the view and contemplation of the glorified mind 1. A sensible glory to begin with what is lower is fitly in our way to be taken notice of and may well be comprehended as its lesse-principal intendment within the significancy of the expression the Face of God So indeed it doth evidently signifie Exod. 33. 11. And if we look to the notation of the word and its frequent use as applied to God it may commodiously enough and will often be found to signifie in a larger and more extended sense any aspect or appearance of God And though it may be understood verse 23. of that Chapter to signifie an overcoming spiritual glory as the principal thing there intended such as no soul dwelling in flesh could behold without renting the vail and breaking all to pieces yet even there also may such a degree of sensible glory be secondarily intended as it was not consistent with a state of mortality to be able to bear And supposing the other expression Thy likeness to signifie in any part the objective glory Saints are to behold it is very capable of being extended so far as to take in a sensible appearance of glory also which it doth in these words The similitude of the Lord shall he behold yet even that glory also was transformative and impressive of it self Moses so long converst with it till he became uncapable for the present of converse with men as you know the story relates Such a glory as this though it belong not to the being of God yet it may be some â—mbrage of him a more shadowy representation as a mans garments are of the man which is the allusion in that of the Psalmist Thou art cloathed with Majesty and Honour Thou coverest thy self with Light as with a Garment And in as much as that spiritual Body the House not made with hands wherewith the blessed are to be cloth'd upon must then be understood to have its proper sensitive Powers and Organs resined to that degree as may be agreeable to a state of Glory so must these have their suitable objects to converse with A faculty without an object is not possible in Nature and is altogether inconsistent with a state of Blessedness The bodies of Saints will be raised in glory fashioned like Christs glorious body must bear the image of the heavenly and this will connaturalize them to a Region of glory render a surrounding sensible glory necessary and natural to them their own element they will as it were not be able to live but amidst such a glory Place is conservative of the body placed in it by its suitableness thereto Indeed every created being inasmuch as it is not self-sufficient and is obliged to fetch in continual refreshings from without must alwayes have somewhat suitable to it self to converse with or it presently languishes By such an harmony of actives and passives the world consists and and holds together The least defect thereof then is least of all supposeable in the state of blessedness The rayes of such a glory have often shone down into this lower World Such a glory we know shewed it self upon Mount Sinal afterwards often about the Tabernacle and in the Temple Such a glory appeared at our Saviours Birth Baptism and Transfiguration and will do at his expected appearance which leaves it no unimaginable thing to us and shewes how facile it is to God to do that which will then be in some sort necessary creat a glory meet for the entertainment and gratification of any such faculty as he shall then continue in being But 2. The intellectuall glory That which perfected Spirits shall eternally please themselves to behold calls for our more especial consideration This is the glory that excelleth hyperbollical glory as that expression imports such as in comparison whereof the other is said to be no glory as the Apostle speaks comparing the glory of the Legal with that of the Evangelical dispensation where the former was we must remember chiefly a sensible glory the glory that shone upon Mount Sinai the latter a purely spiritual glory and surely if the meer preludes of this glory The primordia the beginnings of it The glory yet shining but through a glass as he there also speaks of this glory were so hyperbollically glorious what will it be in its highest exaltation in its perfected state The Apostle cannot speak of that but with hyperbole upon hyperbole in the next chapter as though he would heap up words as high as heaven to reach it and give a just account of it Things are as their next Originals This glory more immediately rayes forth from God and more neerly represents him 'T is â—is more genuine production He his stiled â—he Father of Glory every thing that is glorious is some way like him and bears his â—mage But he is as well the Father of Spirits â—s the Father of Glory and that glory which 〈◊〉 purely spiritual hath most in it of his naâ—ure and image as beams but in the next â—escent from the body of the Sun This is â—is unvailed face and emphatically the divine â—â—keness Again things are as the Faculties which â—hey are to exercise and satisfie this gloâ—y must exercise and satisfie the noblest â—aculty of the most noble and excellent creaâ—ure Intellectual nature in the highest imâ—rovement t is capable of in a creature must â—ere be gratified to the uttermost the most â—nlarged contemplative power of an imâ—ortal Spirit finds that wherein it terminates â—ere with a most contentful acquiescence T is true it must be understood not totally to exceed the capacity of a creature but it must fully come up to it Should it quite transcend the Sphere of created nature and surpass the modell of an humane understanding as the divine glory undoubtedly would did not God consider us in the manner of exhibiting it to our view it would cofound not satisfie A creature even in glory is still a Creature and must be treated as such After the blessed God hath elevated it to the highest pitch he must infinitely condescend it cannot otherwise know or converse with him He must accommodate this glory to the weaker eye the fainter and more langâ—id apprehensions of a poor finite thing I had almost said nothing for what is any creature yea the whole creation in it's best state compared with the I AM the being as he justly appropriates to himself that name the All in All. We must be careful then to settle in our own thoughts such a state of this glory in forming that indeterminate notion we have now of it as may render it though confessedly above the measure of our present understandings as to a distinct knowledge of it not manifestly incompetent to any created understanding whatsoever and as may speak us duly shy of ascribing a Deity to a worm of affixing any thing to the creature which shall be found agreeing to the blessed God himself
blessedness Yet as this is the most noble comprehensive quick and sprightly sense so is the Act of it more considerable in the matter of blessedness than any other of the outward man and the most perfect imitation of the act of the mind whence also this so often borrows the name of the other and is called seeing 'T is an act indeed very proper and pertinent to a state of glory By how much more any sensible object is glorious supposing the sensorium to be duely disposed and fortified as must be here supposed so much is it the fitter object of Sight hence when we would express a glorious object we call it conspicuous and the lesse glorious or more obscure any thing is the less visible and approaches the nearer to invisibility whence that saying in the common Philosophy To see blackness is to see nothing Whatsoever a glorified eye replenished with a heavenly vitality and vigor can fetch in from the many glorified objects that encompasse it we must suppose to concurr to this blessedness Now is the eye satisfied with seeing which before never could But 't is intellectual sight we are chiefly to consider here that whereby we see him that is invisible and approach the inaccessible Light The word here used some Criticks tell us more usually signifies the sight of the mind And then not a casual superficial glancing at a thing but contemplation a studious designed viewing of a thing when we solemnly compose and aplly our selves thereto or the vision of Prophets or such as have things discovered to them by divine Revelation thence called Chozim Seers which imports though not a previous design yet no lesse intention of mind in the act it self And so it more fitly expresses that knowledge which we have not by discourse and reasoning out of one thing from another but by immediate intuition of what is nakedly and at once offered to our view which is the more proper knowledge of the blessed in heaven They shall have the glory of God so presented and their minds so enlarged as to comprehend much at one view in which respect they may be said in a great degree to know as they are known in as much as the blessed God comprehends all things at once in one simple act of knowing Yet that is not to be understood as if the state of glory should exclude all ratiocination more than our present state doth all intuition for first and indemonstrable principles we see by their own light without illation or argument nor can it be inconvenient to admit that while the knowledge the blessed have of God is not insinite there may be use of their discursive faculty with great fruit and pleasure Pure intuition of God without any mixture of reasoning is acknowledged by such as are apt enough to be over-ascribing to the creature peculiar to God alone But as the blessed God shall continually afford if we may speak of continuity in Eternity which yet we cannot otherwise apprehend a clear discovery of himself so shall the principall exercise and felicity of the blessed soul consist in that less labouring and more pleasant way of knowing a meer admitting or entertaining of those free beams of voluntary light by a grateful intuition which way of knowing the expression of sight or beholding doth most incline to and that is we are sure the ordinary language of Scripture about this matter CHAP. IV. The second ingredient into this Blessedness considered assimilation to God or his glory imprest Wherein it consists discovered in sundry Propositions The third ingredient The satisfaction and pleasure which results stated and opened AND now upon this Vision of the blessed face of God next follows in the order of discourse The souls perfect assimilation unto that revealed glory or its participation thereof touching the order the things themselves have to one another there will be consideration had in its proper place and this also must be considered as a distinct and necessary ingredient into the state of blessedness we are treating of Distinct it is for though the vision now spoken of doth include a certain kind of assimilation in it as all vision doth being only a reception of the species or likeness of the Object seen This assimilation we are to speak of is of a very different kind That is such as affects only the visive or cognitive power and that not with a real change but intentional onely nor for longer continuance than the act of seeing lasts but this is total real and permanent And surely it is of equal necessity to the souls blessedness to partake the glory of God as to behold it as well to have the divine-likeness imprest upon it as represented to it After so contagious and over-spreading a depravation as sin hath diffus'd through all its powers it can never be happy without a change of its very crasis and temper throughout A diseased ulcerous body would take little felicity in gay and glorious sights no more would all the glory of heaven signifie to a sick deformed self-loathing soul. It must therefore be all glorious within have the Divine nature more perfectly communicated the likeness of God transfus'd and wrought into it This is the blessed work begun in Regeneration but how far it is from being perfected we may soon find by considering how far short we are of being satisfied in our present state even in the contemplation of the highest and most excellent Objects How tasteless to our souls are the thoughts of God! How little pleasure do we take in viewing over his glorious Attributes the most acknowledged and adorable excellencies of his Being And whereto can we impute it but to this that our spirits are not yet sufficiently connaturallized to them Their likeness is not enough deeply instamped on our souls nor will this be till we awake when we see better we shall become better When he appears we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is But do we indeed pretend to such an expectation Can we think what God is and what we are in our present state and not confesse these words to carry with them an amazing sound we shall be like him How great an hope is this How strange an errand hath the Gospel into the world How admired a design to transform men and make them like God! Were the dust of the earth turned into stars in the firmament were the most stupendous poetical transformations assured realities what could equal the greatness and the wonder of this mighty change Yea and doth not the expectation of it seem as presumptious as the issue it self would be strange Is it not an over bold desire too daring a thought a thing unlawful to be affected as it seems impossible to be attained It must be acknowledged there is an appearance of high arrogance in aspiring to this to be like God And the very wish or thought of being so in all respects were not
fit as it were to be mentioned the same day with the glory to be revealed c. It can therefore be no hard Law no unreasonable imposition that shall oblige us to the exercise of patience under such sufferings in the expectation of so transcendent glory For consider First These sufferings are but from men For the sufferings of which the Apostle here speaks are such as wherein we suffer together with Christ i. e. for his Name and Interest on behalf of the Christian cause But this glory is from God How disproportionable must the effects be of a created and increated cause Again These sufferings reach no further then the bone and flesh Fear not them that kill the body and after they have done that can do no more c. But this glory reaches unto and transforms the soul. How little can a clod of earth suffer in comparison of what an immortal Spirit may enjoy And further There is much mixture in our present sufferings The present state of suffering Saints is not a state of total misery There are as it were Raies of Glory interlac't with their present afflictions but there will be nothing of Affliction mingled with their future Glory Yea and what may not only convince but even transport us too these sufferings are but temporary nay but momentary This glory eternal What heart is big enough to comprehend the full sense of these words Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory How might I dwell here upon every sillable light affliction weighty glory exceeding weight affliction for a moment eternal weight of glory O then how unworthy is it of the Christian name and hopes that we should have an impatient resentment of this Method God follows with us as he did with our great Redeemer and Lord that we should suffer first and then enter into glory Heaven were a poor Heaven if it would not make us savers It were high time for us to give over the Christian profession if we do not really account that itâ— reward and hope do surmount its reproach and trouble or do think its Cross more weighty then its Crown Is the price and worth of eternal glory fal'n It hath been counted worth suffering for There have been those in the world that would not accept deliverance from these sufferings that they might obtain the better resurrection Are we grown wiser or would we indeed wish God should turn the Tables and assign us our good things here and hereafter evil things ungrateful souls How severe should we be to our selves that we should be so apt to complain for what we should admire and give thanks What because purer and more refined Christianity in our time and in this part of the world hath had publick favour and countenance can we therefore not tell how to frame our minds to the thoughts of suffering Are Tribulation Patience antiquated names quite out of date and use with us and more ungrateful to our ears and hearts then heaven and eternal glory are acceptable And had we rather if we were in danger of suffering on the Christian account run a hazard as to the latter then adventure on the former Or do we think it impossible we should ever come to the trial or be concern'd to busie our selves with such thoughts Is the world become so stable and so unacquainted with vicissitudes that a state of things less favourable to our profession can never revolve upon us It were however not unuseful to put such a case by way of supposition to our selves For every sincere Christian is in affection and preparation of his mind a Martyr He that loves not Christ better then his own life cannot be his Disciple We should at least inure our thoughts more to a suffering state that we may thence take some occasion to reflect and judge of the temper of our hearts towards the Name and Cause of Christ. 'T is easie suffering indeed in Idaea and contemplation but something may be collected from the observation how we can relish and comport with such thoughts 'T is as training in order to sight which is done often upon every remote supposition that such occasions may possible fall out Therefore what now do we think of it If our way into the Kingdom of God shall be through many tribulations If before we behold the smiles of â—is blessed â—ace we must be entertained with the less pleasing sight of the frowning aspect and visage of an angry world If we first bear the image of a crucified Christ e're we partake of the likeness of a glorious God what do we regret the thoughts of it Do we account we shall be ill dealt with and have an hard bargain of it O how tender are we grown in comparison of the hardiness and magnanimity of Primitive Christians we have not the patience to think of what they had the patience to endure We should not yet forget our selves that such a thing belongs to our profession even in this way to testifie our fidelity to Christ and our value of the inheritance purchased by his blood if he call us thereunto We must know it is a thing inserted into the Religion of Christians and with respect to their condition in this world made an essential thereto He cannot be a Christian that dâ—th not deny himself and take up the Cross. How often when the active part of a Christians duty is spoken of is the passive part studiously and expresly annexed Let us run with patience the race that is set before us The good ground brought forth fruit with patience eternal life is for them that by a patient continuance in well doing seek after it Yea and hence the Word of Christ is called the Word of his patience And the stile wherein the beloved Disciple speaks of himself and his profession is this I John a companion in tribulation and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. Do we mean to plead the prescription against all this or have we got an express exemption Have we a discharge to shew a manumission from all the suffering part of a Christians duty and is it not a discharge also from being Christians as much Will we disavow our selves to belong to that noble Society of them that through Faith and Patience inherit the promises Surely we are highly conceited of our selves if we think we are too good to be numbred among them of whom the world was not worthy Or we design to our selves along abode here while we so much value the Worâ—ds favour and a freedom from worldly trouble Or Eternity is with us an empty sound and the future blessedness of Saints an aiery thing that we should reckon it insufficient to counterpoise the sufferings of a few hasty days that will so soon have an end 'T is a sad Symptom of the declining state of Religion when the powers of the
And this Kingdom sometimes also by an apt Synecdoche called Judgment in the same notion is said to consist in righteousness whence then result also Peace and joy in the Holy Ghost The same holy impressions and consequent operations are mentioned by the Apostle under the name of fruits of righteousness wherewith he prayes his Philippians might be filled It was Elymâ—s's opposition to the Gospel that stigmatized him with that brand Thou enemy of all righteousness To yield our selves servants to righteousness in opposition to a former servitude to sin is obeying from the heart the Doctrine of the Gospel into the type or mould whereof we have been cast or delivered And sure both the seal and the impression Gods revelation and holiness however now more explicite and distinctly conspicuous in all their parts are the same with us substantially and in Davids time whence we need make no difficulty to own this latter when we meet with it as here under the same Name By what hath hitherto been said it may be already seen in part how exactly this righteousness corresponds to the blessedness for which it qualifies whereof we shall have occasion hereafter to take further notice In the mean time it will be requisite to shew which was promised to be done in the next place How it qualifies To which I say very briefly that it qualifies for this blessednesse two wayes 1. Lâ—gally or in genere Morali as it describes the Persons who by the Gospel-grant have alone title thereunto The righteous into life eternal The unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Say to the righteous it shall be well with them The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him In his righteousness he shall live In which last words how this righteousness conduceth to life is exprest by the same Praeposition as in the Text. In this kind it is not at all causal of this blessednesse but 't is that which the free and wise and holy Law-giver thought meet by his settled constitution besides what necessity there is of it upon another account to make requisite thereto The conformity of our Lord Jesus Christ to that severer Law under which he is said to have been made is that which alone causes merits purchases this blessedness which yet is to be enjoyed not by all indiscriminatim or without distinction but by such alone as come up to the terms of the Gospel as he did fully satisfie the strict exactions of that other rigid Law by doing and suffering for their sakes 2. Naturally or in genere Physico In this kind it may be said to be some way causal that is to be a causa materialis dispositiva by a proper positive influence disposing the subject unto this blessedness which that it shall yet enjoy is wholly to be resolved into the Divine good pleasure but it is put by this holy rectitude into that temper and posture that it may enjoy it through the Lords gracious vouchsafement when without it 't were naturally impossible that any should An unrighteous impure soul is in a natural indisposition to see God or be blessed in him That depraved temper averts it from him the steady bent of its will is set another way and 't is a contradiction that any in sensu composito should be happy against their wills i. e. while that aversion of will yet remains The unrighteous banish themselves from God they shun and hate his presence Light and darkness cannot have communion The Sun doth but shine continue to be it self and the darkness vanishes and is fled away When God hath so determined that only the pure in heart shall see him that without holiness none shall he layes no other Law upon unholy souls than what their own impure natures lay upon themselves If therefore it should be enquired Why may not the unrighteous be subjects of this blessedness See God and be satisfied with his likeness as well as the righteous the question must be so answered as if it were enquired Why doth wood admit the fire to passe upon it suffer its flames to insinuate themselves till they have introduced its proper form and turned it into their own likeness but we see water doth not so but violently resists its first approaches and declines all commerce with it The natures of these agree not And is not the contrariety here as great We have then the qualified subject of this blessedness and are next to consider This Blessedness it self CHAP. III. The nature of this Blessedness propounded unto consideration in the three ingredients here mentioned whereof it consists 1. Vision of Gods Face 2. Assimilation to him 3. The satisfaction resulting thence These propounded to be considered 1. Absolutely and singly each by it self 2. Relatively in their mutual respects to each other The first of these Vision of Gods Face discourst of 1. The Object 2. The Act. NOW for the Nature of this Blessedness or the inquiry wherein it lyes so far as the Text gives us any account of it we are invited to turn our thoughts and discourse to it And we have it here represented to us in all the particulars that can be supposed to have any nearer interest in the business of Blessedness or to be more intimate and intrinsical thereunto For the beatifique Object supposed what more can be necessary to actual compleat formall blessedness than the sight of it and adaptation or assimilation to it which is nothing else but its being actually communicated and imparted to the soul its being united and made as it were one with it and the complacential fruition the soul hath of it so communicated or having so transformed it into its self And these three are manifestly contained in the Text the beatisique Object being involved with them the first in the former clause I shall behold thy face the second and third in the latter I shall be satisfied with thy likeness where being made like to God hath been discovered to be supposed the satisfaction the pleasant contentful relishes consequent thereto plainly exprest We shall therefore have stated the entire nature of this Blessedness in the handling of these three things Vision of the Face of God Participation of his likeness Satisfaction therein And I shall chuse to consider them 1. Absolutely and singly each by it self 2. Relatively in the mutual respects by way of influence and dependence they may be found to have towards each other Therefore first in the absolute consideration of them severally we begin with First the Vision of Gods Face where The Object the Face of God Act of seeing and beholding it are distinctly to be spoken to 1. The Face of God the Object of this Vision which is his glory represented offered to view And this objected or exhibited glory iâ— twofold 1. Sensible such as shall incurr and gratifie after the resurrection the bodily eye 2. Intellectual or intelligible that spiritual glory that only comes under
not uncapable of them or that hath its powers bound up by a stupifying sleep It s the rest of hope perfected in fruition not lost in despair of satisfied not defeated expectation Despair may occasion rest to a mans body but not to his mind or a cessation from further endeavours when they are constantly found vain but not from trouble and disquiet It may suspend from action but never satisfie This satisfaction therefore speaks both the realitie and nature of the souls rest in glory that it rests and with what kind of rest CHAP. V. The relative consideration of these three ingredients of the Saints blessedness Where it is propounded to shew particularly 1. What relation Vision hath to Assimilation 2. What both these have to Satisfaction The relation between the two former inquired into an entrance upon the much larger Discourse what relation and influence the two former have towards the third What Vision of Gods Face or glory contributes towards Satisfaction Estimated from the consideration 1. Of the Object the glory to be beheld as 't is divine entire permanent appropriate THUS far have we view'd the parts or necessary concurrents of which the blessedness of the Saints must be composed absolutely and severally each from other We proceed Secondly to consider them relatively viz. in the mutual respects they bear one to another as they actually compose this blessed state wherein we shall shew particularly 1. The relation by way of inâ—luence and dependence between Vision and Assimilatioâ— 2. Between both these and the satisfaction that insues Which latter I intend more to dwell upon and only to touch the former as a more speculative and lesse improvable subject of Discourse in my way to this 1. First It may be considered what relation there may be between vision of God and assimilation or being made like to him and it must be acknowledged according to what is commonly observed of the mutual action of the understanding and will that the sight of God and likeness to him do mutually contribute each towards other The sight of God assimilates makes the soul like unto him that likeness more disposes it for a continued renewed vision It could never have attained the beatifical vision of God had it not been prepared thereto by a gradual previous likeness to him For righteousness which we have shewn qualifies for this blessedness consists in a likeness to God and it could never have been so prepared had not some knowledge of God introduced that conformity and yielding bent of heart towards him For the entire frame of the new man made after the image of God is renewed in knowledge But as notwithstanding the circular action of the understanding and will upon one another there must be a beginning of this course some-where and the understanding is usually reckon'd the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first mover the leading faculty So notwithstanding the mutual inâ—luence of these two upon each other seeing hath a natural precedency and must lead the way unto being like Which is sufficiently intimated in the Text I shall behold thy face and then I shall be satisfied with thy likeness and more fully in that parallel Scripture We shall â—e like him for we shall see him c. From whence also and from the very nature of the thing we may fitly state the relation of the first of these to the second to be that of a cause to its effect Sight begets likeness is antecedent to it and productive of it That is the face or glory of God seen that glory in conjunction with our vision of it for the vision operates not but according to the efficaciousness of the thing seen nor can that glory have any such operation but by the intervention of vision T is therefore the glory of God seen as seen that assimilates and impresses its likeness upon the beholding Soul and so its causality it is that of an objective cause which whether it belong to the efficient or final I shall not here dispute that operates onely as it is apprehended so introducing its own form and similitude into the subject it works upon Such a kind of cause were Jacobs streaked rods of the productions that ensued and such a cause is any thing whatever that begets an impression upon an apprehensive subject by the mediation and ministry whether of the phancy or understanding This kind of causality the word hath in its renewing transforming work and the Sacraments wherein they are 〈◊〉 of real physical mutations on the Subjects of them So much of the Image of God as is here imprest upon souls by Gospel dispensations so much is imprest of his glory The work of grace is glory begun And now as glory initial and progressive in this life enters at the eye beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord we are changed so doth perfect and consumate glory in the other life For we have no reason to imagine to our selves any alteration in the natural order the powers of the soul have towards each other by its passing into a state of glory The Object seen is unspeakably efficacious the Act of intuition is full of lively vigour the Subject was prepared and in a disposition before and what should hinder but this glorious effect should immediately ensue as the Sun no sooner puts up its head above the Hemisphere but all the vast space whether it can diffuse its beams is presently transformed into its likenesse and turned into a Region of light What more can be wanting to cause all the darkness of Atheism carnality and every sting of sin for ever to vanish out of the awaking soul and an intire frame of holiness to succeed but one such transforming sight of the face of God one sight of his glorioâ—â— Majesty presently subdues and works it to 〈◊〉 full subjection one sight of his purity makes 〈◊〉 pure one sight of his lovelinesse turns it into 〈◊〉 and such a sight alwayes remaining the impress remains alwayes actually besides that it is in it self most habitual and permament in the souls now confirmed state fresh and lively The Object hath quite another aspect upon a wicked soul when it awakes and the act of seeing is of another kind therefore no such effect follows besides the subject is otherwise disposed and therefore as the Sun inlightens not the inward parts of an impervious dung-hill but it inlightens air so the sight of God transforms and assimilates at last not a wicked but it doth a godly soul. That which here makes the greatest difference in the temper of the subject is Love I look upon the face of a stranger and it moves me not but upon a friend and his face presently transforms mine into a lively cheerful aspect As iron sharpens iron so doth the face of a man his friend puts a sharpness and a quickness into his looks The soul that loves God opens it self to him admits his influences and impressions
here to be understood by it which indeed sleeping would more aptly signifie than awaking but what is co-incident therewith in the same period the exuscitation and revival of the soul. When the body falls asleep then doth the Spirit awake and the eye-lids of the morning even of an eternal day do now first open upon it 1. Therefore we shall not exclude from this season the introductive state of blessedness which takes its beginning from the blessed souls first entrance into the invisible state And the fitness of admitting it will appear by clearing these two things 1. That its condition in this life even at the best is in some sort but a sleep 2. That when it passes out of it into the invisible Regions 't is truly said to awake 1. It s abode in this mortal body is but a continual sleep its senses are bound up a drowsie slumber possesses and suspends all its faculties and powers Before the renovating change how frequently doth the Scripture speak of sinners as men a sleep Let not us sleep as do others Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead c. They are in a dead sleep under the sleep of death They apprehend things as men asleep How slight obscure hovering notions have they of the most momentous things and which it most concerns them to have thorough real apprehensions of All their thoughts of God Christ Heaven Hell of Sin of Holiness are but uncertain wild guesses blind hallucinations incoherent phansies the absurdity and inconcinnity whereof they no more reflect upon then men asleep They know not these things but only dream of them They put darkness for light and light for darkness have no senses exercised to discern between good and evil The most substantial realities are with them meer shadowes and chemaera's Phansied and imagined dangers startle them as 't is wont to be with men in a dream real ones though never so near them they as little fear as they The creature of their own imagination the Lion in the way which they dream of in their slothful slumber affrights them but the real roaring Lion that is ready to devour them they are not afraid of And conversion doth but relax and intermit it doth not totally break of this sleep It as it were attenuates the consopiting fumes doth not utterly dispel them What a difficulty is it to watch but one hour There are some lucid and vivid intervals but of how short continuance how soon doth the awakened soul close its heavy eyes and fall asleep again how often do temptations surprize even such in their slumbring fits while no sense of their danger can prevail with them to watch and pray with due care and constancy least they enter thereinto Hither are most of the sins of our lives to be imputed and referr'd not to meer ignorance that we know not sin from duty or what will please God and what displease him but to a drowsie inadvertency that we keep not our spirits in a watchful considering posture Our eyes that should be ever towards the Lord will not be kept open and though we resolve we forget our selves before we are aware we find our selves overtaken Sleep comes on upon us like an armed man and we cannot avert it How often do we hear and read and pray and meditate as persons asleep as if we knew not what we were about How remarkable useful providences escape either our notice or due improvement amidst our secure slumbers How many Visits from heaven are lost to us when we are as it were between sleeping and waking I sleep but my heart waketh and hardly own the voice that calls upon us till our beloved hath withdrawn himself Indeed what is the whole of our life here but a dream The entire scene of this sensible world but a vision of the night where every man walks but in a vain shew where we are mockt with shadows our credulous sense abus'd by impostures and delusive appearances nor are we ever secure from the most destructive mischievous deception further than as our souls are possest with the apprehensions that this is the very truth of our case and thence instructed to consider and not to prefer the shadows of time before the great realities of eternity Nor is this sleep casual but even connatural to our present state the necessary result of so strict an union and commerce with the body which is to the in-dwelling Spirit as a dormitory or charnel-house rather than a mansion A soul drench't in sensuality a Leâ—â—e that hath too little of fiction in it and immur'd in a sloathful putid slesh sleeps as it were by fate not by chance and is only capable of full relief by suffering a Dissolution which it hath reason to welcome as a jubilee and in the instant of departure to sacrifice as he did with that easie and warrantable change to make a Heathen expression Scriptural Jehovae liberatori to adore and praise its great Deliverer At least accounts being once made up and a meetness in any measure attained for the heavenly inheritance c. hath no reason to regret or dread the approaches of the eternal day more than we do the return of the Sun after a dark and long-some night But as the sluggard doth nothing more unwillingly than forsake his bed nor bears any thing with more regret than to be awak't out of his sweet sleep though you should intice him with the pleasures of a Paradise to quit a smoky loathsome Cottage so fares it with the sluggish soul as if it were lodg'd in an inchanted Bed 't is so fast held by the charms of the body all the glory of the other world is little enough to tempt it out than which there is not a more deplorable Symptome of this sluggish slumbring state So deep an oblivion which you know is also naturally incident to sleep hath seiz'd it of its own Countrey of its alliances above its relation to the Father and world of Spirits It takes this earth for its home where 't is both in exile and captivity at once And as a Prince stoln away in his infancy and bred up in a beggers shed so little seeks that it declines a better state This is the degenerous torpid disposition of a soul lost in flesh and inwrapt in stupifying clay which hath been deeply resented by some Heathens So one brings in Socrates pathetically bewailing this oblivious dreaming temper of his soul which saith he had seen that pulchritude you must pardon him here the conceit of its pre-existence that neither humane voice could utter nor eye behold But that now in this life it had only some little remembrance thereof as in a dream being both in respect of place and condition far removed from so pleasant sights prest down into an earthly station and there encompast with all manner of dirt and filthiness c. And to the same purpose Plato often speaks
satisfaction and blessedness of the expecting soul. And wherein it may do so is not altogether unapprehensible Admit that a Spirit had it never been imbodied might be as well without a body or that it might be as well provided of a body out of other materials 't is no unreasonable supposition that a connate aptitude to a body should render humane souls more happy in a body sufficiently attempered to their most noble operations And how much doth relation and propriety endear things otherwise mean and inconsiderable or why should it be thought strange that a soul connaturallized tâ— matter should be more particularly inclined to a particular portion thereof So as that it should appropriate such a part and say 't is mine And will it not be a pleasure to have a vitalitâ— diffused through what even more remotely appertains to me to have every thing belonging to the Supposition perfectly vindicated from the Tyrannous dominion of death The returnâ—ing of the Spirits into a benumb'd or sleeping toe or finger adds a contentment to a maâ— which he wanted before Nor is it hence neâ—cessary the Soul should covet a re-union wiâ—â— every effluvious particle of its former body A desire implanted by God in a reasonable soul will aim at what is convenient not whâ— shall be cumbersome or monstrous And how pleasant will it be to comtemplatâ— and admire the wisdom and power of thâ— great Creatour in this so glorious a change when I shall find a Clod of Earth an Heaâ— of Dâ—st refined into a Celestial purity anâ— brightness when what was sown in corruptiâ—â— shall be raised in incorruption what was sown 〈◊〉 dishonour is raised in glory what was sown in weakness is raised in power what was sown a natural body is raised a Spiritual body When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal an immortality and death be wholly swallowed up in victory So that this awaking may well be understood to carry that in it which may bespeak it the proper season of the Saints consummate satisfaction and blessedness But besides what it carries in it self there are other more extrinsical concurrents that do further signalize this season and import a great increase of blessedness then to Gods holy ones The body of Christ is now compleated the fulness of him that filleth all in all and all the so nearly related parts cannot but partake in perfection and reflected glory of the whole There is joy in Heaven at the conversion of one sinner though he have a troublesome Scene yet to pass over afterwards in a tempting wicked unquiet world how much more when the many sons shall be all brought to glory together The designes are all now accomplished and wound up into the most glorious result and issue whereof the Divine Providence had been as in travel for so many thousand years 'T is now seen how exquisite wisdom govern'd the world and how steady a tendency the most intricate and perplexed Methods of Providence had to one stated and most worthy end Specially the constitution administration and ends of the Mediatours Kingdom are now beheld in the exact aptitudes order and conspicuous glory when so blessed an issue and success shall commend and crown the whole undertaking The Divine Authority is now universally acknowledged and adored his Justice is vindicated and satisfied his Grace demonstrated and magnified to the uttermost The whole assembly of Saints solemnly acquitted by publique sentence presented spotless and without blemish to God and adjudged to eternal blessedness 'T is the day of solemn triumph and jubilation upon the finishing of all Gods works from the creation of the world wherein the Lord Jesus appears to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all that believe Upon which ensues the resignation of the Mediatours Kingdome all the ends being now attained that the Father â—imself may be immediately all in all How aptly then are the fuller manifestations of God the more glorious display of all his Attributes the larger and more abundant Effusions of himself reserv'd as the best Wine to the last unto this joyful day Created perfections couldnot have been before so absolute but they might admit of improvement Their capacities not so large but they might be extended further and then who can doubt but that divine communications may also have a proportionable increase and that upon the concourse of so many great occasions they shall have so CHAP. XI An Introduction to the use of the Doctrine hitherto proposed The Use divided into Inferences of Truth Rules of Duty 1. Inference That Blessedness consists not in any sensual injoyment 2. Inference The Spirit of man since 't is capable of so high a Blessedness a Being of high excellency AND now is our greatest work yet behind the improvement of so momentous a truth to the affecting and transforming of hearts That if the Lord shall so far vouchsafe his assistance and blessing they may taste the sweetness feel the power and bear the impresse and image of it This is the work both of greatest necessity difficulty and excellency and unto which all that hath been done hitherto is but subservient and introductive Give me leave therefore Reader to stop thee here and demand of thee ere thou go further hast thou any design in turning over these leaves of bettering thy Spirit of getting a more refined heavenly temper of soul art thou weary of thy dross and earth and longing for the first fruits the beginnings of glory dost thou wish for a soul meet for the blessedness hitherto described What is here written is designed for thy help and furtherance But if thou art looking on these pages with a wanton rolling eye hunting for novelties or what may gratifie a prurient wit a coy and squeamish fancy Go read a Romance or some piece of Drollery know here 's nothing for thy turn and dread to meddle with matters of everlasting concernment without a serious Spirit read not another line till thou have sighed out this request Lord keep me from trifling with the things of Eternity Charge thy soul to consider that what thou art now reading must be added to thy account against the great day 'T is amazing to think with what vanity of mind the most weighty things of Religion are entertained amongst Christians Things that should swallow up our souls drink up our Spirits are heard as a tale that is told disregarded by most scorned by too many What can be spoken so important or of so tremendous consequence or of so confessed truth or with so awful solemnity and premised mention of the sacred name of the Lord as not to find either a very slight entertainment or contemptuous rejection and this by persons avowing themselves Christians We seem to have little or no advantage in urging men upon their own principles and with things they most readily and professedly assent to Their hearts are as much untouch't and void of impression by the
driven away in his wickedness with a never more see my face Again what amazing Visions wilt thou have what gashly frightful objects to converse with amidst those horrours of eternal darkness when the Devil and his Angels shall be thy everlasting associates What direful images shall those accursed enraged Spirits and thy own fruitful parturient imagination for ever entertain thee with and present to thy view 2. Is it a small thing with thee to be destitute of all those inherent excellencies which the perfected Image of God whereof thou wast capable comprehends view them over in that too defective account some of the former pages gave thee of them Thou art none of those bright stars those sons of the morning those blessed glorified Spirits Thou might'st have been But Consider what art thou what shalt thou for ever be what image or likeness shalt thou bear alas poor wretch thou art now a Fiend conformed to thy hellish partners thou bearest their accursed likenesse Death is now finished in thee and as thou sowedst to the flesh thou reapest corruption Thou art become a loathsome Carcass the Worms that never die abound in thy putrified filthy soul. Thou hast an Hell in thee Thy venomous lusts are now mature are in their full grown state If a world of iniquity a fulness of deadly poyson tempered by Hell fire is here sometimes to be found in a little member what will there then be in all thy parts and powers 3. Consider how blessed a satisfaction dost thou lose how pleasant and delightful a rest arising both from the sight of so much glory and so peaceful a temper and constitution of Spirit Here thou might'st have injoyed an eternal undisturbed rest But for rest and satisfaction thou hast vexation and endless torment both by what thou beholdest and what thou feelest within thee Thy dreadful visions will not let thee rest but the chief matter of thy disquiet and torment is in the very temper and composition of thy soul. Thy horrid lusts are fuller of poysonous energie and are destitute of their wonted objects whence they turn all their power and fury upon thy miserable self Thy inraged passions would fly in the face of God but they spend themselves in tormenting the soul that bred them Thy curses and blasphemies the invenom'd Darts pointed at Heaven are reverberated and driven back into thy own heart And therefore 4. Consider what awaking hast thou Thou awakest not into the mild and chearful light of that blessed day wherein the Saints of the most High hold their solemn joyful triumph But thou awakest into that great and terrible day of the Lord dost thou desire it for what end is it to thee a day of darkness and not light a gloomy and a stormy day The day of thy birth is not a more hateful then this is a dreadful day Thou awakest and art beset with terrours presently apprehended and drag'd before thy glorious severe Judge and thence into eternal torments O happy thou might'st thou never awake might the grave conceale and its more silent darkness cover thee for ever But since thou must awake then how much more happy wert thou if thou would'st suffer thy self to be awaken'd now What to lose and endure so much because thou wilt not now a little bestir thy self and look about thee Sure thy Conscience tells thee thou art urg'd but to what is possible and lawful and hopeful and necessary methinks if thou be a man and not a stone if thou hast a reasonable Soul about thee thou shalt presently fall to work and rather spend thy days in serious thoughts and prayers and tears than run the hazard of losing sotranscendent a glory and of suffering misery which as now thou art little able to conceive thou wilt then be less able to endure CHAP. XVIII Rule 4. Directing to the endeavour of a gradual improvement in such a disposedness of Spirit as shall be found in any measure already attained towards this blessedness That 't is blessedness begun which disposes to the Consummate state of it That we are therefore to endeavour the daily encrease of our present knowledge of God conformity to him and the satisfiednesse of our spirits therein THat when we find our selves in any disposition towards this blessedness we endeavour a gradual improvement therein to get the habitual temper of our spirits made daily more suitable to it We must still remember we have not yet attained and must therefore continue pressing forward to this mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus That prize not price as we commonly misread it in our Bibles of which the Apostle here speaks is as may be seen by looking back to v. 8 9 c. the same with the blessedness in the Text. Such a knowledge of Christ as should infer at last his participation with him in his state of glory or of the resurrection of the dead This is the ultimate term the scope or end of that high calling of God in Christ so 't is also stated elsewhere who hath called us into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus Now we should therefore frequently recount how far short we are of this glory and stir up our souls to more vigorous indeavours in order to it Our suitableness to this blessedness stands in our having the elements and first principles of it in us 't is glory onely that fits for glory some previous sights and impressions of it and a pleasant complacential relish thereof that frame and attemper us by degrees to the full consummate state of it This is that therefore we must endeavour A growing Knowledge of God Conformity to him and Satisfiedness of Spirit therein What we expect should be one day perfect we must labour may be in the mean time alwayes growing 1. Our knowledge of God The knowledge of him I here principally intend is not notional and speculative but which is more ingredient to our blessedness both inchoate and perfect that of converse that familiar knowledge which we usually express by the name of acquaintance See that this knowledge of him be encreased daily Let us now use our selves much with God Our knowledge of him must aim at conformity to him and how powerful a thing is converse in order hereto How insensibly is it wont to transform men and mould anew their Spirits Language Garbe Deportment To be remov'd from the solitude or rudeness of the Country to a City or University What an alteration doth it make How is such a person devested by degrees of his rusticitio of his more uncomely and agrest manners Objects we converse with beget their Image upon us They walked after vanity and became vain saith Jeremiah And Solomon He that walketh with the wise shall be wise Walking is an usual expression of converse So to converse with the holy is the way to be holy with heaven the way to be heavenly with God the way to
the notice and observation of the world Moreover how can it escape thy serious reflection that if thou pretend it otherwise with thee 't is but to adde one sin to another and cover thy Carnality with Hypocrisie and Dissimulation yea while thou continuest in that temper of Spirit not to desire this blessedness as thy Supreme end the whole of thy Religion is but an empty shew an artificial disguise it carries an appearance and pretence as if thou wast aiming at God and Glory while thy heart is set another way and the bent of thy soul secretly carries thee a counter-course Hath not Religion an aspect towards Blessedness what mean thy Praying thy Hearing thy Sacramental Communion if thou have not a design for Eternal Glory what makest thou in this way if thou have not thy heart set towards this end Nor is it more dishonest and unjust then it is foolish and absurd that the disposition and tendency of thy soul should be directly contrary to the only design of the Religion thou professest and doest externally practice Thy profession and practice are nothing but self-contradiction Thou art continually running counter to thy self outwardly pursuing what thou inwardly declinest Thy real end which can be no other then what thou really desirest and settest thy heart upon and thy visibly way are quite contrary So that while thou continuest the course of Religion in which thou art engaged having taken down from before thine eyes the end which thou should'st be aiming at and which alone Religion can aptly subserve Thy Religion hath no design or end at all none at least which thou would'st not be ashamed to profess and own Indeed this temper of heart I am now pleading against an undesirousness or indifferencie of Spirit towards the eternal glory renders Religion the vainest thing in the world For whereas all the other actions of our lives have their stated proper ends Religion hath in this case none at all none to which it hath any designation in its nature or any aptness to subserve This monstrous absurdity it infers and how strange is it that it should not be reflected on That whereas if you ask any man of common understanding what he doth this or that action for especially if they be stated actions done by him in an ordinary course he can readily tell you for such and such an end But ask him why he continues any practice of Religion he cannot say in this case for what For can any man imagine what other end Religion naturally serves for but to bring men to blessedness which being no other thing then what hath been here described such as are found not to desire it really and Supremely as their end can have no real attainable end of their being religious at all To drive on a continued course and series of actions in a visible pursuit of that which they desire not and have no mind to is such a piece of folly so fond and vain a trifling that as I remember Cicero reports Cato to have said concerning the South-sayers of his time he did wonder they could look in one anothers faces and not laugh being conscious to each others impostures and the vanity of their profession so one would as justly wander that the generality of carnal men who may shrewdly guess at the temper of one anothers minds do not laugh at each other that they are joyntly engaged in such exercises of Religion to the design whereof the common and agreed temper of their Spirits do so little correspond As if all were in very good earnest for Heaven when each one knows for himself and may possibly with more Truth then Charity suppose of the rest that if they might alwayes continue in their earthly stations they had rather never come there And therefore that they desire it not Supremely and so not as their end at all consider it then that thy no-desire of this blessed state quite dispirits thy Religion utterly ravishes away its Soul leaves it a dead foolish vain thing renders it an idle impertinency not a mean to a valuable end This desire is that life of Religion all duties and exercises of piety are without it but empty Formalities Solemn pieces of Pageantrie Every service done to God but the Sacrifice of a Fool if not animated by the desire of final blessedness in him and be not part of our way thither a means designed to the attainment of it Which nothing can be that we are not put upon by the vertue of the desired end Without this Religion is not it self A continuance in well doing is as it were the body of it and therein a seeking honor glory and immortality the Soul and Spirit The desire of an Heavenly Country must run through the whole course of our Earthly Pilgrimage It were otherwise a continued errour an uncertain wandring no steady tending towards our end So that thou art a meer Vagrant if this desire do not direct thy course towards thy Fathers house And methinks all this should make thee even ashamed of thy self if thou canst not find this desire to have a settled residence and a ruling power in thy Soul then 2. Sense of praise should signifie something too as the Apostle Whatsoever things are pure lovely c. if there be any vertue any praise think of these things And hath not the eternal glory those characters upon it of purity and loveliness beyond all things Is it not a laudable and praise-worthy thing to have a mind and heart set upon that The blessed God puts a note of excellency upon this temper of Spirit But they desire a better Country that is an Heavenly Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God c. This renders them a people worthy of him who hath called them to his kingdom and glory fit for him to own a relation to Had they been of low terrene Spirits he would have accounted it a shame to him to have gone under the name and cognisance of their God But in as much as they desire the Heavenly Country have learned to trample this terrestrial world cannot be contained within this lower Sphere nor satisfie themselves in earthly things they now discover a certain excellency of Spirit in respect whereof God is not ashamed to own a relation to them before all the world to be called their God to let men see what account he makes of such a Spirit Yea this is the proper genuine Spirit and temper of a Saint which agrees to him as he is such He is begotten to the eternal inheritance A disposition and therein a desire to it is in his very nature the new nature he hath received implanted there from his original He is born Spirit of Spirit and by that birth is not intituled onely but adopted and suited also to that pure and Spiritual state of blessedness That grace by the appearance whereof men are made Christians teaches also instructs unto this very thing to
glory of God Your hearts being bent thitherward and made willing to run through whatsoever difficulties of life or death to attain it Do not think that Christ came into the world and dyed to procure the pardon of your sins and so translate you to heaven while your hearts should still remain cleaving to the earth He came and returned to prepare a way for you and then call not drag you thither That by his Precepts and Promises and Example and Spirit he might form and fashion your Souls to that glorious state And make you willing to abandon all things for it And low now the God of all grace is calling you by Jesus Christ unto his eternal Glory Direct then your eyes and hearts to that marke the Prise of the High calling of God in Christ Jesus 'T is ignominious by the common suffrage of the civiliz'd world not to intend the proper business of our Callings To your Calling to forsake this world and mind the other make hast then to quit your selves of your entanglements of all earthly dispositions and affections Learn to live in this world as those that are not of it that expect every day and wish to leave it whose hearts are gone already 'T is dreadful to dye with pain and regret To be forced out of the Body To dye a violent death and go away with an unwilling refluctant heart The wicked is driven away in his wickedness Fain he would stay longer but cannot He hath not power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit nor hath he power in death He must away whether he will or no. And indeed much against his will So it cannot but be where there is not a previous knowledge and love of a better state where the Soul understands it not and is not effectually attempered and framed to it O get then the lovely Image of the future glory into your minds keep it ever before your eyes Make it familiar to your thoughts Imprint daily there these words I shall behold thy face I shall be satisfied with thy likeness And see that your souls be inrich't with that righteousness Have inwrought into them that holy rectitude that may dispose them to that blessed state Then will you dye with your own consent and go away not driven but allur'd and drawn You will go as the redeemed of the Lord with everlasting joy upon their heads As those that know whether you go even to a state infinitely worthy of your desires and choice and where 't is best for you to be You will part with your souls not by a forcible separation but a joyful surrender and resignation They will dislodge from this earthly Tabernnacle rather as putting it off then having it rent and torn away Loosen your selves from this body by degrees as we do any thing we would remove from a place where it sticks fast Gather up your spirits into themselves Teach them to look upon themselves as distinct thing Inure them to the thoughts of a dissolution Be continually as taking leave Cross and disprove the common maxime and let your hearts which they use to say are wont to dye last dye first Prevent death and be mortifi'd towards every earthly thing beforehand that death mave have nothing to kill but your body And that you may not die a double death in one hour and suffer the death of your body and of your love to it both at once Much less that this should survive to your greater and even incurable misery Shake off your Bands and Fetters the terrene affections that so closely confine you to the house of your bondage And lift up your heads in expectation of the approaching Jubilee the day of your redemption when you are to go out free and enter into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God When you shall serve and groan and complain no longer Let it be your continual song and the matter of your daily praise that the time of your happy deliverance is hastening on that ete long you shall be absent from the body and present with the Lord. That he hath not doom'd you to an everlasting imprisonment within those closs and clayie walls wherein you have been so long shut up from the beholding of his sight and glory In the thoughts of this while the outward man is sensibly perishing let the inward revive and be renewed day by day What Prisoner would be sorry to see the walls of his Prison House so an Heathen speaks mouldering down and the hopes arriving to him of being delivered out of that darkness that had buried him of recovering his liberty and injoying the free air and light What Champion inur'd to hardship would stick to throw off rotten rags rather expose a naked placid free body to naked placid free air The truly generous soul to be a little above never leaves the body against its will Rejoyce that it is the gracious pleasure of thy good God thou shalt not always inhabit a Dungeon nor lie amid'st so impure and disconsolate darkness that he will shortly exchange thy filthy Garments for those of Salvation and Praise The end approaches As you turn over these leaves so are your days turned over And as you are now arrived to the end of this Book God will shortly write Finis to the Book of your Life on Earth and shew you your names written in Heaven in the Book of that Life which shall never end FINIS Senec. * Pruritus disputandi scobies Ecclesia * Ut ulcera quaedam nocituras manus apoetunt tactu gaudent faedam corporum scabiem delectat quicquid â—xâ—sperâ—t Non alitè◠dixerim his mâ—ntibus in quas voluptates velut mala ulcera crupê unt voluptati esse laborem vexâ—tionemque Sâ—n. de tranquillitate anâ—â—â— Sen de Brev. vit * Nihil est Deo similius aut gratius quam vir animo perfectè bonus c. Apul. de Deo Soâ—â—atis * Inter bonos viros ac Deum amicitia est conciliante virtute amicitiam dico etiam necessitudâ— similitudâ— c. Sca de prov * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Minâ—e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Dyonys Halicar Antiq. Rom. lib. 8. Rom. 2 6 7 8 9. * Rom. 16 18. Phil. 3. 19. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The vâ—lgar Latine Eâ—oautem 〈…〉 appaâ—câ—o â—oâ—spectui 〈◊〉 satiabo◠〈◊〉 â—â—pâ—â—uâ—riâ— gloâ—ia tua Exactly following the Seventy as doth the Ethiopique the Chaldee Paraphrase disagrees little the Arabique lesse the Syâ—iâ—ck mistook it seem◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so read that word saith which we read likenesse Hieronymus juxta Hebr. reads the words exactly as we do Ego in justiâ—iâ viâ—â—bo faciâ—m tuam implebor cum evigilavero similitudine tua 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seems best to be rendered here by or through righteousness as by the condition