this life and they shall also have an everlasting enjoyment thereof 2. They shall likewise rejoyce in the good things of the mind and chiefly in the perfection of all their graces and that cleer knowledg they shall have of all things which shall wonderfully delight them They shall also be much affected with joy from the consideration of the evils and dangers as well temporal as eternal which they shall then perceive themselves to have escaped from the danger whereof they shall see themselves to be secure for ever and beholding the horrible fire of Hell and the numberless multitudes of those that are cast into everlasting burnings and the danger to which themselves were exposed how shall their hearts be fill'd with joy upon the meditation of God's infinite mercy by which they were saved from everlasting destruction and carried in safety into the Port of eternal blessedness 3. They shall likewise rejoyce in the glory of their bodies when they shall perceive their bodies to shine as the Sun to be swift as it were like lightening to be like a Spirit immortal incorruptible impassible 4. They shall rejoyce in the amiableness of their habitation seeing themselves now translated from Earth to Heaven into the glorious Kingdom of Heaven into the Paradise of all delights into the Region of light into the Vision of peace into the Land of the living into the celestial Jerusalem into the place of the Blessed a place abounding with all delights and with all good things and void of all discommodity grief and sorrow out of every one of these good things of their own ariseth to them unspeakable joy SECT III. FUrthermore they shall rejoyce every one in the good things of each other and in the felicity of all their companions for they shall most ardently love all as the Sons of God and their own Brethren and Sisters and fellow Heirs and withall they shall rejoyce in their splendour glory excellency wisdom vertues blessedness as in their own and that much more than any Parent in this life can rejoyce in the felicity of his Children or one Friend in the prosperity of another Quest But with what affection shall the Parent and the Child the Husband and Wife and one Friend greet another in Heaven Sol. We must not surely imagine that any of these conjugal or paternal affections which had their consummation on Earth can be of any use in Heaven nor that there shall be any return of by-past and mortal affections towards Friends Kindred and Children but as the body must put on incorruption and immortality e're it can be a fit companion for the Soul so must the soul likewise be devested of all such desires as are apt again to wed it to earthly and transitory delights before it can be received into the blessed communion of the Saints and as the Soul shall assume the hand the eye and every member of the body unto a participation of glory without soliciting them again to undergo the fore-past drudgeries in the flesh so the Father and the Child and one Friend may behold another without the intimation of such duties or any resultance of such mortal desires as are implied in those relations But as the Soul is permitted to resume its own body rather than another and reason exacts it should gratifie that flesh whose inmate it had been rather than another so likewise those persons whom some nearer relations had formerly united may be conceived to retain so much partiality in the dispensation of their joy as in the first place to rejoyce that they are again united in the participation of glory excluding none from being an argument of their joy but preferring some in the order of their rejoycing but it may be that this affection must comply with the justice of the divine bounty and that we shall there bestow a greater measure of our joy where he hath been pleased to confer a greater portion of his glory It would seem unreasonable that the Soul alone should inherit that glory which was procured perhaps by the torments and sufferings of the body as in holy Confessors and Martyrs and the same reason which makes the Soul and Body sharers of the same happiness begets a mutual claim among the Saints to each others joy for one man may be a powerful Instrument of another's blessedness the Father's care may preserve the Child and the piety of the Son may enflame the Father the Mothers tears may reduce the perverted Son the believing Husband may save the unbelieving Wife and one Friend may with happy success instruct admonish rebuke and pray for another Now is it more reasonable to think that these immortal benefits and obligations shall be promiscuously and undiscernably swallowed up in the Sea of glory or to say that these parties whom it may concern shall see each other face to face some gratefully rejoycing that the Instruments of their Salvation like Stars of a greater magnitude are more eminently glorious others alwayes rejoycing in beholding their labours so highly bless'd as to have procured the endless bliss of their fellow-creatures Our Saviour tells us what joy there shall be for the conversion of a Sinner in the presence of the Angels who by reason of their nature are strangers to us if Angels who are in the presence of God and but of a remote alliance to us be as it were turned aside from the contemplation of the chiefest good to behold with joy a repenting Sinner shall not men who are of the same stock and lineage be much more allowed some expressions of joy suitable to the greatness of the wonder when they behold one another no longer repenting Sinners but glorious Saints In those parts of the world near the Line where the Sun is near them all the year they are said to have no Winter the Earth and Trees being alwayes green as in a perpetual Spring so the Saints in glory upon whom the face of God and Christ shall shine for ever shall never see one cloudy day one winters night nor feel any sorrow or discomfort but shall enjoy a constant plenitude or fulness of joy as a perpetual Spring for ever To conclude the frame of their bodies and spirits the place of their abode their company the objects which they shall see and hear all things within them and without them shall concur to make their joy compleat and to cause their hearts to rest in everlasting peace CHAP. XXVI SECT I. AS for the affection of desire it shall have no place in Heaven the infinite sweetness which the Saints shall tast in God and Christ and in the love of God and Christ shall abundantly satisfie them and leave no place for desire their perfect enjoyment of God shall admit no hungring or thirsting after further delights they shall find it is enough they shall be fully satisfied but never cloyed nor satiated Whence S. August saith August Tract 3. in Joâ—n such shall that delight of beauty in
11. A twofold use made hereof Chap. 12. Sheweth how the creatures shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God wherein many questions are propounded and answered Chap. 13. Of the time when the Saints shall be glorified Chap. 14. Of the place of the Saints happiness how Heaven is the house of God and shall be the habitation of the Saints that in this house are many mansions and these sufficient to receive many Inhabitants shewed in three Sections Sect. 4. Sheweth that Heaven is the Throne and Kingdom of God Sect. 5. Sheweth that Heaven is the place where the Saints inheritance lyeth Sect. 6. Sheweth that there they shall receive their reward and what that reward is Some Objections resolved Sect. 7. Sheweth that Heaven is the place where God will give his people a kind welcom and loving entertainment Chap. 15. Of the Antecedent to the Saints glory viz. the resurrection of their Bodies their resurrection proved by seven Arguments Of the personal types of our Saviour's resurrection and the proofs of his resurrection That the same bodies of the Saints shall be raised proved by five arguments An Object answered Chap. 16. Of the glory of the Saints bodies in Heaven Of the clarity agility spirituality impassibility incorruptibility and immortality of glorified bodies and of their sensitive actions and answerable passions which include not corruption And what glorious things may be spoken of the particular senses and parts of the body and of their several objects with the uses that are to be made thereof Chap. 17. Of the blessedness of the Soul before the resurrection when the soul shall remain separated from the body The opinion of the mortalists that the soul dieth or sleepeth with the body refuted Chap. 18. Of the blessedness of the Soul in general shewed in two things Chap. 19. Of the more distinct blessedness of the Soul Of the perfection of the Saints apprehensions and judgments in glory Chap. 20. A description of what things shall be seen in God by the Saints in Heaven and how they shall fully see what God is to themselves how they shall behold the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Man and as the Author and finisher of their faith and how they shall look into the great mysterie of godliness Chap. 21. Of their knowledge of that innumerable company of Angels Chap. 22. Of the Saints mutual knowledge of each other in Heaven Two Objections answered Chap. 23. Of the purity and perfection of the wills of glorified Saints Chap. 24. Sheweth how their affections shall be enlarged composed and rightly placed there Chap. 25. Of the joy of glorified Saints what it is and to what it extendeth it self Chap. 26. Sheweth what affections shall have no place in Heaven Chap. 27. Of the adjuncts of the glory of Heaven that the glorious estate of God's children is a state of liberty shewed in divers respects Chap. 28. Of the eternity of the glory of Heaven Chap. 29. Of the certainty of the Salvation of the Saints Chap. 30. Sheweth that no afflictions shall rob the Saints of their crown of glory Chap. 31. A cordial to them that are in affliction and a preparative to them that are not Chap. 32. An exhortation to Christians to believe the promise of God touching their Salvation and so to lay claim to it Chap. 33. Sheweth how a man may know whether he hath a title to Heaven Chap. 34. Setteth forth the danger of those that are in a state of damnation Chap. 35. An exhortation to offer violence to the Kingdom of Heaven A PROSPECT OF HEAVEN Rom. 8.18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us CHAP. I. THE Apostle having set forth the work and wages the duty and the reward of the Sons of God shewing that their work is to suffer with Christ their reward to reign with Christ in glory in this Verse he preventeth an Objection which might arise in the mind of a Believer that might discourage him from suffering valiantly and patiently as a good Souldier of Jesus Christ for it might be objected you tell us of glory but that glory is dearly bought that must cost so many grievous trials and afflictions as we are like to meet with yet this is satisfied by setting forth the pettiness of the afflictions of this life in comparison of future glory Be your afflictions never so many be they as great as grievous as can be imagined and endured yet the glory which shall be revealed in you is far greater then all your sufferings The words are a peremptory conclusion in which we may observe 1. The Person making the conclusion I Paul 2. The Things concerning which the conclusion is made the Afflictions of this life and future Glory 3. The Thing concluded that there is no comparison between the one and the other Now for explication of the words I reckon I Paul that have had great experience of the sufferings of this life we may read a narrative of his sufferings 2 Cor. 11.23 ad vers 31. I also that have had this high priviledg above all the Apostles to be rapt up into Paradise and saw such glory and heard such unspeakable words or things which are impossible for a man to utter with his tongue therefore St. Paul's peremptory conclusion is to be credited Rhem. Test 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I reckon This word importeth not a probable conjecture of the Apostle as the old Translation Existimo and the Rhemists would have it which Erasmus Erasm disliketh because it doth not fully express the sence of it who interprets the word reputo I account or resolve in my mind But the word properly signifieth to decree and determine a thing after much reasoning on both sides therefore many render it statuo I do ordain decree or determine and so it noteth a tried weighed and experienced conclusion proceeding from an infallible spirit and judgment and is a Metaphor taken from such as casting an Account do find what the Sum amounts unto He doth not say I think or it is my opinion but it is my reckoning St. Paul did put afflictions in one seale of the ballance and glory in the other and this he determineth that glory doth by far weigh down all our present sufferings This is the matter of his account he instanceth rather in the passive than in the active obedience of the Saints not because it is more excellent or difficult for an ungodly man may be brought to suffer but cannot truly perform a gracious work but because it is more grievous and painful The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passiones translated sufferings includes all manner of evils which we do or can suffer as reproaches cruel mockings scourgings revilings troubles pains diseases hunger cold nakedness perils loss of liberty and life it self These afflictions are said in the Greek
blotted out his grace is the Fountain of their Salvation and therefore they may expect it from his mercy God is unchangeable in his decrees the design he hath laid touching the saving of his people from all eternity is not changed in time nor can all the Powers on Earth hinder the execution of his will It is impossible that any should be Predestinate and not saved saith Peter Lombard Lomb. sent Lib 1. Dissin 40. Jesus Christ hath said That he knoweth all his Sheep that he gives unto them Eternal Life that they shall never perish that no man shall be able to pluck them out of his hands John 10.27 28. 2. God hath called them unto glory Whom he hath Predestinated them hath he called whom he hath called them hath he Justified and whom he hath Justified them also hath he Glorified Rom. 8.30 He speaks of it as of the time past as if it were already done partly because part of it is present as Peace Joy c. and partly because it is as sure as though it were in present possession we are called unto glory and vertue we are called to the obtaining the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ by the Gospel 2 Thes 2.14 And S. Paul exhorteth the Thessalonians to walk worthy of God who had called them to his Kingdom and Glory 1 Thes 2.12 God hath called the Saints out of this World they are no sooner admitted into the School of Christ but they learn that the Earth is their banishment and Heaven their Countrey the end why God calls his people out of the World is that they might not seek for happiness upon Earth and that they may make no account of what the wicked do possess and thereby see that riches and honours are not the portion of the righteous because God bestoweth them chiefly upon his enemies he leaveth the fairest part of the World to those that persecute him to teach his Children that Heaven is their patrimony and Inheritance 3. God hath prepared Heaven for them Christ at the last day will say to the Sheep whom he will place at his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father receive the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the World Mat. 25.34 When Christ was leaving the World he comforteth the hearts of his disconsolate Disciples thus In my Fathers house are many Mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you John 14.2 The glory must be incomparable which God hath treasured up and been preparing from eternity Neither doth God only prepare Heaven for his Saints but he also prepareth them for Heaven he makes them meet partakers of the inheritance among the Saints in light Col. 1.12 For as wicked men are vessels of wrath sitted for Destruction so the Saints are vessels of glory prepared unto glory Rom. 9.22 23. The Saints do not presently pass from a corrupt to a glorious estate but there is a fitting and an holy preparation cometh between if a man will wear a Garment he fits it before he weareth it so God will have his people cast into a new mould that he may fit them for Heaven before he puts them into the possession of it 4. God hath promised to bestow Heaven upon his people He will give grace and glory Psal 84.11 The Crown of life hath he promised to them that love him Jam. 1.12 Heaven cometh to us by deed by good assurance there is no better deed then that which is written by the finger of God and sealed by the blood of Christ as a judicious Divine well noteth Dr. Holdsworth Sermoon Jam. 1.12 therefore though we cannot see the glory of Heaven in the thing yet we may see it in the Promise Psal 50.23 To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God he hath chosen the poor of the World rich in Faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him Jam. 2.5 Heaven is a Kingdom engaged to the Saints by promise and they are to look upon it as a promised Kingdom and to judge him faithful that hath promised St. Augustin Debtor factus est non aliquid a nobis accipiendo sed quod ei placuâ—t promittendo August saith God is become a debtour not by receiving any thing from us but by promising all things to us what it pleased him hereupon saith he we say not to God repay that which thou receivedst but pay that which thou hast promised let us hold him therefore a most faithful debtour because we have him a most merciful promiser the promise was made in mercy the performance thereof depends upon the fidelity of the promiser Yea we have not the bare word of God only but also his oath Heb. 17.18 God willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it with an Oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us Now he is Jehovah and will give existence to all his promises and the making good his promises to his Children will tend to the greater manifestation of God's Glory SECT II. DIvers reasons also may be given why the Lord will glorifie his people in respect of themselves 1. Glory is the great design of the Saints therefore it shall be unto them St. Paul sets it down as a distinguishing Character of the Saints from other men Rom. 2.7 And saith To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life i. e. To them shall be eternal Life This is the main thing that the Saints aim at some of them do differ in some Opinions but in this they all agree viz. in aiming at everlasting glory the glory of the God of glory therefore the Lord will not suffer them to miss of the main end and aim of their Souls The Spouse cries Come Lord Jesus come quickly Their affections are set on things above their conversation is in Heaven their treasure is in Heaven and Heaven hath their hearts they seldom look up to Heaven but they sigh after it and are afflicted at their banishment grief makes the Heaven-born Soul cry Wo is me because my habitation is prolonged 2. Glory is the expectation of the Saints Phil. 3.20 21. and they are said to rejoyce in hope of the glory of God Rom. 5.2 Saving hope is a siducial and undoubted expectation of eternal glory and happiness promised to us in the word and purchased by Christ for us or else a patient waiting for the manifestation of the glory of the Sons of God when Christ shall appear this is the hope that is meant Rom. 8.23 24. there waiting hope and expectation are the same waiting for the adoption i. e. for the inheritance of glory to which by our adoption we
the everlasting glorification of the whole man Quest But will not this diminish and lessen the excellency of our future estate and make it far less eminent then the Scripture describes it to be 2 Cor. 4.17 and consequently less desirable and the hope and assurance of it less able to solace us against our present sufferings Sol. I answer no for besides the admirable alteration there shall be in our Bodies in respect of their present base condition there shall be a far greater alteration in our Souls though it be not specifical and essential as may appear in comparing the First-fruits with the whole Harvest What is an handful to the whole Crop what is a drop of Water to the whole Ocean what is the light of the Moon and Stars and Candle-light to that of the Sun and yet there is no essential difference between these no more then between a mountain and a mole-hill both having the same common nature God can raise qualities as well as substances to a most eminent and glorious perfection if we in the state of renovation find such comforts as are many times unspeakable and glorious even in this our day of small things that they make us to glory in tribulation and to triumph over the greatest evils in this life how absolute and transcendently ravishing shall our contentment be when we shall be above the reach of all evils and be filled with all perfection Hence we may learn how to conceive of the blessedness of our future estate viz. not to think of it after a carnal manner as if it did consist in eating and drinking sleeping marrying possessing of Silver and Gold and Houses richly furnished and adorned or in a Turkish Paradise in sensual delights and following our sports and recreations but rather in exercises of Holiness and Righteousness in a glorious and heavenly communion with the holy Trinity Saints and Angels as Rom. 14.17 in living a Celestial and Angelical kind of life as Luke 20.35 such as is described Isa 6.2 3. Psal 103.20 Matth. 18.20 Luke 15.7 Luke 2.13 14. A sincere Christian condition and heavenly conversation is an obscure delineation and representation of the happy condition of the glorified and the Saints do even live as it were an Heaven upon Earth they begin to live eternally and blessedly as soon as they begin to be in Christ and if Glory deserveth such great admiration and estimation Grace which is a spark and principle of it can be no mean thing therefore let those that are sanctified in Christ so far magnifie themselves against the insolencies of ungodly men CHAP. VI. Sheweth that the perfect Glory and Happiness of the Saints is invisible for the present SECT I. IN the next place I shall shew you that the full dignity glory and happiness of the Saints is not apparent Now we are the Sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be but when he shall appear we shall be like him c. 1 John 3.2 Our Salvation is hid in this life Our life of glory is hid with Christ in God Col. 3.3 All the flourishing beauty of the Wine is all the dead time of the Winter hidden in the root of the Vine Christ our Head our Brother our Ausband our Saviour is keeper of the Crown of glory it is hid in Christ for the present therefore it doth not appear and it is hid with Christ in God in God objective because of our happiness principally consisteth in the vision of God or causaliter because all our glory is derived from God or else in God that is apud Deum in the power of God to bestow it at his pleasure there is glory and happiness hidden in Christ for us Upon the meditation hereof the Psalmist cries out Psal 31.19 O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee how great it is particula admirativa Bruno Nimis supra quam dici potest admirativè cum nimio pondere Bruno interprets it thus How great is thy goodness it is so wonderful that the tongue of an Angel cannot express how great it is but this goodness is laid up it is in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which thou hast hidden which thou hast in secret preserved so that it is not as yet apparent what goodness it is Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what things God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 This St. Paul spake who in that divine rapture into the Third Heaven saw a flash of the Transcendent glory of the Saints The glorious beauty of Heaven and Earth is the object of the eye yet no eye ever saw such glory our ears hear more then our eyes can see we hear of glorious things done in all parts of the World and yet no ear ever heard of such glory our hearts can conceive more then our eyes can see or ears can hear or we can fancy greater things then can be presented to the eye yet we cannot conceive the glory of the Sons of God Our glory doth not appear we have treasures of happiness but they are hidden in the field our Transcendent happiness is like a curious piece of Arras roled up not put down and exposed to the view of men we are glorious Stars but yet we do not appear above the Horizon the Earth doth interpose it self between us and the set Sun and hides his light from us so these earthy bodies of ours do interpose themselves between us and our glory that it cannot be seen The happy and glorious estate of the Children of God doth not now appear 1. Not to the Wicked the glory and beauty of the Saints in this life is internal and spiritual The Kings Daughter is all glorious within Psal 45.13 They are full of riches of glory and strength but it is in the inner man Eph. 3.16 And so it is not obvious to carnal eyes which if it were it would turn the most sensual Epicures into mortified Saints but the wicked want a spiritual eye to discern spiritual glory Gods people are worth Millions of men but they are Gods hidden ones Psal 83.3 The world knoweth them not because they know not God 1 John 3.1 And as Moses his face when it shone had a vail over it so the glory of grace hath a vail over it that not a glimpse of it appeareth to the wicked much less doth the life of endless glory appear to them These things do hide the glorious condition of the godly from the wicked 1. Their outward troubles their outward mean and base condition obscureth their glory so that wicked men think godliness to be a contemptible thing What hid the Majesty of Christ from the eye of the Jews why was he a man rejected and despised among men it was the baseness of his outward condition that hid the glory of the only begotten Son of God he
Saints are Therefore in Jude ver 6. the day of Judgment is called the Great Day especially because it shall be a day of great Light now it is Light that makes the day and the more light the more day now in this day of Judgment there shall be abundance of light a full discovery of things and persons then shall the happiness of the Saints be more fully manifest and things shall really then appear as they are the greatest discoveries here are imperfect to that which they shall be on that day then God shall make it appear to all the World who are and who are not the Sons of God then shall all hidden things be made manifest Luk. 12. 2. That is the time for the declaration of the righteous judgment of the Lord Rom. 2.5 SECT III. THE excellent glory of the Saints is hidden from them for these reasons Reas 1. Because God would try his Children whether they would trust him or no. Whether they would believe his promises of happiness and cast themselves upon God for the accomplishment of his promises of eternal happiness Where were faith if God should make their future glory to appear to them otherwise then by promise that they shall be glorious Should God take his Children and carry them up upon a Mount as he did Moses and there shew them their future glory or take them up into the Third Heaven as he did Paul and there let them enjoy the beatifical vision how should faith be the substance of things hoped for how should faith then be the evidence of things not seen what are the things the Saints hope for is it not life everlasting is it not unspeakable glory is it not their compleat happiness and are not these the things that are not seen if these things were in view already if these things did appear to them as the Sun how could faith be the substance of things hoped for how could it be the evidence of things not seen no God will not here suffer their glory to appear but will have them live the life of faith in his promises of glory and eternal happiness before he will open Heaven to them and give them an actual possession of the heavenly Mansions and set the glorious Crown of Righteousness upon their heads Reas 2. Because God would try whether we would be content to suffer for him and to do any thing for him whether we would be willing to deny our selves to become the objects of scorn and contempt whether we would walk in his ways though they are somewhat ruggid and hedged in with sharp thornes whether we as Moses would chuse rather to suffer afflictions with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season whether we would prize the reproaches of Christ above riches more then the Treasures of Egypt and be content with his promise of future glory If the future glory and unspeakable happiness of God's Children should for the present be made manifest if God should open the windows of Heaven as he did to Stephen when he was to be stoped and let us see the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God having Crowns of glory in his hands and Robes of honour and Palms of Victory in his hands to bestow upon such as would endure reproach for his Name-sake and suffer any thing whatsoever God calls them to there is no question but the sight of this glory would make us all ready to be stoned with Stephen to be sawn asunder with Isaias to be imprisoned with Joseph to suffer with the people of God with Moses then we should esteem every reproachful contempt for Christ's sake more precious then the fairest Jewels but God doth not suffer our future glory to appear because he will try if men will suffer for him and do his will and trust themselves for glory hereafter they that will sing the Song of Moses and of the Lamb in the next life must swim through the Sea of glass mingled with fire in this life Rev. 15.2 Every one that looks for glory in the next life must make account of the Cross more or less in this life the way to Heaven is strewed with Crosses and we must think it rather an honour then a labour to follow Christ our Master as Alexander's Souldiers followed him through Mountains of Snow Reas 3. Because a future manifestation of their glorious happiness will make more for the glory of Christ then if it did now appear 2 Thes 1.10 When he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that do believe at the day of Judgment That day of horror that day of shame is the day of the manifestation of the glory of Christ and of the glory of the Saints of God then Christ will be wonderfully glorified in the glorification of his Saints and then Christ shall be admired in all them that do believe The Angels all the Saints the Wicked and the Devils themselves will be filled with admiration and be astonished at the infinite love of Christ in bestowing such glory upon all Believers Wicked men will be astonished at it and admire Christ in their glory when they shall see those poor contemned men among them to be so glorified above their expectation what will wicked men say what is yonder man in Heaven I did scorn him I did despise him upon the Earth What will another say Is that man in Heaven I saw him burnt at a Stake I saw this man imprisoned that man banished this man worried that man cast out of all that he had and now behold their glory behold their happiness They will see and wonder at it to see what glory and honour Christ hath cloathed them with then will they cry out we never thought to see such poor despised wretches whom we accounted the off-scouring of the world to be in such glory so likewise how will the Saints themselves admire Christ how will they stand wondering at themselves that they should be so glorious so happy how will they admire the love of Christ that should freely bestow such unspeakable love upon them then will the Saints say to Christ Lord what am I that thou shouldest thus honour me what glory dost thou cast upon such a worm as I am Lord I have suffered but little for thee I have done nothing for thee that thou shouldest thus glorifie me Reas 4. Therefore their glory doth not yet appear because the Sons of God while they are in these earthly houses are not fit for such glory mortality is no fit subject to have immortal glory to be put upon it these mortal Bodies of ours are not fit to be invested with the Robes of incorruptible honour yea these Bodies of ours wherein sin liveth are not fit to enjoy communion with God who is of purer eyes then to behold any unclean thing no there must be a dissolution of these earthly tabernacles mortality
must be swallowed up of life this corruptible must put on incorruption this mortal must put on immortality then and not before shall the surpassing glory of the Saints appear as Christ saith we must not put new wine into old bottles nor patch an old garment with a piece of new cloth thus Christ will not put the soul-ravishing joys of Heaven into these old bottles nor will he patch up these fading perishing Bodies with the glory of Angels Reas 5. That he might quicken their desires after their glory that our hearts may pant after those Water-brooks those Rivers of Pleasure that we may cry out with Monica the Mother of St. Augustine in her ravishing contemplation of Heaven volemus in Coelum volemus in Coelum let us fly let us fly into Heaven or as Austin himseâ—f fontem vitae sitio esurio I thirst I greedily long after the fountain of life CHAP. VII Sect. 1. ALbeit the unspeakable glory of Believers be for the present hidden yet in due time it shall be revealed Colos 3.4 When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in glory Before Christ shall appear in the brightness of his glory we shall not but when the time of his appearing in glory shall come then shall all the Saints manifestly appear with him Quest Here it may be demanded What is the glory that shall be revealed Resp 1. The glory of God himself God will manifest and display his glory before them we shall see God as fully and clearly as we are capable by God's immediate communication of himself to us without any external means 1 Cor. 15.24 God will be all and in all that is God the Father Son Holy Ghost will then reign immediately over his Church by himself without any outward means and will fill his Church with his own light life love and glory It is a disputed case whether we shall see God with our bodily eyes it is answered that the Essence of God being purely spiritual cannot be seen with bodily eyes and God is styled by the Apostle absolutely invisible Again the Angels behold the glory of God and the Souls of the Saints now in Heaven see him but have not eyes therefore the sight of God is rather an act of the mind then of the Body intellectual knowledg not corporeal light But though we shall not with our eyes see the Divine Essence yet the Divine Essence will abundantly manifest it self in the Humane Nature of Christ now glorified to our eyes they shall see him God in him his Attributes in him in this life the Ordinances are a Glass to give us the sight of God in Heaven the Humane Nature of Christ is a Glass to give our bodily eyes the sight of God 2. The glory of Christ shall be revealed his glory as Head of the Church as Saviour of the Body to which he is united his glory as Judge of the World shall be revealed it is said of him that he shall appear in glory Colos 3.4 and that he shall come in his own glory and in the glory of his Father and in the glory of his holy Angels Luke 9.26 and his appearing to judge the World is called a glorious appearing Tit. 2.13 His first appearing was mean the second shall be glorious SECT II. THe Reasons that the appearing of Christ shall be glorious are these 1. Because God hath appointed Christ to judge the World therefore Christ will in the latter day appear gloriously whom God appointed to be the Saviour of the World him hath God appointed to judge the World John 5.22 Christ is God's Delegate to judge the World God will have his Judge to appear in glory Earthly Kings will have their itinerary Judges to appear in pomp and to judge Malefactors they appear both in terror and honour how do all the Gentry give their attendance how are they attended with Spear-men and the Trumpets sounding before them and are invested with Robes of honour Thus God will have his Judge of all the World to appear in glory upon his Tribunal and therefore chargeth all the Angels of Heaven to attend his glorious Majesty chargeth the Arch-angels to sound the Trump to awaken the sleepy Prisoners in the Grave the dark Prison of Death think ye what a glorious appearance it will be If Peter was amazed at Christ upon Mount Tabor when he saw but a glimpse of his glory at the Transfiguration what appearance will that be when Christ shall come in the brightness of his glory and all the Angels and Saints with him cloathed in brightness of glory 2. Because Christ will be glorious before those that did dishonour him Christ did appear to men in the form of a Servant then he was a despised a rejected Christ then was he crowned with a Crown of Thorns and had no better Sceptre then a Reed then was he a reviled a buffeted Christ the malicious Jews did most contumeliously spit on his face and every Sinner would contradict oppose and persecute him then was he a crucified Christ a Man of sorrows and of shame every one looked upon him as a despised Man none would own him for the Son of God yea the Jews did accuse him for Blasphemy for telling them that he was the Son of God therefore Christ will appear in glory one day to the horror and terror of these men that did thus blasphemously abuse him that was King of Kings that did reject him that came to save them that so Christ might be glorified before them and upon them in taking vengeance on their Souls and Bodies then those that did mock at him put a Crown of Thorns on his head a Reed in his hand shall see he was Heir of a better Crown then the Crowns of the greatest Kings and Emperors then they that did contumeliously spit upon and buffet him in scorn shall see they did this to one whom the Angels reverence he will make Kings to throw down their Crowns and Scepters to his feet then those that scorned and despised him shall see that verily he is the Son of God 3. Because glory is terrible the more glorious Christ appears at the last day the more terror will be upon the wicked therefore the glorious appearing of Christ to judge the World is called the terror of the Lord 2 Cor. 6.11 If the sight of one Angel in glory be terrible what will the sight of Christ be who will appear ten thousand times more glorious then all the Angels be if godly men that had good consciences were so horribly affrighted at the appearance of an Angel in lesser glory how will wicked men that have accusing consciences be afraid at the beholding Christ's glorious appearance if holy men were so amazed at good tidings because brought to them by a glorious Messenger how will wicked men be amazed to hear the sentence of condemnation pronounced against them by the Lord of glory To see God in Christ is the
unspeakable happiness of the Saints in Heaven and to behold Christ as a Judge sitting upon the Tribunal will be one of the greatest tormenting punishments of damned men and Devils The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance c. 2 Thes 1.7 8. He shall be revealed from Heaven with his holy Angels there is the glorious Majesty of Christ and in flaming fire taking vengeance c. there is the amazing terrour of his glorious appearing Our Saviour saith Matth. 24.29 30. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the Sun be darkened and the Moon shall not give her light and the Stars shall fall from Heaven and the powers of Heaven shall be shaken and then shall appear the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven and then shall all the Kinreds of the Earth mourn and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with power and great glory And he shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet and they shall gather together his Elect from the four Winds and from one end of the Heavens to the other Consider here the Signs foregoing his coming verse 29. the Sun Moon and Stars shall lose their light in a strange and wonderful manner as it were hiding their faces at the coming of the Sun of Righteousness The Stars shall fall from Heaven the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken The higher and more glorious parts of the Creation shall suffer a wonderful alteration at his coming Then shall appear the Sign of the Son of Man Which Musculus and Arelius take to be the Sign of the Cross which should be gloriously displayed in the eyes of the World both for terror to all the Enemies of his Cross and for the joy of all that believe in Christ crucified But others take it for Christ himself shewing himself in the same Humane Nature wherein he suffered now gloriously appearing for the confusion of his Enemies and full redemption of his Servants Then shall all the wicked of all Nations mourn their guilty consciences being surprized with unspeakable horror at the sight of their Judge whom they shall see coming as in a Chariot of Clouds armed with power and shining in glory sending forth his Angels by sound of Trumpet to summons all the Elect that sleep in the dust in any part of the World to come and give their attendance upon Christ their glorious Redeemer In Matth. 16.27 you have the coming of Christ expressed and his acts to be performed at his coming His coming is magnified by the glorious Majesty of his Father wherein he shall appear and those blessed Attendants which should follow him For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his Angels c. Quest But it may be doubted why Christ should be said to come in the glory of his Father sith it shall be his own glory wherein he shall appear Resp It may be said to be the glory of his Father in three respects 1. To shew his unity in Essence with the Father in that he cometh in the glory of his Father he shall come in his own glory according to that of our Saviour I and the Father are one 2. By comparing the Humiliation of his Person here in the flesh with the glory of the Divine Nature shining perfectly in the Father even at that time when it was Ecclipsed and veiled in him by the human Nature so that in this speech he compareth the meaness of a Servant wherein he now appeared with the glory of his Father wherein then he should appear 3. It was the glory of the Father because the Father hath committed all Judgment to him and after this his glorious coming he is to deliver up the Kingdom to God the Father and therefore in the mean time he is said to come in the glory of the Father 4. To which perhaps may be added a fourth That the glory of the Father shineth in the Son who is the Image of God and the brightness of his Father's glory All the glory of the Sun Moon and Stars meeting together are nothing comparable to this glory of the Father wherein Christ shall shew himself at his coming The glory of all Earthly Kingdoms viewed at one Landskip as the Devil shewed them our Saviour were nothing to that fullness of glory wherein our Blessed Saviour shall reveale himself The glory of his abasement was wonderful when the Star lighted the way to his lodging an Angel brought word from Heaven of his Conception and then of his Nativity when the Devil left him and the Victory to him and Angels came to Minister unto him when Devils roared and left their Possessions at his call when Winds and Waves were silent at a Word of his mouth when Loaves and dead Fishes multiplyed upon his blessings upon the Table or between the Teeth of the Eaters when all sorts of diseases gave place and Death it self yeilded up her dead at his command And yet beloved that difference shall be between the glory of Christ at his coming and this of his abasement which is between the glory of the Father and the despised meanness of a Servant Moreover the glory of Christ shall be magnified by the blessed attendants that shall follow him and they are his Angels at that day they shall be employed as his special Instruments in gathering the Wheat into his Barn and binding up the Tares to be burnt with fire unquenchable O faithful Soul how joyfully shouldest thou expect this blessed meeting O how happy will that day be when the holy Angels of Christ shall come to meet thee rising from the Dead and with abundance of joy shall embrace and welcome thee to thine everlasting home While thou art solitary forsaken and despised in the World comfort thy self in expectation of this blessed society with whom thou shalt remain for ever with whom thou shalt joyn in sweetest Hallelujahs and words of Praise to him that sitteth upon the Throne for evermore Ear hath not heard the sweetness of those Songs wherein the Saints shall joyn with those blessed Angels SECT III. THe glory of the Saints themselves shall be revealed they shall appear with Christ in glory 1. Their appearance in glory with Christ in Judgment will make the coming of Christ more glorious and terrible When Earthly Kings will shew the glory of their Kingdom they will always have a pompous train to follow them thus Christ the greatest of Kings delighting to manifest his glory will come attended with glorious Troops of Angels and Saints 2. Because it will make much for the glorifying of the Saints and that two ways 1. Because they shall come as Judges and shall sit upon Thrones Judging the Wicked how will wicked men quake when they shall appear before those godly men whom they hated and derided now the Saints shall Judge the World 1 Cor. 6.2 1. Assistendo they shall
manner of bondage into perfect liberty yet St. Paul opposeth the Creatures to the Elect in those words Not only they but we also And the glorious liberty of the Sons of God is the State into which the Creatures are to be delivered according to their capacity the future glory of the Sons of God being the exemplar of the Creatures glory the Elect are to be delivered primarily the Creatures secondarily the Elect are not meant 3. By Creature we are not to understand those Creatures which are bred of dung and corruption the excrements of Nature neither are we to understand those Creatures which are the effects of God's Curse upon the Creature as a penalty of man's Transgression as Thornes Thistles Briars and such like these shall be turned into nothing but 4. By Creatures we are to understand the Heavens and the Earth and Elements and all the Works of God which he made at first very good in themselves wherein his glory did much appear and were for the great delight content and necessary use of man as living Creatures the Fowles which are the Host and ornament of Heaven the Beasts and all Plants which are the Host and ornament of the Earth These reasons may be given for this opinion Reas 1. Because the Apostle ver 19. speaks indefinitely the Creature Likewise in ver 20.21 But ver 22. as if he would put all out of doubt he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole Creation or omnis Creatura as it is in the margin of your Bibles this is a known rule of interpreting Scripture when there are many words of one and the same thing the latter are the Interpretation of the former 2. Because all the Creatures which in the day of Creation were very good are all equally subject to bondage to vanity and corruption and all the Creatures do desire their own perfection and preservation as well as some Creatures there is no reason why some should be frustrated of these their natural desires and others should not 3. Because they who hold that only the Heavens and the Earth shall be renewed and not other Creatures cannot without reason conceive that the Heavens Earth and Elements can be without their ornaments if so then the Earth would be under greater bondage of vanity then now it is it should then be void of all form and beauty now the reasons which they give for their opinion is because these and not other parts of the World are only capable of immortality But to this I answer that no Creature is in its own nature capable of Immortality the Heavens and the Earth are not Immortality is the meer gift of God and depends not on any thing in Nature therefore if the Heavens Earth Elements shall be restored to an Immortal State as the Schoolmen think God who gives them Immo tallity may allow the same benefit to the other parts of the World for his own glory as unto them all being capable of the gift of Immortality if God bestow it SECT II. Quest 2. SEcondly we are to enquire what is meant by the Creatures deliverance from the bondage of corruption Resp Touching this I find two contrary Opinions both grounded on Scripture and both have learned and godly men for their Patrons 1. Some conceive that the deliverance of the Creation from this bondage is by a total abolition and destruction of the whole Creation the Creature being made for man quatenus viator non comprehensor V.d. Dr Ha kwel's Apologvof the power of God for the government of the World when the Creature ceaseth to be say they then it ceaseth to be subject to vanity and for this their opinion they alledge Job 14.12 where it is said Man lieth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more Isai 51.6 The Heavens shall vanish away like smoak and the Earth shall wax old like a garment but my salvation shall be for ever and my righteousness shall not be abolished Matth. 24.35 Heaven and Earth shall pass away 2 Pet. 3.10 The day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the night in the which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up Which they expound of the substance and qualities of the present Heavens and Earth and all the works in them saying that all shall be burnt to ashes so Piscator Piscat in Loc. From these and the like places they affirm that the substances of Heaven and Earth shall be reduced to ashes to nothing because â—â—â—s said they shall perish they shall pass away â—hey shall be burnt up which importeth annihilation Divers Arguments are brought for the confirmation hereof chiefly from the uselessness of the Creature in that estate when Man shall have no more need of the Creatures why should they be any more what use will there be of the Sun or Stars to enlighten him The Scripture saith in Heaven there shall be no night and those that are there need no Candle neither light of the Sun for the Lord giveth them light c. Revel 22.5 There shall be no need say they of Earth or Water for the refreshment and use of Man of no Beasts or Fowls to feed on of none of the Creatures to serve him when Man shall have a spiritual Body and be raised to an incorruptible state he will be far above the use of these things therefore say they why should these things be that will be of no use at all Moreover the opinion of these men is that after God hath by fire destroyed this present World then will he either out of nothing or out of the ashes create new Heavens and new Earth according to that promise in 2 Pet. 3.13 which is expressed in Isa 66.22 2. There are sundry others that hold that these present Heavens and Earth shall not be destroyed in respect of their substance and being but only in respect of their present state qualities and uses and these haâ—e founded their opinion upon Scripture as that of Psalm 102.26 where the Psalmist speaking of the Heavens saith They shall perish but thou shalt endure c. as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed He saith they shall perish but here he interprets how they shall perish viz. by mutation or alteration not by destruction alteration of qualities not of substances and the Hebrew word in Piel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to innovate alter and restore 2. So St. Paul expoundeth how this present World shall pass away 1 Cor. 7.31 the fashion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the external figure the state of this present World shall pass away not the substance but the outward shape of the World shall be done away 3. So that of 2 Pet. 3.6 where he compareth the last destruction of the World by Fire to the destruction of the World by Water in Noah's days
the Christian race and have run over Mountains of difficulties and encountered with many tryals and tentations and at last have run them all down and are come in sight of the Promised Land of the Heavenly Canaan how will their hearts then leap for joy crying out Oh here is the Land of promise here is Heaven that blessed place here is the Kingdom we have so often prayed for Lord let thy Kingdom come here is the Crown we have run for then will a Christian say had this race that I have run been much longer and more tedious then it was and should I have met with a thousand dangers and difficulties more then I have done they had been nothing to this glorious Crown Brethren a few moments in Heaven will make you amends enough for all your watchings praying fasting for all your labours of love for all the time you have spent in the service of God be therefore faithful to the death he that endureth to the end shall be saved CHAP. XIV SECT I. HAving spoken of the circumstance of time I shall now consider the other circumstance sc of the place of the Saints happiness This also is very considerable When man was created holy and happy Heylin Geograph Willet Synops Papismi the Spirit of God vouchsafeth to give us an exact description of the very place where God set him shewing in what coast of the World Paradise was scituate sc in Eden which the Learned say was part of Mesopotamia with what goodly and beautiful Plants that Garden was furnished Paradisum vocant Graeci locum irriguum an oenum omni florum varietate distinctum sempiternis arboribus consitum aprissimum ad aetatem feliciter degendam Ossor Lusitam de Nobilit Christiana lib. 1. with what Rivers it was watered Genes 2.8 9. this being a great addition to mans happiness in that condition and St. Paul 2 Cor. 12. calleth the third Heaven Paradise as if this Garden of Eden had been a shadow of Heaven the place of the Blessed When the Lord chose Israel out of all the Nations of the World and planted them in Canaan a figure of Heaven you may see what an exact Geographical description is given of it in the Book of Josua Chap. 15 16 17. and elsewhere the fertility and pleasantness of the Country is frequently commended How incomparable then is the pleasantness of the heavenly Paradise and the beauty of the Celestial Canaan I. It is called in Scripture the house of God and the habitation of the Saints Melchizedeck called God the Possessor of Heaven and Earth Gen. 14. The whole created World is his possession but the Heaven is his glorious Palace as a Prince that hath a whole Kingdom under him keepeth his Court in the principal place of his Dominions 1. As a Man's House is or should be scituated in the best and most convenient part of his possessions so of all things created Heaven is the goodliest and most glorious part The Earth is beautiful especially in the prime of the Spring and Summer when the face of it is renewed but yet when it is in its greatest glory it is but a dunghil in comparison of the Heavens That glory of the Heavens which we see on the outside and afar off is incomparably beyond the beauty of the things below but that which we cannot see doth far surmount that which we do see I mean that most glorious habitation of the Angels and Saints though that which we behold hath incomparably more beauty and glory in it then our weak sight can discern at such a distance and therefore the Heavens for their surpassing beauty and glory are called the House of God 2. As a Man is commonly to be seen at his own house more then at another place besides so doth the Lord in Heaven more especially shew forth his glory The Lord hath been but seldom manifested on the Earth as when he gave so many visible signs of his glorious presence upon Mount Sinai and then when Moses was admitted to see his back parts and when he spake from Heaven at the Baptism of our blessed Saviour This is my beloved Son c. but in Heaven his presence is more notably manifested continually our Saviour sheweth that in Heaven the holy Angels do always behold the face of God Matth. 18.10 his glorious presence is always manifested there 3. In a Man's dwelling house usually his Children and Servants are abiding and although Kings and Princes have more Servants and Officers then an house can hold yet their principal Attendants are commonly with them in the Court so Heaven is the place appointed for the Lord's Servants though all of them are not yet there not for want of room but because the Lord hath appointed them other work to do elsewhere for a time yet thither shall they be gathered and in the mean time there are his principal Attendants there are the glorious Angels who are called the Angels of Heaven Matth. 24.36 there also are the blessed Saints of God departed 4. As a Man's house wherein he dwelleth is furnished for the most part so that his riches appear in some sort in his house so Heaven is the place which is most royally furnished the Earth is but a Country Farm-house in comparison of it Heaven is richly adorned and furnished with perfect Holiness all the Vessels of that House are of pure Gold there is neither dross in them nor any uncleanness cleaving to them all the Saints and Angels there are free from all impurity no unclean thing hath entrance into this house of God Holiness becometh thine house O Lord for ever Psal 93.5 it is full of all holiness and happiness It is said Rev. 21.25 that the Gates of Heaven shall not be shut at all Heaven Gates shall always stand open yet no unclean thing shall enter in The Streets of that City are of pure Gold the walls built of precious Stones there are twelve Gates of twelve Pearls A good Expositor observeth that all those precious Stones there mentioned have a contrary virtue against uncleanness to shew unto us that Heaven will not admit of any impure and defiled thing God will not suffer the dirty feet of impure Sinners to tread upon his pure Pavement of Gold When God drave sinful Adam out of Paradise he caused a Cherubim to stand before the Gates of Paradise with a flaming sword in his hand to keep him out of Paradise if he should attempt to come in again Sin is like the sword of the flaming Cherubim to keep out all wicked men from entring into Heaven Heaven is also a place of holy Exercises Here our best services are stained with sin and tainted with corruption but there all the services of the Saints do bear a lively impression of the fountain of holiness upon them there they must warble forth the Song of the Seraphims Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty Isai 6.3 It is said of the Saints of
of God and yet would fain be in Heaven that hate this house of God and yet long to be in that heavenly house of God Assure thy self that unless thou couldest delight in God's presence here thou canst have no delight in his presence there The happiness of that house is heavenly and spiritual there is nothing to please the covetous heart nothing to fill the wanton eye nothing to satisfie the Drunkard's and Glutton's appetite no wanton dancing no idle sports nothing but holiness and holy exercises and that glory which is the ornament of holiness and ariseth from it There is not a word nor a thought but what becometh the presence of God such as abide his pure eyes Now then do thou O Christian bend thy heart and soul toward this house and presence of God so shalt thou be a pillar in the house of God and shalt go out of it no more but shalt possess fulness of joy in his presence for evermore SECT III. NOw in this House of God are many Mansions In my Father's House are many Mansions saith our Saviour John 14.2 Heaven is sufficient to receive many Inhabitants I mean not that it is like some great Houses that have no Inhabitants but that it is appointed of God to be a dwelling place for many Many I say not in comparison of those multitudes which shall be shut out of doors but many in an absolute consideration taken by themselves yet these many shall be very few in comparison of the droves of men that throng together in the broad way of destruction Of the largeness of this House of God Solomon speaketh when he compareth it with that Temple which he had built 1 Kings 8.27 Will God indeed dwell upon the Earth behold the Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee how much less this House which I have built What do I speak of the Lord 's dwelling in this little House which I have built then he puts in a special note of attention and admiration Behold even those large and spacious Heavens which himself hath builded and spread out like a glorious curtain over the whole Earth and all things between the Earth and it cannot contain him how much less this House which I have made As if he had said the Heavens are incompaâ—â—bly greater then this House which I have built but he is infinitely greater then the Heavens Yea our eyes may teach us that it is of wonderful greatness although we cannot see how large it is if we consider that the Earth is of a wonderful compass and yet that it is but as a spot or little Ball hanging in the midst of the Heavens and encompassed round with those goodly Spheres and Orbs. Yea even a Child may learn thus much from the light of Reason with a little help that seeing the Sun is big enough to give light to half the Earth at once and yet seemeth so little to our eye it must needs be at a wonderful distance from us perhaps many thousand miles Now then of what wonderful bigness is the Heaven it self being so far above the Earth and yet compassing all those huge spaces round about the Earth that are between the Earth and Heaven Neither may we think but that this Heaven of Heavens the House of God is yet far above the Chamber of the Sun out of which the Psalmist saith he cometh at his rising Consider then Christian Reader what did ever any man find in the Earth that should make him so willing to sell Heaven for it if a man could have it all it were not comparable to the lowest Mansion in Heaven if any be lower then other All is vanity saith the Preacher speaking of all things under the Sun especially when they be compared with those large spacious and glorious Mansions above the Sun Who then can sufficiently detest that folly which preferreth the least part of the earth which the Lord treadeth under foot as his foot-stool above the glorious Heaven the large extent whereof surroundeth and encompasseth the whole World How should this comfort Christians that though they be pent up and straitned here yet in Heaven they shall have room enough there shall be Rehoboth there the Lord will make room for us Here is comfort against those engrossing oppressors which joyn house to house and leave no room for the poor if thou labour to be rich in faith thou shalt find that they cannot shoulder thee out from an happy and large possession in that heavenly Kingdom Mayst thou not take comfort in a smoaky Cottage assuring thy self of thy part in a most glorious Pallace what if thou hast but little of the Earth or none at all is it not abundantly sufficient that thou shalt enjoy so much of Heaven as thy Soul can desire yea that there shall be no enclosures there but all that glorious Inheritance shall lie common to all the Heirs of promise Look not with a longing eye upon a fairer or more convenient House then thine own upon wider Fields and greater Possessions then any that thou art owner of upon Earth but over-look all these and say to the praise of God's grace with an heart rejoycing in the Lord yet I have more then all the World is worth Moreover none of the Faithful need to fear that he should be shut out for want of room in this heavenly Palace here is many Mansions here is a place appointed for every true Believer the poorest Christian shall not miss of an happy habitation in this House of our Father Lazarus though he lie full of sores and rags without doors there on Earth yet there he shall have a sweet repose in Abraham's bosome Let this comfort a Believer against all solitariness and want of company in this life in the House of thy heavenly Father are many Mansions and these shall not stand empty for want of Inhabitants Oh what Troops of glorious Angels and Saints shall live together in those heavenly Mansions how shall they flock together from the East and from the West and from the North and from the South there sitting down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom It is a strange weakness to be discontented for want of company but a greater and worthy of all reproof to go out of the narrow way because it is so solitary and to turn into the common road because of company Oh the folly and infidelity of our hearts can we not with patience stay for so much good Company as we shall find and for ever enjoy in our Father's House For although the number that shall be saved shall be but a very small number in comparison of the numberless multitude that are already lost and do hasten to destruction although when the Church was greatest upon Earth as in the Apostles times the number of the wicked did much exceed it yet take those many thousands of holy Angels which keep their first estate and joyn to these multitudes of holy men
been exercised in extending themselves and mercy to the poor be for ever bound by the ingratitude of death shall those knees which have bowed with such willing reverence be so held down by the violence of mortality that they can never rise up again Where are then thy tears O David if thine eyes shall not enjoy the happiness of their own sorrow What then O Job is become of thy faith and patience if thy body be now as much without hope as before it was without rest Where are then O Esaias thy victorious sufferings if after the ignorant fury of the saw and schism of thy body thy body suffer a wider disordation from thy soul for tedious eternity Where are thy travels then O Paul if after thy Christian Geography and Conquest of Paganism thou art for ever confin'd to the dull peace of a Grave No the Almighty which hath made man with wisdom of Art will neither lose his glory nor his work but as he made the greater Heaven for his Angels so made he the less and mortal Heaven of Man's Body as I may so speak for his Soul and will have it eternal as his Soul SECT VII THere is more excellency of workmanship in the Soul but more variety in the Body the Soul doth more truly express God the Body more easily the Soul judgeth best but the Body first and though the eyes of the Soul do behold the work of God more clearly yet doth the eye of the Body most properly Nay should not the Body be raised to life and Heaven how great a part of Heaven and that life would be lost whiles not enjoyed and be as unnecessary as it is wonderful God hath prepared joys for the Saints which the eyes have not seen nor the ears heard but which the eye shall see and the ear shall hear and without the pleasure of a trance for ever possess as much without error as without measure such honour will the Creator of our Bodies do to the Bodies of all his Saints They shall acknowledge Corruption yet overcome it they may in their journey be the Guests of the Grave but at last they shall be the Inhabitants of Heaven Yet the Lord cannot hereafter honour Humane flesh by raising it as he hath already by assuming it it was before his Servant now his Companion that was a resurrection of the flesh when it was raised unto God but the only resurrection of our flesh is when it is raised unto the Soul At the last day of Judgement though there be no Marriage of sexes yet there shall be of parts when Souls shall be united to Bodies in so entire and so inexorable a Matrimony that it shall admit no hope nor fear of a divorce nor need we fear in the jealousie of this Match the Ignoble Parentage of the flesh since what it wanteth by Birth is supplied by Dowry and flesh now is become such refined earth being made wonderful in shape and office that the Soul may be thought scarce more noble but that it seems more reserved by being invisible this mortal body shall put on immortality this Body sown in corruption shall be raised in incorruption it shall not only be freed from death but also from corruption yea and whatsoever savoureth of mortality or the least decay And notwithstanding these principles of earth fall into such an heap of dust that they are with as much difficulty to be seen as numbred yet thus divided among themselves retaining still though not an appetite yet an obedience to a resurrection Nature hath not lost this and God will supply that and as easily unite as distinguish each dust to yield to this is the Creed of the Creed If any mans faith in the assent to this mystery be as weak as his reason he may help both his faith and his reason by sense by which he shall be either convinced or perswaded If you will be but as hardy as Antiquity you may propose to your selves the solemn Poetry of the Phoenix a Creature rarer then the Resurrection though not so admirable in whose ashes you may find the fire of life expecting but to be fann'd to the resurrection of a flame as if this Creature by a riddle of Fate would by a fire both perish and revive But without the courtesie of supposition you may in earnest behold the Eagle shoot forth new quills wherewith may be written and testified his endeavor of immortality thus doth God teach Nature how to teach us mysteries and without the magical learning of the language of Birds to understand without their voice their secret instruction But perhaps you will think that to discern this truth in the nature of Eagles would require a sight as sharp as the Eagles Remove then your eyes from the Fowls of the Air but to the Trees whereon they nest and with a negligent view you may observe how after the nakedness and death of Winter they bud forth afresh into life and beauty yet why should we in the sloth of this easie contemplation study so broad an object let our eye with more grateful industry confine it self with the small seed of corn and at least take the pains to see the pains of the Husbandman and shall we not admire at his delightful Arithmatick of nature to behold a seed whose hope seems as small as it self by being cast away to be found by destruction to receive increase from the same furrow to take both a Burial and a Birth He that shall now see a little drop of man's seed in a glass and a lump of earth together would think the one as unlikely to become a man as the other and yet we see how miraculous and curious a work the Lord makes every day of the principle of seed which made David cry out I am fearfully and wonderfully made Psal 139. and he can easily restore our Bodies out of a praeexistent something which may confute the erronious opinion of the Sadduces who denied the resurrection Matth. 22.23 of the Athenian Philosophers who derided it Acts 17.18 holding the Pythagorean transmigration of Himeneus and Philetus who said the resurrection was past 2 Tim. 2.18 and lastly of all those Atheists and Epicures Isai 22.13 that cry out and say Mors ultima linea rerum SECT VIII BUt now the Soul will have its old Companion again for should the Soul for ever want the Body it should want both perfection and wonder Is not the Soul most perfect when it is most noble is it not most noble when it is most bountiful and is it not most bountiful when it gives life to the dead Is it not likewise most full of wonder when it is thus perfect in that which is imperfect when it mixeth with corruption and yet is incorruptible when it is most burthened and yet is most variously active Thus by this necessary inclination of the Soul the Resurrection is as natural in respect of the union as it is above Nature in respect of
more set forth the thankfulness of the Labourer and these the magnificence of the Lord. If you will take the words of the Rabbins whom in story of custom we have no more cause to distrust then to feign they will tell you when the Husbandman carried up those Fruits to the holy City he had a Bull went before him whose horns were guilded and an Olive-garland upon his head this was the picture of his Master's affection and state as if by the impetuous Beast he would express the courage of his joy by guilded horns the riches of his plenty and by the Olive-garland the Crown of peace Behold the displayed Herauldry of his happiness and that it might be increased by applauses a Pipe played before him to charge all to take notice of it until they came to the Mountain of the Lord. Shall not these first-fruits be likewise paid at our great resurrection shall they not be brought to our heavenly Jerusalem the City of the great King shall they not have Angels go before them shall there not likewise be Crowns and shall they not likewise be ushered by the voice of a Trumpet It was the sound that the Jews used at their braver Funerals and may it not then fitly be used when they shall be awaked from their Tombs Till Christ was risen those that were buried were dead but if we once but name him the first-fruits of them that rise let us no more say that they are dead but that they sleep yet all before the resurrection shall not sleep some instead of rising shall be only new dressed by being cloathed with incorruption and so have rather a change of rayment then of life they shall not put off their bodies but their mortality and be made like unto Christ both in the truth of the resurrection and of glory The Eutychian shall then confess that the two natures in Christ are not mixed though joyned and that his Humanity though exalted is not changed the Pythagorean shall then recover the possession and acquaintance of his vagabond Soul the Sadduce shall then rise in that body in which he denied the resurrection of the body and with the eyes of his body see the errour of his Soul the Vbiquitary shall then see that Christ's body may be seen and it shall certainly prove that it is not everywhere by being not in the same grave whence it was risen that is in respect of his corporal presence for otherwise as he is God he was there and in all other places of the World CHAP. XVI SECT I. Of the glory of the Bodies of the Saints in Heaven and first of the beauty and clarity of glorified Bodies BUt now to speak more particularly of the glory of the Body the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 15.43 the Body is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory that which is here called glory is by Divines generally termed clarity and this no way varying from the sense of the Apostle for vers 41 42. he saith that the glories of the Saints Bodies in Heaven at the general resurrection shall be different and divers one exceeding another in clarity as one Star differs from another in glory so shall the resurrection of the dead be St. Paul saith in Phil. 3.21 Christ shall change our vile bodies and fashion them like unto his glorious body This is very admirable that a poor sinful Creature should be so changed transformed exalted as to be like the Son of God in glory Our Bodies now are but as loathsome Carcasses what a vile Body had Job when he sate upon the Dunghil what a vile Body had Lazarus when he lay at the Rich Man's gate full of sores When Children are young break out in the face in hands and body there is no beauty in them so sin breaks out in these mortal Bodies and makes them ugly in God's eyes there are many corporal imperfections in mens Bodies now but when Christ shall appear then our Bodies shall be as his Body beautiful and glorious Tradition upheld by reason teacheth us that he was beautiful without art that the Holy Ghost who formed his Body in the Virgins Womb would have it adorned with comliness he consecrated beauty in his Person when he took our nature upon him though he assumed the pain of sin he would not assume the ugliness thereof and as there was no ignorance in his Soul so was there no deformity in his Body His very types in the Old Testament were all comely David and Solomon the one of which represented his Victories the other his Triumphs were both of them famous for their beauty the Angels took upon them his visage when they treated with the Prophets while they spoke in his name they would appear in his form Jacob had the honour to see him when he wrestled with him before the break of day the three Children that were thrown into the fiery Furnace saw him in the midst of the flames But how gloriously did the face of Christ shine at his Transfiguration Christ's face did shine upon Earth and now in Heaven doth shine like the Sun And our Saviour intimateth that the Righteous shall shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Matth. 13.43 Lazarus his Body shall be a beautiful Body he shall have no imperfection Sampson shall then have his eyes which the Philistines pulled out Mephibosheth shall not be lame in Heaven there shall be no imperfection in a glorified Body The Scripture mentioneth some Persons eminent for beauty as David Joseph and especially Absalom who though he had a deformed Soul yet for his out-side was without blemish and had no peer among those many thousands of Israel There was none to be so much praised for beauty as Absalom for from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him 2 Sam. 14.25 But the most exquisite earthly beauty is but skin-deep and but like the painting of a rotten post it is but a fresh colour laid on mortality the foundation of it is weak and crasie and therefore it soon fadeth but he that is like to Christ in holiness shall be like to him in heavenly beauty and glory the beauty of glorified Bodies shall be a shining beauty The expression of Divines is thus As Iron when it is heated in the Fire we cannot see the Iron for the Fire it appears nothing else but fiery so in Heaven we shall not be able to see the Body for the glory thereof and as the Air is now fully possessed with the light so shall our Bodies be fully possessed with glory and the Soul full of the light of glory shall be diffused thorow the whole Body Lessius de summo bono lib. 3. cap 5. and all the parts of it according to the opinion of the Learned therefore it behooveth that the whole Body be resplendent according to the dignity of the Soul inhabiting it Yea it is conceived that the glory of the Soul
shall be seen through the Body in such a sort as the life of the Soul is seen and observed in and by the vivacity and liveliness which it imparts by action and motion to the outward visible parts of the Body Dr. Rich. Sheldon of mans last end and not only did the face of Christ shine as the Sun at his Transfiguration on Mount Tabor but also his rayment was white as the light Matth. 17.2 St. Mark addeth that his rayment became shining exceeding white as snow so as no Fuller on earth can white them Mark 9.3 Now his garments did cover his Body yet such was the glory and clarity of his Body that his rayment became white as snow for it became not Christ or the Angels to appear in naked Bodies Cyril Hierosol Catech 18. Cyril of Jerusalem speaking of this point saith The Just shall shine as the Sun and as the Moon and as the brightness of the Firmament And God foreseeing the incredulity of Men Ut Anima ista dum exercet functiones suaâ— in corpore impertit ei colorem totam hanc externam Corporis gloriam ita tum cum Deus erit omnia in omnibus spiritus Christi in nobis habitam induet Corpora nostra gloriosissima quibusque qualitatibus Rolloc in Johan cap. 5. hath given unto little Worms called Glow-worms a shining Body that they might shine therewith that from those things which do appear we might believe what we do expect he that hath made a Worm so to glister will make the Bodies of the Saints much more bright and shining SECT II. Of the agility of glorified Bodies THe Bodies of the Saints in Heaven shall also have a wonderful agility whereby they shall be able to move from place to place with incredible swiftness this agility is a glorious quality whereby the Bodies of the glorified are totally subject to the Souls as to most powerful movers to be moved by them without the least reluctancy or resistance for the Soul shall then as some Learned men say have a most absolute dominion over the Body and by a redundancy and emanation impart to it a glorious quickning and vivacity far beyond that which any mortal Creatures in their bodily heavy parts can have for glorified Souls shall then be made perfect and glorified Bodies shall have more perfect instruments for motion then those which corruptible Bodies usually have and the weight of their Bodies shall not in the least hinder their motion And albeit the same Father saith Certe ubi volet Spiritus ibi protinus erit Corpus that the Body will presently be there where the Soul would have it Yet may we not grant unto the same Bodies any instantanean motion so that in an imagined instant of time they may make any true real corporal motion for time in a proper speech hath no true or real instant either as part or period or end of it self for then a glorified Body must pass thorow the beginning middle and end of a space at once if it move from place to place in an instant which were more then utterly impossible involving a contradiction and would be destructive to the nature of a true Body Yet the motion of glorified Bodies may be very sudden and in so short a time as it were imperceptible Augustine compares it to the Sun-beams August Epist 4â— the which as it were in an imperceptible moment of time do fill this whole Hemisphere with their glorious lustre The Author of the Book of Wisdom saith The Righteous shall shine and as sparks among the stubble they shall run too and fro Sap. 3.7 Whereby some think the agility of the Saints Bodies in Heaven and their facility for motion is figured One saith that its agility will be so great that it will out-pass the winds and lightning it will flie without wings through the spacious Regions of the Air it will walk upon the water and not sink and in a very short time passing from one end of the World to the other will be no longer a clog and torment to the Soul Moreover which way soever they shall move they shall have the glorious presence of God with them in Heaven the Saints live move and have their glorious being in him they live of him by partaking of his glorious life move before him like the holy Angels by a most prompt and ready obedience and are in him being entered into the joy of their Lord. SECT III. Of the spirituality of glorified Bodies A Farther degree of the happiness of a glorified Body is that it shall be spiritual It is sown a natural Body but it riseth a spiritual Body 1 Cor. 15.44 It is called a spiritual Body not as though the Body were changed into the Soul and Spirit for so that which is raised should not be Man consisting of a Soul and Body but a third distinct thing differing from Man it shall not then cease to be a Body it shall change condition but not change nature were its nature changed the mystery of the resurrection of the flesh should be quite taken away and so the same thing that fell should not be raised again Neither is it called a spiritual Body as though the Body after the resurrection were rarified like the Air and Wind as the Eutychians of old affirmed denying glorified Bodies to be palpable but I call it spiritual 1. Because as the Body shall be re-united to the Soul so it shall be perfectly submitted to it as the Spirit serving the Flesh may not unfitly be called carnal so the Body obedient to the Soul is rightly termed spiritual The Soul shall have a more powerful influence upon and dominion over the Body after the resurrection then it ever had or could have in the time of her mortality it shall no longer be the Prison but the Temple of the Soul then the Body shall readily yield to every motion of the Spirit 2. The Body shall be endued with spiritual properties the Bodies of the Saints shall be even as the Angels are now in Heaven they shall be able to live without sleep without eating and drinking without marriage they shall need none of such things as these natural Bodies in this mortal condition do Our Bodies now are but so many clogs to our Souls subject to toyl and weariness but then the Body will have such advantages as will free and clear it from all such corporal imperfections and defections as bodily and corporal substances are obnoxious to the corruptible Body overladeth and oppresseth the Soul and this earthly tabernacle presseth down the mind meditating on heavenly things but in Heaven when the Souls of the Blessed shall see the glory of God and be for ever in the contemplation of him they shall then be freed from all clogs and hinderances that so they may bend themselves with all their might to the contemplation love and fruition of God whose goodness will then be most clearly and fully presented
violent impressions yet may we not deny but that there shall be such sensitive actions of seeing hearing c. and consequently answerable passions which include not corruption as may be fitting for that glorious place each sense shall there have its own proper delight and glory doubtless the Bodies of the Saints shall not be destitute of their senses but be compleatly furnished with most perfect organs and spirits fit for their use and therefore shall have the most perfect use of their senses and verily in vain should the Body be resumed if there might not be the use and delight of the senses seeing the Body of man is not necessary or useful to the Soul but for the use of the senses neither shall there be wanting objects which may be perceived and may delight and refresh the senses 1. Because the Soul is not only rational but also sensitive and in both parts is capable of taking its delights therefore it must not only be made happy in the rational part which shall be done by the vision and fruition of God but also in the sensitive part which shall be brought to pass by the perception of the most excellent sensible objects fitted to every sense 2. The Saints in this life had many grievous afflictions and mortifications for Christ's sake in their senses for the greatest part of the torments which the holy Martyrs endured was in their senses They were tortured they had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings yea moreover of bonds and imprâ—sonments they were stoned they were sawn asunder they were slain with the sword they wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented Heb. 11.36 37. And the greatest part of the work of mortification lies in the mortification of the senses there is by nature an inordinateness in all our outward and inward senses thence we read in Scripture of a wanton eye 2 Pet. 2.14 Genes 21.7 of itching ears 2 Tim. 4.11 the lust of the palate Numb 11.4 5. of the lust of the nose Prov. 7.18 so of the touch Prov. 7.13 so that we cannot with safety trust them without Job's covenant Job 31.1 or the Prophet Hosea's hedge Hos 2.6 or Solomon's knife Prov. 23.7 or David's bridle Psalm 39.1 Not only the rational and intellectual but also the whole sensitive part of man is subject to lust and much of the work of mortification lies in subduing the inordinateness of the bodily senses so in Heaven likewise the sensitive parts and faculties which have been instruments of the Soul in the exercises of righteousness and in suffering for righteousness sake shall also receive their appointed rewards and consolations which shall be accommodated to every one of the senses 3. This is confirmed by the contrary for the damned in Hell shall be greatly tormented in all their senses the wanton eyes shall always be terrified with the sight of ugly Devils which should they behold here when they are alone would almost scare them out of their wits the delicate ears shall be affrighted with the horrid noise of damned Ghosts crying and roaring out with doleful shriekings cursing the day that ever they were born they shall famish and pine away for ever without one bit of bread to stanch their hunger and without one drop of water to cool their tongues tormented in the infernal flames your dainty delicate persons that now cannot brook the least unsavoury smell shall lie down in a stinking dungeon in a loathsome lake that burns with fire and brimstone for ever Now if the Damned in Hell shall be so grievously tormented in their senses then shall the senses of the glorified Saints be exceedingly refreshed for God is not more severe in punishing then bountiful in rewarding SECT VII HEre let us consider some of the particular Senses and parts of the Body and take notice what notable things might be spoken of them 1. The Eyes those windows in the upper story how lightsome shall they be and what high and glorious objects shall they behold the Eyes shall then be renewed and made more bright and clear then the light of the Sun the very act of seeing shall be most clear and perfect they shall be freed from all darkness dimness obscurity and defect no glorious object shall dazle the eyes of the Inhabitants in Heaven for the brightness of the heavenly Bodies shall not trouble the spirits of the eyes as the light of the Sun troubleth them now but shall most sweetly strengthen them We may conceive that those that are in this place of blessedness at one single aspect may perfectly see from one end of the Heaven to the other there being no defect in the objects medium or organ or any thing to intercept the sight the objects being so transparent and glorious here we may see a Star in a dark night at many thousand miles distance but as the objects in Heaven shall be most glorious so the eyes of the Saints shall be enabled perfectly to behold them Again the medium shall no way be defective here the thickness or darkness of the Air often dulls our sight but in Heaven there shall be nothing but a perfect serenity round about them as in Hell is utter darkness so in Heaven there shall be most perfect light The organ also the instrument of sight the eye shall be wholly free from all dimness and be able to discern any glorious object presented to it it shall be free from weakness able to bear the brightest splendor nor shall it be any way offended with the glory of any visible thing though never so transcendently glorious I shall now speak of the glorious objects which the bodily eye shall behold in Heaven I. It shall behold the glory of God himself in a most glorious manifestation of himself to it It is a question whether we shall see God with our bodily eyes But I will not burden you with variety of opinions but take these things in answer to the question The sight of God in Heaven is to be referred to the understanding to the eye of the mind not to the eye of the body The Reasons of it are these Reas 1. Because the Divine Essence is most spiritual therefore it altogether exceeds the power of bodily eyes though glorified and raised to a far more admirable ability to discern far above what now it possibly can see Potentia organica ultra corpora non potest extendi by the sight of sense with our bodily eyes we can only see corporal things and materially bodily objects and so we cannot see our own Souls much less the Essence and Substance of God Reas 2. Because the Apostle saith of God that he is absolutely invisible 1 Tim. 6.16 whom no eye hath seen nor can see namely with bodily eyes And though it be said of Jacob that he saw God face to face Genes 32. and that God talked with Moses mouth to mouth as a man talketh with his friend Numb 13. yet they saw not
God in his nature essence and substance wherein he is invisible but in some visible created form which it pleased him to assume and wherein he appeared to them Athanasius saith that they saw God in some manifestations of himself but not in his own nature so it is conceived that the Servants of God even after this life when they be perfectly sanctified and glorified shall not see God the Father and the Holy Ghost in their essence for they shall still have their true bodies and true eyes and therefore they shall see but their proper objects Reas 3. Because the Angels who have no bodily eyes and stand continually before the Lord and the blessed Souls of Saints in Heaven do now see God and yet have no bodily eyes wherefore their sight of God is only mental not ocular Reas 4. Because the Apostle expresseth the seeing God face to face by perfect knowledge 1 Cor. 13.12 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 where to know God as he knows us is to see him face to face II. Although we shall not see God with our bodily eyes yet notwithstanding the glorified organ of a glorified body informed by a glorified Soul shall have most glorious objects to look upon in Heaven as 1. Heaven it self is a most glorious sight for our glorified eyes what a glorious sight is the outside of Heaven bedeckt with the Sun Moon and innumerable Stars if the outside be so glorious what is the inside wherein the glory of God is displayed if the porch and pavement of this Palace be so glorious what then is the Presence-Chamber It was Chrysostom's wish that he could see Christ in the flesh Paul in the pulpit Rome in her glory In Heaven you shall see Christ not in his state of humiliation but in the highest degree of glory not Paul in the Pulpit but Paul sitting on a Throne of glory not Rome but Heaven it self the heavenly Jerusalem in its fulness of glory 2. These eyes of our bodies shall see the glorious man Christ Jesus in whose Humane nature as in a glass God will in an ineffable manner manifest the glory of his Divine essence hence the Apostle calls him the brightness of his person the beam the splendour of his person In Rev. 21.23 it is said The City hath no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the Glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof that is Christ himself is the light by which we shall see God Oh what a glorious ravishing object will Christ's body be to the eye A Philosopher was so ravished with the Sun that he thought himself made for no other end but to look upon the Sun Christ's Body in Heaven is a thousand times more bright then the Sun Non in forma servi sed in forma the Sun is blackness of darkness in comparison of it here we see Christ as he will manifest himself to us otherwise but there we shall see him as he is 1 John 3.2 Ferus expounds the words thus we shall know him as he is that is Ferus in 1 Joan. 3.2 saith he we shall know Christ no more under the notion of a Servant we shall not know Christ as the Son of Man but then we shall know him as God as he is the Son of God the King of glorious state the Lord of glory Cajetan Cajetan in loc saith that this particle sicut as he is excludit omnem visionem per representans excludeth our knowledge of Christ from any thing that represents him sed sicuti est sicut ipse seipsum offert i. e. we shall know him by himself and not by the creature or any thing whatsoever Much of Christ is discovered here in the Word in the the Gospel and in the Ordinances and great manifestations of Christ are made to the Souls of his People by the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation but all comes short of this when they shall see him as he is in himself see him face to face as Friends talking together do look one another in the face so shall Christ and godly Men see one anothers face There 's a great difference between the sight of a Picture though it be a true Picture of a dear Friend when he is many hundred miles distant from us and the sight of his own face far more blessed shall the Children of God be when they shall see Christ as he is then now they can discern him while they are in the body and absent from him and can see him only by representations If old Simeon when he saw Christ as he was in his infancy embraced him in his arms and said Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Luke 2.29 How then shall the sight of him as he is transport the Souls of the Saints with unspeakable joy and admiration if it were so delightful to see Christ in his infancy in his swadling cloathes what joy will it be to see him in Heaven all glorious if the fight of Christ in the types and promises which were but prefigurations of him were so sweet to the Saints of old what will the sight of Christ himself the Antitype be Abraham foresaw by the eye of faith the first coming of Christ in the flesh he saw my day afar off saith Christ and was glad Qui bona egerint fulgebunt sicut Sol cum Angelis in vitam aeternam cum Domino nostro Jesu Christo videntes eum semper ab eo visi incessabili laetitia quae apiso provenient perfruentes Damascen lib. 4. de Fide John 8.56 Much more glad would he have been with old Simeon to have seen Christ himself If John Baptist leaped in the Womb for joy at the presence of Mary the Mother of our Lord how will our hearts dance for joy when we shall see the Lord Jesus himself in his great Majesty and glory if it be sweet to behold him in his Image and in his People who are but shadows of Christ if sometimes an heavenly vision of Christ hath driven a man into an extasie and hath ravished him out of himself Oh then what shall it be to see him as he is if the inward sight of him by a few beams darted upon us by this glorious Son of righteousness doth transform us from glory to glory Oh how will it then ravish our hearts when we shall have both an ocular and intellectual sight of the Lord Jesus Oh what running thronging and posting was there to see Christ when he was upon earth in his state of abasement Zacheus being a man of a low stature climbed up a Sycamore-tree that he might see Jesus passing by Luke 19. what then will the sight of Jesus be when you shall see the Son of man coming in power and
great glory when you shall see him with trumpets sounding before him and see him with his glorious train with all his glorious Angels as himself speaks Matth. 16.27 to see him sitting upon his Throne of Majesty and the World round about him his Friends the Sheep on his right hand the Goats his Enemies on his left hand what a sight will this be especially if you have then so much interest in Christ as to be placed among the Sheep at his right hand how will it affect you when he shall be always in your eye and never out of your sight If the Queen of Sheba was so stricken with amazement when she beheld the glory of Solomon that there was no more spirit in her 1 Kings 10.5 how will all the Saints be filled with admiration when they shall behold the glory of Christ how did that astonished Queen bless the Attendants of Solomon Happy are thy Men happy are these thy Servants that stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdom Alas what happiness is this in regard of the Angels and Saints who stand continually in the presence of Christ in whose presence there is fulness of joy fulness of glory was it such an happiness to hear the wisdom of Solomon what a transcendent happiness is it then to hear the wisdom of Christ who is greater then Solomon I conceive that the glory which three of Christ's Disciples saw upon the holy Mount was but a glimpse of that fulness of glory wherewith he is now silled in Heaven yet that little drop was so affecting that Peter cried out Master it is good for us to be here He was so ravished with extraordinary joy conceived at the heavenly vision that he even lost and forgat himself and wist not what they said Luke 9.33 34. but being overjoyed it appears his wish was inconsiderate and his counsel rash and unadvised Let us build three Tabernacles one for Thee another for Moses another for Elias for these Reasons 1. Because he thought earthly Tabernacles fit habitations for heavenly Bodies 2. Because he conceived not aright of the end of the vision viz. to comfort them in letting them to see as in a glass what Christ's glory and their glory should be which he would have had continued when it must of necessity be intermitted for had Christ continued in this estate he could not have suffered and so our salvation had not been accomplished But while Peter was thus speaking behold a bright Cloud overshadowed them and they feared when they were entering into the Cloud had not this Cloud somewhat abated the glory of the Apparition it had not been possible for these Disciples in the state of mortality to have beheld the countenance of their Master Now if Christ in his Transfiguration while he was on Mount Tabor was so delightful to behold when his Humanity appeared in a glorious form only but for a short time how pleasant will the sight of him be to the godly when they shall see him by perfect vision and enjoy him by full fruition With abundant satisfaction shall the Saints behold the face of Christ in fulness of glory Oh how will it ravish their hearts when they shall see him who gave himself for them who loved them and washed their sins in his blood who being the Prince and Captain of our salvation was content to be perfected by sufferings that he might bring them into glory when they shall see him who died for them and rose again for their justification ascended up into Heaven took possession thereof and prepared a place for them and came again and took them to himself they shall then be even transported with joy to behold their Saviour whom they loved so dearly all their lives but never had the happiness to see before for whose appearance they longed thirsted sighed prayed Come Lord Jesus Oh how will their hearts melt toward him think you when they shall see him Oh this is he that died for me that shed his precious blood for me they will then look thorow him if it were possible and then to think they shall always see him and enjoy him and never be divided from him any more they will then be even ravished into an extasie of joy their sight of him shall be laeta familiaris perpetua joyful familiar and perpetual which is a special part of the beatitude peculiar to the Saints from which the Wicked are excluded Oh happy yea thrice happy are those eyes which shall see the face of Christ whom they shall love perfectly and of whom they are infinitely and eternally beloved What a ravishing sight will it be to behold that Body which was so foully disfigured upon the Cross for our sakes It shall be undoubtedly as St. Bernard saith a thing full of all sweetness and delight when men shall there see and behold a Man the Creator of men and Lord of all things created We are wont to esteem it a singular great honour to our Family to see one of our Kindred advanced to a Crown or dignified with some Princely honour but how far greater honour shall this be to us to see that Lord who is our God our near Kinsman of our flesh and blood sitting at the right hand of God the Father and made King both of Heaven and Earth And if the Members do account that an honour to them which is done to their Head by reason of that strict union that is between the Head and its Members what else shall it be but that every faithful Christian shall account the glory of Jesus Christ their Head as their peculiar glory How should the consideration hereof make every one of us cry out O my dearest Saviour and blessed Redeemer when shall this joyful day come Oh when shall I appear before thy face and be ravished by beholding thy excellent beauty when shall I see that countenance of thine which the Angels are desirous to behold How true concerning the things of the World is that which Solomon saith the eye is not satisfied with seeing Eccles 1.8 and it is as true that in Heaven the eye shall be fully satisfied but not satiated at all with seeing they shall see such glory that they shall desire no greater If Philip on Earth said to Christ Shew us the Father and it shall suffice how much more when we shall see the King of Kings in his glory shall glorified Saints say We have enough Satis Domine satis they shall desire no greater glory yet never be weary of seeing SECT VIII 3. HEreunto I may also add that blessed and glorious spectacle of the general Assembly and Church of the first-born whose names are written in Heaven those many thousands of Patriarchs and Saints of the old and new World Prophets of the Old Testament Apostles of the New Martyrs faithful Preachers and sincere Professors of the Gospel Enoch Noah Abraham Isaac Jacob Moses Samuel David Daniel Joh Peter Paul the great Doctor of
findeth such a wonderful change in the Body transformed unto such a glorious perfection even as it is a great refreshment to the mind of a man after a perfect cure to find the Body lightsome full of spirits and in perfect health after a lethargy or some other dulling disease that hath debilitated nature exhausted the spirits and indisposed it for action Then shall the happiness of man be perfect when a glorified Soul shall be united to an immortal Body and mutually communicating all their advantages the Soul shall be happy in the felicity of the Body and the Body happy in that of the Soul all their differences shall then be composed in this general peace the Soul shall then forget all the revolts of the Body nor shall the Body any more complain of the severities of the Soul but both of them remembring only the good they have done each other they shall reign in Heaven in a community of glory CHAP. XIX Of the more distinct blessedness of the Soul SECT I. Of the perfection of the apprehensions of the Saints in glory LEt us now more distinctly consider of the blessedness of the Soul first laying this general rule that it shall be perfect for the Apostle plainly sheweth that the Spirits of just men are made perfect Heb. 12. Now the perfection of the Soul principally consisteth in the knowledg of God Now there is Scientia directa intuitiva a direct knowledg of God upon view and sight Now this is either perfect or imperfect A full and perfect knowledg of God himself none hath but God himself no creatures no man no Angel is capable of it God himself fully and perfectly seeth himself which no other can do for a full and perfect knowledg of an infinite Beeing is infinite as that Beeing is He that hath a full and perfect knowledg of any thing whatsoever it be hath the full measure of that thing in his understanding which he fully and perfectly knoweth Now what is the shallow and narrow capacity of any created understanding of Man or Angel that it should measure the infinite essence and excellency of the God-head it is not so much as a spoon to the Ocean and there is less disproportion between the water of the Sea and the capacity of a spoon then the understanding of Man or Angels and the infinite majesty and excellency of God Now God knoweth himself fully and perfectly in himself If the Sun-beams were animated and living creatures endued with reason how clearly and perfectly would they know and see through themselves every way being altogether light and transparent God is the light of lights a most pure bright and glorious Beeing and he is of infinite wisdom and so fully and perfectly knoweth himself On the other side there is a knowledg of God direct and intuitive or upon view which is not perfect and this is of those blessed Creatures already possessed of glory such knowledg have the Angels who see God face to face as our Saviour saith Matth. 18.10 The Angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in Heaven They do not only see his back-parts as Moses did but his face by an immediate view beholding the beauty and glory of the Lord. Whether the Saints departed before the resurrection of the Body do thus see the face of God I determine not doubtless they do already enjoy a great degree of blessedness the fruition whereof is more sweet for one day then the enjoying of all the World for a mans life howsoever after the resurrection when they shall be fully possessed of glory they shall see the face of God as the Angels do Job 19.25 26 27. I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh I shall see God whom I shall see for my self and not another c. So David compareth the temporal prosperity of Worldlings which they enjoy in this life with the blessed estate which he expected after the resurrection of the Body he calleth them Psal 17.14 15. Men of the World which have their portion in this life and whose belly the Lord filleth with his hid treasures which are full of Children and leave the rest of their substance to their Babes This was their seeming happiness all worldly and temporary Now on the other side he speaketh of his own condition As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness He cared not for those hidden treasures locked up in the mines and bowels of the earth nor for a portion in this life nor for large portions for his Posterity c. but to behold the face of God in righteousness to see him face to face which he was assured of by faith and so to be satisfied with his Image Object But why is this knowledg said to be imperfect sith the Apostle speaking of this glorious condition of the Saints saith That then that which is perfect shall come and that which is imperfect shall be done away Sol. I answer this knowledg of God which the Angels have and the Saints shall have in God himself is Perfect in regard of the Subject in which it is Imperfect in regard of the Object of whom it is Perfect in regard of the Subject and that in two respects 1. Because it filleth the understanding and satisfieth the spirit with a fulness of light resulting from so glorious an object so that the Soul hath a beatifical vision of God so far as it is capable And as the eye is refreshed by an object fitly proportioned and hurt or dimmed by a disproportionable eminency or excellency in the object surpassing its strength and ability so the Soul perfected and glorified and the Angelical Spirits have such a knowledg of God in himself as filleth them not such as confoundeth them and this is perfect in regard of them because it is such a perfection as they are capable of and can contain 2. It is perfect in respect of the subject in which it is in that it is as much as is due and requisite to make their happiness compleat and perfect without any defect it is so perfect that they need no more knowledg of God then that which they have and who can deny but that this is a perfection of knowledg in respect of the subjects they are as blessed every way and so especially in regard of the knowledg of God as such creatures can be and that is a perfection though relative and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they say in relation to the subjects in whom it is Secondly on the other side this knowledg which these glorified spirits have and shall have of God in himself is imperfect in respect of the Object of whom it is viz. God whom they know in himself that is it is not a knowledg matchable to the infinite essence and
grace we are shamefully foiled Love and affection to our own vain opinions is a great impediment to sound judgment it breeds prejudice against the truth making men resolute in defending their opinions if by any way of wresting the Scripture to their purpose it be possible But in Heaven the soundness of the Saints judgments shall be answerable to the acuteness of their apprehensions they shall be no longer accompanied with doubts and darkness as they learn without labour so they shall not fear forgetfulness drawing light and wisdom from the very fountain they shall know all things in their principles their Souls shall then be penetrated by the Spirit of God and their judgments clarified with the light of glory the Saints shall then be able not only to view the superficies or surface of things but also to dive into the bottom of them to comprehend the breadth and length the height and depth of them they shall then see that God is ever like himself and that all things in him do most exactly consent and agree together Sicut terra respectu coeli est insensibilis quantitatis sic honitas aliarum scientiarum respectu Scipturarum Durand Durandus saith of the knowledg of the Scriptures that the knowledg of all humane Sciences is no more to be compared to the knowledg of the Scriptures then the Earth to the Heavens for bigness the Earth is but a small insensible point in regard of the Heavens I am sure the knowledg of God which we have from the Scripture from the Creatures is no more to be compared to the knowledg of God which the blessed Saints and Angels in Heaven have it is nothing to be compared with it all Solomon's wisdom and knowledg is nothing It is said that God gave to Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much 1 Reg. 4.29 and largeness of heart even as the sand on the Sea-shore and this was to admiration in this state of mortality but I believe that he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven shall far surpass Solomon in understanding and judgment If John Baptist according to our Saviour's testimony were greater then any of the Prophets because he saw Christ already come in the flesh whereas they only foresaw Christ to come and yet the least in the Kingdom of God that is in the Church of the New Testament be greater in this respect then John Baptist because they see into the Mystery of Christ not only as already come but as having actually performed the work of our redemption died overcome death risen from the dead ascended into Heaven given forth his Spirit and spread his Gospel over the World how far then shall the understandings of the Faithful in Heaven seeing Christ face to face excel the knowledg which all the Prophets Solomon John Baptist and all Believers under the New Testament had here upon the face of the Earth and as the perfection of these faculties so the excellency and perfection of the objects which they shall thus clearly apprehend and perfectly know shall wonderfully advance the blessedness of the Saints CHAP. XX. SECT I. A description of what things shall be seen in God by the Saints in Heaven HE that seeth a wise and mighty man although he seeth his out-side yet his in-side he seeth not viz. the beauty and perfections of his mind but in Heaven the Saints shall see the Divine beauty and excellency with the eye of the inner man they shall see the brightness of his glory and majesty they shall behold him not by a reflex as a man may see the image of the Sun in a Looking-glass but they shall as it were look upon him in a direct line 1. They shall with admiration behold him as the first eternal Being as the Ancient of days comprehending all the Centuries of years all the ages and generations all the hundreds and thousands of years all the changes and periods of times all of them making up but a moment and being no more then the twinckling of an eye to his eternity 2. They shall see him as he is in himself that he is glorious in himself in his being that he is infinitely glorious in all his Attributes that he is eternally glorious in all his works they shall see him to be such a God as he proclaimed himself to be that he is the Lord God the Lord God of Gods they shall know the immensity of his being the infiniteness of his greatness that he is infinite in grace infinite in mercy infinite in glory they shall then see the unlimitedness of his essence filling them with himself with his presence and fulness filling all things and with his infinite being enclosing all things that are 3. They shall clearly see him as an unchangeable God who hath wrought all the wonderful changes that have hapned in the Heavens in the Earth in the Seas yet that himself hath remained still immutable they shall look upon him as the first universal mover who setteth all things in motion in whom and by whom all things move himself remaining immovable 4. They shall not only be convinced of his Almighty power but shall see it clearly and manifestly discern his infinite strength it is one thing to read of the great strength of Sampson and to believe it as a certain truth it had been another thing and a matter of far greater satisfaction to have seen him smiting the Philistines hip and thigh with a great slaughter killing a thousand of God's Enemies with the Jaw-bone of an Ass carrying away the gates and posts of a City upon his shoulders pulling down with his hands the house wherein thousands of the Philistines were sitting so it is one thing to read and believe the Almighty power of God but another thing and a matter of greater satisfaction to the Soul to have a clear view of it to see God forming Heaven and Earth of nothing and changing times and seasons to see him raising some out of the dust and lifting them out of the dunghil and setting them with Princes and throwing down the mighty from their seats that were exalted to places of great eminency and dignity overturning Nations and Kingdoms and working great wonders These things though past it is conceived they shall be as clearly seen in God when we shall see him face to face as if they were but then in doing With great delight also shall they see his Almighty power that shall bring up all the Potentates of the Earth all men high and low rich and poor young and old before his tribunal in translating all his Children into everlasting glory and throwing the Wicked into everlasting burnings They shall also see God exercising his power in dissolving the frame of this visible World rolling the Heavens together as a scroll and folding them up as a garment melting the Elements with fervent heat and burning up the Earth with the works that are therein Moreover they shall see what God shall do for
ever they shall see God in all his workings to eternity What a ravishing thing would it have been Burr in Beatitud if any of us should have been admitted into the presence of God and there to have seen what God hath done from the beginning of the World to this day but when this World shall be at an end as it will shortly be God and his Saints will then remain everlastingly and they shall be for ever with the Lord and they shall be there where they shall see what God will do for ever 5. They shall see the infinite love of the infinite God of which now they have but a taste they shall then clearly understand that love of God which is the spring of all spiritual blessings in heavenly things out of which they were elected to holiness eternal life and glory that love out of which Christ himself as a Mediator and Redeemer issued and out of which all things were given them that appertain to life and godliness that love which prevented them in their lost condition which turned the eye of God's compassion towards them when they lay in their blood that love which issued out a pardon of all their sins from the Court of mercy which lengthened out the patience of God toward them when they lingred in their sins Then shall they know fully where this love was bred and that none but the eternal love and delight of the Father could have outed so much love then shall they see themselves over head and ears drown'd in many obligations to his infinite love 6. They shall see him as the Fountain of light and wisdom as the only wise God as the Father of lights in whose light themselves see light from whose face all those beams do shine whereby their Souls are filled with heavenly wisdom they shall see clearly that God is light filling Heaven with his brightness and glory and fixing the eyes of all the Angels and Saints upon him as an object infinite altogether lightsome and lovely They shall behold that infinite wisdom of God which created Heaven and Earth which great piece of workmanship had nothing but nothing for its materia how all the different parts whereof it is composed had the same original and how this vacuum by the word of God brought forth the Heavens with their Constellations the Earth with all its Fields the Sea with all its Rocks how the Heavens and Earth were created in an instant though there went six days to their disposal The Saints in Heaven shall also understand that wisdom of God which in all ages hath governed the World and directed all creatures to their courses and motions how this admirable work hath endured numberless ages contrary to the Laws of Nature which suffereth that soon to perish which she is not long in forming Then shall the mysteries of Providence be fully opened and we shall see the Births in the Womb of Providence which on Earth are invisible to us then shall we understand all the ways circuits lines turnings of Providence and see how Christ hath steered the helm of Heaven and Earth when means have failed and men and times have changed They shall likewise know that wisdom that hath ordered the sins of Men and Devils to holy ends never intended by the Actors which hath over-reached the craftiest devices of the Serpent and his Seed They shall likewise behold that manifold wisdom of God that contrived the whole method of mans Redemption and Salvation the very Master-piece of Divine wisdom that wisdom that hath given light to the blind wisdom to the foolish and abundance of light to those that sate in darkness and in the shadow of death and which made those that were darkness to become light in the Lord. This shall be matter of admiration to Men and Angels that the great God should condescend to look on such vile Sinners so far below the free love and majesty of the most High Then shall the Saints understand all the counsels of God concerning themselves from all eternity when they shall be admitted into the House of God they shall not only see what God himself is but they shall see his heart his will and all his ways and glorious contrivances for their salvation 7. They shall see him as that God who is truth it self they shall exactly discern how every promise of his every prophesie delivered by his spirit to the Churches and recorded in his word is fully accomplished not one failing or falling to the ground and that whatsoever God promised or bound himself by covenant to perform though it seemed difficult or long before it was fulfilled yet it came to pass at last in its appointed time Oh the sweet satisfaction which the Saints in Heaven shall find in the full contemplation of the truth of God every way manifested and so gloriously verified in and upon themselves in keeping them by his power unto salvation in preserving them to his heavenly Kingdom in guiding them by his counsel and bringing them to glory when they shall see that all the art malice skill and power of Men and Devils could never frustrate nor make void the least tittle of God's sacred truth 8. They shall see him as a God infinite in holiness of perfect purity they shall with great delight look directly into that overflowing fountain of holiness which hath streamed into so many thousand Souls which hath washed so many unclean hearts from their filthiness which filleth all the Saints and Angels in Heaven with perfect holiness then shall they behold those fair hands as I may speak that stooped to wash such black-skinned and defiled Sinners and purged away the filth of the Daughter of Sion If the Egyptians for many ages have had a great desire to find out the fountain of that River Nilus which by his yearly inundations watereth the Land in that hot climate having no showres of rain and maketh it abundantly fruitful Oh then how shall glorified Souls rejoyce to be brought to the Spring-head of holiness which hath watered so many barren Souls and made them bring forth the fruits of the Spirit 9. They shall clearly see him as an all-sufficient God they shall see that rich treasury opened out of which all that good was given which was received by any or all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth The Lord by many notable instances of his own glorious works Job 38.22 convinced Job of ignorance and posed him by a multitude of interrogations among the rest saith he Hast thou entered into the treasures of snow or hast thou seen the treasures of hail But in that state of glory not only this holy man but every one of the Saints shall be admitted to view the treasures of God's all-sufficiency out of which all good things concerning this life and the life to come have been and shall be dispensed and distributed among the Creatures life breath all things grace and glory grace of justification grace of
still keeps its splendor but when the Cloud is gone we see it So Christ in regard of his Deity had this glory always it was hidden from him in regard of the infirmities which he took upon him as sufferings death c. Now Christ our Head being glorified all his Members that suffer with him shall also be glorified together they are now glorified in capite and when Christ hath prepared places for all his Members then he will take them home to his Father's house Christ is now preparing their glory and fitting their heavenly Mansions he is decking their Crowns of Righteousness he is trimming their Robes Christ is now in his own Person glorious but Christ mystical is not glorious it is in a suffering condition there are many of his Members that are not yet brought home to God Christ hath a care of his mystical Body as of his natural Body he gave his natural Body to redeem his mystical Body therefore as he is glorious in his natural Body so he will be glorious in his mystical Body for St. Paul saith he shall come to be glorified in his Saints The Son of God rose gloriously out of his Tomb and after he had given assurance of it to his Apostles he was taken up into Heaven to reign there eternally with his Father the Angels made a part of his Triumph his Body that was pierced with the nails rent with stripes torn with thorns was set at the right hand of his Father on a Throne whose Ornament was Justice and the Foundation Mercy as one well noteth His mystical Body shall receive the like glorious entertainment the Saints shall be admitted into the Society of the Blessed and reign in Heaven with the Angels Those Members that have suffered in the quarrel of Jesus Christ shall be freed from all miseries and reign in glory everlastingly with their Head that the blessedness of Jesus Christ may have its accomplishment and he may be as happy in his Members as in his Person Jesus Christ and his Members are united in their sufferings on earth and by a necessary consequence we may be assured they shall be so one day in their glory in Heaven To this end Christ prayed for his Church to his Father when himself was upon earth The glory which thou gavest me I have given them Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me John 17.22 24. It is observable that in other things when Jesus Christ speaks to his Father it is with so much respect that he seemeth rather a Servant then a Son but when he asks that his Members may reign with him in glory it is with so much liberty of speech that his Request is rather a determination then a Prayer Volo Pater Father I will that where I am there my Servants may be CHAP. V. Of the quality of the Saints glory NOw that I may set forth the nature of the Saints glory you are to know that there is no specisical or essential difference between our gracious and glorious estate as there is no specifical or essential difference between the Corn of the First-fruits and that of the whole Harvest only some accidental differences as there is no specifical difference between a Child and a grown Man they have both the same essential parts and principles there is only an alteration of degrees not of parts gradus non variat speciem Now our present estate is our Infancy our future estate is our Man-hood for the present the Children of God have glory given them godly Men are for the present glorious the Scripture calls them nothing else but blessed yea even then they are blessed when the world looks upon them as most miserable when shame reproach and trouble is cast upon them then doth the Spirit of glory rest upon them they having grace bestowed upon them have glory Glory is nothing else but the splendour the brightness of grace Vita gratiae nihil est aliud quam aetas infantilis gloriae he that is gracious is glorious We shall have the same individual Bodies and Souls after the Resurrection as we have in this life only some alteration in respect of some new qualities as in our first Resurrection from the death of Sin to the life of Righteousness there is no transmutation of the essence but an alteration of the qualities or a super-introduction of new qualities by which we are said to be new Creatures 2 Cor. 5.17 not in quantity but in quality so in Heaven we shall become new Creatures in respect of what we are now and those very qualities which do principally concur to the constitution of our happiness in Heaven are in some measure communicated to us in our first regeneration now we have drops then rivers of delights Psal 36.8 both the same in nature This will be the more evident if we examine wherein our happiness hereafter doth consist and compa ing it with our present estate Our spiritual and supernatural blessedness consisteth in the fruition of such an object as is perfectly all-sufficiently and principally good which is only God therefore it standeth in our perfect union to and communion with God the faculties of the soul being by the Almighty power of God dilated extended and enlarged so far as to be as it were capable of the fulness of God and by the perfect operations of the understanding will and affections united to God in all their actions and when these natural weak and vile Bodies of ours by the same hand of Omnipotency are transfigured and transformed into spiritual powerful and glorious Bodies and so united to the Soul then are we come to the perfection of our blessedness the properties of which blessedness are First That it is everlasting Secondly That we shall discern it so to be And thirdly That as it fulfilleth the largest desires of our hearts so we shall be extraordinarily affected with it and perpetually affected to it and incessantly desirous of it our glory consisteth not in having what our weak Souls can now wish for but what they can desire when they are gloriously corroborated and enlarged So that now you see there is no specifical or essential difference but only a gradual or circumstantial difference between the state of grace here and the state of glory hereafter for Regnum coeleste est Dei contemplatio glorificatio Gregor Nazianzâ—n Orat. contr Arrian celebratio cum Angelis communis saith one of the Fathers who commonly describeth the state of the blessed to be nothing else but the full and perfect accomplishment of such spiritual blessings as are already begun in us and in part already communicated to us when God shall by a most perfect and immediate irradiation of the understanding and sanctification of the will and affections to know love and delight in God and transformatâ—on of the Body into the likeness of Christ's effect
of evils you can suffer for Christ yet what comparison is there between this death and that life which you shall live in Heaven Had you as many lives as hairs on your heads as a Martyr wished he had had you millions of lives to lose for Christ yet the loss of all these are not worthy to be compared to the life which suffering Christians shall live in Heaven put all together and you shall see there is no comparison between your present sufferings and your future enjoyments of good See what Christ saith Mark 10.29 30. There is no man that hath left House or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my sake and the Gospels but he shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time c. There is no comparison between your present losses and present gains your present sufferings and present reward your present reward is an hundred-fold more then all you can lose the grace of God is present the savour of God is present the right to Heaven which Believers have for the present is far above all their present sufferings Now if the reward which suffering Christians have in this life be an hundred-fold better then their sufferings then doubtless their glory in Heaven shall be a thousand-fold more transcendent SECT II. II. THere is no proportion or comparison if you respect the properties of our present sufferings and our future glory 1. There is no comparison between earthly and heavenly things your present sufferings are earthly the goods of which you are spoiled are earthly your liberty your houses your lives your joys your ease are earthly things but your glory is heavenly every part every degree of your future glory is heavenly 2. There is no proportion between that which is transient passing away and cannot endure and that which is permanent enduring your present sufferings are transient they pass away they endure not Athanasius said of persecution Nubecula est quae cito transiret There is nothing more transient and swift then time your sufferings pass away together with time they cannot endure always all you which are the subject of them shall not endure always now your glory is permanent it shall abide and endure when time shall be no more 3. There is no proportion or comparison between a moment and eternity a moment a minute and for ever and ever your present sufferings are but for a moment a short space of time your glory is eternal for ever and for ever your pain and torment is but for a moment your ease and rest is for ever and ever your suffering imprisonment is but for a moment your glorious liberty is eternal you suffer death but for a moment your life is eternal what comparison is there between the twinkling of an eye and eternity You say you have suffered long as Asaph you are plagued every morning you have been in bitterness all your days ever since you began to look after Heaven you have been afflicted from your youth up to your age even to the day of your death Grant all this to be true yet thy whole life is but a moment compared to eternity the sufferings of a thousand years is but a moment to eternity yea millions of years are but a moment compared to eternity nor will they pass for so much if we did but consider what eternity is 4. There is no comparison between light things and heavy between a feather and a rock between chaff and a mountain of lead your present afflictions are light your future glory is ponderous and weighty 2 Cor. 4.17 observe what a most elegant opposition the Apostle makes he opposeth glory to afflictions he opposeth eternal to momentany he opposeth weight to light and he addeth a most transcendent expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we translate it A far more exceeding weight of glory Some by adding some other words do give this sense Our afflictions are out of measure moment any our glory is out of measure eternal our afflictions are out of measure light our glory is out of measure weighty Whatsoever your afflictions are and how grievous soever they are in themselves and how long soever yet they are but light being compared with the glory of Heaven and with the weight of it If you look only on your sufferings and judge of them according to your sense so they are not light but judge of them as opposed to future glory and so they are out of measure nothing 5. Afflictions do not seize on us at all times Christians have their lucida intervalla their moments of ease as well as their moments of trouble their present times of rejoycing as well as their present times and Now 's of sorrowing they even they have their times to sing and dance as their times to weep and mourn Paul had his raptures as well as his pressures David had his time to play on the Harp as times to hang it up and there is no Christian that is afflicted at all times they have their sad Eclipses but now and then but now their glory shall be at all and every moment during eternity they shall have perpetual glory without one moment of shame perpetual joy without one moment of sorrow God will wipe away all tears from their eyes they shall continually sing for superabundant joy of Soul and Body their eyes shall ever see God they shall not see sorrow any more they shall be as the Angels of God who never felt sorrow since their Creation they shall be as very strangers to sorrow as the Damned shall be to joy this present time shall be no more then the afflictions of this present time shall be no more That was an arrogant and false self-deceiving speech of Babilon Lo I sit as a Queen and shall see no more sorrow The godly when taken up into glory shall say it truly now we sit as Kings and shall not see any sorrow no not for a moment whilst eternity lasteth Eternity is nothing else but a perpetual moment of unspeakable and glorious joy and happiness 6. There is no proportion because afflictions are justly due are ye hated of all men ye deserve it and more ye deserve to be hated of God of his Angels for ever Are ye cast by men into Prison into Dungeons ye deserve it and more even to be cast into Hell fire are ye banished from your Countrey friends and acquaintance you deserve that and more ye deserve to be banished from Heaven from your God from your Saviour to Eternity Are ye spoiled of your goods ye deserve it and more even to be spoiled of eternal mercies of eternal Salvation Are your bodies condemned to be burnt or to be cast to Lyons and wild Beasts to tear them to pieces you deserve this and more even to have both body and Soul condemned to Hell fire to be cast to Devils to be devoured ye that sin daily deserve to suffer daily ye that
it not rather be said Count this a cause of weeping sighing wringing of hands No saith the Apostle count it all joy when trouble cometh upon trouble wave upon wave storm upon storm when the winds blow and the rain falls and the waves beat upon you then count it all joy call upon your souls to rejoyce call upon your hearts to Magnifie God clap your hands leap for joy 2. It informs us that they are the happy ones of the Earth who are the greatest sufferers for Righteousness sake thus St. James Chap. 1.2 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation or tribulation James 5.11 Behold we count them happy which endure saith the same Apostle What a paradox is this to a man that mindeth earthly things Call you him blessed that is imprisoned in fetters in a dungeon reviled mocked tortured persecuted hated of all count you him an happy man that is spoiled of his goods destitute of friends who is ready to perish through famine count you a man in misery an happy man Yes saith the Apostle he is a blessed man we count him happy whom all men hate who suffer hunger cold nakedness imprisonment death banishment for the name of Christ we count him happy who endures most misery with and for Christ we count him and him only a miserable man that can laugh and sing away care and sorrow who sits like a Queen and sees no sorrow who fares deliciously every day who can eat drink and play and so pass his time of life away he is a miserable man For 't is not what a man is for the present which makes him happy or miserable but what a man shall be to eternity he that is miserable for the present but shall be happy to eternity we count him happy and he that is happy for the present time but shall be miserable to eternity we count him a cursed man Lazarus in the depth of his misery was an happy man because he is glorious to all eternity the rich Glutton was a miserable wretch in the height of his jollity because he is miserable to eternity Hence I conclude that the glory that shall be revealed in us will make us perfectly blessed but our present sufferings cannot make us miserable for the Saints are happy in the thickest of them Math. 5.11 12. Then doth the Spirit of God and of glory rest upon them 1 Pet. 4.14 Our present miseries at the uttermost can but rob us of a temporal life which will come they or come they not fail us at length but glory bestows upon us and crowns us with an everlasting blissful life He that hath an interest in Christ may cry out with that great Apostle What shall separate us from the love of Christ and may say I am perswaded that neither Death with its terrours nor life with its charmes neither Angels with their beauties nor Devils with their deformities things present with their allurements things future with their promises or threatnings nor Hell with its torments can ever separate me from the love of God in Christ and indeed how should they saith St. Augustine because death though never so hideous leads us to him life is found in his possession Angels and Devils are the Ministers of his justice or his mercy things present are false things to come uncertain Hell with God would be our happiness and Heaven without him would be our torment or we may say again with the same Father that nothing can separate a Christian from Jesus Christ and make him miserable Not death because there is no Christian can be brought into so dismal an estate as to be deprived of his love not the Angels because being united to Christ we are stronger then all Spirits combined together against us not the vexations of life because they are sweet when undergone for his honour and serve only to give us a nearer conjunction to his person Not things to come because nothing can be bestowed nor promised which can countervail him Not Heaven because it is the recompence of them that serve him Not Hell because it is made for none but those that forsake him by all which we see that a man firmly united to Christ cannot by these outward things be removed from him Oh the solidity perspicuity and self-sufficiency of that Paradise and place of delights of that Celestial company and Crowned society who is able to express the comfort and contentment of that estate and condition where we shall have all blessedness Internal External and Eternal what can be done or suffered to answer so great a reward the diseased will endure the cutting and searing of their Members for the enjoyment of a short tedious life Heathens have suffered great things for a little vain glory if they prize the shadow so much at what rate should we value the substance what are a few drops of blood for the Kingdom of Heaven how may this comfort us under afflictions considering that the afflictions of this life are but small showers at the most but some short storms which are followed with an Eternal calm Isa 54.8 CHAP. XII Sect. I. I shall now in the next place by Divine assistance adventure to speak something of the excellency of Heavens glory though some there be that think silence and astonishment to be the best commendations we can give it I confess our understandings are too shallow to comprehend the greatness of it When the great Voice saith Come up hither come and see then we shall be best resolved concerning it If the Queen of Sheba confessed that the one half was not told her of the Wisdom Prosperity and Glory of Solomon which she had heard reported in her own Countrey when she came in person to his Court how much more shall the Saints confess when they come to Heaven that the Thousandth part was not told them of all the honour glory and blessedness which they shall find in that heavenly Jerusalem Here then let us consider The Circumstances of this glory The Substance of this glory The Adjuncts of this glory The Circumstances are two Time and Place as for the Time it shall be 1. In the day of the Creatures Restoration we read Act. 3.21 That the Heavens must conlain Christ until the time of the restitution of all things And St. Paul tells us That the Creature it self also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God Rom. 8.21 Here divers questions are to be propounded Quest 1. What Creatures are to be delivered into this glorious liberty Resp 1. Under this word Creature we are not to comprise the Elect Angels because never subject to vanity nor the reprobate Angels and Men because they are destroyed with an everlasting destruction from the presence of God 2. Neither are we to comprise the godly Elect men under this Word Creature in this place for although it be most true that all the godly shall be perfectly delivered from all
we shall know him as we are known Object But even in the state of glory we cannot see God with our bodily eyes therefore lest our bodily eyes should be destitute of an apt delightsome object the glory which God will put on the Creature will be the delight of glorified eyes then we shall be ravished with the infinite Wisdom and Power of God in investing the whole Creation with such glory Sol. Though this is probably true that the glorified Saints shall delight in beholding the glory of the Creatures and shall admire God in their glory yet if there should be no Renovation of the Creature there would be most admirable objects for the glorified Saints to behold as namely 1. Christ's glorified Body the brightness whereof will obscure the brightness of Sun Moon and Stars as the brightness of the Sun puts out the light of the Fire and in this respect it is said there shall be no need neither of the Sun nor of the Moon to shine in heaven Rev. 21.23 2. As Christ's body so likewise the glorious bodies of all the Elect shall be the delight of their eyes which shall shine more bright then the Sun What delight then can the Creatures clothed with glory bring and in beholding the bodies of the Saints in glory we may behold the infinite Wisdom Power Love Grace of God in making handfuls of Dust and Earth such glorious Creatures as our bodies then shall be Yet we may rationally assert 1. That God will ordain the Creature to some use it is not to be imagined that the Creatures shall continue after the day of Judgment and yet not serve to some use if you ask to what use Lombard Lombard sentent makes this answer Ego nescio I know not the same answer Peter Martyr Pet. Mert. in Rom. 8.21 gives to the same question though it be contrary to nature and common reason that the Creature after its Renovation shall be idle yet if you ask how they shall be employed facile nos fateamur ignorare we may easily be brought to confess our ignorance 2. Doubtless God will adapt and fit the Creature to the use of the glorified state of his Children as was hinted before which they shall then fully and perfectly know when they shall be actual possessors of the new Heavens and new Earth 3. Learned Bain gives this answer 1. It may be God will have the whole Creation to stand as a Monument of his former Power Wisdom and Goodness to his people in the day of their Pilgrimage on Earth 2. Or God will have them stand for the honour of his Majesty meerly for greater State as we see it is a State belonging to Earthly Princes to have sumptuous Houses here and there which yet they do not once visit in all their Reigns 3. God will have them stand as appurtenances to the glory of his own Children the Creatures shall be kept as additions to their honour saith Calvin Chrysostome Calvin in loc Chrysost homil speaking of this useth this comparison it is no wonder that the Creature shall be decked with glory for as Kings in that day wherein they do solemnly Crown their Sons with some Crown of Principality they will not only take care that their Sons appear in great Pomp and State but also the Pallace and all the Courteours shall and must appear in the bravest attire so God setting the Crown of Immortallity and Blessedness on the heads of all his Children and placing them on their prepared Thrones will have the Heavens and Earth and all his Creatures appear in glory in that day These things being considered how should this cause the Saints to be willing to leave the World and to die chearfully since in due time they shall find the World in a more glorious estate then they left it but the wicked shall be thrust naked out of all CHAP. XIII II. THis glory of the Saints shall be when all the drossie part of the Earth and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up when all the heaps and mines of Gold and Silver shall be consumed to the last dram when all Cities Towns and stately Edifices shall be destroyed when all the outward pomp and glory of the World shall be burnt to ashes when the high Mountains shall melt under the feet of the Lord and the Valleys shall be cleft as wax before the sire and as the Waters that are powred down a steep place Mich. 1.4 Then shall all the dwellers on earth be disseized and turned out of their Possessions then must Kings for ever part with their Thrones Crowns and Scepters and the greatest Rulers on Earth lay down their Authority at the feet of Christ then shall the high and lofty ones be brought low and many great Captains shall call to the hills and mountains to fall upon them and hide them from the face of him that sitteth upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb Rev. 6.10 Then shall all Trades and Occupations in the World cease every where and all desire and study of purchasing and gaining shall be at an end then shall the Sea at that time shew the greatest rage and fury and the Waves thereof be so high and furious that it shall seem as if they would utterly overwhelm the whole Earth now at such a dreadful time as this when they that had their portion in the things of this life must be stript of all and leave all for ever then shall God's Children take full and everlasting Possession of the House of their heavenly Father in which are many Mansions and this highly advanceth the felicity of the Saints because it cometh so seasonably to them Give a man an house well furnished when his own is plundred and burnt and the whole neighbourhood is undone and all the Countrey round about is laid waste and made desolate how pleasant is it and when the whole World shall be in a flame and all things in it are consuming to ashes then to be put into the possession of the World to come when our earthly habitations are burnt then to have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens what an inconceiveable happiness is it A word in season saith Solomon Oh how good is it Heaven is sweet at any time but Heaven at such a time as this Oh how good how unspeakably good is it St Paul 2. Tim. 4.7 saith I have fought a good fight I have kept the faith finished my Course henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give unto me at that day on that day when the veriest Earth-worm that now creepeth upon the ground shall be convinced that there is nothing in the World worth the having theâ— to be put into the heavenly Mansions in the day of the Worlds funerals and to enjoy an enduring substance in the day of the Worlds conflagration no tongue of
Men or Angels is able sufficiently to set forth the height of this blessedness III. It shall be at such a time when the Devil and all his Instruments the Enemies of God and his People shall be cast into outer Darkness and swallowed up of everlasting Destruction when their day shall wholly end their glory be finished and their prosperity be utterly extinguished and overthrown when they shall be for ever seperated from God the fountain of all blessedness of which Separation Chrysostome thus speaketh That if a thousand fires of Hell were joyned together in one they should never be so great a pain to the Soul as it is for the Soul to be separated in this wise for ever from Almighty God We read Isa 14.9 10. That the Kings and Potentates of the Earth seem to be brought into rejoycing at the fall of Lucifer viz. the King of Babilon when he was brought low it was matter of triumph to the Children of Israel that the Lord saved them from the hand of Pharaoh and the Aegyptians that pursued them to the red Sea and that Israel saw the Aegyptians dead on the Sea shore the Waters covering the Chariots the Horsemen and all the Host of Pharaoh that came into the Sea after them that there remained not so much as one of them the Children of Israel walking upon dry Land in the midst of the Sea the Waters being a wall to them on the right hand and on the left Exod. 14.28 29. Was it not a great priviledg for Noah to sit secure in the Ark above the Waters that covered the tops of the highest Mountains at the same time when the whole World of the Ungodly were drowned and buried in the Flood what then may we conceive the happiness of the Saints will be when they shall be advanced to the heigth of heavenly glory when their Enemies shall be overwhelmed with the depths of shame and misery what encouragement may this be to us to raise our hearts Heaven-ward and to have our affections set on things above while the hearts of Worldlings are rooted in the Earth that at the same time when their end shall be destruction we may be put into the possession of eternal glory should not we be as unwilling now to have fellowship with them in their unfruitful works of darkness as we are desirous to be in Heaven when they shall be cast into Hell fire IV. It shall be at a time when all the labours sorrows and sufferings of the Saints shall be at an end Write saith a Voice from Heaven to St. John Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their Works do follow them Rev. 14.13 They shall then be eased from the toilesome and troublesome travels of this Life being translated from this worlds vanity into Heavens felicity where shall be neither labour in action nor pain in passion where they shall be neither annoyed with pinching cold nor parching heat and as sleep is a resting and refreshing to our weak frail and weary bodies so our bodies being laid down in the bed of our Graves they shall rest and be free from all sickness and sorrow weakness weariness and all work and whatsoever else are fruits and effects yea punishments of sin and attendants of this life yea the Saints after they have wearied themselves in striving against sin in subduing corruption after they have spent themselves in the work of the Lord and after the Enemies to piety have tyred out themselves with malice scoffs reproaches slaunders persecutions they shall rest from all their labours and sufferings in perfect peace and blessedness and the fruit comfort and reward of their works shall follow them and abide with them for ever They shall then arrive at a safe harbour after a dangerous passage through Shelves Storms Rocks and Pirates which then shall be so much the more welcome to them Read St. Pauls Catalogue 2 Cor. 11.23 And think how sweet Heaven will be to one that hath had such a hard passage thither Through labours more abundant stripes above measure many prisons chains fetters whippings scourgings shipwracks deaths journeyings perills of Waters Robberies by his own Countrey-men by the Heathen True it is he gives in a large bill of his charges as it were but when he cometh to speak of his wages he makes nothing of his labours and sufferings in comparison of the reward 2 Cor. 4.17 For these light and momentany afflictions do work out for us an exceeding eternal weight of glory The highest Mountain in the World is very light in comparison of the whole Earth even so are the greatest afflictions of the greatest sufferers in comparison of the glory of Heaven It is said of Isachar Gen. 49.15 That he saw that rest was good and that the Land was pleasant therefore he put his shoulders to labour and became servant to Tribute So I may say the rest and glory of the Saints is good but the Land that brings forth this rest will be best and most pleasant to them after all their labours and sufferings are fully ended then to receive this glorious rest will be most sweet unto them and most seasonable Were Heaven nothing else but an Haven of rest we know how welcome the one is to a Sea sick weather-beaten Traveller and by that we may conceive how welcome the other will be to a Soul that hath been long tossed in the Waves of this troublesom World sick of its own sinful imaginations and tyred out with outward temptations the happiest Soul that ever hath sailed over this Euripus in the best Ship in the most healthful body that ever was never had so calm a passage saith a good Divine but that it hath had cause enough often to wish it self on shoar Sa. Ward on the life of faith in death Is there any Palace or Tower here so high or strong that can keep diseases from the body or cares sorrows fears or Satan's assaults from the Soul were there but such an Island as some have dreamed of here on earth that might free mens bodies or minds from disquiet but for the time of this life how would people strive to dwell there Certainly in this heavenly Countrey there shall be perfect tranquillity to all the Inhabitants thereof Oh how will it ravish the hearts of the Saints when they have finished their course and are come to the end of their race oh how sweet will Heaven and how glorious will the Crown of Immortality be to them in the end If Seamen when they have been many moneths upon the Sea where they have encountred with many dreadful storms and boystrous tempests and have been often in danger of drowning and shipwracks when they shall at last descry but a Creek of Land do leap for joy and cry out Oh Land land we are nigh to such a Coast where we would be then much more those that have run
to them But as for subtilty which properly signifies a property whereby such things as are spiritual have a penetrative vertue to pass through the corpulent parts of any thing that hath a Body having parts and dimensions I cannot see how it can be attributed to glorified Bodies which after the resurrection shall have the same extensive and bodily parts for quantity and material substance as they had before and can no more pierce thorow any true bodily substance which hath the dimensions of quantity as length breadth thickness then they could before their resurrection during the time of their mortality and corruption Although divers of the Antients affirm that Christ after his resurrection entered into the room where his Disciples were the doors being shut John 20.26 by passing thorow the door yet if it were so we may not attribute the same as a thing natural to his glorified Body it having the same dimensions of quantity for fulness of matter it had before but must rather be attributed to the power of his God-head to whom nothing is impossible but I suppose though the doors were shut presently before and after his passage yet they opened of their own accord or by his Divine power at the instant of his passage as Acts 12.10 the Creature giving place to the Creator otherwise we must hold the Body of Christ made a penetration thorow the doors and then there must be two solid Bodies in one place at the same time which were impossible And St. Augustine saith even of glorified Bodies Tolle spatia corporibus corpora non erunt take away spaces from the Bodies and they will cease to be bodies SECT IV. Of the impassibility of glorified Bodies MOreover the Bodies of the Saints in glory shall be made impassible in this life we are subject to many infirmities to thousands of miseries our Bodies are Butts against which miseries and afflictions which are the Arrows of the Almighty are shot but glorified Bodies are subject to none of these they suffer no pain Christ will wipe away all tears from their eyes sorrow and mourning shall flee away and be sent packing to Hell among the Devils and damned Wretches their afflictions are their portion Heaven and the blessed state of the Saints in Heaven is as free from misery as from sin this World to the godly is as the Prison to Joseph as Nebuchadnezzar's Furnace to the three Children as the Lions Den to Daniel this World to the godly is like an House of Correction wherein is much toyl and labour and very much scourging besides We are born to be miserable we shall do nothing else but suffer but we shall be taken out of Prison our Bodies shall be drawn out of the Furnace freed from the House of Correction and no grief nor misery shall evermore touch our glorified Bodies Their impassibility will then free them from all the injuries of the Elements the natural heat which now wasteth them shall no more consume the natural moysture the contraries that compose man will then agree and the Body being no longer tormented with hunger and thirst will stand in need neither of meat nor drink he will be in a state of consistency wherein he will have his just proportion The Apostle tells us that what is sown in weakness shall be raised in power and vertue so that the Body shall not need that propping up as the weak pillars thereof do now need support in this state of mortality But this power is no supernatural vertue making the elementary parts and qualities to be of another nature then now they are for there must be no change nor destruction but only a perfection of Nature neither shall these elementary qualities by the power of God be limited or obstructed in their operations that they shall not fight against each other to their mutual destruction for then the impassibility of glorified Bodies should not be an internal vertue as abiding in the Body which is against the Apostle's intent but only an external assistance of God Aquinas saith Aquin. supplem qu. 82. art 1. that this vertue and power of impassibility floweth immediately from the Soul her self which informing the Body doth so fully and perfectly subdue all the powers and qualities of the same unto her self that no contrary Agent can be able to make any violent impression upon or act violently against the Body either to corrupt or destroy it or in the least to be able to draw it from that quiet and peaceable state wherein it resteth SECT V. Of the incorruptibility and immortality of glorified Bodies FInally the glory of the Body shall be so firm and stable that it can never wither or decay it shall be incorruptible The Body is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption 1 Cor. 15.42 This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality verse 53. The Bodies of the beatified shall then be embalmed with the Spirit that shall cause them for ever to be incorruptible their Bodies shall be made incorruptible and immortal like the glorious Body of Christ these earthly Tabernacles or demicilia Animae must be taken down and then these Bodies of dust must return to dust we must say to Corruption thou art our Mother and to the Worm thou art our Sister and the Soul must suffer a divorce from the Body But when Christ shall appear our mortality shall be swallowed up of life then our corruption shall put on incorruption these vile dusty Bodies of ours shall be made glorious Mansions for our Souls and our Souls shall be for ever united to our Bodies again so that they shall never suffer a divorce from the Body and the Body shall never see corruption any more We shall then enjoy an eternal spring of years which shall never wither our days will pass on yet shall we never feel any decay or declension in our selves our budding verdure will fear no Winter the Lillies and Roses of our Countenances will keep their freshness and as original Righteousness served to Man as a Garment in the state of Innocence so Glory will be instead of a Robe to the Blessed God hath made the Soul of so powerful a nature August Epist 66. ad Dioscor saith one of the Antients that from her glorious happiness there redounds to the Body the vigour of incorruption and so long as the glorified Soul shall be subject to God and the glorified Body be subject to the Soul so long it shall be impossible for any bodily agent whatsoever to have any transient action or impression which may any way change or hurt the same But as St. Paul saith Rom. 6.10 In that Christ died he died unto sin once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God so we shall then live with God and unto God as Christ for ever SECT VI. ALbeit glorified Bodies shall be impassible and incorruptible so that they shall not be subject to any contrary or
the Gentiles and the rest What a ravishing sight will it be to see the glorious company of the Apostles to behold the goodly fellowship of the Prophets to set your eyes on that noble Army of Martyrs and Confessors that have shed their blood for the cause of Christ What a joyful sight will it be to see those holy Prophets Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel and the rest above the reach of their cruel Persecutors cloathed with long white garments with Palms in their hands and with the glorious ensigns of their victorious triumphs Will it not be a goodly sight to behold that glorious fore-runner of Christ who chose rather to lose his head then to dissemble the filthiness of an incestuous King and no less delightful will it be to see St. Stephen who was stoned to death for Christ and that holy Apostle St. James who was slain with the sword of Herod that cruel Tyrant now reigning with Christ in glory What an excellent sight shall it be to see those famous Lights of the Church of Christ Peter and Paul shining there very gloriously with the Trophies of their Martyrdom wherewith they were Crowned and this shall add to the perfection of this sight that the Saints shall all enjoy the glories of each other as if they were properly their own If the sight of the Saints in communion here be so sweet even an Heaven upon Earth what will it be when all the blessed Souls that have been from the beginning of the World and shall be to the end shall meet all together and they wholly freed from all corruptions and imperfections what a blessed sight will that be If there be such great pleasure in the sight of Flowers and Jewels what great delight will there be in the sight of the innumerable company of the Blessed who shall all shine as the Sun especially when all shall be dearer to their Parents Children Relations then now they are to behold multitude the beauty and excellency of the inhabitants of Heaven and their sweet familiarity with one another will be a most pleasant spectacle Their multitude will be innumerable God hath many Sons and Daughters that must be brought to glory Heb. 2.10 there are a numberless number that are to follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes Rev. 14.1 there shall be no empty places in Heaven nor any void of inhabitants Likewise the beauty of all shall be admirable they shall be like unto the Angels of God and be the most excellent images of their heavenly Father and how pleasant a thing will this be to behold In dignity all shall be the Citizens of Heaven and the Children of God all shall be triumphant Kings having had the victory over the World the Flesh and the Devil We count it an admirable sight if we could see one King among an hundred thousand persons in his glory Oh then what a sight shall this be when we shall see millions of glorious Kings and Christ the King of infinite glory in the midst of them All shall be Priests unto God offering the sacrifice of praise perpetually to him In brief the least Saint in Heaven shall be greater in dignity and glory then all the Kings of this World Moreover they shall be most delighted to behold that sweet converse they shall have together If it be a delightful thing in the Court of some great Prince to obtain the favour and good will of all what pleasure will it be to enjoy the friendship and familiarity of such an innumerable company of noble Persons Oh what a royal Feast and most magnificent Banquet will the Lord make for his Children when they shall all meet together in his holy Mountain let Worldlings get them to their gluttonous and carnal feasts let them even burst themselves with their superfluous excesses such a Feast as this where the choicest dainties are served in by the holy Angels where even Christ himself the Master and maker of the Feast will as it were gâ—rd himself and serve is convenient only for God and his chosen People SECT IX ANd as the eyes shall be freed from all dimness so the ears shall be freed from all defects of deafness the ears shall always hear that ravishing Musick sounding forth from the heavenly Quire where a consort of innumerable Angels and glorified Saints are singing Hallelujahs to their God and magnifying their glorious Redeemer for ever for the high praises of God shall be in the mouthes of all his Saints Psal 149.6 by reason of their ardent love to God who hath heaped so many good things upon them they shall break forth into praises and thanksgivings They shall praise him out of all his works and benefits from his works of Creation and Providence from his works of Redemption and Justification Adoption and Sanctification from his works of Mercy and Justice from the Rewards he bestoweth on the Righteous and the Punishments he inflicteth on the Wicked and from all his secret and revealed Judgements They shall have all these things before the eyes of their minds and shall clearly understand the counsel of God in them all and shall be filled with incredible consolation and by reason of the greatness of their joy shall praise him for all peculiarly blessing him and giving him immortal thanks they shall not want matter for everlasting praise and they shall not only praise him with their heart but also in their body with their tongues there shall be a most excellent harmony of voices incomparably surpassing the musick in the World this will be exceeding sweet and pleasant that one only sound of it were able to bring the whole World asleep Now as the Saints shall incessantly with vocal praises magnifie the Lord so without doubt their vocal Hallelujahs shall be heard and understood of one another what ravishing expressions of love shall they then hear from Christ and from each other what Songs of joy and triumph Upon the consideration whereof devout St. Augustine breaks forth into this meditation Omne opus sanctâ—rum leus Dei sine fiâ—e sine defectione sine labore faelix ergo vero in perpe tuum faelix si post resolutionem hujus corpusculi audivero iila cantica caelestis enelodiae quae cantantur ad laudem Regis aeterni ab illis superâ—ae petriae civibus beatorumque spirituum agminibus c. August medâ—t cap. 25. The whole work of the Saints in Heaven shall be to praise God without end without failing without labour happy therefore and truly happy am I for ever if after the resolution of my body I shall be counted worthy to hear those Songs of heavenly melody which are sung in praising the everlasting King by those Citizens of the Country that is above and by the Troops of those blessed Spirits which are there Oh how happy shall I account my self to be if I may be admitted to sing those songs and stand by my King my God the Captain of my salvation and behold
him in his glory Now as it was said of the eye in respect of things seen so it is said of the ear in respect of things heard Neither is the ear silled with hearing Eccles 1.8 it is spoken in respect of things heard here below all the things in the World which are most delightful to it cannot fill it they may tire the ear but cannot satisfie it but in Heaven the ear shall be filled but never cloyed with hearing it shall hear whatsoever is pleasing to it and nothing that is distasteful How should this consideration make us to think the time long till we be out of Egypt and freed from those chains which link us to such shameful services and so unworthy of a Soul ransomed with the blood of the Son of God Alas when will the time come that we shall hear the Canticles of glory when shall we go to the Daughters of Zion to our Country crying out with a loud voice that the spiritual Pharaoh is swallowed up under the Abysses and that all those Troops of Enemies which now pursue us have suffered a dismal shipwrack not under the Waves of the red Sea but under the Lake of Fire and Brimstone and everlasting malediction Oh then let us not suffer the noise and tumult of this World to strike our ears with so many unprofitable extravagant and dangerous discourses but rather let us seal up our ears against wicked words filthy speeches profane and rotten communications idle and foolish jestings and inure them to such as are suitable to those they shall hear in Heaven SECT X. AS for the sense of feeling we may not deny it to be in Heaven for that includes not any corruption and if congruous to sense it is a perfection not a defect of nature and that glorified Bodies be palpable and may be felt that speech of our Saviour after his resurrection makes it clear Handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me to have Luke 24.39 The sense of touching will receive its delights both from the heavenly Air and the soft touch of heavenly Bodies as also from the most inward sense of the best temperament for man being perfectly sound hath a pleasant sense and feeling of the good constitution of the Body As for the smell and taste some think as they are inferiour senses so they are subservient to this mortal state and that there shall be no use of them in a state of glory the taste is for the trying of meats and drinks and it shall be one great part of the Saints happiness not to hunger and thirst any more but to be far above these things being like to the Angels of God to be so replenished with the love and influences of the presence of God as to live immediately upon him in him and by him and not to lead such a weak and frail life as now they do that lean upon the staff of bread and must be underpropped by the creatures But if there be any use of these senses in Heaven it shall be after another manner then now it is the sense of smelling shall then be refreshed with most sweet and pleasant savours not of such vaporous things as we have here but of such as be proportionable to the glory of Heaven In like manner the taste shall be satisfied with incredible sweetness and delights Ludovic Granat Medit. not for the sustentation of life but for the accomplishment of all glory as one noteth And albeit touching the sense of taste some difficulty may arise yet though there be no delicious taste by eating or drinking delicious dainties such as the sensual Epicures of these times make their God notwithstanding it is not absurd to think â—r Rich Sheldon of Man's last end that glorified Bodies by God's appointment shall have some delicious and pleasant moisture resting upon the palate or place of taste that so by such a means that sensible part may have her full content And Lessius saith Lessius de summo bono if the Damned in Hell are most sharply punished in these senses as the rich Glutton that in Hell torments was tormented in his tongue why should not the Saints who have suffered so many things so grievous to the senses in this life receive delight and refreshing in them Concerning all which Laurence Justinian writes thus The flesh of man made spiritual Laurent Justinian lib. de Dicipl Monach cap. â—3 shall abound with delights of divers sorts in all the senses the eye shall be delighted in the lovely sight of the Redeemer when it shall see the King of glory decked with his own comeliness the melodious songs of the Citizens that are above shall not a little delight their ears likewise the fragrant pleasantness of the Celestial odours shall embrew the smelling with a wonderful liquefaction and an unspeakable sweetness of all delectable things shall as it were cram the palate of the mouth and the touch shall abound with delights suitable to it it is requisite that all the members of the Body should extol their Creator in their own way that as they took their beginning from him so also they may bring down the end of their blessedness toward him that God may be all in all And Anselm when he had said that the Damned shall have the greatest pains in all their senses and members addeth in like manner but in a contrary consideration in that life that is to come a certain unspeakable delight shall inebriate good men and abundantly satisfie them with its invaluable sweetness The eyes the ears the nostrils the mouth the throat the hands the liver the lungs the bones the marrow the bowels and every particular member of the Body shall be replenished with such a wonderful sense of delight and sweetness that truly we shall drink large draughts of it in the torrents of delight and instead of the dew of Manna wherewith the Israelites were refreshed we shall be satiated in an Ocean of Nectar and Ambrosia that is without bounds limits measure or bottom O happiness not so much to be spoken of as to be wished and desired and to be purchased if it were possible with a thousand lives had we so many to give for the same SECT XI Vse 1. THe first Use that I shall make of this is to commend unto you that of the Apostle 1 Thes 4.3 4 5. That ye should abstain from fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and in honour as men that seek for glory honour and immortality not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God as those who have hope only in this life who have no entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Flee fornication every sin that a man doth is without the body but he that commiteth fornication sinneth against his own body 1 Cor. 6.18 Other sins are
without doors in comparison of this but this is within it is a sin so inward to the Body that it diffuseth it self through the whole Body and makes it wholly a slave and instrument to its lust yea the Body is as it were the object of these sinful lusts they do in a peculiar manner defile the Body What greater indecorum can there be for one that hopeth to have his Body glorified in Heaven then thus to debase and vilifie it upon the Earth Take heed likewise of intemperance in meats and drinks of gluttony and drunkenness for this also dishonoureth the Body takes away the heart and makes it to stick fast in the mire of sensuality and makes a man a stranger to heavenly-mindedness it sets a man below a rational man much more below a spiritual man whose heart whose hope whose conversation is in Heaven St. Paul saith Meats for the belly and the belly for meats but God shall destroy both it and them If you expect to have your Bodies lifted up to heavenly glory be not ye Sâ—rvants to the belly and to meats and drinks both which are appointed to destruction Miserable then is the condition of those persons now whose god is their belly whose greatest delight is to pamper their bodies and please their palates that have not the least savour of heavenly things The more heavenly minded any man is the more he raiseth his heart far above these things and denieth himself in them and it shall be no little ground of comfort to a glorified Saint when after the mortification and diligent looking to the senses which continued so short a time he finds himself so wholly immersed in that deep fountain of glory without finding any bottom or end of so many and such exceeding great joys Oh then let us make it our meat and drink to do the will of our Father which is in Heaven using these outward blessings as not abusing them as furtherances and not as hinderances in the service of God eating and drinking for Heaven and whatsoever we do doing all for Heaven that this among other may be one good evidence to our Souls that we are Vessels of Honour prepared for glory fitted for Heaven where we shall be full of God and have no need nor desire to fill our selves with meats and drinks Vse 2. This may exhort us to a patient bearing of all afflictions and present evils be they many be they grievous Suppose your Bodies are as full of diseases as the Body of Lazarus was full of sores they are sick weak crazy deformed blind maimed ulcerous leprous if all these or any of these be upon thy Body bear it patiently for Christ will one day redeem thy Body from all these and make it glorious like to his own Body Vse 3. Be hence encouraged to give up your Bodies to suffer for Christ what evil soever cruel Tormentors through God's permission shall inflict upon your Carcasses if they judge thee to the loss of ears of eyes of tongue of hands yea the whole Body to be burned at a stake or to be devoured by wild Beasts such torments Martyrs have endured willingly submit to all Christ will restore those eyes ears tongues hands or any other member whatsoever which your Adversaries shall pull from you Vse 4. Be not afraid of dying neither let the thoughts of the dissolution of thy Body into dust and the long abode of thy Body in the dark prison of the grave be a trouble to thee God will redeem this Body of thine from the grave saying Give up the dead which are in thee give up my Saints and he will make thy Body to out-shine in glory The Grave is God's Refining-pot where he refineth our vile Bodies it is the mould in which he casteth our glorious Bodies to new mould them it is his Work-house wherein he sheweth his power and wisdom in transforming our Bodies Death causeth the Saints to put off these vile Bodies that they may put on more glorious Finally be exhorted to glorifie God in your Bodies since he will one day make them glorious Bodies 1 Cor. 6.20 CHAP. XVII I Have spoken somewhat largely of the substance of that happiness which Christ hath purchased for the Saints so far as concerneth the Body in the next place I shall speak somewhat of that unconceivable blessedness to which the Soul the principal part of man shall be advanced and here is something peculiar in that glory prepared for the Soul above that of the Body not only that the Soul in its own nature is capable of a greater perfection and excellency then the Body but also in respect of the time for whereas the Body shall remain under the power of Death and corruption until the general Resurrection the Soul in the mean time shall be triumphing in glory so that the Souls of the Saints will come under a double consideration 1. Before the Resurrection 2. After the Resurrection 1. Before the Resurrection when the Soul shall remain seperated from the Body of which I shall speak somewhat briefly because among other wretched Doctrines hatched of old and lately revived this is found to be one viz. that the Soul dieth or sleepeth with the Body and so abideth till the great day of the general Resurrection when it shall be raised again with the Body But two clear Scriptures may be opposed against this Opinion the first is in Heb. 12.23 where the Apostle speaking of the priviledge which the Saints have while they are upon Earth said they were come to the spirits of just men made perfect not the Souls of any of the Saints living on the face of the Earth for they are imperfect for we know in part and prophecy in part but when that which is perfect is come that which is in part shall be done away Hence then it remaineth that the spirits of just men made perfect must be no other then the Souls of the Saints seperated from the Body and translated unto glory Now if the spirits of just men seperated from their Bodies are made perfect they are not dead for death is the destruction of perfection the Body is never so imperfect as when it is dead a diseased Body is much more perfect then a dead Corpse so then if the Souls of the Saints were dead with their Bodies they should be so far from being made perfect that they should utterly lose those beginnings of perfection which they had while they were in the Body their graces would be extinguished and there would be a loss to them of that enjoyment of God and communion with him which they had here upon the Earth The second place of Scripture I shall produce against this Opinion of the Mortalists is in 2 Cor. 5.6 7 8. Therefore we are always confident knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord for we walk by faith not by sight we are confident I say and willing rather to be
absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. Here you may see that while the Souls of the Saints are present in the Body as they are during this life they are absent from the Lord albeit Jesus Christ dwelleth in them by his Spirit and they are spiritually united to him yet in regard of local distance they are absent from Christ in respect of his Humane nature not seeing him face to face they walk by faith not by sight Moreover when their Souls are absent and seperated from the Body by death they shall be present with the Lord not walking by faith at a distance from Christ but resting in his presence immediately beholding him The Souls of the Saints then do not die with the Body but live in the presence of their Saviour at the very same time when they are absent and seperated from the Body by death This must needs be meant of the state of the Soul not after the resurrection but between death and the resurrection for that is the only time when the Soul is absent from the Body and during that time the Apostle saith it shall be present with the Lord. To these may be added that gracious answer of Christ to the penitent Malefactor Verily I say unto thee this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luke 27.43 viz. the very same day wherein he died Now the heavenly Paradise is no burying place for dead Souls but a glorious habitation for the living spirits of just men made perfect Observe likewise that argument of Christ grounded upon the speech of God to Moses at the bush which strongly proveth both the resurrection of the Body and the immortality of the Soul as well before as after the resurrection Matth. 22.31 32. Have you not read what is spoken to you by God saying I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living This was spoken long after the natural death of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and so the Argument standeth thus Those who have God for their God by Covenant are not dead but living but Abraham Isaac and Jacob have God for their God by Covenant Ergo they are not dead but living So then they live in their principal parts their Souls while they are absent from the Body whereunto their Bodies are to be re-united at the great day that their whole persons may fully enjoy their God and perfectly possess the fruit and benefit of God's covenant verse 34. this argument silenced the Sadduces Finally consider what meant Stephen's prayer at his death Lord Jesus receive my Spirit or Soul Acts 7.59 If his Spirit or Soul had died with his Body why should he call upon Christ more for the receiving his Soul but because he knew his Spirit or Soul was immortal and must live and subsist when it was seperated from the Body he prayed Christ to give present entertainment to his Soul that he might rest in the bosome of his love until his Body should be raised and reunited to it Now as this may stop the mouth of this lying Spirit which of late is crept forth into the World again so it may demonstrate according to the point in hand that the Souls of the Faithful after their seperation from the Body are instated into blessedness By which places fore-mentioned and such like is refuted their Heresie who either directly deny the immortality of the Soul or imply it as the Socinians who say that Mori est penitus extingui V.d. Gens in Confes remonstrant p. 254 256. resurgere est ex non ente iterum existere And this Opinion some others have seemed to favour in the Declaration of their Opinions about the Articles of Religion in that they are altogether silent in the point that concerneth the blessed rest of the Saints Souls after this life CHAP. XVIII Of the blessedness of the Soul in general MUch more might have been spoken of the blessedness of the Soul in glory when it is absent from the Body but because these things belong as well to the Soul re-united to the Body when it hath full possession of salvation I chuse to treat of them under that consideration 1. This shall be the wonderful felicity of the Soul in that it shall have a Body every way suitable to it self immortal spiritual incorruptible glorious as its habitation for a pure immortal glorious Spirit to dwell in in this respect the glorified Souls now in Heaven all the time of their seperation do even vehemently desire and wait for the redemption of their Bodies who were their yoke-fellows in the day of their pilgrimage upon Earth Though the Soul of a Believer reign with Angels yet hath she a passion for her Body and all the good she doth possess cannot take her from the desire and memory thereof though she hath made trial of its revolts though this friendly Enemy hath oftentimes persecuted her and that she hath desired death to be freed from the tyranny thereof yet doth she languish as it were and vehemently long after it Though the Body be reduced to dust though it cause pity in its Enemies and though it cause horror in those to whom it was lovely yet she forbears not to desire it and to expect the resurrection with a kind of impatience that her Body may partake of the bliss which she enjoyeth The Souls of the Saints departed this life do not account their glory their blessedness compleat till their Bodies be reunted hence they do naturally desire their re-union and as they cry under the Altar How long Lord how long will it be ere thou avenge our blood so all the Souls of just men made perfect with one voice cry out How long Lord how long will it be ere thou redeem our Bodies that we may be perfectly blessed in the full fruition of thy self Oh then how shall the glorified Soul rejoyce in its glorified Body raised from among worms dust and rottenness rescued from its captivity from under the power of death and corruption and now again made one with the Soul no longer to be a snare or burden to it but a companion meet for it taking in no object by the senses that may in the least degree endanger the polluting of the Soul and having nothing in it that may stupifie the affections or any way discompose the eternal rest disturb the peace eclipse the joy of the Soul interrupt its enjoyment of God or any way diminish its compleat happiness 2. There shall be a perfect harmony between the Body with all its parts and the Soul with all its powers and both Soul and Body shall be fully conformed to Christ and so shall most sweetly comply each with other and I conceive the very remembrance of that dulness sottishness earthiness and drossiness which in the state of mortality is in the Body shall be matter of great joy to the Soul now that it
excellency of the God-head This cannot be comprehended by any of the creatures Yet let me tell you the understanding shall then be more perfect In its apprehension In its judgment I. In its apprehension that shall be most quick and acute the Soul shall have a most sharp and piercing eye-sight readily apprehending and conceiving it shall not see thorow a glass it shall not have its knowledg at second hand 1. It shall not apprehend God by the Creature by the light of Nature the Creatures are the darkest representations of God there are but some of his foot-prints in the Creatures they are no glasses wherein we shall behold the face of God At the best the Creatures are but Jacob's Ladder to us by which we may ascend from Earth to the knowledg of God in Heaven the Creatures can but take us by the hand and lead us to God and lift up our minds to Heaven the sight of God is more then all the Creatures can afford because God's face cannot be seen in the Creature and yet this we may grant that the Saints shall see God in the Creatures then but with this difference as Dionysius well observeth Dionys Ercop the Creatures will be specula clara in statu integro clear glasses in a perfect state but now in statu corrupto in a corrupt state they be specula aenigmatica obscure glasses 2. The glorified Soul shall apprehend God after another manner then now it can know him from his Word or understand him in his Word The knowledg of the Word is by the Schools called cognitio Fidei the knowledg of Faith it is a far greater knowledg then the knowledg of God from the Creatures Faith is of an higher reach then Reason or the light of Nature the Word of God speaks of God more then the eye of Reason ever can by the eye of Nature kenne things which Reason could almost deny at least dispute against the Word reveals of God The Creatures shew but the foot-steps of God the Word sheweth his back-parts his glorious attributes his gracious goodness but yet the Word cannot shew us the face of God therefore the Beatifick Vision is more then the knowledg of God we have from the Word 3. The knowledg of God in Heaven is more then that which the Saints have of him by the light of grace in this life by the light of grace the Saints do behold the light of God's countenance in this life David often prays Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon us but yet the light of grace cannot shew the very countenance of God himself it must be the light of glory that must discover that to us Indeed to know God by the light of grace which more properly is termed the knowledg of Faith is called life eternal John 17.3 It is called eternal life because to believe in God and in Christ is the medium a way and means to life eternal and then again it is vita eterna inchoata saving Faith in Christ is the beginning of eternal life but the eye of Faith is too weak to look God in the face yet this we may grant that what the Creature what the Word reveals of God what we know by the light of grace we shall have a more clear more full and more manifest sight of it in Heaven We shall then see God as he is i. know himself by himself we shall know him by himself without the Creature know him by himself without the external preaching of the Word know him without the Sacraments the Word and Sacraments being glasses wherein we behold the glory of God but in Heaven there shall be no need of these glasses we shall see his face without these glasses by himself Look as God doth manifest himself to the Angels so he will manifest himself to us they see God in himself and by himself therefore they are said always to behold the face of God and so shall glorified Saints do Here the bodily eye may be dim either by reason of the weakness of the eye a defect of strength in the organ or instrument of sight or because of scales or films growing over it so it is with the understanding or eye of the Soul its sight may be dim and imperfect either by reason of its natural weakness or by the scales of lusts or sinful corruptions overgrowing it these do exceedingly blind the understanding and dull the apprehension while we are in this state of mortality Now both these shall be done away in that state of glory the organ or eye of the Soul shall then be strengthned with perfection there shall be no weakness remaining in it it shall be most strong and vigorous the Soul shall then be elevated and raised to that strength that it shall be able to gaze upon the glory of God for ever and so see him as never to lose the sight of him then likewise all the scales shall be removed there shall not be the least mote of lust to dim the eye of the Soul it shall see clearly and perfectly and ignorance which is here a brand of sin shall be quite defaced by the brightness that shall enlighten the Soul Tunc nec falli nec peccare possunt homines veritate illuminati in bono confirmati then men illightened with the truth and confirmed in good can neither deceive nor be deceived nor sin saith St. Augustine How quick was Adam's apprehension in the state of innocence how did the acuteness of his understanding penetrate into the insides of the Creatures as is manifest by his giving them names suitable to their natures Now as Christ the second Adam is incomparably more excellent then the first Adam and Believers are the spiritual seed of Christ as Men and Women are the natural seed of Adam so far more transcendent shall that perfection of apprehension and understanding be which Christ shall illighten the Souls of his Saints withal as his seed in that state of blessedness even far surpassing that which Adam had and which should have been propagated from him to his natural issue had he persevered in the integrity of his nature wherein he was created SECT II. Of the perfection of the judgments of the Saints in glory II. AS the apprehensions so likewise the judgments of the Saints shall be perfected in Heaven Here sometimes quick apprehensions are accompanied with shallow judgments as on the other side solid judgments are joyned with slow apprehensions but in glory the soundness of the judgment shall be correspondent with the clearness and quickness of the apprehension it shall not be subject to the least mistake nor obnoxious to any error here we are full of levity and wavering in matters of Religion taking up opinions lightly without due examination and for want of strength of judgment we are ready upon every sleight occasion to receive another Doctrine and likewise presuming upon the strength of and subtilty of our own wits not limited by
sanctification preventing grace subsequent grace exciting grace confirming grace strength against temptation support under afflictions help in extremities relief against seeming impossibilities faith repentance love hope c. they shall see the Spring of that River of God's pleasures and of those living Waters which have refreshed so many thirsty Souls when they seemed ready to perish Oh how would it tickle the vain curiosity of many men to be admitted to the sight of the rich treasures of great Princes and to have their Cabinets filled with the rarest and most sumptuous Jewels unlocked before their eyes Alas they are not so much as common stones of the street in comparison of the treasures of God's all-sufficiency which the Saints shall behold in Heaven SECT II. FUrthermore as the Saints in Heaven shall see what God is in himself so they shall perfectly and fully see what God is to themselves here is the happiness of the beatifical vision not only to know that God is infinitely gracious in himself but that he is also infinitely gracious to us not only to know that God is goodness it self bonum summum the chiefest good but also to know God is our chiefest good our happiness Then the Saints will all say to God as Job did when he had that familiar conference with God Job 42.5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee So when we come to Heaven every one of us will say Lord I have heard thy Ministers say that thou art a merciful a gracious God I have heard thy Word to proclaim thee to be a Lord a Lord God gracious and merciful a God pardoning sin and forgiving iniquity and now mine eyes see thee now I plainly see that thou art such a God as indeed thou art I tell you this is one main part of the beatifical Vision not only to see what God is in himself but to see clearly what a good God he is to us this is the happiness of all the Saints this is the fulness of joy which is in the presence of God this is the rivers of pleasure which are at God's right hand Suppose the Devils and damned Spirits should know what God is in himself that he is the God of grace the God of mercy the God of glory alas they would but little bless themselves in the knowledg of God because God is not thus to them it is their woe of woes because they know that God is to them a consuming fire devouring burnings and an angry Judge To know a thing and not to possess that thing is no happiness at all to know there are riches in the bottom of the Sea doth nothing rejoyce a man but to possess those riches to know there are rich treasures of all good things and not to have any part in that treasure what comfort hath a poor man in the knowledg of that It is true what Chrysologus saith of the rich Man in Hell Dives magis uritur Lazari gloria quam proprio incendio Chrysolog The glory of Lazarus doth more torment him then the fire of Hell It is no comfort to him to see Heaven and Lazarus in Abraham's bosome and himself to be thrust into Hell This brings joy to the heart of man when he knows a thing and seeth it to be his own There are three things that make a man glad 1. When a man hath that which he loveth 2. When that which he hath and loveth is the best thing 3. When a man knoweth that he hath and that he loveth is the best thing All these things are in the beatifical Vision The Saints enjoy that which they love viz. God then God is the best thing among all the treasures of good things nothing to be compared to God Likewise the Saints do know that they do enjoy God that God is their God and what God is in himself that he is to them this is that which will satisfie all the Saints when they shall awake out of the dust They also shall see all things in God it is a true Theorem among the Schools Videntes Deum omnia vident in ipso those that see God shall see all other things in him And the reason that they give is this because the Divine essence is the representative object of all things Fulgentius makes this comparison Fulgentius his comparison God saith he may not unfitly be compared to a glass look as in a glass we see three things we see the glass it self then we see our own self in the glass then we see other things in the glass too so in God we shall see Deitatem nosmetipsos caeteraque see God see our selves see all other things besides Now this knowledg will not be a comprehensive knowledg of God we may be studying God to all eternity and yet we shall never be able to comprehend him God is infinite and our understandings are finite it is impossible for an infinite object to be confined within the limits of a finite being Aquinas gives this good rule Divina essentia tota videtur quia est simplicissima partibus carens sed non totaliter Aquinas We shall see the whole essence but as most simply void of all composition but we shall not see him wholly we shall have large and clear apprehensions of God but no comprehension As Cardan told them that asked of him What God was Tunc Deus essem if I were able to tell you what God is I my self should be a God We should all be Gods if we could comprehend God SECT III. THe Saints in Heaven shall also behold the Lord Jesus as he is God the same God with the Father and the Holy Ghost More particularly 1. They shall have a perfect knowledg of him as God and Man as Mediator between God and Man they shall not only see the Lord Jesus with their bodily eyes but they shall also discern his incomparable excellency with the eye of their inner man they shall then understand the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God they shall clearly see into the mystery of the hypostatical or personal union of God and Man which is now so little understood by us they shall then see the God-head filling the Manhood with glory and majesty dwelling in it substantially they shall behold how the nature of man was raised unto an infinite height above all created nature and joyned to the Deity in the word hypostatically and substantially they shall see how God is truly and properly Man and how Man is truly and properly God which naturally no created understanding can comprehend they shall then clearly behold that wonderful conjunction of the Son of God and of the Seed of Abraham in one Person and shall see the Man-hood exalted far above all Principalities and Powers 2. They shall behold him as the Author and Finisher of their Faith as the Sacrifice for their Sins as him who was their wisdom righteousness
graciously merciful and that none hath cause to complain of God and that the fundamental cause of this various administration with Nations and Persons is the holy and soveraign will of God who hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth This is the depth without a bottom that St. Paul speaks of But in Heaven the Saints shall be filled with the knowledg of these mysteries the bosome of God being opened to their understandings What are the events that have hapned in the World or in the Church but the effects or consequents of those decrees which have been everlastingly in the mind of God Now if the Saints in Heaven shall perfectly see God then nothing of God shall be hid from them which may make up their compleat happiness they shall then clearly understand the mysteries of justification and glorification and all the deep things of God all the mysteries of the holy Scriptures all the Prophecies all the Figures Types and Symbolical shadows all the mystical Senses all these things they believed here either expresly or implicitely but the reward of faith is vision and clear knowledg The same doth St. Augustine insinuate saying August de Civit. Dei cap. 21. What shall we see in Heaven but God and all those things which now believing we see not CHAP. XXI MOreover the Saints shall see and know that innumerable company of Angels their natures each of their persons in particular As the Angels know every Elect person because it is their work to gather the Elect from all the corners of the Earth and to seperate them from the wicked Matth. 13.41 so the glorified Saints shall know the holy Angels whom the Lord sent forth to minister for them whom the Lord appointed for their guard while they were upon Earth who encamped round about them while they were encompassed with so many dangers Some Divines are of opinion that the number of the Angels is so great that they exceed without comparison all corporal and material things in the Earth and like as the greatness of the Heavens exceedeth the greatness of the Earth without any proportion even so doth the multitude of the glorious Spirits exceed the multitude of all corporal and material things that are in the World with the like advantage and proportion Now what thing can be imagined more wonderful then this Again if every one of the Angels yea though it be the least Angel among them all be more beautiful and goodly to behold then all this visible World what a glorious sight shall it be then to see such a number of beautiful Angels to see the perfections and offices that every one hath in that high and glorious City there do the Angels go as it were in Embassages are exercised in their Ministry there the Principalities and Thrones triumph there do the Cherubims give light the Seraphims burn with fervent love All of that heavenly Court are perpetually singing Praises and Hallelujahs to God Almighty and to the Lamb that sits on the Throne for ever Oh what honour is this which God will do to his Children hereafter when he shall exalt them to so high a dignity as to place them among the Angels in Heaven and make them like unto the Angels of God CHAP. XXII SECT I. Of the Saints mutual knowledg of each other in Heaven FInally the Saints shall know each other the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and People of God in all Ages and Nations the Saints shall behold numberless hosts and troops of glorified Pieces redeemed Saints in that highest Orb and Region of glory there they shall behold the general Assembly and Church of the first-born whose names are now written in Heaven Heb. 12.23 immediately illuminated studying preaching and praising Christ for evermore There you shall see Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God saith our Saviour Luke 13.28 It was propounded as a doubt to Martin Luther Chemnit harmon evang cap. 87. a little before his Death-bed Whether glorified Saints should have mutual knowledg of each other he thus resolved his Friends that as Adam knew his Wife in Paradise when she was first presented to him and as St. Peter ravished with a heavenly vision at the Transfiguration of Christ Matth. 17.4 took notice of Moses and Elias when as Tertullian saith he never saw so much as any of their Pictures Tertul. contr Marcion lib. 4. the Law prohibiting such things to the Jews if in this short taste of glory he and the other two Disciples with him had a knowledg of these glorified Saints then doubtless when the Saints shall enjoy fulness of glory they shall have a clearer knowledg of each other As we think it reasonable to conclude the Soul to be immortal because it desireth to be so before it be enflamed by any studied notions and apprehensions of eternity so with equal probability we may prefigure and delineate some parts or shadows of our future happiness being guided by those innate and universal propensions which encline every Soul to desire and wish the same thing Among those transcendent desires which issue from our natures this is one that those acquaintances which were virtuously begun on Earth may be renewed and perfected in Heaven This desire was once of so great authority that former ages had respect unto it for when they found it easier to overcome all other terrors of death then that one of an everlasting absence from a Friend they were careful to chear a departing Soul by assuring it that the happiness of the other World next to the contemplation of the Divine nature consisted in the gaining of new and the indissoluble recovery of old acquaintance What they made a part of their happiness we admit but as an appendix to ours and as we think it not safe to joyn any Creature unto God to make up the object of our happiness so we believe it would derogate from the glory of his goodness if particular Souls like so many divided channels should have their own banks full but yet be debarred from all commerce and mutual knowledg of each others blessedness Our Creed moreover calls upon us to believe a communion of Saints which if it be a matter of our faith here it must be an object of our knowledg hereafter if we must believe that there are some who sincerely communicate with us in the faith in this life then we shall hereafter clearly know who were our fellow-members in that communion and as faith it self shall be done away by evidence so shall that communion which is here by faith be hereafter perfected by that communion which shall be by vision Those who have laboured to find out the most intimate and peculiar properties of the humane nature do affirm that it was made and fashioned for Society Now as Divines use to say That Christ came not to abolish but to perfect the Law so may we pronounce of our blessedness in
have no hope such as are all that are imbued with those Epicurean principles of the Soul's Mortality and it's resolution into nothing such mens sorrow finds no case because that good whose absence they bemoan in their opinion is irrecoverably lost and to shake hands with a dying friend is with them as much as to bid them everlastingly farewel But a Christian's tears like drops from a cloud may sometimes fall they must not like a River be alwayes running He may sorrow because he is parted from some good suppose from a loving friend bur this sorrow must be tempered with this hope that he shall see his friend again and that good which as yet continues the object of his sorrow while considered as stoln and taken from him must after a while become the subject of his hope and comfort being put in mind that God who for a time laid it out of his sight will restore it back again unto him This the Apostle alloweth to be his meaning by bidding us comfort one another with these words for if otherwise it would fully answer the Apostle's meaning to say it is enough that God raise those that sleep to glory though he exile them from a mutual knowledge of each other Then let us see what comfort this interpretation can afford to a pensive and lamenting Soul which may suggest unto it self on this wise God will restore my friend unto himself but not to me he will bring back the Jewel into the Cabinet but will lock it up from my sight he vvill restore the thing but not repair my loss and it seemeth all one to me to lose him in an eternal nothing and not to be allowed to know that he is a glorious somthing now what comfort can we place in such a meditation This perswasion of a restauration to a mutual knowledge of each other containeth also some advantages and motives to a Godly life for the fear of being eternally divided from those I sincerely love on earth will draw me to an imitation of their sanctity if herein they be exemplary or give me the courage to lead them into the way if their course be irregular and exorbitant for those who unfeignedly desire to meet at the journeys end will study to preserve each other in the way and they who would wear the same crown of rejoycing in the presence of Christ will assist each other here that they perish not in the agony and conflict it gives an edge and sharpness to those affections which are employed for each others good when we consider that that heat and fervency which they spent in desire and travel for one another shall be turn'd into an excess and extremity of delight in each other The Egyptians embalmed the Carcasses of the dead to preserve them if it were possible through all the parts of time being guided by an opinion that so long as the body continued undissolved the soul would not forsake the earth but continue hovering about the place where the bodies lay in like manner the Souls of men which by many kinds of association may be united into one masse and heap and as it were become parts of one another will continue the more vigilant and active for each others everlasting welfare so long as they are perswaded against an eternal divorce and dissolution and do contrarily believe they shall be rewarded by a sense of each others happiness and that that union which is among themselves as of one member to another shall not be dissolved but perfected by that union which shall unite them to Christ as to their Head and through him unto God CHAP. XXIII Of the perfection and purity of the wills of glorified Saints IN the next place I will shew how the wills and affections of glorified Saints shall be raised to a fulness of glorious perfection now it is evident God must be first gloriously united to the Soul and her powers before she can by her understanding see and by her will and affections love and embrace God in Heaven God shall be immediately united to the very nature of the Soul her self which is chief in man yea formally man which can be no otherwise done than by a glorious change and immutation made in the Soul it self by communicating to her by grace a glorious and perfect estate of participated eternity which is the root and foundation of all that most glorious exercise about which the Saints in Heaven are conversant This being so the wills and affections of glorified Saints shall be perfectly pure and holy without the least tincture of defilement they shall be holy as God is holy not infinitely holy but perfectly holy without mixture of any thing contrary to holiness their wills shall suit and meet exactly in every thing with the pure and holy will of God they shall will what he willeth and nothing but what he willeth their wills shall give full consent to the will of God in all things There shall be compleat holiness in the will our wills like to the will of Christ shall be altogether conformable to the will of God we shall fulfil the will of God the conformity of our wills to God is the glory of our wills which in this life are like Nebuchadnezzar's Image partly clay partly gold here we are partly regenerate partly unregenerate but in Heaven we shall be all gold all holy glorified Saints shall never find any grudgings of their old diseases sin and corruption in them in the least degree they shall see themselves perfectly cured of all the sicknesses and distempers of their Souls they are no longer constrained to resist the motions of the flesh because this Rebel is subdued and losing in the resurrection what ever they drew from Adam in their birth they have now none but just and holy inclinations the Spirit of a glorified Saint is now no longer busied to maintain a war against sin because this monster cannot set its foot within the gates of Heaven he groaneth not now under the revolt of his passions his will cleaves to God as strongly as he can desire CHAP. XXIV SECT I. MOreover the affections of the Saints in glory are much enlarged and are most quick and lively our affections in this life are subject to distractions but then they shall be composed and rightly placed 1. In Special the Saints shall love God with all their hearts Sicut magnes impetum quendam imprimit ferro quo illud ad magnetem trahitur ei se arctè jungit ita Deus clarè conspectus impetum quendam imprimit animae quo ipsa potentissimè in illum trahitur Lessius de summo bono Ca. 11. with all their souls with all their strength from the cleer contemplation of God presently there ariseth in the blessed a love which most powerfully draws them unto God and the greater any good is that is propounded so much the more strongly doth it draw the affection to it especially if it be
cleerly discerned But God is a good of infinite excellency containing all things which the Saints can desire and is cleerly discerned by them therefore he most strongly draws their affections to himself They shall in Heaven see so much excellency in God and be so fill'd with his love that their hearts shall be full of holy flames of love toward him there shall be nothing either within them or without them to draw away their love from God or lessen or cool their affections toward him all things that they shall see or hear or understand shall serve to fill them with his love and keep up and confirm their love in the height of it for ever they shall be so fully like to God that it shall be impossible for them not to love him perfectly God shall dwell in them and they shall wholly possess him and they shall dwell in God and he shall wholly possess them they shall be knit to each other in mutual love to all eternity The principal employment of the Saints in Heaven is to love God and all the vertues in Heaven are useless except charity and enjoyment which is the rest of love and is also its recompence saith S. Augustine for as desires do disquiet lovers when they possess not what they long for so being now in the possession of him whom they love they are satisfied The love of the Saints in Heaven is much perfecter than ours upon the earth whatever pains we take to love God on earth our love is never without some notable defect to enfeeble it iâ— is blind because faith that enlightens it is as one saith a candle whose lamp is alwayes surrounded with a cloud or smoak it is faint and drooping because we possess not the supream good we passionately affect and being separated from him we are as well his Martyrs as his Lovers Here our love is also divided because self-love is not yet extinguished and the greatest Saints if they mannage not their intentions well do rob God of all the love wherewith they indulge themselves In brief it is almost ever interested we love not God so purely as not to seek our own pleasure with it when we seek his glory and we are more earnest with God for riches and honours than for heavenly graces but the Saints in glory have not one of these imperfections in their love their love is not blind because they love him whom they see and the brightness of glory that illuminates them is a ray dispelling all the darkness of their understandings it languisheth not as ours doth nor spends it self in its longings because they possess what they love and being intimately united to God are eternally inseparable from him their love is not divided because self-love enters not into the celestial Jerusalem but is quenched by the flames of true charity finally it is not interested because God's glory is the end of their desires yea in Heaven it self they seek not so much their own happiness as his glory SECT II. 11. AS the Saints shall love God entirely so they shall love each other in the Lord they shall see the Image of God shining cleerly and gloriously in each other and so shall love God in each other and each other in God Peter shall admire Christ in the glory conferred on Paul and Paul shall admire Christ in the glory conferred on Peter The Saints shall find themselves all agreeing in God and so among themselves they shall see nothing in any of their brethren but what shall be most lovely nothing to estrange their hearts or damp their affections they shall not be capable of any touch of envy for every one of them shall be full of glory and blessedness And albeit some have higher degrees of glory than others yet this causeth no emulation or jealousie among them The variety of the world as one observeth is one of its rarest ornaments the flowers which checker a walk do embellish it the Stars which make an hundred several figures in the firmament do set a lustre upon its beauty neither doth any thing make a Countrey more pleasant than the diversity of the parts that compose it the riches and glory of a state dependeth upon its diversity if all subjects were of the same condition there would neither be diversion for strangers nor accommodation for the naturals The ornament and profit of the body politique appeareth in this agreeable mixture of rich and poor Artists and Husbandmen Souldiers and Merchants Magistrates and Ministers but here is the mischief that attends it that this variety of conditions which begets its beauty breeds envy and jealousie among the subjects for as their goods are not common because their conditions are different one is jealous of what another possesseth Great men are apt to be proud and to despise their inferiours Men of low degree are envious and murmure at those that are above them But in Heaven the difference of degrees produceth their beauty and giveth no occasion of envy or jealousie the Crowns of glorified Saints are proportionable to their labours and sufferings for Christ They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the Sun Dan. 12. Peace bears rule among all the Inhabitants of Heaven love which uniteth them renders their contentment common though the justice that rewardeth them maketh their condition gradually different Every one is glad of anothers happiness and without interesting in any one they find that the felicity of particulars contributeth to that of the publique In Heaven love is in its full perfection Ludovic granat Meditat. the property whereof is to cause all things to be common there all the elect shall be more straitly united to one another than the Members of one and the same Body because all shall participate of the same spirit which gives unto all one and the same being one and the same blessed life What is the cause why the members of one and the same body have so great an unity and love one to another is it not because they are all partakers of one and the same form one and the same Soul giveth the same being and life to them all Now if the spirit of a man hath power to cause so great an unity between the members that are so different in Offices and Natures is it any wonder if the Spirit of God Almighty by whom all the Elect do live which Spirit is as it were the common soul to them all should cause a greater and more perfect unity among them especially considering that the Spirit of God is a more noble cause and of a more excellent vertue and power and gives also a more noble being now if this manner of unity and love do cause all things to be common as we see in the members of one body who rejoyce every one at each others felicity as its own what delight then shall each one of the Elect take in the glory of all the rest considering that he shall entirely
Heaven be that it shall be alwayes present with thee and yet thou never satiated for if I shall say Thou shalt not be satisfied there shall be an hunger and thirst if I shall say Thou shalt be satiated thou wilt fear a cloying there where shall be neither famine hunger nor thirst nor any tedious cloying to the same purpose Cyprian saith Cyprian de laude Martyrii the Saints shall not onely taste how sweet God is but they shall be filled with a wonderful sweetness nothing shall be wanting to them In Heaven there is no more desire for Christ as a thing absent the thirst being swallowed up in Christ the Soul thirsteth no more Christ being present their desires are satisfied God shall be all in all his presence shall fill and satisfie all the powers and faculties of their Souls Holy David having here tasted of God's sweetness cries out Whom have I in Heaven but thee there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Psal 73.25 intimating to us that he that hath God hath enough in God The Soul that possesseth God in this life hath recovered that great loss that fell upon Adam and all Man-kind by fin Man by sin lost God now he that hath God in Christ hath recovered this great loss Man in his first estate had enough by enjoying God now he that recovereth this loss wanteth nothing for he findeth enough in God And although Adam in innocence enjoyed many other things besides God as perfect health possession of the Garden of Eden and full authority over the Creatures and albeit these things were comfortable in a degree in their kind yet man's happiness in that state did not consist in possessing these things but in enjoying God and all the glory and sweetness and any thing that was desirable in all these things was derived meerly and wholly from God Now whatever God doth here give to man by the Creature he will supply in Heaven without the Creature viz. immediately by himself if the streams be sweet how much better is water in the Spring and purer there In Heaven the Saints shall want nothing yet shall they enjoy nothing there but God he will be all to them their drink their food their rest their joy their pleasure the height of all their honour he will be all and more than all unto them Which consideration made a devout man meditating hereupon to cry out Deus meus omnia ah one refreshing of thine Drexel Consider de Aeternit one enjoyment of thee is a sweet refreshing indeed for to enjoy thee is to enjoy the quintessence of all good Thou art unto me O my good God goodness it self rest in my labours pleasure in my grief security in my cares and the only true riches in my poverty thou art my strong Bulwark against all the furious assaults of men thou art my refuge whatsoever evil doth oppress me and finally Thou art all unto me whatsoever I can wish for or desire wherefore then when we come to Heaven we shall not need to seek to quench our thirst with any stream when we have so chrystal a Spring-head or fountain as this where we may lye down and drink our fills in having and enjoying God we shall have whatsoever we can desire then the Lord will wholly frame the hearts of his Children according to his own mind that whatsoever is pleasing to him shall be delightful to them the heart shall then be kept in from wandring any more after vain and sensual delights and the Soul being wholly conformed to God it hath whatever it can desire SECT II. ANd as for the affections of fear and sorrow and anger they shall have no place in Heaven for then they shall be set far above the fear of all evil the Saints being possessed of an infinite good which is God himself for their portion they shall have no cause then to fear any evil there is no evil can hurt them for no evil shall be able to reach them that are in possession of him that is an infinite good they are also possessed of God the infinite good in perpetuity they have him in everlasting possession for otherwise although they need not fear any evil while they are possessed of him yet they might fear the loss of him and their woful separation from him and then they should lye open to all sorts of evils therefore to prevent this fear the Lord hath betrothed them to himself for ever and hath given himself to them in Marriage and that in an everlasting covenant and will never be divorced from them but be theirs for ever and ever The graces of Repentance Mortification Self-denial shall have no place in Heaven which are of great use here in the way to Heaven there shall be no sense of evil to be sorrowed for nor sin to be repented of nothing distasteful to provoke their anger or to discompose those blessed Spirits that are above there shall be a perfect harmony between God and them Neither shall there be any use of those graces of Faith and Hope in Heaven S. Paul tells us Now abideth faith hope and charity these three but the greatest of these is charity why greater than the other but because this abideth immortal for ever In Heaven instead of believing we shall see here the object of faith is things not seen the thing promised but not yet performed now in the life to come when all things that are promised are fully performed to us and possessed by us there is no use of faith in relation to these things So for Hope when all the glory of Heaven is fully enjoyed that the Saints hope for there is an end of Hope in reference to the same things the affection of Hope ceaseth not until the good that is desired and hoped for be obtained and made present but that good thing being had and attained unto then the affection of Hope ceaseth for what we have and enjoy we hope not for Visibile non est objectum Spei Rom. 8.24 25. Therefore saith August Hope is a Child of Faith by which man hopeth from him whom he knoweth for that which yet he hath not Now when the good that we hoped for is obtained Hope doth end and cease Yet notwithstanding although Faith Hope and Patience shall cease in respect of their objects yet they are eternal in respect of their fruits Heb. 6.12 The Apostle stirring up the Hebrews to walk after the examples of those that are now in glory speaks thus Be ye followers of them who through faith and patience have inherited the promises Those things that heretofore were not seen by them but by an eye of Faith they are now in full possession of they do inherit the promises on the other side they have no more sufferings to endure therefore there is no more use of patience but the fruit of those graces which they sought for that they now inherit and enjoy S. Paul tells
us Gal. 6. that he that soweth to the Spirit shall reap life everlasting When the Husbandman soweth his seed in the Earth the seed dieth and is dissolved in the ground there it lies hid he sees no more seed till the harvest cometh but then he reapeth many Bushels for one so he that soweth to the spirit worketh in the strength of those graces shall reap life everlasting he shall have no use of those graces in the life to come but reap the fruit of it even life eternal when the Saints come to possess Heaven as a portion cast out by God's own lot for them from all eternity they shall for ever enjoy the fruit of their piety and the end of their Faith and Hope Oh how sweet shall the remembrance of their work of faith and labour of love and patience of Hope be to all eternity CHAP. XXVII Of the Adjuncts of the glory of Heaven HAving spoken of the Circumstances and substance of the glory of the Saints in Heaven in the next place I shall treat of the adjuncts thereof 1. The glorious state of the Sons of God is a state of liberty Rom. 8.21 I will shew in what respects it is a state of liberty I. A liberty from all subjection Natural Servile Magistratical in this state of liberty all yokes shall be broken to pieces Fathers shall no more exercise their paternal authority and Sons shall not be under their command men shall be no more servants to men the highest Potentates shall no more exercise authority over men as it is said of Marriage They shall neither marry nor be given in marriage so I may say of subjection they shall neither command nor obey in the resurrection 1 Cor. 15.24 He shall put down all rule and all authority and power Christ will put down all the authority which Fathers have over their Children which Masters have over their Servants which Princes have over their Subjects and Vassals all the authority which both the Enemies and Persecutors have over the Church then it shall have no more nursing Fathers and Mothers all Crowns and Scepters shall be cast down at the feet of Christ he will put them down the Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enervabit he will at the last day put them down not onely that they shall not prevail but that they shall be utterly abolished II. They shall be delivered even from that sweet and gracious subjection to Christ as King and Mediator Christ shall rule over his body not as Mediator but as God he himself will lay down the Crown of his Mediatorship and deliver up his whole government into the hands of God 1 Cor. 15.24 28. And when all things shall be subdued unto him then c. When Christ hath levelled all authority with the ground and shall have trodden down all his Enemies then he will rule no more as Mediator but give up the Kingdom to God the Father and God will be all in all he will immediately govern all his Saints III. A liberty from all spiritual Tyranny in divers respects 1. It is a liberty from the Tyranny of Sin Sin though it doth not rule in the Godly as a King yet as a Tyrant though the Saints do not and never will sell themselves to work evil yet while they are in this body they are sold under sin no slavery is more intollerable to a Holy man than this slavery to sin it is a Godly man's hell to be under the Tyrannical power of any lust Slavery to Pharaoh is liberty compared to slavery to pride to worldly-mindedness or to any lust whatsoever It was the doom of a Godly Martyr to have a dead man chained to him his eyes to the dead man's eyes his breast to the dead man's breast that he might perish by the stench of the dead Carcass Such is a Godly man's present condition to be tyed to the body of sin which is a very death to him in whom is the life of grace Now the state of glory will set all the Children of God at liberty from this thraldome sin will then be put off when glory is put on when the new man is perfectly renewed in respect of degrees and parts the old man which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts shall be perfectly destroyed in respect of presence and operation in the state of glory they will not be afraid of sinning such will their liberty be from sin they shall be as free from all sin as the Sun from the least shadow 2. It is a state of liberty from all tokens effects yea fears of the wrath and displeasure of God Now and then God writes bitter things against his people in this life and makes them his mark to shoot the arrows of his displeasure into their very Consciences What doleful complaints have the Godly made and still do make of God's dealings with them some of them live in Bondage to the fear of God's wrath all the dayes of their lives Now there is no liberty from the fears of God's displeasure in this life so long as there is the remnant of sins within them while we have a body of sin within us we shall have a miserable body now in the state of glory they shall enjoy a perfect liberty from wrath and all their chains of fears shall be knockt off the glorified shall no more fear wrath than the glorified shall hope for favour they shall no more dread Hell than the damned truly desire Heaven their perfect sense of God's love toward them and their perfect love of God will cast out all these fears the state of glory is a fearless estate as far above fear as Heaven above earth the mountain of glory cannot be removed with the greatest tempest of the fears of any evil 3. It is a state of freedom from all afflictions now afflictions are compared in Scripture to Bonds Fetters Chains Yokes and such Engines and Instruments of miserable bondage The evil of sin and afflictions are twins born together and shall cease and dye together when the Soul takes her flight to the mountain of glory she casteth off the mantle of suffering Glory and misery are as inconsistent together as the most contrarious extreams sooner shall East and West meet in one point noon and midnight in one moment than perfection and glory and the least affliction Lazarus is now as great a stranger to afflictions as Dives to pleasures 4. It is a freedom from all temptations and rage of Satan it is impossible for the Devil to tempt a man in glory When man was in a perfect state of grace he tempted him to sin but when man is in a perfect state of glory he cannot tempt him the Devils are cast out of Heaven never to appear there to tempt any who have made their entrance into it the Church hath a promise that Satan shall be bound up a thousand years but then he is bound to eternity the Devils are now in chains of
utter darkness but through God's permission Satan's chain is sometimes lengthened but then no more lengthening now he walketh up and down assaying to devour and seeking whom he may devour but then he shall walk no longer the Saints shall follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth and shall not in all their walks meet with a Devil to tempt them to any sin whatsoever 5. The state of glory is liberty from death from the fears of it and from all things tending to mortality bondage to death will be swallowed up of this life of liberty glory is triumphant over Death Hell and the Grave bidding defiance to them O Grave where art thou O Hell where art thou O Death where art thou 1 Cor. 15.54 55. Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire Rev. 20.14 By Hell there we must understand the Grave Death and the Grave shall be damned as well as the wicked 6. The state of glory is a liberty from the rage wrath and persecution of all the wicked men in the world their rage and persecution is a bondage and captivity to the Saints hindring them from serving God with desired freedom they cannot put forth their godliness but they expose themselves to the scoffs hatred rage and persecutions of the world now the state of glory will put a great gulf between the Godly and the Wicked which will hinder them from all intercourse for know that if the damned could again be in company or in the place where the godly are they would persecute them again to the uttermost though they know they must be damned and therefore the Devils now hate and tempt them though they aggravate their own torments 7. It is a liberty from all imperfections of graces and weakness in their serving God 1. From all imperfections of their graces which in this present life are very imperfect we know but in part saith the Apostle so we believe but in part we love God but in part we are Holy but in part we are zealous for God but in part there is more doubts and ignorance than knowledge more unbelief than faith more want of love than love there is more sin than grace and holiness now the state of glory is a state of perfection we shall know as we are known our understandings will be enlarged that we shall know God fully and perfectly our faith will be turned into sight our hope into possession we shall then love God with all our hearts with all our souls c. The Angels are called Seraphims because as some say they burn in love and zeal toward God so shall all the Saints be filled with this Seraphical love we shall be as holy as our natures are capable The Church and people of God in this life are compared to the Moon because of those spots in her which are imperfections but in the state of glory they are compared to the Sun which hath no spots in it and as the Prophet speaks of the Sun and Moon that the light of the Sun shall be seven-fold more resplendent than now so the graces the holiness of the Saints shall be seven-fold more holy than now they are 2. It shall be a liberty from all weaknesses and infirmities in serving God this is the necessary consequent of the former for the more glorious and holy a man is the more able he is to serve God if perfectly sanctified then he serveth God perfectly the Angels fulfil the whole will of God because they are filled with grace they run yea they fly in the wayes of his commandements this liberty and enlargement shall all the Saints have in the state of glory while they are here they are in bondage to much spiritual deadness and slothfulness they pray they praise God acceptably though they cannot pray nor praise him perfectly they may pray and purpose to run the wayes of God's Commandements but cannot because they are too weak and are fettered with spiritual slothfulness and deadness glory will do away all this and make us as ready and able to do the whole will of God as Angels do 8. It is a liberty from all natural clogs which the body in this state of union fastens upon the soul insomuch that the body is animae ergastulum the prison of the soul it is pondus or onus animae the burden or weight of the soul the regenerate soul cannot act vigorously because the body is so unweildy the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak but when the soul and body shall be reunited and meet in a state of glory the body will be a nimble handmaid and pliable to all the motions and commands of the soul the body then which is now the souls prison will be the souls paradise and both soul and body will act most vigorously the soul will never tyre out the body nor will the body clog the soul they will both be unwearied in their glorious services the body then will be spiritual though not a spirit and become immortal incorruptible as the soul is 9. It is a liberty from many duties and services and spiritual exercises which are now required of us the Saints work shall be lessened in Heaven The Service of the Church and people of God under the Gospel is much less than it was under the Law hence the state of the Church under the pedagogy of the Law is by the Apostle called a state of bondage a state of subjection but the state of the Church under the Gospel is called a state of liberty but when the Church shall be taken up into glory then their services shall be far less than now they are many duties and graces shall be done away in Heaven we shall pray no more for any mercy for our selves all praying shall be turned into praising of God we shall not hear the Word nor receive the Sacraments any more nor fast and afflict our souls any more we shall no longer mourn for sin repentance will be done away yea faith it self as many Divines conceive shall be done away Pray we shall not because then we shall never be in want our souls shall be so abundantly satisfied with the fulness of God's house we shall mourn and repent no more because we shall sin no more Our service in the state of glory will be taken up in praising God in admiring God in loving God rejoycing in God giving him praise and glory for the riches of his grace toward us in Christ Jesus 10. In respect of the place it is a state of liberty indeed the vast Heaven of Heavens O ye Saints shall be the place of your habitation and delight what is the whole world compared to it it is but a narrow prison an house of correction an house of bondage to a gracious spirit it is but as a Cage to a bird so is the world to the soul of a Godly man 11. It is a liberty from all fears or dangers of everlosing their glory and blessedness
which then they shall enjoy they shall never be afraid of losing God Christ Heaven Happiness but shall be secured to all eternity which is the Crown of this glorious liberty of the Children of God It is a sore thraldome to be perplexed with fears of losing our enjoyments it imbittereth all our joyes it is death to a worldling to think he must die and leave all his riches honours friends delights much more will it be a very Hell to the afflicted if they should be afflicted with the fears of losing Heaven but no such fears or thoughts shall at any time during eternity perplex the hearts of the Godly it casteth out all such fears they shall see it is impossible for them to lose what they do possess Notable is that phrase Luk. 16.26 Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed that if the glorified would get out of Heaven they cannot come to the damned and the damned cannot come out of Hell to Heaven God hath fast bolted the gates of Heaven and Hell with an everlasting decree CHAP. XXVIII Of the eternity of the glory of Heaven II. THe second adjunct of this glory is the perpetuity of it it shall be everlasting this is abundantly witnessed in the Scriptures I give to them eternal life saith Christ and they shall never perish Joh. 10.28 He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life Joh. 5.24 To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory honour and immortality eternal life Rom. 2.7 it is called eternal life eternal glory eternal salvation 2 Tim. 2.10 Hebr. 5.9 Hebr. 9.15 The Hebrews when they did speak of eternal life they would speak in the plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vitae not vita lives not life implying eternity Quest Here it may be demanded how the blessedness of the Saints is made perpetual endless everlasting Adam was made perfect after the Image of God perfectly blessed perfectly holy and yet he fell both from holiness and happiness this blessed estate of his seemed to have been of very short continuance yea many of the Angels which were more excellent and glorious than man and had none to tempt them yet left their habitation and fell from this blessed estate how then cometh it to pass that the happiness of man shall be everlasting Resp For answer hereunto if I should say that they shall see God face to face and so shall be filled with God and so all occasions of sin and revolting from God shall be prevented and they shall be so abundantly satisfied in God and so invincibly strengthened and confirmed by God dwelling in them that nothing shall so far prevail over them as in the least degree to withdraw their affections from God I see not how this might suffice for doubtless the Angels that kept not their first estate did thus see and enjoy God yet they fell totally and finally Therefore the sole reason is the will of Almighty God his infinite goodness his eternal love toward them according to which he hath made a covenant of grace with them in his Son by his promise and oath assuring them of eternal life and this immutable will and love of God declared in the infallible truth of his gracious promise and covenant is a better and firmer assurance than the highest perfections and excellencies that any meer creature is capable of yea a child of God here on earth having the least measure of true grace mixt with many corruptions almost stifled with the body of death opposed discouraged discountenanced by a wicked and ungodly world assaulted by all the powers of darkness and with numberless temptations is in a safer condition for perseverance and is better assured to hold out to eternal life because of the verity of God's promise and the firmness of his covenant grounded upon the rock Christ-Jesus than one that were by creation perfectly upright and happy if his holiness and happiness were only in his own keeping and not established upon this everlasting foundation the will of God and the infallibility of his promise This being the cause we may also conceive divers holy ends for which as he doth preserve every child of his by his effectual working power unto salvation so having brought them thither he will for ever preserve them in his Heavenly Kingdom As I. That he may have some of the lost seed of Adam to be everlasting Monuments of his rich grace who to all eternity shall be real demonstrations of his infinite love and unspeakable mercy and goodness in redeeming justifying sanctifying cleansing and preserving them II. That he may be to eternity praised for his glorious victories over all his enemies that when the Devil and his Angels have used the utmost of their craft might and malice when the hands of the world have been hot and smoking with the blood of the Saints and their hearts sick with blasphemy and malice against Christ and his followers when sin hath thrown out its most deadly poyson or when death hath been devouring Man-kind so many ages yet shall the Almighty power of God be so prevalent over all as to make and everlastingly to keep his elect in a blessed state and he in them and they with him shall celebrate an eternal and most glorious triumph in the Kingdom of Heaven III. That Jesus Christ may be eternally honoured as a Redeemer God the Father will have the fruit of his Son's purchase to be perpetual and everlasting he will magnifie the infinite value of that price which Christ hath paid the infinite vertue of that blood which Christ shed for the redemption of lost souls by establishing his ransomed ones in everlasting happiness therefore it is said He shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that do believe 2 Thes 1.10 Christ is now very admirable and glorious in the hearts of his redeemed ones who are illightened with saving knowledge who have an experimental taste in themselves of the efficacy of his blood and the fruit of that redemption which he hath wrought But oh how admirable and glorious shall he then appear when they shall enjoy the fulness of his redemption in an unchangeable state of blessedness for evermore IV. That he may have everlasting objects of his love to whom he may communicate his goodness sweetness fulness whom he may enrich with the treasures of his Kingdom feast with his love beautifie with his salvation and adorn with the brightness of his glory for ever and this is that wherein the infinite goodness of God delighteth even to give forth and to communicate it self such is his blessedness and perfection that it is beyond all possibility of addition he can receive nothing from any but delighteth to give and communicate and as he is an everlasting fountain of blessedness so he will have everlasting vessels of honour into whom fulness of blessedness may stream and
flow from himself for ever that we may see our debt of love to Christ is eternal O how many thousand talents are we owing to Christ and the longer the Saints enjoy the glory of Heaven through millions of ages their debt to the Lamb that sitteth on the throne will be the greater eternal praises can take down nothing of it V. God will have some everlastingly to praise and glorifie his name a consort of Saints his redeemed ones to joyn with his elect Angels in magnifying his name exalting his praise and doing him honour to all eternity Ransomed ones shall sing the Gospel-Song Worthy is the Lamb c. The Gospel-Tune of the Song of free grace shall be for ever sung in that blessed Assembly of the first born whose names are now written in Heaven VI. He will make his Saints everlastingly blessed even for the Angels sake who persevered in their integrity and obedience from the first moment of their creation until now that their joy may be full This may be collected by way of analogy and proportion from that speech of Christ I say unto you that joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth Luk. 15.7 10. and again there is joy in the presence of the Angels over one sinner that repenteth If the Angels do now rejoyce to see their loss in part repaired and that instead of their fellow Angels that fell revolting from God and forsaking them and now fighting against God and opposing them in that Ministery wherein they serve him some of man kind are turn'd unto God by unfeigned repentance and joyned in communion with them according to that of Hebr. 12.22 which is spoken to the faithful ye are come to an innumerable company of Angels I say if the Angels rejoyce in this how shall their joy be filled up to see many thousands of the children of Adam translated to Heaven and confirmed in the full possession of everlasting glory and happiness This being a principal adjunct and qualification of that blessedness and salvation which Christ hath purchased for his people it may serve to rouze up those whose hearts and thoughts are chiefly taken up with such temporal things as are perishing and of a very short continuance S. Paul's practice was quite contrary 2 Cor. 4.18 We look not saith he at the things which are seen which are temporal but at the things which are not seen which are eternal Oh that we could be sensible of this extream folly and learn seriously to consider what it is for an immortal soul that must have an everlasting being and subsistence chiefly to mind take care for and strive for things that last but a short time when it hath the offer of things eternal to surfeit on momentany delights and neglect eternal fulness of joy to seek greedily after uncertain and perishing riches and to neglect the treasures of eternity to affect vain applause from the short breath of dying men and never labour to make sure of everlasting glory to strive to get the friendship of great men carnal persons and neglect to have the eternal love of God assured to them not labouring to enjoy God for ever This may be much aggravated if we take in consideration viz. that the loss of everlasting salvation for the gaining of temporal things is accompanied with everlasting misery and destruction Is not this then extream folly to forfeit Heaven for Earth and not onely to lose everlasting salvation for earthly things but also to bring upon themselves everlasting misery and destruction CHAP. XXIX Of the certainty of the salvation of the Saints Vse 1. HAving spoken of the Circumstances substance and adjuncts of the Saints glory it will now be necessary that I make some use and improvement of what hath been spoken Will God crown his people with glory and is there such a blessed estate reserved in Heaven for them as I have shewed at large This then in the first place may inform us concerning the certainty of the salvation of the Saints The salvation of God's Children is so certain that the Scripture speaks not of it as if it were to come but as if it were already past or present even as if it were now done and not as of a thing to be done it is usual in Scripture to describe those things which God hath certainly determined in such a manner as if they were certainly accomplished So S. Paul speaking of the salvation of the Saints saith Tit. 3.5 according to his mercy he hath saved us not he will do it but he hath done it By grace ye are saved Eph. 2.8 not ye shall be but ye are whom he hath called them hath he justified and whom he hath justified them also hath he glorified Rom. 8.30 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tryed he shall receive the crown of life Jam. 1.12 From the certainty of future happiness the Apostle inferreth and concludeth present blessedness he shall be blessed therefore he is blessed 1. The salvation of the Saints is certain if they look to God or to themselves to God both in respect of his own purpose and of Christ's performance God hath purposed it therefore it shall inevitably come to pass all the powers on Earth or Hell shall never be able to divert it Man's purposes are subject to alteration God's are not Balaam himself could say where he blesseth none can curse Numb 23.23 if God hath said it he will do it if he hath spoken it he will certainly perform it Certain it is also in respect of Christ's performance Christ hath performed all that is necessary and sufficient for our salvation he hath been both our ransome and our purchase ransomed us from Hell and procured for us an inheritance in Heaven He is called the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world Rev. 13.8 for if ye look to the decree and purpose of God he was so or if ye look to the merit and efficacy of his sufferings he was so To all the faithful that have lived from the beginning of the world the suffering and sacrifice of Christ is meritorious and available even to them that lived before Christ came into the flesh as well as to us that live after it as many as are saved are saved by it as S. Bernard wittily speaketh Mors Christi prosuit antequam fuit the death of Christ was profitable before it was 2. The salvation of the Saints is certain also if they look to themselves if they look to what they are aut re aut spe either indeed or in hope that is either to their present estate or their future As to their present estate God hath already so far given it them as he hath certainly given the seal and earnest of it to them they have his Spirit already that is the seal of their adoption the earnest of their salvation and having this they are sure of the other as when a man hath his earnest he is
of it and so for some that are in affliction 't is possible for them to miss of Heaven yet 't is not their affliction that deprives them of it the good or evil use of either is that which makes all of us in either to be happy or unhappy Let it therefore prepare us for the constant and patient bearing of afflictions whensoever they shall come upon us especially if they shall come upon us for the testimony of the Gospel and for righteousness sake for if the crown of glory belong to any that suffer then certainly to those sufferers that our Saviour speaks of Matth. 5.10 Those that suffer for righteousness sake they of all other are blessed and to them belongeth the Kingdom of Heaven yea if in Heaven there be degrees of glory as we may perswade our selves there be we may withall perswade our selves that the chiefest mansions are for such they that most partake with Christ in his sufferings they shall most share with him in glory the faireâ—â— crowns of glory that Heaven hath to give shalâ— be set upon the Heads of Martyrs first the Crown of Martyrdom and then a Crown of Glory as God hath called them to their sufferings so doubtless he will strengthen them in their sufferings and crown them for their sufferings may they therefore stand fast unto the end and bear all their troubles and tribulations patiently constantly joyfully Patienter propter Deum confidenter propter auxilium gaudenter propter praemium patiently for God's sake because he hath called them to it constantly for his assistance sake because he will aid them in it joyfully for the rewards sake because he will crown them for it Upon this account it was that the Apostle commendeth the Hebrews that they passed thorow all manner of afflictions and cleaved fast to the Gospel and therefore bids them call to remembrance the former dayes in which after they were illuminated they endured a great fight of afflictions partly saith he while ye were made a gazing-stock both by reproaches and afflictions and partly while ye became companions of them that were so used for ye had compassion of me in my bonds and took joyfully the spoilinâ— of your goods knowing in your selves that ye haâ— in heaven a better and an enduring substance Hebr. 10.32 33 34. Have any of us then received the beginning the earnest the first-fruits of eternal life then let it be far from us to think of leaving all these rich hopes of eternity for fear of the sharpest temporary sufferings and let me add that afflictions are so far from keeping us from Heaven as they be rather a way to bring us to Heaven We must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God Act. 14.22 Certainly many persons had never come to Heaven if God had not brought them to his Kingdom this way CHAP. XXXII An Exhortation to Christians to believe the promise of God touching their salvation and so to lay claim to it 1. NOw seeing God will hereafter crown his people with glory then labour O Christian Reader in the first place to believe the promise of God touching the salvation of thy soul labour to have a full assurance of faith and a full affiance in God that he will save thee A man takes it ill if he be not believed on his Word and promise and so doth the faithful God who is truth it self and cannot lye The sum of that which every faithful soul professeth to believe in the Creed is as much as if he should say I believe that God is my God and Father by the mediation of Jesus Christ through the sanctification of the Holy-ghost whereby he hath made me a member of his Catholick Church which is the Communion and Society of his Saints to which and to all the members thereof and so namely to me he will give remission of sins and an happy resurrection of the body to be partaker with the soul of life eternal This was David's faith I believed to see the goodness of God in the Land of the living Psal 27.13 And Fulgentius saith it was not proper onely to David to say so for saith he the just man living by faith saith boldly I believe to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living S. August speaks well to this purpose God hath promised thee O man that thou shalt live for ever dost thou not believe it that which he hath already done for thee is a greater matter than that which he hath promised thee Therefore let us labour to get an assured trust in God and his promise that when he that is our life shall appear we also may appear with him in glory which glory though we know it not yet we know that God hath given us the interest and title of it already and by faith do stand assured through the Spirit that he will in due time give us the full sight and fruition of it which none can know but they that have it revealed to them from God but God revealeth it by the Holy Ghost to every one that believeth in his promise and hopeth for his salvation therefore let no faithful soul whom God hath called into Communion with himself and to the hope of everlastingly life stand any longer in doubt of that salvation which God hath promised him 2. When once thou dost believe the promise of God touching the salvation of thy soul then mayest thou claim Heaven as thine own by a due debt God hath made himself a debtor to his people by promise faithful promise makes due debt the debt in that case ariseth not from any desert of him to whom the promise is made but only the word of him that promiseth We must therefore distinguish between debt of desert and debt of promise for debt of desert ariseth out of the nature and condition of the work it self which obligeth him to whose use and service it is done but debt of promise ariseth not from the thing that is done or yielded to another but onely from the promise it self whereby a man hath bound himself As August well observeth that it is one thing to say to a man Thou art a debtor to me because I have given to thee another thing to say Thou art a debtor to me because thou hast promised me debt of promise moveth the promiser for his own sake though there be nothing in the party to whom he hath made promise that may excite or cause him to perform his promise Now it is an act of justice in God to perform his promise made to his Children to bring them to Heaven and to bestow eternal life upon them for it is the justice of God that what is promised be paid or performed hereupon saith August we say not unto God Repay that which thou hast received but pay that which thou hast promised let us hold him therefore a most faithful debtor because we have him a most merciful promiser the promise was
linnen of the Saints upon the stinking lowsie rags of the old Adam Zech. 3. Jehoshua was a Type of such whom God will glorifie he was cloathed with filthy garments when he stood before the Angel he was to put off those filthy garments and then God caused a Mitre to be put upon his head and change of raiment for his clothing so God will have you to put off your filthy conversations before he will set a crown of pure gold upon your heads and put on you the white linnen of his Saints Go to now Brethren ye that hope to be glorified with Christ consider with your selves whether the old man be put off whether your earthly members be mortified or do you walk still in the vanity of your minds do you still keep your former conversations are your lusts your Centurions still do you obey them then let me tell you you have no part in Christ you are not the Sons of God your hopes of Heaven are but presumptions you are never like to see God in glory See what you must expect Coloss 3.16 For which things sake cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Tremble at it ye that hope for glory and yet go on in your sins your sins will bring the wrath of God upon your souls and not the glory of God you are the children of disobedience and not the children of God if you will maintain your hopes of glory and title to Heaven shew it forth by purifying your selves as Christ is pure Suppose a leper in times of legal pollutions should have pronounced himself clean while the leprousie was upon him yet he should not be admitted into the Camp unless the Priest did pronounce him clean so may you say that you are clean and that you shall be glorified yet you shall never possess glory unless Christ the High-Priest pronounce you clean CHAP. XXXIV Setteth forth the danger of those that are in a state of Damnation THis in the next place may serve to awaken all slumbring spirits and to startle all those that sleep securely in sin that are far from God and nigh to destruction and yet are well pleased with their condition and are insensible of the danger they are in if the Lord would now open their eyes as he did the eyes of the Host of the King of Syria they would see they were in the midst of Samaria in the midst of Enemies in the way to destruction that their judgment lingers not their damnation slumbers not on the one side they are hastening toward destruction and on the other side destruction is hastning toward them Oh how woful is the condition of such men who can dwell with the devouring fire who can endure everlasting burnings Secure Sinners ye are almost in the mouth of Death and in the gate of Hell and the longer you continue in the way you are in the farther you are from God and the nearer to ruine you are very near to hell and condemnation upon the very brink and border of the land of darkness it is said of the watered ground that bringeth forth nothing but briars and thorns that is rejected that it is nigh to cursing whose end is to be burnt Hebr. 6.8 Salvation is far from the wicked and destruction is near them Psal 119.150 If a man had a dwelling near the gate of hell within the hearing of the hideous cry and noise of those lost souls and damned spirits could he sleep quietly could he take any content in meat or drink or any thing else they that are far from God are near to the pit of destruction and this is their misery that they know it not Is it not a madness for a man to be at his sports and pastimes when his house is on fire and all that he hath is burning to ashes and is it not a far greater madness for you O sinners to sport your selves with sin while the flames of Hell fire are ready to seize upon you Oh have pity and compassion on your own souls you would pity a Beast if you should see him ready to break his neck down a rock and will you have no pity on your own souls that are now ready to be swallowed up in the gulf of hell Consider I pray you that to enjoy the Word of Christ and to hear it powerfully Preached and yet not to be effectually converted by it it brings not a man one step nearer Heaven and puts him not an inch farther from hell than he was before It is said Jude vers 5. that the Lord having saved the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed them that believed not there was a land of Canaan a land of promise and of rest offered to them and the Lord had made way for them to enter in and possess it he had saved them out of the land of Egypt and brought them near the borders of Canaan but this did no whit avail those among them that were unbelieving and disobedient they were destroyed their Carcasses fell in the wilderness they perished in their sins this I take to be a Type of the condition of secure unbelieving impenitent persons under the Gospel there is salvation wrought Jesus Christ came into the world to save a way is open to the Heavenly Canaan to that eternal rest prepared for the people of God the fiery pillar the light of the Gospel is in sight shewing the way to the Kingdom of Heaven but when men and women do carelesly neglect it this their condition is worse than if there had never been any possibility of salvation Better it had been they had died in Egypt than at the borders of Canaan better never in any degree to be saved than to be once saved and afterward to be destroyed utter destruction after some beginnings of salvation is worse than no kind of salvation at all therefore in the 12 verse of that same Epistle of Jude it is said they are trees whose fruit withereth without fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots I entreat you seriously to consider the woful estate of a soul twice dead twice lost twice condemned once condemned by the Law and then again condemned by the Gospel Oh tremble and beware of this double condemnation If the river of brimstone enkindled by the Law be so dreadful Isa 33.14 Oh how dreadful then shall those flames of wrath be if they shall be fed and increased with the oyl of the Gospel for the neglect and contempt of salvation wrought by Christ Oh how do multitudes of men that are now under the sound of the Gospel and have the means of salvation afforded them put away the word of life from them and judge themselves unworthy of everlasting life such will one day when it is too late see their folly and wish they had never had a Christ nor a Gospel nor a Heaven nor an immortal soul to lose The Turkish History reporteth of Bajazet the