illustriate this by comparing the Price of our Redemption and the Reward The Death of Christ is a universal benefit to all the Saints yet 't is so applied to every Believer for his perfect Redemption as if our Saviour in all his Agonies and Sufferings had no other in his Eye and Heart as if all his Prayers his Tears his Blood were offer'd up to his Father only for that Person The common respect of it the Apostle declares in those admirable words that signify such an excess of God's Love to us He that spared not his own Son but deliver'd him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things But to imagine that the propriety of every Believer is thereby prejudiced is not only false but extreamly injurious to the Merit and Dignity and to the infinite Love of Christ. Therefore the same Apostle tells us The Life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me as if he were the sole Object of Christ's Love the End and Reward of his Sufferings And this appropriating of it to himself is no prejudice to the rights of all others St. John describes himself by that truly glorious Title The Disciple whom Jesus loved Could he speak this of himself without the injury and indignation of the other Disciples Certainly he might For if we consider that incomprehensible Love of Christ exprest to them all at his last Supper after Judas was gone forth As the Father hath loved me so I have loved you We may easily understand that every one of them might justly believe that he was singularly beloved of Christ. They were all received in the Heart though with John they did not all lean on the Breast of their Divine Master Thus in Heaven God is the universal Treasure of all the Saints and the peculiar Portion of every one As by his Essence he equally fills the whole World and every part of it and by his Providence equally regards all and every particular Creature so in Heaven he dispenses the Riches of his Love to all that they cannot desire more if every one of them were if I may so express it the only begotten of the only begotten himself the sole Heir of all the Merits of his Son Every Saint may with the inflamed Spouse break forth in that Triumph of Love My Beloved is mine and I am his Nay the great number of the glorifi'd Saints is so far from lessening their Joy that it unspeakably encreases it The innumerable Company of Angels and the General Assembly of the Church of the First-born next to the happiness of enjoying God are a chief part of Heaven An unfeigned ardent Affection unites that pure society Our Love is now kindled either from a relation in Nature or some visible Excellencies that render a Person worthy of our choice and friendship but in Heaven the Reasons are greater and the degrees of Love incomparably more fervent All Carnal Alliances and Respects cease in that supernatural state The Apostle tells us If I have known Christ after the flesh I know him so no more By the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ he was transported into another World and had communion with him as an Heavenly King without low regards to the temporal Priviledge of conversing with him on Earth The Spiritual relation is more near and permanent than the strictest band of Nature The Saints have all relation to the same Heavenly Father and to Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace and Head of that happy Fraternity The principal motive of Love here is for the inherent Excellencies of a Person Wisdom Holiness Goodness Fidelity are mighty Attractives and produce a more worthy Affection a more intimate Confederacy of Souls than propinquity in Nature David declares that all his delight was in the Excellent But there are allays of this Noble Love here For 1. There are reliques of Frailty in the best Men on Earth some Blemishes that render them less amiable when discovered Here their Graces are mixt Infirmities and but ascending to Glory Accordingly our Love to them must be regular and serene not clouded with Error mistaking defects for amiable qualities But in Heaven the Image of God is compleat by the union of all the glorious Vertues requisite to its perfection Every Saint there exactly agrees with the first Exemplar is transformed according to the primitive beauty of Holiness No spot or wrinkle remains nor any such thing that may cast the least aspect of deformity upon them 2. In the present state the least part of the Saints worth is visible As the Earth is fruitful in Plants and Flowers but its riches are in the Mines of precious Metals the veins of Marble hidden in its bosom True Grace appears in sensible Actions but its Glory is within The sincerity of Aims the purity of Affections the impresses of the Spirit on the Heart the interiour beauties of Holiness are only seen by God Besides such is the humility of eminent Saints that the more they abound in spiritual treasures the less they show As the Heavenly Bodies when in nearest conjunction with the Sun and fullest of light make the least appearance to our sight But all their Excellencies shall then be in view The Glory of God shall be revealed in them And how attractive is the Divine Likeness to an holy Eye How will it ravish the Saints to behold an immortal Loveliness shining in one another Their Love is mutual and reflexive proportionable to the cause of it An equal constant Flame is preserv'd by pure Materials Every one is perfectly amiable and perfectly enamour'd with all Now can we frame a fuller conception of Happiness than such a State of Love wherein whatever is pleasant in Friendship is in perfection and whatever is distastful by Mens folly and weakness is abolish'd The Psalmist breaks out in a Rapture Behold â—…ow good and pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in Unity Love is the Beauty and Strength of Societies the Pleasure of Life How excellent is the Joy of the Blessed when the Prayer of Christ shall be accomplish'd that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us God is absolutely One in his glorious Nature and Will and therefore unalterably happy And their inviolable Union in Love is a Ray of the Essential Unity between the sacred Persons There are no Divisions of Heart and Tongues as in this Babel but the most perfect and sweetest Concord an Eternal Agreement in Tempers and Inclinations There are no envious Comparisons for Love that affectively transforms one into another causes the Glory of every Saint to redound to the Joy of all Every one takes his share in the Felicity of all and adds to it Such is the power of that Celestial Fire wherein they all burn that it melts and mixes Souls
clearly understand the Divine Perfections that our present knowledg compar'd to that is but as the seeing a dark resemblance in a Glass to the clear view of a Person in the native beauty of his Face God is most gloriously present in Heaven For according to the degrees of excellence in the Work such are the impressions and discoveries of the Vertues of the Cause Now all sensible things in the low order of Nature are but weak resultances from his Perfections in comparison of their illustrious Effects in the Divine World The Glories of the Place and of the Inhabitants the Angels and Saints clearly express his Majesty Goodness and Power But in a transcendent manner he exhibits himself in the glorified Mediator He is stiled the brightness of the Father's Glory and the express image of his Person not only for his equal Perfections in respect of the unity of their Nature but to signifie that God in the Person of the incarnate Mediator is so fully represented to us that by the sight of him we see God himself in his unchangeable Excellencies This appears by the following words that having purged us from our sins he sate down on the right-hand of the Majesty on high for they respect the Son of God as united to the humane Nature in which he perform'd the Office of the Priesthood and took possession of his glorious Kingdom During his humble state the Divine vertues Wisdom Goodness Holiness Power were so visible in his Person Life Revelations and miraculous Works that when Philip so long'd for the sight of the Father as the only consummate Blessedness Shew us the Father and it suffices He told him he that has seen me has seen the Father also But how brightly do they appear in his triumphant Exaltation 'T was his Prayer on Earth Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory Inestimable Felicity whether we consider him in the respect of an Object that incomparably transcends all the created Glory of Heaven or in the relation of our Head on a double account partly because he was debased into the form of a Servant and suffered all Indignities and Cruelties of Sinners for us has received the Recompence of his Meritorious Sufferings the triumph of his Victory being glorified with the Father with the Glory he had before the World was and partly because every Member shall be conformed to him in his Glory We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is And all Felicity and Glory is compriz'd in that Promise The sight of the Face of Moses when radiant had no transforming efficacy for the light of it was not in him as its source but by derivation But God is Light essentially and the sight of his Perfections will be productive of his Likeness in us so far as it may be in a restrained subject When our Saviour was upon the holy Mount and one vanishing Beam of Glory appear'd in his Transfiguration Peter was so transported at the sight that he forgot the World and himself How ravishing then will the sight of him be in his triumphant Majesty when we shall be transfigured our selves 2. As they shall behold God's Face know his most amiable Excellencies so they shall love him as perfectly as they know him To the illustrations of the Mind there are correspondent impressions on the Heart In the present state our Love is imperfect and as Fire out of its sphere dies away by our neglect to feed it with proper materials enamouring considerations of God But 't is not so in Heaven there the Divine Sun attracts every Eye with the light of its beauty and inflames every Heart with the heat of his Love The continual Presence of God is in different respects the Cause and Effect of our Love to him For there is no more powerful Attractive to love him than to see him And Love keeps the thoughts undivided from him God is Love and will kindle in us a pure Affection that Eternity shall never lessen Our Affections that are now scattered on many things wherein some small Reflections of his Goodness appear shall joyn in one full Current in Heaven where God is all in all We shall then understand the riches of his Love that God who is infinitely happy in himself should make Man for such a Glory and such a Glory for Man And that when for his Rebellion he was justly expell'd from Paradise and under a sentence of Eternal Death God should please to restore him to his Favour and give him a better state than was forfeited We shall then understand our infinite Obligations to the Son of God who descended from the Heaven of Heavens to our Earth and which is more from the Majesty wherein he there reign'd from the Glory wherein he was visible to the Angelical Minds and became Man for Men Redemption for the Lost to purchase Immortal Life for those who were dead to that blessed Life In short then God will express his Love to us in the highest degrees that a finite Creature is capable to receive from Love it self and we shall love him with all the strength of our glorified powers 3. Compleat satisfaction flows from union with God by Knowledg and Love In his Presence is fulness of Joy at his Right-hand are Pleasures for ever The Causes and Excellencies of the Heavenly Life are in those words exprest The Causes are the influxive Presence of God the revelation of his attractive Perfections the beholding his Face the declaration of his peculiar Favour This our blessed Lord himself had a respect to as the compleat Reward of his Sufferings Thou shalt make me full of Joy with thy Countenance And his Right-Hand his Bounty that dispenses and Power that secures that Felicity The Excellencies of this state are fulness of Joy and that without diminution or end When the Soul opens its eyes to the clear discoveries of the first Truth and its breast to the dear and intimate imbraces of the Supream Good beyond which nothing remains to be known nothing to be enjoy'd what a deluge of the purest Pleasures will overflow it We cannot ascend in our thoughts so high as to conceive the excess of Joy that attends those operations of the glorified Soul upon its proper object But something we may conjecture Those who are possest with a noble Passion for Knowledg how do they despise all lower Pleasures in comparison of it How do they forget themselves neglect the Body and retire into the Mind the highest part of Man and nearest to God The bare apprehension of such things that by their internal nature have no attractive influence upon the Affections is pleasant to the Understanding As the appearance of Light though not attended with any other visible beauties refreshes the Eye after long darkness so the clear discovery of Truths how abstract so ever that were before unknown is grateful to the intellective
Fountain of Life They enjoy a better Immortality than the Tree of Life could have preserved in Adam The Revolutions of the Heavens and Ages are under their Feet and cannot in the least alter or determine their Happiness After the passing of millions of Years still an entire Eternity remains of their enjoying God O most desirable State where Blessedness and Eternity are inseparably united O joyful Harmony when the full Chorus of Heaven shall sing This God is our God for ever and ever This adds an infinite weight to their Glory This redoubles their unspeakable Joys with infinite sweetness and security They repose themselves in the compleat Fruition of their Happiness God reigns in the Saints and they live in him for ever From what has been discoursed we should I. Consider the woful Folly of Men in refusing such a Happiness that by the admirable favour of God is offer'd to their choice Can there be an Expectation or Desire or Capacity in Man of enjoying a Happiness beyond what is Infinite and Eternal O blind and wretched World so careless of everlasting felicity Who can behold without compassion and indignation Men vainly seek for happiness where 't is not to be found and after innumerable disappointments fly at an Impossibility and neglect their sovereign and final Blessedness Astonishing Madness that God and Heaven should be despised in comparison of painted Trifles This adds the greatest Contumely to their Impiety What powerful Charm obstructs their true judging of things What Spirit of Errour possesses them Alas Eternal Things are unseen not of conspicuous moment and therefore in the carnal Ballance are esteemed light against temporal things present to the Sense It does not appear what we shall be The Vail of the visible Heavens covers the Sanctuary where JESUS our High-Priest is entred and stops the enquiring Eye But have we not assurance by the most infallible Principles of Faith that the Son of God came down from Heaven to live with us and dye for us and that he rose again to confirm our Belief in his exceeding great and precious Promises concerning this happiness in the future state And do not the most evident Principles of Reason and Universal Experience prove that this World cannot afford true Happiness to us How wretchedly do we forfeit the Prerogative of the Reasonable Nature by neglecting our last and blessed End If the Mind be darkned that it does not see the amiable Excellencies of God and the Will so depraved that it does not feel their ravishing power the Man ceases to be a Man and becomes like the Beasts that perish As a blind Eye is no longer an Eye being absolutely useless to that end for which it was made And though in this present state Men are stupid and unconcern'd yet hereafter their Misery will awaken them to discover what is that Supream Good wherein their Perfection and Felicity consists When their folly shall be exposed before God Angels and Saints in what extream confusion will they appear before that glorious and immense Theatre Our Saviour told the unbelieving Jews There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves turn'd out They shall be tortur'd with the desire of Happiness without possible satisfaction 'T is most just that those who err without excuse should repent without remedy 2. Let us be excited seriously to apply our selves in the use of effectual means for the obtaining this Happiness Indeed the original cause of it is the pure rich Mercy of God the meritorious is the most precious obedience of our Saviour by whom we obtain plenteous Redemption His Abasement is the cause of our Exaltation The Wounds he received in his Body the characters of Ignominy and footsteps of Death are the Fountains of our Glory Eternal Life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. But the Gospel declares that without Holiness no Man shall see God An holy change of our Natures and perseverance in the course of universal obedience are indispensibly requisite in order to our obtaining Heaven Those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory Honour and Immortality shall partake of Eternal Life Now were there no other reason of this Constitution but the sovereign Will of God it were sufficient But the Foundation of it is laid in the nature of the Things themselves Therefore our Saviour does not simply declare that an unregenerate Person shal not see the Kingdom of God but with the greatest emphasis cannot to signify an absolute impossibility of it Besides the Legal Bar that excludes unsanctified Persons from the beatifick vision of God there is a moral incapacity Suppose that Justice should allow Omnipotence to translate such a sinner to Heaven would the Place make him happy Can two incongruous Natures delight in one another The happiness of Sense is by an impression of Pleasure from a suitable Object The happiness of intellectual Beings arises from an entire conformity of dispositions So that unless God recede from his Holiness which is absolutely impossible or Man be purified and changed into his likeness there can be no sweet Communion between them Our Saviour assigns this Reason of the necessity of Regeneration in order to our admission into Heaven That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit According to the quality of the Principle such is what proceeds from it The Flesh is a corrupt Principle and accordingly the Natural Man is wholly carnal in his propensions operations and end The Disease is turn'd into his Constitution He is dead to the Spiritual Life to the actions and enjoyments that are proper to it Nay there is in him a surviving Principle of Enmity to that Life not only a mortal coldness to God but a stiff aversation from him a perpetual resistance and impatience of the Divine Presence that would disturb his voluptuous enjoyments The Exercises of Heaven would be as the Torments of Hell to him while in the midst of those pure Joys his inward inclinations vehemently run into the lowest Lees of Sensuality And therefore till this contrariety so deep and predominant in an unholy Person be removed 't is utterly impossible he should enjoy God with satisfaction Holiness alone prepares Men for the possession of Celestial Happiness that is against the corruption and above the perfection of meer Nature Let us then having such a Joy set before us lay aside every weight and the Sin which doth so easily beset us and run with patience the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the Author and finisher of our Faith Methinks the sight of worldly Men so active and vigilant to prosecute their low designs should quicken us to seek with the greater diligence and alacrity the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof A carnal Wretch urged by the sting of a brutish desire with