of Heaven and Earth the Fountain of all that is good and amiable in this world who here entertains us with so many pleasures that by them we may guess what he is able and willing to doe for them who have no greater care then above all things to please him They shall be fixed in a stedfast sight that is enjoyment of him to their infinite satisfaction IV. And if we mark the words of S. John who speaks this more fully and tells us in the place before named we shall see him AS HE IS which he makes the reason and cause of our being like him they will imbolden us still to seek into a farther meaning of this phrase And since we can enjoy nothing without a knowledg of it preceding we are to understand that to see God as he is will be to have our minds filled with a knowledg of him so clear so distinct and strong that it will even turn us into his own Nature Life and Bliss We shall not behold that is know him as we do now by similitudes resemblances and expressions borrowed from other things which is all our natures are here able to bear but by a clear notion of him formed in our minds wherein our hearts will be infinitely pleased and feel his happiness come flowing into them My meaning may be thus explained As it is an imperfect sight of a man which we have in a Picture though drawn by the most curious hand and strongest fancy and the man himself if he stand before a Looking-glass will in a moment draw an Image more like him then the skilfullest Artist can delineate all his life long especially if he never saw the person but onely had a description of him in a book or by report just such is the sight or knowledg that we have of God in this world either by his Word or by his Works or by the Idea's of our own mind a very imperfect thing and much like the picture of a person which we never yet had before our eyes But hereafter when he will be pleased to appear to give us a more immediate sight of him without these helps and present himself to our mind as the face to a glass this will be to know him indeed and to see him as he is Now as the sight of a Friend when he presents himself to the eye doth marvellously refresh and comfort us and there is a sense of pleasure imparted to us in the very beholding a rare beauty which we are not like perhaps to see any more so this Seeing God is no barren thing but instantly infuses the highest satisfaction and delight into pure hearts who by knowing his blessed Nature will find it imprinting it self as it were upon them and making every one of them to be the blessed Image of it Look what God is that they by the sight of him shall be He will dwell in them as the image of a thing does in the glass And they shall be possessed of him of his life of his joys by having a sensible perception of the Wisedom the Goodness the Purity and all the other Perfections that shine in himself V. Or if this be too hard to be understood let us content our selves to know that to SEE GOD as he is is to enjoy him as he is in heaven that is according to that manner and measure wherein he shews and manifests himself in those celestiall places Pious Souls shall really perceive all the effects of his Bounty Wisedom and Power which are known and communicated in that other world Which as it is higher then this so hath more of God to be seen in it then can be discovered here All that the holy Angels see and enjoy of him all that Good which he lets forth out of himself in that glorious place wherein above all other he is said to be shall be the portion of those happy Souls who may be said therefore to see him AS HE IS They shall not enjoy him in so low a manner as the highest and the most highly beloved persons have enjoyed him in this world where there is but little of him but in the noblest manner that he can be enjoyed so as the heavenly Ministers yea our ever-Blessed Lord are made partakers of him For when our Lord prays that his Disciples may behold or see his glory which the Father had given him xvii Joh. 24. his meaning is according to what I have said of the word Seeing that they might have their share at last with him in his Happiness and be admitted to take a part with him in that supreme Dignity to which he was ready to be advanced And thus when St. John invites others into the Christian Society telling them that their fellowship was with the Father and his Son jesus Christ 1 Joh. i. 3. it is as much as to say that they could no-where be so happy because it is the singular priviledge of Christian people to be admitted unto a partnership with God and our Saviour in their most happy life and to have hopes and expectation to partake with them in their eternall Bliss VI. Which may very well give me occasion to adde that since Grace Mercy and Peace come to us now from God the Father Son and Holy Ghost we may hope in this Vision of God to have as well a clear Knowledg of that ever-Blessed Trinity as a full communication from their ineffable Love We shall understand that Holy Mystery which now the sense of our weakness forbids us to pry into and be able perhaps to unfold how the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost is one God without any diversity or separation of nature Epist cxii ad Paulinam cap. 19. Homil. de Martyre Mamante as St. Austin expresses this Mystery which I durst not in my former Treatise adventure to explain For St. Basil had taught me to mark this in those words of our Saviour x. Joh. 27. My sheep hear my voice that he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they hear not question or dispute They believe he is the Word of God but do not ask how nor say if he was alway then he was not begotten or if he was begotten then he was not alway These are not the words of the Sheep of Christ who receive his voice and enquire no farther And I had learnt also from a great Divine of our own Nation D◠Jackson Pres to Cathol Church to whose grave judgment I thought there was a greater veneration due then to the little forward Censurers of this Age that the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity is an Argument more fit for Meditation in Prayers and Soliloquies then for Controversie or Scholastick Discourse We believe one Divine Nature in three Persons and that the Divine Nature in the Person of the Father required Satisfaction for the Transgressions of men against his Holy Laws and that the same Divine Nature in the Person of the Son undertook to make
those who overcome includes in it the bestowing on us the most excellent benefits Because he will be our GOD in a more excellent manner then he ever was yet to men such a GOD as he was to our Blessed Lord himself He will prefer us to live with him in great splendour and glory He will give us an inheritance in a better Country which is an heavenly where all delights flow and never cease to spring up to those happy Souls who shall enjoy the eternall fruits of his greatest love For so he adds 4. and he shall be to me a Son A Son you know expects the Inheritance of his Father because to him it properly belongs and upon him it descends And therefore to be to GOD a Son is to be made like him and to live with him in that very happiness and bliss which he enjoys So St. Paul expresses it viii Rom. 17. he shall be an heir of GOD a co-heir with Jesus who as the Son of God inherits his Glory He shall participate that is with God in his everlasting life kingdom honour and joy which what it is we are not able to tell no more then we can comprehend what his Majesty is who possesses heaven and earth and is infinite in all perfections But we have the greatest reason that can be to expect so great a bliss because we know that God loves his Son Jesus and hath given ALL THINGS into his hand iii. Joh. 35. We are sure that God hath made him most blessed for ever He hath made him exceeding glad with his countenance Honour and Majesty hath he laid upon him and his glory is great in his Salvation xxi Psal 5 6. Now it is most evident you may again observe 5. that the generall intendment of this promise is to put us in hope of being made like to Christ our Elder Brother For he is not ashamed to call us by that name And this being his great Prerogative that he is Heir of all things when the Father of mercy assures us that we shall inherit all things it is as much as to say we shall share with Christ in his large possessions It is easy to note how the Holy Gospell describes our expected felicity in the same terms wherein it speaks of that which Christ our Head enjoys with whom St. Paul says we shall appear in glory and reign with him and have a glorious body like his and in order to it be caught up in the clouds 1 Thess iv 17. which was the manner of his ascension to heaven i. Act. 9. And accordingly here God promises to him that overcomes that he shall inherit all things in conformity still with our Saviour whom he hath appointed heir of all things i. Heb. 2. I cannot say there is any allusion in these words to the Olympick rewards given to the Conquerours in those Combats but so it is that they who overcame there were accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equall to their Gods that is their Hero's or deified men Fabri Agonist L. ii c. 11.16 17. and therefore had Statues erected to their honour and an annuall Pension settled on them for their more noble maintenance But what was this to the reall Divine honour and glory which God will give to victorious Souls To whom he promises not a small Pension or Annuity but an inheritance and that of all things i. e. to shine in the glory of our Blessed Saviour who is King of kings and Lord of lords and can prefer all his Subjects to such a greatness that they shall be more like Gods then men So St. Greg. Nazianzen often speaks that * Orat. xxxvi p. 592. we shall be made Gods in the other World by him that was made Man for us in this It is hard to tell what Heraclitus meant by that speech recorded in Clemens Alexandrinus * L. iii. Padag c. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men are Gods Gods are men But it is verified in the Christian Religion which reveals a Divine state to which we shall ascend when we leave the earth by him who came down from Heaven into a vile condition that he might promote us thither Let us study then these words very hard and think often what it is to have ALL THINGS that the love of the Almighty will bestow when in the most eminent sense and in another World he shall become OUR GOD and what it is to have an estate in him that can never be cut off but remains as firm as the Throne on which he sate when he spake these words And then if you believe in him it will fill you with unspeakable joy without entring into particular enquiries to think that you shall be so happy as to be his Sons and Heirs who want nothing that can be desired or he can give And indeed these other words ETERNALL LIFE wherein God's gracious promise commonly runs are of the same import and force with those now mentioned All that we hope for is contained in them As 1. Pardon of Sin without which we cannot take one step toward so great a bliss For death the fruit and punishment of sin will still remain unless sin be pardoned and then what hope can we have of life much less of Eternall life which is therefore perhaps called by the name of Righteousness v. Gal. 5. because it includes our perfect justification and absolution from the guilt of sin without which we could not attain it And 2. it supposes the Adoption of Sons which is begun in this life but not perfected till the next when we shall be made the children of God by receiving a new life from him at the Resurrection of the dead And 3. the Redemption of the Body is another blessing included in it For being raised again it will be freed from its present weaknesses alterations and pains to which it is obnoxious and stand in need of not so much as food and raiment And therefore the time when he will bestow it is called the day of our Redemption iv Eph. 30. To which must be added 4. the carrying of it up to heaven to meet the Lord For being raised a spirituall body it will not be fit for this World but for the other Where 5. we shall rest with him in the celestiall Inheritance and enjoy all the happiness it affords for LIFE you have heard signifies all good things And lastly the Perpetuity of them is plainly expressed in the word ETERNALL which makes the happiness of this heavenly LIFE appear so exceeding great that our present Life compared to it is as Censorinus says of Time in regard of Eternity no more then a Winter's day Let this then suffice us to know that we shall have a perfect enjoyment of all the Good we are capable to receive when we are made greater then we are by the change that shall be wrought in us at our departure hence and at the resurrection of the dead And let our pains
and the last i. Rev. 11. and turning about to see who it was that spake to him our Saviour appeared in the form and shape of a King and Priest shining in glory as you reade vers 12 13 c. And thus he concludes his Revelation as he had begun xxii 13 16. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end c. I Jesus have sent my Angel to testify unto you these things in the Churches Which is a demonstrative argument that Eternall Life is in him and that he wants no power to effect any thing he hath promised being equall to the Father Almighty whose Name else he would not have assumed II. And if we examine the sense and meaning of this Name we shall still be farther convinced that he will undoubtedly imploy his power to bestow upon us that Eternall Life which is in him For when the Almighty calls himself the First and the Last he either declares that he is the ETERNALL who gave being to all things and remains after they are all dead and gone or else as Oecolampadius and Calvin understand those words in Isaiah that he is the IMMUTABLE from first to last constant to himself and his promises Which is the gloss of R. Solomon upon the words who refers them to the help and assistence which God would give to the last as well as the first of Abraham's children What he had been to Israel the same he would still be He had at the first taken them to be his people and therefore in the latter days he would still own them and shew his speciall affection to them I see no reason why these two expositions should be thought so inconsistent as to exclude one the other when they may both be very well joyned together And then our Lord intends by the assumption of this Title that St. John and all the Christian Churches should look upon him as the Eternall God able to perpetuate his love and mercy towards them world without end and as alway the same unchangeable Wisedom and Goodness whose mind and will is no more alterable then his power but remains as firmly fixed as God the Father Almighty doth So that look what God the Father now is or hath been or what himself hath ever been to the body of his Church the same He will still continue immutably to our endless happiness If God the Father was and is and will be the Alpha or beginning the same is He likewise All things come from him to his Church of which he is the Founder by him it subsists and continues and he hath such a creative power in him that he can give all blessings even Life everlasting to it For though we die yet he is the Omega who remains still in being after all the world is buried in its ruines and therefore can quicken our dust and ashes and gather them up to himself and make them glorious God the Father raised him from the dead and gave him glory and therefore seeing He hath the same power as appears by these titles He can doe as much for us and give us a glorious resurrection In this God the Father faithfully fulfilled the promises he had made him of glorifying him with himself and therefore we may be confident he will be as true to us and make good all the promises he hath left us for our incouragement in his obedience because he is perfectly such as his Father is And to come a little nearer to that interpretation which Rabbi Solomon gives of the words of the Prophet where this expression is first used our Lord would have us think that as God the Father Almighty having begun to shew mercy and favour to Israel would not fail to go on and continue the same kindness to the end so He being likewise the ALPHA having begun that is to raise himself a Church and to doe great things for it even to die and purchase it with his bloud would undoubtedly be the OMEGA finish that is his own work and bring that of which he had laid the foundation to an happy conclusion never ceasing his kindness till he had perfected his Saints in that Life he had begun to bestow upon them Or as he began in this world to raise men from the dead to bestow upon them other great benefits to make them very precious promises of greater favours and to seal them with his bloud so he would have them rest assured he would continue to the end to doe them good and at the last raise all his faithfull servants from the dead and take them up to live with himself and in the mean time perform every other promise he had made for their present satisfaction and support in this troublesome world As he died for them so he would have them make account he lived for them because he is always the same at last the very same that he was at first And therefore since he lives they might expect to live also III. But he did not leave them merely to draw these inferences themselves from that great Name whereby he now made himself known to St. John but immediately after he had told who he was he more clearly and particularly declares this very thing that he hath Life in himself For you reade that St. John beholding him in such glory with a countenance as bright as the Sun when it shineth in its strength which was a sight too strong for our weak eyes to look upon i. Rev. 16. fell at his feet as one dead He was as much astonished at his presence though he knew Jesus loved him as St. Paul was while he was a persecutour of him Which shews that our Lord appeared now in a most amazing glory too splendid for the capacity of his best Friends to endure long without the danger of ceasing to be men For so far were those words which our Lord spake from giving him life that like to those who heretofore beheld the glory of God he was more astonished at what he saw then comforted with what he heard and thought it is probable he should die presently and give up the ghost But in this trembling fit Jesus was pleased graciously to approach and laying his right hand on him bad him not fear nor let that Majesty of God which he beheld in him cast him into such a great consternation It is true indeed says he vers 17. I am the first and the last as I said before that is am invested with all the power of God bearing his Name and Authority but there is so much comfort in this that it ought rather to have transported thee with joy then struck thee with terrour For as it there follows vers 18. I who call my self Alpha and Omega the first and last am he that liveth and was dead I the very same person who loved thee and the rest of mankind so well as to die for you and never made use of my power to your hurt am
Peter says that those heavenly Ministers have so great a value for the Gospell that they desire to look into these things wondering that we Gentiles should be made not onely fellow-citizens with the Saints but equall to themselves They rejoyced when they heard the good news that our Lord was come down to men and it seems he hath told us things beyond all their expectation Shall not we then set a due esteem upon them and look into them and consider them who have them so near unto us and are so much concerned in them Then it were better for us if we had no eyes or if we lived in those places where no such things are to be seen for none will be so miserable as they that might have been exceeding happy and chose to remain miserable and that when so few thoughts would have secured their happiness For there is no way to be undone but onely by not believing or not considering the Gospell of God's grace Secure but these two passages and strict piety will necessarily be our imployment and Eternall Life our reward No temptation will be strong enough to make us neglect our work and I am sure faithfull is he who hath promised and will not fail to pay us more then our wages VI. And what now remains but to put those in mind who obediently believe in the Lord Jesus what cause they have to entertain themselves beforehand with great joy in the comfortable expectation of God's mercy in Him to Eternall life Let all his true-hearted Disciples who hear his voice and follow him rejoyce yea let them be glad in him with exceeding joy Let them say O how great is the goodness of God! how rich are those blessings which he hath laid up for them that love him how exceeding great and precious are the promises he hath made them Our calling in Christ Jesus how high is it what is there nobler then his kingdom and glory To which also he hath called us by glory and vertue Heaven and earth concur in the most glorious and powerfull manner to give us assurance that it shall be well exceeding well with all those that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity Why should we suffer our selves then to be dejected at any accident in this world which falls cross to us Shall we take pet when any thing troubles us and let our spirits die within us who have such glorious hopes to live upon and mightily support us Jesus is alive He is alive for evermore And in him is Eternall life for all his followers The Father the Word the Holy Ghost are come to comfort us with this joyfull news The Water the Bloud and the Spirit all say the same and ask us why we are so sad when life and immortality is brought to light by the Gospell It is the desire of the Lord Jesus that we would not mourn as though he still lay in his grave and could doe nothing for us He is certainly risen and gone into the heavens where God hath made him exceeding glad with his countenance And it will adde to his joy if it be capable of increase to see us rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory And therefore let us doe him the honour to glory in his holy Name and let us say alway Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for us 1 Pet. i. 3 4. We ought to say so with joyfull hearts even when death it self approaches which of all other is the most frightfull Enemy of mankind but is made our Friend by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospell 2 Tim. i. 10. Which hath given us as the same Apostle saith such everlasting consolation that it would be a great reproach to it to receive Death timorously which Wise men before our Saviour came concluded might be for any thing they knew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greatest of all goods Our Lord assures us they were right in their conjectures and hath made that certain which Socrates whose words those are left doubtfull Plato Apolog Socr. And therefore we ought not to leave the world as if it were the greatest unhappiness that could befall us It is for him onely to fear death as St. Cyprian speaks * L. de Mortalitate p. 208. who would not go to Christ and he onely hath reason to be unwilling to go to Christ who doth not believe he shall begin to reign with him This is the onely thing as he writes a little after which makes men take death so heavily quia fides deest because Faith is wanting because they do not believe those things are true which He who is Truth it self hath promised But though they give credit to what a grave and laudable person promises they are wavering about that which God saith and receive it with an incredulous mind For if they believed they would entertain that which now seems dreadfull as St. Greg. Nazianzen * Orat. xviii p. 284. says that blessed Martyr did whose Death he doubts whether he should call his departure from this life or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his departure of God or the fulfilling of his desire And thus if we may believe Calcidius the famous Trismegistus died Fr. Archangel Dogm Cabalistica saying to his Son that stood by him My Son hitherto I have lived an exile from my country but now I am going safe thither And therefore when a little while hence I shall be freed from the chain of this body see that you do not bewail me as if I was dead For I am onely returning to that most excellent blessed City whither the Citizens cannot arrive unless they take death in their way There God onely is the Governour in chief who entertains his Citizens with a marvellous sweetness in comparison with which that which we now call Life is rather to be termed Death And what if in our passage to it we should fall into divers temptations or trialls of our sincere affection to the Lord Jesus There is no reason that this should dishearten us and deaden our spirits For it is the singular privilege of a Christian to rejoyce in the Lord alway iv Phil. 4. especially when he suffers for righteousness sake In that case the Apostles thought it an honour that they were counted worthy to be beaten and suffer shame for his Name v. Act. 41. And St. James thought their example was not unimitable by other Christians to whom he saith i. 2. My Brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations And so they did as you reade in the Epistle to the Christian Hebrews of whom the Apostle gives