to a principle of selfelove and likewise to the godly that they may willingly and with cheerefulnesse passe through the afflictions of this life that they may passe through the evill world with their hearts raised up to heaven The Apostle from the 17. verse to the end of this chapter sends it in beating this upon the hearts of Gods people in steeling their hearts and raising them up against tribulations and among the rest this is one incouragement to consider the joy which shall not onely be revealed to us but in us which we shall be made partakers of Brethren the consideration of Heaven which is so little thought on by us Christians this I would lay open to you the excellency of which glory that we may more clearely behold man may looke upon many things but I will onely name two First comparatively and this the Text leades us unto For I reckon not the sufferings c. Secondly simply as it is in it selfe First of all to know this great glory let us compare it with all other things with all the goods the creature can afford with all the things here below which our hearts dote so much upon as pleasures honours riches beauty c. they are not to be compared to it it transcends all the glory of this world all the good things wee are capeable of one leafe of this Tree of Life I say one leafe of it better than all the fruits that grow in this world Revel 22. Out of the bowels of this earth are raised gold silver pearles and precious stones which serve but for the materials of the wals of this City and for paveing the streetes of it The most glorious things this World hath serve I say for the gates of the Temple If the outside be so glorious consider how glorious must the inside be how beautifull must it be within why no creature this world hath is worthy so much as to shadow it all the creatures be swallowed up with this glory even as a drop is swallowed up with the Ocean Take Salomon in all his royalty the most magnificent rich and glorious Prince the World ever had he lived indeed at the best rate he had the very quintessence of them all in so much that a Queen her selfe was amazed to see his great glory yet let me tell you this Salomon which is now in heaven 10 thousand times exceeds all the glory and pompe hee had on earth I say the glory hee hath now exceeds it infinitely I say the glory he hath now in heaven excels that glory hee had on earth being on his Throne in all his royalty even as much as he did then excell himselfe when hee was in his mothers womb we see then the good things of this life are not worth talking of they come farre short they are not worthy to be compared together In the second place compare this glory with the afflictions we suffer here and it doth as the Apostle saith waigh them all downe not onely the afflictions which befall one man but all men I say all of thē be they what they will be and lay them in one ballance Heaven its glory in another it will waigh them all down even as a grain of sand will bee weighed downe of the whole World There is no reckoning to bee made of them in respect of heaven and yet one of these afflictions will eclipse all the good we enjoy here being afflicted we take no pleasure in all our worldly contentments Therefore wee see that the afflictions of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us In the third place to 3. Com. make a further demonstration of this to you There is a joy which Gods people are capeable of in this life the joy of the holy Ghost which is unspeakeable and glorious one drop of which transcends infinitely all the joy the creatures can afford us my brethren have you ever heard of this joy have you ever tasted of it hath God ever raised your hearts to see it and his glory if you have but tasted as the Apostle saith how good the Lord is you shall say with David Psal 4. Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me Thou hast put gladnesse into my heart more than in the time when Corne and Wine and Oyle increased This is the joy which comes fresh from the fountaine My brethren marke well what I say the Divell himselfe when he transformes himselfe into an Angell of light affords more
us he will be all things to us himselfe and therefore it is said 1 Cor. 14. 18. That at the day of Iudgement when Christ shall give up the kingdome then all things shall bee put under him that God may bee all in all which implies two things First that God himself will be our happinesse hee will be happinesse enough for he is all in all Secondly That hee will be all unto us in a more transcendent manner than the glory of the creatures I may compare these joyes of Heaven to those receipts which containe the very spirits of things the very life and quintessence of things extracted out a little quantity whereof as much as will lie on a knives point is of more vertue and efficacy to work upon a mans body because they are the spirits than a great quantity of all other drugs so now these contentments which God gives are the very spirits of comforts which will adde more happinesse than all the drugs of worldly pleasures can administer unto us for all the happinesse that could bee had here nay further all the happinesse God could create to men as men here on earth are but as one drop to the bottomlesse Ocean of Gods glory and yet this fals short this is too scant a comparison for I say infinite millions of drops will at length make an Ocean but ten thousand millions of the glories of this World cannot make up one drop of the glory which is in God Thus God will be all things to us and all things in a transcendent manner Againe thirdly God will poure out himselfe unto us he will give us cōmunication with himselfe of this his infinite happinesse he will poure out all his glory unto us Ephes 3. 19. That yee might be filled with all the fulnesse of God which will give all comfort open thy mouth wide he is able to fill it for one drop of God will fill thee full I will fill thee with fulnesse fulnesse of the best kind oh what ineffable comfort will this be when the vessels of mercy shall be throwne into this bottomlesse sea of glory Therefore doe but thinke with your selves what a happinesse this will be when you shall be made partakers of Gods glory of all the blessednes that is in God for although he cannot giue us his glory essentially yet it shall as truly seeme to make us happy as it doth to make him glorious Fourthly we shall be made one with him they are Christs owne words Iohn 17. 21 22 23. That they all may bee one as thou O Father art in mee and I in thee even that they may bee also one in us that the world may beleeve that thou hast sent mee and the glory that thou gavest mee I have given them that they may be one as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me My brethren what is it that makes God happy but God himselfe and yet what is that which makes Christ so happy but that he is equall with God the Father Now if God make himselfe happy how happy shall wee be then when wee communicate with God in this his happinesse To bee one with him then must needs make us happy indeed wee cannot bee one with him as Christ is for hee is the brightnesse of his glory the expresse Image and character of his person he is the naturall Sonne of God and of the same nature with God but we shall be made one with him so far as the creature is capeable of and the next union to that which God and Christ have one with another we shall have that they may bee one even as wee are one And againe being made one with God we shall rejoyce in all that God rejoyceth in that God is so glorious a God it shall make thee glorious thou shalt have all those joyes by revenues of which hee now lives in Heaven thou shalt rejoyce more in Gods happinesse than in thine owne the more happinesse riseth to God the more riseth to thee that which is the matter of GODS glory shall bee the matter of ours it is the nature of love that it rejoyceth in the love of the person beloved Iohn 14. You are my friends if you doe whatsoever I command you Ioh. 3. And therfore saith Iohn in that he increaseth I must decrease in this my joy is fulfilled Our Saviour saith also to his Disciples If ye loved me you would have reioyced because I said I goe to the Father Now my brethren if wee shall rejoyce in the same God rejoyceth in both in that joy which is intrinsecus within him and in that joy which is extrinsecus whereby hee delights in all his workes and providence if both these I say shall be in us how glorious shall wee be Iohn 15. 11. Christ saith These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remaine in you and that your ioy might be full And this is not to be understood of our Saviours joy of the hopes he had of them but that the joy which is in Christ shall be in us that my ioy saith he may be in you 25. Matth. 25. We shall enter into our masters joy Rom. 5. 2. And reioyce in the hope of the glory of God and not onely so but we ioy also in God through our Lord Iesus Christ wee shall not onely rejoyce in a created glory which hee shall bestow upon us but further wee rejoyce in Gods owne glory I should come to shew you the subject of this glory namely the soule of man But my brethren I will first make some short use of this which hath beene spoken Let us therefore take God for our portion whatsoever else becomes of us whatsoever befals us let what will come what afflictions what throbs what miseries or crosses will come Heaven will make amends for all for thy pleasures of sinne and worldly contentments God will be better to thee than all put them all in one ballance and God with that glory he will bestow on you in another ballance and hee will over-waigh them all they are not worthy to be compared to this glory this was it that made the Martyrs runne through so many persecutions and tortures that with cheerfulnesse they tooke God for their portions so they had him they cared not what became of their bodies For saith Paul Wee looke not to things which are corruptible but to things which are eternall And because it is probable yea and more then probable that there are degrees of glory in Heaven that God will reward every one according to their workes why then doe not onely content your selves to goe to Heaven but endeavour to serve God more that you may have great glory in Heaven be abundant in good workes hoord up good works according to which glory shall bee waighed to