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
Heaven none is touch'd with that low base passion for God contains all that is precious desirable in the highest Degrees of Perfection and all partake of the influence of his Universal Goodness without intercepting one another In the Kingdom above there is no cause for the Elder Brother to repine at the Father's Bounty to the Younger nor for the Younger to supplant the Elder to obtain the Birth-right The Heirs of God are all rais'd to Sovereign Glory Every one enjoys him as entirely and fully as if solely his felicity God is a Good as indivisible as infinite and not diminish'd by the most liberal communications of Himself We may illustrate this by comparing the Price of our Redemption and the Reward The Death of Christ is an universal benefit to all the Saints yet 't is so applied to every Believer for his perfect Redemption as if our Saviour in all his Agonies and Sufferings had no other in his Eye and Heart as if all his Prayers his Tears his Blood were offer'd up to his Father only for that Person The common respect of it the Apostle declares in those admirable words that signifie such an excess of God's Love to us He that spared not his own Son but deliver'd him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things But to imagine that * Et totum se dedit universis totum singulis Ac per hoc quicquid passione sua Salvator praestitit sicut totum ei debent universi sic singuli nisi quod prope hoc plus singuli quam universi quod totum acceperunt singuli quantum universi Salvian the propriety of every Believer is thereby prejudiced is not only false but extreamly injurious to the Merit and Dignity and to the infinite Love of Christ Therefore the same Apostle tells us The Life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me as if he were the sole Object of Christ's Love the End and Reward of his Sufferings And this appropriating of it to himself is no prejudice to the rights of all others St. John describes himself by that truly glorious Title The Disciple whom Jesus loved Could he speak this of himself without the injury and indignation of the other Disciples Certainly he might For if we consider that incomprehensible Love of Christ exprest to them all at his last Supper after Judas was gone forth As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you We may easily understand that every one of them might justly believe that he was singularly beloved of Christ They were all received in the Heart though with John they did not all lean on the Breast of their Divine Master Thus in Heaven God is the Universal Treasure of all the Saints and the peculiar Portion of every one * Si audiat multitudo silens non inter se particulatim comminnunt sonos tanquam cibos sed omne quod sonat omnibus totum est singulis totum August in Epist ad Volusan As by his Essence he equally fills the whole World and every part of it and by his Providence equally regards all and every particular Creature so in Heaven he dispenses the Riches of his Love to all that they cannot desire more if every one of them were if I may so express it the only begotten of the only begotten himself the sole Heir of all the Merits of his Son Every Saint may with the inflamed Spouse break forth in that Triumph of Love My Beloved is mine and I am his Nay the great number of the glorifi'd Saints is so far from lessening their Joy that it unspeakably encreases it The innumerable Company of Angels and the General Assembly of the Church of the First-born next to the happiness of enjoying God are a chief part of Heaven An unfeigned ardent Affection unites that pure Society Our Love is now kindled either from a relation in Nature or some visible Excellencies that render a Person worthy of our choice and friendship but in Heaven the Reasons are greater and the degrees of Love incomparably more fervent All Carnal Alliances and Respects cease in that Supernatural State The Apostle tells us If I have known Christ after the flesh I know him so no more By the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ he was transported into another World and had communion with him as an Heavenly King without low regards to the temporal priviledge of conversing with him on Earth The Spiritual relation is more near and permanent than the strictest band of Nature The Saints have all relation to the same Heavenly Father and to Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace and Head of that happy Fraternity The principal motive of Love here is for the inherent Excellencies of a Person Wisdom Goodness Holiness are mighty Attractives and produce a more worthy Affection a more intimate Confederacy of Souls than propinquity in Nature David declares that all his delight was in the Excellent But there are allays of this Noble Love here For 1. There are reliques of Frailty in the best Men on Earth some Blemishes that render them less amiable when discovered Here their Graces are mixt Infirmities and but ascending to Glory Accordingly our Love to them must be regular and serene not clouded with Error mistaking defects for amiable qualities But in Heaven the Image of God is compleat by the union of all the glorious Vertues requisit to its perfection Every Saint there exactly agrees with the first Exemplar is transformed according to the primitive beauty of Holiness No spot or wrinkle remains or any such thing that may cast the least aspect of deformity upon them 2. In the present state the least part of the Saints worth is visible As the Earth is fruitful in Plants and Flowers but its Riches are in the Mines of precious Metals the veins of Marble hidden in its bosom True Grace appears in sensible Actions but its Glory is within The sincerity of Aims the purity of Affections the impresses of the Spirit on the Heart the interiour Beauties of Holiness are only seen by God Besides such is the humility of eminent Saints that the more they abound in Spiritual Treasures the less they shew As the Heavenly Bodies when in nearest conjunction with the Sun and fullest of light make the least appearance to our sight But all their Excellencies shall then be in view The Glory of God shall be revealed in them And how attractive is the Divine Likeness to an holy Eye How will it ravish the Saints to behold an immortal Loveliness shining in one another Their Love is mutual and reflexive proportionable to the Cause of it An equal constant Flame is presery'd by pure materials Every one is perfectly amiable and perfectly enamour'd with all Now can we frame a fuller Conception of Happiness than such a State of Love wherein whateyer is pleasant in
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
Perfection of Degrees Perfection is still required otherwise our Defects were nothing and we might allow our selves in our Failings and no great Harm would come of it And then to strive after Perfection or to press towards the Mark would not be a necessary Duty but only a Work of Super-errogation No it doth invite us to the highest Degree of Godliness and makes the Endeavour after Perfection a necessary Condition of our Happiness as Perfection it self to be our proper Happiness And so our Duty and Felicity do agree that we may not have any liberty to be bad and miserable But yet it accepteth of Sincerity if our Hearts be upright with God and our whole Mind and Desire be set to obey please and glorify him and we make it our main Work so to do God will not enter into Judgment with his Servants nor be strict and severe to his Children nor condemn those that love and fear him for lesser Failings and Infirmities nor take that Occasion to ruine and destroy them Indeed as the new Covenant commandeth Perfection it noteth our Infirmities to humble us in order to our Cure Christ as a Physician looks to our Infirmities to rid us of them and free us from them but not as a Judge to condemn us for them But yet because of the multitude of our Errors the holiest and humblest and most penitent believing Soul is scarce able to abide the Trial. Therefore when we have done our utmost Mercy in that Day is our greatest and surest Support 4thly With respect to the Day of Judgment 1. The Preparation that is necessary Since Christ is ready to judg and we know not the Day and Hour of his Coming we should be ready to be judged A sad Meeting and Greeting there will be between Christ and an unprepared Soul Therefore it concerns us deeply to see whether we be ready to give up our Account to God Now there is a twofold Readiness when you are in a safe Condition and when you are in a comfortable Case with respect to that Day All that are in a safe Case know not that they are in a comfortable Case know not that it shall go well with them in the Judgment Our Safety is known by the Law of Grace for Christ will judge according the Gospel Rom. 2.16 Whom the Gospel doth justify they shall be justified and whom the Gospel doth condemn they shall be condemned The Rules of judging are in the Word but every one cannot apply them Now the Gospel justifieth all that repent and believe By Repentance meaning a Turning in Heart and Life to God and by Faith a believing what Christ hath done for the Restauration and Salvation of Sinners and an accepting and making use of him to this End But these things are not wrought in us as easily as they are spoken of And when they are wrought in us they are not so soon evidenc'd that we have Repentance unto Life and Faith unfeigned Now then is it not a necessary Prayer whilst we are in the midst of our Doubts and Conflicts that we may find Mercy in that day 2. The strict Trial that we must undergo The Day of Judgment is the greatest and most dreadful Day that ever was when it is Matter of Sense as now it is Matter of Faith If a Man had it he would give all the World for Mercy in that Day For then the Judg will come from Heaven with a shout and the Books shall be opened Rev. 10.12 the Book of Conscience and the Book of God's Remembrance and every thing must be produced in the Judgment whether it be Good or Evil Eccles 12.14 Now the thought of this should make us humbly to sue out our Pardon Then intreaty is of no use but now it may steed us and no request becomes us so much As Mercy Lord in that Day If we miscarry then we are undone for ever but if accepted then we are blessed indeed to all eternity 3. The greatness of the Blessings we expect which beyond all proportion excel our best Endeavours Eternal Mercy is at the bottom of all God's proceedings with us Now the least comfort that he bestows upon us comes from his Mercy and Grace and should work a deep sense of it in our Hearts Gen. 32.10 I am not worthy of the least of all thy Mercies and of all thy Truth which thou hast shewed unto thy Servant But then there will be the fullest and largest manifestation of God's Love and Favour to us 1 Pet. 1.13 Hope to the end for the Grace that is to be brought to us at the Resurrection of Jesus Christ There is Grace brought to us now by the Revelation of Jesus Christ in the Gospel in some measure but hereafter by that Revelation we shall see his Grace and Mercy more fully and perfectly We see his Grace in the pardon of Sins and that measure of Sanctification and Renovation which we attain unto that he is pleased to pass by our Offences and to take us into his Family and give us a taste of his Love and a right to the Heavenly Kingdom and will any way imploy us in his Service But then it is another manner of Grace and Favour Indeed when our Pardon and Approbation shall be pronounced and ratified by our Judg's own Mouth Acts 3.17 Then times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. When he shall not only take us into his Family but into his Presence and Palace that we may dwell with him for ever John 12.26 Not only give us a Right but Possession Matth. 25.34 Not see Christ by Faith but by Sight 1 John 3.2 See our Persons admitted into the nearest fruition of God that may be and we are capable of Not only have some remote Service and Ministration but everlastingly imployed in loving and delighting in God and praising of God with all those Heavenly Creatures who are our Eternal Companions in this Work This is Grace and Mercy indeed The Grace of God or his Favour to Sinners is never seen in all its graciousness till then Then the praise of his glorious Grace doth shine forth Ephes 1.6 We cry Grace Grace now when we taste his Love but then we have the full and uninterrupted communion of it We have much of his Mercy now For we are justified freely by his Grace Rom. 3.24 Of his abundant Mercy he hath begotten us to a lively hope 1 Pet. 1.3 Grace is as free now as then but then it is more full No more trouble with Infirmities or Necessities The consideration of these things should press us to three things To be Serious Humble and Thankful 1. Serious in our preparation for our great Account The Judgment is so exact and impartial that the choicest of God's Servants are fain to refer their whole claim to Mercy The Business is weighty we are to be judged to Life or Death and both are Everlasting we have need to be serious in it The