indeed Believers to be so far one with Christ Idem velle Idem nolle vera est amicitia and that is a very sweet and precious union to will and nill the same things is an high degree of love and oneness but to say no more of the Union betwixt Christ and his Saints is to say too little Sixthly Neither is this Union barely a Sacramental Vnion whereby Christians in either of the Sacraments or any other Evangelical institution are in an Elemental professional way joyned to Christ and Christ to them Thus all good and bad Elect and Reprobate Simon Magus as well as any of the Believing Samaritans Acts 8.12 13. Judas as well as Peter all I say are made one with Christ in an external professional use of those Gospel-institutions while in the mean time a real Believer in a true living spiritual saving way is made partaker of Christ and of all his benefits in all Gospel-Ordinances Seaventhly In contradistinction to the Union which we have with Christ by vertue of his assuming our humane nature Christ was incarnate in the Womb of the Virgin and thereby was personally united to our flesh which is the highest advancement of the humane nature that can be conceived Heb. 2.16 For verily he took not upon him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham Christ assumed mans nature being God from all Eternity he took on him the one to the other and so made of those two natures one person by this we have a kind of Union with Jesus Christ ver 11. He which Sanctifieth and they which are Sanctified are both of one i.e. of one God say some the Son of God and Saints are all of one God the Father others understand it of Adam Christ as concerning the flesh and all the sanctified are of one common root and Father though by a different generation But of one here is to be referred principally to the nature whereof both the sanctifier and sanctified are partakers i.e. Acts 17.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are of the same blood and kindred of the same mould constitution of the same humane nature This is a near and an honourable Conjunction for by this means Jesus Christ is become our Immanuel God with us bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh but yet this Conjunction is common to all sanctified and unsanctified prophane and holy and verily it will be found an high aggravation of sin in the great day that sinners should dare to profane and prostitute that nature to sinful purposes Heb. 2.11 which the Son of God hath sanctified by so wonderful an assumption of it into one and the same personality with the divine nature Thus the sanctified are one with him that sanctifieth but that 's not all Eighthly It is real in contradistinction to that contemplative Vnion which the Saints have with Christ in their holy Meditations Meditation doth bring the object and the faculty together and makes them one And thus the Saints are often united to Jesus Christ in holy contemplation whereby they let in Christ into their Souls and their Souls into Christ and become as it were One Spirit or one in Spirit with him but neither is this all for even common gifts and parts may produce this Conjunction as well as Grace Art may thus Unite Christ and the understanding as well as Faith One may be thus United to Christ for a time and yet be separated from Christ for ever Again Ninethly It is a real Union in contradistinction to Reconciliatory Vnion Falling out separates between person and person Reconciliation makes them one again Reconciliation is the Attonement of Enemies and thus indeed God and Sinners are Reconciled by Christ by him we have received the Attonement those whom sin made two Rom. 5.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reconciliation Christ makes one This is a choyce fruit of Christ's death a concomitant of our Union with Christ yet not the very Vnion it self or not the whole of this Union there is between Christ and Believers the Union of Friendship 2 Cor. 5.18 19. But neither is that all Tenthly and lastly This Vnion is real in contradistinction to affectionate Vnion Crederes unam animam in duobus esse divisam Min. Fel. Oct. Love is as an uniting affection it makes the lover and the beloved one as if two persons had but one Soul between them thus Christ loves the Saints Rev. 1.5 and the Saints love Christ again 1 Pet. 1.8 Christ's love to them is the cause their love to Christ is the effect 1 Jo. 4.19 Yet this Union is rather a fruit of that Union we are now speaking of than the Vnion it self as in Marriage the conjugal bond and conjugal love are distinct things Indeed Love doth Unite Christ and the Saints but Love is rather the fruit of this Union than the Union it self there is somewhat more real in this Union than the Love it self None of all these reach the nature of this Union The Scripture describes it to be a real and a solid Union as real as that beween Head and Members Root and Branches for although it be a Spiritual Union yet doth it not therefore cease to be real things are not therefore less real because Spiritual yea therefore more God who is the most absolute and real Being a Being which gives Being to every thing which hath a being is most spiritual John 4.24 God is a Spirit and the nearer any being or excellency approximates unto God the more real it is the more it self as we see in Angels and the Souls of men Our Saviour his giving of us his Flesh to eat is not as the Papists believe or rather as they would make us believe they do believe literal and carnal the truth it self bearing witness John 6.63 The Flesh profiteth nothing q. d. If you could literally tear my Flesh with your teeth and pour my Blood down your throats this would not profit you at all in point of Salvation What then will Why the words which I speak are Spirit and Life i. e. they are to be understood in a Sacramental and spiritual sense c. And yet although Christs Body be not food in a fleshly but in a spiritual sense Jo. ◠55 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Truly or Verily it is not therefore less real no my flesh is meat indeed and my Blood is drink indeed it is neither painted nor Enchanted meat but real and substantial yet not corporal but spiritual yea it is so real that in comparison of that all other corporal food is but imaginary and metaphorical it is but like bread it is but like wine painted bread Quasi food and painted wine not so indeed and in truth compared with Christ in the holy Supper Such is this Union although yea because it is not a corporal but a spiritual Union therefore it is so true and real that in comparison of it all Unions and
hath made them sc by vertue of their Union with Jesus Christ Doth Christ call God his Father and his God behold He Heb. 2.11 being not ashamed to call them Brethren lets them know that he is their God and Father God to my Brethren and say to them John 20.17 I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God Once more Hath the Father appointed him a Kingdom so doth he appoint unto them a Kingdom Luk. 22.29 Hath the Father assigned him a Throne so doth Christ assigne unto his Saints a Throne also To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me Rev. 3.21 in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne My Brethren what a Soul-enriching beatifical Union is this There be Unions in nature which convey nothing communicate nothing but empty and insignificant titles which make the person admitted into them not a whit the richer the better not a jot the more noble or happy but this Union as that divine essential Union between the Father and the Son doth invest Christ into all divine properties and prerogatives with the Father so this between Christ and the Believer invests the Believer into the whole Christ and all his riches and all his glory in so much as the Spouse gives in the whole accompt in this vast and invaluable sum Cant. 2.16 My Beloved is mine and I am his he is mine the whole Christ is mine in his natures offices excellencies prerogatives and inheritance In all he is and in all he hath it is all mine for my good and for my glory This is the voice of her Faith and then I am his this is the voice of her love I am his in all I am in all I have in all I can make by my interest in the world and if it were a thousand times more he should have it all and all too little for him who hath loved me and washed one in his own Blood and hath taken me into so rich and glorious an Vnion with his own self To him be glory for ever Amen This is the fourth Property I proceed to a fifth property of the Union Fifth Property an intimous Vnion and it is a near inward intimous Union To hint the intimateness of this Union the Holy Ghost in Scripture carries us through the climax of all Unions under Heaven and compares it with them of what nature and kind soever Whether Artificial Whether Political Whether Natural Wherein although you may find different degrees one exceeding another yet all falling short of this blessed Vnion in respect of closeness and intimacy It tells you that look how the house and foundation are one so are Christ and Believers 1 Pet. 2.4 5 6. yea higher It tells you that look how Husband and Wife are one so is Christ and his Saints Hos 2.19 Eph. 5.30 only with this incomparable difference Husband and Wife make but one flesh 1 Cor 6.16 17. but Christ and the Believer make one Spirit ut supra It tells us yet higher that look how the Head and Members are one so is Christ and his Church 1 Cor. 12.12 how root and branches are one John 15.1.6 so Christ and Believers and closer yer the Scripture tells us that look how Food and the body are one so also is Christ and the Believer one hence we hear of eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood John 6.51 53 54 55 56. and nearer yet if nearer can be It 〈◊〉 that look how the Soul and Body are one how Life and the subject wherein it resides are one so is Christ and the Believer Colos 3.4 when Christ who is our life shall appear c. Behold here Christians is an Union which amounts tantum non to an identity say only with Cyprian it is not such an Union as is between the two natures in Christ Non miscet personas nec unit substantias Cypr. It is indeed an Union of persons but not a personal Union Mystici Theologi A Believer trans-essentiated into God and Bread and Wine transsubstantiated into Christ are much of a Language So they call the Holy Ghost auram zephyri caelestis and pardon of sin Deos superos manesque pacare Card. de Bemb which makes them but one person not such an Union as is between the three glorious Persons in the blessed Trinity who notwithstanding the distinction of their personality are but one nature and essence and you cannot say or think too highly of this Vnion yea whatsoever you can say or think will be short of the intimacy and excellency of this Union Onely we must tell the world that those mystical divines amongst the Papists as they call themselves who talk of the Saints being trans essentiated into God and those Seraphicks amongst us as they would be called but Phanatiques more truly and properly who rant at the same rate Christed with Christ and Godded with God these speak as men so ambitious of being accounted sublime and Angelical in comparison of all other men whom they scorn as illiterate Literatists that they think it a lessening to them to speak in a common and sober Dialect and rather then not speak bigger words then other men they fear not to speak Blasphemy The Lord convince them Notwithstanding I must add this to what I have said that because no Union under Heaven was close enough to express the oneness which is betwixt Christ and the Believer therefore our Lord Jesus himself carries us up to Heaven there to contemplate the essential Union which is between the Father and the Son Jo. 17. and puts them into the same parallel As thou Father art in me and I in thee that they may be one in us yet still we must be careful to understand the words of Christ in a sober sense lest whil'st our Lord doth honour our Union with himself by comparing it to divine Union in the Trinity we do in the least dishonour that Union by levelling it with ours we must duly remember that this comparative particle as doth not here intend equality but likeness oâ—â—y the truth of the intimacy and not the nature or the degree of it to lift up this mystical Union above all other Unions in nature but we must still keep the divine Union in its own place This is the fifth property The sixth property Sixth property total It is a total Union The whole Christ is United to the whole Christian as the whole humane nature in Christ is joyned to the whole divine nature so the whole person of a Believer is joyned to the whole person of Christ yet not so as to make Christ and the Believer but one person but as in the conjugal Union between Man and Wife making up one mystical body or as in the body natural every Member is joyned to the head and the head to every member so is Christ and the Believer Yea once
Eph. 3.10 Lectures read in the Assemblies of the Saints for some insight into the mystery of Christ in the Gospel Oh how ready and able will they be to pay their debts with an abundant interest out of the immense volumes of knowledge which they have treasured up The Communications of their love their holiness their zeal their heavenliness c. what united flames will they make when they be joyned in communion and converse with the graces and perfections of the Saints Object If it be objected Is there not enough in God to fill the Saints to the vastest capacity What need then of Star-light when the Sun shines Yea may not the Saints conversing with Angels and one another be thought to be a diversion from the supreme object of light and love Sol. To this I answer No and the reason is because all the perfections and excellencies which are in the Creature are as so many beams and emanations leading the eye of the beholder to the Sun it self the body and fountain from which they do spring August saith we shall see God in his Saints and their glorious actings as well and as manifestly as now we see mens bodies in the vital actions of their bodies De Civit. Dei l. 22. c. 29. or as learned and holy mens Commentaries and Expositions are to the holy Scripture which do neither detract from nor add to that immense volume of truth but serve only to illustrate it and to render it more intelligible to the dark and imperfect understanding of the Creature Surely such an infinite full Text as God is will stand in need of some marginal notes as it were To see God in his Saints and the Saints in God this will be no diminution of the bentifical Vision All the excellencieâ— in the Creature are but drops from God the Fountain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The glorious Angels and Saints are alwayes sunning themselves in the presence of â—od and will keep company together to all Eternity A fourth Object The glorified body of the Son of God to help the Reader as Christ is said in the dayes of his flesh to be the Exegesis or Interpreter of the Father unto us John 1.18 So may the Angels be to the Saints in Heaven and such is all the glory of Heaven yea so is the humane nature of Christ himself now in glory the great Expositor of the Divine Essence a Mirrour or Glass wherein we come to see God more clearly and fully Which brings me to A fourth Object of the beatifical Vision and that is Christ himself or the glorified humane nature of the Lord Jesus Christ in his humane nature exalted to the right hand of his Father the highest seat in glory far above all principality and power Eph. 1.21 and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but in that which is to come This is the highest beatifical object in Heaven next to the divine Essence the sight of Christ as man it was the great design which the Lord Jesus had in redeeming them with his blood â—â—â—n 17.24 Father I will that they whom thou host given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me And sâ—rely this will be a glorious sight indeed behold of the glory of Christ in his transfiguration it is said That his face did shine as the Sun and his rayment was white as the light If the glory of his transfiguration was so excellent what will the glory be of his exaltation If the glory of his foot-stoul was so excellent how will the glory of his throne excel in glory If he appeared so bright upon an carthly Mountain how transplendent will he appear upon Mount Sion the Mountain of God that heavenly Mountain If such were his lustre in his state of humiliation before passion what beams of Majesty will shine from his face in his state of glorification when he is to receive the reward of his passion Behold there appeared then with him only Moses and Elias what will his glory be when all the Patriarchs and Prophets all the Apostles and Martyrs the whole Society of the Saints with the whole host of the mighty Angels that begirt his Throne with their hallelujahs and joyful acclamations Mark 9.6 That vision of Christ on earth did fill Peter and the Disciples with wonder and astonishment even to an extasie so that the Text tells us He knew not what he said Oh with what joy and ravishment shall the sight of Christ in glory fill the glorified Saints when their faculties shall be so raised that they shall understand what they see and profess what they unstand Surely Peter and all his fellow Saints will then say and know what they say Lord it is good for us to be here What a beautiful beatifying Object this will be Considerations evidencing the glory of Christs humane nature 1 Considerat The reward of his Passion we may guess for more we cannot by these three Considerations The first Consideration is this The glory of the humane nature of Jesus Christ in Heaven is the reward of his Passion here on earth In respect of the divine nature and as Jesus Christ was the second Person in Trinity the glory which the Lord Jesus now possesseth at his Fathers right hand was the glory which he had with the Father from before the foundation of the world John 17.24 but as to the assumption of the humane nature it was glory given him by the Father Christ had a twofold right to the Kingnom of glory sc natural and constitutive natural as he was the only begotten Son of God and so of the same nature and essence with the Father from all eternity and so whatever power and glory was essentially the Fathers was essentially the Sons also But then besides that Heb. 1.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tuit Jesus Christ had also a constitutive right or a right by donation as he was appointed and made heir of all things now this constitutive glory as I say was the fruit and reward of his sufferings Phil. 2.7 8 9 Because he humbled himself and became obedient to death even the death of the Cross Therefore hath God highly exalted him and given him a name above all names c. Because and Therefore the exaltation of his humane nature was the merit and compensation of his humiliation and abasement Now then if we would make an estimate of the glory of Christ now at his Fathers right hand we cannot find out a more proper medium than to make a serious and if it were possible a thorow search and enquiry into his abasement and humiliation And certainly if there had been nothing else in it but his incarnation or the assumption of our flesh it had been an infinite abasement to the Son of God so deep an abasement as it had been blasphemy for men or Angels to
divine essence is an arbitrary and voluntary glass manifesting all mysteries not by necessity but according to the freedom of his own will there the Saints may read to the full the Mystery of the blessed Trinity how three in one and one in three Father Son and Holy Ghost God blessed for ever That thrice glorious and till we come to Heaven not to be fathomed Mystery the wonder and adoration of the believing world that immense ocean over which so many daring Spirits having essayed to fly have fallen in and been drowned that burning light unto which so many presuming to approach too near have scorcht their wings and lost both their eyes and themselves together that sacred Ark into which too many presumptuous Bethshemites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having dared over boldly to look have been smitten What is essence And what is person And how they differ How the Father begets and the Son is begotten and how the Holy Ghost proceeds from both how they are distinguished by their order their personal properties and manner of working upon the Creature how the Father worketh from himself the Son worketh from the Father and the Holy Ghost worketh both from the Father and the Son How there should be alius alius and not aliud aliud c. These will be Lectures which shall be read in the Trinity it self in glory and that in a most clear and intelligible notion then shall the Saints be able to understand the mystery of the incarnation of the second Person the Son of God that Mystery of Godliness of Godliness 1 Tim. 3.16 because it transforms sinners into Saints and mystery because it containeth so many deep and mysterious wonders in it The blessed blessed-making Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God our Lord Jesus Christ scil Why the second Person in Trinity rather than the first or third should be incarnate Why he should take the nature of man rather than the nature of Angels and that when it was at the worst how he could take the nature of sinful man and yet not take the sinfulness of his nature the Hypostatical union between the divine and humane natures in the Lord Jesus in one person how there should be there aliud aliud and yet not alius alius That mysterious union between the Lord Christ the Head and all Believers the true Members of his body what it is and how they are made one with Christ as the Father and the Son are one this precious Mystery I say shall then be made manifest Jehn 14.20 at that day you shall know both what it is and how it is that I am in the Father and you in me and I in you c. then and not till then How he that is every where filling Heaven and Earth with his presence should yet be included in the narrow limits of a Virgins womb How he that made the Law should be made under the Law How the Ancient of dayes should become an Infant of moments How he that was begot before all time should be born in the fulness of time Ephes 3.10 How a Virgin and yet a Mother These and a thousand difficulties more wherein doth meet that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multiform multivarious wisdom of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 1.12 Ephes 3.10 as lines in a center where into the very Angels desire to peep and for some imperfect discoveries whereof they are glad to be beholding to the Lectures read in the Churches by their * Hoc vâ—rd nostra altior no titis praedicatur quam Anclorum tan 〈◊〉 intelligit Petrus ea nobu promitti quorum complementum videre cupiunt Cal. in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alludit ad propuiatorii formam c. Jam tum indicante figurâ fore ut in Christo cujus typur erat arca omnes sapientiae intelligentiae insiderent thesauri per Evangelii praedicationâ—m patesaciendi avidâ— ipsis Angelâ— beatâ— totum hoc mysterium cognoscare cujus etiam exhibitionem jam inde ab ipâ—is Christi noscentu incunabilu ecclesiae enarrâ—rant Beza in loc earthly Angels the Ministers of the Gospel these I say shall be clearly read and understood in that original wisdom wherein they were first conceived That profound and dark Mystery of Election and Reprobation why God should chuse one and leave another Why God should love Jacob and hate Esau Why the one should become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why first the Jews should be a Church and the Gentiles Aliens should afterward be adopted into the Covenant and the Jews broken off and cast out That God should break open the heart of a rebellious sinner by efficacious Grace and deny sufficient aid to one that hath improved his present strength far better With all other the dark profound Mysteries of Gods Decrees shall then be made glasses And lastly That mystery of wickedness and abominations and why God hath suffered him so long to reign and to usurp so great a part of Christs purchased and promised possessions with all his witchcrafts and sorceries whereby he hath deceived the Nations they shall all be discovered and brought to light to his eternal shame and confusion That God should shine out only upon some few spots of ground with the light of the Gospel and shut up the rest in palpable darkness The Creation of the World shall then be more clearly understood in the cause than now it is in the effect how all things were made out of the first matter and that out of nothing Rev. 13 10 14.12 Those hard mysteries of providence which do now try and exercise the faith and patience of the Saints scil Why they that are best should speed worst That there be just men unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked and again That there be wicked men Eccl 8.14 unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous In so much that now we call the proud happy Mal. 3.15 and they that work wickedness are set up yea they that tempt God are even delivered Why the worse cause should many times have the better success Why God should suffer his dearest Children to be abused and insulted over when wickedness in the mean while triuÌ„mphs securely Why wickedness should be set up in high places and innocence should be trod under foot Somewhat of these Riddles the Word doth now interpret unto the Saints blessed be God to command their silence and submission to God but then shall they return and discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not all this will be then seen in God to infinite satisfaction The grand Article of the Faith The Resurrection of the dead being then already past shall be fully understood how the body after thousands of years in some through unutterable varieties of mutations and vast
cast forth her dead The dead shall arise by vertue of this dew the warm animating influence of Christs Resurrection Hence it is as I have hinted before that our Lord calls himself the Resurrection and the Life namely to intimate to us that by the same spirit of holiness whereby he raised himself from the dead he will also quicken their mortal bodies This is a second Connexion which inseparably links in the Resurrection of the Saints with the Resurrection of Christ For surely were it not so the Resurrection of Jesus Christ would signifie no more than the Resurrection of Lazarus or any other of the Saints mentioned Math. 27.52 53. Yea the Resurrection of Christ would not be of so great vertue and influence as the dry bones of the Prophet the very touch whereof raised the dead man 2 King 12.21 which was cast into his Grave Thirdly There is between the Resurrection of Christ Third Connexion of Design and the Resurrection of the Saints at the last day a Connexion of Design The Lord Jesus had a design upon the Saints in his rising again from the Dead and what that was he tells us in the last passionate prayer before his passion John 17.24 Father I will that all those whom thou hast given me be with me that where I am they might be also Therefore Christ arose and ascended that he might come again and awake them out of their Graves and take them home to himself into Mansions of Glory So he comforted his Disciples before his departure Joh. 14.3 If I go and prepare a place for you I will come and receive you unto my self that where I am there you may be also Christ counts not himself full Eph. 1.23 The Head is not compleat without the Members Although I thus sence the words yet I would not be thought to exclude every other meaning as knowing that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies as well quod impletur as quod implet till he hath all his Members with him therefore is the Church called the fullness of him that filleth all things marke it Christ is the fulness of all things and yet the Church is called the fulness of Christ how so Christ is the fulness of the Church as the Head is the fulness of the Members supplying them with Life and Influence and the Church is the fulness of Christ as the Members are the fulness of the Head making of it a compleat and perfect man Christ is the fulness of the Church for internal animation and the Church is the fulness of Christ for external consummation The Church is Christs outward not inward fulness see Jeans on Colos 1.19 page 19. This is then a third inseparable Connexion between Jesus rising again from the Dead and the Saints rising again because without this Christ should loose the very plot and project of his own Resurrection and be defective even in his state of Glory as an Head without his Members This must not be it cannot be And this casts us upon the fourth Connexion Fourth Connexion of Vnion before we are aware of it sc A Connexion of Vnion The Connexion which is between Christ his Resurrection and the Saints Resurrection is that very Connexion which is between him and them namely the Union which is between the Head and Members The wicked rise not by vertue of Christs Resurrection there being no such Vnion between Christ them they are raised by a general power of Christ as a Judge Christ is the Head Eph. 1.22 and the Saints are the Members of his body v. 23. his Mystical body It would not be proper here to discourse largely concerning the nature of this Vnion especially in as much as I shall have occasion to meet with it again in the process of this discourse sufficient to my design it is to shew you how this spiritual Vnion that is between Christ and Believers is one of the * In Nature we see that the Winter Trees which seem to be dead revive again in the Spring because the Body Armes and Graines of the Tree are joyned to the Root where the Sap lies all the Winter and by means of its Conjunction it conveys vegetation to all parts of the Tree Even so our life is hid with Christ in God And in the day of the Resurrection by reason of this mystical Conjunction Divine and quickening Vertue shall stream from Christ to his Elect and cause them to rise again c. Foundations whence the Resurrection of the Saints is necessarily inferr'd upon the Resurrection of Christ himself For if the Head be risen the Members cannot be long behind witness the Word of Christ to his Disciples and in them to all Believers a word more precious than the whole Creation Because I live ye shall live also The Resurrection of the Saints is bound up in the Resurrection of Christ as the effect is bound up in the cause because I live you shall live because Jesus rose again Saints shall rise again Christ is our life and therefore when Christ shall appear we shall appear with him in Glory Can the cause be without the effect can the Head live and the Members remain dead Yea can the Saints life live and they themselves continue in a state of death This is an happy contradiction a blessed impossibility Oh write this comfortable word upon your hearts Christians Christ is our life Christ is your Life and the Life of your Christian Relations and as sure as Christ as risen they shall rise and because he lives those Members of his for whom you weep and bleed as dead shall live also with him Surely if the Devil and all the powers of darkness were not able to keep Christ in the Grave neither shall they be able to hold one of his Members there for ever Hence you shall find the holy Apostle disputing from the Resurrection of Christ to the Resurrection of Christians If Christ rose from the Dead 1 Cor. 15.12 how say some that there is no Resurrection of the Dead and back again from the Resurrection of Christians ver 13. to the Resurrection of Christ if there be no Resurrection of the Dead then Christ is not risen Indeed the form of words is Negative but the sense is Affirmative and for the greater assurance it is repeated over and over in the following verses backward and forward as Convertibles grant one and ye grant the other deny one and ye deny the other And the result is this But now is Christ risen from the Dead ver 20. and become the first Fruits of them that sleep Christ is risen Christ rose as the first fruits in which the whole Harvest is considered and risen as our first Fruits as a pledge and part of the whole Harvest for if the first Fruits be holy the Lump is also holy if the first Fruits be laid up safe in Gods Barns the whole Harvest shall in due time be
three glorious persons in Trinity and that other like unto it between the two natures in Christ profound and ineffable 1 Cor. 2.14 Quia nihil animal animali superius cogitare potest the heart of man is not able to conceive it nor the tongue of an Angel to express it the natural man knows it not at all no more of it than a Swine knows what the Union is between the Soul and body in man it is above his principle 1 Cor. 2.14 The spiritual man understandeth it very imperfectly all we know is rather that it is than what it is the full and perfect knowledg of it is reserved for the future state so our Lord hath told us John 14.20 At that day ye shall know that I am in the Father and you in me and I in you then and not till then we shall never perfectly understand this Union until we come fully to enjoy it In the mean time if a short improvement of such a rich point might not be judged too much improper in such a contemplative discourse as this is a few things might be hinted from hence by way of Use Use First Here we may discover the main Foundation 1 Perseverance stands not in the nature of Grace and Reason of the Saints perseverance surely it consists not in the nature of Grace infused in their Regeneration this differs not specifically from the Grace which Adam received in his first Creation that was the Image of God Gen. 1.26 27. and so is this Colos 3.10 and therefore of it self cannot produce any higher or more noble effects under the one Covenant then it did under the other Secondly 2. Nor in freedom of will Nor doth it consist in the liberty and rectitude of their own Wills though Regenerate for if Adams free will did him so little service in his perfect state when it was entire free without any mixture of servility how little security think you can the liberty Ex nolentibus facit volentes Aug. wherewith Christ maketh the will free in the new Creation afford the Saints wherein the state of Grace is yet imperfect and the freedom of their wills mixt with so much bondage that it made the holy Apostle look upon it little different for the present from a captivity Rom. 7.24 and to cry out to astonishment for a Redeemer to come in and make a rescue O Wretch that I am who shall deliver me c. He found by experience that if it were not more for a Christ than for the freedom of his own will that body of death which he carried about him would infallibly prove his total and final ruine but I thank God for Jesus Christ our Lord there was his security But 1. In the Covenant of Grace Where then shall we bottom the stability and fixedness of the Saints surely upon a two-fold Foundation First Divine Compact Grace in the Saints is under a Covenant God the Father hath Astipulated with the Mediator for his spiritual believing seed not only to repair the Ruines of the first Creation his Image in them but to uphold and secure it from ever dissolving decaying again totally or finally partial temporary decays and recidivations there may be but saith the word of the Covenant to the Redeemer in Reference to his divine off-spring my Spirit which is upon thee Isa 59.21 and my words which I have put into thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy Seed nor out of the mouth of thy Seeds Seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever Adams grace was under no such Covenant and therefore left to it self it was exposed to the power of Temptation and perished This is one account of the Saints perseverance But Secondly Secondly Union with Christ The next and immediate Foundation of it is this blessed Vnion whereof we are now speaking by vertue whereof the true Believer is so made one with Christ as Christ is one with his Father ut supr As we are one as that is as it hath been expounded spiritually really operatively enrichingly intimously indissolubly in a word infallibly and availeably to all saving intents and purposes Here is the ground and foundation of the Saints perseverance Rev. 3.1 They are not only fixt Stars in Christs right hand if no more it would be hard pulling them thence But their lives are bound up in the same bundle with Christs own life Jo. 14.19 our life is hid with Christ in God Christ and his Saints have as it were but one life between them and that life is Christs whence Christ himself makes the inference because I live Col. 3.3 you shall live also Upon such an instance it may be questioned and possibly without breach of charity whether they who deny the infallible perseverance of the Saints did ever truly study or believe the notion and nature of the happy and glorious Vnion which is betwixt Christ and them * The inseparableness of the Union is given as the account of the Saints perseverance Nothing can separate us Rom. 8 39. If we should form what hath been said unto such a Syllogism as this namely They that are United to Christ by a spiritual real operative enriching intimate inseparable Union can never totally or finally fall away But all true Believers are so United Therefore they can never so fall away I say cast all into such a form and we find that both the Premisses and the Conclusion are of Christ's own making Because I live ye shall live also And therefore until I hear that Christ is dead the second time which I am sure I shall never do for Christ being raised dieth no more Rom. 6.9 death hath no more dominion over him c. I dare not believe this doctrine The possibility of the Saints total and final Apostacy Only because Satan can transform himself into an Angel of Light and the heart is deceitful above all things Caution and desperately wicked my earnest advice and obsecration to all such as do pretend to this blessed Vnion as to mine own Soul is To give all diligence upon solid Scripture-evidence that is to say by the precious and powerful influences of this Vnion upon their Souls and by the gracious Reciprocations of Faith and Love and sweet holy communion with the Father and the Son c. by these I say and the like to secure the Assumption But I am thus Vnited to Christ And the Conclusion need not fear the gates of Rome or Hell but the Believer may boldly send forth St. Pauls challenge Who shall condemn What shall separate 1 Cor. 15.57 Thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ In the second place Second Use Hence we may take notice of the honour and dignity of the Saints how meanly and basely so ever reputed in The Dignity of the Saints 1 Cor. 4.13
then either as it is an Habit or as it is an Act not verily as an Habit for so it falls within the List of Graces and is a branch of Sanctification Nor as it is an Act For so it is a Work and would confound the two Covenants We assert indeed with the current of Scripture Justification by faith but in the sense of the reformed Churches sc Not by vertue of any intrinsic merit in faith but by vertue of the extrinsic object which faith layeth hold on namely Christ the great Sponsor of the New Covenant fulfilling the Righteousness of the Law for Believers Fourthly lastly And least of all can Remission of sin supply the office of the Fac hoc Take it in the utmost extent and latitude that may be sc as including Commissions Omissions Defects or imperfections even to the least want of Conformity to the Law either in 1. Life or 2. Nature Pardon can no more make a man Righteous Anth. Burgess do justificat The Law is not fulfilled by the passive Righteousness of Christ only and therefore pardon alone cannot justifie then it can make a man Learned Remission not being the qualification which the Eternal Law of God calls for Object To which if it be Objected No more is imputed Righteousness The Righteousness which the Law requireth upon pain of Damnation is a perfect obedience and Conformity to the whole Law of God performed by every Son and Daughter of Adam in his own person To this Objection I offer these particulars following by way of Answer 1. Imputed Righteousness is the same materially with that which the Law requireth It is Obedience to the Law of God exactly and punctually perform'd to the very outmost iota and tittle thereof without the least abatement Christ hath paid the uttermost farthing He is the fulfilling of the Law for Righteousness ut suprà 2. Christ's fulfilling or accomplishing of the Law was performed in and by the humane Nature For verily to this purpose Heb. 2.16 Rom. 9.8.14 It is not always necessary the debt be paid by the Principal if it be done by the Surety it is all one as if the Principal had paid it himself Rom. 8.3 Especially if the Creditor gave his consent the Lord Jesus took not upon him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham Because the Children of Promise undertaken for were partakers of flesh and blood He also took part of the same to the intent the Law might be fulfilled in the same Nature to which it was at first given 3. It was expresly done in their names and on their behalf that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us as if our Lord had said This I suffer and this I do to the use and in the stead of my Covenant Seed that they may have a Righteousness which they may truly call their own 4. All was done not without full consent of all parties for 1. As to the Law-giver it was his own free gratuitous motion I will send my Son God seeing how the case stood with poor lapsed man took up a resolution to save some whatsoever it should cost him Well said he I will send my Son 2. God the Father no sooner made the motion Heb. 10.7.9 but the Son echoeth unto it Lo I come Yea observe how quick he is then said I The word was no sooner out of God's mouth but it laid a Law of sweet Compulsion upon Christ's heart his bowels yern'd within him and then said he Lo I come to do thy Will by the which Will we are Sanctified i. e. either the Will of the Father appointing the Son to his Mediatory Office or the Will of the Son accepting it so readily or by both we are Sanctified freed from the evil of sin and accounted Righteous and holy before God And though as we may so say the Lord Jesus ensnared himself by the words of his mouth yet he never repented to this day nor ever sought to be released from this Suretiship but rejoyceth in it as if he were the gainer Psal 16.7 I will bless the Lord who hath given me Counsel He giveth thanks to his Father for imploying him in this Work Hereunto if it be objected that the Lord Jesus Object when the hour of His Sufferings drew nigh did Repent of his Suretyship and in a deep passion prayed to his Father to be released from his Passion Father Math. 26. if it be possible let this Cup pass from me and that three times over ver 39.42.44 We Answer Answ that in those words of our Lord there is a twofold Voyce sc 1. There is Vox Naturae the Voyce of Nature Let this Cup pass from me 2. There is Vox Officii the voyce of his Mediatory Office Nevertheless Not as I will but as thou wilt The first Voyce let this Cup pass intimates the Velleity of the Inferionr part of his Soul the Sensitive part proceeding from a natural abhorrency of death as he was a Creature The later Voyce Nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt expresseth the full and free Consent of his Will complying with the Will of his Father in that grand everlasting Designe of bringing many Sons unto Glory by Making the Captain of their Salvation perfect Heb. 2.10 through sufferings It was an Argument of the truth of Christ His humane Nature that he naturally dreaded a Dissolution Omne appetit Conservationem sui He owed it to Himself as a Creature to desire the Conservation of his Being and He could not become unnatural to himself Phil. 2.8 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh c. But being a Son he learned submission and became obedient to the death even the death of the Cross that Shameful Cruel Cursed death of the Cross The suffering whereof he owed to that solemn Astipulation which from everlasting passed between his Father and Himself 1 Joh. 5.8 As to Christs humane Nature the Cup was Calix ameritudinis the third Person in the Blessed Trinity the Holy Ghost being Witness And therefore though the Cup was the bitterest Cup that ever was given man to drink as wherein there was not Death only but Wrath and Curse yet seeing there was no other way lest of satisfying the Justice of his Father Nor did Bridegroom go with more chearsulness to be Married to his Bride then our Lord Jesus went to his Cross Luk. 12.50 Ratione officij it was Calix Salxtis and of saving Sinners most willingly He took the Cup and having given Thanks as it were in those words The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it He drank it It was Bitter indeed but he found it sweetned with three Ingredients 1. It was but a Cup not a Sea 2. It was his Father that mingled it not the Devil 3. It was a Gift not a Curse as to himself The Cup which my Father giveth me He drank it I say and drank
Vision the glorified Saints They shall see the glorified Saints in their souls as well as in their bodies all the elect of God that ever were in the world * In their souls as well 〈◊〉 in their bodies from Adam until the second coming of Jesus Christ and it will be a glorious sight to see the King and all his Peers and Nobles in their Parliament Robes with Crowns and Embellishments of honour fitting in their state and order is a â—ight which every one covets and crowds to see What will it be to see the King of Saints with all the Redeemed ones of God in their Robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb and Crowns of gold upon their heads and palms of victory and triumph in their hands a Parliament all of Kings and Priests every one of them shining forth as the Sun Mat. 13.63 in the Kingdom of their heavenly Father The Sun when it breaks forth out of a cloud and displayes its refulgent beams in full lustre and brightness what a glorious Creature is it and with what a beauty doth it guild and adorn the world Oh my soul what a sight will that be when I shall see an Heaven full of Suns scattering their rayes of glory through all those celestial Regions There is another Scripture which makes the glory of this Vision yet more splendid and radiant every one of the glorified bodies of the Saints shall be made conform to Christs own glorious body Phil. 3.21 the glory of the Father shines forth in the Son and the glory of the Son shall shine forth in the Saints He in his Fathers glory is even in his humane nature and they in his Surely the Luminaries of the first magnitude in the visible heavens the Sun and Moon will be turned into darkness before the glory of this Vision they shall shine as so many Christs in the Kingdom of their Father that will be a glorious Vision indeed Not to speak any thing of the several degrees and orbs of Saints orbs of several degrees of Grace and orbs of several degrees of offices and services in the Church Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors c. of which the Apostle gives us not an obscure hint 1 Cor. 15.41 As one star differeth from another in glory so also is the resurrection of the dead q. d. as the Luminaries of these visible heavens are of a different magnitude and brightness each above the other in their orbs and sphears so also is the Kingdom of glory there be different forms of Saints one excelling another in brightness and glory I say to pass by this in silence which yet certainly hath somewhat in it for the heightning of the beauty of this vision as we see in the Luminaries of this inferiour world their different orbs and magnitudes contribute not a little to the beauty and ornament of these visible heavens We may add this before we go off viz. That the communion and converse with the Saints in heaven will be as sweet to the tast as the vision of them will be glittering to the eye there will be heaven in both Behold their fellowship and converse here was so sweet that David could say All my delight is in the Saints that are in the earth Psalm 16.3 and in the excellent ones David could take no pleasure in the company of any in the world but only in Gods holy Ones who were beautified with his Image Oh what will their communion and fellowship think you be in heaven when they shall be totally divested of all their sinful corruptions their ignorance their pride their passion their peevishniss their tenaciousness their impurity their envy their impatience their câ—nsoriousness their unseriousness their infincerity and their unsavouriness whereby they are apt to offend and hurt one another Yea when they shall have put off their natural infirmities as well as their sinful their impertinencies their mistakes their weaknesses their indispositions their hunger and thirst their drowsiness their vanity their mutability whereby they are not more unlike to other men than to themselves sometimes their diversions and reservedness c. whereby they are less able to do one another good What will their converse be when they shall put off all their defects and all their imperfections When there shall be no dissent amongst them much less dissention but when they shall all speak the same thing and there shall be no division but they shall be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment which the Apostle commends so passionately even to the Saints on this side Heaven 1 Cor. 1.10 When there shall be such a perfect harmony amongst the Saints as if there were but one soul to act that whole Assembly of the first-born When there will be nothing in them to converse with but pure grace grace without mixture grace and nothing else but grace Yea not pure grace only but perfect grace when every grace shall be in its perfect state and have its perfect works when every grace shall act to the highest degree yea when there will be â—o use of those inferiour graces which are but for the way as patience repentance simpathy pity fear hope yea none of the highest of all the graces hath faith it self now abideth faith hope now is in this imperfect state faith it self belongeth unto the imperfect state but when that which is perfect is come then that which is imperfect shall be done away when sight is come then faith shall cease and the Saints shall converse one with another only in their superiour graces their marriage-graces their glorious graces that are proper to their adult state love joy delight in God mutual complacency zeal obedience praising God thankfulness when they shall love God as much as they would love him yea as much as God would be beloved and obey God as much as God would be obeyed and praise God as much as God would be praised c. Oh when the Saints are cast into such an heavenly mold yea and we our selves are capable of such pure converse for here in this imperfect state the Saints of God are not alwayes in the same frame one with another or with themselves whâ—n one Saint is up the other is down like an Instrument out of tune jarring and disharmonious when one is alive the other dead when this is hot the other is cold when one is ready to give the other is not fit to receive the communications of grace But oh when now I say all the Instruments of Glory are alike strung and equally tuned in their several capacities what sweet ravishing harmony what heavenly musick will they make Oh might we but see such a Saint on earth as one of these are how would every one be ready to kiss his lips yea to kiss his very feet and hardly forbear even to worship him Acts 10.25 Rev. 22.9 as Cornelius would have worshipped Peter or as John
himself and indeed is in a very high degree the vision of the essence because the glorious properties and excellencies of the Godhead are as it were radiant and refulgent in the flesh of our Redeemer therefore he is called Heb 1.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The brightness of his Fathers glory the brightness or refulgency of God the Fathers glory not only in reference to his divine essence the second-Person in Trinity but as he is Verbum incarnatum the Word incarnate as he is God-man because all the beams of divine Majesty do shine forth with a most resplendent brightness in his flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 augasma is that which hath brightness and glory in it self such is the divine nature and essence it is the fountain and body of glory from whence all brightness and splendour doth beam and issue but apaugasma is that which receiveth that brightness into it self as a glass or mirrour receives into it the beams of the Sun such a mirrour is the flesh of Christ to the divine essence wherein all the glorious beams of divine wisdom holiness mercy goodness and truth c. do shine forth This is the mystery Saint Paul admireth 1 Tim. 3.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 1.14 God was manifested in the flesh or God made visible in a body of flesh Jesus Christ was nothing else as it were but visible Deity and so he was even while he was on earth The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father The flesh of Christ was but as it were a veil through which men might look upon the Sun of Righteousness which open and naked would have been too vehement and strong for mortal eyes we saw his glory there did beam forth at times such rays of glory through the body of Jesus Christ that whoever had not wilfully shut his eyes might have discovered him to be more than man and been constrained with the Centurion to cry out Surely this was the Son of God we saw it saith the Apostle of himself and the rest that were Christs witnesses Now if by vertue of the personal union of the two Natures in Christ so much of God was conspicuous in the flesh of Christ while he was on earth how much more abundantly do the emanations of divine glory dart themselves forth through the humane nature now it is exalted to the right hand of the Father in Heaven And that upon a two-fold account 1. Partly because there the body of our Lord Jesus Christ is a glorified body the very body of Christ is made more spiritual and shining than the Angelical nature I had almost said the very flesh of Christ transubstantiated into the divine nature it is so diaphanous and transparent that it is nothing else as it were but a vail through which the Saints may look upon the face of God more steadily surely that sight of Christ will be God manifest in the flesh indeed the invisible God made visible in the humane nature that will be a most beatifical Object 2. And partly because the organ or faculty in the Saints shall be glorified also the eye of sence in them shall be raised to a wonderful degree of quickness and activity able to receive in this glorious object clearly and fully Here the world saw no beauty in Christ not because Christ wanted beauty but because they wanted eyes yea the godly themselves their eyes were held that they could not perfectly discern his glory but oh now when the object shall be perfected and the organ perfected to receive it what a blissful vision will the very Man Christ Jesus be in glory Go forth then oh ye Daughters of Sion Vse Cant. 3.11 behold your heavenly Solomon with the Crown wherewith his Father crowned him in the day of his solemn Nuptials when he was married to his heavenly Bride in the day of the gladness of his heart prevent oh my Soul that beatifical vision by spiritual and fixed meditation get into Heaven before thy time and so much the rather not only because of the eminency of the Object but because of Thirdly The Saints interest in this Object 3 Consider Christ in glory and Christ ours as much of the eternal brightness of the infinite God as is possibly visible to an eye of glorified sence will be seen in the humane nature of Christ that will be glorious and as much of that glory made ours as the Creature can be capable of this will be joyful to see all this glory that is put upon the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and to see it with propriety to see it mine And how mine Why mine by purchase he that is the object of this Vision was the purchaser of it he bought it for me yea he purchased both it and me by his blood it for me and me for it the sight of his glorified body was the fruit of his crucified body as once he gave his crucified body to my faith so now he gives his glorified body to my sight to be my portion and my bliss for ever Oh blessed vision wherein indeed purchaser and purchase and purchased do all meet together to suffer no more separation for ever This sure will make the Saints sing their Hallelujahs Rev. 1.5 6 To him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen I come now to the fifth Object in the beatifical Vision which is the Divine Essence 5th Object The Divine Essence This is denied by some and well it may if the assertion were so to be understood that the essence of God is to be discerned by the bodily eye though in its glorified capacity for where ever the excellency be which God will put upon the glorified bodies of the Saints in Heaven yet still they retain the nature of corporeal beings and Gods essence is so infinitely pure and spiritual that the Angelical nature compared with it would seem to be but quid materiale of a material and corporeal constitution so that now to affirm God to be visible to an organical eye though glorified would seem to imply one of these two things scil that 1. Either the Divine essence hath matter and corporiety in it 2. Or that the glorified sence were made altogether immaterial and spiritual either of which is repugnant to the analogy of faith Vorstius himself was aware of this and therefore though at first he seemed to affirm that the glorified eye being made as all the rest of the body shall be spiritual might see God though a Spirit yet afterward he so explained himself as only to assert that from the divine essence there did flow a certain light which light and not the essence it self immediately is the object of the glorified eye its sight But
dispersions into all the quarters and corners of the world should be revolved back again bone to bone and skin to skin and every dust to its own dust it shall clearly be expounded in the mirror of the divine understanding Acts 26.8 The Saints themselves are both Instances and Expositions of that Text. and exemplified in the counter-part thereof the bodies of the Saints then it shall no longer be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead All the hard places of Scripture that vex the profoundest Divines and make the Believer sigh out his How can I understand except some man should guide me shall then be expounded in the Original text of eternal verity Acts 8.31 without looking into any other Commentary and oh what joy will that be to understand the whole Bible without study 2 Peter 3.17 There shall be in the glorified understanding at the Schools say Cognitio clara lucid clara fixa contemplatio omnium naturaliter scibilium even above its primitive capacity The Soul shall be indeed at its full 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then the meanest understanding shall be able to confute all the depths and fallacies of Jesuitical seducers whereby they have darkened the Truth and led away the willingly ignorant into their pernicious errors and doctrines of Devils In a word All the Arcana of Nature and all the Mysteries of Philosophy properly so called with all occult things under the Sun and the highest speculations of this neather Orb in the painful and knotty disquisition whereof the greatest Masters of secular learning have tired themselves almost to distraction and upon the gaining of some little supposed satisfaction wherein they have so much gloried and insulted over other men shall now be made easie and familiar to the Saints the very A B C of Heaven and only worth a cast of their eyes either as such knowledge came from God or as it leads them unto God again For the use of this last branch of the heavenly vision Vse It may serve to moderate and restrain that inordinate curiosity in our natures to be looking into dark and hidden mysteries There is a concupiscence in the understanding lusting after forbidden knowledge as there is in the will after forbidden fruit we inherit both from our first Father and Mother they affected a knowledge above the capacity of their natures they would know as God knoweth universally intuitively and at once but by such an ambition of knowing more than they ought they forfeited what they had which was sufficient to have made them happy and while they aspired to be as God which made them they became like the beasts that perish It was the presumption of the Bethshemites they would be prying into the Ark though they died for it and there is a pride and wantonness in our nature 1 Sam. 6.19 which sets us a prying into Arcana Coeli the hidden and secret councels of God Adam's Children are yet sick of his disease they would fain be as wise as God and know all things But the secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever that we may do them And in these revealed things there is matter enough to exercise our studies had we Methusalem's lease of life sealed to us In the revealed things of God there is so much yet unrevealed and therefore left unrevealed that we might search and dig into them Prov. 2 3 4. with the addition of a promise to encourage industry Then shall we know Hosea 6.3 Ars longa vita brevis Mâ—aeima pars corum quae scimus est minima pars eorum qua nescimus if we follow on to know the Lord so much I say that when we have travell'd many years in the disquisition and search thereof we may fit down and complain our lives are too short for our work and truly confess that the greatest part of what we know is nothing to what we are ignorant of Oh that upon those studies Christians would lay out their time and spirits proving what is that goood and acceptable and perfect will of God And therefore study to know it that they may do it for to such is the promise John 7.17 If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God Oh this is excellent when Christians study to know that they may do and not that they may know only and so doing they shall know and so knowing they shall do this will keep open the passage between the head and the heart That the man of God may be perfect 2 Tim. 3.17 thoroughly furnished unto all good works But in the time according to the Apostle his Caution Rom. 12.3 It is our duty to be wise to sobriety and it is our sobriety not to be wise where God would have us to be ignorant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of that hour knoweth no man no not the Angels of heaven behold the very Angels of God who for their knowledge are called Angels of light Mark 12.32 are yet in this point of the last day contented to be in the dark and the Evangelist hath an addition of a higher consideration neither the Son but the Father whether the sence be that the humane nature of Christ is absolutely ignorant of that day or knoweth it only by revelation from the divine nature the document is the same viz. on this side glory to be contented to know no more than God hath revealed where Scripture is silent there to be willing to be ignorant And for our encouragement and satisfaction keep this consideration alive upon your hearts we shall not alwayes be ignorant secret things shall not alwayes be secret the time is coming when Mysteries shall be Revelations when we shall be able to read that in the original which we cannot now so much as spell out in the translation nor in any measure understand with the help of all our Commentaries It was that which much comforted that precious Saint and Martyr Mr. Câ—lamy c. Mr. Christopher Love while he was prisoner in the Tower The day before he died divers of his learned godly Brethren came to take their last farewell of him as being never to see him more untill they saw him ascending to and with their common Lord and Redeemer they fell into a discourse of the joyes of Heaven a discourse sutable to that solemn parting and in that discourse meeting with some difficulty which the Scripture had not determined and so being silenced that holy man with a smiling countenance and looking upward to Heaven brake forth into these words or others like them Well said he to morrow by this time I shall fully understand this mystery and it will be no difficulty unto me It is indeed a most satisfying contemplation that the time is coming when we shall be ignorant of nothing but know
all things to be known the knowing whereof may any way make us happy in Heaven we shall know as much of all the mysteries of Grace and Nature as we would know Etiam curiositas satiabitur Anselm John 14.20 Curiosity it self shall be satisfied we shall know whatsoever it is we desire to know with this our Lord satisfieth his Disciples concerning those two great mysterious unions the essential union union between the Father and the Son that I am in my Father and the mystical union that is between him and all believers you in me and I in you q. d. although now ye are ignorant of these high transcendent mysteries yet let this stay and comfort your hearts when I shall come again in glory to take you unto my self that where I am there you may be also then these shall be no mysteries unto you but so many evidential Revelations At that day ye shall know then and not till then And so it may abundantly satisfie the insatiable desires of inquisitous spirits into the deep mysteries both of Creation and Redemption That when Christ shall appear we shall also appear with him in glory and then shall the veil be taken away and they shall see God and all things in Gods face which their souls desire to see the soul shall be filled and inebriated with variety of all desirable knowledge that may any way tend to its perfection This may satisfie save that it may set their souls a longing for that day and cause them to cry out with the Bride Even so come Lord Jesus come quickly The third Priviledge contained in Cohabitation is Fruition A third Priviledge implyed in the Saints being with the Lord 3. Priviledge Fruition is Fruition Vision in Glory is accompanied with fruition and this is that which makes it truly beatifical whatever glorified Saints see they do enjoy else this Vision would not differ much from Report nor that state of glory from an Heaven in a well-drawn Launskip The very Reprobate it seemeth have a prospect of Heaven Luke 13.28 but to their torment they themselves being thrust out Now Fruition consists of a ten-fold Ingredient or Property Viz. 1. Propriety 2. Possession 3. Intimacy 4. Suitableness 5. Satiety or fulness 6. Freshness 7. Present 8. Fixedness 9. Reflection 10. Complacency The first Ingredient into Fruition is Propriety 1. Ingredient Propriety Whatsoever the Saints see in Heaven is their own God saith to Abraham Gen. 13.14 now in the heavenly Canaan what he once said to him of the earthly Lift up thine eyes and look from the place where thou art Northward Southward Eastward and Westward for all the land which thou seest 〈◊〉 thee do I give it whatever is within that vast circumference of Heaven it is Abraham's and all his spiritual seeds for ever Now David may tune his Michtam a key higher and instead of Gilead is mine Psal 60.7 8 and Manasseh is mine Ephraim and Judah c. he may now sing God is mine and Christ is mine and the Spirit is mine all the elect Angels are mine and all the whole Congregation of the first-born mine all the glory of Heaven is mine And so may the best of the Saints in heaven triumph all is mine and what pleasures or riches or honours or glory or joyes are in the presence of God they are all mine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 1.13 They did sing so while yet in the valley of tears or they might have sung so Faith gave them a title their Jus adrem a right to Heaven but the blessed vision giveth them now real interest Jus in re right in Heaven and they need not now fear to call it theirs they might have said my God my Christ and my Comforter here below but one thing was to be done first sound Scripture evidence was to be cleared out and sealed up to their souls but some or other defect therein did not seldom check their confidence and damp their joy for a time But now in glory Propriety is beyond all dispute their evidences were seen and allowed at their first admission into Heaven and now mine mine is their song and triumph to all eternity and God is not ashamed to be called their God truly he was not ashamed to be called so even when they had but too much cause to be ashamed of themselves and gave God too much cause to be ashamed of them But now God is so far from being ashamed of owning them that he rejoyceth in them and glorieth over them This people I have formed for my self Isai 43.21 they shall shew forth my praise And again Fear not for I have redeemed thee verse 1 I have called thee by thy name thou art mine Yea I have loved thee with an everlasting love Jer. 31.3 therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee The Lord Jesus Christ is not ashamed to call them brethren to own them for Subjects Friends Rev. 15.3 chap. 14.1 Coheirs with himself in glory his Bride And they claim their Propriety in him as such The King of Saints chap. 1.6 verse 5 9 with their Fathers name written in their foreheads they follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth chap. 21.9 Mat. 18.10 owning themselves as his beloved his redeemed Kings and Priests unto God and his Father yea as the Lambs Wife They have a propriety in all the elect Angels of God they be still their Angels as ready to do them brotherly offices as ever and take more complacency in their company and in them than ever by how much more purified and Angelified they are then when they lay among the pots of the earth now made like themselves fellow Angels as it were as well as fellow Saints They have propriety in one another although they may know some of the Saints under the notion of natural relations yet do these all cease there as now being retired into the first and chief root and Spring-head of divine Relation Children of one heavenly Father in whose House they are all together embracing and courting one another in purest communion and communications of love each Saint not more himself than his fellow Saints In a word the place where the Saints are met together never to part it is their own not a strange Country where they see one another as Strangers and Pilgrims do sometimes visit and comfort one another Heaven is not a borrowed Palace where they are admitted by curtesie to celebrate a Festival for a few dayes or years but the Saints in Heaven are at home now 2 Cor. 5.2 in their own house and Kingdom Their own 1. By Inheritance Col. 1.13 An Inheritance prepared for them from before the world had any foundation but what it had in Gods Decree Matth. 25.24 2. By purchase Therefore is Heaven called the Purchased possession Ephes 1.14 Their dear Lord and Bridegroom purchased them and their Inheritance together with his own blood 1
the wicked 2.73 Of great comfort to the godly 2.75 Judgment-day whether the Saints that are then alive must die literally or analogically only 2.65 Why concealed 2.68 Whether Christ will sit upon a visible throne 2.70 Christ will appear in the same humane nature which he assumed of the Virgin and why 2.71 Christ will appear personally for three reasons 1 The judgment must be personal 2.70 2 A recompence to his abasement 2.71 3 To perfect his mediatory office 2.72 Justification the Saints shall be fully and finally justified at the last day which consists 1 In their publick absolution 2.133 2 In the Judge his pronouncing them perfectly righteous 2.138 God justifieth a sinner in that way wherein he may justifie himself 2.141 It is not by any intrinsick merit in faith but extrinsick object that faith layeth hold on 2.148 It is variously denominated according to its causes 2.153 Legal and evangelical what it is 2.154 Law and Gospel reconciled in the mystery of justification 2.153 K Kindness all kindnesses done to Christ or his members will be owned at the day of judgment 2.129 Knowledge whether the Saints shall know one another with a distinguishing knowledge in heaven affirm 3.8 Knowledge of one another in heaven a great motive to converse one with another on earth 3.11 Whether the knowledge of our elect relations in heaven do not infer a distinct knowledge of our relations in hell and whether that may not be terrible Neg. 3.13 How many wayes we shall have knowledge of God set forth by several steps 3.31 L Law pardon is not the qualification that the Law requireth but perfection 2.139 That which God at first wrote in mans heart and afterwards in two tables of stone was a law of a most holy and absolute perfection 2.143 The law the image of Gods nature and will 2.143 It was given to be 1 A rule and pattern of an holy life 2.144 2 A condition of eternal life ibid. It is of perpetual necessity 2.144 It is not to be dispenced withall 2.144 Christ did not bring in another law but another medium to fulfil the former 2.144 Christ as Mediator was born under the law 2.145 Christ his fulfilling the law was performed in and by the humane nature 2.149 Law and Gospel reconciled in the great mystery of justification 2.153 Likeness we shall be like God in 1 Our understanding 3.78 2 Our will 3.80 3 Our affections 3.80 4 Our memories 5 the whole image 1 The soul 3.81 2 the body 3.82 Loss fear of loosing of heaven would make it worse than hell 3.96 Love of God a great assurance of the eternity of heaven 3.94 A superlative love to Christ an evidence of heaven 3.120 M Marriage of the Lamb consummated at the last day and the solemnity of it 2.162 Marriage its happiness consists in suitableness 3.67 Maityrdom like Elijah 's Charriot 3.139 Means God not tyed to them 3.48 Memory the Saints shall be like God in their memories 3.80 Of the Saints shall be like the ark of the covenant 3.80 Mercy the mercy of God an assurance of heavens eternity 3.92 Ministers must preach nothing but what is warranted by the word 2.67 They may preach with success and yet be cast out 2.171 They must see that the comforts they administer be Gods comforts 3.154 Miscarriage of the image of God in Adam not of improvidence but ordination 3.80 Mistake no mistake of one anothers condition in heaven 3.7 Mixture of Saints and sinners will be here 2.116 Mortification exercise the duties of it 3 130 Motives to assurance 3.111 Mourners are to open their ears and hearts to words of comfort 3.156 Mystery divers mysteries mentioned namely 1 Of the Trinity 2 Of the Incarnation 3 Of Election and Reprobation 4 Of the Creation of the World 5 Of the Resurrection 6 Of all the Arcana Naturae 3.51 We must not pry too much into them 3.55 N Nature the fulfilling of the Law was performed in and by the humane nature 2.149 Negatives cannot fill a dying man with comfort 3.160 O Omnipotence all things are alike to it 2.100 It supports the Saints under their happiness as well as the wicked under their misery 3.90 92 It is omnipotence in God that he cannot sin 3 90 Ordinances a dangerous notion of being above them 3.48 In what sense it is good to live above them ibid. Not to rest in or contented with them 3.49 P Pardon pardon of sin is the privative part of justification 2.133 How sins past present and to come are pardoned in conversion and how not 2.134 Sin fully pardoned at death ibid. It makes sin as if it had never been 2.135 It is not sufficient to capacitate the Saints for glory 2.139 It looks backward Righteousness forward 2.142 It is not the qualification which the Law requireth but perfection 2 139 If God should only pardon and not justifie it would seem to reflect upon 1 Gods Wisdom 2 142 2 Gods â—ll-sufficiency ibid. 3 Gods Veracity and Justice ibid. It maketh not a man righteous 2.148 No pardon at the Judgment-seat 2.169 Perseverance stands not in the nature of grace 1.39 It stands not in the liberty or rectitude of the will though regenerate 1.39 It stands upon 1 Divine compact 140 2 Vnion with Christ ibid. Pleasure sensitive pleasures have only their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3 108 Praâ—se Saints shall be praised for their graces at the last day though wrought in them c. 2.132 Prayer get the faithful to pray for thee and pray for thy self 3.131 Words of prayer are to be joyned with words of comfort 3.165 Presence the Saints shall ever be in the presence of Christ 3.2 Precepts in one place are promises in another 3.112 Pride there is much of pride in refusing comfort 3.157 Promises ought to be studied 3.163 Learn to which of Christs Offices each promise relateth 3.164 Promises in one place are precepts in another 3.112 Refer them to their distinct heads 3.163 They then bring comfort when they are applied by the Spirit 3.164 Propriety to enjoy heaven and to know I do enjoy it is the happiness of happiness 3.71 Punishment shall not be mitigated at the judgment 2.170 Purchase and election are both perfected by the sanctification of the Spirit 2.123 R Recompence Christ his speaking honourably of the Saints in the last day will abundantly recompence the reproaches they have here 2.133 Reconciliation God is first in reconciliation though sinners first in the transgression 2.169 Redeemer he undertook two great works for the redeemed 1. One to make satisfaction for sin 2. The other to yield absolute conformity to the Law of God 2.140 Regeneration Conformity of the Saints to Christ in the Resurrection hath its beginning in it 2.101 111 Relations ours not alone in their death 1.9 When dead they are not lost but sowen 1.19 Though they cease in heaven yet the remembrance of them ceaseth not 3.12 Remembrance the book of Gods remembrance and book of conscience