Pet. 1.19 He bought the Inheritance for them and them for the Inheritance at the same price This is the first thing implyed in Fruition Propriety without which the vision were no way beatifical for how can that make me happy which I have no title to or interest in Tolle meum tolle Deum Take away mine and ye take away Heaven yea take away mine and ye take away God good is no farther good to me than as it is mine and as I may warrantably claim my right to it and interest in it A second Property of Fruition is Possession 2. Ingredient Possession the Saints have not only propriety in Heaven but Possession of Heaven when their dearest and sweetest Lord left the world and ascended to his Father they took possession of Heaven in him as in their great Representative and Head Joh. 14.2 But when they ascended to him now they take possession of it in their own persons They had livery and seasin given them by the Father upon the consummation of their marriage with his dear Son Jesus Christ their Royal Bridegroom And it was done in the presence of the eternal Spirit the publick Notary of Heaven 1 John 5.8 All the holy Angels standing by as so many Witnesses so that God himself could not make Heaven surer to them than he hath made it While the Saints were upon earth Heaven was theirs but it was only in reversion and they counted themselves blessed in that Matth. 5.3 But now reversion is turned into possession the Saints hold nothing in Heaven by reversion that title ceaseth there All the Beatitudes in Heaven are present possession God and Christ and the Holy Ghost Angels and Saints and all the glory of the upper world are so many possessions the Saints are possest of God and possest of Christ and possessed of the Holy Ghost and possest of glory as on the contrary the damned in hell are possest of the Devil they are possest of hell and of utter darkness and of the worm that shall never dye c. Oh dreadful possession Hope was once their tenure Titus 1.2 Rom. 5.1 In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lye c. And they rejoyced in it Ye rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God and they blessed God for it Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus which hath begotten us again unto a lively hope c. of which hope faith was the substance and basis Heb. 11.1 and even this hope was very precious unto them a little heaven upon earth save that now and then some clouds of fear and doubts did interpose between heaven and their dim eye and so eclipsed their vision But faith and hope did set them down at the gate of heaven and then with Moses died in the mount and took leave of them for ever And if faith was so precious to them then what is sight now If hope made their hearts not seldom leap for joy how doth possession now fill them with joy unspeakable and glorious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above all hyperbolye of expression Object If any should be so critical as to object In heaven the Saints live in the hope and faith of the continuance of heaven We make use of the Apostles Maxime for Answer Hope seen is not hope Rom. 8.24 All the glory of heaven is seen and all is present there is no futurity in heaven heaven iâ— but one point of eternity 1 Cor 13. last the Saints have all beatitudes and all at once in God now abideth indeed faith and hope but then possession Mat. 18.1 They shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven The Kingdom of Heaven is theirs and they shall sit by it All the precious priviledges of the Gospel which cost Christ so dear are now perfected into full possession Adoption is now perfect now they are the Sons of God and they know what it is to be the Sons of God Justification is now compleat Sanctification is now at perfect age In a word all their hopes are now their inheritance This is fruition A third Ingredient of which Fruition doth consist 3. Property Intimacy is Intimacy Propriety and Possession are not sufficient to constitute fruition Mutual converse will not serve the turn without intimate communion Communion not with one anothers persons only but with one anothers spirits this is fruition when friends are possest of one anothers heart and one anothers spirits In Heaven there is not mutual cohabitation only but mutual inhabitation 1 John 4.16 This is the great beatitude of heaven even vital vision with all the beatifying objects thereof mutual in dwelling and mutual in being God dwells in the Saints and the Saints dwell in God It was so here God is Love He that dwells in love dwelleth in God and God in him The Saints love to God is now made perfect without a figure and as their love is so is their mutual in being perfect I in them John 17.23 and they in me that they may be made perfect in one Perfect according to the supreme Exemplar verse 21 As thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may he one in us This also had its imitation on earth it hath now its consummation in heaven the Saints can be no nearer God than they are Essential union is the sole prerogative of the glorious Trinity They dwell also in Christ I in them and they in me Eternity is their wedding day Heaven their bride-chamber their bed of love is the heart of Christ and it is alwayes green alwayes fresh and alwayes flourishing with interchangeable loves There the Saints see the place where they were conceived from all eternity and read the very original thoughts wherewith their Redeemer and Bridegroom loved them when as yet they were not formed in their Mothers belly and their Epithalamium or Nuptial song is I am my Beloveds and my Beloved is mine Cant. 2 1â— they began this Song in the day of their espousals and continue it in their everlasting wedding-wedding-day which they celebrate in mutual embraces and festivities joying in one another and glorying in one another delighting themselves in mutual appropriations and appreciations mutually contemplating and commending one anothers beauties and perfections Behold thou art fair my Love behold thou art fair and there is no spot in thee The Angels and Saints in light behold they dwell not with one another only but in one another they inhabit as it were in one anothers hearts That primative Congregation Acts 4. was a lively type of this Royal Congregation of the first-born Acts 2.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Crederes unam aniâ—am in omnibus â—esse divisam Chap. 4.32 They are all with one accord in one place so these one place holds them all and one soul animateth and acts them all The whole multitude of Saints in heaven are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
God they can afford him little ground of Confidence alas hinc illae lachryâ—ae hence his fears and doubts and diffidence do arise His Prayers need Pardon his Tears need washing Job 10. his very Righteousness will Condemn him here is no place for the sole of his foot to stand uponâ— If thou Lord should'st mark iniquity O Lord Psal 30.3 who shall stand Gal. 2.19 This was that which scared Paul from coming to the Law for Justification Why saith he I through the Law am dead to the Law q. d. That I seek not to the Law for Justification and Life The Law may thank it self I come to the Law for Justification and it convinceth me of sin I plead my innocence that I am not so great a Sinner as others are I plead my Righteousness my duties and good meanings and good desires and it tells me They are all too leight the best of my duties will not save me but the least of my sins will damn me It tells me mine own Righteousnesses do Job 9.20.21 as filthy rags defile me and my duties themselves do witness against me I plead Repentance and it laughs me to scorn It tells me my Repentance needs Pardon and my Tears need washing Besides if they were never so good What careth it for my Repentance It looketh for my Obedience perfect and personal which because I have not it tells me I am Cursed and pronounceth Sentence and when it hath so done it hath no mercy at all for me though I seek it carefully with Tears What can I expect from so severe a Judg I l'e come no more at that Tribunal Behold I appeal to the Gospel there Repentance will pass and Tears will find pitty there imperfect obedience so sincere will find acceptance though not to Justification There there is a better Righteousness provided for me an exact perfect Righteousness as perfect as that of the Law for it is indeed the very Righteousness of the Law though not performed by me yet by my Surety for me The Lord my Righteousness I here 's a foundation for the feet of my Faith to stand upon here I can have pardon of all my debts though the Law will not abate me one farthing here be long white Robes though I never spun a thread of them with my own fingers To this Tribunal will I come and here will I wait for my Justification If I Perish I Perish Yea here Obj. may one say is foundation for presumption to stand on here 's a Bed for Security to sleep in here 's a doctrine to send men merrily to Hell while they break the Law to tell them There is one that hath fulfilled it for them while they sin Christ hath Righteousness enough to justifie them Surely this is a doctrine that makes God not only the Justifier of Sinners but the Justifier of sin too So disputed the Free-will men of those times against the Apostles and so the Free-will men of our times against us but for Answer 1. Answ The Apostle disclaims the Consequence with a vehement negation Absit q. d. God forbid any one should be so impudent to force such a scandalous Conclusion upon such immaculate Premises 2. He shews the reason of it and the reason is taken from the New Covenant wherein God hath inseparably joyned the merit of Christs Cross and the power of Christs Cross together in so much that whosoever hath a share in the merit of the Cross for Justification hath also an interest in the power of his Cross for Mortification He instanceth in himself Verse 20. I am Crucified with Christ q. d. While through grace I appeal to the merit of Christ's death for my Justification I can also through grace evidence my appeal to be Scriptural by the power of the Cross whereby the World is Crucified to me and I to the World Gal. 6.14 And as it is with me so it is with all truly justified persons for they that are Christ's have Crucified the flesh with the Lusts and Affections thereof They have Crucified them Gal. 5.24 and they do Crucifie them they are upon the Cross and with their Lord and Redeemer refuse to come down till they can say with him It is finished therefore let the scandal of the Cross and of Justification cease for ever The Sinner's necessity to such a justification in the day of Judgment Phil. 3.6 Inveniri in Christo tacitam habet relationem ad Dei judicium in ijs nullam invenit condemnationem quia justitiá qualem esse requirit i. e. perfectâ ac cumulatâ exornatos nos invenit nempe justitia Christi per sidem nebis imputaâ—a Bern. in loc Secondly The other indispensable necessity the Sinner hath of such a Righteousness to his Justification is For the securing of his Appearance in the day of Judgment The great Apostle who had as fair a shew for a legal Justification as any other in the world protesteth he dares not think of appearing without this positive Righteousness in the last and dreadful Judgment But oh that I may be found in him not having mine own Righteousness which is of the Law In Him in Christ not in my self in his Mediatory Righteousnes not in mine own Personal Righteousnesses away with them they are but filthy Rags rotten Clouts dogs-meat in comparison of Christ's Robes Give me the Righteousness which is of God by Faith of Gods Ordination and of Faith's Application That that the Righteousness of the Law fulfilled by Christ in my behalf and then the Law cannot say black is mine eye I fear it not In that if I appear not I am undone for ever Behold here is the Sinner's necessity of such a Justification Peace of Conscience and Boldness in the day of Judgment I come to the fourth Accompt The Excellency of the Redeemer This way of justifying believing Sinners doth infinitely become the excellency of our glorious Redeemer set forth Heb. 7.26 Such an high Priest became us saith the Apostle who is holy harmless undefiled separate from Sinners made higher than the Heavens Holy By Gods special and immediate Vnction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Consecration of him to his office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Harmeless He did no sin neither was there guile found in his mouth 1 Pet. 2.22 He that would expiate the guilt of others must have none of his own so expounded Verse 27. Vndefiled Immaculate in respect of his humane Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as of the divine without the lest stain or spot of a sinful Nature in him to the same end also he must be Separate from Sinners conceived and born 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not after the Law of other the Sons Daughters of Adam for that which is born of flesh is flesh Made higher than the Heavens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. of an higher Perfection than all created Powers in Heavenly Places whether Angels or
which shall fill the memory and the remembrance of them comparing the type with the antitype if I may so say things past with things present will fill the Soul with admiration and delight If any thing of evil do occur whether of sin affliction as soon as ever it enters within that glorious firmament it loseth the nature of evil and is naturalized into matter of rejoycing and thankfulness In a word the entire Image of God Eph. 5.1 It was their duty in the state of grace it shall be their infinite dignity in the state of glory which was imprinted upon the Soul in the first Creation and reprinted upon it though in an imperfect character in the new Creation shall now be perfected to the life in the Regeneration the Saints shall be as like God as ever they can look as like God as ever Children were like their Father so that there will be nothing but looking and liking the one upon the other Prevent that holy gaze now oh ye children of the most high God be often taken up in the beholding and contemplation of the face of your heavenly Father behold will it not Quicken you to duty Comfort you in your droopings Cause you to overlook the contempt of the world with an holy pride And even be the dawnings of glory upon your faces whereby some line and lineaments of beauty shall be added daily to that blessed draught begun already against that day Once more before we go off from this pleasing contemplation add we The very bodies of the Saints shall share in this blessed conformity as well as the soul It had its degree in the first Paradise man had a kind of resemblance to God in the very make of his body The bodies of the Saints Os homini sublims dâ—dit caelumque tueri jussit c. beautiful upright active no such visible picture of God in Heaven or Earth as man was not Sun Moon or Stars not Earth and Sea or the visible Heavens themselves have so much of their Maker in them as the body of man his very corporeal sences had much of God in them they were Vestigia Dei though not Imago one might easily have known who was their Father But now in glory saith the Apostle Our vile body shall be fashioned like unto his glorious body Phil. 3.21 The glorified body of Christ next to the divine essence to which it is hypostatically united shall be the glory and the wonder of Heaven and our body saith the Apostle shall be like his conformable unto his glorious body What a mirrour of glory will the Saints be in their souls conform'd to the divine nature and their body conform'd to the glory of the humane nature of Jesus Christ the Lord of glory Oh wonderful astonishing transfiguration Well said the Apostle It doth not yet appear what we shall be surely eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither can it enter into the heart of man c. This will be an infinite compensation to the Saints of God for all their holy endeavours of being like to God that as obedient Children they have been followers of their heavenly Father Eph. 5.1 and for all the reproaches and abasements they susteined from a reprobate world because of those endeavours The earth was not able to bear the hard speeches wherewith the enemies of God have reproached the footsteps of Gods anointed ones labouring to insist in the steps of their heavenly Father willing to be Nonconformists to the will and lusts of men and striving to be conformable to the will and pattern of their holy King and Law giver the Lord Jesus the King of Saints Now I say it shall be no shame nor grief of heart unto them when they shall reap the fruit of their weak and imperfect conformity on earth in the most full and perfect consummation of that conformity in heaven when behold whatsoever is glorious and wonderful in the person of their glorious Redeemer or in the thrice glorious and blessed Trinity the very print and Character of it shall be stampt upon the glorified Saints in their created capacities causing them to appear not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as so many Angels but even to resemble God himself and to shine as so many Christs in the Kingdom of their heavenly Father and they that laughed them to scorn shall see it and their faces being filled with shame their consciences with horrour and their hearts with envy they shall now revile and curse themselves howling out Wisd 5.4 We fools accounted their lives madness c. Oh how much better are the reproaches of Christ than all the grandieur and applause in the world Be of good chear all ye Servants of God the time is coming when you shall not repent of your conformity to God and Christ in holiness but shall ever sing I thank the Lord who gave me counsel and taught me to chuse the better part which shall never be taken away from me I come now to the Complement and perfection of this last fruit and consequent of Christ his coming the Saints cohabitation and fellowship with the Lord namely The extent and duration of it in this particle ever We shall ever be with the Lord. The extent and duration ever Ever a little word but of immense signification a Child may speak it It was a witty reply of a Grandchild of Doctor Reynolds now Bishop of Norwich He asking the Child How long Eternity is The Child answered If you will tell me how long half eternity is I will tell you how long whole eternity is but neither Man nor Angel can understand it Oh who can take the demensions of eternity Yea who can tell me how long half eternity is Behold I shew you a Mystery half eternity is eternity yea every part and particle of eternity is eternity for eternity is not made up of hours or dayes or years or lustrums or jubiles or ages or millions of Ages the whole space between the creation of the world and the dissolution of it would not make a day in eternity yea so many years as there be dayes in that space would not fill up an hour in eternity Eternity is one entire Circle beginning and ending in it self This present world which is measured out by such divisions and distinctions of times is therefore mortal and will have end 2 Cor. 4.18 If eternity did consist of finite times though never so large and vast it would not be eternity but a longer tract of time only that which is made up of finite is finite Eternity is but one immense indivisible point wherein there is neither first nor last Deus est octus simplicissimus ex quo omnia sâ—nt in â—uem omnio redeuâ— beginning nor ending succession or alteration but is like God himself one and the same for ever From hence we infer this Doctrine The blessedness of the Saints in Heaven is everlasting Their