we shall know him as we are known Object But even in the state of glory we cannot see God with our bodily eyes therefore lest our bodily eyes should be destitute of an apt delightsome object the glory which God will put on the Creature will be the delight of glorified eyes then we shall be ravished with the infinite Wisdom and Power of God in investing the whole Creation with such glory Sol. Though this is probably true that the glorified Saints shall delight in beholding the glory of the Creatures and shall admire God in their glory yet if there should be no Renovation of the Creature there would be most admirable objects for the glorified Saints to behold as namely 1. Christ's glorified Body the brightness whereof will obscure the brightness of Sun Moon and Stars as the brightness of the Sun puts out the light of the Fire and in this respect it is said there shall be no need neither of the Sun nor of the Moon to shine in heaven Rev. 21.23 2. As Christ's body so likewise the glorious bodies of all the Elect shall be the delight of their eyes which shall shine more bright then the Sun What delight then can the Creatures clothed with glory bring and in beholding the bodies of the Saints in glory we may behold the infinite Wisdom Power Love Grace of God in making handfuls of Dust and Earth such glorious Creatures as our bodies then shall be Yet we may rationally assert 1. That God will ordain the Creature to some use it is not to be imagined that the Creatures shall continue after the day of Judgment and yet not serve to some use if you ask to what use Lombard Lombard sentent makes this answer Ego nescio I know not the same answer Peter Martyr Pet. Mert. in Rom. 8.21 gives to the same question though it be contrary to nature and common reason that the Creature after its Renovation shall be idle yet if you ask how they shall be employed facile nos fateamur ignorare we may easily be brought to confess our ignorance 2. Doubtless God will adapt and fit the Creature to the use of the glorified state of his Children as was hinted before which they shall then fully and perfectly know when they shall be actual possessors of the new Heavens and new Earth 3. Learned Bain gives this answer 1. It may be God will have the whole Creation to stand as a Monument of his former Power Wisdom and Goodness to his people in the day of their Pilgrimage on Earth 2. Or God will have them stand for the honour of his Majesty meerly for greater State as we see it is a State belonging to Earthly Princes to have sumptuous Houses here and there which yet they do not once visit in all their Reigns 3. God will have them stand as appurtenances to the glory of his own Children the Creatures shall be kept as additions to their honour saith Calvin Chrysostome Calvin in loc Chrysost homil speaking of this useth this comparison it is no wonder that the Creature shall be decked with glory for as Kings in that day wherein they do solemnly Crown their Sons with some Crown of Principality they will not only take care that their Sons appear in great Pomp and State but also the Pallace and all the Courteours shall and must appear in the bravest attire so God setting the Crown of Immortallity and Blessedness on the heads of all his Children and placing them on their prepared Thrones will have the Heavens and Earth and all his Creatures appear in glory in that day These things being considered how should this cause the Saints to be willing to leave the World and to die chearfully since in due time they shall find the World in a more glorious estate then they left it but the wicked shall be thrust naked out of all CHAP. XIII II. THis glory of the Saints shall be when all the drossie part of the Earth and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up when all the heaps and mines of Gold and Silver shall be consumed to the last dram when all Cities Towns and stately Edifices shall be destroyed when all the outward pomp and glory of the World shall be burnt to ashes when the high Mountains shall melt under the feet of the Lord and the Valleys shall be cleft as wax before the sire and as the Waters that are powred down a steep place Mich. 1.4 Then shall all the dwellers on earth be disseized and turned out of their Possessions then must Kings for ever part with their Thrones Crowns and Scepters and the greatest Rulers on Earth lay down their Authority at the feet of Christ then shall the high and lofty ones be brought low and many great Captains shall call to the hills and mountains to fall upon them and hide them from the face of him that sitteth upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb Rev. 6.10 Then shall all Trades and Occupations in the World cease every where and all desire and study of purchasing and gaining shall be at an end then shall the Sea at that time shew the greatest rage and fury and the Waves thereof be so high and furious that it shall seem as if they would utterly overwhelm the whole Earth now at such a dreadful time as this when they that had their portion in the things of this life must be stript of all and leave all for ever then shall God's Children take full and everlasting Possession of the House of their heavenly Father in which are many Mansions and this highly advanceth the felicity of the Saints because it cometh so seasonably to them Give a man an house well furnished when his own is plundred and burnt and the whole neighbourhood is undone and all the Countrey round about is laid waste and made desolate how pleasant is it and when the whole World shall be in a flame and all things in it are consuming to ashes then to be put into the possession of the World to come when our earthly habitations are burnt then to have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens what an inconceiveable happiness is it A word in season saith Solomon Oh how good is it Heaven is sweet at any time but Heaven at such a time as this Oh how good how unspeakably good is it St Paul 2. Tim. 4.7 saith I have fought a good fight I have kept the faith finished my Course henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give unto me at that day on that day when the veriest Earth-worm that now creepeth upon the ground shall be convinced that there is nothing in the World worth the having theâ— to be put into the heavenly Mansions in the day of the Worlds funerals and to enjoy an enduring substance in the day of the Worlds conflagration no tongue of
when we foregoe they torment us and therefore better a great deal that we honourably contemn what we cannot but sorrowfully lose blessedness is not to be attained on earth but to be hoped for in Heaven and this should stir us up to the seeking after a better life for that condition where we may be blessed for ever The fruition of eternal glory is a future good there is difficulty to attain it it is no easie entrance into Heaven God hath made viam lacteam in coelis not ad coelum God hath made a milky way in Heaven paved with stars but not to Heaven no the way to Heaven is paved with sundry difficulties the way is narrow the gate is strait many seek and cannot find it Yet although Heaven be difficult to obtain there is a fair possibility for any man to win the crown of eternal glory There was never a Saint that lived and fought this Christian warfare but when they had finished their course they received Palmes the Ensign of triumph and the Crown of righteousness which Christ the righteous Judge hath laid up for them Laertius writeth of one that had been thirty and three years traveling to seek out the natures of Bees indeed Bees are excellent creatures and there is excellent use of the honey that they make but here is that which is sweeter than Honey and the Honey-comb they that take pains for temporal things it is not bread that they labour for it is not that which will satisfie now if it bring no satisfaction with it it can bring no blessedness with it but everlasting glory and blessedness is the bread that will satisfie this will be as marrow and fatness to our souls let us labour for this and our soul shall live Now much honoured in the Lord I have written this Tract of the glory of Heaven and of eternal blessedness which I humbly dedicate to you partly that I might feed my own mind with this Heavenly contemplation and partly that I might stir you up to the more serious consideration of the same things there is nothing will make us more contemn the world and kindle in us an earnest desire and longing after Heaven than the frequent and diligent meditation on the glory of Heaven and the blessedness of the Saints in the world to come will do Oh did we frequently consider what pure and unmixt deâ—ights lye for ever on those everlasting Hills and Gardens of Spices that are alwayes green and flourishing how should we rouze up our selves and say what do we here Oh why do we weary our selves like the bird that toileth to gather a few sticks together to build a nest in the spring time which after a little time will be pulled down and forsaken Remember I beseech you that blessedness is not to be had here but in Heaven in Heaven where life eternal is there and there only true and perfect blessedness is as this ensuing Treatise will fully demonstrate Therefore let no temptation of Satan at any time overcome you let not the love of any sin possess you let no evil example of the world seduce you let no evil advantages or pleasures steal away your heart from you go on still in making you friends of the unrighteous Mammon and great profit shall thereby come unto you You may not think saith Chrysostome Chrysost Homil. in Luc. 16. that God made the rich for the profit of the poor but the poor for the profit of the rich when they make them friends of the riches of iniquity as if rich men should one day find that the poor were their best friends for when they come to be received into everlasting habitations God seems to make his poor Saints the Porters of Heaven God will then remember all the kindnesses you have shewed to any of his distressed servants and abundantly reward them yea he will recompense a cup of cold water given to a Disciple of Christ in the name of a Disciple with the whole fountain of the water of life and two mites with the whole treasure in the Temple there for Gold you shall have Glory for earthly Mannours heavenly Mansions for Silver that perisheth solace without end Mirth without measure pleasure without pain there you shall be clothed in white which is the innocence of the Saints have palmes in your hands in token of victory and be Crowned with a Diadem of pure Gold which is immortality your happiness then will be for God to make you of his Court though here you are not of his Council Finally let me excite you to raise your thoughts and meditations beyond these sublunary things and lift them up to those that are above settle your affections upon them exercise your study in them feed your desires and hopes with them and ever think of one thing that all the Kingdoms in the world are not to be compared with the poorest Mansion in Heaven there onely is the centre and seat of blessedness for there as an Ancient saith Quicquid amabitur aderit August Medit nec desiderabitur quod non aderit whatsoever is to be loved shall be there and there shall be nothing wanting that is to be desired there shall be all that good is even our greatest God who is our greatest good we shall have him with us there or rather he indeed shall have us there with him in whom we shall be perfectly blessed and with whom our blessedness shall be perpetually established Now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified The Lord deliver you from every evil work and preserve you unto his Heavenly Kingdome So prayeth Your affectionate Servant in the Gospel William Gearing THE CONTENTS OF THIS TREATISE Chap. 1. THe Text Romans 8.18 Explained Chap. 2. Many notes of instruction raised Chap. 3. Sect. 1. A general description of glory and a particular description of the glory of the Saints in Heaven Sect. 2. Sheweth that God will raise his Children to an higher pitch of glory than Adam was in Paradise and how they shall â—e like to Christ in glory Chap. 4. Sets down the reasons why God will glorifie his Children both in respect of Himself and in respect of themselves Chap. 5. Of the quality of the Saints glory Chap. 6. Sheweth that the perfect glory and happiness of the Saints is invisible for the present five reasons thereof Chap. 7. Sheweth that this glory in due time shall be revealed viz. when Christ shall appear in glory divers reasons thereof Chap. 8. A threefold use to be made of it Chap. 9. Sheweth that the Creatures themselves do earnestly and continually expect the manifestation of the glorious state of the Godly wherein many weighty points are discussed and many doubts resolved Chap. 10. Sheweth that there is no comparison or equality between a Believer's present sufferings and his future glory Chap.
God in glory that they shall be Priests of God and Christ Rev. 20.6 As they are all made spiritual Kings and Priests to God on Earth Rev. 1.6 so they shall be Priests to God in Heaven and reign with him for ever and ever They shall be Priests to God two ways in Heaven First As soon as they leave this life in the interim before the second coming of Christ they shall perform the offices of Priests in Soul only offering to God the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving that themselves are already delivered out of the miseries of this World and praying for their Brethren upon the Earth that they may shortly be delivered For so St. John tells us that he saw under the Altar the Souls of those that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held crying out with a loud voice How long O Lord holy and true dost not thou avenge our blood upon them that dwell on the Earth Rom. 6.9 10. And secondly at Christ's second coming both they that are deceased already and they that shall then be found alive shall joyntly and joyfully sing Hallelujah salvation and glory and honour and power unto the Lord our God for true and righteous are his judgments Rev. 19.1 2. and v. 6. St. John saith he heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thunderings saying Hallelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth let us be glad and rejoyce and give honour to him for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his Wife hath made her self ready The high praises of God shall then be in the mouthes of all his Saints being now made perfect in holiness and freed from all frailties they shall never mourn but ever sing and laud their Redeemer without defatigation or satiety But to pass by this it is needful in few words to shew how the Heavens cannot properly be said to be the house of God as those buildings wherein men dwell are called their houses least any should be so ignorant as to entertain any vain thoughts not beseeming the infinite Majesty of God 1. Heaven cannot contain and hold the infinite being of the Divine Nature as the house holdeth him that dwelleth in it Behold the Heavens and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee 2. God hath no need of Heaven either for rest or safety as a man hath of his house he is not subject to weariness no work is toilsome to him he slumbereth not sleepeth not he is above all dangers one word of his mouth is enough to crush all Enemies to powder he needeth not this House as a Castle of defence unto him 3. He is not more essentially present there then in any other place nor more absent from any other place then from it but every where alike essentially present though there he giveth forth more glorious demonstrations of his presence then in any other place SECT II. SEeing Heaven is God's house then there should our hearts be even at home with our Father how can we sing the Lord's Song in a strange Land how can we please our selves so well in this house of our pilgrimage when we are from home thus far absent from our Father's house why are our minds so knit unto the earth that nothing â—ut leath will part it and us as if not Heaven but this lower sinful part of the World were the Lord 's dwelling place with what face can we call him our Father which is in Heaven and in the mean time our strongest and most hearty affections are deeply buried in the Earth St. Paul was of another temper I desire to be dissolved saith he and to be with Christ which is best of all Best of all so the blessed Apostle found and felt it he spake out of a true discerning spirit he spake as he found he desired Heaven for love of Christ and not so much for love of his own ease and happiness though he could not but long for that also but principally for love of Christ therefore he longed to leave the Earth and go to Heaven because that was the house of Christ the house where God the Father sheweth his glorious presence the house where Christ sitteth at the right hand of the Majesty on high Oh that I were there saith that holy Apostle let me go through poverty through persecution fire sword stripes imprisonment and a thousand deaths and dangers so that I can but get unto my Saviour it is best of all to be with him what shall I say better then to be with sinful men better then to be with a multitude of unruly corruptions cleaving to me shall I say better then to be in the midst of heaps of Gold or all manner of earthly abundance I will not for the honour of my Saviour once bring him in comparison with these dunghils and heaps of dross but it is best of all to be with him It is better to be with him then simply to be in Heaven it self it were better to be with him out of Heaven then to be in Heaven without him if that were possible yea if being with Christ were not salvation it self I would say that to be with Christ were better then salvation it is best of all Now then when Heaven is thus glorious when our dearest Saviour the King of glory is entered within those everlasting doors when it is the very house of God how should we long after it that we might be with the Lord what shame should it cast upon our faces who have the First-fruits of the Spirit Is our Gaol now become more pleasing to us then our Father's house do we grow more and more earthly minded Oh that we had more of Heaven in us to raise and draw our hearts thither and less Earth to sink us downward let us pray and labour for more supernatural and heavenly affections then we shall find our hearts rising and lifted upwards Moreover if Heaven be the house of God and the place of his special presence this should move us all to labour to be such as may be fit for the presence of God Do we not all desire to be in Heaven alas many of us do little consider what Heaven is or what it is to be in Heaven It is true that none even those that are most heavenly minded can consider of it according to its excellent glory yet some there are who though they cannot conceive it for the height of its excellency yet they conceive the nature of it though not the measure they conceive of what kind of what temper that glory and happiness is which they shall receive by that earnest of the Spirit which they have received as a man knoweth in what coyn he shall be paid by that money which he hath received in earnest already But many others know not what Heaven meaneth how many are there that cannot now endure the presence
believe the resurrection of the flesh or body SECT IX SEe here the sacred eagerness of the Soul it will neither lose nor change a dust nor will it only possess but adorn the Body In the day of the resurrection mankind shall feel and express a youthful spring the walking-staff and the wrinckle shall be no more the help and distinction of age and Death it self shall suffer climacterical fates Oh how the wonder will almost out-act faith when the Infant and the Dwarf shall be made a proper man when the limbs exhaled with famine shall be replenished with as much miracle as faith when the Child that left its own Soul before it left the Womb shall in an instant without growth be as big as the Mother when sleep shall be commanded from the eye-lids no more by care but by immortality which shall chase Death out of Nature and with importunate triumph cry out O Earth Earth Earth hear the word of the Lord Thy dead men shall live with their primitive Bodies shall they arise Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust for your dew is as the dew of Herbs The Bodies of the Saints shall then have nothing cleaving to them that may in the least degree impair their blessedness darken or blemish their glory St. Paul saith Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might cleanse and sanctifie it by the washing of water through the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish both in Soul and Body Ephes 5.25 26 27. First it is said He gave himself to it that he might cleanse and sanctifie it by the washing of water through the word and that he might not only cloathe it with his own righteousness made over and imputed to it but also that he might really purifie it by the water of sanctification that he might present it a glorious Church to himself not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing It is one thing to present his Church and each Member of it to his Father a glorious Church in himself as a Mediator cloathed with his righteousness as with a spotless robe of glory but 't is another thing to present the Church a glorious Church to himself which he doth without a Mediator for although there be a Mediator between God the Father and his Church even the Man Christ Jesus yet there is no Mediator between Christ and his Church God the Father looks on his Church mediante Christo but Christ looks on the Church immediately and therefore when he presenteth the Church to himself a glorious Church without spot c. it is evident that the Church shall then be glorious and spotless not only in way of imputation in God the Father's acceptation through Jesus Christ his Beloved but also really and in it self although it shall receive all this from the overflowing fountain of Christ's fulness through the freeness of God's love and the riches of his grace and for the greater consolation of the Saints the Apostle saith when Christ shall present his Church to himself as glorious it shall be without spot or wrinkle no spot of defilement or wrinkle of deformity shall be in it nor the least imperfection for what are wrinkles but signs or effects of natural defect when the moisture of the Body is exhausted or consumed Nature beginning to decay and wanting matter to fill up the Body but then there shall be no wrinkle in the Body or defect in the Soul for both shall have their full measure of glory And to this the Apostle addeth those general terms nor any such thing that he might cut off all conceits of any defect imaginable as if he had said Imagine what you can that may in the least degree impair or lessen the glory of the Church I assure you there shall not be any such thing SECT X. ANd we may most easily remember by whom we rise by remembring him by whom we fell yet if we behold the original of their humanity we shall find they were both without sin and that the first Adam had his best Paradise within himself but when he was fallen by the weakness of the Woman that was made for his help never did Woman prove a strong help to Man before the Virgin-mother of Christ God and Man then though the first Adam had eaten up the fatal Apple the second Adam swallowed up Death he had before made the poor Man take up the Bed of his sickness and walk but he himself was the first that ever took up Death's Bed and walked Yet some before our Saviour borrowed a fantastical resurrection as Saul's equivocal Samuel and some rose again in earnest but to die again in earnest as supererrogating Lazarus that paid to nature one death more then he owed but our Lord Jesus is risen with as much perfection as power and with as much power as love and glory The Poetical Chymick tells us plainly of an Alchymistical man at the Earth's centre who by a spherical diffusion of his vertue doth like a subterranean Sun improve Mettals to a metamorphosis which as it is bold in the Fable so by a devout mithology may be modest in the moral this secret Workman shall be our Saviour whose vertue was dispersed into the bowels of the Grave that at his resurrection he improved Carcasses into Saints who rose with him went into the holy City and appeared unto many as the Witnesses and Attendants of his power of which something hath been already spoken Indeed to advance the head without the members were so unnatural that it were rather like an execution then preferment and it were stranger to see a Captain or Leader without his Souldiers then without his Arms Besides were it fit when the Master is risen the Servant should lie still thus then they were raised as much to holiness as to life it was not only a resurrection but a consecration and Christ was the first-fruits of them that rose he had the precedency both in order and vertue The first-fruits under the Law were the first handful as acceptible as ripe by a bountiful mediation obtaining holiness and entertainment for the rest this first offering did commend it self to the Lord rather by the speed then the quantity the Jew offered this at his own home and it was as domestick as his thoughts being a present of eloquent simplicity which at the same time did honour and overcome the Almighty Oh how our Saviour made this figure solid when at once he conquered for us Death and Heaven as I may so speak He was but the first handful of Corn and yet as powerful as small making all the rest of a like holiness though not of an equal But there were greater first-fruits which the Jews went to pay at Jerusalem and as the first were an offering of humility so those of pomp Those did
excellency of the God-head This cannot be comprehended by any of the creatures Yet let me tell you the understanding shall then be more perfect In its apprehension In its judgment I. In its apprehension that shall be most quick and acute the Soul shall have a most sharp and piercing eye-sight readily apprehending and conceiving it shall not see thorow a glass it shall not have its knowledg at second hand 1. It shall not apprehend God by the Creature by the light of Nature the Creatures are the darkest representations of God there are but some of his foot-prints in the Creatures they are no glasses wherein we shall behold the face of God At the best the Creatures are but Jacob's Ladder to us by which we may ascend from Earth to the knowledg of God in Heaven the Creatures can but take us by the hand and lead us to God and lift up our minds to Heaven the sight of God is more then all the Creatures can afford because God's face cannot be seen in the Creature and yet this we may grant that the Saints shall see God in the Creatures then but with this difference as Dionysius well observeth Dionys Ercop the Creatures will be specula clara in statu integro clear glasses in a perfect state but now in statu corrupto in a corrupt state they be specula aenigmatica obscure glasses 2. The glorified Soul shall apprehend God after another manner then now it can know him from his Word or understand him in his Word The knowledg of the Word is by the Schools called cognitio Fidei the knowledg of Faith it is a far greater knowledg then the knowledg of God from the Creatures Faith is of an higher reach then Reason or the light of Nature the Word of God speaks of God more then the eye of Reason ever can by the eye of Nature kenne things which Reason could almost deny at least dispute against the Word reveals of God The Creatures shew but the foot-steps of God the Word sheweth his back-parts his glorious attributes his gracious goodness but yet the Word cannot shew us the face of God therefore the Beatifick Vision is more then the knowledg of God we have from the Word 3. The knowledg of God in Heaven is more then that which the Saints have of him by the light of grace in this life by the light of grace the Saints do behold the light of God's countenance in this life David often prays Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon us but yet the light of grace cannot shew the very countenance of God himself it must be the light of glory that must discover that to us Indeed to know God by the light of grace which more properly is termed the knowledg of Faith is called life eternal John 17.3 It is called eternal life because to believe in God and in Christ is the medium a way and means to life eternal and then again it is vita eterna inchoata saving Faith in Christ is the beginning of eternal life but the eye of Faith is too weak to look God in the face yet this we may grant that what the Creature what the Word reveals of God what we know by the light of grace we shall have a more clear more full and more manifest sight of it in Heaven We shall then see God as he is i. know himself by himself we shall know him by himself without the Creature know him by himself without the external preaching of the Word know him without the Sacraments the Word and Sacraments being glasses wherein we behold the glory of God but in Heaven there shall be no need of these glasses we shall see his face without these glasses by himself Look as God doth manifest himself to the Angels so he will manifest himself to us they see God in himself and by himself therefore they are said always to behold the face of God and so shall glorified Saints do Here the bodily eye may be dim either by reason of the weakness of the eye a defect of strength in the organ or instrument of sight or because of scales or films growing over it so it is with the understanding or eye of the Soul its sight may be dim and imperfect either by reason of its natural weakness or by the scales of lusts or sinful corruptions overgrowing it these do exceedingly blind the understanding and dull the apprehension while we are in this state of mortality Now both these shall be done away in that state of glory the organ or eye of the Soul shall then be strengthned with perfection there shall be no weakness remaining in it it shall be most strong and vigorous the Soul shall then be elevated and raised to that strength that it shall be able to gaze upon the glory of God for ever and so see him as never to lose the sight of him then likewise all the scales shall be removed there shall not be the least mote of lust to dim the eye of the Soul it shall see clearly and perfectly and ignorance which is here a brand of sin shall be quite defaced by the brightness that shall enlighten the Soul Tunc nec falli nec peccare possunt homines veritate illuminati in bono confirmati then men illightened with the truth and confirmed in good can neither deceive nor be deceived nor sin saith St. Augustine How quick was Adam's apprehension in the state of innocence how did the acuteness of his understanding penetrate into the insides of the Creatures as is manifest by his giving them names suitable to their natures Now as Christ the second Adam is incomparably more excellent then the first Adam and Believers are the spiritual seed of Christ as Men and Women are the natural seed of Adam so far more transcendent shall that perfection of apprehension and understanding be which Christ shall illighten the Souls of his Saints withal as his seed in that state of blessedness even far surpassing that which Adam had and which should have been propagated from him to his natural issue had he persevered in the integrity of his nature wherein he was created SECT II. Of the perfection of the judgments of the Saints in glory II. AS the apprehensions so likewise the judgments of the Saints shall be perfected in Heaven Here sometimes quick apprehensions are accompanied with shallow judgments as on the other side solid judgments are joyned with slow apprehensions but in glory the soundness of the judgment shall be correspondent with the clearness and quickness of the apprehension it shall not be subject to the least mistake nor obnoxious to any error here we are full of levity and wavering in matters of Religion taking up opinions lightly without due examination and for want of strength of judgment we are ready upon every sleight occasion to receive another Doctrine and likewise presuming upon the strength of and subtilty of our own wits not limited by
sanctification preventing grace subsequent grace exciting grace confirming grace strength against temptation support under afflictions help in extremities relief against seeming impossibilities faith repentance love hope c. they shall see the Spring of that River of God's pleasures and of those living Waters which have refreshed so many thirsty Souls when they seemed ready to perish Oh how would it tickle the vain curiosity of many men to be admitted to the sight of the rich treasures of great Princes and to have their Cabinets filled with the rarest and most sumptuous Jewels unlocked before their eyes Alas they are not so much as common stones of the street in comparison of the treasures of God's all-sufficiency which the Saints shall behold in Heaven SECT II. FUrthermore as the Saints in Heaven shall see what God is in himself so they shall perfectly and fully see what God is to themselves here is the happiness of the beatifical vision not only to know that God is infinitely gracious in himself but that he is also infinitely gracious to us not only to know that God is goodness it self bonum summum the chiefest good but also to know God is our chiefest good our happiness Then the Saints will all say to God as Job did when he had that familiar conference with God Job 42.5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee So when we come to Heaven every one of us will say Lord I have heard thy Ministers say that thou art a merciful a gracious God I have heard thy Word to proclaim thee to be a Lord a Lord God gracious and merciful a God pardoning sin and forgiving iniquity and now mine eyes see thee now I plainly see that thou art such a God as indeed thou art I tell you this is one main part of the beatifical Vision not only to see what God is in himself but to see clearly what a good God he is to us this is the happiness of all the Saints this is the fulness of joy which is in the presence of God this is the rivers of pleasure which are at God's right hand Suppose the Devils and damned Spirits should know what God is in himself that he is the God of grace the God of mercy the God of glory alas they would but little bless themselves in the knowledg of God because God is not thus to them it is their woe of woes because they know that God is to them a consuming fire devouring burnings and an angry Judge To know a thing and not to possess that thing is no happiness at all to know there are riches in the bottom of the Sea doth nothing rejoyce a man but to possess those riches to know there are rich treasures of all good things and not to have any part in that treasure what comfort hath a poor man in the knowledg of that It is true what Chrysologus saith of the rich Man in Hell Dives magis uritur Lazari gloria quam proprio incendio Chrysolog The glory of Lazarus doth more torment him then the fire of Hell It is no comfort to him to see Heaven and Lazarus in Abraham's bosome and himself to be thrust into Hell This brings joy to the heart of man when he knows a thing and seeth it to be his own There are three things that make a man glad 1. When a man hath that which he loveth 2. When that which he hath and loveth is the best thing 3. When a man knoweth that he hath and that he loveth is the best thing All these things are in the beatifical Vision The Saints enjoy that which they love viz. God then God is the best thing among all the treasures of good things nothing to be compared to God Likewise the Saints do know that they do enjoy God that God is their God and what God is in himself that he is to them this is that which will satisfie all the Saints when they shall awake out of the dust They also shall see all things in God it is a true Theorem among the Schools Videntes Deum omnia vident in ipso those that see God shall see all other things in him And the reason that they give is this because the Divine essence is the representative object of all things Fulgentius makes this comparison Fulgentius his comparison God saith he may not unfitly be compared to a glass look as in a glass we see three things we see the glass it self then we see our own self in the glass then we see other things in the glass too so in God we shall see Deitatem nosmetipsos caeteraque see God see our selves see all other things besides Now this knowledg will not be a comprehensive knowledg of God we may be studying God to all eternity and yet we shall never be able to comprehend him God is infinite and our understandings are finite it is impossible for an infinite object to be confined within the limits of a finite being Aquinas gives this good rule Divina essentia tota videtur quia est simplicissima partibus carens sed non totaliter Aquinas We shall see the whole essence but as most simply void of all composition but we shall not see him wholly we shall have large and clear apprehensions of God but no comprehension As Cardan told them that asked of him What God was Tunc Deus essem if I were able to tell you what God is I my self should be a God We should all be Gods if we could comprehend God SECT III. THe Saints in Heaven shall also behold the Lord Jesus as he is God the same God with the Father and the Holy Ghost More particularly 1. They shall have a perfect knowledg of him as God and Man as Mediator between God and Man they shall not only see the Lord Jesus with their bodily eyes but they shall also discern his incomparable excellency with the eye of their inner man they shall then understand the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God they shall clearly see into the mystery of the hypostatical or personal union of God and Man which is now so little understood by us they shall then see the God-head filling the Manhood with glory and majesty dwelling in it substantially they shall behold how the nature of man was raised unto an infinite height above all created nature and joyned to the Deity in the word hypostatically and substantially they shall see how God is truly and properly Man and how Man is truly and properly God which naturally no created understanding can comprehend they shall then clearly behold that wonderful conjunction of the Son of God and of the Seed of Abraham in one Person and shall see the Man-hood exalted far above all Principalities and Powers 2. They shall behold him as the Author and Finisher of their Faith as the Sacrifice for their Sins as him who was their wisdom righteousness
linnen of the Saints upon the stinking lowsie rags of the old Adam Zech. 3. Jehoshua was a Type of such whom God will glorifie he was cloathed with filthy garments when he stood before the Angel he was to put off those filthy garments and then God caused a Mitre to be put upon his head and change of raiment for his clothing so God will have you to put off your filthy conversations before he will set a crown of pure gold upon your heads and put on you the white linnen of his Saints Go to now Brethren ye that hope to be glorified with Christ consider with your selves whether the old man be put off whether your earthly members be mortified or do you walk still in the vanity of your minds do you still keep your former conversations are your lusts your Centurions still do you obey them then let me tell you you have no part in Christ you are not the Sons of God your hopes of Heaven are but presumptions you are never like to see God in glory See what you must expect Coloss 3.16 For which things sake cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Tremble at it ye that hope for glory and yet go on in your sins your sins will bring the wrath of God upon your souls and not the glory of God you are the children of disobedience and not the children of God if you will maintain your hopes of glory and title to Heaven shew it forth by purifying your selves as Christ is pure Suppose a leper in times of legal pollutions should have pronounced himself clean while the leprousie was upon him yet he should not be admitted into the Camp unless the Priest did pronounce him clean so may you say that you are clean and that you shall be glorified yet you shall never possess glory unless Christ the High-Priest pronounce you clean CHAP. XXXIV Setteth forth the danger of those that are in a state of Damnation THis in the next place may serve to awaken all slumbring spirits and to startle all those that sleep securely in sin that are far from God and nigh to destruction and yet are well pleased with their condition and are insensible of the danger they are in if the Lord would now open their eyes as he did the eyes of the Host of the King of Syria they would see they were in the midst of Samaria in the midst of Enemies in the way to destruction that their judgment lingers not their damnation slumbers not on the one side they are hastening toward destruction and on the other side destruction is hastning toward them Oh how woful is the condition of such men who can dwell with the devouring fire who can endure everlasting burnings Secure Sinners ye are almost in the mouth of Death and in the gate of Hell and the longer you continue in the way you are in the farther you are from God and the nearer to ruine you are very near to hell and condemnation upon the very brink and border of the land of darkness it is said of the watered ground that bringeth forth nothing but briars and thorns that is rejected that it is nigh to cursing whose end is to be burnt Hebr. 6.8 Salvation is far from the wicked and destruction is near them Psal 119.150 If a man had a dwelling near the gate of hell within the hearing of the hideous cry and noise of those lost souls and damned spirits could he sleep quietly could he take any content in meat or drink or any thing else they that are far from God are near to the pit of destruction and this is their misery that they know it not Is it not a madness for a man to be at his sports and pastimes when his house is on fire and all that he hath is burning to ashes and is it not a far greater madness for you O sinners to sport your selves with sin while the flames of Hell fire are ready to seize upon you Oh have pity and compassion on your own souls you would pity a Beast if you should see him ready to break his neck down a rock and will you have no pity on your own souls that are now ready to be swallowed up in the gulf of hell Consider I pray you that to enjoy the Word of Christ and to hear it powerfully Preached and yet not to be effectually converted by it it brings not a man one step nearer Heaven and puts him not an inch farther from hell than he was before It is said Jude vers 5. that the Lord having saved the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed them that believed not there was a land of Canaan a land of promise and of rest offered to them and the Lord had made way for them to enter in and possess it he had saved them out of the land of Egypt and brought them near the borders of Canaan but this did no whit avail those among them that were unbelieving and disobedient they were destroyed their Carcasses fell in the wilderness they perished in their sins this I take to be a Type of the condition of secure unbelieving impenitent persons under the Gospel there is salvation wrought Jesus Christ came into the world to save a way is open to the Heavenly Canaan to that eternal rest prepared for the people of God the fiery pillar the light of the Gospel is in sight shewing the way to the Kingdom of Heaven but when men and women do carelesly neglect it this their condition is worse than if there had never been any possibility of salvation Better it had been they had died in Egypt than at the borders of Canaan better never in any degree to be saved than to be once saved and afterward to be destroyed utter destruction after some beginnings of salvation is worse than no kind of salvation at all therefore in the 12 verse of that same Epistle of Jude it is said they are trees whose fruit withereth without fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots I entreat you seriously to consider the woful estate of a soul twice dead twice lost twice condemned once condemned by the Law and then again condemned by the Gospel Oh tremble and beware of this double condemnation If the river of brimstone enkindled by the Law be so dreadful Isa 33.14 Oh how dreadful then shall those flames of wrath be if they shall be fed and increased with the oyl of the Gospel for the neglect and contempt of salvation wrought by Christ Oh how do multitudes of men that are now under the sound of the Gospel and have the means of salvation afforded them put away the word of life from them and judge themselves unworthy of everlasting life such will one day when it is too late see their folly and wish they had never had a Christ nor a Gospel nor a Heaven nor an immortal soul to lose The Turkish History reporteth of Bajazet the