to them But as for subtilty which properly signifies a property whereby such things as are spiritual have a penetrative vertue to pass through the corpulent parts of any thing that hath a Body having parts and dimensions I cannot see how it can be attributed to glorified Bodies which after the resurrection shall have the same extensive and bodily parts for quantity and material substance as they had before and can no more pierce thorow any true bodily substance which hath the dimensions of quantity as length breadth thickness then they could before their resurrection during the time of their mortality and corruption Although divers of the Antients affirm that Christ after his resurrection entered into the room where his Disciples were the doors being shut John 20.26 by passing thorow the door yet if it were so we may not attribute the same as a thing natural to his glorified Body it having the same dimensions of quantity for fulness of matter it had before but must rather be attributed to the power of his God-head to whom nothing is impossible but I suppose though the doors were shut presently before and after his passage yet they opened of their own accord or by his Divine power at the instant of his passage as Acts 12.10 the Creature giving place to the Creator otherwise we must hold the Body of Christ made a penetration thorow the doors and then there must be two solid Bodies in one place at the same time which were impossible And St. Augustine saith even of glorified Bodies Tolle spatia corporibus corpora non erunt take away spaces from the Bodies and they will cease to be bodies SECT IV. Of the impassibility of glorified Bodies MOreover the Bodies of the Saints in glory shall be made impassible in this life we are subject to many infirmities to thousands of miseries our Bodies are Butts against which miseries and afflictions which are the Arrows of the Almighty are shot but glorified Bodies are subject to none of these they suffer no pain Christ will wipe away all tears from their eyes sorrow and mourning shall flee away and be sent packing to Hell among the Devils and damned Wretches their afflictions are their portion Heaven and the blessed state of the Saints in Heaven is as free from misery as from sin this World to the godly is as the Prison to Joseph as Nebuchadnezzar's Furnace to the three Children as the Lions Den to Daniel this World to the godly is like an House of Correction wherein is much toyl and labour and very much scourging besides We are born to be miserable we shall do nothing else but suffer but we shall be taken out of Prison our Bodies shall be drawn out of the Furnace freed from the House of Correction and no grief nor misery shall evermore touch our glorified Bodies Their impassibility will then free them from all the injuries of the Elements the natural heat which now wasteth them shall no more consume the natural moysture the contraries that compose man will then agree and the Body being no longer tormented with hunger and thirst will stand in need neither of meat nor drink he will be in a state of consistency wherein he will have his just proportion The Apostle tells us that what is sown in weakness shall be raised in power and vertue so that the Body shall not need that propping up as the weak pillars thereof do now need support in this state of mortality But this power is no supernatural vertue making the elementary parts and qualities to be of another nature then now they are for there must be no change nor destruction but only a perfection of Nature neither shall these elementary qualities by the power of God be limited or obstructed in their operations that they shall not fight against each other to their mutual destruction for then the impassibility of glorified Bodies should not be an internal vertue as abiding in the Body which is against the Apostle's intent but only an external assistance of God Aquinas saith Aquin. supplem qu. 82. art 1. that this vertue and power of impassibility floweth immediately from the Soul her self which informing the Body doth so fully and perfectly subdue all the powers and qualities of the same unto her self that no contrary Agent can be able to make any violent impression upon or act violently against the Body either to corrupt or destroy it or in the least to be able to draw it from that quiet and peaceable state wherein it resteth SECT V. Of the incorruptibility and immortality of glorified Bodies FInally the glory of the Body shall be so firm and stable that it can never wither or decay it shall be incorruptible The Body is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption 1 Cor. 15.42 This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality verse 53. The Bodies of the beatified shall then be embalmed with the Spirit that shall cause them for ever to be incorruptible their Bodies shall be made incorruptible and immortal like the glorious Body of Christ these earthly Tabernacles or demicilia Animae must be taken down and then these Bodies of dust must return to dust we must say to Corruption thou art our Mother and to the Worm thou art our Sister and the Soul must suffer a divorce from the Body But when Christ shall appear our mortality shall be swallowed up of life then our corruption shall put on incorruption these vile dusty Bodies of ours shall be made glorious Mansions for our Souls and our Souls shall be for ever united to our Bodies again so that they shall never suffer a divorce from the Body and the Body shall never see corruption any more We shall then enjoy an eternal spring of years which shall never wither our days will pass on yet shall we never feel any decay or declension in our selves our budding verdure will fear no Winter the Lillies and Roses of our Countenances will keep their freshness and as original Righteousness served to Man as a Garment in the state of Innocence so Glory will be instead of a Robe to the Blessed God hath made the Soul of so powerful a nature August Epist 66. ad Dioscor saith one of the Antients that from her glorious happiness there redounds to the Body the vigour of incorruption and so long as the glorified Soul shall be subject to God and the glorified Body be subject to the Soul so long it shall be impossible for any bodily agent whatsoever to have any transient action or impression which may any way change or hurt the same But as St. Paul saith Rom. 6.10 In that Christ died he died unto sin once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God so we shall then live with God and unto God as Christ for ever SECT VI. ALbeit glorified Bodies shall be impassible and incorruptible so that they shall not be subject to any contrary or
absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. Here you may see that while the Souls of the Saints are present in the Body as they are during this life they are absent from the Lord albeit Jesus Christ dwelleth in them by his Spirit and they are spiritually united to him yet in regard of local distance they are absent from Christ in respect of his Humane nature not seeing him face to face they walk by faith not by sight Moreover when their Souls are absent and seperated from the Body by death they shall be present with the Lord not walking by faith at a distance from Christ but resting in his presence immediately beholding him The Souls of the Saints then do not die with the Body but live in the presence of their Saviour at the very same time when they are absent and seperated from the Body by death This must needs be meant of the state of the Soul not after the resurrection but between death and the resurrection for that is the only time when the Soul is absent from the Body and during that time the Apostle saith it shall be present with the Lord. To these may be added that gracious answer of Christ to the penitent Malefactor Verily I say unto thee this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luke 27.43 viz. the very same day wherein he died Now the heavenly Paradise is no burying place for dead Souls but a glorious habitation for the living spirits of just men made perfect Observe likewise that argument of Christ grounded upon the speech of God to Moses at the bush which strongly proveth both the resurrection of the Body and the immortality of the Soul as well before as after the resurrection Matth. 22.31 32. Have you not read what is spoken to you by God saying I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living This was spoken long after the natural death of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and so the Argument standeth thus Those who have God for their God by Covenant are not dead but living but Abraham Isaac and Jacob have God for their God by Covenant Ergo they are not dead but living So then they live in their principal parts their Souls while they are absent from the Body whereunto their Bodies are to be re-united at the great day that their whole persons may fully enjoy their God and perfectly possess the fruit and benefit of God's covenant verse 34. this argument silenced the Sadduces Finally consider what meant Stephen's prayer at his death Lord Jesus receive my Spirit or Soul Acts 7.59 If his Spirit or Soul had died with his Body why should he call upon Christ more for the receiving his Soul but because he knew his Spirit or Soul was immortal and must live and subsist when it was seperated from the Body he prayed Christ to give present entertainment to his Soul that he might rest in the bosome of his love until his Body should be raised and reunited to it Now as this may stop the mouth of this lying Spirit which of late is crept forth into the World again so it may demonstrate according to the point in hand that the Souls of the Faithful after their seperation from the Body are instated into blessedness By which places fore-mentioned and such like is refuted their Heresie who either directly deny the immortality of the Soul or imply it as the Socinians who say that Mori est penitus extingui V.d. Gens in Confes remonstrant p. 254 256. resurgere est ex non ente iterum existere And this Opinion some others have seemed to favour in the Declaration of their Opinions about the Articles of Religion in that they are altogether silent in the point that concerneth the blessed rest of the Saints Souls after this life CHAP. XVIII Of the blessedness of the Soul in general MUch more might have been spoken of the blessedness of the Soul in glory when it is absent from the Body but because these things belong as well to the Soul re-united to the Body when it hath full possession of salvation I chuse to treat of them under that consideration 1. This shall be the wonderful felicity of the Soul in that it shall have a Body every way suitable to it self immortal spiritual incorruptible glorious as its habitation for a pure immortal glorious Spirit to dwell in in this respect the glorified Souls now in Heaven all the time of their seperation do even vehemently desire and wait for the redemption of their Bodies who were their yoke-fellows in the day of their pilgrimage upon Earth Though the Soul of a Believer reign with Angels yet hath she a passion for her Body and all the good she doth possess cannot take her from the desire and memory thereof though she hath made trial of its revolts though this friendly Enemy hath oftentimes persecuted her and that she hath desired death to be freed from the tyranny thereof yet doth she languish as it were and vehemently long after it Though the Body be reduced to dust though it cause pity in its Enemies and though it cause horror in those to whom it was lovely yet she forbears not to desire it and to expect the resurrection with a kind of impatience that her Body may partake of the bliss which she enjoyeth The Souls of the Saints departed this life do not account their glory their blessedness compleat till their Bodies be reunted hence they do naturally desire their re-union and as they cry under the Altar How long Lord how long will it be ere thou avenge our blood so all the Souls of just men made perfect with one voice cry out How long Lord how long will it be ere thou redeem our Bodies that we may be perfectly blessed in the full fruition of thy self Oh then how shall the glorified Soul rejoyce in its glorified Body raised from among worms dust and rottenness rescued from its captivity from under the power of death and corruption and now again made one with the Soul no longer to be a snare or burden to it but a companion meet for it taking in no object by the senses that may in the least degree endanger the polluting of the Soul and having nothing in it that may stupifie the affections or any way discompose the eternal rest disturb the peace eclipse the joy of the Soul interrupt its enjoyment of God or any way diminish its compleat happiness 2. There shall be a perfect harmony between the Body with all its parts and the Soul with all its powers and both Soul and Body shall be fully conformed to Christ and so shall most sweetly comply each with other and I conceive the very remembrance of that dulness sottishness earthiness and drossiness which in the state of mortality is in the Body shall be matter of great joy to the Soul now that it
A PROSPECT OF HEAVEN GLORY A PROSPECT OF HEAVEN OR A TREATISE OF THE Happiness of the Saints in Glory WHEREIN Is Described the Nature and Quality the excellency and certainty of it together with the Circumstances Substance and Adjuncts of that glory the unspeakable misery of those that lose it and the right way to obtain it Shewing also the disproportion between the Saints present Sufferings and their future Glory Many weighty questions discussed and divers cases cleered By William Gearing Rector of Christ-Church in Surrey near Southwark In Regno Caelorum vocabimus videbimus videbimus amabimus amabimus laudabimus id quod erit in fine sine fine Et quis alius noster esset finis quam venire ad regnum cujus nullus est finis August London Printed for Tho. Passenger and Benj. Hurlock at the three Bibles on London-Bridge and over against St. Magnus Church 1673. To the much honoured Sr. WILLIAM TVRNER Kt. and Alderman of the City of LONDON And to Sir JAMES LANGHAM of the same City Knight Grace and Peace be multiplyed Honoured Sirs THe Heathen Philosophers discoursed much of true blessedness yet never knew they what it meant nor wherein it consisted Varro Varro lib. 19. August de Civ Dei cap. 1. Cicer. de finib lib. 1. and out of him S. Augustine saith they were divided into 288 opinions about this one point yet not one true â—mong them all They ran all of them toward his mark but not as they that run in a race â—hey had several Goals but none of them obtained â—he Crown Some of them would have it consist a pleasure so Epicurus thought variety of â—leasure was the only summum bonum the only â—hief good of man but as the Orator said well â—f him it was vox pecudis non hominis the â—oice of a beast not of a man that this was the opinion of the Epicureans is no wonder seeing they acknowledged not the immortality of the soul but thought that the soul died together with the body therefore they placed blessedness in bodily pleasures But the Mahumetans acknowledge the resurrection of the body and after the resurrection the immortality of the Soul and a life that shall never end therefore it is the more to be wondered at that they should place the chiefest good of the life to come in bodily pleasure The Turks in scorn are wont to call Christians dogs but more truely and more justly they may be called Dogs and Swine whose God is their belly and whose chiefest good lieth in eating and drinking and in fleshly delights and pleasures but even Salust In regno voluptatis virtuti non est locus Salust could say that in the Kingdom of pleasure vertue hath no place and the wisest Philosophers have called sensitive pleasures the poison of the mind of the which we must the more carefully beware for that these pleasures are accompanied with a certain sweetness which flatters the Soul at its first approach surprizeth our judgement and charmeth it in such sort as it helpeth to deceive it self These pleasures put out the eye of reason and smother all the seeds of Wisdom and Vertue in man the which they effect more powerfully when they are most violent wherefore a wise man was wont to say that he had rather fall into frenzy than suffer himself to be surprized with pleasures for said he Physicians may cure madness by purging the brain with Hellebore Coesset tabuâ— Human. passion whereas brutish pleasures do deprive man of his judgement without hope of remedy for his infirmity Some again have made blessedness to consist in Honours Dignities Superiorities popular Acclamations and all sorts of preferments but happiness consisteth not in these things these are all very empty things a bladder when it is blown seems to be full when it hath nothing in it but a little thin air a small pin is sufficient to pierce it and empty it of all that is in it so it is with those that love popularity and the praise of men more than the praise of God and receive honour from men themselves in the mean time being strangers to God many of them seem to be full but they are but as bladders full of wind full of vanity a slight occasion is enough to empty them of all their happiness Others would have it consist in wealth and riches So Antisthenes said that he onely was happy that died in the affluence of worldly prosperity but when a man expecteth happiness and satisfaction from these things he findeth nothing less Solomon tells us he made him great works builded houses planted Vine-yards got him Servants and Maidens and had great possessions of great and small Cattel above all that were in Jerusalem before him that he gathered to him Silver and Gold and the peculiar treasure of Kings and of the Provinces c. so he became great and increased more than all that were before him Eccles 2. from v. 4. to 11. Now v. 11. he looks back on all the work and labour of his hands and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit and ver 17. he hated life it self because the work that was wrought under the Sun was grievous to him and ver 18. he hated all his labour which he had taken under the Sun therefore these things were far from giving him sound contentment they did rather increase the Disease and make the Soul more restless than before Now if such a one as Solomon that had interest in God did thus far lose that sweet content he had in God by an eager pursuit of these perishing things then much more impossible is it that the soul that never had interest in God should find happiness and contentment in the creature it is impossible for those that neglect the fountain of living waters to quench their thirst at a broken cistern nor can man be made happy by any thing inferiour to himself now all earthly creatures are inferiour to the reasonable soul of man and the substance and faculties thereof doth far surpass all the riches and honours of the world and if man cannot find sound contentment and true happiness in himself it will be in vain to seek it in these things Others there were that came nearest to the point that would have blessedness to consist in vertue and yet alas there were none even of the wiser Heathens that ever knew what true vertue meant and consequently what true blessedness meant They wrote much of some that were excellent among them men renowned and famous for vertue it was said of Cato that he was vertues true image Qui nunquam recte fecit ut facere videretur sed quia aliter facere non potuit who never did any thing well that he might seem to do it but because he could not do otherwise it was also said of him that he was suae fortunae Faber let him live in any time or common-wealth he would make shift
still keeps its splendor but when the Cloud is gone we see it So Christ in regard of his Deity had this glory always it was hidden from him in regard of the infirmities which he took upon him as sufferings death c. Now Christ our Head being glorified all his Members that suffer with him shall also be glorified together they are now glorified in capite and when Christ hath prepared places for all his Members then he will take them home to his Father's house Christ is now preparing their glory and fitting their heavenly Mansions he is decking their Crowns of Righteousness he is trimming their Robes Christ is now in his own Person glorious but Christ mystical is not glorious it is in a suffering condition there are many of his Members that are not yet brought home to God Christ hath a care of his mystical Body as of his natural Body he gave his natural Body to redeem his mystical Body therefore as he is glorious in his natural Body so he will be glorious in his mystical Body for St. Paul saith he shall come to be glorified in his Saints The Son of God rose gloriously out of his Tomb and after he had given assurance of it to his Apostles he was taken up into Heaven to reign there eternally with his Father the Angels made a part of his Triumph his Body that was pierced with the nails rent with stripes torn with thorns was set at the right hand of his Father on a Throne whose Ornament was Justice and the Foundation Mercy as one well noteth His mystical Body shall receive the like glorious entertainment the Saints shall be admitted into the Society of the Blessed and reign in Heaven with the Angels Those Members that have suffered in the quarrel of Jesus Christ shall be freed from all miseries and reign in glory everlastingly with their Head that the blessedness of Jesus Christ may have its accomplishment and he may be as happy in his Members as in his Person Jesus Christ and his Members are united in their sufferings on earth and by a necessary consequence we may be assured they shall be so one day in their glory in Heaven To this end Christ prayed for his Church to his Father when himself was upon earth The glory which thou gavest me I have given them Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me John 17.22 24. It is observable that in other things when Jesus Christ speaks to his Father it is with so much respect that he seemeth rather a Servant then a Son but when he asks that his Members may reign with him in glory it is with so much liberty of speech that his Request is rather a determination then a Prayer Volo Pater Father I will that where I am there my Servants may be CHAP. V. Of the quality of the Saints glory NOw that I may set forth the nature of the Saints glory you are to know that there is no specisical or essential difference between our gracious and glorious estate as there is no specifical or essential difference between the Corn of the First-fruits and that of the whole Harvest only some accidental differences as there is no specifical difference between a Child and a grown Man they have both the same essential parts and principles there is only an alteration of degrees not of parts gradus non variat speciem Now our present estate is our Infancy our future estate is our Man-hood for the present the Children of God have glory given them godly Men are for the present glorious the Scripture calls them nothing else but blessed yea even then they are blessed when the world looks upon them as most miserable when shame reproach and trouble is cast upon them then doth the Spirit of glory rest upon them they having grace bestowed upon them have glory Glory is nothing else but the splendour the brightness of grace Vita gratiae nihil est aliud quam aetas infantilis gloriae he that is gracious is glorious We shall have the same individual Bodies and Souls after the Resurrection as we have in this life only some alteration in respect of some new qualities as in our first Resurrection from the death of Sin to the life of Righteousness there is no transmutation of the essence but an alteration of the qualities or a super-introduction of new qualities by which we are said to be new Creatures 2 Cor. 5.17 not in quantity but in quality so in Heaven we shall become new Creatures in respect of what we are now and those very qualities which do principally concur to the constitution of our happiness in Heaven are in some measure communicated to us in our first regeneration now we have drops then rivers of delights Psal 36.8 both the same in nature This will be the more evident if we examine wherein our happiness hereafter doth consist and compa ing it with our present estate Our spiritual and supernatural blessedness consisteth in the fruition of such an object as is perfectly all-sufficiently and principally good which is only God therefore it standeth in our perfect union to and communion with God the faculties of the soul being by the Almighty power of God dilated extended and enlarged so far as to be as it were capable of the fulness of God and by the perfect operations of the understanding will and affections united to God in all their actions and when these natural weak and vile Bodies of ours by the same hand of Omnipotency are transfigured and transformed into spiritual powerful and glorious Bodies and so united to the Soul then are we come to the perfection of our blessedness the properties of which blessedness are First That it is everlasting Secondly That we shall discern it so to be And thirdly That as it fulfilleth the largest desires of our hearts so we shall be extraordinarily affected with it and perpetually affected to it and incessantly desirous of it our glory consisteth not in having what our weak Souls can now wish for but what they can desire when they are gloriously corroborated and enlarged So that now you see there is no specifical or essential difference but only a gradual or circumstantial difference between the state of grace here and the state of glory hereafter for Regnum coeleste est Dei contemplatio glorificatio Gregor Nazianzâ—n Orat. contr Arrian celebratio cum Angelis communis saith one of the Fathers who commonly describeth the state of the blessed to be nothing else but the full and perfect accomplishment of such spiritual blessings as are already begun in us and in part already communicated to us when God shall by a most perfect and immediate irradiation of the understanding and sanctification of the will and affections to know love and delight in God and transformatâ—on of the Body into the likeness of Christ's effect
Men or Angels is able sufficiently to set forth the height of this blessedness III. It shall be at such a time when the Devil and all his Instruments the Enemies of God and his People shall be cast into outer Darkness and swallowed up of everlasting Destruction when their day shall wholly end their glory be finished and their prosperity be utterly extinguished and overthrown when they shall be for ever seperated from God the fountain of all blessedness of which Separation Chrysostome thus speaketh That if a thousand fires of Hell were joyned together in one they should never be so great a pain to the Soul as it is for the Soul to be separated in this wise for ever from Almighty God We read Isa 14.9 10. That the Kings and Potentates of the Earth seem to be brought into rejoycing at the fall of Lucifer viz. the King of Babilon when he was brought low it was matter of triumph to the Children of Israel that the Lord saved them from the hand of Pharaoh and the Aegyptians that pursued them to the red Sea and that Israel saw the Aegyptians dead on the Sea shore the Waters covering the Chariots the Horsemen and all the Host of Pharaoh that came into the Sea after them that there remained not so much as one of them the Children of Israel walking upon dry Land in the midst of the Sea the Waters being a wall to them on the right hand and on the left Exod. 14.28 29. Was it not a great priviledg for Noah to sit secure in the Ark above the Waters that covered the tops of the highest Mountains at the same time when the whole World of the Ungodly were drowned and buried in the Flood what then may we conceive the happiness of the Saints will be when they shall be advanced to the heigth of heavenly glory when their Enemies shall be overwhelmed with the depths of shame and misery what encouragement may this be to us to raise our hearts Heaven-ward and to have our affections set on things above while the hearts of Worldlings are rooted in the Earth that at the same time when their end shall be destruction we may be put into the possession of eternal glory should not we be as unwilling now to have fellowship with them in their unfruitful works of darkness as we are desirous to be in Heaven when they shall be cast into Hell fire IV. It shall be at a time when all the labours sorrows and sufferings of the Saints shall be at an end Write saith a Voice from Heaven to St. John Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their Works do follow them Rev. 14.13 They shall then be eased from the toilesome and troublesome travels of this Life being translated from this worlds vanity into Heavens felicity where shall be neither labour in action nor pain in passion where they shall be neither annoyed with pinching cold nor parching heat and as sleep is a resting and refreshing to our weak frail and weary bodies so our bodies being laid down in the bed of our Graves they shall rest and be free from all sickness and sorrow weakness weariness and all work and whatsoever else are fruits and effects yea punishments of sin and attendants of this life yea the Saints after they have wearied themselves in striving against sin in subduing corruption after they have spent themselves in the work of the Lord and after the Enemies to piety have tyred out themselves with malice scoffs reproaches slaunders persecutions they shall rest from all their labours and sufferings in perfect peace and blessedness and the fruit comfort and reward of their works shall follow them and abide with them for ever They shall then arrive at a safe harbour after a dangerous passage through Shelves Storms Rocks and Pirates which then shall be so much the more welcome to them Read St. Pauls Catalogue 2 Cor. 11.23 And think how sweet Heaven will be to one that hath had such a hard passage thither Through labours more abundant stripes above measure many prisons chains fetters whippings scourgings shipwracks deaths journeyings perills of Waters Robberies by his own Countrey-men by the Heathen True it is he gives in a large bill of his charges as it were but when he cometh to speak of his wages he makes nothing of his labours and sufferings in comparison of the reward 2 Cor. 4.17 For these light and momentany afflictions do work out for us an exceeding eternal weight of glory The highest Mountain in the World is very light in comparison of the whole Earth even so are the greatest afflictions of the greatest sufferers in comparison of the glory of Heaven It is said of Isachar Gen. 49.15 That he saw that rest was good and that the Land was pleasant therefore he put his shoulders to labour and became servant to Tribute So I may say the rest and glory of the Saints is good but the Land that brings forth this rest will be best and most pleasant to them after all their labours and sufferings are fully ended then to receive this glorious rest will be most sweet unto them and most seasonable Were Heaven nothing else but an Haven of rest we know how welcome the one is to a Sea sick weather-beaten Traveller and by that we may conceive how welcome the other will be to a Soul that hath been long tossed in the Waves of this troublesom World sick of its own sinful imaginations and tyred out with outward temptations the happiest Soul that ever hath sailed over this Euripus in the best Ship in the most healthful body that ever was never had so calm a passage saith a good Divine but that it hath had cause enough often to wish it self on shoar Sa. Ward on the life of faith in death Is there any Palace or Tower here so high or strong that can keep diseases from the body or cares sorrows fears or Satan's assaults from the Soul were there but such an Island as some have dreamed of here on earth that might free mens bodies or minds from disquiet but for the time of this life how would people strive to dwell there Certainly in this heavenly Countrey there shall be perfect tranquillity to all the Inhabitants thereof Oh how will it ravish the hearts of the Saints when they have finished their course and are come to the end of their race oh how sweet will Heaven and how glorious will the Crown of Immortality be to them in the end If Seamen when they have been many moneths upon the Sea where they have encountred with many dreadful storms and boystrous tempests and have been often in danger of drowning and shipwracks when they shall at last descry but a Creek of Land do leap for joy and cry out Oh Land land we are nigh to such a Coast where we would be then much more those that have run
been exercised in extending themselves and mercy to the poor be for ever bound by the ingratitude of death shall those knees which have bowed with such willing reverence be so held down by the violence of mortality that they can never rise up again Where are then thy tears O David if thine eyes shall not enjoy the happiness of their own sorrow What then O Job is become of thy faith and patience if thy body be now as much without hope as before it was without rest Where are then O Esaias thy victorious sufferings if after the ignorant fury of the saw and schism of thy body thy body suffer a wider disordation from thy soul for tedious eternity Where are thy travels then O Paul if after thy Christian Geography and Conquest of Paganism thou art for ever confin'd to the dull peace of a Grave No the Almighty which hath made man with wisdom of Art will neither lose his glory nor his work but as he made the greater Heaven for his Angels so made he the less and mortal Heaven of Man's Body as I may so speak for his Soul and will have it eternal as his Soul SECT VII THere is more excellency of workmanship in the Soul but more variety in the Body the Soul doth more truly express God the Body more easily the Soul judgeth best but the Body first and though the eyes of the Soul do behold the work of God more clearly yet doth the eye of the Body most properly Nay should not the Body be raised to life and Heaven how great a part of Heaven and that life would be lost whiles not enjoyed and be as unnecessary as it is wonderful God hath prepared joys for the Saints which the eyes have not seen nor the ears heard but which the eye shall see and the ear shall hear and without the pleasure of a trance for ever possess as much without error as without measure such honour will the Creator of our Bodies do to the Bodies of all his Saints They shall acknowledge Corruption yet overcome it they may in their journey be the Guests of the Grave but at last they shall be the Inhabitants of Heaven Yet the Lord cannot hereafter honour Humane flesh by raising it as he hath already by assuming it it was before his Servant now his Companion that was a resurrection of the flesh when it was raised unto God but the only resurrection of our flesh is when it is raised unto the Soul At the last day of Judgement though there be no Marriage of sexes yet there shall be of parts when Souls shall be united to Bodies in so entire and so inexorable a Matrimony that it shall admit no hope nor fear of a divorce nor need we fear in the jealousie of this Match the Ignoble Parentage of the flesh since what it wanteth by Birth is supplied by Dowry and flesh now is become such refined earth being made wonderful in shape and office that the Soul may be thought scarce more noble but that it seems more reserved by being invisible this mortal body shall put on immortality this Body sown in corruption shall be raised in incorruption it shall not only be freed from death but also from corruption yea and whatsoever savoureth of mortality or the least decay And notwithstanding these principles of earth fall into such an heap of dust that they are with as much difficulty to be seen as numbred yet thus divided among themselves retaining still though not an appetite yet an obedience to a resurrection Nature hath not lost this and God will supply that and as easily unite as distinguish each dust to yield to this is the Creed of the Creed If any mans faith in the assent to this mystery be as weak as his reason he may help both his faith and his reason by sense by which he shall be either convinced or perswaded If you will be but as hardy as Antiquity you may propose to your selves the solemn Poetry of the Phoenix a Creature rarer then the Resurrection though not so admirable in whose ashes you may find the fire of life expecting but to be fann'd to the resurrection of a flame as if this Creature by a riddle of Fate would by a fire both perish and revive But without the courtesie of supposition you may in earnest behold the Eagle shoot forth new quills wherewith may be written and testified his endeavor of immortality thus doth God teach Nature how to teach us mysteries and without the magical learning of the language of Birds to understand without their voice their secret instruction But perhaps you will think that to discern this truth in the nature of Eagles would require a sight as sharp as the Eagles Remove then your eyes from the Fowls of the Air but to the Trees whereon they nest and with a negligent view you may observe how after the nakedness and death of Winter they bud forth afresh into life and beauty yet why should we in the sloth of this easie contemplation study so broad an object let our eye with more grateful industry confine it self with the small seed of corn and at least take the pains to see the pains of the Husbandman and shall we not admire at his delightful Arithmatick of nature to behold a seed whose hope seems as small as it self by being cast away to be found by destruction to receive increase from the same furrow to take both a Burial and a Birth He that shall now see a little drop of man's seed in a glass and a lump of earth together would think the one as unlikely to become a man as the other and yet we see how miraculous and curious a work the Lord makes every day of the principle of seed which made David cry out I am fearfully and wonderfully made Psal 139. and he can easily restore our Bodies out of a praeexistent something which may confute the erronious opinion of the Sadduces who denied the resurrection Matth. 22.23 of the Athenian Philosophers who derided it Acts 17.18 holding the Pythagorean transmigration of Himeneus and Philetus who said the resurrection was past 2 Tim. 2.18 and lastly of all those Atheists and Epicures Isai 22.13 that cry out and say Mors ultima linea rerum SECT VIII BUt now the Soul will have its old Companion again for should the Soul for ever want the Body it should want both perfection and wonder Is not the Soul most perfect when it is most noble is it not most noble when it is most bountiful and is it not most bountiful when it gives life to the dead Is it not likewise most full of wonder when it is thus perfect in that which is imperfect when it mixeth with corruption and yet is incorruptible when it is most burthened and yet is most variously active Thus by this necessary inclination of the Soul the Resurrection is as natural in respect of the union as it is above Nature in respect of
the manner But now see the curious zeal of the Soul it will not only have a Body again but in a precise society it will have only its own again not any other new created Bodies but the same numerical and substantial Bodies shall rise again and be re-united to their proper Souls 1 Cor. 15.53 54. Phil. 3.21 Job 19.26 27. St. Paul saith This corruptible shall put on incorruption and Christ shall change our vile Bodies And Job saith in his flesh he should see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me There may be some general alteration in respect of their stature deformities superfluities c. to a glorified perfection but still it shall remain the same essential Body and good reason there is for it 1. The justice of God requireth that the same Body which hath been instrumental in the actions of righteousness or unrighteousness should be rewarded or punished The Godly must receive their rewards according to what good they have done in these Bodies 2 Cor. 5.10 It were injustice that this flesh should be killed and that should be crowned that the same Body in which we served God wherein God was glorified Absurdum Deo indignum ut haec caro lanietur illa vero coronetur ut corpora quae in via sacta fuerint membra Christi in patria aliis suffectis in eorum locum arcerentur Tertul. de Resurrect cap. 56. which suffered for God and was for Christ exposed to all the injuries indignities and torments of wicked Persecutors should be eternally laid up in the dust and another Body should be created to receive the reward due to the Body in the grave 2. Because if God should not raise the very same Bodies of his People in which they lived and served God in their generation then God shall not deal so honourably with the dead Saints as with those that shall be found alive at Christ's coming for their very same Bodies shall be delivered from the bondage of mortality and corruption into incorruption and immortality 3. Because Christ who is the pattern of the resurrection did not rise in another Body but in that in which he was fastened to the Cross in which also after his death appeared the prints of the nails in his hands and the holes in his side John 20.27 Therefore Christ after his resurrection for the cure of Thomas his unbelief whose faith lay in his fingers bids him put his finger into his hands and side and not be faithless but believing It seems those scars remained in Christ's Body after his resurrection Vulnerum signa virtutum insignia Aquinas else how could Thomas see and feel them as he is willed to do But these scars were no blemishes in his Body then they were no signs of defect but ensigns of Victory For as that worthy and renowned Captain Caius Marius being on a time accused of Treason in the Senate tore his clothes and shewed his wounds and scars and slashes he had received in the Wars in the service and for the safety of his Country saying Quid opus est Verbis Vulnera clamant What need is there of my Words my Wounds cry loud enough So Christ might shew his pierced Side goared Hands and Feet not only to shew that it was the very same organical Body of his that was crucified on the Cross but also to shew his love to his People and what he did and suffered for them And when the eleven Disciples were gathered together at Jerusalem Jesus appeared to them and they being affrighted supposing they had seen a Spirit he said unto them Why are ye troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts Behold my hands and my feet it is I my self a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me to have Luke 24.39 40. A Spirit hath not parts members and dimensions as I have therefore you may be sure being infallibly taught by your sense that it is my very Body which you see in which I long conversed with you suffered and was buried which is now truly risen again Whence as Theodoret saith he proveth it was his true Body that was crucified on the Cross that was now raised from the dead 4. Should not the Saints rise with the same Bodies it were no resurrection but a new creation Moreover the same Souls do rise unto Grace from the death of Sin to the life of Righteousness which is called in Scripture the first Resurrection Rev. 20.6 therefore the same Body shall rise unto Glory in the second Resurrection 5 Consider that Death in Scripture is called a Sleep a Dream and the Resurrection an awaking from Sleep Psalm 17. ult therefore as the same Body that lies down to sleep at night awaketh in the morning so the same Body that lies down to sleep in the dust shall awake and rise again in the morning of the Resurrection Hence we see that the Soul will have its own numerical Body again for the preserving of such numerical identity there shall be wonderfully restored the substantial union which is but formally distinguished from the parts united there shall be restored a personality and lastly the native temperament which doth contain the individuating dispositions whereby such a matter hath a peculiar appetite to such a form which matter by vertue of such inclination remains as formerly the same though it may be varied by extension as when the Infant shall be raised into a Man the person shall be enlarged but not multiplied Object But that of the Apostle may be objected who saith That flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 15.50 Resp St. Paul speaks of corruptible qualities of flesh and blood not of the substance of it Identitas formae in quacunque materia consistit q. ex identitate formae consequitur identitas materiae cum materia nullam per se habeat actualitatem sed esse suum accipit à forma Numerica identitas non continetur in sola identitate primae materiae nudae sed etiam identitate corporis humani Durand sent 4. distinct 44. plura de resurrectione Vide Synops purior theol disput de resurrect as is manifest in the last clause of the verse neither doth corruption inherit incorruption But flesh and blood by the Almighty power of God may be without corruption as the Body of Christ was after his Resurrection incorruptible immortal and spiritual not converted into a spirit but to the distinction of a living body that must be maintained by food Luke 24.39 This then may confute those that deny the identical resurrection of the Body and affirm that our Bodies at the resurrection must be aerial of a more subtil nature not consisting of flesh and members such were divers of the Anabaptists of Germany and Socinus with his Followers who call into question this Article of our Creed Credo resurrectionem carnis I
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
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
of it and so for some that are in affliction 't is possible for them to miss of Heaven yet 't is not their affliction that deprives them of it the good or evil use of either is that which makes all of us in either to be happy or unhappy Let it therefore prepare us for the constant and patient bearing of afflictions whensoever they shall come upon us especially if they shall come upon us for the testimony of the Gospel and for righteousness sake for if the crown of glory belong to any that suffer then certainly to those sufferers that our Saviour speaks of Matth. 5.10 Those that suffer for righteousness sake they of all other are blessed and to them belongeth the Kingdom of Heaven yea if in Heaven there be degrees of glory as we may perswade our selves there be we may withall perswade our selves that the chiefest mansions are for such they that most partake with Christ in his sufferings they shall most share with him in glory the faireâ—â— crowns of glory that Heaven hath to give shalâ— be set upon the Heads of Martyrs first the Crown of Martyrdom and then a Crown of Glory as God hath called them to their sufferings so doubtless he will strengthen them in their sufferings and crown them for their sufferings may they therefore stand fast unto the end and bear all their troubles and tribulations patiently constantly joyfully Patienter propter Deum confidenter propter auxilium gaudenter propter praemium patiently for God's sake because he hath called them to it constantly for his assistance sake because he will aid them in it joyfully for the rewards sake because he will crown them for it Upon this account it was that the Apostle commendeth the Hebrews that they passed thorow all manner of afflictions and cleaved fast to the Gospel and therefore bids them call to remembrance the former dayes in which after they were illuminated they endured a great fight of afflictions partly saith he while ye were made a gazing-stock both by reproaches and afflictions and partly while ye became companions of them that were so used for ye had compassion of me in my bonds and took joyfully the spoilinâ— of your goods knowing in your selves that ye haâ— in heaven a better and an enduring substance Hebr. 10.32 33 34. Have any of us then received the beginning the earnest the first-fruits of eternal life then let it be far from us to think of leaving all these rich hopes of eternity for fear of the sharpest temporary sufferings and let me add that afflictions are so far from keeping us from Heaven as they be rather a way to bring us to Heaven We must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God Act. 14.22 Certainly many persons had never come to Heaven if God had not brought them to his Kingdom this way CHAP. XXXII An Exhortation to Christians to believe the promise of God touching their salvation and so to lay claim to it 1. NOw seeing God will hereafter crown his people with glory then labour O Christian Reader in the first place to believe the promise of God touching the salvation of thy soul labour to have a full assurance of faith and a full affiance in God that he will save thee A man takes it ill if he be not believed on his Word and promise and so doth the faithful God who is truth it self and cannot lye The sum of that which every faithful soul professeth to believe in the Creed is as much as if he should say I believe that God is my God and Father by the mediation of Jesus Christ through the sanctification of the Holy-ghost whereby he hath made me a member of his Catholick Church which is the Communion and Society of his Saints to which and to all the members thereof and so namely to me he will give remission of sins and an happy resurrection of the body to be partaker with the soul of life eternal This was David's faith I believed to see the goodness of God in the Land of the living Psal 27.13 And Fulgentius saith it was not proper onely to David to say so for saith he the just man living by faith saith boldly I believe to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living S. August speaks well to this purpose God hath promised thee O man that thou shalt live for ever dost thou not believe it that which he hath already done for thee is a greater matter than that which he hath promised thee Therefore let us labour to get an assured trust in God and his promise that when he that is our life shall appear we also may appear with him in glory which glory though we know it not yet we know that God hath given us the interest and title of it already and by faith do stand assured through the Spirit that he will in due time give us the full sight and fruition of it which none can know but they that have it revealed to them from God but God revealeth it by the Holy Ghost to every one that believeth in his promise and hopeth for his salvation therefore let no faithful soul whom God hath called into Communion with himself and to the hope of everlastingly life stand any longer in doubt of that salvation which God hath promised him 2. When once thou dost believe the promise of God touching the salvation of thy soul then mayest thou claim Heaven as thine own by a due debt God hath made himself a debtor to his people by promise faithful promise makes due debt the debt in that case ariseth not from any desert of him to whom the promise is made but only the word of him that promiseth We must therefore distinguish between debt of desert and debt of promise for debt of desert ariseth out of the nature and condition of the work it self which obligeth him to whose use and service it is done but debt of promise ariseth not from the thing that is done or yielded to another but onely from the promise it self whereby a man hath bound himself As August well observeth that it is one thing to say to a man Thou art a debtor to me because I have given to thee another thing to say Thou art a debtor to me because thou hast promised me debt of promise moveth the promiser for his own sake though there be nothing in the party to whom he hath made promise that may excite or cause him to perform his promise Now it is an act of justice in God to perform his promise made to his Children to bring them to Heaven and to bestow eternal life upon them for it is the justice of God that what is promised be paid or performed hereupon saith August we say not unto God Repay that which thou hast received but pay that which thou hast promised let us hold him therefore a most faithful debtor because we have him a most merciful promiser the promise was
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
must be swallowed up of life this corruptible must put on incorruption this mortal must put on immortality then and not before shall the surpassing glory of the Saints appear as Christ saith we must not put new wine into old bottles nor patch an old garment with a piece of new cloth thus Christ will not put the soul-ravishing joys of Heaven into these old bottles nor will he patch up these fading perishing Bodies with the glory of Angels Reas 5. That he might quicken their desires after their glory that our hearts may pant after those Water-brooks those Rivers of Pleasure that we may cry out with Monica the Mother of St. Augustine in her ravishing contemplation of Heaven volemus in Coelum volemus in Coelum let us fly let us fly into Heaven or as Austin himseâ—f fontem vitae sitio esurio I thirst I greedily long after the fountain of life CHAP. VII Sect. 1. ALbeit the unspeakable glory of Believers be for the present hidden yet in due time it shall be revealed Colos 3.4 When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in glory Before Christ shall appear in the brightness of his glory we shall not but when the time of his appearing in glory shall come then shall all the Saints manifestly appear with him Quest Here it may be demanded What is the glory that shall be revealed Resp 1. The glory of God himself God will manifest and display his glory before them we shall see God as fully and clearly as we are capable by God's immediate communication of himself to us without any external means 1 Cor. 15.24 God will be all and in all that is God the Father Son Holy Ghost will then reign immediately over his Church by himself without any outward means and will fill his Church with his own light life love and glory It is a disputed case whether we shall see God with our bodily eyes it is answered that the Essence of God being purely spiritual cannot be seen with bodily eyes and God is styled by the Apostle absolutely invisible Again the Angels behold the glory of God and the Souls of the Saints now in Heaven see him but have not eyes therefore the sight of God is rather an act of the mind then of the Body intellectual knowledg not corporeal light But though we shall not with our eyes see the Divine Essence yet the Divine Essence will abundantly manifest it self in the Humane Nature of Christ now glorified to our eyes they shall see him God in him his Attributes in him in this life the Ordinances are a Glass to give us the sight of God in Heaven the Humane Nature of Christ is a Glass to give our bodily eyes the sight of God 2. The glory of Christ shall be revealed his glory as Head of the Church as Saviour of the Body to which he is united his glory as Judge of the World shall be revealed it is said of him that he shall appear in glory Colos 3.4 and that he shall come in his own glory and in the glory of his Father and in the glory of his holy Angels Luke 9.26 and his appearing to judge the World is called a glorious appearing Tit. 2.13 His first appearing was mean the second shall be glorious SECT II. THe Reasons that the appearing of Christ shall be glorious are these 1. Because God hath appointed Christ to judge the World therefore Christ will in the latter day appear gloriously whom God appointed to be the Saviour of the World him hath God appointed to judge the World John 5.22 Christ is God's Delegate to judge the World God will have his Judge to appear in glory Earthly Kings will have their itinerary Judges to appear in pomp and to judge Malefactors they appear both in terror and honour how do all the Gentry give their attendance how are they attended with Spear-men and the Trumpets sounding before them and are invested with Robes of honour Thus God will have his Judge of all the World to appear in glory upon his Tribunal and therefore chargeth all the Angels of Heaven to attend his glorious Majesty chargeth the Arch-angels to sound the Trump to awaken the sleepy Prisoners in the Grave the dark Prison of Death think ye what a glorious appearance it will be If Peter was amazed at Christ upon Mount Tabor when he saw but a glimpse of his glory at the Transfiguration what appearance will that be when Christ shall come in the brightness of his glory and all the Angels and Saints with him cloathed in brightness of glory 2. Because Christ will be glorious before those that did dishonour him Christ did appear to men in the form of a Servant then he was a despised a rejected Christ then was he crowned with a Crown of Thorns and had no better Sceptre then a Reed then was he a reviled a buffeted Christ the malicious Jews did most contumeliously spit on his face and every Sinner would contradict oppose and persecute him then was he a crucified Christ a Man of sorrows and of shame every one looked upon him as a despised Man none would own him for the Son of God yea the Jews did accuse him for Blasphemy for telling them that he was the Son of God therefore Christ will appear in glory one day to the horror and terror of these men that did thus blasphemously abuse him that was King of Kings that did reject him that came to save them that so Christ might be glorified before them and upon them in taking vengeance on their Souls and Bodies then those that did mock at him put a Crown of Thorns on his head a Reed in his hand shall see he was Heir of a better Crown then the Crowns of the greatest Kings and Emperors then they that did contumeliously spit upon and buffet him in scorn shall see they did this to one whom the Angels reverence he will make Kings to throw down their Crowns and Scepters to his feet then those that scorned and despised him shall see that verily he is the Son of God 3. Because glory is terrible the more glorious Christ appears at the last day the more terror will be upon the wicked therefore the glorious appearing of Christ to judge the World is called the terror of the Lord 2 Cor. 6.11 If the sight of one Angel in glory be terrible what will the sight of Christ be who will appear ten thousand times more glorious then all the Angels be if godly men that had good consciences were so horribly affrighted at the appearance of an Angel in lesser glory how will wicked men that have accusing consciences be afraid at the beholding Christ's glorious appearance if holy men were so amazed at good tidings because brought to them by a glorious Messenger how will wicked men be amazed to hear the sentence of condemnation pronounced against them by the Lord of glory To see God in Christ is the
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
him that sent me that every one that seeth the Son and believeth in him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day 2. Christ hath promised it Hosea 13.14 I will ransome them from the power of the grave I will redeem them from death O Death I will be thy plagues O grave I will be thy destruction John 6.54 Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day Yea Christ hath considered it by his last will and testament John 17.22 24. 3. It is evident by the Saints profession Job confesseth thus much plainly Job 19.25 I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my flesh worms destroy this body yet shall I see God in my flesh whom I myself shall see mine eyes shall behold and no other for me though my reins be consumed within me Our Saviour who called himself the resurrection and the life refutes the Sadduces and confirms the doctrine of the Pharisees as to that opinion producing a place out of the Law of Moses and using it as an argument for the proof thereof As touching the resurrection of the dead have ye not read that which was spoken to you by God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living Matth. 22.32 with the weight of which argument he astonished the multitude and silenced the Sadduces And St. Paul also asserteth the doctrine of the resurrection being brought before the Councel the one part whereof were Sadduces the other Pharisees one denying the other asserting the resurrection Acts 23.6 SECT II. I Shall now prove the resurrection of the Saints bodies by arguments 1. Else why should the Saints in all ages crucifie themselves to the World suffer afflictions for faith in and hope of the resurrection 1 Cor. 15.19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable for the wicked esteem the godly as the most miserable men in the World and had they only hope of the things of this life they were then most miserable forasmuch as these temporal pleasures are not a sufficient reward of temporal afflictions 2. The bodies of the just are instruments and companions in the work of holiness therefore also in the reward of them in glory now if we be dead with Christ we also believe that we shall live with him Rom. 6.8 without this the bodies of the just were of all mens most miserable 3. If the bodies of the wicked shall rise again to receive the reward of condemnation then by the same rule must the bodies of the Saints rise to receive the reward of life and salvation Christ saith that the hour is coming when all that are in their graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation John 5.28 29. if it were not so then God should delight or exceed in justice more then in mercy 4. Because God is able to raise them out of their graves again As the Lord by the resurrection of dry bones revived the dead hope of Israel Ezek. 37.10 11 12. and made them to know that he would open their graves and cause them to come out of their graves and bring them into the Land of Israel so when the bodies of the Saints go down to the dust and their bones are dried there and their hope seems to be lost yet then doth their flesh rest in hope for God will not leave them in the grave nor suffer his holy ones always to see corruption Psal 16.9 10. 5. Otherwise the second Adam could not repair the loss of the first Adam and Christ were not so strong to save as Adam was to destroy for as in Adam all die even so in Christ all shall be made alive 1 Cor. 15.21 22. Adam was the Author of Death's strength and Christ of Death's resurrection 6. Christ is an eternal King and hath an everlasting Kingdom which cannot be unless his Subjects also be eternal for these are relatives and do sese mutuo ponere tollere Also his covenant is everlasting and that not with the dead but with the living sc such as live in soul Matth. 22.32 and shall at the end of the World live eternally both in soul and body and unless we make Christ's body a monster we must not seperate the head from the members which we shall do if we deny the resurrection of the just Luke 14.14 7. If we deny the resurrection of the Saints bodies we deny Christ to be risen upon which many absurdities gross heresies and all manner of impieties will ensue 1 Cor. 15. from 13. ad 19. verse If there be no resurrection of the dead then is Christ not risen and if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain yea and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ whom he raised not up if the dead rise not SECT III. BUt Christ is risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept 1 Cor. 15.20 let us therefore consider the personal types or figures of our Saviour's resurrection 1. Adam was a type of Christ among other things in this viz. that as he slept in the Garden so Christ died on the Cross and was buried in a Garden When Adam descended into a sleep there was a resurrection of his Rib which awaked into a Woman Adam's sleeping was a type of Christ's suffering and dying and his awaking of Christ's rising again yea this resurrection of the second Adam doth well resemble the nativity of the first Adam for in Genesis Chap. 2. you shall find Adam taken out of the ground and fashioned out of the dust of the earth so was it with our blessed Saviour at his resurrection he was as I may speak born again of the earth rose out of the dust of death the grave was in travail with him and Death it self was compelled to bring forth the Lord of life and so he is the first-born of the dead Colos 1.18 But see here the malice of the Jews towards our blessed Saviour which ended not upon the Cross but as they began with him in his cradle so they persecute him to his grave where as though they had not laid him up safe enough they invent bonds beyond death they watch and seal him up in the grave as if they could have held in him who had the keys of Hell and death but for all the great stone which they had brought with much heaving no doubt to lay upon the mouth of the grave for all their seal set upon the stone and a diligent watch set to
to prison for them and there abideth but when he cometh out again with a general discharge so that he dares bid defiance to all Bailiffs and Serjeants whatsoever or whosoever can pretend any thing to say to him thus much Christ declared to the World by his rising from the dead for though he discharged our debt by dying yet we have our acquittance by his rising again 1 Pet. 3.21 Rom. 4.25 SECT V. WIll ye consider the wonder of the resurrection as well as the change do but imagine that in the dawning birth of the morning you saw the revelation of a grave emulating the morning a Coarse rising with more comfort and glory then the Sun a winding-sheet falling away like an empty cloud the feet and the hands striving which shall first recover motion the hands helping to raise the body and the feet helping to bear the body and the hands the tongue so eloquent that it can tell you it can speak again the ears so pure that they can perceive the dull silence of the grave the eyes looking forth of their tombs as if they were glad to see their own resurrection Would you not be affrighted as well as instructed at the Divine power would you not be turn'd into very Coarses to see this living Coarse would you not be struck as pale as the very winding-sheet you lookt upon But when all this shall be done as well in mercy as in majesty as well to raise thee to an hope of eternal life as to strike thee with a remembrance of a temporal death as well to make thee like unto God as to make thee know that thou art not like him how then wilt thou dissolve into compassion as if thou wouldst hasten to the like resurrection how wilt thou then kiss those hands which before thou fearedst and then stedfastly examine and adore the resurrection of that Body which is the hope and cause of the resurrection of our Bodies for therefore did he raise himself that he might raise us Christ rose not as a private but as a publick Person as a Burgess in a Parliament representeth the whole Body of the Incorporation for which he is chosen so Christ as our Head represents the Persons of all them that are Heirs of Salvation Ephes 2.6 Christ as in his Passion so in his Resurrection sustained the Persons of the Elect and so we in him as in Capite rise with him St. Paul tells us that Christ standing in our stead representeth our persons Rom. 5.18 19. this appeareth in that he rose not alone but many bodies of the Saints rose with him and attended him Matth. 27.52 53. to shew that the vertue of him our Head diffused and extended it self unto all the Members of the Church his Body and his rising first shewed him to be the first-fruits of them that slept Christ rose by his own power and not as we by a borrowed power from Christ I have power to lay down my life saith he and power to take it up again John 10. â—8 it was prophesied of him Psal 110. ult therefore shall he lift up the head As in his Passion when he suffered he bowed down his head and gave up the ghost with a loud voice to note that his sufferings were voluntary John 19.30 so in his Resurrection he is said to lift up the head himself to note that he had life in himself and that it was impossible he should be holden under death who was the Lord of life SECT VI. NOw he that could raise up his own Body by his Divine power can much more raise up our Bodies also he it is that shall quicken our mortal Bodies Rom. 8.11 a privatione ad habitum non datur regressus and therefore however the Angels are instruments in respect of some antecedent and consequent cause of the Resurrection Matth. 24.31 yet the immediate cause is God alone Christ himself in respect of his Humane nature being excluded for howbeit the Resurrection is ascribed to his Person yet only according to his Divine nature yet in the communion of both natures we acknowledg Christum agere quod suum est verbo operante quod verbi est carne exequente quod carnis est Yet I grant as in the raising up Lazarus and the Widows Son of Naim Luke 7.14 so in the general resurrection Christ's Humane nature shall perform what belongs to it that is give some evident sign of his coming to Judgment which shall be as an instrument of his Divine power for the raising up of the dead which shall have its instrumental force as that voice in raising the Widows Son of Naim Luke 7.14 and that voice in raising Lazarus John 11.43 44. And this sign is exprest diversly in Scripture John 5.28 it is said all that are in the graves shall hear his voice In Matth. 24.31 He shall send his Angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his Elect from the four winds from the one end of Heaven to the other And St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 15.52 The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed And the same Apostle saith 1 Thes 4.16 The Lord shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the voice of the Arch-angel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first By all which places I suppose may be gathered that the voice of Christ shall be used at that day as an instrument to awake all that sleep in the dust But what shall we rise too and shall this dust be taken up and breathed on shall every man by this second Adam be made as wonderful as the first Adam Beloved shall we want faith when God wanteth not power or shall we think it harder to unite the Body then to make it he that made us etantillo semine shall he not be able to raise us etantillo pulvere It were an impious discourtesie to deny that to God which God denied not to his own Servant Did not the Widow of Sareptah thus receive a Son by Elias who was neither the Father nor the God nay did not his Servant do more for the Shunamite to whom he promised a Son before he was conceived and restored him after he was dead nay did not the bones of this Elias give life to one that was as dead as themselves teaching him to confess the mercy of a grave It is an high act of mercy of the living God to give life to the dead yet by a greater mercy he makes it an act of justice freely binding himself to admit our boldness not so much to request as to claim a resurrection for shall the Bodies of the Saints be more remembred by their tombs then their labours or shall they be worse oppressed by death then they were by their torments shall those eyes that did still watch or mourn for ever want respect as much as sight shall those hands that have
more set forth the thankfulness of the Labourer and these the magnificence of the Lord. If you will take the words of the Rabbins whom in story of custom we have no more cause to distrust then to feign they will tell you when the Husbandman carried up those Fruits to the holy City he had a Bull went before him whose horns were guilded and an Olive-garland upon his head this was the picture of his Master's affection and state as if by the impetuous Beast he would express the courage of his joy by guilded horns the riches of his plenty and by the Olive-garland the Crown of peace Behold the displayed Herauldry of his happiness and that it might be increased by applauses a Pipe played before him to charge all to take notice of it until they came to the Mountain of the Lord. Shall not these first-fruits be likewise paid at our great resurrection shall they not be brought to our heavenly Jerusalem the City of the great King shall they not have Angels go before them shall there not likewise be Crowns and shall they not likewise be ushered by the voice of a Trumpet It was the sound that the Jews used at their braver Funerals and may it not then fitly be used when they shall be awaked from their Tombs Till Christ was risen those that were buried were dead but if we once but name him the first-fruits of them that rise let us no more say that they are dead but that they sleep yet all before the resurrection shall not sleep some instead of rising shall be only new dressed by being cloathed with incorruption and so have rather a change of rayment then of life they shall not put off their bodies but their mortality and be made like unto Christ both in the truth of the resurrection and of glory The Eutychian shall then confess that the two natures in Christ are not mixed though joyned and that his Humanity though exalted is not changed the Pythagorean shall then recover the possession and acquaintance of his vagabond Soul the Sadduce shall then rise in that body in which he denied the resurrection of the body and with the eyes of his body see the errour of his Soul the Vbiquitary shall then see that Christ's body may be seen and it shall certainly prove that it is not everywhere by being not in the same grave whence it was risen that is in respect of his corporal presence for otherwise as he is God he was there and in all other places of the World CHAP. XVI SECT I. Of the glory of the Bodies of the Saints in Heaven and first of the beauty and clarity of glorified Bodies BUt now to speak more particularly of the glory of the Body the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 15.43 the Body is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory that which is here called glory is by Divines generally termed clarity and this no way varying from the sense of the Apostle for vers 41 42. he saith that the glories of the Saints Bodies in Heaven at the general resurrection shall be different and divers one exceeding another in clarity as one Star differs from another in glory so shall the resurrection of the dead be St. Paul saith in Phil. 3.21 Christ shall change our vile bodies and fashion them like unto his glorious body This is very admirable that a poor sinful Creature should be so changed transformed exalted as to be like the Son of God in glory Our Bodies now are but as loathsome Carcasses what a vile Body had Job when he sate upon the Dunghil what a vile Body had Lazarus when he lay at the Rich Man's gate full of sores When Children are young break out in the face in hands and body there is no beauty in them so sin breaks out in these mortal Bodies and makes them ugly in God's eyes there are many corporal imperfections in mens Bodies now but when Christ shall appear then our Bodies shall be as his Body beautiful and glorious Tradition upheld by reason teacheth us that he was beautiful without art that the Holy Ghost who formed his Body in the Virgins Womb would have it adorned with comliness he consecrated beauty in his Person when he took our nature upon him though he assumed the pain of sin he would not assume the ugliness thereof and as there was no ignorance in his Soul so was there no deformity in his Body His very types in the Old Testament were all comely David and Solomon the one of which represented his Victories the other his Triumphs were both of them famous for their beauty the Angels took upon them his visage when they treated with the Prophets while they spoke in his name they would appear in his form Jacob had the honour to see him when he wrestled with him before the break of day the three Children that were thrown into the fiery Furnace saw him in the midst of the flames But how gloriously did the face of Christ shine at his Transfiguration Christ's face did shine upon Earth and now in Heaven doth shine like the Sun And our Saviour intimateth that the Righteous shall shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Matth. 13.43 Lazarus his Body shall be a beautiful Body he shall have no imperfection Sampson shall then have his eyes which the Philistines pulled out Mephibosheth shall not be lame in Heaven there shall be no imperfection in a glorified Body The Scripture mentioneth some Persons eminent for beauty as David Joseph and especially Absalom who though he had a deformed Soul yet for his out-side was without blemish and had no peer among those many thousands of Israel There was none to be so much praised for beauty as Absalom for from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him 2 Sam. 14.25 But the most exquisite earthly beauty is but skin-deep and but like the painting of a rotten post it is but a fresh colour laid on mortality the foundation of it is weak and crasie and therefore it soon fadeth but he that is like to Christ in holiness shall be like to him in heavenly beauty and glory the beauty of glorified Bodies shall be a shining beauty The expression of Divines is thus As Iron when it is heated in the Fire we cannot see the Iron for the Fire it appears nothing else but fiery so in Heaven we shall not be able to see the Body for the glory thereof and as the Air is now fully possessed with the light so shall our Bodies be fully possessed with glory and the Soul full of the light of glory shall be diffused thorow the whole Body Lessius de summo bono lib. 3. cap 5. and all the parts of it according to the opinion of the Learned therefore it behooveth that the whole Body be resplendent according to the dignity of the Soul inhabiting it Yea it is conceived that the glory of the Soul
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
us Gal. 6. that he that soweth to the Spirit shall reap life everlasting When the Husbandman soweth his seed in the Earth the seed dieth and is dissolved in the ground there it lies hid he sees no more seed till the harvest cometh but then he reapeth many Bushels for one so he that soweth to the spirit worketh in the strength of those graces shall reap life everlasting he shall have no use of those graces in the life to come but reap the fruit of it even life eternal when the Saints come to possess Heaven as a portion cast out by God's own lot for them from all eternity they shall for ever enjoy the fruit of their piety and the end of their Faith and Hope Oh how sweet shall the remembrance of their work of faith and labour of love and patience of Hope be to all eternity CHAP. XXVII Of the Adjuncts of the glory of Heaven HAving spoken of the Circumstances and substance of the glory of the Saints in Heaven in the next place I shall treat of the adjuncts thereof 1. The glorious state of the Sons of God is a state of liberty Rom. 8.21 I will shew in what respects it is a state of liberty I. A liberty from all subjection Natural Servile Magistratical in this state of liberty all yokes shall be broken to pieces Fathers shall no more exercise their paternal authority and Sons shall not be under their command men shall be no more servants to men the highest Potentates shall no more exercise authority over men as it is said of Marriage They shall neither marry nor be given in marriage so I may say of subjection they shall neither command nor obey in the resurrection 1 Cor. 15.24 He shall put down all rule and all authority and power Christ will put down all the authority which Fathers have over their Children which Masters have over their Servants which Princes have over their Subjects and Vassals all the authority which both the Enemies and Persecutors have over the Church then it shall have no more nursing Fathers and Mothers all Crowns and Scepters shall be cast down at the feet of Christ he will put them down the Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enervabit he will at the last day put them down not onely that they shall not prevail but that they shall be utterly abolished II. They shall be delivered even from that sweet and gracious subjection to Christ as King and Mediator Christ shall rule over his body not as Mediator but as God he himself will lay down the Crown of his Mediatorship and deliver up his whole government into the hands of God 1 Cor. 15.24 28. And when all things shall be subdued unto him then c. When Christ hath levelled all authority with the ground and shall have trodden down all his Enemies then he will rule no more as Mediator but give up the Kingdom to God the Father and God will be all in all he will immediately govern all his Saints III. A liberty from all spiritual Tyranny in divers respects 1. It is a liberty from the Tyranny of Sin Sin though it doth not rule in the Godly as a King yet as a Tyrant though the Saints do not and never will sell themselves to work evil yet while they are in this body they are sold under sin no slavery is more intollerable to a Holy man than this slavery to sin it is a Godly man's hell to be under the Tyrannical power of any lust Slavery to Pharaoh is liberty compared to slavery to pride to worldly-mindedness or to any lust whatsoever It was the doom of a Godly Martyr to have a dead man chained to him his eyes to the dead man's eyes his breast to the dead man's breast that he might perish by the stench of the dead Carcass Such is a Godly man's present condition to be tyed to the body of sin which is a very death to him in whom is the life of grace Now the state of glory will set all the Children of God at liberty from this thraldome sin will then be put off when glory is put on when the new man is perfectly renewed in respect of degrees and parts the old man which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts shall be perfectly destroyed in respect of presence and operation in the state of glory they will not be afraid of sinning such will their liberty be from sin they shall be as free from all sin as the Sun from the least shadow 2. It is a state of liberty from all tokens effects yea fears of the wrath and displeasure of God Now and then God writes bitter things against his people in this life and makes them his mark to shoot the arrows of his displeasure into their very Consciences What doleful complaints have the Godly made and still do make of God's dealings with them some of them live in Bondage to the fear of God's wrath all the dayes of their lives Now there is no liberty from the fears of God's displeasure in this life so long as there is the remnant of sins within them while we have a body of sin within us we shall have a miserable body now in the state of glory they shall enjoy a perfect liberty from wrath and all their chains of fears shall be knockt off the glorified shall no more fear wrath than the glorified shall hope for favour they shall no more dread Hell than the damned truly desire Heaven their perfect sense of God's love toward them and their perfect love of God will cast out all these fears the state of glory is a fearless estate as far above fear as Heaven above earth the mountain of glory cannot be removed with the greatest tempest of the fears of any evil 3. It is a state of freedom from all afflictions now afflictions are compared in Scripture to Bonds Fetters Chains Yokes and such Engines and Instruments of miserable bondage The evil of sin and afflictions are twins born together and shall cease and dye together when the Soul takes her flight to the mountain of glory she casteth off the mantle of suffering Glory and misery are as inconsistent together as the most contrarious extreams sooner shall East and West meet in one point noon and midnight in one moment than perfection and glory and the least affliction Lazarus is now as great a stranger to afflictions as Dives to pleasures 4. It is a freedom from all temptations and rage of Satan it is impossible for the Devil to tempt a man in glory When man was in a perfect state of grace he tempted him to sin but when man is in a perfect state of glory he cannot tempt him the Devils are cast out of Heaven never to appear there to tempt any who have made their entrance into it the Church hath a promise that Satan shall be bound up a thousand years but then he is bound to eternity the Devils are now in chains of
which then they shall enjoy they shall never be afraid of losing God Christ Heaven Happiness but shall be secured to all eternity which is the Crown of this glorious liberty of the Children of God It is a sore thraldome to be perplexed with fears of losing our enjoyments it imbittereth all our joyes it is death to a worldling to think he must die and leave all his riches honours friends delights much more will it be a very Hell to the afflicted if they should be afflicted with the fears of losing Heaven but no such fears or thoughts shall at any time during eternity perplex the hearts of the Godly it casteth out all such fears they shall see it is impossible for them to lose what they do possess Notable is that phrase Luk. 16.26 Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed that if the glorified would get out of Heaven they cannot come to the damned and the damned cannot come out of Hell to Heaven God hath fast bolted the gates of Heaven and Hell with an everlasting decree CHAP. XXVIII Of the eternity of the glory of Heaven II. THe second adjunct of this glory is the perpetuity of it it shall be everlasting this is abundantly witnessed in the Scriptures I give to them eternal life saith Christ and they shall never perish Joh. 10.28 He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life Joh. 5.24 To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory honour and immortality eternal life Rom. 2.7 it is called eternal life eternal glory eternal salvation 2 Tim. 2.10 Hebr. 5.9 Hebr. 9.15 The Hebrews when they did speak of eternal life they would speak in the plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vitae not vita lives not life implying eternity Quest Here it may be demanded how the blessedness of the Saints is made perpetual endless everlasting Adam was made perfect after the Image of God perfectly blessed perfectly holy and yet he fell both from holiness and happiness this blessed estate of his seemed to have been of very short continuance yea many of the Angels which were more excellent and glorious than man and had none to tempt them yet left their habitation and fell from this blessed estate how then cometh it to pass that the happiness of man shall be everlasting Resp For answer hereunto if I should say that they shall see God face to face and so shall be filled with God and so all occasions of sin and revolting from God shall be prevented and they shall be so abundantly satisfied in God and so invincibly strengthened and confirmed by God dwelling in them that nothing shall so far prevail over them as in the least degree to withdraw their affections from God I see not how this might suffice for doubtless the Angels that kept not their first estate did thus see and enjoy God yet they fell totally and finally Therefore the sole reason is the will of Almighty God his infinite goodness his eternal love toward them according to which he hath made a covenant of grace with them in his Son by his promise and oath assuring them of eternal life and this immutable will and love of God declared in the infallible truth of his gracious promise and covenant is a better and firmer assurance than the highest perfections and excellencies that any meer creature is capable of yea a child of God here on earth having the least measure of true grace mixt with many corruptions almost stifled with the body of death opposed discouraged discountenanced by a wicked and ungodly world assaulted by all the powers of darkness and with numberless temptations is in a safer condition for perseverance and is better assured to hold out to eternal life because of the verity of God's promise and the firmness of his covenant grounded upon the rock Christ-Jesus than one that were by creation perfectly upright and happy if his holiness and happiness were only in his own keeping and not established upon this everlasting foundation the will of God and the infallibility of his promise This being the cause we may also conceive divers holy ends for which as he doth preserve every child of his by his effectual working power unto salvation so having brought them thither he will for ever preserve them in his Heavenly Kingdom As I. That he may have some of the lost seed of Adam to be everlasting Monuments of his rich grace who to all eternity shall be real demonstrations of his infinite love and unspeakable mercy and goodness in redeeming justifying sanctifying cleansing and preserving them II. That he may be to eternity praised for his glorious victories over all his enemies that when the Devil and his Angels have used the utmost of their craft might and malice when the hands of the world have been hot and smoking with the blood of the Saints and their hearts sick with blasphemy and malice against Christ and his followers when sin hath thrown out its most deadly poyson or when death hath been devouring Man-kind so many ages yet shall the Almighty power of God be so prevalent over all as to make and everlastingly to keep his elect in a blessed state and he in them and they with him shall celebrate an eternal and most glorious triumph in the Kingdom of Heaven III. That Jesus Christ may be eternally honoured as a Redeemer God the Father will have the fruit of his Son's purchase to be perpetual and everlasting he will magnifie the infinite value of that price which Christ hath paid the infinite vertue of that blood which Christ shed for the redemption of lost souls by establishing his ransomed ones in everlasting happiness therefore it is said He shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that do believe 2 Thes 1.10 Christ is now very admirable and glorious in the hearts of his redeemed ones who are illightened with saving knowledge who have an experimental taste in themselves of the efficacy of his blood and the fruit of that redemption which he hath wrought But oh how admirable and glorious shall he then appear when they shall enjoy the fulness of his redemption in an unchangeable state of blessedness for evermore IV. That he may have everlasting objects of his love to whom he may communicate his goodness sweetness fulness whom he may enrich with the treasures of his Kingdom feast with his love beautifie with his salvation and adorn with the brightness of his glory for ever and this is that wherein the infinite goodness of God delighteth even to give forth and to communicate it self such is his blessedness and perfection that it is beyond all possibility of addition he can receive nothing from any but delighteth to give and communicate and as he is an everlasting fountain of blessedness so he will have everlasting vessels of honour into whom fulness of blessedness may stream and
Saints are Therefore in Jude ver 6. the day of Judgment is called the Great Day especially because it shall be a day of great Light now it is Light that makes the day and the more light the more day now in this day of Judgment there shall be abundance of light a full discovery of things and persons then shall the happiness of the Saints be more fully manifest and things shall really then appear as they are the greatest discoveries here are imperfect to that which they shall be on that day then God shall make it appear to all the World who are and who are not the Sons of God then shall all hidden things be made manifest Luk. 12. 2. That is the time for the declaration of the righteous judgment of the Lord Rom. 2.5 SECT III. THE excellent glory of the Saints is hidden from them for these reasons Reas 1. Because God would try his Children whether they would trust him or no. Whether they would believe his promises of happiness and cast themselves upon God for the accomplishment of his promises of eternal happiness Where were faith if God should make their future glory to appear to them otherwise then by promise that they shall be glorious Should God take his Children and carry them up upon a Mount as he did Moses and there shew them their future glory or take them up into the Third Heaven as he did Paul and there let them enjoy the beatifical vision how should faith be the substance of things hoped for how should faith then be the evidence of things not seen what are the things the Saints hope for is it not life everlasting is it not unspeakable glory is it not their compleat happiness and are not these the things that are not seen if these things were in view already if these things did appear to them as the Sun how could faith be the substance of things hoped for how could it be the evidence of things not seen no God will not here suffer their glory to appear but will have them live the life of faith in his promises of glory and eternal happiness before he will open Heaven to them and give them an actual possession of the heavenly Mansions and set the glorious Crown of Righteousness upon their heads Reas 2. Because God would try whether we would be content to suffer for him and to do any thing for him whether we would be willing to deny our selves to become the objects of scorn and contempt whether we would walk in his ways though they are somewhat ruggid and hedged in with sharp thornes whether we as Moses would chuse rather to suffer afflictions with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season whether we would prize the reproaches of Christ above riches more then the Treasures of Egypt and be content with his promise of future glory If the future glory and unspeakable happiness of God's Children should for the present be made manifest if God should open the windows of Heaven as he did to Stephen when he was to be stoped and let us see the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God having Crowns of glory in his hands and Robes of honour and Palms of Victory in his hands to bestow upon such as would endure reproach for his Name-sake and suffer any thing whatsoever God calls them to there is no question but the sight of this glory would make us all ready to be stoned with Stephen to be sawn asunder with Isaias to be imprisoned with Joseph to suffer with the people of God with Moses then we should esteem every reproachful contempt for Christ's sake more precious then the fairest Jewels but God doth not suffer our future glory to appear because he will try if men will suffer for him and do his will and trust themselves for glory hereafter they that will sing the Song of Moses and of the Lamb in the next life must swim through the Sea of glass mingled with fire in this life Rev. 15.2 Every one that looks for glory in the next life must make account of the Cross more or less in this life the way to Heaven is strewed with Crosses and we must think it rather an honour then a labour to follow Christ our Master as Alexander's Souldiers followed him through Mountains of Snow Reas 3. Because a future manifestation of their glorious happiness will make more for the glory of Christ then if it did now appear 2 Thes 1.10 When he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that do believe at the day of Judgment That day of horror that day of shame is the day of the manifestation of the glory of Christ and of the glory of the Saints of God then Christ will be wonderfully glorified in the glorification of his Saints and then Christ shall be admired in all them that do believe The Angels all the Saints the Wicked and the Devils themselves will be filled with admiration and be astonished at the infinite love of Christ in bestowing such glory upon all Believers Wicked men will be astonished at it and admire Christ in their glory when they shall see those poor contemned men among them to be so glorified above their expectation what will wicked men say what is yonder man in Heaven I did scorn him I did despise him upon the Earth What will another say Is that man in Heaven I saw him burnt at a Stake I saw this man imprisoned that man banished this man worried that man cast out of all that he had and now behold their glory behold their happiness They will see and wonder at it to see what glory and honour Christ hath cloathed them with then will they cry out we never thought to see such poor despised wretches whom we accounted the off-scouring of the world to be in such glory so likewise how will the Saints themselves admire Christ how will they stand wondering at themselves that they should be so glorious so happy how will they admire the love of Christ that should freely bestow such unspeakable love upon them then will the Saints say to Christ Lord what am I that thou shouldest thus honour me what glory dost thou cast upon such a worm as I am Lord I have suffered but little for thee I have done nothing for thee that thou shouldest thus glorifie me Reas 4. Therefore their glory doth not yet appear because the Sons of God while they are in these earthly houses are not fit for such glory mortality is no fit subject to have immortal glory to be put upon it these mortal Bodies of ours are not fit to be invested with the Robes of incorruptible honour yea these Bodies of ours wherein sin liveth are not fit to enjoy communion with God who is of purer eyes then to behold any unclean thing no there must be a dissolution of these earthly tabernacles mortality