do so whilst we are in this World whilst we are present in the Body and absent from the Lord ver 8. But we shall live and walk by Sight hereafter And it is the Lord Christ and his Glory which are immediate objects both of this Faith and Sight For we here behold him darkly in a Glass that is by Faith but we shall see him face to face by immediate vision Now we know him in part but then we shall know him as we are known 1 Cor. 13. 12. What is the difference between these two ways of beholding the Glory of Christ shall be afterwards declared IT is the first way namely by Vision in the Light of Glory that is principally included in that prayer of our Blessed Saviour that his Disciples may be where he is to behold his Glory But I shall not confine my enquiry thereunto nor doth our Lord Jesus exclude from his desire that Sight of his Glory which we have by faith in this World but prays for the Perfection of it in Heaven It is therefore the first way that in the first place I shall insist upon and that for the Reasons ensuing 1. NO Man shall ever behold the Glory of Christ by Sight hereafter who doth not in some measure behold it by Faith here in this World Grace is a necessary preparation for Glory and Faith for Sight Where the Subject the Soul is not previously seasoned with Grace and Faith it is not capable of Glory or Vision Nay persons not disposed hereby unto it cannot desire it whatever they pretend they only deceive their own Souls in supposing that so they do Most Men will say with confidence living and dying that they desire to be with Christ and to behold his Glory But they can give no Reason why they should desire any such thing only they think it somewhat that is better than to be in that evil condition which otherwise they must be cast into for ever when they can be here no more If a Man pretend himself to be enamoured on or greatly to desire what he never saw nor was ever represented unto him he doth but dote on his own Imaginations And the pretended desires of many to behold the Glory of Christ in Heaven who have no view of it by Faith whilst they are here in this World are nothing but self-deceiving imaginations SO do the Papists delude themselves Their Carnal Affections are excited by their outward Senses to delight in Images of Christ in his Sufferings his Resurrection and Glory above Hereon they satisfie themselves that they behold the Glory of Christ himself and that with Love and great Delight But whereas there is not the least true Representation made of the Lord Christ or his Glory in these things that being confined absolutely unto the Gospel alone and this way of attempting it being laid under a severe interdict they do but sport themselves with their own deceivings THE Apostle tells us concerning himself and other Believers when the Lord Christ was present and conversed with them in the Days of his Flesh that they saw his Glory the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth Joh. 1. 14. And we may enquire what was this Glory of Christ which they so saw and by what means they obtained a prospect of it For 1. It was not the Glory of his outward condition as we behold the Glory and Grandeur of the Kings and Potentates of the Earth For he made himself of no Reputation but being in the Form of a Servant he walked in the Condition of a Man of low Degree The Secular Grandeur of his pretended Vicar makes no Representation of that Glory of his which his Disciples saw He kept no Court nor House of Entertainment nor though he made all things had of his own where to lay his Head Nor 2. Was it with respect to the outward Form of the Flesh which he was made wherein he took our Nature on him as we see the Glory of a comely or beautiful Person For he had therein neither form nor comeliness that he should be desired his visage was so marred more than any Man and his form more than the sons of men Isa. 52. 14. Chap. 53. 2 3. All things appeared in him as became a Man of Sorrows Nor 3. Was it absolutely the Eternal Essential Glory of his Divine Nature that is intended For this no Man can see in this World What we shall attain in a view thereof hereafter we know not But 4. It was his Glory as he was full of Grace and Truth They saw the Glory of his Person and his Office in the Administration of Grace and Truth And how or by what means did they see this Glory of Christ It was by Faith and no otherwise For this Priviledge was granted unto them only who received him and believed on his name ver 12. This was that Glory which the Baptist saw when upon his coming unto him he said unto all that were present Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the Sin of the World Joh. 1. 29 30 31 32 33. WHEREFORE let no Man deceive himself He that hath no Sight of the Glory of Christ here shall never have any of it hereafter unto his Advantage It is not therefore unto Edification to discourse of Beholding the Glory of Christ in Heaven by vision until we go through a tryal whether we see any thing of it in this World by Faith or no. 2ly THE beholding of Christ in Glory is that which in it self is too High Illustrious and Marvellous for us in our present condition It hath a splendor and glory too great for our present Spiritual visible faculty as the direct immediate sight of the Sun darkens our sight and doth not relieve or strengthen it at all Wherefore we have no way to take into our minds any true Spiritual Apprehensions of the Nature of Immediate Vision or what it is to see the Glory of Christ in Heaven but by that View which we have by Faith in this life of the same Glory Whatever otherwise falls into our Minds is but conjecture and imagination Such as are the Contemplations of most about Heavenly things I have seen and read somewhat of the Writings of of Learned Men concerning the state of future glory some of them are filled with excellent Notions of Truth and Elegancy of Speech whereby they cannot but much affect the minds of them who duely consider what they say But I know not well whence it comes to pass many complain that in reading of such discourses they are like a Man who behold his natural face in a Glass and immediately forgets what manner of Man he was as one of old complained to the same purpose upon his perusal of Plato's contemplations about the Immortality of the Soul The things spoken do not abide nor Incorporate with our minds They please and refresh for a little while like a showre of Rain in
him as he is we shall be like him but as unto the Degrees and Measures of it his Glory is above all that we can be made Partakers of There is one Glory of the Sun another of the Moon and Stars and one Star differeth from another in Glory As the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 15. 45. And if there be a difference in Glory among the Stars themselves as to some degrees of the same Glory How much more is there between the Glory of the Sun and that of any Star whatever Such is the difference that is and will be unto Eternity between the Human Nature of Christ and what glorified Believers do attain unto But yet this is not that properly wherein the Glory of Christ in his Exaltation after his Humiliation and Death doth consist The Things that belong unto it may be reduced unto the ensuing Heads 1. IT consisteth in the Exaltation of the Human Nature as subsisting in the Divine Person above the whole Creation of God in Power Dignity Authority and Rule with all things that the Wisdom of God hath appointed to render the Glory of it illustrious I have so largely insisted on the Explication and Confirmation of this Part of the present Glory of Christ in the Exposition of Heb. 1. ver 2 3. that I have nothing more to add thereunto 2. IT doth so in the Evidence given of the Infinite Love of God the Father unto him and his delight in him with the Eternal Approbation of his Discharge of the Office committed unto him Hence he is said to sit at the right hand of God or at the right hand of the Majesty on high That the Glory and Dignity of Christ in his Exaltation is singular the highest that can be given to a Creature incomprehensible that he is with respect unto the Discharge of his Office under the eternal Approbation of God that as so gloriously exalted he is proclaimed unto the whole Creation are all contained in this Expression 3. HEREUNTO is added the full Manifestation of his own Divine Wisdom Love and Grace in the Work of Mediation and Redemption of the Church This Glory is absolutely singular and peculiar unto him Neither Angels or Men have the least Interest in it Here we see it darkly as in a Glass above it shines forth in its brightness to the eternal Joy of them who behold him THIS is that Glory which our Lord Jesus Christ in an especial manner prayed that his Disciples might behold This is that whereof we ought to endeavor a Prospect by Faith By Faith I say and not by Imagination Vain and foolish Men having general Notions of this Glory of Christ knowing nothing of the real Nature of it have endeavored to represent it in Pictures and Images with all that Lustre and Beauty with the Art of Painting with the Ornaments of Gold and Jewels can give them This is that Representation of the present Glory of Christ which being made and proposed unto the Imagination and carnal Affections of superstitious Persons carrieth such a shew of Devotion and Veneration in the Papal Church But they err not knowing the Scripture nor the eternal Glory of the Son of God THIS is the sole Foundation of all our Meditations herein The Glory that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the real actual Possession of in Heaven can be no otherwise seen or apprehended in this World but in the Light of Faith fixing it self on Divine Revelation To behold this Glory of Christ is not an Act of Fancy or Imagination It doth not consist in framing unto our selves the Shape of a glorious Person in Heaven But the steady Exercise of Faith on the Revelation and Description made of this Glory of Christ in the Scripture is the Ground Rule and Measure of all Divine Meditations thereon HEREON our Duty it is to call our selves to an Account as unto our Endeavor after a gracious View of this Glory of Christ When did we stedfastly behold it When had we such a View of it as wherein our Souls have been satisfied and refreshed It is declared and represented unto us as one of the chief Props of our Faith as an Help of our Joy as an Object of our Hope as a Ground of our Consolation as our greatest Encouragement unto Obedience and Suffering Are our Minds every day conversant with Thoughts hereof Or do we think our selves not much concerned herein Do we look upon it as that which is without us and above us as that which we shall have time enough to consider when we come to Heaven So is it with many They care neither where Christ is nor what he is so that one way or other they may be saved by him They hope as they pretend that they shall see him and his Glory in Heaven and that they suppose to be time enough But in vain do they pretend a Desire thereof in vain are their Expectations of any such thing They who endeavor not to behold the Glory of Christ in this World as hath been often said shall never behold him in glory hereafter unto their Satisfaction nor do they desire so to do Only they suppose it a part of that Relief which they would have when they are gone out of this World For what should beget such a Desire in them Nothing can do it but some View of it here by Faith which they despise or totally neglect Every Pretence of a Desire of Heaven and of the Presence of Christ therein that doth not arise from that is not resolved into that Prospect which we have of the Glory of Christin this World by Faith is mere Fancy and Imagination OUR constant Exercise in Meditation on this Glory of Christ will fill us with Joy on his Account which is an effectual Motive unto the Duty it self We are for the most part Selfish and look no farther than our own Concernments So we may be pardoned and saved by him we care not much how it is with himself but only presume it is well enough We find not any Concernment of our own therein But this Frame is directly opposite unto the Genius of Divine Faith and Love For their principal Actings consist in preferring Christ above our selves and our Concerns in him above all our own Let this then stir us up unto the Contemplation of this Glory Who is it that is thus exalted over all Who is thus encompassed with Glory Majesty and Power Who is it that sits down at the Right Hand of the Majesty on high all his Enemies being made his Foot-stool Is it not he who in this World was poor despised persecuted and slain all for our Sakes Is it not the same Jesus who loved us and gave himself for us and washed us in his own Blood So the Apostle told the Jews that the same Jesus whom they slew and hanged on a Tree God had exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance unto Israel and the forgiveness
reasons as they suppose to desire that it may not yet be which for the most part arise meerly from Fear and an Aversation of Death Some desire to live that they may see more of that glorious Work of God for his Church which they believe he will accomplish So Moses prayed that he might not dye in the Wilderness but go over Jordan and see the good Land and that goodly Mountain and Lebanon the Seat of the Church and of the Worship of God which yet God thought meet to deny unto him And this Denial of the request of Moses made on the highest consideration possible is instructive unto all in the like case Others may judge themselves to have some work to do in the World wherein they suppose that the Glory of God and Good of the Church is concerned and therefore would be spared for a Season Paul knew not clearly whether it were not best for him to abide a while longer in the flesh on this account And David often deprecates the present season of Death because of the work which he had to do for God in the World Others rise no higher than their own private Interests or concerns with respect unto their Persons their Families their Relations and Goods in this World They would see these things in a better or more settled condition before they dye and then they shall be most willing so to do But it is the Love of Life that lies at the bottom of all these desires in Men which of itself will never forsake them But no Man can dye chearfully or comfortably who lives not in a constant Resignation of the time and season of his death unto the Will of God as well as himself with respect unto Death it self Our times are in his hand at his Sovereign disposal and his Will in all things must be complied withal Without this Resolution without this Resignation no Man can enjoy the least solid peace in this World FOURTHLY As the times and seasons so the ways and means of the approaches of Death have especial Tryals which unless we are prepared for them will keep us under Bondage with the fear of Death it self Long wasting wearing Consumptions burning Fevers strong pains of the Stone or the like from within or Sword Fire Tortures with Shame and Reproach from without may be in the way of the Access of Death unto us Some who have been wholly freed from all fears of Death as a Dissolution of Nature who have looked on it as amiable and desirable in it self have yet had great exercise in their minds about these ways of its approach They have earnestly desired that this peculiar bitterness of the Cup might be taken away to get above all perplexities on the account of these things is part of our Wisdom in Dying daily And we are to have always in a readiness those Graces and Duties which are necessary thereunto Such are a constant Resignation of our selves in all events unto the Sovereign will pleasure and disposal of God May he not do what he will with his own Is it not right and meet it should be so Is not his Will in all things Infinitely Holy Wise Just and Good Doth he not know what is best for us and what conduceth most unto his own Glory Doth not he alone do so So is it to live in the Exercise of Faith that if God calls us unto any of those things which are peculiarly dreadful unto our Natures he will give us such supplies of Spiritual strength and Patience as shall enable us to undergo them if not with ease and joy yet with Peace and Quietness beyond our Expectation Multitudes have had experience that those things which at a distance have had an Aspect of overwhelming dread have been far from unsupportable in their approach when strength hath been received from above to encounter with them And moreover it is in this case required that we be frequent and steady in comparing these things with those which are eternal both as unto the misery which we are freed from and that blessedness which is prepared for us But I shall proceed no farther with these particulars THERE is none of all the things we have insisted on neither the Resignation of a departing Soul into the hand of God nor a willingness to lay down this flesh in the dust nor a readiness to comply with the Will of God as to the times and seasons or the way and manner of the approach of Death that can be attained unto without a prospect of that Glory that shall give us a new state far more excellent than what we here leave or depart from This we cannot have whatever we pretend unless we have some present views of the Glory of Christ. An Apprehension of the future Manifestation of it in Heaven will not relieve us if here we know not what it is and wherein it doth consist if we have not some previous Discovery of it in this Life This is that which will make all things easie and pleasant unto us even Death it self as it is a means to bring us unto its full enjoyment OTHER great and glorious Advantages which may be obtained in the diligent discharge of the Duty here proposed might be insisted on but that the things themselves discoursed of will evidently Discover and Direct us unto the Spring and Reasons of them Besides Weakness Weariness and the near Approaches of Death do call me off from any further labour in this kind John XVII 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me THE High Priest under the Law when he was to enter into the Holy Place on the Solemn day of Atonement was to take both his hands full of sweet Incense from the Golden Table of Incense to carry along with him in his entrance He had also a Censer filled with Fire that was taken from the Altar of Burnt-offerings where Atonement was made for Sin with Blood Upon his actual entrance through the vail he put the Incense on the Fire in the Censer until the Cloud of it's smoak covered the Ark and the Mercy Seat See Levit. 16. 12 13. And the end hereof was to present unto God in the behalf of the People a sweet smelling Savour from the Sacrifice of Propitiation See the Declaration of these things in our Exposition of Heb. 9th IN Answer unto this Mystical Type the great High-priest of the Church our Lord Jesus Christ being to enter into the Holy Place not made with hands did by the glorious Prayer Recorded in this Chapter influenced from the Blood of his Sacrifice fill the Heavens above the glorious Place of God's Residence with a cloud of Incense or the sweet perfume of his Blessed Intercession typed by the incense offered by the High-priest of old By the same Eternal Fire wherewith he offered himself a bloody Sacrifice to make Atonement for
him wherein God purposed and designed to glorifie himself in him Now this is all that may be known of God in a saving manner especially his Wisdom his Love his Goodness Grace and Mercy whereon the Life of our Souls doth depend And the Lord Christ being appointed the only Way and Means hereof how exceeding glorious must he be in the Eyes of them that do believe THESE things being premised I shall close this first Consideration of that Glory of Christ which we behold by Faith in this World with some such Observations as may excite us unto the Practise of this great Duty and Improvement of this great Priviledge the greatest which on this side Heaven we can be made Partakers of THERE are some who regard not these things at all but rather despise them They never entertain any serious thoughts of obtaining a View of the Glory of God in Christ which is to be Unbelievers They look on him as a Teacher that came forth from God to reveal his Will and to teach us his Worship and so indeed he was But this they say was the sole use of his Person in Religion which is Mahumetism The Manifestation of all the holy Properties of the Divine Nature with the Representation of them unto Angels above and the Church in this World as he is the Image of the invisible God in the Constitution of his Person and the Discharge of his Office are things they regard not yea they despise and scorn what is professed concerning them for Pride and Contempt of others were always the safest Covert of Ignorance otherwise it would seem strange that Men should openly boast of their own Blindness But these Conceptions of Mens Minds are influenced by that Unbelief of his Divine Person which maketh havock of Christianity at this Day in the World I speak of them whose minds are better disposed towards heavenly things and unto them I say Wherefore do you love Jesus Christ for so you profess to do Wherefore do you trust in him Wherefore do you honour him Wherefore do you desire to be in Heaven with him Can you give a reason of this hope that is in you An account why you do all or any of these things If you cannot all that you pretend towards him is but fancy and imagination you fight uncertainly as men beating the air or is one of your reasons hereof That in him you do by Faith behold that glory of God with the Holy Properties of his Nature and their Principal Operations in order unto your own Salvation and Blessedness which otherwise would have been eternally hid from you Hereon is he precious unto them that do believe LET us therefore as many as are spiritual be thus minded Let us make use of this Priviledge with rejoycing and be found in the discharge of this Duty with diligence For thus to behold the glory of Christ is both our priviledge and our duty The duties of the Law were a burthen and a yoke but those of the Gospel are Priviledges and Advantages IT is a Promise concerning the days of the New Testament that our eyes shall see the King in his beauty Isa. 33. 17. We shall behold the Glory of Christ in its Lustre and Excellency What is this Beauty of the King of Saints Is it not that God is in him and he is the great representative of his Glory unto us Wherefore in the contemplation of this Glory consists the principal exercise of Faith And who can declare the Glory of this Priviledge That we who are born in Darkness and deserved to be cast out into utter Darkness should be translated into this marvellous Light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ. WHAT are all the stained Glories the fading Beauties of this World Of all that the Devil shewed our Saviour from the Mount What are they in comparison of one View of the Glory of God represented in Christ and of the Glory of Christ as his great Representative THE most pernicious effect of Unbelief under the preaching of the Gospel is that together with an influence of Power from Satan it blinds the eyes of mens minds that they should not see this Glory of Christ whereon they perish eternally 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. BUT the most of those who at this day are called Christians are strangers unto this duty Our Lord Jesus Christ told the Pharisees that notwithstanding all their boasting of the knowledge of God they had not heard his voice at any time nor seen his shape that is as Moses did They had no real acquaintance with him they had no spiritual view of his Glory and so it is amongst our selves Notwithstanding the general profession that is of the Knowledge of Christ they are but few who thus behold his Glory and therefore few who are transformed into his Image and Likeness SOME Men speak much of the Imitation of Christ and following of his Example and it were well if we could see more of it really in effect But no Man shall ever become like unto him by bare Imitation of his Actions without that view or intuition of his Glory which alone is accompanied with a transforming power to change them into the same image THE Truth is the best of us all are wofully defective in this Duty and many are discouraged from it because a Pretence of it in some hath degenerated into Superstition But we are loth at any time seriously to engage in it and come with an unwilling kind of Willingness unto the Exercise of our Minds in it THOUGHTS of this Glory of Christ are too high for us or too hard for us such as we cannot long delight in we turn away from them with a kind of Weariness yet are they of the same Nature in general with our beholding of the Glory of Christ in Heaven wherein there shall be no weariness or Satiety unto Eternity Is not the Cause of it that we are unspiritual or carnal having our Thoughts and Affections wonted to give Entertainment unto other things For this is the principal Cause of our Unreadiness and Incapacity to exercise our Minds in and about the great Mysteries of the Gospel 1 Cor. 3. 1 2 3. And it is so with us moreover because we do not stir up our selves with Watchfulness and Diligence in continual Actings of Faith on this Blessed Object This is that which keeps many of us at so low an Ebb as unto the Powers of an Heavenly Life and spiritual Joys DID we abound in this Duty in this Exercise of Faith our Life in walking before God would be more sweet and pleasant unto us our spiritual Light and Strength would have a daily Encrease we should more represent the Glory of Christ in our Ways and Walking than usually we do and Death it self would be most welcome unto us THE Angels themselves desire to look into the things of the Glory of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 10 12. There is in them
vitious Habits When the Minds of Men are vehemently fixed on the pursuit of their Lusts they will be continually ruminating on the Objects of them and have a thousand Contrivances about them until their Eyes become full of an Adulteress and they cannot cease from sinning as the Apostle speaks The Objects of their Lusts have framed and raised an Image of themselves in their Minds and transformed them into their own Likeness is this the way of them who go down to the Chambers of Death Do they thus frame their Souls and make them meet for Destruction until their Words Gestures Actions proclaim the Frame of their Minds unto all that look upon them And shall we be slothful and negligent in the Contemplation of that Glory which transforms our Minds into its own Likeness so as that the Eyes of our Understandings shall be continually filled with it until we see him and behold him continually so as never to cease from the holy Acts of Delight in him and Love unto him 4. WOULD we then behold the Glory of God as he manifesteth it in and by the holy Properties of his Nature with their blessed Operations and Effects without which we have nothing of the Power of Religion in us whatever we pretend this alone is the Way of it Go to the whole Creation and all things contained in it they can say no more but we have heard the Fame and Report of these things and what we have heard we declare but it is but a little Portion of them that we are acquainted withal The Heavens indeed declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy Work The invisible things of God are understood by the things that are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead But comparatively it is but little that we can hence learn of these things as unto what we may behold of them in Christ Jesus How blind herein was the best Philosopher in comparison of the meanest of the Apostles yea of him who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven BUT herein it is required that we rest not in the Notion of this Truth and a bare Assent unto the Doctrine of it The affecting Power of it upon our Hearts is that which we should aim at Wherein doth the Blessedness of the Saints above consist Is it not herein that they behold and see the Glory of God in Christ And what is the Effect of it upon those blessed Souls Doth it not change them into the same Image or make them like unto Christ Doth it not fill and satiate them with Joy Rest Delight Complacency and ineffable Satisfaction Do we expect do we desire the same State of Blessedness It is our present View of the Glory of Christ which is our Initiation thereinto if we are exercised in it until we have an Experience of its Transforming Power in our Souls THESE things are it may be of little use unto some Such as are Babes in spiritual Knowledge and Understanding either because they are Carnal 1 Cor. 3. 1 2. or slothful in hearing Heb. 5. 12 13 14. are not capable of these Divine Mysteries And therefore the Apostle did in an especial manner declare this Wisdom of God in a Mystery unto them that were perfect 1 Cor. 2. 6 7. That is who were more grown in spiritual Knowledge and had their Senses exercised to discern Good and Evil. It is unto them who are exercised in the Contemplation of invisible things who delight to walk in the more retired Paths of Faith and Love to whom they are precious SOME few Inferences from the Whole of what hath been declared shall put a Close to this part of our Discourse 1. THE Holy Properties of the Divine Nature are not only represented unto our Faith in Christ as unto their own essential Glory but as they are in the Exercise of their Powers for the Salvation of the Church In him do we behold the Wisdom Goodness Love Grace Mercy and Power of God acting themselves in the Contrivance Constitution and efficacious Accomplishment of the great Work of our Redemption and Salvation This gives as unto us an unutterable Lustre unto the Native Amiableness of the Divine Excellencies The Wisdom and Love of God are in themselves infinitely Glorious infinitely Amiable nothing can be added unto them there can be no encrease of their essential Glory Howbeit as they are eternally resident in the Divine Nature and absolutely the same with it we cannot so comprehend them as to have an endearing satiating View of their Glory But as they are exerted in the Work of the Redemption and Salvation of the Church as they are expressed communicating their blessed Effects unto the Souls of them that do believe which is done only in Christ so the Beams of their Glory shine unto us with unspeakable Refreshment and Joy 2 Cor. 4. 6. Hence the Apostle on the Consideration of the Actings of the Holy Properties of God in this blessed Work falls into that Contemplation O the Depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out For who hath not known the Mind of the Lord or who hath been his Counsellor or who hath first given unto him and it shall be recompensed unto him again For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be Glory for ever Amen Rom 11. 33 34 35 36. 2. IN and through Christ we do believe in God 1 Pet. 1. 24. This is the Life of our Souls God himself in the infinite Perfections of his Divine Nature is the ultimate Object of our Faith but he is not here the immediate Object of it but the Divine Way and Means of the Manifestation of himself and them unto us are so Through Christ we believe in God By our Belief in him we come to place our Faith ultimately in God himself and this we can no otherwise do but by beholding the Glory of God in him as hath been declared 3. THIS is the only way whereby we may attain the saving sanctifying Knowledge of God Without this every Beam of Divine Light that shines on us or gleans from without as the Light shineth into Darkness when the Darkness comprehendeth it not Joh. 1. 5. Every Spark that ariseth from the Remainders of the Light of Nature within do rather amaze the Minds of Men than lead them into the saving Knowledge of God So a Glance of Light in a dark Night giving a transient View of various Objects and passing away doth rather amaze than direct a Traveller and leave him more exposed unto wandring than before Such were all those Notions of the Divine Being and its Excellencies which those who boasted themselves to be wise among the Heathen embraced and improved They did but fluctuate in their Minds they did not transform them into the Image and Likeness of God as the saving Knowledge of him doth Col. 3. 10. SO the Apostle expresseth this
Experience of any such thing who never had any refreshing communion with him cannot be sensible of his Absence they never were so of his Presence But those whom he hath visited to whom he hath given of his Loves with whom he hath made his Abode whom he hath refreshed relieved and comforted in whom he hath lived in the Power of his Grace they know what it is to be forsaken by him though but for a moment And their Trouble is increased when they seek him with diligence in the wonted ways of obtaining his presence and cannot find him Our Duty in this case is to presevere in our Enquiries after him in Prayer Meditation Mourning Reading and Hearing of the Word in all Ordinances of Divine Worship private and publick in diligent Obedience until we find him or he return unto us as in former Days IT were well if all Churches and Possessors now would manifest the same Diligence herein as did the Church of old in this Example Many of them if they are not hardened by the Deceitfulness of Sin cannot but be sensible that the Lord Christ is variously withdrawn from them if ever they had experience of the Power of his Presence Yet are the generality of them far from the frame of heart here described in the Spouse for they are slothful careless negligent and stir not up themselves to enquire after him or his return unto their Souls So was it with Laodicea of old so was it with Sardis and so it is to be feared that it is with many at present But to return GENERALLY Christ is nigh unto Believers and of a ready Access and the principal Actings of the Life of Faith consists in the frequency of our Thoughts concerning him for hereby Christ liveth in us as he is said to do Gal. 2. 20. This we cannot do unless we have frequent thoughts of him and converse with him It is often said among Men that one lives in another this cannot be but where the Affections of one are so ingaged unto another that night and day he thinks of him and is thereby as it were present with him So ought it to be between Christ and Believers He dwells in them by Faith but the Actings of this Life in them as where-ever Life is it will be in act and exercise are proportionable unto their Thoughts of him and Delight in him IF therefore we would behold the Glory of Christ the present direction is That on all occasions and frequently when there are no occasions for it by the performance of other Duties we would abound in thoughts of Him and his Glory I intend not at present fixed and stated Meditations which were spoken unto before but such Thoughts as are more transient according as our opportunities are And a great Rebuke it ought to be unto us when Christ hath at any time in a day been long out of our Minds The Spouse affirms That ere she was aware her soul made her as the Chariots of Amminadeb Cant. 7. 12. It so fell out that when she had no thoughts no design or purpose for attendance or communion with Christ that she was surprised into a readiness and willingness unto it So will it be with them that love him in sincerity Their own Souls without previous designs or outward occasions will frequently engage them in holy thoughts of him which is the most eminent character of a truly spiritual Christian. 4. THE next Direction is That all our Thoughts concerning Christ and his Glory should be accompanied with Admiration Adoration and Thanksgiving For this is such an Object of our Thoughts and Affections as in this Life we can never fully comprehend an Ocean whose Depths we cannot look into If we are spiritually renewed all the Faculties of our Souls are enabled by Grace to exert their respective powers towards this glorious Object This must be done in various Duties by the Exercise of various Graces as they are to be acted by the distinct powers of the Faculties of our Minds This is that which is intended where we are commanded to love the Lord with all our souls with all our minds with all our strength All the distinct powers of our Souls are to be acted by distinct Graces and Duties in cleaving unto God by Love In Heaven when we are come to our Center that State of Rest and Blessedness which our Nature is ultimately capable of nothing but one infinite invariable Object of our Minds and Affections received by Vision can render that State uninterrupted and unchangeable But whilst we are here we know or see but in part and we must also act our Faith and Love on parts of that Glory which is not at once entirely proposed unto us and which as yet we cannot comprehend Wherefore we must act various Graces in great Variety about it some at one time some at another according unto the powers of all our renewed Faculties Of this sort are those mentioned of Adoration Admiration and Thanksgiving which are those Acts of our Minds wherein all others do issue when the Object is incomprehensible For unto them we are enabled by Grace ONE end of his illustrious coming unto the Judgment of the last Day is that he may be admired in all them that believe 2 Thes. 1. 11. Even Believers themselves shall be filled with an overwhelming Admiration upon his glorious Appearance Or if the meaning be not that he shall be admired by them but admired in them because of the mighty Works of his Grace and Power in their Redemption Sanctification Resurrection and Glory it is to the same purpose he comes to be admired And according to the prospect which we have of that Glory ought our Admiration to be AND this Admiration will issue in Adoration and Thanksgiving whereof we have an eminent Instance and Example in the whole Church of the Redeemed Rev. 5. 9 10 11 12 13 14. They sang a new Song saying Worthy art thou to receive the Book and to open the Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast bought us unto God by thy Blood out of every Tribe and Tongue and People and Nation and hast made us Kings and Priests unto God and we shall reign upon the Earth And I saw and heard the Voice of many Angels round about the Throne and of the living Creatures and of the Elders and the Number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands saying with a loud Voice Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing and every Creature that is in Heaven and in the Earth and under the Earth and that are in the Sea and all things in them heard I saying Blessing and Honour and Power and Glory be unto him that sits on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever THE Design of this Discourse is no more but that when by Faith we have attained a View of the
Glory of Christ in our Contemplations on his Person we should not pass it over as a Notion of Truth which we assent unto namely that he is thus glorious in himself but endeavor to affect our Hearts with it as that wherein our own principal Interest doth lie wherein it will be effectual unto the Transformation of our Souls into his Image BUT some it may be will say at least I fear some may truly say That these things do not belong unto them they do not find that ever they had any Benefit by them They hope to be saved as well as others by the Mediation of Christ but as unto this beholding of his Glory by constant Meditation and Actings of Faith therein they know nothing of it nor are concerned in it The Doctrine which they are taught out of the Scripture concerning the Person of Christ they give their Assent unto but his Glory they hope they shall see in another World here they never yet enquired after it SO it will be It is well if these things be not only neglected because the Minds of Men are carnal and cannot discern spiritual things but also despised because they have an Enmity unto them It is not for all to walk in these retired Paths Not for them who are negligent and slothful whose Minds are earthly and carnal Nor can they herein sit at the Feet of Christ with Mary when she chose the better part who like Martha are cumbred about many things here in this World Those whose principal Design is to add unto their present Enjoyments in the midst of the prosecution whereof they are commonly taken from them so as that their Thoughts do perish because not accomplished will never understand these things Much less will they do so whose Work it is to make provision for the Flesh to fulfil it in the Lusts thereof THEY must make it their Design to be heavenly minded who will find a Relish in these things Those who are Strangers unto holy Meditation in general will be Strangers unto this Mystery in a peculiar manner SOME Men can think of the World of their Relations and the manifold Occasions of Life but as unto the things that are above and within the Vail they are not concerned in them WITH some it is otherwise They profess their Desire to behold the Glory of Christ by Faith but they find it as they complain too high and difficult for them They are at a Loss in their Minds and even overwhelmed when they begin to view his Glory They are like the Disciples who saw him in his Transfiguration they were filled with Amazement and knew not what to say or said they knew not what And I do acknowledge that the Weakness of our Minds in the comprehension of this Eternal Glory of Christ and their Instability in Meditations thereon whence we cannot stedfastly look on it or behold it gives us an afflicting abasing Consideration of our present State and Condition And I shall say no more unto this Case but this alone When Faith can no longer hold open the Eyes of our Understandings unto the beholding of the Son of Righteousness shining in his Beauty nor exercise orderly Thoughts about this incomprehensible Object it will betake it self unto that holy Admiration which we have spoken unto and therein it will put it self forth in pure Acts of Love and Complacency CHAP. IV. The Glory of Christ in his Susception of the Office of a Mediator First in his Condescention THE Things whereof we have thus far discoursed relating immediately unto the Person of Christ in it self may seem to have somewhat of Difficulty in them unto such whose Minds are not duly exercised in the Contemplation of Heavenly Things Unto others they are evident in their own Experience and instructive unto them that are willing to learn That which remains will be yet more plain unto the Understanding and Capacity of the meanest Believer And this is the Glory of Christ in his Office of Mediator and the Discharge thereof IN our beholding of the Glory of Christ herein doth the Exercise of Faith in this Life principally consist so the Apostle declares it Phil. 3. 8 9 10 11 12. Yea doubtless and I count all things loss for the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. To know him and the Power of his Resurrection and the Fellowship of his Sufferings and to be made conformable unto his Death This therefore we must treat of somewhat more at large THERE is one God saith the Apostle and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. In that great difference between God and Man occasioned by our Sin and Apostacy from him which of it self could issue in nothing but the utter Ruine of the whole Race of Mankind there was none in Heaven or Earth in their Original Nature and Operations who was meet or able to make up a Righteous Peace between them Yet must this be done by a Mediator or cease for ever THIS Mediator could not be God himself absolutely considered for a Mediator is not of one but God is one Gal. 3. 20. Whatever God might do herein in a way of Sovereign Grace yet he could not do it in the way of Mediation which yet was necessary unto his own Glory as we have at large discoursed elsewhere AND as for Creatures there was none in Heaven or Earth that was meet to undertake this Office For if one Man sin against another the Judge shall judge herein but if a Man sin against the Lord who shall entreat for him 1 Sam. 2. 25. There is not any days man betwixt us to lay his hand upon us both Job 9. 33. IN this State of Things the Lord Christ as the Son of God said Lo I come to do thy Will O God sacrifice and burnt offerings thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared me and Lo I come to do thy Will Heb. 10. 5 6 7 8 9. By the Assumption of our Nature into Union with himself in his one Divine Person he became every way meet for the Discharge of this Office and undertakes it accordingly THAT which we enquire after at present is the Glory of Christ herein and how we may behold that Glory And there are three things wherein we may take a prospect of it 1. IN his Susception of this Office 2. In his Discharge of it 3. In the Event and Consequence thereof or what ensued thereon IN the Susception of this Office we may behold the Glory of Christ. 1. In his Condescention 2. In his Love 1. WE may behold his Glory in his Infinite Condescention to take this Office on him and our Nature to be his own unto that end It did not befall him by Lot or Chance it was not imposed on him against his Will it belonged not unto him by any Necessity of Nature or Condition he stood not in need of it it was no addition unto him but of his own
of it that he should pursue his delight to save us until his own soul was heavy and sorrowful unto death that he should relieve us in our sufferings by suffering the same things that we should have done But he was not in the least hereby deterred from undertaking this work of Love and Mercy for us Yea his love rose on this Proposal like the Waters of a mighty Stream against opposition For hereon he says Lo I come to do thy will O God it is my delight to do it Heb. 10. 5 6 7. Isa. 50. 4 5 6 7. 8. BEING thus enclined disposed and ready in the Eternal Love of his Divine Person to undertake the Office of Mediation and the work of our Redemption A body was prepared for him In this Body or Human Nature made his own he was to make this Love effectual in all its Inclinations and Actings It was provided for him unto this end and filled with all Grace in a way unmeasurable especially with Fervent Love unto Mankind And hereby it became a meet Instrument to actuate his Eternal Love in all the fruits of it 9. IT is hence evident that this Glorious Love of Christ doth not consist alone in the Eternal Actings of his divine Person or the Divine Nature in his Person such indeed is the Love of the Father namely his Eternal Purpose for the communication of Grace and Glory with his Acquiescency therein but there is more in the Love of Christ. For when he exercised this Love he was man also and not God only And in none of those Eternal Acts of Love could the Human Nature of Christ have any interest or concern yet is the Love of the Man Christ Jesus celebrated in the Scripture 10. WHEREFORE this Love of Christ which we enquire after is the Love of his Person that is which he in his own Person acts in and by his Distinct Natures according unto their Distinct Essential Properties And the acts of love in these distinct Natures are infinitely distinct and different yet are they all acts of one and the same Person So then whether that Act of Love in Christ which we would at any time consider be an Eternal Act of the Divine Nature in the Person of the Son of God or whether it be an act of the Human performed in time by the Gracious Faculties and Powers of that Nature it is still the Love of one and the self same Person Christ Jesus It was an Act of inexpressible Love in him that he assumed our Nature Heb. 2. 14 17. But it was an act in and of his Divine Nature only For it was antecedent unto the existence of his Human Nature which could not therefore concur therein His laying down his life for us was an act of inconceivable Love 1 John 8. 16. Yet was it only an act of the Human Nature wherein he offered himself and died But both the one and the other were Acts of his Divine Person whence it is said that God laid down his life for us and purchased the Church with his own Blood THIS is that Love of Christ wherein he is glorious and wherein we are by Faith to behold his Glory A great part of the Blessedness of the Saints in Heaven and their Triumph therein consists in their beholding of this Glory of Christ in their thankful contemplation of the Fruits of it see Rev. 5. 9 10. c. THE illustrious Brightness wherewith this Glory shines in Heaven the All satisfying Sweetness which the view of it gives unto the Souls of the Saints there Possessed of Glory are not by us conceivable nor to be expressed Here this love passeth knowledge there we shall comprehend the Dimensions of it Yet even here if we are not slothful and carnal we may have a refreshing prospect of it and where Comprehension fails let Admiration take place MY present Business is to exhort others unto the Contemplation of it though it be but a little a very little a small portion of it that I can conceive and less than that very little that I can express Yet may it be my duty to excite not only my self but others also unto due Enquiries after it unto which End I offer the things ensuing 1. LABOUR that your minds may continually be fitted and prepared for stch Heavenly Contemplations If they are carnal and sensual or filled with earthly things a due sense of this Love of Christ and its Glory will not abide in them Vertue and Vice in their highest Degrees are not more diametrically opposite and inconsistent in the same mind than are an habitual Course of sensual worldly Thoughts and a due Contemplation of the Glory of the Love of Christ Yea an earnestness of Spirit pregnant with a multitude of Thoughts about the lawful Occasions of Life is obstructive of all due Communion with the Lord Jesus Christ herein FEW there are whose Minds are prepared in a due Manner for this Duty The Actions and Communications of the most evidence what is the inward Frame of their Souls They rove up and down in their Thoughts which are continually lead by their Affections into the Corners of the Earth It is in vain to call such Persons unto Contemplations of the Glory of Christ in his Love An holy Composure of Mind by virtue of spiritual principles an Inclination to seek after Refreshment in Heavenly Things and to bath the Soul in the Fountain of them with constant Apprehensions of the Excellency of this Divine Glory are required hereunto 2. BE not satisfied with General Notions concerning the Love of Christ which represent no Glory unto the Mind wherewith many deceive themselves All who believe his divine Person profess a Valuation of his Love and think them not Christians who are otherwise minded But they have only General Notions and not any distinct Conceptions of it and really know not what it is To deliver us from this Snare peculiar Meditations on its principal Concerns are required of us As 1. WHOSE Love it is namely of the divine Person of the Son of God He is expresly called God with respect unto the Exercise of this Love that we may always consider whose it is 1 Job 3. 16. Hereby we perceive the Love of God because he laid down his Life for us 2. BY what Ways and Means this wonderful Love of the Son of God doth act it self namely in the divine Nature by Eternal Acts of Wisdom Goodness and Grace proper thereunto and in the humane by Temporary Acts of Pity or Compassion with all the Fruits of them in doing and suffering for us see Ephes. 3. 19. Heb. 2. 14 15. Rev. 1. 5. 3. WHAT is the Freedom of it as unto any desert on our Part 1 Joh. 4. 10. It was Hatred not Love that we in our selves deserved which is a Consideration suited to fill the Soul with self-abasement the best of Frames in the contemplation of the Glory of Christ. 4. WHAT is the Efficacy of it in
26. The same is frequently expressed elsewhere Rom. 14. 9. Phil. 2. 5 6 7 8. So much as we know of Christ his Sufferings and his Glory so much do we understand of the Scripture and no more THESE are the Two Heads of the Mediation of Christ and his Kingdom and this is their Order which they communicate unto the Church first Sufferings and then Glory If we suffer we shall also reign with him 2 Tim. 2. 12. They do but deceive themselves who design any other Method of these things Some would reign here in this World and we may say with the Apostle would you did reign that we might reign with you But the Members of the mystical Body must be conformed unto the Head In him Sufferings went before Glory and so they must in them The Order in the Kingdom of Satan and the Word is contrary hereunto First the Good Things of this Life and then Eternal Misery is the Method of that Kingdom Luk. 16. 25. THESE are the two Springs of the Salvation of the Church the two anointed ones that stand before the Lord of the whole Earth from which all the golden Oyl whereby the Church is dedicated unto God and sanctified doth flow This Glory of Christ in his Exaltation which followed on his Sufferings is that which we now enquire into And we shall state our Apprehensions of it in the ensuing Observations 1. THIS is peculiarly that Glory which the Lord Christ prays that his Disciples may be where he is to behold it It is not solely so as it is considered absolutely but it is that wherein all the other Parts of his Glory are made manifest It is the Evidence the Pledge the Means of the Manifestation of them all As unto all the Instances of his Glory before insisted on there was a Vail drawn over them whilst he was in this World Hence the most saw nothing of it and the best saw it but obscurely But in this Glory that Vail is taken off whereby the whole Glory of his Person in it self and in the Work of Mediation is most illustriously manifested When we shall immediately behold this Glory we shall see him as he is This is that Glory whereof the Father made grant unto him before the Foundation of the World and wherewith he was actually invested upon his Ascention 2. BY this Glory of Christ I do not understand the Essential Glory of his Divine Nature or his being absolutely in his own Person over all God blessed for ever But the manifestation of this Glory in particular after it had been vailed in this World under the Form of a Servant belongs hereunto The Divine Glory of Christ in his Person belongs not unto his Exaltation but the Manifestation of it doth so It was not given him by free Donation but the Declaration of it unto the Church of Angels and Men after his Humiliation was so He left it not whilst he was in this World but the direct Evidence and Declaration of it he laid aside until he was declared to be the Son of God with Power by the Resurrection from the Dead WHEN the Sun is under a total Eclipse he loseth nothing of his Native Beauty Light and Glory He is still the same that he was from the beginning a great Light to rule the Day To us he appears as a dark useless Meteor but when he comes by his course to free himself from the Lunar Interposition unto his proper Aspect towards us he manifests again his Native Light and Glory So was it with the Divine Nature of Christ as we have before declared He vailed the Glory of it by the Interposition of the Flesh or the Assumption of our Nature to be his own with this Addition that therein he took on him the Form of a Servant of a Person of mean and low Degree But this temporary Eclipse being past and over it now shines forth in its Infinite Lustre and Beauty which belongs unto the present Exaltation of his Person And when those who beheld him here as a poor sorrowful persecuted Man dying on the Cross came to see him in all the infinite increated Glories of the Divine Nature manifesting themselves in his Person it could not but fill their Souls with Transcendent Joy and Admiration And this is one reason of his Prayer for them whilst he was on the Earth that they might be where he is to behold his Glory For he knew what ineffable Satisfaction it would be unto them for evermore 3. I do not understand absolutely the Glorification of the Human Nature of Christ That very Soul and Body wherein he lived and died suffered and rose again tho that also be included herein This also were a Subject meet for our Contemplation especially as it is the Exemplar of that Glory which he will bring all those unto who believe in him But because at present we look somewhat further I shall observe only one or two things concerning it 1. THAT very Nature it self which he took on him in this World is exalted into Glory Some under a Pretence of great Subtilty and Acuracy do deny that he hath either Flesh or Blood in Heaven that is as to the Substance of them however you may suppose that they are changed purified glorified The great Foundation of the Church and all Gospel Faith is that he was made Flesh that he did partake of Flesh and Blood even as did the Children That he hath forsaken that Flesh and Blood which he was made in the Womb of the Blessed Virgin wherein he lived and died which he offered unto God in Sacrifice and wherein he rose from the Dead is a Socinian Fiction What is the true Nature of the Glorification of the Humanity of Christ neither those who thus furmise nor we can perfectly comprehend It doth not yet appear what we our selves shall be much less is it evident unto us what he is whom we shall be like But that he is still in the same Human Nature wherein he was on the earth that he hath the same rational Soul and the same Body is a fundamental Article of the Christian Faith 2. THIS Nature of the Man Christ Jesus is filled with all the Divine Graces and Perfections whereof a limited created Nature is capable It is not Deified it is not made a God it doth not in Heaven coalesce into one Nature with the Divine by a Composition of them It hath not any Estential Property of the Deity communicated unto it so as subjectively to reside in it It is not made Omniscient Omnipresent Omnipotent But it is exalted in a Fulness of all Divine Perfection ineffably above the Glory of Angels and Men. It is incomprehensibly nearer God than they all hath Communications from God in glorious Light Love and Power ineffably above them all But it is still a Creature FOR the Substance of this Glory of the Human Nature of Christ Believers shall be made Partakers of it for when we see
in him Col. 1. 17 18 19. And this was the first Egress of divine Wisdom for the Manifestation of the Glory of God in these holy Properties of his Nature For 3. THIS Communication was made unto him as a Repository and Treasury of all that Goodness Grace Life Light Power and Mercy which were necessary for the Constitution and Preservation of the New Creation They were to be laid up in him to be hid in him to dwell in him and from him to be communicated unto the whole Mystical Body designed unto him that is the Church And this is the first Emanation of divine Power and Wisdom for the Manifestation of his Glory in the New Creation This Constitution of Christ as the Head of it and the Treasuring up in him all that was necessary for its Production and Preservation wherein the Church is chosen and preordained in him unto Grace and Glory is the Spring and Fountain of divine Glory in the Communications that ensue thereon 4. THIS Communication unto Christ is 1. Unto his Person and then 2. With respect unto this Office It is in the Person of Christ that all Fulness doth originally dwell On the Assumption of human Nature into personal Union with the Son of God all Fulness dwells in him bodily Col. 2. 9. And thereon receiving the Spirit in all Fulness and not by Measure all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge were hid in him Col. 2. 3. and he was filled with the unsearchable Riches of Divine Grace Ephes. 3. 8 9 10 11. And the Office of Christ is nothing but the way appointed in the Wisdom of God for the Communication of the Treasures of Grace which were communicated unto his Person This is the end of the whole Office of Christ in all the parts of it as he is a Priest a Prophet and a King They are I say nothing but the Ways appointed by infinite Wisdom for the Communication of the Grace laid up in his Person unto the Church The transcendent Glory hereof we have in some weak measure enquired into 5. THE Decree of Election prepared if I may so say the Mass of the New Creation In the old Creation God first prepared and created the Mass or Matter of the whole which afterwards by the Power of the holy Spirit was formed into all the distinct Beings whereof the whole Creation was to consist and animated according to their distinct Kinds AND in order unto the Production and Perfecting of the Work of the new Creation God did from Eternity in the holy purpose of his Will prepare and in design set apart unto himself that Portion of Mankind whereof it was to consist Hereby they were only the peculiar Matter that was to be wrought upon by the Holy Ghost and the glorious Fabrick of the Church erected out of it What was said it may be of the Natural Body by the Psalmist is true of the Mystical Body of Christ which is principally intended Psal. 139. 15 16. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth Thine eyes did see my substance yet being imperfect and in thy Book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them The substance of the Church whereof it was to be formed was under the Eye of God as proposed in the Decree of Election yet was it as such imperfect It was not formed or shaped into Members of the Mystical Body But they were all written in the Book of Life And in pursuance of the Purpose of God there they are by the holy Spirit in the whole course and continuance of time in their several Generations fashioned into the Shape designed for them 6. THIS therefore is herein the glorious Order of divine Communications From the infinite eternal Spring of Wisdom Grace Goodness and Love in the Father all the Effects whereof unto his end were treasured up in the Person and Mediation of the Son the holy Spirit unto whom the actual Application of them is committed communicates Life Light Power Grace and Mercy unto all that are designed parts of the New Creation Hereon doth God glorifie both the essential Properties of his Nature his infinite Wisdom Power Goodness and Grace as the only eternal Spring of all these things and also his ineffable glorious Existence in three Persons by the Order of the Communication of these things unto the Church which are originally from his Nature And herein is the glorious Truth of the Blessed Trinity which by some is opposed by some neglected by most looked on as that which is so much above them as that it doth not belong unto them made precious unto them that believe and becomes the Foundation of their Faith and Hope In a View of the glorious Order of those divine Communications we are in a steady Contemplation of the ineffable Glory of the Existence of the Nature of God in the Three distinct Persons of Father Son and Holy Ghost 7. ACCORDING unto this Divine Order the Elect in all Ages are by the holy Spirit moving and acting on that Mass of the New Creation formed and animated with spiritual Life Light Grace and Power unto the Glory of God They are not called accidentally according unto the external Occasions and Causes of their Conversion unto God but in every Age at his own Time and Season the holy Spirit communicates these things unto them in the Order declared unto the Glory of God 8. AND in the same manner is the whole New Creation preserved every Day every moment there is vital Power and Strength Mercy and Grace communicated in this Divine Order to all Believers in the World There is a continual Influence from the Fountain from the Head into all the Members whereby they all consist in him are acted by him who worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure and the Apostle declares that the whole Constitution of Church-order is suited as an external Instrument to promote these Divine Communications unto all the Members of the Church it self Eph. 4. 13 14 15 16. THIS in general is the Order of Divine Communications which is for the Substance of it continued in Heaven and shall be so unto Eternity For God is and ever will be all and in all But at present it is invisible unto Eyes of Flesh yea the Reason of Men. Hence it is by the most despised they see no Glory in it But let us consider the Prayer of the Apostle that it may be otherwise with us Ephes. 1. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23. For the Revelation made of the Glory of God in the old Creation is exceeding inferior to that which he makes of himself in the New HAVING premised these things in general concerning the Glory of Divine Communications I shall proceed to declare in particular the Grounds and Way whereby the Lord Christ communicates himself and therewithal
IN this State all things that were made depended immediately on God himself without the Interposition of any other Head of Influence or Rule They had the Continuance of their Being and its Preservation from the immediate Actings of these Properties of the Divine Nature whereby they were made and their Dependance on God was by Vertue of that Law which was implanted on the Principles and Powers of their several Natures by God himself 5. THUS in the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth He provided himself of two distinct Rational Families that should depend on him according to a Law of Moral Obedience and thereby give Glory to him with two distinct Habitations for them cognate unto their Nature and Use Heaven above and the Earth beneath The Earth he appointed for the Habitation of Man which was every way suited unto the Constitution of his Nature the Preservation of his Being and the End of his Creation in giving Glory to God Heaven he prepared for the Habitation of the Angels which was suited unto the Constitution of their Nature the Preservation of their Being and the End of their Creation in giving Glory to God Wherefore as Man had Power and Dominion over all things here below and was to use them all unto the Glory of God by which means God received Glory from them also though in themselves bruit and inanimate so the Angels had the like Dominion over the Coelestial and AEtherial Bodies wherewith God had fitted the Place of their Habitation that through the Contemplation and Use of them God might have a Revenue of Glory and Praise from them also To suppose any other Race of Intellectual Creatures besides Angels in Heaven and Men on Earth is not only without all Countenance from any Divine Testimony but it disturbs and disorders the whole Representation of the Glory of God made unto us in the Scripture and the whole Design of his Wisdom and Grace as declared therein Intellectual Creatures not comprehended in that Government of God and Mystery of his Wisdom in Christ which the Scripture Reveals are a Chimera framed in the Imaginations of some Men scarce duly sensible of what it is to be wise unto Sobriety 6. THIS Order of things was beautiful and comely Hence were they all said to be exceeding good For each of these Families had their own immediate distinct Dependance on God He was the immediate Head of them There was no other common Head interposed between God and them They were not an Head unto one another There were no Communications unto them but what were immediate from God himself And their Union among themselves was in this alone that all their Obedience did meet and center in God So God made the Heavens and the Earth and two distinct Families in them for himself 7. THIS beautiful Order in it self this Union between the two Families of God was disturbed broken dissolved by the Entrance of Sin For hereby part of the Family above and the whole Family below fell off from their Dependance on God and ceasing to center in him as their Head they fell into Variance and Enmity among themselves For the Center of this Union and Order being removed and lost nothing but Enmity and Confusion remained among them Hereon to shew that its Goodness was lost God cursed the Earth and all that was in it for it was put in Subjection unto Man who was now fallen from him Howbeit he cursed not the Heavens which were in Subjection unto the Angels because some of them only left their Habitation and the Habitation of the Residue was not to be cursed for their Sakes But Mankind was wholly gone off from God 8. THE Angels that sinned God utterly rejected for ever as an Example of his Severity the whole Race of Mankind he would not utterly cast off but determined to recover and save a Remnant according to the Election of Grace which how he did it in a way of Condecency unto all his Divine Perfections I have elsewhere declared 9. HOWBEIT he would not restore them into their former State so as to have again two distinct Families each in an immediate Dependance on himself though he left them in different and distinct Habitations Eph. 3. 15. But he would gather them both into one and that under a new Head in whom the one Part should be preserved from sinning and the other delivered from sin committed 10. THIS then is that which the Apostle declares in these Words To gather together in one all things which are in Heaven and which are in Earth even in him And so he again expresseth it Col. 1. 20. To reconcile all things unto himself in him whether they are things in Heaven or things in Earth all things were fallen into disorder and confusion by sin they were fallen off from God into variance among themselves God would not restore them into their first Order in an immediate Dependance on his Divine Perfections He would no longer keep them in two distinct Families but he would in his infinite Wisdom and Goodness gather them up into one common Head on whom they should have their immediate Dependance and be reconciled again among themselves 11. THIS New Head wherein God hath gathered up all things in Heaven and Earth into one one Body one Family on whom is all their dependance in whom they all now consist is Jesus Christ the Son of God incarnate see 1 Cor. 11. 3. Eph. 1. 21 22 23. This Glory was reserved for him none other could be meet for it or worthy of it see Col. 1. 17 18 19 20. 12. TO answer all the Ends of this New Head of Gods recollected Family all Power in Heaven and Earth all Fulness of Grace and Glory is committed unto him There is no Communication from God no Act of Rule towards this Family no Supply of Vertue Power Grace or Goodness unto Angels or Men but what is immediately from this New Head whereinto they are gathered In him they all consist on him do they depend unto him are they subject in their Relation unto him doth their Peace Union and Agreement among themselves consist This is the Recapitulation of all things intended by the Apostle 13. IT is true that he acts distinctly and variously towards the two parts of the Recollected Family of Angels and Men according as their different States and Conditions do require For 1. We had need of a Reparation by Redemption and Grace which the Angels had not 2. Angels were capable of immediate Confirmation in Glory which we are not until we come to Heaven Therefore 1. He assumed our Nature that it might be repaired which he did not the Nature of the Angels 2. He gives us Union unto himself by his Spirit which exalts us into a Dignity and Honour meet for Fellowship with them in the same Family THIS is a brief Account of the mysterious Work of Divine Wisdom in the Recapitulation of all things in Jesus Christ and
herein is he transcendently glorious or his Glory herein is far above our Comprehension Yet some few things may be observed to direct us in the View and Contemplation of it As 1. HE alone was a meet and capable Subject of it He only could bear the weight of this Glory No meer Creature in Heaven or Earth was meet to be thus made the Head of the whole new Creation of God In none of them could all things consist None of them was meet to be thus in the Place of God to have all things depend upon him and be put in subjection unto him so as that there should be no Communication between God and the Creation but by and through him alone Wherefore when the holy Ghost assigns this Glory unto him he so describes him as that we may discern his singular meetness for it as that he is the Brightness of the Fathers Glory and the express Image of his Person upholding all things by the Word of his Power Heb. 1. 3. That he is the Image of the invisible God the first born of every Creature by whom all things were created that are in Heaven and that are in the Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist Col. 1. 15 16 17 18 19. Such an one alone and no other was meet to bear and uphold this Glory And the Glory of his Person is such as that it is the Blessedness of all Creatures to center in this Glory of his Office 2. THIS is that Glory which God designed unto his only Son incarnate and it gives us a little View into the Glory of that Mystery the wonderful eternal Design of God to glorifie himself in the Incarnation of Christ. God would have his eternal his only begotten Son to be incarnate to take our Nature on him to be made Man What is his Design in this incomprehensible Work of his Wisdom Love and Power Indeed in the first place it was for the Redemption of the Church by the Sacrifice of himself and other Acts of his Mediation But there is that which is more general and comprehensive and wherein all the conoerns of the Glory of God do center And this was that he might gather all things into one in him that the whole Creation especially that which was to be eternally blessed should have a new Head given unto it for its Sustentation Preservation Order Honor and Safety All Springs are in him and all Streams are unto him and in and by him unto God Who can express the Divine Beauty Order and Harmony of all things that are in this their Recapitulation in Christ The Union and Communion between Angels and Men the Order of the whole Family in Heaven and Earth the Communication of Life Grace Power Mercy and Consolation to the Church the Rule and Disposal of all things unto the Glory of God do all depend hereon This Glory God designed unto his Son incarnate and it was the greatest the highest that could be communicated unto him For as the Apostle observes All things are put in subjection unto him he only excepted who doth so make them subject that is God the Father 1 Cor. 15. THERE is no Contemplation of the Glory of Christ that ought more to affect the Hearts of them that do believe with Delight and Joy than this of the Recapitulation of all things in him One View by Faith of him in the place of God as the supream Head of the whole Creation moving acting guiding and disposing of it will bring in spiritual Refreshment unto a believing Soul AND it will do so the more in that it gives a glorious Representation of his Divine Nature also For that any meer Creature should thus be an Head of Life Motion and Power as also of soveraign Rule and disposal of the whole new Creation with all things reduced into order thereby is not only an impious but a foolish Imagination DID we live more in the Contemplation of this Glory of Christ and of the Wisdom of God in this Recapitulation of all things in him there is not any thing of our Duty which it would not mind us of nor any thing of Priviledge which it would not give us a Sence of as might easily be demonstrated 3. IN particular the Lord Christ is glorious herein in that the whole Breach made on the Glory of God in the Creation by the Entrance of Sin is hereby repaired and made up The Beauty and Order of the whole Creation consisted in its dependance on God by the Obedience of the rational Part of it Angels and Men. Thereby were the being the goodness the wisdom and power of God made manifest But the Beauty of this Order was defaced and the Manifestation of the Divine Perfections unto the glory of God eclipsed by the Entrance of Sin But all is restored repaired and made up in this Recapitulation of all things in one new Head Christ Jesus yea the whole curious Frame of the Divine Creation is rendred more beautiful than it was before Hence the whole of it groaneth for the Interest of each Part in this Restauration of all things Whatever there is of Order of Beauty of Glory in Heaven above or in Earth beneath it all ariseth from this new Relation of the Creation unto the Son of God Whatever is not gathered into one even in him in its place and according to its measure is under Darkness Disorder and the Curse Hence the Jews have a saying that in the days of the Messiah all things shall be healed but the Serpent that is the Devil and wicked Men which are as his Seed 4. HE is glorious herein in that he is appointed as the only means of exerting and expressing all the Treasures of the Infinite Wisdom of God towards his Creatures The Wisdom of God is absolutely always and in all things Infinite God doth not God cannot act with more Wisdom in one thing than in another as in the Creation of man than in that of any inanimate Creatures In the first Creation Infinite Wisdom was the inseparable companion of Infinite Power How marvellous are thy works O Lord in Wisdom hast thou made them all But when the effects of this Divine Wisdom in their principal beauty and glory were defaced greater Treasures of Wisdom were required unto their Reparation And in this Recollection of all things in Christ did God lay them forth unto the utmost of whatever he will do in dealing with his Creatures so the Apostle expresseth it Ephes. 3. 10. To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God By the Recapitulation of all things into this one head the manifold various unsearchable Wisdom of God was made known unto the Angels themselves They knew not before of the Design and
Eyes We know not here what power and spirituality there will be in the acts of our glorified Bodies Such they will be as shall bear a part in eternal Blessedness Holy Stephen the first Martyr took up somewhat of Glory by Anticipation before he died For when he was brought to his Tryal before the Council all that sate therein looking stedfastly on him saw his face as the face of an Angel Act. 6. 15. He had his Transfiguration according unto his measure answerable unto that of our Blessed Saviour in the Mount And by this initial Beam of Glory he received such a piercing vivacity and edge on his bodily eyes that through all those inconceivable distances between the earth and the residence of the Blessed he looked stedfastly into Heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God Act. 7. 55 56. Who then can declare what will be the power and acting of this sense of sight when perfectly glorified or what sweetness and refreshment may be admitted into our Souls thereby IT was a priviledge who would not have longed to partake of it to have seen him with our bodily eyes in the days of his flesh as did the Apostles and other his Disciples Howbeit he was not then glorified himself in the manifestation of his Glory nor they who saw him in the change or transformation of their nature How great this privilenge was himself declares unto those that so saw him Mat. 13. 17. Verily I say unto you that many Prophets and righteous Men have desired to see those things which ye see whereunto we shall speak immediately And if this were so excellent a priviledge as that we cannot but congratulate them by whom it was enjoyed how excellent how glorious will it be when with these eyes of ours gloriously purified and strengthned beyond those of Stephen we shall behold Christ himself immediately in the fulness of his Glory He alone perfectly understands the greatness and excellency hereof who prayed his Father that those who believe in him may be where he is so to behold his Glory THESE are some of the grounds of this first difference between our beholding the Glory of Christ by Faith here and by immediate Vision hereafter Hence the one is weak imperfect obscure reflexive the other direct immediate eaven and constant and we may stay a little in the contemplation of these things THIS view of the Glory of Christ which we have now spoken unto is that which we are breathing and panting after that which the Lord Christ prays that we may arrive unto that which the Apostle testifies to be our best the best thing or state which our nature is capable of that which brings eternal rest and satisfaction unto our Souls HERE our Souls are burthened with innumerable Infirmities and our Faith is clogged in its Operations by Ignorance and Darkness This makes our best estate and highest attainments to be accompanied with groans for deliverance We which have received the first fruits of the spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption even the redemption of the body Rom. 8. 23. Yea whilst we are in this Tabernacle we groan earnestly as being burthened because we are not absent from the body and present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 2 4 8. The more we grow in Faith and Spiritual Light the more sensible are we of our present burthens and the more vehemently do we groan for deliverance into the perfect liberty of the Sons of God This is the posture of their minds who have received the first fruits of the Spirit in the most eminent degree The nearer any one is to Heaven the more earnestly he desires to be there because Christ is there For the more frequent and steady are our views of him by faith the more do we long and groan for the removal of all obstructions and interpositions in our so doing Now groaning is a vehement desire mixed with sorrow for the present want of what is desired The desire hath sorrow and that sorrow hath joy and refreshment in it like a shower that falls on a Man in a Garden in the Spring it wets him but withall refresheth him with the Savor it causeth in the Flowers and Herbs of the Garden where he is And this groaning which when it is constant and habitual is one of the choicest effects of Faith in this life respects what we would be delivered from and what we would attain unto The first is expressed Rom. 7. 24. The other in the places now mentioned And this frame with an intermixture of some sighs from weariness by the troubles sorrows pains sicknesses of this life is the best we can here attain unto ALAS we cannot here think of Christ but we are quickly ashamed of and troubled at our own thoughts So confused are they so unsteady so imperfect Commonly they issue in a groan or a sigh Oh when shall we come unto him when shall we be ever with him when shall we see him as he is And if at any time he begins to give more than ordinary evidences and intimations of his Glory and Love unto our Souls we are not able to bear them so as to give them any abiding residence in our Minds But ordinarily this trouble and groaning is amongst our best attainments in this World a trouble which I pray God I may never be delivered from until deliverance do come at once from this state of mortality Yea the good Lord encrease this trouble more and more in all that believe THE heart of a believer affected with the Glory of Christ is like the Needle touched with the Loadstone It can no longer be quiet no longer be satisfied in a distance from him It is put into a continual motion towards him The motion indeed is weak and tremulous Pantings breathings sighings groanings in prayer in meditations in the secret recesses of our Minds are the life of it However it is continually pressing towards him But it obtains not its point it comes not to its center and rest in this World BUT now above all things are clear and serene all plain and evident in our beholding the Glory of Christ we shall be ever with him and see him as he is This is Heaven this is Blessedness this is Eternal Rest. THE Person of Christ in all his Glory shall be continually before us and the eyes of our understandings shall be so gloriously illuminated as that we shall be able steadily to behold and comprehend that Glory BUT alas here at present our Minds recoil our Meditations fail our Hearts are overcome our Thoughts confused and our Eyes turn aside from the Lustre of this Glory nor can we abide in the Contemplation of it But there an immediate constant view of it will bring in everlasting refreshment and joy unto our whole Souls THIS beholding of the Glory of Christ given him by his Father is indeed subordinate unto the ultimate vision of
the essence of God What that is we cannot well conceive only we know that the pure in heart shall see God But it hath such an immediate connexion with it and subordination unto it as that without it we can never behold the face of God as the objective blessedness of our Souls For he is and shall be to eternity the only means of Communication between God and the Church AND we may take some Direction in our looking into and longing after this perfect view of the Glory of Christ from the example of the Saints under the Old Testament The sight which they had of the Glory of Christ for they also saw his Glory through the obscurity of its Revelation and its being vailed with types and shadows was weak and imperfect in the most illuminated believers much inferior unto what we now have by faith through the Gospel Yet such it was as encouraged them to enquire and search diligently into what was revealed 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. Howbeit their discoveries were but dark and confused such as Men have of things at a great distance or in a Land that is very far off as the Prophet speaks Isa. 33. 16. And the continuance of this Vail on the Revelation of the Glory of Christ whilst a Vail of Ignorance and Blindness was upon their Hearts and Minds proved the ruin of that Church in its Apostacy as the Apostle declares 2 Cor. 3. 7 13 14. This double vail the covering covered the vail vailed God promised to take away Isa. 25. 7. And then shall they turn to the Lord when they shall be able clearly to behold the Glory of Christ 2 Cor. 3. 16. BUT this caused them who were real Believers among them to desire long and pray for the removal of these Vails the Departure of those shadows which made it as Night unto them in comparison of what they knew would appear when the Sun of Righteousness should arise with healing in his Wings They thought it long ere the day did break and the shadows flee away Cant. 2. 17. Chap. 4. 6. There was an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaks Rom. 8. 19. A thrusting forth of the head with desire and expectation of the exhibition of the Son of God in the flesh and the accomplishment of all divine promises therein Hence he was called the Lord whom they sought and delighted in Mal. 3. 1. AND great was the spiritual Wisdom of believers in those days They rejoyced and gloried in the Ordinances of Divine Worship which they did enjoy They looked on them as their chiefest priviledge and attended unto them with diligence as an effect of Divine Wisdom and Love as also because they had a shadow of good things to come But yet at the same time they longed and desired that the time of Reformation were come wherein they should all be removed that so they might behold and enjoy the good things signified by them And those who did not so but rested in and trusted unto their present Institutions were not accepted with God Those who were really illuminated did not so but lived in constant desires after the revelation of the whole Mystery of the Wisdom of God in Christ as did the Angels themselves 1 Pet. 1. 3. Ephes. 3. 9 10. IN this frame of heart and suitable actings of their Souls there was more of the power of true faith and love than is found among the most at this day They saw the promises afar off and were perswaded of them and imbraced them Heb. 11. 13. They reached out the arms of their most intent Affections to embrace the Things that were promised We have an instance of this frame in Old Simeon who so soon as he had taken the Child Jesus in his Arms cryed out Now Lord let me depart now let me dye this is that which my Soul hath longed for Luk. 2. 28 29. OUR present darkness and weakness in beholding the Glory of Christ is not like theirs It is not occasioned by a vail of Types and Shadows cast on it by the Representative Institutions of it It doth not arise from the want of a clear Doctrinal Revelation of the Person and Office of Christ But as was before declared it proceedeth from two other Causes First from the nature of Faith it self in comparison of Vision It is not able to look directly into this excelient Glory nor fully to comprehend it Secondly from the way of its proposal which is not substantial of the thing it self but only of an Image of it as in a Glass But the sight the view of the Glory of Christ which we shall have in Heaven is much more above that which we now enjoy by the Gospel than what we do or may so enjoy is above what they have attained under their Types and Shadows There is a far greater distance between the Vision of Heaven and the sight which we have now by faith than is between the sight which we now have and what they had under the Old Testament Heaven doth more excell the Gospel-State than that State doth the Law Wherefore if they did so pray so long for so desire the removal of their Shadows and Vails that they might see what we now see that they might so behold the Glory of Christ as we may behold it in the Light of the Gospel how much more should we if we have the same Faith with them the same Love which neither will nor can be satisfied without perfect fruition long and pray for the removal of all Weakness of all Darkness and Interposition that we may come unto that immediate beholding of his Glory which he so earnestly prayed that we might be brought unto TO sum up briefly what hath been spoken There are three things to be considered concerning the Glory of Christ three degrees in its manifestation The Shadow the perfect Image and the Substance it self Those under the Law had only the Shadow of it and of the things that belong unto it they had not the perfect Image of them Heb. 10. 1. Under the Gospel we have the perfect Image which they had not or a clear compleat revelation and declaration of it presenting it unto us as in a glass But the enjoyment of these things in their Substance is referred for Heaven we must be where he is that we may behold his Glory Now there is a greater difference and distance between the real substance of any thing and the most perfect image of it than there is between the most perfect image and the lowest shadow of the same thing If then they longed to be freed from their state of Types and Shadows to enjoy the Representation of the Glory of Christ in that Image of it which is given us in the Gospel much more ought we to breath and pant after our deliverance from beholding it in the Image of it that we may enjoy the Substance it self For whatever can be manifest of Christ on this side Heaven
it is granted unto us for this end that we may the more fervently desire to be present with him AND as it was their Wisdom and their Grace to rejoyce in the Light they had and in those typical Administrations of Divine Worship which shadowed our the Glory of Christ unto them yet did always pant after that more excellent Light and full Discovery of it which was to be made by the Gospel So it will be ours also thankfully to use and improve the Revelations which we enjoy of it and those Institutions of Worship wherein our Faith is assisted in the view thereof yet so as continually to breath after that perfect that glorifying sight of it which is reserved for Heaven above AND may we not a little examine our selves by these things Do we esteem this pressing towards the perfect view of the Glory of Christ to be our Duty and do we abide in the performance of it If it be otherwise with any of us it is a signal evidence that our Profession is Hypocritical If Christ be in us he is the hope of Glory in us and where that hope is it will be active in desires of the things hoped for Many love the World to well and have their minds too much filled with the things of it to entertain desires of speeding through it unto a state wherein they may behold the Glory of Christ. They are at home and are unwilling to be absent from the body tho to be present with the Lord. They hope it may be that such a season will come at one time or another and then it will be the best they can look for when they can be here no more But they have but a little sight of the Glory of Christ in this World by Faith if any at all who so little so faintly desire to have the immediate sight of it above I cannot understand how any Man can walk with God as he ought or hath that Love for Jesus Christ which true Faith will produce or doth place his Refreshments and Joy in spiritual things in things above that doth not on all just occasions so meditate on the Glory of Christ in Heaven as to long for an admittance into the immediate sight of it OUR Lord Jesus Christ alone perfectly understood wherein the Eternal Blessedness of them that believe in him doth consist And this is the sum of what he prays for with respect unto that end namely that we may be where he is to behold his Glory And is it not our Duty to live in a continual desire of that which he prayed so earnestly that we might attain If in our selves we as yet apprehend but little of the Glory the Excellency the Blessedness of it yet ought we to repose that confidence in the Wisdom and Love of Christ that it is our best infinitely better than any thing we can enjoy here below UNTO those who are inured unto those Contemplations they are the salt of their Lives whereby every thing is condited and made savory unto them as we shall shew afterwards And the want of spiritual diligence herein is that which hath brought forth a negligent careless wordy profession of Religion which countenancing it self with some outward Duties hath lost out of it the power of Faith and Love in their principal Operations Hereby many deceive their own Souls Goods Lands Possessions Relations Trades with secular Interests in them are the things whose Image is drawn on their Minds and whose Characters are written on their Foreheads as the Titles whereby they may be known As believers beholding the Glory of Christ in the blessed Glass of the Gospel are changed into the same Image and Likeness by the Spirit of the Lord so these Persons beholding the Beauty of the World and the Things that are in it in the cursed Glass of Self-love they are in their minds changed into the same Image Hence perplexing Fears vain Hopes empty Embraces of perishing things fruitless desires earthly carnal designs cursed self-pleasing Imaginations feeding on and being fed by the Love of the World and self do abide and prevail in them But we have not so learned Christ Jesus CHAP. XIII The second Difference between our beholding the Glory of Christ by Faith in this World and by Sight in Heaven FAITH is the Light wherein we behold the Glory of Christ in this World And this in its own Nature as unto this great End is weak and imperfect like weak Eyes that cannot behold the Sun in its Beauty Hence our sight of it differs greatly from what we shall enjoy in Glory as hath been declared But this is not all it is frequently hindred and interrupted in its Operations or it loseth the view of its object by one means or other As he who sees any thing at a great distance sees it imperfectly and the least interposition or motion takes it quite out of his sight So is it with our Faith in this matter whence sometimes we can have little sometimes no sight at all of the Glory of Christ by it And this gives us as we shall see another Difference between Faith and Sight NOW although the consideration hereof may seem a kind of Diversion from our present Argument yet I choose to insist upon it that I may evidence the Reasons whence it is that many have so little experience of the things whereof we have treated that they find so little of Reallity or Power in the exercise of this Grace or the performance of this Duty For it will appear in the issue that the whole defect is in themselves the truth it self insisted on is great and efficacious 1. WHILST we are in this life the Lord Christ is pleased in his Sovereign Wisdom sometimes to withdraw and as it were to hide himself from us Then do our Minds fall into Clouds and Darkness Faith is at a loss we cannot behold his Glory yea we may seek him but cannot find him So Job complains as we observed before Behold I go forward but he is not there and backward but I cannot perceive him on the left hand where he doth work but I cannot behold him he hideth himself on the right hand that I cannot see him Chap. 23. 8 9. Which way soever I turn my self whatever are my endeavours in what way or work of his own I seek him I cannot find him I cannot see him I cannot behold his Glory So the Church also complains Verily thou art a God that hidest thy self O God of Israel the Saviour Isa. 45. 15. And the Psalmist How long Lord wilt thou hide thy self for ever Psal. 89. 46. This hiding of the face of God is the hiding of the shining of his Glory in the face of Christ Jesus and therefore of the Glory of Christ himself for it is the Glory of Christ to be the Representative of the Glory of God The Spouse in the Canticles is often at a loss and herein bemoans her self that her Beloved was withdrawn
and Power are in like manner in sundry places represented unto us And as one Star differeth from another in Glory so it was one way whereby God represented the Glory of Christ in Types and Shadows under the Old Testament and another wherein it is declared in the New Illustrious Testimonies upon all these things are planted up and down in the Scripture which we may collect as choice flowers in the Paradise of God for the Object of our Faith and Sight thereby SO the Spouse in the Canticles considered every part of the Person and Grace of Christ distinctly by it self and from them all concludes that he is altogether lovely Chap. 5. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16. So ought we to do in our study of the Scripture to find out the Revelation of the Glory of Christ which is made therein as did the Prophets of old as unto what they themselves received by immediate Inspiration They searched diligently what the spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie when it testified-before hand the sufferings of Christ and the glory which should ensue 1 Pet. 1. 11 12. But this seeing of Christ by parts in the Revelation of him is one cause why we see him here but in part SOME suppose that by Chopping and Painting and Gilding they can make an Image of Christ that shall perfectly represent him to their Sences and carnal Affections from head to foot But they feed on ashes and have a lie in their right hand Jesus Christ is evidently crucified before our eyes in the Scripture Gal. 3. 1. So also is he evidently exalted and glorified therein And it is the Wisdom of Faith to gather into one those parcelled Descriptions that are given of him that they may be the Object of its View and Contemplation IN the Vision which we shall have above the whole Glory of Christ will be at once and always represented unto us and we shall be enabled in one act of the Light of Glory to comprehend it Here indeed we are at a loss our minds and understandings fail us in their Contemplations It will not yet enter into our hearts to conceive what is the beauty what is the Glory of this compleat Representation of Christ unto us To have at once all the Glory of what he is what he was in his outward State and Condition what he did and suffered what he is Exalted unto his Love and Condescention his Mystical Union with the Church and the Communication of himself unto it with the Recapitulation of all things in Him and the Glory of God even the Father in his Wisdom Righteousness Grace Love Goodness Power shining forth eternally in him in what he is hath done and doth all presented unto us in one view all comprehended by us at once is that which at present we cannot conceive We can long for it pant after it and have some foretasts of it namely of that State and Season wherein our whole Souls in all their powers and faculties shall constantly inseparably eternally cleave by Love unto whole Christ in the sight of the Glory of his Person and Grace until they are watered dissolved and inebriated in the Waters of Life and the Rivers of Pleasure that are above for evermore So must we speak of the things which we admire which we adore which we love which we long for which we have some foretasts of in sweetness ineffable which yet we cannot comprehend THESE are some few of those things whence ariseth the difference between that view which we have here of the Glory of Christ and that which is reserved for Heaven namely such as are taken from the difference between the means or instruments of the one and the other Faith and Sight IN the last place the great difference between them consists in and is manifested by their effects Hereof I shall give some few instances and close this discourse 1. THE Vision which we shall have of the Glory of Christ in Heaven and of the Glory of the immense God in him is perfectly and absolutely transforming It doth change us wholly into the Image of Christ. When we shall see him we shall be as he is we shall be like him because we shall see him 1 Joh. 3. 2. But although the closing perfecting act of this Transformation be an act of sight or the sight of Glory yet there are many things towards it or degrees in it which we may here take notice of in our way 1. THE Soul upon its Departure from the Body is immediately freed fom all the Weakness Disability Darkness Uncertainties and Fears which were impressed on it from the Flesh wherewith it was in the strictest Union The Image of the first Adam as fallen is then abolished Yea it is not only freed from all irregular sinful Distempers cleaving to our Nature as corrupted but from all those sinless Grievances and Infirmities which belong unto the Original Constitution of it This necessarily ensues on the Dissolution of the Person in order unto a blessed State The first entrance by Mortality into Immortallity is a step towards Glory The ease which a blessed Soul finds in a deliverance from this Encumbrance is a Door of entrance into eternal Rest. Such a change is made in that which in it self is the Center of all Evil namely Death that it is made a means of freeing us from all the Remainders of what is evil FOR this doth not follow absolutely on the Nature of the thing it self A meer Dissolution of our Natures can bring no Advantage with it especially as it is a part of the Curse But it is from the Sanctification of it by the Death of Christ. Hereby that which was Gods Ordinance for the Infliction of Judgment becomes an effectual Means for the Communication of Mercy 1 Cor. 5. 22. Chap. 15. 54. It is by vertue of the Death of Christ alone that the Souls of Believers are freed by Death from all impressions of Sin Infirmity and Evils which they have had from the Flesh which were their Burden under which they groaned all their Days No Man knows in any measure the Excellency of this Priviledge and the Dawnings of Glory which are in it who hath not been wearied and even worn out through long conflicting with the Body of Death The Soul hereon being freed from all Annoyances all Impressions from the Flesh is expedite and enlarged unto the Exercise of all its gracious Faculties as we shall see immediately WITH wicked Men it is not so Death unto them is a Curse and the Curse is the Means of the Conveyance of all Evil and not Deliverance from any Wherein they have been warmed and refreshed by the Influences of the Flesh they shall be deprived of it But their Souls in their separate State are perpetually harrased with the disquieting Passions which have been impressed on their Minds by their corrupt fleshly Lusts. In vain do such Persons look for Relief by Death If there be any thing
Means and principally by the Effects they produce in the real change of our Natures But in themselves we see but little of them The wind bloweth where it listeth and we hear the Sound thereof but we know not whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit Joh. 3. 8. All Gods real Operations in Heaven and Earth are incomprehensible as being Acts of infinite Power and we cannot search them out unto Perfection 3. ALL Communications from the Divine Being and infinite Fulness in Heaven unto glorified Saints are in and through Christ Jesus who shall for ever be the Medium of Communication between God and the Church even in glory All things being gathered into one head in him even things in Heaven and things in Earth that Head being in immediate dependence on God this Order shall never be dissolved Ephese 1. 10 11. 1 Cor. 3. 23. And on these Communications from God through Christ depends entirely our Continuance in a State of Blessedness and Glory We shall no more be self-subsistent in glory than we are in Nature or Grace 4. THE way on our part whereby we shall receive these Communications from God by Christ which are the eternal Springs of Life Peace Joy and Blessedness is this Vision the Sight whereof we speak For as it is expresly assigned thereunto in the Scripture so whereas it contains the perfect Operation of our Minds and Souls in a perfect State on the most perfect Object it is the only means of our Blessedness And this is the true Cause whence there neither is nor can be any Satiety or weariness in Heaven in the eternal Contemplation of the same glory For not only the Object of our sight is absolutely infinite which can never be searched into the bottom yea is perpetually new unto a finite understanding so our subjective Blessedness consisting in continual fresh Communications from the infinite Fulness of the Divine Nature derived unto us through Vision is always new and always will be so to Eternity Herein shall all the Saints of God drink of the Rivers of Pleasure that are at his Right Hand be satisfied with his Likeness and refresh themselves in the eternal Springs of Life Light and Joy for evermore THIS effect that View which we have by Faith of the glory of Christ in this World doth not produce It is Sanctifying not Glorifying The best of Saints are far from a perfect or glorified State in this Life And that not only on the account of the outward Evils which in their Persons they are exposed unto but also of the Weakness and Imperfection of their inward State in Grace Yet we may observe some things unto the Honour of Faith in them who have received it As 1. IN its due Exercise on Christ it will give unto the Souls of Believers some previous Participation of future glory working in them Dispositions unto and Preparation for the Enjoyment of it 2. THERE is no Glory no Peace no Joy no Satisfaction in this World to be compared with what we receive by that weak and imperfect View which we have of the Glory of Christ by Faith Yea all the Joys of the World are a thing of nought in Comparison of what we so receive 3. IT is sufficient to give us such a Perception such a Foretaste of future Blessedness in the Enjoyment of Christ as may continually stir us up to breath and pant after it But it is not Beatifical OTHER Differences of an alike Nature between our Beholding of the Glory of Christ in this Life by Faith and that Vision of it which is reserved for Heaven might be insisted on but I shall proceed no further There is nothing farther for us to do herein but that now and always we shut up all our Meditations concerning it with the deepest Self-abasement out of a Sense of our Unworthiness and Insufficiency to comprehend those things Admiration of that excellent Glory which we cannot comprehend and vehement Longings for that Season when he shall see him as he is be ever with him and know him even as we are known FINIS See Joh. 1. 18. Chap. 14. 7 8 9 10. 2 Cor. 4. 6. Col. 1. 16. Ephes. 3. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. Heb. 1. 2.