the everlasting glorification of the whole man Quest But will not this diminish and lessen the excellency of our future estate and make it far less eminent then the Scripture describes it to be 2 Cor. 4.17 and consequently less desirable and the hope and assurance of it less able to solace us against our present sufferings Sol. I answer no for besides the admirable alteration there shall be in our Bodies in respect of their present base condition there shall be a far greater alteration in our Souls though it be not specifical and essential as may appear in comparing the First-fruits with the whole Harvest What is an handful to the whole Crop what is a drop of Water to the whole Ocean what is the light of the Moon and Stars and Candle-light to that of the Sun and yet there is no essential difference between these no more then between a mountain and a mole-hill both having the same common nature God can raise qualities as well as substances to a most eminent and glorious perfection if we in the state of renovation find such comforts as are many times unspeakable and glorious even in this our day of small things that they make us to glory in tribulation and to triumph over the greatest evils in this life how absolute and transcendently ravishing shall our contentment be when we shall be above the reach of all evils and be filled with all perfection Hence we may learn how to conceive of the blessedness of our future estate viz. not to think of it after a carnal manner as if it did consist in eating and drinking sleeping marrying possessing of Silver and Gold and Houses richly furnished and adorned or in a Turkish Paradise in sensual delights and following our sports and recreations but rather in exercises of Holiness and Righteousness in a glorious and heavenly communion with the holy Trinity Saints and Angels as Rom. 14.17 in living a Celestial and Angelical kind of life as Luke 20.35 such as is described Isa 6.2 3. Psal 103.20 Matth. 18.20 Luke 15.7 Luke 2.13 14. A sincere Christian condition and heavenly conversation is an obscure delineation and representation of the happy condition of the glorified and the Saints do even live as it were an Heaven upon Earth they begin to live eternally and blessedly as soon as they begin to be in Christ and if Glory deserveth such great admiration and estimation Grace which is a spark and principle of it can be no mean thing therefore let those that are sanctified in Christ so far magnifie themselves against the insolencies of ungodly men CHAP. VI. Sheweth that the perfect Glory and Happiness of the Saints is invisible for the present SECT I. IN the next place I shall shew you that the full dignity glory and happiness of the Saints is not apparent Now we are the Sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be but when he shall appear we shall be like him c. 1 John 3.2 Our Salvation is hid in this life Our life of glory is hid with Christ in God Col. 3.3 All the flourishing beauty of the Wine is all the dead time of the Winter hidden in the root of the Vine Christ our Head our Brother our Ausband our Saviour is keeper of the Crown of glory it is hid in Christ for the present therefore it doth not appear and it is hid with Christ in God in God objective because of our happiness principally consisteth in the vision of God or causaliter because all our glory is derived from God or else in God that is apud Deum in the power of God to bestow it at his pleasure there is glory and happiness hidden in Christ for us Upon the meditation hereof the Psalmist cries out Psal 31.19 O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee how great it is particula admirativa Bruno Nimis supra quam dici potest admirativè cum nimio pondere Bruno interprets it thus How great is thy goodness it is so wonderful that the tongue of an Angel cannot express how great it is but this goodness is laid up it is in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which thou hast hidden which thou hast in secret preserved so that it is not as yet apparent what goodness it is Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what things God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 This St. Paul spake who in that divine rapture into the Third Heaven saw a flash of the Transcendent glory of the Saints The glorious beauty of Heaven and Earth is the object of the eye yet no eye ever saw such glory our ears hear more then our eyes can see we hear of glorious things done in all parts of the World and yet no ear ever heard of such glory our hearts can conceive more then our eyes can see or ears can hear or we can fancy greater things then can be presented to the eye yet we cannot conceive the glory of the Sons of God Our glory doth not appear we have treasures of happiness but they are hidden in the field our Transcendent happiness is like a curious piece of Arras roled up not put down and exposed to the view of men we are glorious Stars but yet we do not appear above the Horizon the Earth doth interpose it self between us and the set Sun and hides his light from us so these earthy bodies of ours do interpose themselves between us and our glory that it cannot be seen The happy and glorious estate of the Children of God doth not now appear 1. Not to the Wicked the glory and beauty of the Saints in this life is internal and spiritual The Kings Daughter is all glorious within Psal 45.13 They are full of riches of glory and strength but it is in the inner man Eph. 3.16 And so it is not obvious to carnal eyes which if it were it would turn the most sensual Epicures into mortified Saints but the wicked want a spiritual eye to discern spiritual glory Gods people are worth Millions of men but they are Gods hidden ones Psal 83.3 The world knoweth them not because they know not God 1 John 3.1 And as Moses his face when it shone had a vail over it so the glory of grace hath a vail over it that not a glimpse of it appeareth to the wicked much less doth the life of endless glory appear to them These things do hide the glorious condition of the godly from the wicked 1. Their outward troubles their outward mean and base condition obscureth their glory so that wicked men think godliness to be a contemptible thing What hid the Majesty of Christ from the eye of the Jews why was he a man rejected and despised among men it was the baseness of his outward condition that hid the glory of the only begotten Son of God he
the Children of God and these are imperfect in this world and fully perfected and consummated in the world to come Glory to speak properly of that which is to come I rather conceive to be the general comprehending holiness it self and all other excellencies of this glorious estate and condition then a part or member distinguished from it for that perfection of holiness which the Saints shall then enjoy shall be exceeding glorious but thus I speak according to our usual manner of expressing these things The glory of the Saints in Heaven is that which accomplisheth that which grace hath begun and setteth a Seale upon the fullness of all our felicities Glory as one well observeth implieth some great eminency and excellency Dr. Sibs as the foundation of it and then a manifestation of that excellency Though there be excellency yet if there be not a manifestation thereof it is not Glory Christ was inwardly glorious while he was upon earth in the state of abasement he had true glory as he was God and man but there was not a manifestation of it till he was received up into glory therefore the glory of the Saints is called the manifestation of the Sons of God Rom. 8.19 Glory also implyeth victory over all opposition here God's children are subject to abasement to shame to sufferings in divers kinds but glory will exempt them from all baseness and all that may diminish esteem and excellency and in the day of their glorification their excellency shall shine and break forth and all things shall be removed that might hinder their glory so that glorified souls shall be like that Egyptian Pyramid which perpendicularly reflected on by the Sun did cast no shadow When the Saints shall appear with Christ in glory they shall appear as so many glorious Conquerours over their enemies they shall see Sin and Satan their Spiritual enemies subdued and they shall appear Conquerours over wicked men who did in this life trample upon them and they shall see them damned before their faces SECT II. ADam in Paradise was but a little inferiour to the Angels and crowned with glory and honour Psal 8. He discoursed familiarly with the Angels and he knew that his Soul though included in a body was little inferiour to those blessed Spirits but hereafter the Saints shall be made like or equal to the Angels The Lord will raise his Saints to a higher pitch of glory then Adam was in Paradise which may thus be illustrated 1. Adam was made Lord of the inferiour Creatures in that happy State all was submitted to his will he was equally absolute in his Person and Dominion he was Lord of the Universe but the Saints at the last day shall be raised to such a degree of glory that they shall have no need nor use of these inferiour Creatures the Fowls of the Air the Fishes of the Sea the Beasts of the Earth were put under the feet of Adam before his fall but then they shall be below all the necessities of the Saints who shall be raised far above these things enjoying all in and from the fountain of life God himself living and reigning with his children will be their everlasting inheritance he will fill all their desires perfect all the powers of their Souls and communicate himself so surely and so abundantly to them that as there is nothing they have cause to fear so there is nothing they need or can wish for 2. Adam indeed was crowned with Glory but yet left in a possibility to stain his Glory Man in Paradise could not raise himself up to God nor defend himself against the Devil without the assistance of grace saith St. August August Epist 109. ad Bonif. he was therefore soon exiled from Paradise and constrained to endure a banishment as long as life and here he undergoes all the miseries of an exterminated person he is deprived of his goods and being driven out of Paradise is fallen from all those honours that equalled his condition to that of Angels and reduced to a deplorable estate rendring his condition little different from that of the beasts that perish Job was more happy in his misery saith the same Father then Adam in his Innocence August in Psal 29. he was victorious on the dunghil this other was defeated on his Throne He gave no ear to the evil counsel of his wife this other was cajol'd bâ— His He despised all the assaults of Satan this other suffered himself to be worsted at the first temptation He preserved his righteousness in the midst of his soâ—rows this other lost his innocence in the midst of his pleasures The first man saith he in another place received in Paradise a liberty void of all servitude God presented him with fire and water and gave him leave to chuse man took fire and rejected the water God who is just let him grasp what he had chosen so that he was therefore unhappy because he would be so Man was left in a possibility to stain his honour and lose his glory he did not long abide in that honour Adam fell as is probable the same day he was created 1. Because Christ saith of the Devil he was a murtherer from the beginning John 8.44 His malicious mind being such toward them that stood himself being fallen that he could not endure to see them in that estate no not for an hour 2. If he had continued one day or one night in his integrity the blessing of God upon his Marriage would have taken place and so he would have begotten children without sin which sith he did not but begat Children in his own Image Gen. 5.3 It 's likely he fell the same day wherein he was Created 3. See the Answer that Eve makes to the Devil Gen. 3.2 We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the Garden i. e. Have free liberty to eat signifying that as yet they had not eaten and therefore it could be no long time But the Saints at the last day shall be raised to such a state of glory and honour as shall never fade their Crown and Garland shall never wither fading glory is very imperfect it is like a flash of lightning Adam was tempted and lost his present Glory his dignity was soon gone but the Glory that God will put upon his Saints shall be like the fixed Stars shining in the Kingdom of the Father they shall be like unto Christ whose Glory is Eternal this is the greatest and last benefit they shall receive by Christ far greater then Adam's in his state of innocence St. John saith that when he shall appear we shall be like him 1 John 3.2 that is like him in glory Now when I say the Saints shall be like unto Christ you must consider that there is a great difference between likeness and equality Things may be like each other which may be very unequal Water in a Dish is like the Water in the River but very unequal
findeth such a wonderful change in the Body transformed unto such a glorious perfection even as it is a great refreshment to the mind of a man after a perfect cure to find the Body lightsome full of spirits and in perfect health after a lethargy or some other dulling disease that hath debilitated nature exhausted the spirits and indisposed it for action Then shall the happiness of man be perfect when a glorified Soul shall be united to an immortal Body and mutually communicating all their advantages the Soul shall be happy in the felicity of the Body and the Body happy in that of the Soul all their differences shall then be composed in this general peace the Soul shall then forget all the revolts of the Body nor shall the Body any more complain of the severities of the Soul but both of them remembring only the good they have done each other they shall reign in Heaven in a community of glory CHAP. XIX Of the more distinct blessedness of the Soul SECT I. Of the perfection of the apprehensions of the Saints in glory LEt us now more distinctly consider of the blessedness of the Soul first laying this general rule that it shall be perfect for the Apostle plainly sheweth that the Spirits of just men are made perfect Heb. 12. Now the perfection of the Soul principally consisteth in the knowledg of God Now there is Scientia directa intuitiva a direct knowledg of God upon view and sight Now this is either perfect or imperfect A full and perfect knowledg of God himself none hath but God himself no creatures no man no Angel is capable of it God himself fully and perfectly seeth himself which no other can do for a full and perfect knowledg of an infinite Beeing is infinite as that Beeing is He that hath a full and perfect knowledg of any thing whatsoever it be hath the full measure of that thing in his understanding which he fully and perfectly knoweth Now what is the shallow and narrow capacity of any created understanding of Man or Angel that it should measure the infinite essence and excellency of the God-head it is not so much as a spoon to the Ocean and there is less disproportion between the water of the Sea and the capacity of a spoon then the understanding of Man or Angels and the infinite majesty and excellency of God Now God knoweth himself fully and perfectly in himself If the Sun-beams were animated and living creatures endued with reason how clearly and perfectly would they know and see through themselves every way being altogether light and transparent God is the light of lights a most pure bright and glorious Beeing and he is of infinite wisdom and so fully and perfectly knoweth himself On the other side there is a knowledg of God direct and intuitive or upon view which is not perfect and this is of those blessed Creatures already possessed of glory such knowledg have the Angels who see God face to face as our Saviour saith Matth. 18.10 The Angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in Heaven They do not only see his back-parts as Moses did but his face by an immediate view beholding the beauty and glory of the Lord. Whether the Saints departed before the resurrection of the Body do thus see the face of God I determine not doubtless they do already enjoy a great degree of blessedness the fruition whereof is more sweet for one day then the enjoying of all the World for a mans life howsoever after the resurrection when they shall be fully possessed of glory they shall see the face of God as the Angels do Job 19.25 26 27. I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh I shall see God whom I shall see for my self and not another c. So David compareth the temporal prosperity of Worldlings which they enjoy in this life with the blessed estate which he expected after the resurrection of the Body he calleth them Psal 17.14 15. Men of the World which have their portion in this life and whose belly the Lord filleth with his hid treasures which are full of Children and leave the rest of their substance to their Babes This was their seeming happiness all worldly and temporary Now on the other side he speaketh of his own condition As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness He cared not for those hidden treasures locked up in the mines and bowels of the earth nor for a portion in this life nor for large portions for his Posterity c. but to behold the face of God in righteousness to see him face to face which he was assured of by faith and so to be satisfied with his Image Object But why is this knowledg said to be imperfect sith the Apostle speaking of this glorious condition of the Saints saith That then that which is perfect shall come and that which is imperfect shall be done away Sol. I answer this knowledg of God which the Angels have and the Saints shall have in God himself is Perfect in regard of the Subject in which it is Imperfect in regard of the Object of whom it is Perfect in regard of the Subject and that in two respects 1. Because it filleth the understanding and satisfieth the spirit with a fulness of light resulting from so glorious an object so that the Soul hath a beatifical vision of God so far as it is capable And as the eye is refreshed by an object fitly proportioned and hurt or dimmed by a disproportionable eminency or excellency in the object surpassing its strength and ability so the Soul perfected and glorified and the Angelical Spirits have such a knowledg of God in himself as filleth them not such as confoundeth them and this is perfect in regard of them because it is such a perfection as they are capable of and can contain 2. It is perfect in respect of the subject in which it is in that it is as much as is due and requisite to make their happiness compleat and perfect without any defect it is so perfect that they need no more knowledg of God then that which they have and who can deny but that this is a perfection of knowledg in respect of the subjects they are as blessed every way and so especially in regard of the knowledg of God as such creatures can be and that is a perfection though relative and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they say in relation to the subjects in whom it is Secondly on the other side this knowledg which these glorified spirits have and shall have of God in himself is imperfect in respect of the Object of whom it is viz. God whom they know in himself that is it is not a knowledg matchable to the infinite essence and
to be of the time which is now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By this may be understood either generally our life-time or else the whole time of the Worlds continuance as if he should say were all the afflictions that ever have been are or shall be inflicted upon us were they all collected together to fall upon one Christian and were they as an heavy and intollerable burthen to lie upon him so long as the World shall last yet could they not consist with the Saints glory that shall be revealed hereafter Or more particularly it may be taken for the times of the Apostles of the Primitive Church at what time there were the sorest and most raging Persecutions and then they yield us an argument a majori if the sufferings of those times were not worthy then much less the sufferings of any other time Are not worthy to be compared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Grammarians note doth signifie those things which being put in the ballance are of equal weight and poise one to the other and from thence it is taken to signifie worth or worthiness Non siâ—no equipolenti Iâ—â—l Trâ—nsl Non sunt pares Erasm Minime esse pareâ— Beza because there is a full correspondence of value betwixt that which is said to be worthy and the thing it is worthy of and according to this usual signification of the word do we translate here not worthy of the glory c. his meaning is according to the proper signification of the Greek word they are not of equal weight they agree neither in quantity nor quality were the afflictions of this life weighed with the Saints glory hereafter they would hold no weight with them there being no proportion no equipollency between them it is a Metaphor taken from those that put things very light in one scale and things very ponderous in the other which will hold no proportion were the sufferings of this life weighed with the glory to come they would be but light in comparison The vulgar Latin reads the words thus the sufferings of this present time are not condign to the glory to come they say Non sunt condignae passiones hujus temporis ad futuram gloriam Vulg. we should not say they are worthy of the glory but they are not equal to the glory c. now according to their Translation what is condign but equal or comparable in worth whence they take their meritum condigni or ex condigno to be that in value or worth which is equivalent to the reward Therefore Arias Montanus Non dignae passiones nunc temporis ad suturam g oriam Ar. Mont. ad verbum reads it thus the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to the glory to come which what is it but the same to say they are not comparable in worth to the glory to come so that this Translation of ours is approved even by the Papists themselves St. Augustine Nullo modo superbiant sancti Martyres tanquam dignum aliquod pro illius patrae participatione fecerint ubi â—â—terna est vera felicitas Aug. de Civit. â—â—i lib. 5. cap. 18. saith that the holy Martyrs are not to be proud as if they did any worthy matter for the participation of that Country where is eternal and true happiness and alleadgeth afterward for reason hereof these words because as the Apostle saith the sufferings of this time are unworthy of the glory that shall be revealed St. Bernard Bernard in Annunciat serm 1. affirming that the merits of men are not such as that eternal life may be due unto them of right and asking what are all merits to so great a glory for confirmation citeth these very same words and addeth no not if one man did endure them all And Fulgentius Fulgent ad Momin lib. 1. having said that the gift of God's reward doth incomparably and unspeakably exceed all the merits of mans good will and works brings for proof hereof these words of St. Paul in my Text That the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared c. With the glory Musculus Muscul ex Chrysost in loc out of Chrysostom observeth that because the Apostle could not find a word expressing that happiness which the Saints shall enjoy therefore he expresseth it by glory which is that which every man affecteth and doth abhor shame and confusion which is contrary to glory the excellency of the Saints future happiness is set forth by this word glory Musculus gives another reason why he mentioneth glory viz. because the Cross of Christ is most ignominious full of shame in the world and therefore that we may despise the shame and endure the cross with Christ he mentioneth glory to run the Race of shame is nothing if glory be at the Goal That shall be revealed Shewing that as yet it is invisible and whatsoever joy and comfort we meet with here this is not the joy the glory that shall be revealed hereafter glory may be revealed and we not partakers of it therefore it is said it shall be revealed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in us or conferred upon us we shall shine as the Sun our glory shall be revealed in the sight of the Sun in the open Air. CHAP. II. IN this Verse thus opened many truths do concur 1. That there is a State of Glory provided kept and laid up for the Saints 2. That this glory is yet unknown not reveal-in us nor fully apprehended by us 3. That there will a time come when the glory of the Saints shall be displaied and revealed 4. That the time of Gods children in this world is a time of afflictions and sufferings that is their portion Luk. 16.25 5. They have not some one cross but many afflictions it is afflictions in the plural number Many are the afflictions of the Righteous Psal 34.19 We must through manifold tribulations enter into Heaven Act. 14.22 6. The afflictions of Gods people are but short and momentary they are but the afflictions of this present time Psal 30.5 6. For a little season they are in heaviness 1 Pet. 1.6 The time of their afflictions is but short but for the time of this life and then all tears shall be wiped from their eyes 7. That the ready way to know the transcendency of Heaven's Glory above the afflictions of this present time is to weigh both in the ballance of right reason 8. That there is no proportion or comparison between a believers present sufferings and his future glory 9. That a right sense of Heaven's Glory will make us to slight all the sufferings of this present time and to have mean thoughts of them in comparison of the future recompence Now when it is said that the afflictions of this present time or the afflictions of this life are unworthy of the glory that shall be revealed of whose afflictions and sufferings
is it spoken but of the Saints who suffer by the gift and grace of God are members of Christ and Temples of the holy Ghost even of those sufferings wherein they suffer with Christ of which St. Ambrose Ambrose Epist 22. saith to shew the meaning of the words here in hand he is altogether glorified who in suffering for him suffereth with him and that the Apostle may exhort us to sufferings he addeth that all these things which we suffer are too little and unworthy that for the pains thereof so great reward of good things to come should be returned to us CHAP. III. Sect. 1. A description of Glory MY purpose from this Text God assisting me shall be to discourse at large of the glory of Heaven that glory which he hath laid up for his Saints and with which he will Crown them hereafter albeit in this world they are debased vilified and put to shame yet hereafter they shall be glorified Here in the first place let us consider what glory is Glory What glory is taâ—â—â— properly doth note unto us that high esteem which any have of some special worth and excellency in others or of some notable acts wrought by others So the glory of God is that high esteem and account which men and Angels do in their apprehensions entertain of the excellency majesty goodness power perfection and al-sufficiency of God especially that which the Saints and Angels do conceive of him whose apprehension of Gods excellency and infinite perfection is mixt with an entire love of God When we discern a special excellency in a person whom we entirely love this will enlarge our apprehensions in discerning the excellency of such a person He that loveth the Lord sincerely will see more glorious excellencies then another yet even the enemies of God cannot so shut their eyes but that many of them even against their wills shall have a glorious esteem of the Lords excellency Exod. 9.27 Pharaoh could not but discern a glorious excellency of power and Justice in the Lord when he saw his hand so heavy and his stroakes so multiplyed upon him and his people The malignity of their Spirits against the Lord doth ecclipse the brightness of the glory of God shining unto them but yet it cannot altogether darken it The utter darkness that is in the bottomless pitâ— cannot hinder but that the glory of God's Power Wisdom and Justice shall appear to the Devil himself and he shall be forced to entertain an high esteem of his excellency and perfection although there doth not one glimps of his love and favour shine there So the glory of the Saints properly is that high esteem which others have of the excellency which God hath put upon them and of the graces of God shining in them But I take it it is more often used in Scripture for such glorious excellencies as do deserve or cause such an high esteem of those in whom they are So of St. Stephen it is said That he saw the glory of God Act. 7.25 That is a glorious brightness and representation of Gods presence which could not but cause an high and glorious esteem of so excellent a Majesty in all beholders There are glorious excellencies which God in this life hath begun in his children in which sence glory is taken for the foundation of that which is properly called glory for that which produceth glory or causeth an high esteem in the hearts and minds of others so that this is glory radically whereas an high esteem following hereupon is glory formally and properly Now then take glory in this sense for any glorious excellencies in any person we must distinguish a main and mighty difference between the fullness of glorious excellency which is originally in the Creatour and that degree of glorious excellency which is derived to the Creature His glory is his own the glory of the Creatures is not their own but borrowed it is the glory of God shining in them Now this glory which the God of all glory hath put upon the Creatures is of divers kinds as we may learn from the Apostles words 1 Cor. 15.40 41. The glory of the Celestial is one and the glory of the Terrestial is another There is one glory of the Sun and another glory of the Moon and another of the Stars for one Star differeth from another in glory So there is a glory in unreasonable and a glory in reasonable and intellectual Creatures 1. In unreasonable there is a glorious excellency splendor and brightness put upon the Sun Moon and Stars as in that former place The very Flowers of the Field have some glimpse of glory put upon them Behold the Lillies of the Field saith our Saviour I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of them Matth. 6. There was more glory in the native beauty of a Lilly than in all the lustre which art and cost was able to weave into King Solomon's rich and royal Robes So those passages Job 39.19 20. which the Lord uttered with his own mouth for Job's conviction and humiliation do serve to shew some degrees of glory and excellency wherewith the Lord had adorn'd and beautified divers of the bruit Creatures as among others the Horse where ye must conceive that he speaks of a prime one for shape and spirit Hast thou given the Horse strength hast thou clothed his neck with Thunder canst thou make him afraid as a Grashopper The glory of his nostrils is terrible he paweth in the vally and rejoyceth in his strength he goeth on to meet the armed men He mocketh â—t fear and is not affrighted neither turneth back from the sword The quiver ratleth against him the glittering spear and the shield c. Now as the Sun shining upon the Earth or upon a Wall or the like maketh it shine and glister and communicateth its glory to it and yet it is the brightness of the Sun we know and not of the Wall so these glorious excellencies in any degree appearing in the Creatures is the glory of God and not of the Creatures 2. On the other side there is a glory of reasonable or intellectual Creatures and first of Angels who are full of glorious excellencies Secondly of Men who may have glorious excellencies in them of divers kinds Natural Civil Spiritual Natural viz. an eminency of endowments in body and mind Civil extraordinary abilities for managing of publick Affairs in Peace and War and notable atchievements or performances of this kind Such eminency was in Saul Nebuchadnezzar Alexander the Great Julius Caesar and these things made them glorious in a degree But as the Apostle saith in another case the glory of the Terrestrial is one the glory of the Celestial is another so all this is but Terrestrial glory it is Spiritual and Celestial glory which here we are to speak of a special eminency and glorious excellency in spiritual and heavenly things bestowed upon
to it An Infant in the day of his Birth may be like the Parents but not equal to them Adam was made in the likeness of his Maker but when he sought to be his equal it was his ruine So great is the difference between likeness and equality that the former the Lord gave him freely but his affecting and seeking the latter was so displeasing to the Lord that he deprived him of the former also so that whereas being like to God he sought to be equal also he became neither equal to him nor like him but contrary to him So in this case the faithful shall be like to Christ but not his equals as the Stars are in some degree like the Sun but not equal in glory and brightness Now 1. Christ being God and Man having two Natures united into one Person each Nature hath a peculiar glory The Divine Nature being infinite incomprehensible eternal the glory of Christ is his very Nature it is infinite incomprehensible and eternal glory it is called light inaccessible The Humane Nature of Christ being a finite being the glory thereof is but finite this glory was given him by his Father God raised him from the dead and gave him glory 1 Pet. 1.21 Our Natures being the same with his Humane Nature we shall be like him in this glory our Natures being capable of the same glory 2. Yet although the glory of Christ's Humane Nature be but as his Nature finite yet this glory doth above all measure exceed all the glory of all the Angels and glorified Saints All the glory of Saints and Angels compared to Christ's glory is no more then all the light of the Stars compared to the light of the Sun The Moon exceeds the other Stars in light but the Sun a thousand times exceeds the Moon and all the Stars and if the Sun be wanting it will be night for all the Stars So one Saint may excel another in glory and the Angels may excel the Saints but yet the glory of the Humane Nature of Christ doth a thousand times exceed the glory of Angels and Saints One reason is because the Humane Nature of Christ is more nearly united to the Divine then Angels and Men the nearer union the greater participation of glory and can there be a nearer union then a personal union such an union is the union between the Humane Nature and the Divine in Christ If a Body that is capable of the light should be united into one substance with the Sun that Body must needs shine more glorious then the distant Stars The Humane Nature is united to the incomprehensible glorious Nature and Essence and therefore far more glorious then all other Moreover that which is the measure of things Quod est primum in unequoque genere est mensura reliquorum must needs be the chief of all those things of which it is the measure that which is the first and chief in every kind is the measure of the rest Now the glory of the Humane Nature of Christ being the measure of our glory must needs excel in glory The Sun being the measure of all the Starry light and all the Stars borrowing their light from him must needs excel the lesser Stars in light Our glory is but a borrowed light it is of his fullness of his grace and glory that we receive grace and glory his human Nature is a vast Cistern full of glory and our Natures are but the smaller vessels receiving glory flowing from this vast Cistern 3. Therefore when the Apostle saith we shall be like to Christ it is meant secundum proportionem non secundum aequalitatem our glory shall be proportionable to his we shall not equal him in glory it is meant quoad partes non quoad gradus we shall have the same glory for substance though not the same in degrees Christ shall so far excel the biggest Vessel of glory as Job in his glorious estate did excel himself when he lay upon the Dunghil full of nasty sores as Solomon in all his glory did excel himself being in his Mothers Womb. 4. Saints shall be like Christ in glory yet notwithstanding one Saint will exceed another in glory God will cloath all his Children alike yet their garments shall be made proportionable for their stature All the Saints shall be vessels of Mercy yet one Saint shall be a larger and more capacious vessel then another Christ in his answer to that curious request of Zebedees Wife Mat. 20.23 implyeth that there shall be degrees of glory and granteth that some shall sit at his right hand some at his left hand in his Kingdom They shall all have the same glory and happiness ratione objecti faelicitatis gloriae non ratione participationis in respect of the object of glory and blessedness but not in respect of participation God in Christ is the object of happiness but in regard of participation of the object one may and shall see more clearly then another In my Father's house are many Mansions saith our Saviour John 14.2 Patris domus is put for one and the same object of glory saith Aquinas Pluralitas mansionum the many Mansions sheweth there are divers degrees of glory And this is his comparison there is but one Centre unto which all things tend but some bodies are nearer to the Centre then other bodies are So God in Christ is the Centre of all our happiness Seneca calleth God Animae Centrum the Centre of the Soul but one Saint tendeth more near to God then another 5. Yet notwithstanding all the Saints shall be full of glory and happiness as Christ Jesus is Christ will give to every Saint his measure of glory Danaeus saith well that there be two things that the blessed Saints want in Heaven Carent omni invidia carent omni rerum ad beatitudinem necessariarum indigentia They want envy one Saint doth not envy another Saint's greater measure of glory because they shall be all full of glory and then there is no want of any thing for whatsoever pertaineth to make a Creature happy every Saint shall enjoy and such fullness of happiness shall he have that nec plus quaerel quam habebit nec minus habere doleit quam habet he that hath the least measure of glory shall seek for no more nor grieve that he hath so little CHAP. IV. Of the reasons why God will glorifie his Children in respect of the Lord himself SECT I. The reasons hereof are as follow 1. GOD hath Predestinated them unto glory 2 Thes 2.13 14. We are bound alwaies to give thanks to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth The Salvation of God's Children is built upon a stronger Foundation then the very Heavens even upon God's Counsel his hand hath written their names in the Book of Life in Characters that cannot be
unspeakable happiness of the Saints in Heaven and to behold Christ as a Judge sitting upon the Tribunal will be one of the greatest tormenting punishments of damned men and Devils The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance c. 2 Thes 1.7 8. He shall be revealed from Heaven with his holy Angels there is the glorious Majesty of Christ and in flaming fire taking vengeance c. there is the amazing terrour of his glorious appearing Our Saviour saith Matth. 24.29 30. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the Sun be darkened and the Moon shall not give her light and the Stars shall fall from Heaven and the powers of Heaven shall be shaken and then shall appear the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven and then shall all the Kinreds of the Earth mourn and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with power and great glory And he shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet and they shall gather together his Elect from the four Winds and from one end of the Heavens to the other Consider here the Signs foregoing his coming verse 29. the Sun Moon and Stars shall lose their light in a strange and wonderful manner as it were hiding their faces at the coming of the Sun of Righteousness The Stars shall fall from Heaven the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken The higher and more glorious parts of the Creation shall suffer a wonderful alteration at his coming Then shall appear the Sign of the Son of Man Which Musculus and Arelius take to be the Sign of the Cross which should be gloriously displayed in the eyes of the World both for terror to all the Enemies of his Cross and for the joy of all that believe in Christ crucified But others take it for Christ himself shewing himself in the same Humane Nature wherein he suffered now gloriously appearing for the confusion of his Enemies and full redemption of his Servants Then shall all the wicked of all Nations mourn their guilty consciences being surprized with unspeakable horror at the sight of their Judge whom they shall see coming as in a Chariot of Clouds armed with power and shining in glory sending forth his Angels by sound of Trumpet to summons all the Elect that sleep in the dust in any part of the World to come and give their attendance upon Christ their glorious Redeemer In Matth. 16.27 you have the coming of Christ expressed and his acts to be performed at his coming His coming is magnified by the glorious Majesty of his Father wherein he shall appear and those blessed Attendants which should follow him For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his Angels c. Quest But it may be doubted why Christ should be said to come in the glory of his Father sith it shall be his own glory wherein he shall appear Resp It may be said to be the glory of his Father in three respects 1. To shew his unity in Essence with the Father in that he cometh in the glory of his Father he shall come in his own glory according to that of our Saviour I and the Father are one 2. By comparing the Humiliation of his Person here in the flesh with the glory of the Divine Nature shining perfectly in the Father even at that time when it was Ecclipsed and veiled in him by the human Nature so that in this speech he compareth the meaness of a Servant wherein he now appeared with the glory of his Father wherein then he should appear 3. It was the glory of the Father because the Father hath committed all Judgment to him and after this his glorious coming he is to deliver up the Kingdom to God the Father and therefore in the mean time he is said to come in the glory of the Father 4. To which perhaps may be added a fourth That the glory of the Father shineth in the Son who is the Image of God and the brightness of his Father's glory All the glory of the Sun Moon and Stars meeting together are nothing comparable to this glory of the Father wherein Christ shall shew himself at his coming The glory of all Earthly Kingdoms viewed at one Landskip as the Devil shewed them our Saviour were nothing to that fullness of glory wherein our Blessed Saviour shall reveale himself The glory of his abasement was wonderful when the Star lighted the way to his lodging an Angel brought word from Heaven of his Conception and then of his Nativity when the Devil left him and the Victory to him and Angels came to Minister unto him when Devils roared and left their Possessions at his call when Winds and Waves were silent at a Word of his mouth when Loaves and dead Fishes multiplyed upon his blessings upon the Table or between the Teeth of the Eaters when all sorts of diseases gave place and Death it self yeilded up her dead at his command And yet beloved that difference shall be between the glory of Christ at his coming and this of his abasement which is between the glory of the Father and the despised meanness of a Servant Moreover the glory of Christ shall be magnified by the blessed attendants that shall follow him and they are his Angels at that day they shall be employed as his special Instruments in gathering the Wheat into his Barn and binding up the Tares to be burnt with fire unquenchable O faithful Soul how joyfully shouldest thou expect this blessed meeting O how happy will that day be when the holy Angels of Christ shall come to meet thee rising from the Dead and with abundance of joy shall embrace and welcome thee to thine everlasting home While thou art solitary forsaken and despised in the World comfort thy self in expectation of this blessed society with whom thou shalt remain for ever with whom thou shalt joyn in sweetest Hallelujahs and words of Praise to him that sitteth upon the Throne for evermore Ear hath not heard the sweetness of those Songs wherein the Saints shall joyn with those blessed Angels SECT III. THe glory of the Saints themselves shall be revealed they shall appear with Christ in glory 1. Their appearance in glory with Christ in Judgment will make the coming of Christ more glorious and terrible When Earthly Kings will shew the glory of their Kingdom they will always have a pompous train to follow them thus Christ the greatest of Kings delighting to manifest his glory will come attended with glorious Troops of Angels and Saints 2. Because it will make much for the glorifying of the Saints and that two ways 1. Because they shall come as Judges and shall sit upon Thrones Judging the Wicked how will wicked men quake when they shall appear before those godly men whom they hated and derided now the Saints shall Judge the World 1 Cor. 6.2 1. Assistendo they shall
the Christian race and have run over Mountains of difficulties and encountered with many tryals and tentations and at last have run them all down and are come in sight of the Promised Land of the Heavenly Canaan how will their hearts then leap for joy crying out Oh here is the Land of promise here is Heaven that blessed place here is the Kingdom we have so often prayed for Lord let thy Kingdom come here is the Crown we have run for then will a Christian say had this race that I have run been much longer and more tedious then it was and should I have met with a thousand dangers and difficulties more then I have done they had been nothing to this glorious Crown Brethren a few moments in Heaven will make you amends enough for all your watchings praying fasting for all your labours of love for all the time you have spent in the service of God be therefore faithful to the death he that endureth to the end shall be saved CHAP. XIV SECT I. HAving spoken of the circumstance of time I shall now consider the other circumstance sc of the place of the Saints happiness This also is very considerable When man was created holy and happy Heylin Geograph Willet Synops Papismi the Spirit of God vouchsafeth to give us an exact description of the very place where God set him shewing in what coast of the World Paradise was scituate sc in Eden which the Learned say was part of Mesopotamia with what goodly and beautiful Plants that Garden was furnished Paradisum vocant Graeci locum irriguum an oenum omni florum varietate distinctum sempiternis arboribus consitum aprissimum ad aetatem feliciter degendam Ossor Lusitam de Nobilit Christiana lib. 1. with what Rivers it was watered Genes 2.8 9. this being a great addition to mans happiness in that condition and St. Paul 2 Cor. 12. calleth the third Heaven Paradise as if this Garden of Eden had been a shadow of Heaven the place of the Blessed When the Lord chose Israel out of all the Nations of the World and planted them in Canaan a figure of Heaven you may see what an exact Geographical description is given of it in the Book of Josua Chap. 15 16 17. and elsewhere the fertility and pleasantness of the Country is frequently commended How incomparable then is the pleasantness of the heavenly Paradise and the beauty of the Celestial Canaan I. It is called in Scripture the house of God and the habitation of the Saints Melchizedeck called God the Possessor of Heaven and Earth Gen. 14. The whole created World is his possession but the Heaven is his glorious Palace as a Prince that hath a whole Kingdom under him keepeth his Court in the principal place of his Dominions 1. As a Man's House is or should be scituated in the best and most convenient part of his possessions so of all things created Heaven is the goodliest and most glorious part The Earth is beautiful especially in the prime of the Spring and Summer when the face of it is renewed but yet when it is in its greatest glory it is but a dunghil in comparison of the Heavens That glory of the Heavens which we see on the outside and afar off is incomparably beyond the beauty of the things below but that which we cannot see doth far surmount that which we do see I mean that most glorious habitation of the Angels and Saints though that which we behold hath incomparably more beauty and glory in it then our weak sight can discern at such a distance and therefore the Heavens for their surpassing beauty and glory are called the House of God 2. As a Man is commonly to be seen at his own house more then at another place besides so doth the Lord in Heaven more especially shew forth his glory The Lord hath been but seldom manifested on the Earth as when he gave so many visible signs of his glorious presence upon Mount Sinai and then when Moses was admitted to see his back parts and when he spake from Heaven at the Baptism of our blessed Saviour This is my beloved Son c. but in Heaven his presence is more notably manifested continually our Saviour sheweth that in Heaven the holy Angels do always behold the face of God Matth. 18.10 his glorious presence is always manifested there 3. In a Man's dwelling house usually his Children and Servants are abiding and although Kings and Princes have more Servants and Officers then an house can hold yet their principal Attendants are commonly with them in the Court so Heaven is the place appointed for the Lord's Servants though all of them are not yet there not for want of room but because the Lord hath appointed them other work to do elsewhere for a time yet thither shall they be gathered and in the mean time there are his principal Attendants there are the glorious Angels who are called the Angels of Heaven Matth. 24.36 there also are the blessed Saints of God departed 4. As a Man's house wherein he dwelleth is furnished for the most part so that his riches appear in some sort in his house so Heaven is the place which is most royally furnished the Earth is but a Country Farm-house in comparison of it Heaven is richly adorned and furnished with perfect Holiness all the Vessels of that House are of pure Gold there is neither dross in them nor any uncleanness cleaving to them all the Saints and Angels there are free from all impurity no unclean thing hath entrance into this house of God Holiness becometh thine house O Lord for ever Psal 93.5 it is full of all holiness and happiness It is said Rev. 21.25 that the Gates of Heaven shall not be shut at all Heaven Gates shall always stand open yet no unclean thing shall enter in The Streets of that City are of pure Gold the walls built of precious Stones there are twelve Gates of twelve Pearls A good Expositor observeth that all those precious Stones there mentioned have a contrary virtue against uncleanness to shew unto us that Heaven will not admit of any impure and defiled thing God will not suffer the dirty feet of impure Sinners to tread upon his pure Pavement of Gold When God drave sinful Adam out of Paradise he caused a Cherubim to stand before the Gates of Paradise with a flaming sword in his hand to keep him out of Paradise if he should attempt to come in again Sin is like the sword of the flaming Cherubim to keep out all wicked men from entring into Heaven Heaven is also a place of holy Exercises Here our best services are stained with sin and tainted with corruption but there all the services of the Saints do bear a lively impression of the fountain of holiness upon them there they must warble forth the Song of the Seraphims Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty Isai 6.3 It is said of the Saints of
shall be seen through the Body in such a sort as the life of the Soul is seen and observed in and by the vivacity and liveliness which it imparts by action and motion to the outward visible parts of the Body Dr. Rich. Sheldon of mans last end and not only did the face of Christ shine as the Sun at his Transfiguration on Mount Tabor but also his rayment was white as the light Matth. 17.2 St. Mark addeth that his rayment became shining exceeding white as snow so as no Fuller on earth can white them Mark 9.3 Now his garments did cover his Body yet such was the glory and clarity of his Body that his rayment became white as snow for it became not Christ or the Angels to appear in naked Bodies Cyril Hierosol Catech 18. Cyril of Jerusalem speaking of this point saith The Just shall shine as the Sun and as the Moon and as the brightness of the Firmament And God foreseeing the incredulity of Men Ut Anima ista dum exercet functiones suaâ— in corpore impertit ei colorem totam hanc externam Corporis gloriam ita tum cum Deus erit omnia in omnibus spiritus Christi in nobis habitam induet Corpora nostra gloriosissima quibusque qualitatibus Rolloc in Johan cap. 5. hath given unto little Worms called Glow-worms a shining Body that they might shine therewith that from those things which do appear we might believe what we do expect he that hath made a Worm so to glister will make the Bodies of the Saints much more bright and shining SECT II. Of the agility of glorified Bodies THe Bodies of the Saints in Heaven shall also have a wonderful agility whereby they shall be able to move from place to place with incredible swiftness this agility is a glorious quality whereby the Bodies of the glorified are totally subject to the Souls as to most powerful movers to be moved by them without the least reluctancy or resistance for the Soul shall then as some Learned men say have a most absolute dominion over the Body and by a redundancy and emanation impart to it a glorious quickning and vivacity far beyond that which any mortal Creatures in their bodily heavy parts can have for glorified Souls shall then be made perfect and glorified Bodies shall have more perfect instruments for motion then those which corruptible Bodies usually have and the weight of their Bodies shall not in the least hinder their motion And albeit the same Father saith Certe ubi volet Spiritus ibi protinus erit Corpus that the Body will presently be there where the Soul would have it Yet may we not grant unto the same Bodies any instantanean motion so that in an imagined instant of time they may make any true real corporal motion for time in a proper speech hath no true or real instant either as part or period or end of it self for then a glorified Body must pass thorow the beginning middle and end of a space at once if it move from place to place in an instant which were more then utterly impossible involving a contradiction and would be destructive to the nature of a true Body Yet the motion of glorified Bodies may be very sudden and in so short a time as it were imperceptible Augustine compares it to the Sun-beams August Epist 4â— the which as it were in an imperceptible moment of time do fill this whole Hemisphere with their glorious lustre The Author of the Book of Wisdom saith The Righteous shall shine and as sparks among the stubble they shall run too and fro Sap. 3.7 Whereby some think the agility of the Saints Bodies in Heaven and their facility for motion is figured One saith that its agility will be so great that it will out-pass the winds and lightning it will flie without wings through the spacious Regions of the Air it will walk upon the water and not sink and in a very short time passing from one end of the World to the other will be no longer a clog and torment to the Soul Moreover which way soever they shall move they shall have the glorious presence of God with them in Heaven the Saints live move and have their glorious being in him they live of him by partaking of his glorious life move before him like the holy Angels by a most prompt and ready obedience and are in him being entered into the joy of their Lord. SECT III. Of the spirituality of glorified Bodies A Farther degree of the happiness of a glorified Body is that it shall be spiritual It is sown a natural Body but it riseth a spiritual Body 1 Cor. 15.44 It is called a spiritual Body not as though the Body were changed into the Soul and Spirit for so that which is raised should not be Man consisting of a Soul and Body but a third distinct thing differing from Man it shall not then cease to be a Body it shall change condition but not change nature were its nature changed the mystery of the resurrection of the flesh should be quite taken away and so the same thing that fell should not be raised again Neither is it called a spiritual Body as though the Body after the resurrection were rarified like the Air and Wind as the Eutychians of old affirmed denying glorified Bodies to be palpable but I call it spiritual 1. Because as the Body shall be re-united to the Soul so it shall be perfectly submitted to it as the Spirit serving the Flesh may not unfitly be called carnal so the Body obedient to the Soul is rightly termed spiritual The Soul shall have a more powerful influence upon and dominion over the Body after the resurrection then it ever had or could have in the time of her mortality it shall no longer be the Prison but the Temple of the Soul then the Body shall readily yield to every motion of the Spirit 2. The Body shall be endued with spiritual properties the Bodies of the Saints shall be even as the Angels are now in Heaven they shall be able to live without sleep without eating and drinking without marriage they shall need none of such things as these natural Bodies in this mortal condition do Our Bodies now are but so many clogs to our Souls subject to toyl and weariness but then the Body will have such advantages as will free and clear it from all such corporal imperfections and defections as bodily and corporal substances are obnoxious to the corruptible Body overladeth and oppresseth the Soul and this earthly tabernacle presseth down the mind meditating on heavenly things but in Heaven when the Souls of the Blessed shall see the glory of God and be for ever in the contemplation of him they shall then be freed from all clogs and hinderances that so they may bend themselves with all their might to the contemplation love and fruition of God whose goodness will then be most clearly and fully presented
God in his nature essence and substance wherein he is invisible but in some visible created form which it pleased him to assume and wherein he appeared to them Athanasius saith that they saw God in some manifestations of himself but not in his own nature so it is conceived that the Servants of God even after this life when they be perfectly sanctified and glorified shall not see God the Father and the Holy Ghost in their essence for they shall still have their true bodies and true eyes and therefore they shall see but their proper objects Reas 3. Because the Angels who have no bodily eyes and stand continually before the Lord and the blessed Souls of Saints in Heaven do now see God and yet have no bodily eyes wherefore their sight of God is only mental not ocular Reas 4. Because the Apostle expresseth the seeing God face to face by perfect knowledge 1 Cor. 13.12 Now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face now I know in part but then shall I know even as also I am known where to know God as he knows us is to see him face to face II. Although we shall not see God with our bodily eyes yet notwithstanding the glorified organ of a glorified body informed by a glorified Soul shall have most glorious objects to look upon in Heaven as 1. Heaven it self is a most glorious sight for our glorified eyes what a glorious sight is the outside of Heaven bedeckt with the Sun Moon and innumerable Stars if the outside be so glorious what is the inside wherein the glory of God is displayed if the porch and pavement of this Palace be so glorious what then is the Presence-Chamber It was Chrysostom's wish that he could see Christ in the flesh Paul in the pulpit Rome in her glory In Heaven you shall see Christ not in his state of humiliation but in the highest degree of glory not Paul in the Pulpit but Paul sitting on a Throne of glory not Rome but Heaven it self the heavenly Jerusalem in its fulness of glory 2. These eyes of our bodies shall see the glorious man Christ Jesus in whose Humane nature as in a glass God will in an ineffable manner manifest the glory of his Divine essence hence the Apostle calls him the brightness of his person the beam the splendour of his person In Rev. 21.23 it is said The City hath no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the Glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof that is Christ himself is the light by which we shall see God Oh what a glorious ravishing object will Christ's body be to the eye A Philosopher was so ravished with the Sun that he thought himself made for no other end but to look upon the Sun Christ's Body in Heaven is a thousand times more bright then the Sun Non in forma servi sed in forma the Sun is blackness of darkness in comparison of it here we see Christ as he will manifest himself to us otherwise but there we shall see him as he is 1 John 3.2 Ferus expounds the words thus we shall know him as he is that is Ferus in 1 Joan. 3.2 saith he we shall know Christ no more under the notion of a Servant we shall not know Christ as the Son of Man but then we shall know him as God as he is the Son of God the King of glorious state the Lord of glory Cajetan Cajetan in loc saith that this particle sicut as he is excludit omnem visionem per representans excludeth our knowledge of Christ from any thing that represents him sed sicuti est sicut ipse seipsum offert i. e. we shall know him by himself and not by the creature or any thing whatsoever Much of Christ is discovered here in the Word in the the Gospel and in the Ordinances and great manifestations of Christ are made to the Souls of his People by the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation but all comes short of this when they shall see him as he is in himself see him face to face as Friends talking together do look one another in the face so shall Christ and godly Men see one anothers face There 's a great difference between the sight of a Picture though it be a true Picture of a dear Friend when he is many hundred miles distant from us and the sight of his own face far more blessed shall the Children of God be when they shall see Christ as he is then now they can discern him while they are in the body and absent from him and can see him only by representations If old Simeon when he saw Christ as he was in his infancy embraced him in his arms and said Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Luke 2.29 How then shall the sight of him as he is transport the Souls of the Saints with unspeakable joy and admiration if it were so delightful to see Christ in his infancy in his swadling cloathes what joy will it be to see him in Heaven all glorious if the fight of Christ in the types and promises which were but prefigurations of him were so sweet to the Saints of old what will the sight of Christ himself the Antitype be Abraham foresaw by the eye of faith the first coming of Christ in the flesh he saw my day afar off saith Christ and was glad Qui bona egerint fulgebunt sicut Sol cum Angelis in vitam aeternam cum Domino nostro Jesu Christo videntes eum semper ab eo visi incessabili laetitia quae apiso provenient perfruentes Damascen lib. 4. de Fide John 8.56 Much more glad would he have been with old Simeon to have seen Christ himself If John Baptist leaped in the Womb for joy at the presence of Mary the Mother of our Lord how will our hearts dance for joy when we shall see the Lord Jesus himself in his great Majesty and glory if it be sweet to behold him in his Image and in his People who are but shadows of Christ if sometimes an heavenly vision of Christ hath driven a man into an extasie and hath ravished him out of himself Oh then what shall it be to see him as he is if the inward sight of him by a few beams darted upon us by this glorious Son of righteousness doth transform us from glory to glory Oh how will it then ravish our hearts when we shall have both an ocular and intellectual sight of the Lord Jesus Oh what running thronging and posting was there to see Christ when he was upon earth in his state of abasement Zacheus being a man of a low stature climbed up a Sycamore-tree that he might see Jesus passing by Luke 19. what then will the sight of Jesus be when you shall see the Son of man coming in power and
great glory when you shall see him with trumpets sounding before him and see him with his glorious train with all his glorious Angels as himself speaks Matth. 16.27 to see him sitting upon his Throne of Majesty and the World round about him his Friends the Sheep on his right hand the Goats his Enemies on his left hand what a sight will this be especially if you have then so much interest in Christ as to be placed among the Sheep at his right hand how will it affect you when he shall be always in your eye and never out of your sight If the Queen of Sheba was so stricken with amazement when she beheld the glory of Solomon that there was no more spirit in her 1 Kings 10.5 how will all the Saints be filled with admiration when they shall behold the glory of Christ how did that astonished Queen bless the Attendants of Solomon Happy are thy Men happy are these thy Servants that stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdom Alas what happiness is this in regard of the Angels and Saints who stand continually in the presence of Christ in whose presence there is fulness of joy fulness of glory was it such an happiness to hear the wisdom of Solomon what a transcendent happiness is it then to hear the wisdom of Christ who is greater then Solomon I conceive that the glory which three of Christ's Disciples saw upon the holy Mount was but a glimpse of that fulness of glory wherewith he is now silled in Heaven yet that little drop was so affecting that Peter cried out Master it is good for us to be here He was so ravished with extraordinary joy conceived at the heavenly vision that he even lost and forgat himself and wist not what they said Luke 9.33 34. but being overjoyed it appears his wish was inconsiderate and his counsel rash and unadvised Let us build three Tabernacles one for Thee another for Moses another for Elias for these Reasons 1. Because he thought earthly Tabernacles fit habitations for heavenly Bodies 2. Because he conceived not aright of the end of the vision viz. to comfort them in letting them to see as in a glass what Christ's glory and their glory should be which he would have had continued when it must of necessity be intermitted for had Christ continued in this estate he could not have suffered and so our salvation had not been accomplished But while Peter was thus speaking behold a bright Cloud overshadowed them and they feared when they were entering into the Cloud had not this Cloud somewhat abated the glory of the Apparition it had not been possible for these Disciples in the state of mortality to have beheld the countenance of their Master Now if Christ in his Transfiguration while he was on Mount Tabor was so delightful to behold when his Humanity appeared in a glorious form only but for a short time how pleasant will the sight of him be to the godly when they shall see him by perfect vision and enjoy him by full fruition With abundant satisfaction shall the Saints behold the face of Christ in fulness of glory Oh how will it ravish their hearts when they shall see him who gave himself for them who loved them and washed their sins in his blood who being the Prince and Captain of our salvation was content to be perfected by sufferings that he might bring them into glory when they shall see him who died for them and rose again for their justification ascended up into Heaven took possession thereof and prepared a place for them and came again and took them to himself they shall then be even transported with joy to behold their Saviour whom they loved so dearly all their lives but never had the happiness to see before for whose appearance they longed thirsted sighed prayed Come Lord Jesus Oh how will their hearts melt toward him think you when they shall see him Oh this is he that died for me that shed his precious blood for me they will then look thorow him if it were possible and then to think they shall always see him and enjoy him and never be divided from him any more they will then be even ravished into an extasie of joy their sight of him shall be laeta familiaris perpetua joyful familiar and perpetual which is a special part of the beatitude peculiar to the Saints from which the Wicked are excluded Oh happy yea thrice happy are those eyes which shall see the face of Christ whom they shall love perfectly and of whom they are infinitely and eternally beloved What a ravishing sight will it be to behold that Body which was so foully disfigured upon the Cross for our sakes It shall be undoubtedly as St. Bernard saith a thing full of all sweetness and delight when men shall there see and behold a Man the Creator of men and Lord of all things created We are wont to esteem it a singular great honour to our Family to see one of our Kindred advanced to a Crown or dignified with some Princely honour but how far greater honour shall this be to us to see that Lord who is our God our near Kinsman of our flesh and blood sitting at the right hand of God the Father and made King both of Heaven and Earth And if the Members do account that an honour to them which is done to their Head by reason of that strict union that is between the Head and its Members what else shall it be but that every faithful Christian shall account the glory of Jesus Christ their Head as their peculiar glory How should the consideration hereof make every one of us cry out O my dearest Saviour and blessed Redeemer when shall this joyful day come Oh when shall I appear before thy face and be ravished by beholding thy excellent beauty when shall I see that countenance of thine which the Angels are desirous to behold How true concerning the things of the World is that which Solomon saith the eye is not satisfied with seeing Eccles 1.8 and it is as true that in Heaven the eye shall be fully satisfied but not satiated at all with seeing they shall see such glory that they shall desire no greater If Philip on Earth said to Christ Shew us the Father and it shall suffice how much more when we shall see the King of Kings in his glory shall glorified Saints say We have enough Satis Domine satis they shall desire no greater glory yet never be weary of seeing SECT VIII 3. HEreunto I may also add that blessed and glorious spectacle of the general Assembly and Church of the first-born whose names are written in Heaven those many thousands of Patriarchs and Saints of the old and new World Prophets of the Old Testament Apostles of the New Martyrs faithful Preachers and sincere Professors of the Gospel Enoch Noah Abraham Isaac Jacob Moses Samuel David Daniel Joh Peter Paul the great Doctor of
the Gentiles and the rest What a ravishing sight will it be to see the glorious company of the Apostles to behold the goodly fellowship of the Prophets to set your eyes on that noble Army of Martyrs and Confessors that have shed their blood for the cause of Christ What a joyful sight will it be to see those holy Prophets Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel and the rest above the reach of their cruel Persecutors cloathed with long white garments with Palms in their hands and with the glorious ensigns of their victorious triumphs Will it not be a goodly sight to behold that glorious fore-runner of Christ who chose rather to lose his head then to dissemble the filthiness of an incestuous King and no less delightful will it be to see St. Stephen who was stoned to death for Christ and that holy Apostle St. James who was slain with the sword of Herod that cruel Tyrant now reigning with Christ in glory What an excellent sight shall it be to see those famous Lights of the Church of Christ Peter and Paul shining there very gloriously with the Trophies of their Martyrdom wherewith they were Crowned and this shall add to the perfection of this sight that the Saints shall all enjoy the glories of each other as if they were properly their own If the sight of the Saints in communion here be so sweet even an Heaven upon Earth what will it be when all the blessed Souls that have been from the beginning of the World and shall be to the end shall meet all together and they wholly freed from all corruptions and imperfections what a blessed sight will that be If there be such great pleasure in the sight of Flowers and Jewels what great delight will there be in the sight of the innumerable company of the Blessed who shall all shine as the Sun especially when all shall be dearer to their Parents Children Relations then now they are to behold multitude the beauty and excellency of the inhabitants of Heaven and their sweet familiarity with one another will be a most pleasant spectacle Their multitude will be innumerable God hath many Sons and Daughters that must be brought to glory Heb. 2.10 there are a numberless number that are to follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes Rev. 14.1 there shall be no empty places in Heaven nor any void of inhabitants Likewise the beauty of all shall be admirable they shall be like unto the Angels of God and be the most excellent images of their heavenly Father and how pleasant a thing will this be to behold In dignity all shall be the Citizens of Heaven and the Children of God all shall be triumphant Kings having had the victory over the World the Flesh and the Devil We count it an admirable sight if we could see one King among an hundred thousand persons in his glory Oh then what a sight shall this be when we shall see millions of glorious Kings and Christ the King of infinite glory in the midst of them All shall be Priests unto God offering the sacrifice of praise perpetually to him In brief the least Saint in Heaven shall be greater in dignity and glory then all the Kings of this World Moreover they shall be most delighted to behold that sweet converse they shall have together If it be a delightful thing in the Court of some great Prince to obtain the favour and good will of all what pleasure will it be to enjoy the friendship and familiarity of such an innumerable company of noble Persons Oh what a royal Feast and most magnificent Banquet will the Lord make for his Children when they shall all meet together in his holy Mountain let Worldlings get them to their gluttonous and carnal feasts let them even burst themselves with their superfluous excesses such a Feast as this where the choicest dainties are served in by the holy Angels where even Christ himself the Master and maker of the Feast will as it were gâ—rd himself and serve is convenient only for God and his chosen People SECT IX ANd as the eyes shall be freed from all dimness so the ears shall be freed from all defects of deafness the ears shall always hear that ravishing Musick sounding forth from the heavenly Quire where a consort of innumerable Angels and glorified Saints are singing Hallelujahs to their God and magnifying their glorious Redeemer for ever for the high praises of God shall be in the mouthes of all his Saints Psal 149.6 by reason of their ardent love to God who hath heaped so many good things upon them they shall break forth into praises and thanksgivings They shall praise him out of all his works and benefits from his works of Creation and Providence from his works of Redemption and Justification Adoption and Sanctification from his works of Mercy and Justice from the Rewards he bestoweth on the Righteous and the Punishments he inflicteth on the Wicked and from all his secret and revealed Judgements They shall have all these things before the eyes of their minds and shall clearly understand the counsel of God in them all and shall be filled with incredible consolation and by reason of the greatness of their joy shall praise him for all peculiarly blessing him and giving him immortal thanks they shall not want matter for everlasting praise and they shall not only praise him with their heart but also in their body with their tongues there shall be a most excellent harmony of voices incomparably surpassing the musick in the World this will be exceeding sweet and pleasant that one only sound of it were able to bring the whole World asleep Now as the Saints shall incessantly with vocal praises magnifie the Lord so without doubt their vocal Hallelujahs shall be heard and understood of one another what ravishing expressions of love shall they then hear from Christ and from each other what Songs of joy and triumph Upon the consideration whereof devout St. Augustine breaks forth into this meditation Omne opus sanctâ—rum leus Dei sine fiâ—e sine defectione sine labore faelix ergo vero in perpe tuum faelix si post resolutionem hujus corpusculi audivero iila cantica caelestis enelodiae quae cantantur ad laudem Regis aeterni ab illis superâ—ae petriae civibus beatorumque spirituum agminibus c. August medâ—t cap. 25. The whole work of the Saints in Heaven shall be to praise God without end without failing without labour happy therefore and truly happy am I for ever if after the resolution of my body I shall be counted worthy to hear those Songs of heavenly melody which are sung in praising the everlasting King by those Citizens of the Country that is above and by the Troops of those blessed Spirits which are there Oh how happy shall I account my self to be if I may be admitted to sing those songs and stand by my King my God the Captain of my salvation and behold
grace we are shamefully foiled Love and affection to our own vain opinions is a great impediment to sound judgment it breeds prejudice against the truth making men resolute in defending their opinions if by any way of wresting the Scripture to their purpose it be possible But in Heaven the soundness of the Saints judgments shall be answerable to the acuteness of their apprehensions they shall be no longer accompanied with doubts and darkness as they learn without labour so they shall not fear forgetfulness drawing light and wisdom from the very fountain they shall know all things in their principles their Souls shall then be penetrated by the Spirit of God and their judgments clarified with the light of glory the Saints shall then be able not only to view the superficies or surface of things but also to dive into the bottom of them to comprehend the breadth and length the height and depth of them they shall then see that God is ever like himself and that all things in him do most exactly consent and agree together Sicut terra respectu coeli est insensibilis quantitatis sic honitas aliarum scientiarum respectu Scipturarum Durand Durandus saith of the knowledg of the Scriptures that the knowledg of all humane Sciences is no more to be compared to the knowledg of the Scriptures then the Earth to the Heavens for bigness the Earth is but a small insensible point in regard of the Heavens I am sure the knowledg of God which we have from the Scripture from the Creatures is no more to be compared to the knowledg of God which the blessed Saints and Angels in Heaven have it is nothing to be compared with it all Solomon's wisdom and knowledg is nothing It is said that God gave to Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much 1 Reg. 4.29 and largeness of heart even as the sand on the Sea-shore and this was to admiration in this state of mortality but I believe that he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven shall far surpass Solomon in understanding and judgment If John Baptist according to our Saviour's testimony were greater then any of the Prophets because he saw Christ already come in the flesh whereas they only foresaw Christ to come and yet the least in the Kingdom of God that is in the Church of the New Testament be greater in this respect then John Baptist because they see into the Mystery of Christ not only as already come but as having actually performed the work of our redemption died overcome death risen from the dead ascended into Heaven given forth his Spirit and spread his Gospel over the World how far then shall the understandings of the Faithful in Heaven seeing Christ face to face excel the knowledg which all the Prophets Solomon John Baptist and all Believers under the New Testament had here upon the face of the Earth and as the perfection of these faculties so the excellency and perfection of the objects which they shall thus clearly apprehend and perfectly know shall wonderfully advance the blessedness of the Saints CHAP. XX. SECT I. A description of what things shall be seen in God by the Saints in Heaven HE that seeth a wise and mighty man although he seeth his out-side yet his in-side he seeth not viz. the beauty and perfections of his mind but in Heaven the Saints shall see the Divine beauty and excellency with the eye of the inner man they shall see the brightness of his glory and majesty they shall behold him not by a reflex as a man may see the image of the Sun in a Looking-glass but they shall as it were look upon him in a direct line 1. They shall with admiration behold him as the first eternal Being as the Ancient of days comprehending all the Centuries of years all the ages and generations all the hundreds and thousands of years all the changes and periods of times all of them making up but a moment and being no more then the twinckling of an eye to his eternity 2. They shall see him as he is in himself that he is glorious in himself in his being that he is infinitely glorious in all his Attributes that he is eternally glorious in all his works they shall see him to be such a God as he proclaimed himself to be that he is the Lord God the Lord God of Gods they shall know the immensity of his being the infiniteness of his greatness that he is infinite in grace infinite in mercy infinite in glory they shall then see the unlimitedness of his essence filling them with himself with his presence and fulness filling all things and with his infinite being enclosing all things that are 3. They shall clearly see him as an unchangeable God who hath wrought all the wonderful changes that have hapned in the Heavens in the Earth in the Seas yet that himself hath remained still immutable they shall look upon him as the first universal mover who setteth all things in motion in whom and by whom all things move himself remaining immovable 4. They shall not only be convinced of his Almighty power but shall see it clearly and manifestly discern his infinite strength it is one thing to read of the great strength of Sampson and to believe it as a certain truth it had been another thing and a matter of far greater satisfaction to have seen him smiting the Philistines hip and thigh with a great slaughter killing a thousand of God's Enemies with the Jaw-bone of an Ass carrying away the gates and posts of a City upon his shoulders pulling down with his hands the house wherein thousands of the Philistines were sitting so it is one thing to read and believe the Almighty power of God but another thing and a matter of greater satisfaction to the Soul to have a clear view of it to see God forming Heaven and Earth of nothing and changing times and seasons to see him raising some out of the dust and lifting them out of the dunghil and setting them with Princes and throwing down the mighty from their seats that were exalted to places of great eminency and dignity overturning Nations and Kingdoms and working great wonders These things though past it is conceived they shall be as clearly seen in God when we shall see him face to face as if they were but then in doing With great delight also shall they see his Almighty power that shall bring up all the Potentates of the Earth all men high and low rich and poor young and old before his tribunal in translating all his Children into everlasting glory and throwing the Wicked into everlasting burnings They shall also see God exercising his power in dissolving the frame of this visible World rolling the Heavens together as a scroll and folding them up as a garment melting the Elements with fervent heat and burning up the Earth with the works that are therein Moreover they shall see what God shall do for
ever they shall see God in all his workings to eternity What a ravishing thing would it have been Burr in Beatitud if any of us should have been admitted into the presence of God and there to have seen what God hath done from the beginning of the World to this day but when this World shall be at an end as it will shortly be God and his Saints will then remain everlastingly and they shall be for ever with the Lord and they shall be there where they shall see what God will do for ever 5. They shall see the infinite love of the infinite God of which now they have but a taste they shall then clearly understand that love of God which is the spring of all spiritual blessings in heavenly things out of which they were elected to holiness eternal life and glory that love out of which Christ himself as a Mediator and Redeemer issued and out of which all things were given them that appertain to life and godliness that love which prevented them in their lost condition which turned the eye of God's compassion towards them when they lay in their blood that love which issued out a pardon of all their sins from the Court of mercy which lengthened out the patience of God toward them when they lingred in their sins Then shall they know fully where this love was bred and that none but the eternal love and delight of the Father could have outed so much love then shall they see themselves over head and ears drown'd in many obligations to his infinite love 6. They shall see him as the Fountain of light and wisdom as the only wise God as the Father of lights in whose light themselves see light from whose face all those beams do shine whereby their Souls are filled with heavenly wisdom they shall see clearly that God is light filling Heaven with his brightness and glory and fixing the eyes of all the Angels and Saints upon him as an object infinite altogether lightsome and lovely They shall behold that infinite wisdom of God which created Heaven and Earth which great piece of workmanship had nothing but nothing for its materia how all the different parts whereof it is composed had the same original and how this vacuum by the word of God brought forth the Heavens with their Constellations the Earth with all its Fields the Sea with all its Rocks how the Heavens and Earth were created in an instant though there went six days to their disposal The Saints in Heaven shall also understand that wisdom of God which in all ages hath governed the World and directed all creatures to their courses and motions how this admirable work hath endured numberless ages contrary to the Laws of Nature which suffereth that soon to perish which she is not long in forming Then shall the mysteries of Providence be fully opened and we shall see the Births in the Womb of Providence which on Earth are invisible to us then shall we understand all the ways circuits lines turnings of Providence and see how Christ hath steered the helm of Heaven and Earth when means have failed and men and times have changed They shall likewise know that wisdom that hath ordered the sins of Men and Devils to holy ends never intended by the Actors which hath over-reached the craftiest devices of the Serpent and his Seed They shall likewise behold that manifold wisdom of God that contrived the whole method of mans Redemption and Salvation the very Master-piece of Divine wisdom that wisdom that hath given light to the blind wisdom to the foolish and abundance of light to those that sate in darkness and in the shadow of death and which made those that were darkness to become light in the Lord. This shall be matter of admiration to Men and Angels that the great God should condescend to look on such vile Sinners so far below the free love and majesty of the most High Then shall the Saints understand all the counsels of God concerning themselves from all eternity when they shall be admitted into the House of God they shall not only see what God himself is but they shall see his heart his will and all his ways and glorious contrivances for their salvation 7. They shall see him as that God who is truth it self they shall exactly discern how every promise of his every prophesie delivered by his spirit to the Churches and recorded in his word is fully accomplished not one failing or falling to the ground and that whatsoever God promised or bound himself by covenant to perform though it seemed difficult or long before it was fulfilled yet it came to pass at last in its appointed time Oh the sweet satisfaction which the Saints in Heaven shall find in the full contemplation of the truth of God every way manifested and so gloriously verified in and upon themselves in keeping them by his power unto salvation in preserving them to his heavenly Kingdom in guiding them by his counsel and bringing them to glory when they shall see that all the art malice skill and power of Men and Devils could never frustrate nor make void the least tittle of God's sacred truth 8. They shall see him as a God infinite in holiness of perfect purity they shall with great delight look directly into that overflowing fountain of holiness which hath streamed into so many thousand Souls which hath washed so many unclean hearts from their filthiness which filleth all the Saints and Angels in Heaven with perfect holiness then shall they behold those fair hands as I may speak that stooped to wash such black-skinned and defiled Sinners and purged away the filth of the Daughter of Sion If the Egyptians for many ages have had a great desire to find out the fountain of that River Nilus which by his yearly inundations watereth the Land in that hot climate having no showres of rain and maketh it abundantly fruitful Oh then how shall glorified Souls rejoyce to be brought to the Spring-head of holiness which hath watered so many barren Souls and made them bring forth the fruits of the Spirit 9. They shall clearly see him as an all-sufficient God they shall see that rich treasury opened out of which all that good was given which was received by any or all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth The Lord by many notable instances of his own glorious works Job 38.22 convinced Job of ignorance and posed him by a multitude of interrogations among the rest saith he Hast thou entered into the treasures of snow or hast thou seen the treasures of hail But in that state of glory not only this holy man but every one of the Saints shall be admitted to view the treasures of God's all-sufficiency out of which all good things concerning this life and the life to come have been and shall be dispensed and distributed among the Creatures life breath all things grace and glory grace of justification grace of
Heaven that it shall not extinguish but establish confirm and perfect those desires which are appropriated to the Soul as reasonable and immortal If the Soul may carry with it a sociable inclination then may it for the use and exercise of this desire be admitted to the knowledg of other Souls and of those especially with whom it had sojourned on Earth that like fellow-travellers who have been equally afflicted with the difficulties of the way they may thenceforth interchangeably communicate their joys springing from their present rest and peace Object But it may be said that in our union unto God shall be supplied all imaginable contents and that the Souls of the blessed shall be held in so great admiration as that they cannot admit the mixture of any second or less joy Resp Though this opinion seem specious and agreeable to reason yet we must consider that as in the Divine nature we admit no useless Attributes such as the Divine justice and mercy would be if there were not a Creature to exercise them on so likewise in the Humane we must either say it hath no aptness eternally to desire or rejoyce in the good of another which a sociable nature inwardly abhorreth or else we must allow it an object whereon to practice its endless love and joy This love we conceive shall be the perfection of that desire which was begun on Earth but always mixt with fear and jealousie being subject to those common infirmities which attend both the powers acts of the Soul in this life and this joy we believe shall succeed in the place of that condolency and compassion which on Earth we sustained one for another This love therefore and this joy must have such an object as was once the subject of our fear and compassion which cannot be either God or Angels but a Creature only of the same nature and condition with us These are perhaps but wild and ranging conceits which assert that there is no nature but it is capable of happiness no happiness without society no society without a plurality of individuals of the same kind Yet by the power of these imaginations did that Disputer in Plutarch create a plurality of Worlds for society sake and by them was Hortensius in Tully puzzelled and made to doubt how God may be said to be blessed if alone And I think that those rude and untaught ages measuring the blessedness of God by what themselves most delighted in did easily admit a multitude of gods to prevent a solitude which in their belief overthroweth all happiness Though these opinions relish of the blindness of the age that brought them forth yet as the darkest Bodies by collision may send forth some light so out of these assertions some sparks and glimmerings of truth may be produced for though in God there be an infinite fulness to satisfie an infinite desire and so he alone may suffice to make himself happy yet is he pleased not so precisely to love himself as not also to be delighted with the blessedness of his Creature and if God who is essentially blessed and hath all blessedness in himself be notwithstanding by his own goodness enclined to delight in the glory of a poor Creature it must needs be that Man who is the image of this goodness hath imprinted and stamped upon his nature a proneness to delight in the blessedness of his fellow-creature as well as a desire to see himself happy SECT II. Object BVt it may be feared that our knowledg of one another and our mutual delight in each other may beget some interruptions in our union with God taking the Soul aside from the contemplation of its Maker to gaze on and delight in the beauty of a Creature therefore those acts of the Soul love and joy seem not to be admitted being but digressions of the Soul and an allay to our blessedness Sol. This fear I think will vanish so soon as we consider that it is the same beauty which we behold in God and love in the Creature though of a different splendor and as the Stars the Air and Water by their borrowed lights do raise us to behold the Sun the fountain of all that light so wheresoever the rayes of glory are cast whether on Angels or Men we cannot but behold God shining on each nature and confess him to be all in all Moreover it is not a glance but a fixing on the Creature which in that state is not to be feared can endanger our happiness otherwise neither God nor Angels are truly blessed for the Divinity of former ages would perswade us that God as it were cometh daily out of himself to behold his own image in the Angels and the Angels look upon the same resemblance as cast from them and reflected by the Soul but neither God nor Angels are so ravished with those dimmer beauties as to dwell upon them but do suddenly return back to the Fountain God to himself and the Angels unto God But to let pass these excusable conjectures let us remember upon what ground we are solicited to believe how the Angels are daily conversant about us in acts of knowledg and love in their ministerial employments in fulfilling the Divine justice mercy yet notwithstanding these seeming interruptions of their vision they continue blessed And we believe also that Christ himself though in perfect glory continueth his intercession for us which being an act of mediation between divers parties cannot be performed without a knowledg and love of those for whom he interceedeth And though it may be conceived that in God there can be no intermission in the contemplation of himself because by the same single act he at once beholdeth himself and all things else yet we must not imagine such an infinite comprehensiveness in the creature as to be able within the same Act to involve and circumscribe all that may be known or desired in every object for this were to extol the Creature above it self making it equal with God The Angels therefore and Christ himself as man have their actions bounded and those acts by which they immediately behold and love the Creature are not the same by which they immediately contemplate and necessarily love the Creator Wherefore I think we may without rashness believe that our blessedness which is a cleer and everlasting contemplation of the Godhead may consist with such inferiour acts in the soul as are requisite to constitute a blessed society among the Saints SECT III. IT was no small contentment and satisfaction to S. Paul that he should meet his beloved Thessalonians in the presence of Christ for thus much seemeth to be intimated by that his exulting demand What is our hope or joy or Crown of rejoycing are not ye even in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming And the same Apostle when he would set bounds and limits to a Christians sorrowing for the dead tells us that we must not sorrow as those that
cleerly discerned But God is a good of infinite excellency containing all things which the Saints can desire and is cleerly discerned by them therefore he most strongly draws their affections to himself They shall in Heaven see so much excellency in God and be so fill'd with his love that their hearts shall be full of holy flames of love toward him there shall be nothing either within them or without them to draw away their love from God or lessen or cool their affections toward him all things that they shall see or hear or understand shall serve to fill them with his love and keep up and confirm their love in the height of it for ever they shall be so fully like to God that it shall be impossible for them not to love him perfectly God shall dwell in them and they shall wholly possess him and they shall dwell in God and he shall wholly possess them they shall be knit to each other in mutual love to all eternity The principal employment of the Saints in Heaven is to love God and all the vertues in Heaven are useless except charity and enjoyment which is the rest of love and is also its recompence saith S. Augustine for as desires do disquiet lovers when they possess not what they long for so being now in the possession of him whom they love they are satisfied The love of the Saints in Heaven is much perfecter than ours upon the earth whatever pains we take to love God on earth our love is never without some notable defect to enfeeble it iâ— is blind because faith that enlightens it is as one saith a candle whose lamp is alwayes surrounded with a cloud or smoak it is faint and drooping because we possess not the supream good we passionately affect and being separated from him we are as well his Martyrs as his Lovers Here our love is also divided because self-love is not yet extinguished and the greatest Saints if they mannage not their intentions well do rob God of all the love wherewith they indulge themselves In brief it is almost ever interested we love not God so purely as not to seek our own pleasure with it when we seek his glory and we are more earnest with God for riches and honours than for heavenly graces but the Saints in glory have not one of these imperfections in their love their love is not blind because they love him whom they see and the brightness of glory that illuminates them is a ray dispelling all the darkness of their understandings it languisheth not as ours doth nor spends it self in its longings because they possess what they love and being intimately united to God are eternally inseparable from him their love is not divided because self-love enters not into the celestial Jerusalem but is quenched by the flames of true charity finally it is not interested because God's glory is the end of their desires yea in Heaven it self they seek not so much their own happiness as his glory SECT II. 11. AS the Saints shall love God entirely so they shall love each other in the Lord they shall see the Image of God shining cleerly and gloriously in each other and so shall love God in each other and each other in God Peter shall admire Christ in the glory conferred on Paul and Paul shall admire Christ in the glory conferred on Peter The Saints shall find themselves all agreeing in God and so among themselves they shall see nothing in any of their brethren but what shall be most lovely nothing to estrange their hearts or damp their affections they shall not be capable of any touch of envy for every one of them shall be full of glory and blessedness And albeit some have higher degrees of glory than others yet this causeth no emulation or jealousie among them The variety of the world as one observeth is one of its rarest ornaments the flowers which checker a walk do embellish it the Stars which make an hundred several figures in the firmament do set a lustre upon its beauty neither doth any thing make a Countrey more pleasant than the diversity of the parts that compose it the riches and glory of a state dependeth upon its diversity if all subjects were of the same condition there would neither be diversion for strangers nor accommodation for the naturals The ornament and profit of the body politique appeareth in this agreeable mixture of rich and poor Artists and Husbandmen Souldiers and Merchants Magistrates and Ministers but here is the mischief that attends it that this variety of conditions which begets its beauty breeds envy and jealousie among the subjects for as their goods are not common because their conditions are different one is jealous of what another possesseth Great men are apt to be proud and to despise their inferiours Men of low degree are envious and murmure at those that are above them But in Heaven the difference of degrees produceth their beauty and giveth no occasion of envy or jealousie the Crowns of glorified Saints are proportionable to their labours and sufferings for Christ They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the Sun Dan. 12. Peace bears rule among all the Inhabitants of Heaven love which uniteth them renders their contentment common though the justice that rewardeth them maketh their condition gradually different Every one is glad of anothers happiness and without interesting in any one they find that the felicity of particulars contributeth to that of the publique In Heaven love is in its full perfection Ludovic granat Meditat. the property whereof is to cause all things to be common there all the elect shall be more straitly united to one another than the Members of one and the same Body because all shall participate of the same spirit which gives unto all one and the same being one and the same blessed life What is the cause why the members of one and the same body have so great an unity and love one to another is it not because they are all partakers of one and the same form one and the same Soul giveth the same being and life to them all Now if the spirit of a man hath power to cause so great an unity between the members that are so different in Offices and Natures is it any wonder if the Spirit of God Almighty by whom all the Elect do live which Spirit is as it were the common soul to them all should cause a greater and more perfect unity among them especially considering that the Spirit of God is a more noble cause and of a more excellent vertue and power and gives also a more noble being now if this manner of unity and love do cause all things to be common as we see in the members of one body who rejoyce every one at each others felicity as its own what delight then shall each one of the Elect take in the glory of all the rest considering that he shall entirely
this life and they shall also have an everlasting enjoyment thereof 2. They shall likewise rejoyce in the good things of the mind and chiefly in the perfection of all their graces and that cleer knowledg they shall have of all things which shall wonderfully delight them They shall also be much affected with joy from the consideration of the evils and dangers as well temporal as eternal which they shall then perceive themselves to have escaped from the danger whereof they shall see themselves to be secure for ever and beholding the horrible fire of Hell and the numberless multitudes of those that are cast into everlasting burnings and the danger to which themselves were exposed how shall their hearts be fill'd with joy upon the meditation of God's infinite mercy by which they were saved from everlasting destruction and carried in safety into the Port of eternal blessedness 3. They shall likewise rejoyce in the glory of their bodies when they shall perceive their bodies to shine as the Sun to be swift as it were like lightening to be like a Spirit immortal incorruptible impassible 4. They shall rejoyce in the amiableness of their habitation seeing themselves now translated from Earth to Heaven into the glorious Kingdom of Heaven into the Paradise of all delights into the Region of light into the Vision of peace into the Land of the living into the celestial Jerusalem into the place of the Blessed a place abounding with all delights and with all good things and void of all discommodity grief and sorrow out of every one of these good things of their own ariseth to them unspeakable joy SECT III. FUrthermore they shall rejoyce every one in the good things of each other and in the felicity of all their companions for they shall most ardently love all as the Sons of God and their own Brethren and Sisters and fellow Heirs and withall they shall rejoyce in their splendour glory excellency wisdom vertues blessedness as in their own and that much more than any Parent in this life can rejoyce in the felicity of his Children or one Friend in the prosperity of another Quest But with what affection shall the Parent and the Child the Husband and Wife and one Friend greet another in Heaven Sol. We must not surely imagine that any of these conjugal or paternal affections which had their consummation on Earth can be of any use in Heaven nor that there shall be any return of by-past and mortal affections towards Friends Kindred and Children but as the body must put on incorruption and immortality e're it can be a fit companion for the Soul so must the soul likewise be devested of all such desires as are apt again to wed it to earthly and transitory delights before it can be received into the blessed communion of the Saints and as the Soul shall assume the hand the eye and every member of the body unto a participation of glory without soliciting them again to undergo the fore-past drudgeries in the flesh so the Father and the Child and one Friend may behold another without the intimation of such duties or any resultance of such mortal desires as are implied in those relations But as the Soul is permitted to resume its own body rather than another and reason exacts it should gratifie that flesh whose inmate it had been rather than another so likewise those persons whom some nearer relations had formerly united may be conceived to retain so much partiality in the dispensation of their joy as in the first place to rejoyce that they are again united in the participation of glory excluding none from being an argument of their joy but preferring some in the order of their rejoycing but it may be that this affection must comply with the justice of the divine bounty and that we shall there bestow a greater measure of our joy where he hath been pleased to confer a greater portion of his glory It would seem unreasonable that the Soul alone should inherit that glory which was procured perhaps by the torments and sufferings of the body as in holy Confessors and Martyrs and the same reason which makes the Soul and Body sharers of the same happiness begets a mutual claim among the Saints to each others joy for one man may be a powerful Instrument of another's blessedness the Father's care may preserve the Child and the piety of the Son may enflame the Father the Mothers tears may reduce the perverted Son the believing Husband may save the unbelieving Wife and one Friend may with happy success instruct admonish rebuke and pray for another Now is it more reasonable to think that these immortal benefits and obligations shall be promiscuously and undiscernably swallowed up in the Sea of glory or to say that these parties whom it may concern shall see each other face to face some gratefully rejoycing that the Instruments of their Salvation like Stars of a greater magnitude are more eminently glorious others alwayes rejoycing in beholding their labours so highly bless'd as to have procured the endless bliss of their fellow-creatures Our Saviour tells us what joy there shall be for the conversion of a Sinner in the presence of the Angels who by reason of their nature are strangers to us if Angels who are in the presence of God and but of a remote alliance to us be as it were turned aside from the contemplation of the chiefest good to behold with joy a repenting Sinner shall not men who are of the same stock and lineage be much more allowed some expressions of joy suitable to the greatness of the wonder when they behold one another no longer repenting Sinners but glorious Saints In those parts of the world near the Line where the Sun is near them all the year they are said to have no Winter the Earth and Trees being alwayes green as in a perpetual Spring so the Saints in glory upon whom the face of God and Christ shall shine for ever shall never see one cloudy day one winters night nor feel any sorrow or discomfort but shall enjoy a constant plenitude or fulness of joy as a perpetual Spring for ever To conclude the frame of their bodies and spirits the place of their abode their company the objects which they shall see and hear all things within them and without them shall concur to make their joy compleat and to cause their hearts to rest in everlasting peace CHAP. XXVI SECT I. AS for the affection of desire it shall have no place in Heaven the infinite sweetness which the Saints shall tast in God and Christ and in the love of God and Christ shall abundantly satisfie them and leave no place for desire their perfect enjoyment of God shall admit no hungring or thirsting after further delights they shall find it is enough they shall be fully satisfied but never cloyed nor satiated Whence S. August saith August Tract 3. in Joâ—n such shall that delight of beauty in
the Flood did not destroy the substance of the World but the then present state of it the substance remained after the Flood so the substance shall remain after God hath burnt it with Fire if the World should be wholly destroyed by Fire then the Apostle's comparison were in vain Though the Apostle useth the word perished he is to be understood of the qualities not of the substance as when Silver and Gold is cast into the fire the dross only perisheth but the substance remaineth so when God shall cast the Heavens and the Earth into the fire only the dross of the Heaven and Earth shall perish by fire not the substance and therefore the Apostle useth a word in the Greek which signifies dissolving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and melting as of Mettals Now we know when the Mettals are melted they are not consumed but only refined and cleansed from their drossiness Learned Mr. Mede Joseph Mede in 2 Pet. 3.10 on this place conceiveth that this fire shall not reach to the starry Heavens but he understandeth only the Air which is in Scripture called the Heavens that shall together with the Earth be burnt and he gives a very probable Reason from the comparison of the destruction of the World by Water and of this last destruction by Fire the Flood did not by many thousand miles reach the starry Heavens only the lower Region of the Air perished in the Water for we plainly read that the Waters did swell but fifteen cubits above the tops of the Mountains 4. St. Paul in that place Rom. 8. tells us that this present Creature viz. the World expecteth hopeth groaneth to be delivered from its bondage of corruption and vanity If God shall destroy these Heavens and Earth to nothing then it is not these Creatures which shall be delivered into the glorious liberty but another which is not created which was never subject to vanity which did therefore never groan never did expect and hope for deliverance because yet not created and these present Heavens and Earth should only expect their destruction not their perfection Object But then it may be demanded Why doth the Apostle call it new Heavens and a new Earth St. Peter saith We according to his promise look for new Heavens and a new Earth c. 2 Pet. 3.13 Resp 1. They are said to be new in respect of the outward form and state 2. New in respect of qualities and properties there shall be a change of qualities not an annihilation of substance 3. New in respect of use to which they then shall serve new not in respect of substance but in respect of their new refining Silver Gold or any Mettal cast into a melting Furnace may be called new in respect of its purifying not in respect of substance as the godly after their regeneration are called new Creatures not in respect of their substance but of their qualities sin is taken away Totus hic Mundus viâ—â—â—â—iâ—is pâ—r ignem folverdus Equeâ—aciâ—â—â—lus c. Theolog. Leyders and grace is infused So the learned Professors of Leyden reconcile these opinions This whole visible World shall so be burnt up by the last fire as that it shall be wholly purged from all vanity which sin hath brought upon it as Mettals of divers kinds when melted in the furnace are purged each from their dross And of the World and the parts of it thus purified by fire God will make up a new Heaven and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness And in this their determination I for my own part will acquiess without lording oveâ— the faith of any man in these particulars But pâ—â— case these Heavens and Earth be burnt to ashes by the last fire and out of them God raiseth a new Earth and Heaven yet it may be said to be the same for substance with this present as well as our Bodies which must be turned into dust which yet shall be raised again out of the dust are the same bodies for substance which they were before only a change of qualities Now as to the manner how God will deliver the Creature from the bondage of corruption we may safely doubt and be ignorant and the godly may be of divers opinions about it without any violation of the Law of Love SECT III. Quest 3. BVT what is that glory whereof the Creatures shall be partakers or into which they shall be delivered Resp 1. This we may with confidence assert that the whole Creation shall be reduced to a most happy state beyond what they were in the day of their Creation they were seen very good very pleasing beautiful useful all filled with so much goodness as that man could have drawn much contentment from them but now shall be made better more beautiful more excellent 2. They shall have as much goodness restored to them as shall fully fit and accommodate them for the state of glorious liberty and for glorious persons what that goodness shall be 't is safest to say we know not it will then appear when God shall effect their deliverance 3. The glory with which God will cloathe the whole Creation shall be to the capacity of each Creatures nature 4. No Creature shall partake of that glory which is proper to the Children of God neither are they capable of that glory whereof the godly are Quest 4. To what use shall the Creatures deckt with glory serve This question is the stone of stumbling at which many Divines stumble and so fall into a flat denial of his glorious Renovation of the Creatures Resp They shall not be for such uses as now they are this present World of Creatures are principally for these two ends 1. For the sustentation of these our bodies and the preservation of this Animal life we now live they are for Food for Rayment for Physick for bodily delights 2. Their other use and end is that the minds of men may take their rise from the Creatures excellencies to mount up into an holy contemplation of God the visible Creatures teach man some knowledge of the invisible God Rom. 1.20 Their excellencies do make known to us the infinite Wisdom Power and goodness of God but the Creatures when thus delivered into a State of glory shall not be for these ends for 1. Then our lives shall not be Animal and our bodies shall not be subject to hunger thirst cold heat and such like natural infirmities our bodies shall be spiritualized and shall no more need these things to preserve them then the Angels as in the Resurrection we shall neither marry nor be given in marriage so neither shall we eat drink or feel the pinching cold or faint with scorching heat therefore the Creature shall not serve for this use 2. Again the Creatures shall no more teach man the knowledge of God because then we shall see him face to face without looking through the glass of the Creatures God will then immediately communicate himself to us that
we shall know him as we are known Object But even in the state of glory we cannot see God with our bodily eyes therefore lest our bodily eyes should be destitute of an apt delightsome object the glory which God will put on the Creature will be the delight of glorified eyes then we shall be ravished with the infinite Wisdom and Power of God in investing the whole Creation with such glory Sol. Though this is probably true that the glorified Saints shall delight in beholding the glory of the Creatures and shall admire God in their glory yet if there should be no Renovation of the Creature there would be most admirable objects for the glorified Saints to behold as namely 1. Christ's glorified Body the brightness whereof will obscure the brightness of Sun Moon and Stars as the brightness of the Sun puts out the light of the Fire and in this respect it is said there shall be no need neither of the Sun nor of the Moon to shine in heaven Rev. 21.23 2. As Christ's body so likewise the glorious bodies of all the Elect shall be the delight of their eyes which shall shine more bright then the Sun What delight then can the Creatures clothed with glory bring and in beholding the bodies of the Saints in glory we may behold the infinite Wisdom Power Love Grace of God in making handfuls of Dust and Earth such glorious Creatures as our bodies then shall be Yet we may rationally assert 1. That God will ordain the Creature to some use it is not to be imagined that the Creatures shall continue after the day of Judgment and yet not serve to some use if you ask to what use Lombard Lombard sentent makes this answer Ego nescio I know not the same answer Peter Martyr Pet. Mert. in Rom. 8.21 gives to the same question though it be contrary to nature and common reason that the Creature after its Renovation shall be idle yet if you ask how they shall be employed facile nos fateamur ignorare we may easily be brought to confess our ignorance 2. Doubtless God will adapt and fit the Creature to the use of the glorified state of his Children as was hinted before which they shall then fully and perfectly know when they shall be actual possessors of the new Heavens and new Earth 3. Learned Bain gives this answer 1. It may be God will have the whole Creation to stand as a Monument of his former Power Wisdom and Goodness to his people in the day of their Pilgrimage on Earth 2. Or God will have them stand for the honour of his Majesty meerly for greater State as we see it is a State belonging to Earthly Princes to have sumptuous Houses here and there which yet they do not once visit in all their Reigns 3. God will have them stand as appurtenances to the glory of his own Children the Creatures shall be kept as additions to their honour saith Calvin Chrysostome Calvin in loc Chrysost homil speaking of this useth this comparison it is no wonder that the Creature shall be decked with glory for as Kings in that day wherein they do solemnly Crown their Sons with some Crown of Principality they will not only take care that their Sons appear in great Pomp and State but also the Pallace and all the Courteours shall and must appear in the bravest attire so God setting the Crown of Immortallity and Blessedness on the heads of all his Children and placing them on their prepared Thrones will have the Heavens and Earth and all his Creatures appear in glory in that day These things being considered how should this cause the Saints to be willing to leave the World and to die chearfully since in due time they shall find the World in a more glorious estate then they left it but the wicked shall be thrust naked out of all CHAP. XIII II. THis glory of the Saints shall be when all the drossie part of the Earth and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up when all the heaps and mines of Gold and Silver shall be consumed to the last dram when all Cities Towns and stately Edifices shall be destroyed when all the outward pomp and glory of the World shall be burnt to ashes when the high Mountains shall melt under the feet of the Lord and the Valleys shall be cleft as wax before the sire and as the Waters that are powred down a steep place Mich. 1.4 Then shall all the dwellers on earth be disseized and turned out of their Possessions then must Kings for ever part with their Thrones Crowns and Scepters and the greatest Rulers on Earth lay down their Authority at the feet of Christ then shall the high and lofty ones be brought low and many great Captains shall call to the hills and mountains to fall upon them and hide them from the face of him that sitteth upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb Rev. 6.10 Then shall all Trades and Occupations in the World cease every where and all desire and study of purchasing and gaining shall be at an end then shall the Sea at that time shew the greatest rage and fury and the Waves thereof be so high and furious that it shall seem as if they would utterly overwhelm the whole Earth now at such a dreadful time as this when they that had their portion in the things of this life must be stript of all and leave all for ever then shall God's Children take full and everlasting Possession of the House of their heavenly Father in which are many Mansions and this highly advanceth the felicity of the Saints because it cometh so seasonably to them Give a man an house well furnished when his own is plundred and burnt and the whole neighbourhood is undone and all the Countrey round about is laid waste and made desolate how pleasant is it and when the whole World shall be in a flame and all things in it are consuming to ashes then to be put into the possession of the World to come when our earthly habitations are burnt then to have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens what an inconceiveable happiness is it A word in season saith Solomon Oh how good is it Heaven is sweet at any time but Heaven at such a time as this Oh how good how unspeakably good is it St Paul 2. Tim. 4.7 saith I have fought a good fight I have kept the faith finished my Course henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give unto me at that day on that day when the veriest Earth-worm that now creepeth upon the ground shall be convinced that there is nothing in the World worth the having theâ— to be put into the heavenly Mansions in the day of the Worlds funerals and to enjoy an enduring substance in the day of the Worlds conflagration no tongue of