Blessedness indeed If the People of Israel after the Dedication of the House of God went away so glad and merry in heart for the Goodness that the Lord had shewed them therein 2 Chron. 7.10 If they had so much comfort in their Souls when Providence had delivered them from the sorrows of their Captivity and made them sit in peace under their own Vines Neh. 8.17 If the Wisemen rejoyced so exceedingly when they saw but our Saviour's Star appear Math. 2.10 O then what blessed Joy may we conceive to possess those happy Souls that partake of the sweetest Influences of that Sun of Righteousness and enjoy those Rivers of sacred pleasures that flow from his everlasting Love being perfected at the same time in their Love towards him This must needs be far better than the best condition here and how much better thou shalt know Christian Reader at the fittest Season in a far better manner than I am able to tell thee SECT XV. Being other Brief Improvements of the Point THIS Truth will truly serve for other good purposes besides those already mentioned and in the next place it may assure us of the comfortableness of a Christian Life The Enemies of Religion being as St. Paul speaketh unreasonable and wicked men instead of Reasons against it do rather deal in Reproaches and Slanders And there 's scarcely a greater reproach cast on it by the Men of the World than the unpleasantness of it as they imagine and the opposition they suppose it to carry against Mens present Comfort and Content Religion they confess is many times like Fire a good Servant as we use to say and therefore they think good it may be to have something of it and make a profession of it for their Credit sake or other earthly Ends But in the mean time they are loth to account it a good Master For if they came under the power of it and be ruled by it in their general Course they think it would make them melancholy and robb them of the very Joy of their Lives But assuredly there is no more reason why we should be asraid of Piety for the causeless Censures of ungodly Sinners than why we should despise the Light of the Sun for a mad Man's mocking and railing at it Let men but try the good way in truth and walk uprightly in it and then my Life upon it it shall not in the main make them sad It shall much rather make them glad yea it shall one day be the Joy of their Hearts to remember that they walked therein 2 Cor. 1.12 This is our rejoycing the Testimony of our Consciences that in Simplicity and godly Sincerity we have had our Conversation And the reason of it may in part be seen from hence for the good Way shall have a good End and bring them that walk in it to a happy State in spight of all that Death can do yea after it has done its worst upon them When they depart this Life they shall be with Christ which is far better Phil. 1.23 2. We may here inform our selves of the Nature of those Troubles that come upon good Christians in this Life viz. That they are but Crosses and not Curses Trials of Grace and mercifull Visitations not Vengeances in the least Degree or any Effects of destructive wrath for surely that mercifull Father that will make them so happy after Death doth not mean any mischief to them in the Afflictions he layeth on them in this present Life But will make all things work together for good unto them that love him Rom. 8.28 3. It may encourage Christians in their Spiritual Warfare and make them to run with patience the Race that is set before them How strenuously should they now strive against Sin since they shall shortly be more than Conquerours through him that loved them what Difficulties should make them weary of well doing since they shall so certainly and so speedily enter upon the Eternal Rest 4. Let Christians seriously consider this point and endeavour by Prayer and Meditation and all other good means to get their Hearts more affected with this Happiness that is so near at hand And to this end compare we the Joy of Just Mens Souls made perfect with other matters of Consolation that the Scripture offers unto our thoughts O what gladness would it have put into the Heart of a pious Christian to have seen the Saviour of the World in the Temple to have heard him preach the Doctrine of Salvation and speak as never Man spake To have seen the Multitudes that were miraculously fed and the Dead that were raised by him To have seen him invite poor Sinners to himself standing in the most solemn Day of the Festival and crying with a loud Voice whosoever is a-thirst let him come unto me and drink especially if at the same time he could have known his need of him and interest in him And what a Joy would it have been to have seen him after his Conquest over Death ascending to the high and holy Place To have stood among the Celestial Orbs to behold how he passed through the Regions of the Air how dark the brightest Stars were made by the presence of their Maker's Glory But chiefly what a thing would it have been to have seen the Blessed Jesus at his Entrance into the Heaven of Heavens To have seen the Everlasting Doors set open for that King of Glory to enter in together with that unconceivable welcome which he then received of all the Heavenly Hierarchy Angels and Archangels Cherubins and Seraphins all the innumerable Armies of immortal Spirits congratulating his incomparable Victories over Sin the Devil and Death offering up their praises to him and casting all their Crowns before him How joyfull a thing may we well conceive this would have been or rather joyfull beyond all our present conceptions And yet I think we may easily believe that the perfected Spirits of the Just do enjoy more comfort than all this could amount to for though in such Cases a Godly Man's Eye would in a great Measure affect his Soul yet while his Soul is sinfull 't is impossible it should be so perfectly joyfull as when it is freed from all Sin And while Sin is in it self Enmity against God it abiding in us must needs be an Enemy to our Comforts and withhold in some measure Good things from us SECT XVI Being a farther Improvement of the Doctrine aforesaid as an Antidote against the fear of Death HE that dwells in a World where Dying is so much in fashion should be one would think very inquisitive after something if possible to be found that may comfort him against that fatal stroke which he has so little hopes of escaping nor can I apprehend how any Man should be able to lead a truly comfortable Life that is not above the fears of Death in some good measure because there is no Place or Case no Company or Condition no Day nor
ensuing Assertions 1. That such a case is not inconsistent with the State of a true Christian Though the bright Morning Star Christ so called be truly risen upon any Person and hath imparted to him the Light of Life yet that doth not make it impossible for his Sun to set in a Cloud for the Word of God says nothing to the contrary Though he therein promiseth his Servants everlasting Joy after Death yet he promised not that they should have Joy the Minute or Hour before they dye And when Solomon tells us there is one Event to the Righteous and to the Wicked as to outwards he meaneth Ecl. 9.2 I cannot fansie why any uncomfortable Circumstances about Death should seem to be excepted Our Blessed Lord himself in comparison of whose Holiness the Heaven of Heavens is but unclean departed this Life in the Depths of Sorrow and cryed with a loud voice My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Math. 27.46.50 Which being intimated gave some satisfaction to a Learned and worthy Divine when in his last Sickness he asked his Friend what that man might think of the State of his Soul that is just a-dying and can find no comfort in his God Mr. Rob. Bolton mentioneth a very Religious Gentlewoman who in her latter Hours was exercised with many Sorrows and to appearance dyed in them shewing little or no Sign of any comfort in her Soul. But that judicious Man of God did not think the worse of her State or question her Salvation but rather supposed that sad Dispensation of her God to be in Judgment to those wicked People that maliciously slaundered her good Conversation in Christ that those who would not be bettered by her unblamable Life might be hardned by her uncomfortable Death But this we may account God's strange Work most commonly the way of Holiness doth end more comfortably And we are assured the upright ones end is peace Psal 37.37 though we cannot be sure of peace in his Soul just before his End because we read God's Judgments are unsearchable and his ways past finding out Thus of the first Assertion The Second is this That to be followed much with Satan's sorest Temptations is no ill Sign St. Paul himself complained of Terrours within as well as Troubles without Yea Christ himself when his Heavenly Father had solemnly owned him for his Beloved Son in whom he was well pleased Math. 3.17 the next news we hear of him was that he was led into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil yea 40 days as St. Mark hath it Mark 1.11.13 whilst the strong man armed keepeth possession the things he hath are in peace The Pyrate spendeth not his biggest Bullet upon the empty Ships but upon the laden and best laden So Satan doth not cast the fiery Darts of his Temptations against those that are under his accursed slavery and follow the ways he would have them at least not usually nor unless he have them at a pinch as we say under some considerable Crosses as to the World but rather against those that have chosen a better Master and turned through grace into the Holy Path. The third Assertion in answer to the said Objection is thus That a Christian's Fear of Dying uncomfortably is no sign that he shall Dye so As God bids his Prophet say to them that are of a fearfull heart Be strong and fear not So he is pleased many times to strengthen and encourage them abundantly and do for them above all they could ask or think He that had his Spirit overwhelmed in him and walked mournfully all the year round by reason of those blasphemous Suggestions that the unclean Spirit had so constantly exercised him with yet at length was enabled to offer up joyfull Praises to his God and Saviour and ended his days in a blessed peace as a great Authour hath testified The like is recorded of Mr. Saunders viz. That though he was sometimes much concerned as we call it to think what he should do if he should be brought to the fiery Trial yet when he was brought to it he had his Fears removed and being strengthened with God's Spirit of Might passed as comfortably through that Sea of Blood as the rest of that noble Army of Martyrs The fourth Assertion God often worketh by contraries and brings about his gracious purposes by means that seem the most unlikely As he brought water for his People not out of the Sea or the River but out of the Rock so he often suffers those People to be most shaken with Temptations whom he meaneth most to establish to make most grounded and rooted in the Faith. Of which I might instance in Luther and others if it were my purpose to enlarge on this particular The fifth Assertion The Arm of God's Love is infinitely stronger than the Arm of a Christian's Faith If therefore he be such in sincerity he may be sure that either he shall not Dye in despair or Discomfort or else that he shall not be ruined by Dying so For if his Graces be never so much opposed yet God's Kindness to his Servants is absolute and unconquerable If their Faith and Hope should seem to be shaken beyond recovery yet compassion cannot fail in the Father of Mercies and his Covenant of Peace shall not be removed Esay 54.10 so Rom. 8.38 What shall separate us so speaking of the rest of the faithfull as of himself from the Love of Christ Neither Death nor Life nor things present nor things to come that is they shall never do it by any means or any sad Circumstances that can attend them The sixth Assertion Despair in all kinds and cases is no such heinous and dangerous Sin as some have imagined And it were to be wished that some Authours otherwise learned and good had written more cautiously about it than they have done And those that despaired of Francis Spira's Salvation because he ended his days in the darkness of Despair may seem as unskilfull as uncharitable and I believe they have been blamed for it by many Divines besides and since Mr. Perkins But to come directly to the point it self Despair therefore may be considered in several sorts of People and on several grounds or occasions of it As to the first Despair in a wicked man if total and ordinary I confess must needs be a very sad matter because it hinders him from using the means of Salvation Yet it doth not make his Salvation impossible because 't is not impossible for it to be removed 2. To despair of Salvation out of a conceit that there is not in Christ a sufficient Power and Merit for that purpose This I say is no less dangerous because it is grounded on a prevalent Unbelief and argues the Person under it to have no right Apprehensions of the Person of Christ or the Excellency and Alsufficiency of his Merit and Righteousness 3. But for a true Christian to be brought into Despair by Temptations and Mistakes
of the Righteous and the Wicked They may I grant be alike in their ends but they will not be alike afterwards Though they may die the same kind of Death yet Death will not be the same to both the one shall be a gainer by it and be with Christ which is far better than any condition here the other shall be a looser by it and be in greater misery than any he feared in this World. That which by any means cuts the thread of his Life casts down also all the Pillars of his hope Proverbs 11.7 When a Wicked Man dyeth The Wicked Man's misery after Death his Expectation shall Perish and the hope of unjust Men Perisheth As then he is deprived of all his Wealth and Honour Sport and Pleasure and all that outward good or comfort which here he took any contentment in so his departed Soul will find nothing to supply the want of them 'T is true It hath to doe with God but not in a way of mercy and favour and therefore his presence will not comfort it in the absence of earthly comforts The Spirit says Solomon returns to God that gave it that 's spoken of the Spirit or Soul of Man in general whether good or bad The Spirit of a good Man returneth to God as to a gracious Father the Spirit of a bad Man as to a Righteous Judge and disposer of it And we cannot imagine that the Soul of one that would never return in a holy sense in his life time should return to God in a happy sense when his life is ended For he will recompense him according to his ways saith the Prophet and hath revealed his Wrath against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men Rom. 1.18 'T is said of the unbeliever so continuing that the Wrath of God abideth on him John 3.36 And every ungodly Man we doubt not is an unbeliever in a Scripture sense though he cares not to think so ill of himself And what wonder is it if the holy one shew his high displeasure against the departed Soul of that Sinner that would not Religiously depart from Evil nor was ever reconciled through Jesus Christ Now what a dreadfull case will this be What a terrible taking will a guilty Impenitent Soul be in when it sees it self in the Regions of Eternal Darkness When it hath lost all comforts and comfortable Expectations and shall never see any more good when Money and Lands when Acquaintance and Friends when Time and Hope and all is gone O what deep distress what substantial sorrows will it be filled with when 't is compast about with miseries unchangeable and utterly swallowed up without help or hope in the depths of God's revenging Wrath Consider of it Reader in the fear of God and never let thy Soul be satisfied without that mercy and grace which may fit thee to escape such a fearfull condition 2. It may also keep us from wondring at or at least from stumbling at the troubles of true obedient Christians in this World. They come on them many times thick and threefold as we call it and are so far from moving the careless World to pity them that they expose them rather but too commonly to the utmost scorn and contempt Sometimes also they are ready to Blaspheme on that occasion and say Behold what good doth all their Godliness do them For how miserably do they live and who is there round about that have more sorrows and grievances than many of those that make so much adoe about Religion But assuredly all this will not warrant them to despise Religion or those that love and follow it For besides other considerations that might be urged namely Their remaining sinfulness which maketh the chastisements of their Heavenly Father needfull for them with that most wise providence and Fatherly love that ordereth and limiteth them together with the nature of Sin it self that makes them worthy of more and greater sufferings than in this mortal life they can ever bear Death eternal being the wages of Sin Rom 6.23 I say besides these and the like considerations that may be urged the shortness of their troubles and the certainty of their Souls Happiness after Death may abundantly satisfie them and is more than sufficient to countervail the saddest sufferings of this mortal State as will farther be evinced by the nature and property of that Felicity which in its place with God's Assistance I shall endeavour to explicate SECT X. Being a perswasive to several great Duties THE truth of the present point may be looked on as a true and just ground for Christian practices and 't is great pity but People should be somewhat the better for a point of so much comfort and encouragement to Goodness Here therefore I may fitly endeavour to engage my self and others to the duties following 1. Patience under God's afflicting hand whether by outward or inward troubles Men of ordinary prudence can follow very unpleasant methods of Physick from the meer prospect of that ease and health which they hope in time to find by so doing though none do promise them health much less assure them of the continuance of it How should a Christian then endeavour more and more that patience may have its perfect work when he foresees by Faith that blessed Rest which his Soul shall have after death hath seized upon his Body and hath the word of God to assure him that this happiness shall never end but be compleated at the Resurrection of the just when their wasted Bodies shall forsake their dark Prisons and Shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Mat. 13.43 He may therefore say with chearfulness as once a worthy Servant of Christ Hold out Faith and Patience for your work will shortly be at an end 2. The Duty of Charity should hence be enforced upon us according to our place and power What if Men be never so unworthy or unthankfull yet Christians should be ready to extend their Charity to them in any reasonable way for the sake of that good God who will do them so much good after death How can they do less than shew forth real compassions on all fit occasions yea towards their very names if they find them wronged therein when they remember their heavenly Father's Love and consider how shortly he will receive their immortal Souls and Crown them with his tenderest mercies 3. Upright living in the general how should this engage a Christian to honour his God what he can and as the Apostle exhorts to do all to his Glory to live by Faith and walk in Love and be ready to every good work For as Samuel said 1 Sam. 12.24 Serve the Lord in truth with all your heart for consider what great things he hath done for you How fitly then may I say to such a one be diligent in thy duty and lead thy life to the glory of that gracious God who will satisfie thy Soul with his glorious
of Righteousness when the Spirit of Glory hath perfected all its Graces and delivered it from all the darkness of sin And in being free from sin it shall be free from all other evils as he that is freed from his Debt is secured from all arrests and troubles that relate to it for whatsoever our God may be pleased to doe out of Sovereignty and without respect to his Creature 's sin as 't is supposed Job's Afflictions came on him in that way Yet Divines agree that God did never lay Affliction on his People but while they had sin dwelling in them so that the Souls of his Servants after Death are rid of all other evil as well as of sin They shall then be no more disturbed by any Enemies of their Peace the Regions of the unseen World they are then in shall be always Serene The Ocean of Eternity shall be calm and comfortable to them Then they shall have no more to doe with the Temptations of Satan the Mocks of the Profane the Snarls and Censures of proud-hearted Hypocrites These shall follow the upright no farther than the Grave For their end is Peace Psal 37.37 How found and substantial will the Soul's Joy be when it sees it self safe in the Arms of God's Love beyond the sphere of sin and sorrow which should move it to bear the more contentedly the Troubles and Temptations of this Transitory Life In particular the gracious Soul shall then have the excellencies that are most essential to true Happiness and be perfected in the Knowledge and love of God in Christ St. Paul himself though he knew much more of Christ than most ever did or shall do in this World and had the Revelations of things too great to be uttered 2 Cor. 12. Yet his knowledge had a real imperfection at the same time We know but in part 1 Cor. 13.9 and vers 12. Now I know in part but as it follows then I shall know as I am known I will not play the Critick on that phrase nor search curiously into the depths of it 't is for our purpose clear enough for it must be meant of perfection of knowledge because 't is opposed to a knowing in part If any say it is to be understood especially of the state at the Resurrection I shall not gainsay it But I see not why it may not be applyed also to the Soul in its Separation For as the particle Now doth confessedly denote the state of this Life so the particle Then doth as plainly intimate any time or state after this Life ended And he might express it so if it were properly and primarily meant of the Soul in its Separation from the Body As when he said Phil. 1. I desire to depart and be with Christ Which Being with Christ is confessedly intended in respect of his Soul. Nor is it easie to conceive how his Soul 's being with Christ after Death should be so much a better condition than any in this Life if therein it had not perfection in the Knowledge and Love of Christ For on Earth he had a great measure of them and was daily tending forwards towards perfection and was assured that nothing should separate him from the Love of Christ Rom. 8. Surely therefore a holy Soul will not want for knowledge when it has left the World. How can it be any thing less than perfectly light in the Lord when it shall be perfectly and gloriously present with him And who is able to tell us what a Joy and Blessedness this must be If I could know my God and Saviour with such a powerfull spiritual and affecting knowledge as some good Men have had on Earth my heart should be glad and my spirit rejoyce though I were utterly despised in the World and had not one hours health all the days of my Life yet all their knowledge here was imperfect as we have seen And how much better shall that state be where all sinfull imperfections shall be done away If the Mystery of Christ and Salvation by him be such a glorious thing that the Angels of Heaven desire to look into it 1 Pet. 1.12 O then what abundant matter of satisfaction and joy will it yield to all those blessed Souls to whom it doth really and eternally belong and to whom the worth and excellency of it with their interest in it is fully discovered by the Spirit of Grace and Revelation 2. Another privilege that holy Souls shall have after their departure hence is their Company They shall then converse with the best of Creatures and such as never offended their good God I mean the Holy Angels After Death they shall be as it were made Free of that Company and see themselves Members of that Blessed Society united in and under the same Head Christ Jesus Now indeed if they should see but one of those immortal Spirits standing be fore them with his Crown of Glory compassing them about with a Light brighter than that of the Sun offering to draw nigh unto them and asking to joyn with them in the Praises of the great Jehovah such a sight probably would more astonish them than rejoyce them because the sense of their sinfulness might cast a Damp upon their Hearts and make them unfit for the heavenly employment But it shall be otherwise with their Souls when they are fully conformed to their Maker's Will and as free from sin as the Angels of his presence for the Angels of Heaven and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect are Members of that happy Society which Divines use to call the Church Triumphant and therefore are related to one another by a far nearer and nobler Relation than that of Fellow Creatures of which the learned may consult Polanus in Syntag. and H. Altingii Theol. Nov. problemat p. 616. In a word they are called in the Gospel Their Angels Math. 18.10 And we cannot think that those blessed Spirits above that have ministred to them and by Gods appointment took charge of them and especially rejoyced at their Conversion Luke 15.10 I say we cannot think they will do any thing less than joyfully congratulate their safe Arrival at the state of perfect purity and peace and chiefly as it is the proper Fruit of the Will of God and the purchase of his Christ Surely the holy Inhabitants of the best World will not be strange to Holy Souls when they come into it nor are they like the foolish Hypocrites of the Earth that delight to shew themselves proud and scornfull and look with an evil eye upon the welfare of others 3. As I question not a Holy Communion and Converse between the Angels of God and the perfected Spirits of the Just so hitherto I can as little doubt their knowledge of one another and their satisfaction in each others Happiness in their state of Separation at least and especially those of them that were before more nearly related and were wont to join together in God's Service and
Praises here on Earth For it was the design of Christ to bring his People into a nearer Union with each other as well as himself that they may be one as we are one John 17.22 And those Arguments Divines bring for the Saints knowledge of one another after the Resurrection may seem almost as strong for their Souls Acquaintance with one another in their absence from their Bodies The Scripture speaking of the death of the faithfull says that therein they are gathered to their Fathers the holy Patriarchs and other their Religious Predecessours But they are not gathered to them in respect of their Bodies therefore in respect of their Souls 4. Holy Souls after Death shall be with Christ Phil. 1.23 When absent from the Body they are present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.8 And oh what a thing is this 1. To be with Christ in his special and blisfull presence to know love and enjoy him fully clearly continually as the same Apostle maketh it the Crown of all Comforts To be for ever with the Lord 1 Thes 4.17 Thus I say to be with Christ must needs be a matter of purest and persectest Joy to a Christian's Soul. Oh that thou couldest fully understand good Reader the preciousness of such a privilege But Alas I want words to express it much more a heart to conceive it I am my self too little a Christian to tell thee the sweetness of this Consolation to discover the depths of this purest River of the Water of Life If the holy Apostle could solace himself in the hope of having the Company of his converts at Rome If the Lord Chancellour of England in the Reign of King Henry the 8th was so much delighted to see in London the Florentine Merchant that in some difficult cases had befriended him beyond Sea the expressions of whose joy and gratitude were so memorable that the Learned Dr. Hakwell thought good to record them in his Apology of God's power and providence If the Hearts of the weak have gathered strength and revived to admiration at the coming of some eminent unexpected Friends though these were but dying Dust and had not any degree of comfort absolutely at their command How unspeakably then must a gracious Soul be refreshed and most superlatively satisfied by the presence and favour of that immortal Majesty who suffered Death and the Curse to make it happy Surely it must needs be an inestimable benefit to be in the happiest manner present with him who is the King of Glory the Consolation of Israel the joy of Angels and the Saviour of the World. This therefore as he was a Mediatour was his great desire for his People That they might be with him where he is John 17.24 The joy of which we may a little guess at by the things that shall accompany this their Presence with him As 1. a full Deliverance from all Doubts and Fears and all things that may cause or occasion them Here how hard a thing was it for them to get an assurance of their interest in Christ and Salvation by him and when they had it t' was no easie matter to maintain and preserve it yea the best on Earth are not so privileged but that if they be not carefull and watchfull over themselves they may fall into such sins as may darken all their evidences for Heaven and deprive them of the Joy of their Salvation It was David's case Psal 51. But when once their Souls come to dwell with Christ then they shall be ever secured from all possibility of doubting about their spiritual and eternal welfare no such sad mist can cloud that Soul which lives under the Rayes of the Sun of Righteousness Here as they may have assurance so they may loose it again But to be with Christ is far better in that respect and they then Rest from their Labours from all that may be tedious and tiresome unto them Rev. 14.13 2. Their Presence with the Lord in St. Paul's sense will set them free from all manner of cares not only from disorderly and distrustfull cares but also from all natural necessary and prudential cares which their present state doth expose them to And the reason is plain because then their Souls are above all wants and necessities They want not for Monies when they are fully possest of the riches of Christ They want for no Friendship and good Company when they are happily joyned to the whole Family of Heaven They take no care for Food or Sleep when they enjoy him who is the Bread of Life and partake of that eternal Rest which he hath purchased for them 3. In a word Then they shall be freed from taking any care about doing their Duty and pleasing their God For the Difficulty of Duty will then be over and the Comfort of it only shall remain When they thus dwell with the holy one they shall be fully framed to his holy Will. To love God in perfection and delight in him without which Heaven it self cannot make us happy These things I say will be as natural and easie to holy Souls after death as it is to a thirsty man to drink or to the eye to behold the desired Light There being no sin then remaining in them to alienate and estrange them from their gracious God as hath been already proved And as their Being with Christ secureth them from all Trouble so it shall afford them the truest and strongest Consolation and that on these following grounds 1. Because they shall then see Christ to be their Own for ever And in all their knowledge of him they shall know him to be Theirs Propriety is in it self a pleasant thing with what content do Men many times speak even of those outward insufficient comforts which they can truly call their own My Mony and my Lands my Relations and my Friends c. Do usually sound with an Accent of Pleasure O what blessed Delight then must a pious Soul be elevated with when it dwells with Christ in a better World What Triumphant exultation will it be filled with when it can say with full assurance My Rock and my Refuge my Lord and my King my God and my Saviour my great High Priest and my Redeemer 2ly When they are with Christ in the sense aforesaid they shall possess the eternal Treasure and know perfectly the Love of Christ which passeth knowledge Eph. 3.19 The very Being with him necessarily implies the enjoying of his Love as the Departing from him imports the want of it Mat. 7.23 And how great a Happiness must that be And though I cannot comprehend it yet I may fitly take occasion to consider it and it shall be the substance of the following Section SECT XIII Shewing the Greatness of the Love of Christ which the Souls of his People shall enjoy after Death WIthout this my small Book would be too small and would speak me guilty of too great an oversight to be handsomly excused For how should I make