be and to do what God would have us to do upon which our endless state depends and therefore to be really Religious which is a living to God is no indifferent thing because the invisible things of eternity which Religion is concerned â—bout are the greatest realities and of the greatest moment to every Immortal Soul which is capable of being unspeakably happy or miserable in Heaven or Hell through all Eternity God and Christ and Grace and Glory must be had there is no living or dying in Peace without them Behold now is the accepted time to accept them and to be accepted Behold now is the day of Salvation which if it be neglected an eternal night of Damnation followeth There is also an excellency in Religion which appears in being conversant about matters of such transcendent worth and weight as namely the glorifying of God in wayes of Grace and Glory upon this account therefore it is the Righteous is more excellent then his Neighbor Religion is for Godliness which is profitable to all persons and things having promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come Happy is the Man that in the way of Religion getteth Godliness for the Merchandise of it is better than the Merchandise of Silver and the Gain thereof than fine Gold she is more precious than Rubies and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her Length of dayes is in her Right hand and in her Left hand Riches and Honor her wayes are wayes of pleasantness and all her paths are peace 2. This Doctrine of the Kingdom of Grace and Glory speaks doleful and dreadful Tidings to the wicked and ungodly The unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God No Whoremonger nor Unclean Person nor Covetous Man who is an Idolater hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God Let no Man therefore deceive himself with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of Disobedience the loss of this Kingdom will be more intollerable to the Wicked than the enduring of the eternal torments of Hell because the loss is infinite God is lost and the Eternal weight of Glory is lost The pains of Hell are after a sort finite though infinite in duration and between finite misery and infinite glory there is an infinite inequality 3. If there be a Kingdom of Grace and Glory Are not they then besides themselves that think and say That a holy diligence and strictness in Religion and the Duties thereof in order to its attainment is more ado then needs that practically say It is vain to serve God and What profit is it that we have kept his Ordinance and Behold What a weariness c. When the Son of Man shall come in his Glory and all the holy Angels with him and shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory and shall gather before him all Nations and shall separate them one from another as a Shepherd divideth his Sheep from the â—oats and shall set the Sheep on his Right hand but the Goats in the Left when the King shall say unto them on his Right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World When he shall say also unto them on his Left hand Depart from me ye Cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe when Christ shall reckon with his Servants about the improvement of their time and talents for we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad and shall say Well done thou good and faithful servant thou hast been faithful over a few things I will make thee ruler over many things enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord and when he shall say to him that received one Talent and hid it in the earth Take the Talent from him and cast ye that wicked slothful and unprofitable Servant into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth then will the holy diligence of the Saints and Servants of the Lord be justified and the minds of them that judged diligent Godliness to be more ado than needed will be otherwise minded and wish too late they had been wise and faithful that by their Lord at his coming they might have been found so doing as those that were faithful unto death and receive the Crown of Life 4. That there is a Kingdom of Grace and Glory speaks the dignity and happiness of the Saints Let their condition in this World as to the things of the World be never so bad be they poor and persecuted having nothing they possess all things things Temporal Spiritual and Eternal are their right all things are yours saith the Apostle Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the World or Life or Death or things present or things to come all are yours and the reason is because Christ is yours he that hath Christ hath all things He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all How shall he not with him also freely give us all things They who have a true interest in God and Christ and Grace and Glory cannot want for real Treasures Honors and Pleasures either in this or the better World 5. That there is a Kingdom of Grace and Glory speaks also the great love of God wherewith he hath loved us and the exceeding riches of his Grace That God of his free Mercy towards us in Christ Jesus should take any of us out of the state of Nature Sin and Misery to reinstate us into his Grace and Favour That from the presence of his Grace he might translate us into the presence and Kingdom of his Glory What manner of love hath God the Father bestowed upon us God so loved the World that he sent his only begotten Son into iâ— that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting Life this is love passing knowledge 2. The second Use is for trial and examination of our selves as to our right and title to glory The last Article in our Christian belief is the Life everlasting which every one will say he believes That there is a Kingdom of Glory is without controversie The great Question is To whom this Kingdom of Glory belongs I have before proved by Scripture That there is a purposed prepared purchased promised and preserved Kingdom of Glory and that there are certain persons
in deed and truth not a talkative love but an active vigorous faithful fruitful love is acceptable both to God and man even the love that is kind and thinketh not evil is not easily provoked like unto Christs Love which he shewed evidently in his active and passive obedience doing good to all men not being weary in well-doing especially unto them who are of the houshold of Faith loving all Saints as Saints imitating Christ as in his active so in his passive obedience suffering with them and for them with all long-suffering and patience being their Brethren and Companions in Tribulation and in the Kingdom and Patience of Jesus Christ for the Word of God and for the Testimony of Jesus Christ Hereby perceive we the Love of God because he laid down his Life for us and we ought to lay down our Lives for the Brethren we love not the Brethren if we love our Lives better than them This is Love that we walk after the Commandment of Christ they that walk worthy of God walk in the Wayes of his Commandments with and before the Lord humbly obeying from the heart that form of Doctrine which he delivered them that they may serve him thereby in newness of Spirit and in newness of Life they who would enter into Life must thus keep the Commandments for blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and may enter in through the Gates of the City Is there then a Kingdom of Grace and Glory Is it purposed prepared purchased promised and reserved in Heaven for us Have we a real interest in and a true Title to this Kingdom O let the high praises of God then be in our hearts in our lips and in our lives who hath called us unto this Kingdom and Glory Let David's resolution and practice be ours I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing praises unto my God while I have any Being every day will I bless thee and I will praise thy Name for ever and ever Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name his Heart and Tongue and Life were fixed and prepared for this blessed Work called therefore the sweet singer of Israel My heart is fixed and prepared O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth he prayes that he may praise O Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise his whole Life and Conversation nothing else but a continual Hymn to God How fearful was he to sin O-let me not wander from thy Commandments refraining his feet from every evil Way that he might keep the Word of God hating every false Way rejoycing in the Way of his Testimonies as much as in all Riches inclining his heart to perform his Statutes alway even unto the end Was it David's Duty Delight and Work to be still praising God and is it not ours Have we not or may we not have as great reason and occasion to bless God as he every one that will may have God and Christ and Grace and Glory to praise and bless God for as his portion and happiness for ever If every one of us with David could say Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee He may also say when his flesh and his heart faileth him God is the strength of his heart and his portion for ever which is matter great enough to praise the Name of God for with a Song and magnifie him with Thanksgiving It is the silent Work of all the Works of God to praise him passively and the highest duty of Saints to bless him actively All thy Works shall praise thee O Lord and thy Saints shall bless thee David calls upon the whole Creation to pay this homage of praise to God as their duty and Gods due Praise ye the Lord from the Heavens praise him all Angels all Men Kings of the earth and all People Princes and all Judges of the earth both young Men and Maidens old Men and Children Sun Moon and Stars Earth Sea let them praise the Name of the Lord for his Name alone is excellent his Glory is above the Earth and Heaven his glorious Name is exalted above all blessing and praise O the Treasures of Excellencies that are in God in every one of his unsearchable Names his Word and his wonderful Works his Works of Creation Redemption Providence c. which are external of Election Predestination Justification Adoption Regeneration Sanctification Consolation which are internal and the everlasting Kingdom of Glory matter for eternal praises Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable so are all his other Attributes God is especially to be praised in his Sanctuary every one there is to speak the praises of the glorious honour of his Majesty and the glorious Majesty of his Kingdom Glorious things are spoken of God in his Kingdom of Grace and more glorious things here unutterable are spoken in the Kingdom of Glory Behold now is the accepted time to prepare and tune our hearts tongues and lives in the Kingdom of Grace for this Duty and Work of praise in the Kingdom of Glory what is it to glorifie God but to praise him whoso offereth praise and ordereth his Conversation aright glorifieth him It is meerly for want of the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ and him Crucified and our unacquaintedness with the glorious excellencies of this Kingdom of God which is a Kingdom of Grace and Glory and our interest in it that we speak no more of the glory of this Kingdom and glorifie God no more by speaking to our selves in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs making melody in our hearts unto the Lord giving Thanks alwayes for all things unto God and the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Were all in these Kingdoms Eye-Witnesses of the Majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ and Ear-Witnesses as Peter and others were of his receiving from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased I say Were these things ever before our eyes and ever sounding in our ears there would certainly be more seeking and praying and praising God for this Kingdom of God which contains all the glory we can possibly want or wish than now there is Have we not a more sure Word of Prophesie whereunto we should all of us do well that we take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day-star arise in our hearts Do we not say that the whole Word of God is true Is there any that professedly deny a future state of glory Why do we not all bless God for it till we bless God in it Let every
God and the everlasting good of many a poor yet precious Soul so that all our contentions and mutual devourings shall end in a holy amicable contending earnestly for the Faith of the Gospel that we may stand fast in one Spirit with one mind and one mouth glorifying God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ receiving one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God than which what can be more pleasing to God honourable to our selves creditable to Religion profitable and comfortable to His Majesties Three Kingdoms If there be joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one Sinner that repenteth what joy will there be in Heaven over all the Sinners in these Kingdoms that repent The Lord our God in the midst of us will be mighty to save us he will rejoyce over us with joy he will rest in his love he will joy over us with singing if as Brethren being called unto liberty we use not our liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another for all the Law is fulfilled in one word even in this Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self but if we bite and devour one another let us take heed that we be not consumed one of another And it shall come to pass that as the Lord rejoyced over us to do us good so the Lord will rejoyce over us to destroy us and bring us to nought which will assuredly come to pass if we bless our selves in our hearts saying We shall have peace though we walk in the imagination or stubbornness of our hearts to add Iniquity to Iniquity the Lord will not spare but his anger and jealousie shall smoke against us and all the Curses written in his Book shall lie upon us and he will blot out our names from under Heaven Cursed also is every one that doth the Work of the Lord negligently or deceitfully But I am persuaded better Things of you and Things which accompany Salvation and that we are not of them who draw back unto perdition but of them that believe to the saving of our Souls Let us take heed lest there be in any of us an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God but exhort one another daily while it is called to day lest any of us be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin looking also diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble us and thereby many be defiled for we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end and also of his Kingdom of glory for the securing whereof these plain Directions are absolutely necessary to be put in practice I. That all Sins be avoided and hated especially Unbelief Pride Covetousness Carnality Lying and Hypocrisie II. That all the Duties of Holiness be rightly zealously and constantly performed both publick and private III. That all the Graces of the Holy Spirit be had and exercised They who would set themselves in earnest to seek the Kingdom of God must heartily set themselves against all sins stand in awe and sin not while you are seeking if you would find this Kingdom Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near but then it follows Let the Wicked forsake his Way and the Unrighteous who is a man of Iniquity his Thoughts and let him return unto the Lord who will have mercy upon him but then he must have nothing to do with Sin who will have any thing to do with God and his kingdom otherwise God will have nothing to do with him the wages of Sin is not Heaven but hell every final impenitent unbelieving Sinner is to be shut out of Heaven and shut up in Hell to all eternity Sinners you must quit your state and course and way of sin before you can enter the state of Grace or walk in the way of Life Grace and Glory are inseparable so are Sin and Hell O have nothing to do with any the least yea the very appearance of evil as near as you can except to hate abhor leave and loath it and your selves for it as ever you hope to speed in this most important duty of seeking first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness more especially let Unbelief Pride Carnality Covetousness Lying and Hypocrisie be abandoned and abhorred as the root and source and spawn of all other abominations These are the Master evils that hinder men from being and doing good We must be negatively before we can be positively holy Wash ye make â—e clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes first cease to do evil then learn to do well c. If we would cease from evil we must take heed of the evil of Unbelief in the heart which is a sin that giveth every Truth of God the Lye Every one that believeth not goes about to make God a Lyar. The very Word of the Scripture is He that believeth not God hath made him a lyar because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son as Faith is a coming to God by Jesus Christ so Unbelief is a departing from the living God O take heed of it as also of the sin of Pride which is a lifting and setting up our Wisdom and Will against the Wisdom Will Word Way and Work of God preferring our own Honor before Gods Glory Priâ—e was the first and worst sin that could be committed virtually and interpretatively it is all iniquity as all sinners were in one and came from one so all sins are summed up in this one namely Pride which is the Parent of all other abominations The onely sin that is so sinful This was the sin that made good Angels Devils and our first Parents and us evil like unto them yea only evil and that continually by it we have lost God our selves our knowledge of him all our righteousness and true holiness and all the happiness of Heaven it is so desperate a sin that it will not suffer any one to seek after God his Grace and Glory The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God he will be happy without God In seeking first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness O seek first to be delivered from the pride of heart and life otherwise you may ask and not have seek and not find knock and it shall not be opened unto you Covetousness which is Adultery and Idolatry a loving and desiring after the World and the things of the World so inordinately and overcarefully as both to neglect and make light of the things of God which are above The Covetous whom the Lord abhorreth his prayer and practice is Lord Who will shew us any good his Labour is only for his mouth and therefore his laying up much Goods for many years is to take his ease eat drink and be merry he is one that layeth
World What is a Man profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul or What shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul It is too good to be exchanged none besides the Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier of Souls knows the worth of them They are invaluable our Souls are like unto Christs in divine glorious qualifications having the perfect Ideas or Image of God imprinted upon them consisting in Knowledge Righteousness and true Holiness Christ as God is the brightness of his Fathers Glory and the express Image of his Person and being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God in his incommunicable excellencies but as Man participates only of the Communicable properties of God in this different from mere Man that being God-man in one Person for ever God giveth not the Spirit the Gifs and Graces thereof by measure unto him but unto others the measure of the stature or Age of the fullness of Christ who is the head of the Body the Church who is the Beginning the First-born from the Dead that in or among all things he might have the preeminence for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell the fullness of the Godhead bodily to the end we might be compleat in him and of his fulness not only receive Grace for Grace but with open face beholding without a Glass the Glory of the Lord we might be changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory Even as by the Spirit of the Lord now we see through a Glass darkly in Heaven face to face now we know in part there we shall know even as we are known This is Life Eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent we shall know him perfectly and perpetually perfectly not infinitely his Understanding is infinite his Essence incomprehensible we at our best estate but finite and therefore unable to comprehend so Infinite and Immense a being and whether we shall have the hâ—ppiness of knowing his Essence or Being not only of seeing him but of seeing into him and knowing what he is as well as thaâ— he is since it is so great a question with Divines and so much disputed and a greater mystery I shall not dare to pry into it but personally we shall know God Father Son and Holy Ghost we shall know him to be our God Every one in Heaven will be able to say Infallibly My God and my Lord for ever which is infinitely more than to say Heaven Angels and Saints are mine with all their Glory Every glorified Saint shall have the honor pleasure and treasure of having and enjoying one God for his everlasting Portion In the enjoyment of God and Heaven all hoâ—ors pleasures and riches are only enjoyed What honor God will put upon the glorified Saints in Heaven he only knows but honor them he hath said he will and with Titles so many great significant and noble as will give them the fullest satisfaction How empty unsatisfying and fading are all the Titles of honor which the Great ones of the World glory in in comparison of those wherewith Saints are dignifyed even in this World For the Sons of men to be called the Sons of God is a Title of honor that is to be expressed no other way but with a Behold what mâ—nner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God All the Titles of honor in the World together cannot make a Man so honorable as this one of being Servant to Jesus Christ To be an Emperor of the whole World to be King of all the Kingdoms of the World are Titles incomparably inferior to this Every Title given to Saints in Scripture hath so much honor pleasure and profit in it unto them as can never fully be set forth on this side heaven They are made Kings and Priests unto God their Father they are Prophets they are stiled The Children of God The Resurrection The Kingdom The Marriage Chamber The Beloved of God the dearly Beloved of his Soul and the Brethren of Christ with many more so full of excelâ—ency as the heart of Man cannot conceive It is made a Character of a Citizen of Zion That he honoureth them that fear the Lord. It will be the duty work and wages of Heaven for Angels and Saints to give the highest honors to each other It will be far from every one there to take away one anothers good Name which is so precious a thing Next to the admiring adoring loving reverencing praising honoring and glorifying the Name of God they will have each others Name in great veneration they will have a Name given them even an everlasting Name better than of Sons and Daughters which cannot be taken away He that hath a Name above every Name that is named not only in this World but also in that which is to come and gives them high and honorable Names will preserve them so through all Eternity If they are notwithstanding blessed when Men shall hate them and separate them from their company and reproach and cast out their Name as evil If they then are to rejoyce and leap for Joy for behold their reward is great in Heaven How happy will they be when they shall never hate or be hated more nor ever be separated from the Company and Communion of so blessed a Society as is in Heaven nor reproach or be reproached nor their Names cast out as evil nor ever be guilty of reflecting the least dishonor upon one another There will be nothing here to obstruct the fullest enjoyment of the fullest delight their delight will be in the Lord and he will be ever giving them the desires of their hearts they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of his House and he will make them drink of the Rivers of his pleasures For with God is the fountain of Life In his light shall they see light The pleasure of beholding this Light of handling the word of Life and of living in the Love of God will yield everlasting Consolation to the glorified Light and Life and Love are things so glorious that the Essence of God is declared by them God is Light and in him is no darkness at all The Son of God even his Son Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal Life God is Love and he that dweâ—leth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him He that Loveth not knoweth not God for God is Love For Saints to be clothed with Light as with a Garment and to live in and with that Light to which the Sun being compared is darkness How pleasant and pleasing will it be both to the bodily and intellectual eye Never will any eye be satisfied with seeing till God who is Light be seen The pure in heart are blessed in seeing God the everlasting loss of the Beatifical Vision and fruition of God will be the Hell of the ungodly
of God hath the witness in himself the witness of God for this is the witness of God that he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting Life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see Life but the wrath of God abideth on him because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son and this is the Record That God hath given to us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Son and he that hath believeth or receiveth Christ hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life so that our Eternal Life depends upon our faith or faithfulness in believing that is in the truth of our assent to the truth of the whole Word of God only upon the authority of Gods speaking it especially in believing or assenting to this faithful saying which is worthy of all acceptation That Christ Jesus came into the World to save sinners and consenting unfeignedly to have him for our Lord and Saviour trusting only upon the Merit of his death upon the Cross his Resurrection and Intercession for our acceptance with God our Justification an Glorification committing our selves and all our concernments wholly to his guidance and government cal ing all our care and burdens upon him as iudging him to be able and faithful to carry us through all the duties dangers and difficulties of this life unto life eternal all which is the nature and work of Faith which whosoever hath and liveth by it shall never perish but have everlasting life This is the â—aith that worketh love and worketh by love even to believe the love that God hath to us who is love God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the World that we might live through him herein is love This love breeds love Beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another much more ought we to love God and indeed if we do soundly believe this love of God towards us which passeth knowledge we shall answer this love with love again In loving God above all even with all the heart with all the Soul and with all the strength and with all the mind for he that loveth Father or Mother more than God is not worthy of him and he that loveth Son or Daughter more than God is not worthy of him and then love we him indeed when we love whom he loves and what he loves and hate what he hates Now God the Father loveth his only begotten Son the Lord Jesus Christ and he that loveth him loveth God and is loved of him And Oh What infinite reason have we to love both God and Christ when they have so loved us God the Father in sending his Son into the World to bless us and Christ in coming into it that he might give himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and purifie us unto himself a peculiar People zeâ—lâ—us of good works Therefore if any Man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha As God loves his only Son by Eternal generation so he loveth his Adopted Sons by Spiritual Regeneration and they again love him I love them saith God that love me herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us we love him because he first loved us his love is the ground and cause of our love to him and to one another Beloved let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the World Herein is love beloved if God so loved us we ought to love one another with a love of Union Complacency and Benevolence being of one Mind Will Way about one Work God-glorifying Delighting in each others Persons Communion and Communication Like David the Saints were all his delight as we have opportunity doing good to all but especially to the Houshold of Faith for to do good and Communicate is a Sacrifice God is well pleased with but whoso hath this Worlds good and seeth his Brother hath need and shutteth up his bowels of Compassion from him How dwelleth the love of God in him the love of God dwelleth not in him at all nor doth he dwell in God for he that dwelleth in God dwelleth in love and he that dwelleth not in God shall never dwell with him But he who loves God and Christ truly loves all Saints as God loves them with a special love and as God loves all Saints so he loves them alwayes even to the end so do all true lovers of God and his Saints as they love them all so they love them alwayes even to the end If we thus love the Brethren we may know that we are passed from death unto life Our love must extend to enemies even the worst of our enemies though we cannot love them with a love of Union and Complacency we must love them with a love of Benevolence because it is a Gospel-Command and therefore a Gospel-Duty to love our enemies and do good to them that hate us If we only love them that love us What do we more than others but if we love them that hate us we do more than others then are we the children of our Heavenly Father and are merciful as he is merciful and perfect as he is perfect And if we love not our enemies we are enemies to our enemies Gods enemies and our own To love heartily a professed practical enemy is a greater duty and difficulty than most professors are aware of How far are they from loving their enemies that do not love their brethren and without loving of their brethren and our enemies also and doing good to them that hate us there is no going to Heaven as we must love whom God loves so what God loves his Word Works Wayes Righteousness his Ordinances and Sanctuary c. God loves the Gates of Sion O how I love thy Law and I have loved the habitation of thy House and the place where thine honor dwelleth saith every one that is godly As we must love what God loves so must we hate what God hates and as God hates now God hates sin with a perfect hatred so must every one that loves the Lord hate sin and wickedness with a perfect hatred Ye that love the Lord hate evil because he hates it we cannot but sin while sin dwelleth in us but when it is acted it must be hated and is hated by every one that is godly What I hate that do I saith St. Paul We must abâ—tain from all appearance of evil hating even the garment spotted with the flesh if we will approve our selves to be the faithful and fervent lovers of the Lord let us seriously try the truth
The pain of sense will easilier be born than the pain of loss The Vision of God is the Heaven of the Godly O it is a blessed sight to see God and to be seen of him If a glympse here of his glorious Majesty be so joyous How glorious will a full and fixed sight of him be in Heavenly Glory May I be blind to all the glory in this World so I may live in a believing foresight and lively hope of beholding that inaccessible Light which is too glorious for Angels to behold without covering their faces This Light is Life it self the original of life to all whether of Nature Grace or Glory God in Scripture is said to be the true and Living God in opposition to false and dead Idols Life is his being he is because he Lives and our Life is hid with Christ in God even that of Nature of Grace and of Glory in him we Live and Move and have our Being Life in it self is a happiness O how precious a thing is Life Skin for skin and all that a Man hath will he give for his Life The Life of a Fly hath been thought to be more worth than the World The Life of a Man doubtless is more worth than many Worlds which are without Life but it is the Life of Grace which makes the Life of Man his comfort and the Life of sin to be a Living Death to him But the Life of Glory which is ever to be glorifying and enjoying God is the glory of Life To live with Life it self and for Life it self to live in us How infinitely satisfying will it be to them who are glorified That we shall be ever with this Lord of Life and Glory is the most comfortable word in all the Scriptures If any Man serve me saith Christ where I am there shall also my servant be Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me The presence of Christ makes Heaven It is our Life eternal to live with him who is Life eternal and to live to him for none of us in Heaven liveth to himself we live there wholly unto the Lord. His Glory there is as truly our end as it is here he will give to every one glory enough but he will not give his glory to another None must glorifie himsâ—lf there God All-sufficient will glorifie every one sufficiently I will glorifie the House of my glory saith the Lord. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give Glory will be the Heavenly Ditty and Duty Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honor and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created The main end of our Election or Predestination Redemption Justification Adoption Regeneration Sanctification Preservation and Glorification is to glorifie God in our Bodies and in our Spirits which are Gods Our vile Bodies are fashioned like unto Christs glorious Body so are our Souls transformed renewed sanctified and cleansed with the washing of Water by the Word that they might be presented to God himself glorious not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that they should be holy and without blame before him in love to the Praise of the glory of his Grace God is Love as well as Life the Life which he lives is a life also of Love What lovely living will it be in Heaven to live with love it self To love and be beloved by God who is Love will be the Saints everlasting happiness God will for ever be in love with all the Glorified Angels and Saints and they again will for ever be in love with him I Love them that Love me saith God not only God Essentially but God Personally is Love The Father is love the Son is love the Holy Ghost is love The knowledge we shall have of the Trinity loving each other with the love of Unity in an infinite manner and measure will very much contribute to our heavenly happiness If the Union Communion and Communication of Love between Husband and Wife be so great a Mystery How much greater a Mystery is that which is between Christ and the Church But O how mysterious a secret are the Transactions of mutuâ—l love between Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity If God so loved the World in this was manifested â—he Love of God because he sent his only begotten Son iâ—to the World that we might live through him herein is love that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins I say if God so loved the World What manner of Love hath he bestowed upon his only begotten Son The Father loveth the Son and the Son loveth the Father and the Holy Spirit loveth both the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost is loved of the Father and the Son and in their mutual loving and glorifying each other as they were happy infinitely from Everlasting so they would have been to everlasting though all persons and things had never been created Gods essential glory is neither capable of addition or diminution by reason of its infinite perfection God is not the happier for Angels or Men he needs neither their love or service but there is no being happy for any Creature save in the full enjoyment of God and his loving favour through all Eternity his loving kindness is life eternal We love him because he first loved us he loved us from all Eternity So God loved the World and by so doing hath engaged himself to love us to eternity whom he loves he loves to the end That which makes his love altogether lovely is That he set his love upon us because he loved us no Merit or Motive in us why he should love us there were Motives and Merits indeed why he should not love us when by wilful sin we had cast away the Mercies of our Creation he might have cast us off and cast us out to the loathing of our persons In the day we were born and lay polluted in our blood then he looked upon us and behold this time was the time of love he then said unto us when we were in our Blood Live His Love was our Life If God loved us so when we were sinful What manner of Love will he bestow upon us when sinless Our sin Original and Actual incapacitates us to receive the Mercies and enjoy the Love the Lord would willingly vouchsafe us But in Heaven we shall be able and perfectly capable and God infinitely willing to load us with all his Benefits God will never be weary of giving out his Loves nor we unwilling or weary in a Joyful and Thankful receiving of them and returning the same to our best Beloved It will be love of the nearest union the highest and holiest Communion and the freest and fullest