the Strong came Sweetness For we shall know as we are known We shall see God Our Saviour tells us This is Life Eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent The beginning and perfection of our Happiness consists in this knowledg The Deity is spiritual and invisible to the Eye of the Body infinite and incomprehensible to the Soul But we shall then so clearly understand the Divine Perfections that our present knowledg compar'd to that is but as the seeing a dark resemblance in a Glass to the clear view of a Person in the native beauty of his Face God is most gloriously present in Heaven For according to the degrees of excellence in the Work such are the impressions and discoveries of the Vertues of the Cause Now all sensible things in the low order of Nature are but weak resultances from his Perfections in comparison of their illustrious Effects in the Divine World The Glories of the Place and of the Inhabitants the Angels and Saints clearly express his Majesty Goodness and Power But in a transcendent manner he exhibits himself in the glorified Mediator He is stiled the Brightness of his Father's Glory and the express Image of his Person not only for his equal Perfections in respect of the unity of their Nature but to signifie that God in the Person of the incarnate Mediator is so fully represented to us that by the sight of him we see God himself in his unchangeable Excellencies This appears by the following words that having purged us from our sins he sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high for they respect the Son of God as united to the humane Nature in which he perform'd the Office of the Priesthood and took possession of his glorious Kingdom During his humble state the Divine Vertues Wisdom Goodness Holiness Power were so visible in his Person Life Revelations and miraculous Works that when Philip so long'd for the sight of the Father as the only consummate Blessedness Shew us the Father and it suffices He told him He that has seen me has seen the Father also But how brightly do they appear in his triumphant Exaltation 'T was his Prayer on Earth Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory Inestimable Felicity Whether we consider him in the respect of an Object that incomparably transcends all the created Glory of Heaven or in the relation of our Head on a double account partly because he was debased into the form of a Servant and suffered all Indignities and Cruelties of Sinners for us has received the Recompence of his Meritorious Sufferings the triumph of his Victory being glorifled with the Father with the Glory he had before the World was and partly because every Member shall be conformed to him in his Glory We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is And all Felicity and Glory is compriz'd in that Promise The sight of the Face of Moses when radiant had no transforming efficacy for the light of it was not in him as its source but by derivation But God is Light essentially and the sight of his Perfections will be productive of his Likeness in us so far as it may be in a restrained Subject When our Saviour was upon the holy Mount and one vanishing Beam of Glory appear'd in his Transfiguration Peter was so transported at the sight that he forgot the World and himself How ravishing then will the sight of him be in his triumphant Majesty when we shall be transfigured our selves 2. As we shall behold God's Face know his most amiable Excellencies so they shall love him as perfectly as they know him To the illustrations of the Mind there are correspondent impressions on the Heart In the present state our Love is imperfect and as Fire out of its sphere dies away by our neglect to feed it with proper materials enamouring considerations of God But 't is not so in Heaven there the Divine Sun attracts every Eye with the light of its Beauty and inflames every Heart with the heat of his Love The continual Presence of God is in different respects the Cause and Effect of our Love to him For there is no more powerful Attractive to love him than to see him And Love keeps the Thoughts undivided from him God is Love and will kindle in us a pure Affection that Eternity shall never lessen Our Affections that are now scattered on many things wherein some small Reflections of his Goodness appear shall joyn in one full Current in Heaven where God is all in all We shall then understand the riches of his Love that God who is infinitely happy in himself should make Man for such a Glory and such a Glory for Man And that when for his Rebellion he was justly expell'd from Paradise and under a sentence of Eternal Death God should please to restore him to his Favour and to give him a better state than was forfeited We shall then understand our infinite Obligations to the Son of God who descended from the Heaven of Heavens to our Earth and which is more from the Majesty wherein he there reign'd from the Glory wherein he was visible to the Angelical Minds and became Man for Men Redemption for the Lost to purchase Immortal Life for those who were dead to that blessed Life In short then God will express his Love to us in the highest degrees that a finite Creature is capable to receive from Love it self and we shall love him with all the strength of our glorified Powers 3. Compleat satisfaction flows from union with God by Knowledg and Love In his Presence is fulness of Joy at his Right-hand are Pleasures for ever The Causes and Excellencies of the Heavenly Life are in those words exprest The Causes are the influxive Presence of God the revelation of his attractive Perfections the beholding his Face the declaration of his peculiar Favour This our blessed Lord himself had a respect to as the compleat Reward of his Sufferings Thou shalt make me full of Joy with thy Countenance And his Right-hand his Bounty that dispenses and Power that secures that Felicity The Excellencies of this State are fulness of Joy and that without diminution or end When the Soul opens its eyes to the clear discoveries of the first Truth and its breast to the dear and intimate imbraces of the Supream Good beyond which nothing remains to be known nothing to be enjoy'd what a deluge of the purest Pleasures will overflow it We cannot ascend in our thoughts so high as to conceive the excess of Joy that attends those operations of the glorified Soul upon its proper Object But something we may conjecture 1. Those who are possest with a noble Passion for Knowledg how do they despise all lower Pleasures in comparison of it How do they forget themselves neglect the Body and retire into the
Mind the highest part of Man and nearest to God The bare apprehension of such things that by their internal nature have no attractive influence upon the Affections is pleasant to the Understanding As the appearance of Light though not attended with any other visible Beauties refreshes the Eye after long darkness so the clear discovery of Truths how abstract so-ever that were before unknown is grateful to the intellective Faculty Thus some have been strangely transported with the pleasures of a Mathematical Demonstration when the Evidence not the Importance of the Thing was so ravishing for what is more dry and barren of delight than the speculation of Figures and Numbers Solon when near his end and some of his Friends that visited him were speaking softly of a Point of Philosophy by a sound of Wisdom was awaken'd from the sleep of Death that was just seizing on him and opening his Eyes and raising his Head to give attention being ask'd the reason of it Answered That when * Vt cum istud quicquid est de quo disp it at is percepcro moriar Val. Max. I understand what you are discoursing of I may die Such was his delight in Knowledg that a little of it made his Agony insensible But here are many Imperfections that lessen this intellectual Pleasure which shall cease in Heaven Here the acquisition of Knowledg is often with the expence of Health the flower of the Spirits necessary for Natural Operations is wasted by intense thoughts How often are the Learned sickly As the Flint when 't is struck gives not a spark without consuming it self So Knowledg is obtain'd by Studies that waste our faint sensitive Faculties But then our Knowledg shall be a free emanation from the Spring of Truth without our labour and pains Here we learn by circuit and discern by comparing things our Ignorance is dispell'd by a gradual succession of Light But then Universal Knowledg shall be infused in a moment Here after all our labour and toyl how little Knowledg do we gain Every Question is a Labyrinth out of which the nimblest and most searching Minds cannot extricate themselves How many specious Errors impose upon our Understandings We look on things by false Lights through deceiving Spectacles But then our Knowledg shall be certain and compleat There is no forbidden Tree in the Celestial Paradise as no inordinate Affection But suppose that all things in the compass of the World were known yet still there would be emptiness and anguish in the Mind for the most comprehensive knowledg of things that are insufficient to make us happy cannot afford true Satisfaction But then we shall see God in all his Excellencies the supream Object and End the only Felicity of the Soul How will the sight of his Glory personally shining in our Redeemer in the first moment quench our extream thirst and fill us with joy and admiration 'T is not as the naked conception of Treasures that only makes rich in ideas but that Divine sight gives a real Interest in him The Angels are so ravish'd with the Beauties and Wonders of his Face that they never divert a moment from the contemplation of it 2. The pure Love of the Saints to God is then fully satisfied Love considered as an affection of Friendship is always attended with two desires to be assured of Reciprocal Love and to enjoy the Conversation of the Person beloved the testimony of his esteem and good-will This kind of * Aristot Affection seems to be inconsistent with that infinite distance that is between God and the Creature But though 't is disproportionable to the Divine Majesty 't is proportionable to his Goodness Accordingly our Saviour Promises He that loves me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self unto him And to confirm our belief of this astonishing Condescention repeats it If a Man love me my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him In the present state the signs of God's special favour are exhibited to his Friends Now he bestows on them the Honour of being his Sons the Graces and Comforts of his Spirit the precious Earnests of his Love and Seal of their Redemption But in eminency of degrees the effects of his Love are incomparably more glorious in Heaven Here the Saints are Adopted there Crown'd There he opens all the bright Treasures of his Wisdom the Riches of his Goodness the Beauties of his Holiness the Glories of his Power and by the intimate application of his Presence makes his Love most sensible to them O the mutual delights between God and glorified Souls God looks on them with an engaged Eye as his own by many dear Titles and is well-pleased in his own Goodness to them and ravish'd with the reflex of his own Excellencies shining in them As the Bridegroom rejoyces over the Bride 't is the Language of Divine Love so their God rejoyces over them And what a blessed Rest do they find in the compleat fruition of their Beloved All their desires quietly expire in his Bosom What Triumphs of Joy follow Can we frame a fuller Conception of Happiness than to be perfectly loved by infinite Goodness and perfectly to love him 3. The supreme Joy of the Saints is for the Felicity and Glory of God himself For as the Holy Soul feels no more powerful motive to love God than because he is most worthy of it as he is God a Being of infinite Excellencies and therefore to be loved above the dearest Persons and Things even it self so the highest Joy it partakes of is from this consideration That God is infinitely blessed and glorious For in this the supream desire of Love is accomplish'd that the most beloved Object is perfectly honour'd and pleased In Heaven the Love of the Saints to God is in its highest Perfection and they see his Glory in the most perfect manner which causes a transcendent Joy to them And this is one reason why the Saints though shining with unequal degrees of Glory are equally content For their most ardent Love being set on God that he is pleas'd to glorifie himself by such various communications of his Goodness is full satisfaction to their desires Besides in those different degrees of Glory every one is so content with his own * Sic itaque habebit donum aliud alio minus ut hic quoque donum habeat ne velit amplius Aug. that there is no possible desire of being but what he is 4. The full joy of Heaven shall continue without diminution or end First The number of Possessors cannot lessen it The Divine Presence is an unwasted Spring of Pleasure equally full and open to all and abundantly sufficient to satisfy the immensity of their desires Envy reigns in this World because earthly things are so imperfect in their Nature and so peculiar in their Possession that they cannot suffice nor be enjoyed by all But in
Friendship is in perfection and whatever is distastful by Mens folly and weakness is abolish'd The Psalmist breaks out in a Rapture Behold how good and pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in Vnity Love is the Beauty and Strength of Societies the Pleasure of Life How excellent is the Joy of the Blessed when the Prayer of Christ shall be accomplish'd that they all may be one As thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us God is absolutely One in his glorious Nature and Will and therefore unalterably happy And their inviolable Union in Love is a Ray of the Essential Unity between the sacred Persons There are no Divisions of Heart and Tongues as in this Babel but the most perfect and sweetest Concord an Eternal Agreement in Tempers and Inclinations There are no envious Comparisons for Love that affectively transforms one into another causes the Glory of every Saint to redound to the Joy of all Every one takes his share in the Felicity of all and adds to it Such is the power of that Celestial Fire wherein they all burn that it melts and mixes Souls in such an entire Union that by Complacence and an intimate Joy the Blessedness of all is as it were proper to every one as if every one were plac'd in the Hearts of all and all in the Heart of every one If in the Church of the first-born Christians in the earthly Jerusalem the Band of Charity was so strict that 't is said the Multitude of Believers were of one Heart and one Soul How much more intimate and inseparable is the Union of the Saints in Jerusalem above where every one loves another as himself 'T is recorded of Alexander that entring with Haephestion his Favourite into the Pavilion of Darius's Mother then his Prisoner she bowed to the Favourite as having a greater appearance of Majesty thinking him to be Alexander but advised of her Error she humbly begg'd his Pardon to whom the generous King repli'd Non errâsti Mater nam hic Alexander est Curt. l. 3. You did not err Mother for this is also Alexander Such was their Affection that whoever was taken of them the other was taken in him the less ascending in the greater without degrading the greater in the less This is a Copy of the holy Love of the Blessed but with the same difference as between the Description of a Star with a Coal and its Beauty in its proper Aspect And where all is Love all is Delight O how do they enjoy and triumph in the Happiness of one another With what an unimaginable tenderness do they embrace What Reciprocations of Endearments are between them O their ravishing Conversation and sweet Entercourse for their Presence together in Heaven is not a silent Show In the Transfiguration Moses and Elias talkt with Christ With what excellent Discourses do they entertain one another If David felt such inward pleasure from the sence of God's favours that he could not restrain the expression of it but invites the Saints Come and hear all ye that fear the Lord and I will tell you what he has done for my Soul Certainly in Heaven the Blessed with over-flowing Affections recount the Divine Benefits the admirable Methods whereby the Life of Grace was begun preserv'd and carried on in the midst of Temptations the continual Succession of Mercies in the time of their Hopes and the Consummation of all in the time of their Enjoyment How joyfully do they concur in their Thanksgivings to God for the goodness of Creation in making them reasonable Creatures capable to know love and enjoy Him when they might have been of the lowest Order in the whole Sphere of Beings for his compassionate Care and Providence over them in this World But especially for his Sovereign Mercy in electing them to be Vessels of honour for his powerful Grace in rescuing them from the cruel and ignominious bondage of Sin for his most free Love that justified them from all their Guilt by the Death of his only Son and glorified them with himself They are never weary in this delightful Exercise but continually bless him for his Mercy that endures for ever We may judge by the Saints here when they are in a fit disposition to praise God what Fervours they feel in their united Praises of him in Heaven The Psalmist in an Extasy calls to all the parts of the World to joyn with him The Lord reigns let the Heavens rejoyce and the Earth be glad let the Sea roar let the Fields be joyful and all that dwell therein He desires that Nature should be elevated above it self that the dead parts be inspir'd with life the insensible feel motions of joy and those that want a voice break forth in praises to adorn the Divine Triumph With what Life and Alacrity will the Saints in their blessed Communion celebrate the Object of their Love and Praises The Seraphims about the Throne cry'd to one another to express their Zeal and Joy in celebrating his Eternal Purity and Power and the Glory of his Goodness Oh the unspeakable Pleasure of this Concert when every Soul is harmonious and contributes his Part to the Musick of Heaven O could we hear but some Eccho of those Songs wherewith the Heaven of Heavens resounds some remains of those Voices wherewith the Saints above triumph in the Praises in the solemn Adoration of the King of Spirits how would it inflame our desires to be joyn'd with them Blessed are those that are in thy House they always praise Thee 2. The fulness of Joy in Heaven is undecaying for the causes of it are always equal And those are the Beatifick Object reveal'd and the uninterrupted Contemplation of it Whilst we are here below the Sun of Righteousness as to our perception and sence has ascensions and declinations accesses and recesses And our Earth is not so purified but some Vapours arise that intercept his chearfull refreshing Light From hence there are alternate successions of Spiritual Comforts and Sorrows of Doubts and filial Confidence in the Saints 'T is a rare favour of Heaven when an humble Believer in his whole course is so circumspect as not to provoke God to appear displeased against him When a Christian as those tutelar Angels spoken of in the Gospel always beholds the face of his Heavenly Father and converses with him with an holy Liberty And what a torment the hiding of God's face is to a deserted Soul only they know who feel it External troubles are many times attended with more Consolations to the Spirit than Afflictions to Sense but to love God with a transeendent Affection and to fear he is our Enemy no punishment exceeds or is equal to it As his Loving-kindness in their esteem is better than Life so his Displeasure is worse than Death How do they wrestle with God by Prayers and Tears and offer as it were a holy Violence to the King of Heaven to
is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit According to the quality of the Principle such is what proceeds from it The Flesh is a corrupt Principle and accordingly the natural Man is wholly carnal in his Propensions Operations and End The Disease is turn'd into his Constitution He is dead to the Spiritual Life to the Actions and Enjoyments that are proper to it Nay there is in him a surviving Principle of Enmity to that Life not only a mortal coldness to God but a stiff aversion from him a perpetual resistance and impatience of the Divine Presence that would disturb his voluptuous enjoyments The Exercises of Heaven would be as the Torments of Hell to him while in the midst of those pure Joys his inward inclinations vehemently run into the lowest Lees of Sensuality And therefore till this contrariety so deep and predominant in an unholy PersOn be removed 't is utterly impossible he should enjoy God with satisfaction Holiness alone prepares Men for the possession of Celestial Happiness that is against the corruption and above the perfection of meer Nature Let us then having such a Joy set before us lay aside every weight and the Sin which doth so easily beset us and run with patience the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith Methinks the sight of worldly Men so active and vigilant to prosecute their low Designs should quicken us to seek with the greater diligence and alacrity the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof A carnal Wretch urged by the sting of a brutish desire with what impatience does he pursue the pleasure of Sin which is but for a season An Ambitious Person with what an intemperate height of Passion does he chase a Feather A Covetous Man how greedily does he prosecute the Advantages of the present World that passes away and the Lusts thereof Ah! how do they upbraid our indifferent desires or dull delays and cold endeavours when such an high Prize is set before us Who is able to conceive the excess of Pleasure the Soul feels when it first enters through the beautiful Gate of Paradise and sees before it that incomprehensible Glory and hears a Voice from Him that sits upon the Throne Enter into thy Master's Joy for ever to be happy with him The serious belief of this will draw forth all our active Powers in the Service of God The feeding by lively thoughts on this supernatural Food will add new vigor and lustre to our Graces and make our Victory easy over the World If we believe indeed that our Bodies shall be spiritual and our Souls divine in their perfections it will make us resolute to subdue the Reble Flesh and rescue the captiv'd Spirit from all Intanglements of Iniquity Having the promise of such an excellent Reward let us always abound in the Work of the Lord. 3. The lively hope of this Blessedness is powerful to support us under the greatest Troubles can befal us in this our mortal condition Here we are tost upon the alternate waves of Time but hereafter we shall arrive at the Port the blessed Bosom of our Saviour and enjoy a peaceful calm and so we shall ever be with the Lord. Words of infinite sweetness This is the Song of our Prosperity and Charm of our Adversity We shall ever be with the Lord. Well might the Apostle add immediately after therefore comfort one another with these words More particularly They are a Lenitive to moderate our Sorrows upon the departure of our dearest Friends who die in the Lord for they ascend from this Valley of Tears to the happy Land of the Living What Father is so deserted of Reason as to bear impatiently the parting with his Son that goes over a narrow part of the Sea to a rich and pleasant Country and receives the investiture and peaceable possession of a Kingdom Nay by how much the stronger his Love is so much the more transporting is his Joy especially if he expects shortly to be with him to see him on the Throne in the state of a King and to partake of his happiness If then it be impossible to Nature to be grieved at the felicity of one that is loved according to what Principle of Nature or Faith do Believers so uncomfortably lament the Death of Friends of whom they have assurance that after their leaving our Earth they enter into an everlasting Kingdom to receive a Crown of Glory from Christ himself Our Saviour tells the Disciples If ye loved me ye would rejoyce because I said I go to my Father to sit down at his right-hand in Majesty A pure Affection directly terminates in the happiness and exaltation of the Person that is loved I am not speaking against the exercise of tender Affections on the loss of our dear Friends and the pensive feeling of God's hand in it which is a natural and necessary duty There is a great difference betwen Stupidity and Patience but violent Passion or unremitting Sorrow is most unbecoming the blessed Hope assur'd to us in the Gospel Chrysostom treating of this Argument and reflecting upon the custom of those Times wherein at Funeral Solemnities a train of Mourning Women attended the Corps tearing their Hair and Face and crying out with all the expressions of desperate Sorrow breaks forth Ah Christian Faith and Religion that was triumphant over thine Enemies in so many Battels and Victories by the Blood and Death of the Martyrs how art thou contradicted by the practice of these who profess thee in words Is this not to be sorrowful as those that have no hope Are these the affections the expressions of one that believes the blessedness of Immortal Life What will the Heathens say How will they be induc'd to believe the Promises of Christ to his Servants of a glorious Kingdom when those who are so in title behave themselves as if they had no stedfast Faith in them 4. The hopes of this blessed state is able to free us from the fear of Death This last Enemy gives a hot Alarm to Mankind both as it deprives them of all that is pleasant here and for the terrible consequences that attend it To the Eye of Sense a dead Body is a spectacle of fearful appearance He that a little before heard and discours'd and with a chearful Air convers'd and enjoy'd the World now is dead and all his Senses in him the Eyes are dead to light and the Ears to sounds the Tongue to words the Heart to feel any affections and the Countenance to discover them nothing remains but silence horrour and corruption Besides after Death comes Judgment and a state of unrelenting Torments to the wicked But a true Believer that has been obedient to his Saviour sees things by another Light than that of sense and has living hopes in his dying Agonies He knows that Death to the Saints is but a sleep and while the Body rests in the Grave the
were enough to bring them to Damnation yea they would not be an hour out of Hell assoon as God should enter his Action against them 6. Though they are not perfect yet they are not wicked there is enough to difference the Godly from the Ungodly Job 10.7 Thou knowest I am not wicked Though all Men be Sinners yet some have escaped the Reign of Sin We must distinguish our selves 1 John 3.10 In this the Children of God are manifested and the Children of the Devil whosoever doth not Righteousness is not of God Many Arguments will shew the Necessity of this First From the Nature of God who is a God of exact Purity glorious Majesty impartial Justice and infinite Knowledge All which shew the need of Mercy 1. The Holy Nature of God When he is upon his Judicial Process here in the World who is able to endure it The Men of Bethshemesh said 1 Sam. 6. Who is able to stand before this Holy Lord God That is because he shews himself so Zealous of his Institutions And Josh 24.19 Ye cannot serve the Lord for he is a Holy God He speaks not this to discourage them but that they might not have slight thoughts of God and his Service as if he did make little reckoning of Sin or that it were not so hateful to him and so great a Matter as usually it is made to be Slight Spirits wonder why Men make such ado about Sin What harm is it say they to take a little forbidden Pleasure or to indulge a wanton Thought or drop a vain Word These Men are ignorant of the Purity and Holiness of God therefore their Humiliation and Repentance is thought needless their Sense of the Necessity and Benefit of Pardon lessen'd their Awe and Watchfulness abated What thoughts they have of Sin the same they think God hath Psal 50.21 Thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thy self They make light work of Sin either in repenting or watching and striving against it Certainly they that have slight thoughts of Sin never have great thoughts of God If we think seriously of the Purity and Holiness of God it would be another Matter and it would not so lightly go off the Conscience 2. There is the glorious Majesty of God He is a Sovereign and all his Recompences are Acts of Grace and not of Debt Job saith Job 19.15 Though I were righteous I would not answer but I would make Supplication to my Judge Whatever Sense we have of our own Integrity and the Good wrought in us yet Supplications for Mercy do become the Creature For God is our Sovereign and represented there as our Supreme Judge whose Tribunal none can decline whose Examination and Trial is most strict and accurate whose Doom and Sentence is decisive and absolute without power of appealing or repealing and the Execution and Punishment most dreadful Therefore nothing becomes us so much as a broken-hearted Imploring of Grace and Mercy God is so great and glorious that we can merit nothing at his hands all that is done to us must be meer Grace This is the Difference between Sin and Obedience the Heinousness of Sin is always aggravated by the greatness of the Object against whom it is committed but the Value of Obedience is still thereby lessened The Offence is aggravated To strike an Officer is more than to strike a private Man a King more than an ordinary Officer so the Infinite Majesty of God greatens the Offence But on the other side the greater God is and the more glorious the more it lessens the Value of that Good we perform We can never oblige him When we have done all that ever we can we are but unprofitable Servants Luk. 17.10 Mercy is the Fountain of all that we are and hope for That Grace which first accepted us with all our Faults doth at last crown us 3. The Impartial Justice of God That belongs to him as Governour of the World There is a threefold Justice in God 1. His general Justice That requires Vt bonis benè sit malis malè That it should be well with them that do well and ill with them that do ill This is spoken of 2 Thess 1.6 7. It is a righteous thing with God to render Tribulation unto them that trouble you and unto you that are troubled Rest. 2. His strict Justice according to the Covenant of Works If God should deal with us according to our undeservings and ill-deservings not in a way of gracious Compassion what would become of the best of Men in the World Not one of us could appear in Court. For there is not a Man found that hath not some Fault and Failing which would render him uncapable of God's Favour If he should proceed in just Severity against us who could stand not only who among the wicked but who among the People of God Psal 130.14 Therefore that Judgment must be deprecated as David doth Psal 143.2 Enter â—â—t into Judgment with thy Servant for in thy sight shall no Man living be justified It is impossible for such a frail sinful Creature as Man is to appear before God's exact Tribunal with any Comfort and Hope Now because this strict Justice of God leaves us in such a desperate and hopeless Condition there is another Court set up to which we may appeal even the Covenant of Grace which alloweth Pardon to penitent and sincere Believers 3. There is his merciful Justice according to Promise in the new Covenant Heb. 6.10 God is not unrighteous to forget the Work and Labour of Love 1 John 1.9 He is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all Vnrighteousness Not that the Work deserveth his Grace but God having made himself a Debtor by his own Promise it is just that he should make it good Now this is the same we speak of in the Text The Lord grant that he may find Mercy in that Day 〈◊〉 It is his Grace to enable us to perform the Condition and it is his merciful Justice to accept of it when it is performed 4. His Infinite Knowledge by which he takes notice of all that we do We may be blinded with Partiality and self-Self-love but the Holy and All-seeing God knows many Faults which Men either cannot or will not see 1 Cor. 4.9 I know nothing of my self yet am I not hereby justified Some of God's People have attain'd to new Covenant-Righteousness yet they dare not venture their Eternal Estate upon that alone Suppose our Hearts condemn us in part we know somewhat by our selves yet God knoweth more 1 John 3.20 For if our Hearts condemn us God is greater than our Hearts and knows all thins Things appear otherwise to the Holy God than they do to us Luk. 16.15 And he said unto them Ye are they who justify your selves before Men but God knoweth their Hearts for that which is highly esteemed among Men is an Abomination in the sight of God God many