in the defence of this truth Matth. 19. v. 29. And every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my Names sake shall receive an hundred-fold and inherit everlasting life Now though this be a positive assertion yet it includes a negative as in Scripture it 's frequent none but such shall inherit this everlasting life and this will appear to be the proper genuine sense of it if we compare it with Luke 14.33 So likewise whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my Disciple And if no Disciple of Christ then no Heir of the future glory All this shews us how many now of the Visible Church of Christ shall be excluded the Kingdom of Heaven and meet with that most dreadful repute and eternal separation from God Depart from me ye workers of iniquity I know not whence ye are Luke 13.27 But I having intermixt this Discourse with other foregoing particulars I shall not expiate and enlarge it further though it cannot be too industriously and frequently inculcated upon us who are so backward firmly to believe and to be brought under the powerful and effectual conviction of such a truth 8. Infer Eightly How vast a disproportion there is between the Saints present losses and their future gain This is that which makes them so joyfully suffer the loss of all things The ineffable and unutterable inequality between them is the sourse and spring of their joy They have a substance for a shadow a substance that 's permanent and perpetual for that which is withering and fading Who will not rejoyce to part with a penny for a pound with one pound for an hundred with a hundred for a thousand with a thousand for a million c. but yet what 's the disproportion between the least of these and the greatest summe to that which is between an earthly and an heavenly Substance But my purpose is not to dilate and amplifie this great truth having already in part glost and paraphras'd upon it I say but in parts for who can speak to that fully which is so infinitely above and beyond the grasp and reach of his Reason the comprehension of his capacity and the compass of his understanding But it is to raise the Souls of Saints to a more sublime and frequent admiration of the unsearchable Riches of God's free Grace and exurbetant Mercies and to fill them with more ravishing contemplations thereof which this disproportion doth so much illustrate and celebrate varnish and beautify with a matchless Glory That there should be an infinite and eternal reward for a finite and temporary Act and that which we are under an indispensable Obligation to do and when we have done it to be still unprofitable Servants That an Act should be thus rewarded by God that he stands in no need of that he hath no dependance upon as Augmentative of and and additional to his blessedness for the uttermost contributions of men and Angels with all other Creatures can add nothing to him And that an Act shall be so superabundanly recompenced which is but the employing for Gods glory and the returning to him what is his own and what we first received from him what he hath but lent us or we are still but Tenants at Will his property never being alienated That we should have as the Apostle saith in 2 Cor. 4.17 Glory for afflictions a weight of glory for light afflictions an exceeding Eternal glory for momentary afflictions O! astonishing Antithesis In what extatical and transporting admirations hereof should the Souls of Saints be in and certainly more frequently than they are they would be so were they but more with the Apostle in Reckoning that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed in him Rom. 8.18 And would we but fixedly and steddily meditate hereon our Souls would not be so effaete and barren of praises to God as they are But we should be ever blessing and adoring him for that superfluous and reabundant compensation of the very little that we can do or suffer for him And seeing time is too little for this work we should more ardently long to Triumph in his Praises to Eternity The consideration of this vast disproportion between our losses and our gain our sufferings and our reward should wonderfully animate and encourage us to suffer the loss of all things it should â—l and strengthen our hearts and fortifie our Spirits to endure the utmost extremity of misery and to be insuperable and unconquerable in a patient toleration of all Tribulations for the sake of Christ to promote and advance his interest in the World And certainly were there but an immoration and dwelling of our most serious thoughts hereon we should never dread such sufferings which are ever worse in fearing then in feeling them as we do not be so averse to undergo them as we are 9. Infer Ninthly That one and the same Heavenly substance belongs to all Saints and all Sufferers for their Lord and Master Jesus Christ There is but one Kingdom Matt. 25.34 one Inheritance 1 Pet. 1.4 One Crown Rev. 1.10 one Throne Rev. 3.21 that belongs to them all It 's in the Text one substance that all the Hebrews knew they had If an Earthly Father have many Children usually the first-born Son or the eldest living inherits his Estate if a King have many Sons the eldest usually is Heir to the Crown When Jehoshaphat died the Text tells us 2 Chron. 21.3 He gave great Gifts of Silver and of Gold and pretious things with fenced Cities in Judah But the Kingdom gave he to Jehoram because he was the first-born This right of Primogeniture unto Earthly Inheritances hath some Foundation in the Law of Nature But in Heaven there is no difference nor distinction made among all the Children of God one inheritance he hath provided for them all and every individual shall have the whole as all the Inhabitants upon Earth equally enjoy the light of the Sun when it shines unto them provided their visive faculty be alike so shall all the Inhabitants in Heaven equally enjoy a Kingdom Indeed God puts a difference and makes distinctions between his Children in this World some are rich though but a very few some are poor some noble though not many and some ignoble and he will have the order of Superiority and Inferiority maintained among them and to break it is a sin Servants though Godly must keep in their proper Station and know their distance from their Godly Masters and Mistresses and greatly fear and reverence them and the base for their Piety must not think themselves equal with the honourable nor behave themselves the more immodestly and disrespectively towards them for such a procacious carriage and malepart deportment is a violiation of the Law of God Nature But in Heaven all these distinctions
rest and happiness whatsoever If Divine Grace in its imperfect measures and degrees give so great and solid satisfaction to an immortal spirit that is principled with it in this world that it shall never thirst more John 4.14 neither through Necessity not for variety as one saith S. S. in his Immanuel after any other thing shall not rove and rang up and down in the world in unfixedness and suspence to seek for satisfaction and rest if such a soul never be uncertain or unsatisfied more as to its supreme object and main happiness if hereby all its restless fluctuations and aestuations all its tossings and ragings for want of a chief Good shall cease so much How sedate and calm must it be to what a complacential rest must it be brought when it 's put into the full enjoyment of this Substance which a perfection of Grace is so great a part of This is that it shall ultimately and unchangeably acquiesce in 2. It 's a Substance in Heaven This is not any visible Heaven whose influences reach our bodies and other creatures here upon earth but the Heaven that 's invisible to a corporeal eye though assisted with the help of all Mathematical Telescopes It 's the Heaven where God is most eminenntly present where there is the most conspicuous effulgency of his Glory where as it were he keeps his Imperial Court and hath his special Favourites about him Isa 66.1 Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my foot-stool It 's that Heaven where Christ Reigneth The Angels shine in Glory and all the Saints are Crowned and Enthron'd Such a Heaven there is where God more especially dwells though in respect of the Immensity of his Essence he is present in all places and bounded or circumscribed with none and where all the Saints shall be congregated together to receive the reward of their faithful service to God and all their sufferings for him It is called in 1 King 8.27 the Heaven of Heavens the most vast expanded Heaven which environs and compasseth about all the other Heavens and is the most spacious place that ever was Created It s called therefore the Heaven of Heavens for amplification sake and to set forth the Imensity of God which it cannot contain * The Third Heaven is a simple and shining body Created immediately of God to be the Tâ—â—one of his special Presence and of the gracious manifestations of his Peâ—â—â—tions and the Habitation of the Blessed both Angels and Men. It 's called the Third Heaven in 2 Cor. 12.2 which is the * Not from its heat but from its resplendency and most pleasant light The Third Heaven we have only from the Scripture Heathenish Philosophers were ignorant of it Empyreal Heaven far above the Aereal in which the Fowls flying are called the Fowls of Heaven Mat. 6.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and above the Siderial in which the Lights are called Stars of Heaven Gen. 15.5 It 's that which is uppermost of all in which the Angels residing are called the Angels in Heaven Mat. 24.36 This is that then which in Scripture is called the Highest Heaven Luke 2.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Coelis Altissimis as Eeza translates it or rather interprets it the Highest Heavens Mat. 21.9 We have the same for it 's usual with the Greeks to put Adjectives without their Substantives as one shall find in the most elegant Authors among them Xenephon and others and this is frequent in the New Testament Mat. 10.42 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where is understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As the Heaven signifies that which is above us when it 's Local and carries in it a Notation of Altitude so this Heaven is not inferior to any but superior to all other Heavens Although God be Omnipotent and cannot be said to be in a place either Definitive as finite incorporeal Substances may or Circumscriptive as all corporeal Substances are yet seeing both according to reason and his own most sacred Revelations which are all most highly Rational though some of them be superior to our Reason there must be some peculiar place where there are most admirable ravishing Emications and beamings forth of his most bright shining Excellencies and absolute Perfection which are the great part of that Objective Glory the Angels behold and are united to and which all the Saints shall by the completion and perfection of Holiness be fitted to bear and also made capable of an union with and which is the ineffable and incomprehensible Beatifical Vision Mat. 5.8 1 John 3.2 Psal 17.15 And this place must have a Superiority to all other places which seeing it is called Heaven it must be above all other Heavens else it would hold no congruity nor sutableness to the Grandeur of his own Majesty inferior and subject to which is all other Majesty that 's but a very dark resemblance of the same We find that according to all Political order and Oeconomical disposure those persons that are of greatest Eminency and worth either by birth or discent or by true Virtue Education which doth most really nobilitate and dignify a person and Offices relating to their distinct and proper objects have still the highest places assigned them and deservedly challenge a precedency before and superiority to others And this is only Analogical unto and derivative from that God who is supereminent and likewise clearly demonstrative what is due to him as his most just Right and Prerogative Height is that which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by way of eminency is approprietated to God Isa 57.15 and therefore every finite created being the higher it is the more in that respect it resembles God and is denominated and accounted more excellent from thence than another creature or being of the same species and kind Hence in Scripture tall Trees and high Mountains are called Mountains of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. Psal 36.6 Thy Righteousness is like the great Mountains Heb. Mountains of God Psal 104.16 The Trees of the Lord are full of Sap that is the goodly and tall Trees such as the Cedars are that he immediately after speaks of The very Heathens by the light of Nature had a knowledg of this Truth so agreeable is it to the reason of Man as they did distinguish between their Gods as Majores and Minores so their greater Gods were supposed to inhabit an higher place or Court and the other to be below them And as Jupiter was their chiefest God so the highest Palace and Heaven was made proper and peculiar to him Thus he is spoken of by the Latine Poet * Ovid. lib. 1 Metamorph fab 6. Olympus by the Pâ—ets it being a very high hill was taken for Heaven vel quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tanta ejus altitudine ut pedes ascendentium non possunt conspâ—ci vel quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod illic oculi frigore vitiuntur vel quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
totus Lucidus Iympidus and so both for its Altitude and Clearness made Jupiters Heaven as descending from above in these words Summo delabor Olympo so when he describes him sitting in Counsel among the other Gods advanceth him above them in these words Celsior ipse loco so by the Greek Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesiod Now although by sense we know not where this place is as not being exposed to the view thereof yet from all this and much more that might be said to prove it we may collect and conclude that such a place there is and that it 's above all others and in this place is this Substance said to be I have been larger upon this than some perhaps will judg pertinent and necessary but the reason why I am so is because so many either from Principles of Atheism that is in them though they do not profess it or because they are Entheusiastically infatuated most absurdly and irrationally assert and are very industrious to propagate such an opinion that there is no Local Heaven and that God is not to be enjoyed more in one place than in another The affirming this Substance to be in Heaven implies and includes these following particulars 1. The certainty of its possession It 's no Poetical fiction or fable it 's no Romantick Vtopia but so certainly as there is a Heaven than which nothing is more certain so certainly is there this most substantial blessedness to be enjoyed by the Saints Certainly and Reality are distinct A good may be real but yet not certain because that respects either our knowledg or enjoyment of it or both To say it 's a Substance as hath been already shewd proves the reality of the Saints felicity but to say it 's in Heaven expresseth the certainty of an enjoyment 1 Pet. 1.4 If a man say to his Friend and Favourite I will bestow upon thee a Treasure that affords some comfort and is a considerable demonstration of kindness but it is not exclusive of all doubts for the question may still be put how shall I come by it and where is it But if the Reply be go to such a Chamber or Chest here is the Key that opens it take it into your possession then it 's certain it shall be his upon supposition it 's a real Treasure a Substance indeed and the person be serious when he makes such an offer and promise Now the Children of God do not only know that they have a Substance and Treasure but they know the very place where it is they know where to find it and take possession of it it 's certain and sure to them they have the word of a faithful God for it 2. The furutity of it Here is no posseson of it it is not attainable in this life God doth not intend a perfect happiness for his Saints here upon earth or that they shall have no better and higher blessedness than what is to be enjoyed in this world Here they are not to be rewarded fully for their sufferings and losses for righteousness and Religions sake But here they must expect a constant succession of troubles and trials like the Waves of the Ocean following speedily one another and an uninterrupted Series of Afflictions Crosses and Sorrows No constant Calm nor serene state is to be expected for the faithful Servants of God in these lower Regions Storms will arise and continue till they come to the Harbours mouth they will accompany them to their very Arrival at the Haven of everlasting Rest Act. 14.22 Here they live by hope the object whereof is not a present but a future good Rom. 8.24 and not such a good whose futurity is in time but eternity 1 Cor. 15.19 While Gods Children are in this world they are Minors like Heirs under age that must not take possession of their Inheritance it 's reserved in Heaven for them 1 Pet. 1.4 They have much laid up under hope but little in hand the highest and greatest things under expectation but little in possession Their Substance is as a Reversion after this life Their right and title thereunto is clear and made sure but till they come to die God saith not go up and possess the good Land God indeed sometimes for Cordials and counter-comforts when they have their bitter cups to drink and their fainting fits approaching gives them some praegustations and fore-tasts of the immixt sweetnesses of Heaven and a delightful ravishing prospect and fore-view of its Glory and Blessedness a distillation thereof often is of some few drops from the overflowing Ocean and a secret influx of some lesser Rivolets from the everflowing Chrystiline fountain of joy upon their Spirits Sometimes they have their first fruits but the full harvest and perfection of all is Heaven it self which is future and to come 3. The Invisibility of it to outward sense This Heaven not being expos'd to the view of sense this Substance which is in it cannot be seen if the Cabinet be not visible the Jewels in it cannot be beheld God will not have the Saints inestimable chiefest Treasure to be seen and discerned by their bodily eyes but by the spiritual enlightned eye of Faith which it is the proper object of The sufferings of the Saints would not be so highly laudable and commendable could they by external sense see the glorious reward that they must fetch their encouragment from to endure the same God will have their Spirits steeled and strengthned their Souls fortifyed their hearts enboldned and raised to an high pitch of invincible Magnanimity from an invisible crown and all for the tryal and exercise of Faith the sweet and sure and noble life whereof he intends as he hath enjoynd it by an irrepealable Law they shall live while they are the Inhabitants of this lower World The Apostle in 2 Cor. 5.7 tell us they must not live by sight but by Faith God promiseth them great things his promises as the Apostle saith 2 Pet. 1.4 Are exceeding great and pretious so they are subjectively and in respect of the matter thereof And God will prove and try who among the many thousands that profess themselves to be Christians will take his word and trust him firmly and fixedly and immoveably depend thereupon And who by a belief of the certainty and the excellency of good that is only promised at so great a distance and not seen can leave and quit chearfully and joyfully a good that is present and conquers things visible by the sight of things invisible Did all that profess themselves Believers really live by Faith then none would in a day of temptation faint and finally fall away Heb. 10.38 Now the just shall live by Faith which implies smal perseverance for it 's stands opposed to drawing back which the want of Faith is the cause of and all a Christians Conquests over the World are ascribed to Faith 1 John 5.4 The Reason of this is because Faith which ultimately
Divine essence being an Arbitrary and voluntary Glass he may according to his good pleasure manifest more or less of such a visible glory to the Eyes of Saints in Heaven And why may there not be such a corporeal Vision or ocular Veiw of the Face of God in this sense seeing Jacob had it though in a lower degree because his mortal state would not bear such a sight as is proper to a state immortal upon Earth Gen. 33.30 I have seen saith he God Face to Face though it was not God's Essence that was discernable at that time yet besides that humane form and shape that God appeared in and which at first might make him think it was but a man before he left Jacob besides his solemn blessing him it 's very probable he gave some demonstration of his Divinity which it's likely was by some glorious appearance or resplendent and bright manifestation of himself so much as he was then capable of bearing to his Eye sight this made him say I have seen God Face to Face and yet my life is preserved Such a sight Moses and Aaron c had of God in the Exod. 24. v. 10. And they saw the God of Israel how by the effulgency and shining forth of some glory and brightness which was obvious to their sense by which they might perceive that God was present in an especial and extraordinary manner this appears by what follows And there was under his Feet as it were a paved work of a Saphir Stone which is a Stone of a very clear Sky colour and as it were the body of Heaven in it's clearness or in it's brightness Exod. 33.18 Moses supplicates God that he would shew him his glory shew me thy glory which is not to be understood of God's essence which no doubt he knew to be invisible but his divine glory While God was speaking with him by a sensible Voice his presence was over-shadowed with some Cloud or darkness so that this glory did not appear and therefore now he desired either the removal of the interposing Cloud or that his glory might break through it to be objected to his sense God in the 19. verse replies to this Petition thus I will make my goodness pass before thee that is I my self will pass before thee and with my self all my goodness and glory but seeing it is too much for thee to comprehend it shall therefore pass and not stay for thee to gaze upon it shall pass before or by thee that thou mayest see a shadow of it behind That which Moses was so desirous to see was the Divine glory fully manifested and displayed now God tells him that this state of defiled infirmity and mortallity was not capable of 〈◊〉 therefore God promiseth to help the imperfection and dimness of sight by the â—tion of his Ear as followeth I will proclaim my name i. e. my nature Now that Moses might know that God was not unkind to him while he denied to gratify his request he tells him plainly in the 20. v. He could not see his Face without the peril and hazard of his life And he said thou canst not see my Face which is not only to be understood of God's spiritual Majesty which is altogether invisible but likewise if not principally in this place of that brightness and glory which accompanieth his presence and that he is cloathed with as with a Garment For there shall none see me and live From these words the principal objection may be raised against any ocular views or corporeal Visions of God in Heaven For seeing in Heaven the Saints shall have their humane nature and not cease to be men how can they see any thing of him there more than here and live To which it may be replied that either such a Vision of God is not in this life but in the other that if a man would see God he must first die and then he shall see as it were face to face and so the sence of the words is this No man while he lives in a mortal condition here upon earth can see my face which interpretation I do not approve of because it contradicts other Scriptures already spoken to and explain'd without another which is That the full manifestations of my glory are too much for mans infirmity to bear and apprehend Thus for man to see me would so astonish him as to make him a dead man Rev. 1.16 17. Dan. 10.8 9. This is that glory which Moses desired to see which God tells him he was not capable of beholding as he was a meer mortal man But yet it 's clear from vers 23. that God did manifest so much of his glory to him as was sufficient for his discerning and for his desire When he saith thou shalt see my back-parts he speaks here as if he appeared in humane shape at this time who though he hid his glory from Moses his eyes as if an hand had been spread over his face to cover him while he passed before him yet was he priviledged with a glimpse of his glory coming after behind he might see him as in a shadow And it 's probable when Moses came down from Mount Sinai where he had been forty days and forty nights without food with God with a shining lustre upon his face it was from a reflexion of a divine glory and splendor upon it which he was in some considerable degree enabled and strengthened to behold Exod. 34.28 29 30. We find that in the Mount when Christ was transfigur'd Matth. 17.2.9.2 and his face and countenance irradiated with coelestial glory yet those Disciples which were with him had ocular views of it though in respect of their mortal condition they could scarce bear and endure the sparkling rayes thereof but seem to be astonished while wonderfully ravished and delighted with the same Now if the eye of God's Saints have had such glympses of Divine Glory upon earth what clearer and fuller view will they have thereof in heaven when their visible faculty and organ of sight shall be unspeakably invigorated and made a thousand degrees more pure and piercing more acute and quick than now it is And if a small beam or glympse thereof was so delectable to Peter John and James that were with Christ in the Mount that they were loath to leave it but were very desirous to take up their abode there how infinitely more pleasant and ravishing will those more open and ample manifestations of Glory be and though we cannot determine what the measures thereof will be yet we may conclude it will infinitely more surpass the most amiable and Loves-most powerful attractive objects upon earth than either the Morning or Meridian Sun that minute and little light that acts the part of an Hypocrite in a Glow-worm We may rationally suppose likewise that the sight of Christ as he is man with all the inherent coelestial qualities of his most glorious body will render heaven a place full