shall not be now need of any outward Elements Bread or Wine but the Inward part the Spiritual Communion they shall have it new and fresh in a more lively and better fuller manner then here whence they shall be as men full of new Wine filled with the Springs of Heavenly Affection and Consolation Wine is oft used to express Joy Gladness Comfort Psal 104.15 The Communion between Christ and the Saints in the Coelestial Life will compleat perfect and far transcend that that is but in a weak and mean degree begun in Ordinances here Consider also that the Union and Communion between Christ and the faithful being set forth by that of the Conjugal relation in Scripture our present state is but an Espousal the Consummation of the Marriage is at the day of Judgment thence follows the full enjoyment each of other in Heaven when Christ hath carried his Spouse home to his Fathers house Ineffable Mutual Delight Communion Communication of Secrets and Hearts each to other Joy and Contentment will thence ensue Then will those words be most fully verified Isa 62.4 5. and 54.4 5 8. Zeph. 3.17 Then will the Book of Canticles that Book of Loves between Christ and his Church be understood and fully practised But thus in Heaven you shall have Immediate and full Communion with the Lord Jesus You hear of him now but you shall see him then and be ever with him there was flocking to see him when on earth in his Humiliation Luk. 19.3 4. And the Spiritually minded then saw Glory in him Joh. 14. But what will it be then to see him in Heaven in his Glorified estate And not only to see him as a stranger as a Glorious person But to see and enjoy him as thy Friend as thy Brother Saviour Husband Cant. 5.16 One who sometimes powered out his Heart-blood for thee and will now power out his Heart-love to thee for evermore 3. The Saints shall have full Communion with the Holy Ghost they shall have the Everlasting fulness and presence of the Spirit and so have a fulness of Gifts and Graces of Holiness and Comfort for evermore The Saints have somewhat of the Communion of the Holy Ghost now 2 Cor. 13.14 But they shall have it in perfection then We have but the first fruits of the Spirit but an earnest penny now Rom. 8.23 2 Cor. 1.22 and 5.5 Therefore there is an Harvest the whole sum a fulness of the Spirit that shall be imparted then And as the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of Grace and Comfort now by whose Presence and Assistance we are upheld in both so will he be then only in such a way manner and measure as suits a state of Perfection then he will rest upon you as a Spirit of Glory so hath he done in a great degree on some Martyrs here 1 Pet. 4.14 but there in Perfection on all the Saints Hence the Saints in Heaven having the fulness of the Spirit shall be replenished with all those Excellencies and endowments that are the Effects and fruits of the presence and special operation of the Spirit filled with all the fulness of God As 1. With singular Divine Guifts of knowledge wisdom inlargement of understanding as 1 King 4.29 and utterance For there will be use of utterance in Heaven in Glorious Conference and Converse of the Saints Here are Gifts given for the Kingdom of Grace by the Spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 8 11. But there are Guifts suiting the Kingdom of Glory 2. With all Graces of Holiness or Sanctification those now brought to perfection and kept up in act and exercise Sanctification of the Spirit 2 Thes 2.13 will then be perfect of which further afterward concerning the Glory of the Soul and there will be the constant un-interrupted Presence and Assistance of the Spirit to actuate every Grace to keep it up in its full exercise The heart ever inlarged for God ever fixed and tuned to sing his Praise as Psal 57.7 8. Thy Glory Heart and Tongue shall be ever awake thy Harp ever in Tune then the Spirit of Grace everlastingly filling and quickning thy Heart and holding thee up in Heavenly Spiritual activity and inlargement 3. With abundant Comfort and Consolation The Holy Ghost will then fully do that work of a Comforter and dwell in all the Saints as such Joh. 14.16 in his Choicest and most Glorious Comforting Operations That in Rom. 5.5 will then be fully done Then perfect Assurance and sense of the Love of God without all mixture of doubt or fear or darkness full Assurance shall be wanting to never a Saint in Heaven the meanest shall see the Love of God more clearly than the strongest did here That great question will then be out of question forever The light of Gods Countenance shall be then lifted up and shine upon your souls as a Sun that never sets nor is overcast with clouds The knowledge and sense of that one thing that the Infinite God loves thee with an everlasting love which is more worth than ten thousand thousand worlds shall live in thy heart and be the Life and Joy of thy Soul and fill thee with peace that passeth all understanding The joy of the Holy Ghost that is a manifest and eminent part of our Communion with the Holy Ghost shall then be at its full height which now we have but some tasts and drops of Rom. 14.17 That that Christ hath been so long aiming and driving at will then be attained Joh. 15.11 and 16.24 Their Joy is the Element the Saints in Heaven live in they breath in no other Aire but that the Ocean they swim in It is that they enter and go into Mat. 25.21 23. Joy at once expresses Heaven and Heavenly Glory It is a Mass or Heap of Joy a Region of Joy an Aire and Element of Joy the Joy of the Lord God the Joy of the Holy Ghost into which they are brought and where they breath and live and swim in the fulness thereof for ever Psal 16.11 2. A second thing considerable in the positive Happiness of the Saints in Heaven is their inherent personal subjective the former particular pointeth chiefly to their objâ—ctive Glory though they go together and therâ—fore both there and here somewhat of both Glory or perfection both of Soul and Body This partly makes them capable of that foresaid full enjoyment of God and partly results from it For our present frail weak and distempered faculties are not capable of that Glory and Glorious Communion 1 Cor. 15.50 and 2.9 they must therefore be raised up to an higher state of Perfâ—ction in order thereunto And the enjoyment of that Communion with God continually reflects unspeakable Glory and Happiness inherent Excellencies upon the whole man But hence the person of each Saint is Glorified filled with Glorious Excellency and Perfection both of Soul and Body All that be there are Glorified Persons Rom. 8.17 18 30. Colâ—ss 3.4 Glorious or Glorified they are both in their
Affections shall also be 1. Inlarged or compleatly fitted framed disposed and sanctified to take in that Glory or that Glorious Communion with God that is to be had in Heaven The spirit will be perfect Hebr. 12.23 in this respect i. e. perâ—â—ctly sanctified filled full of holiness and so everlastingly fitted and inlarged for that holy work of Glorifying God that is the work of Heaven alwayes in tune for that never out of frame as you often are here The Image of God upon the Soul shall then be perfectly restored as that part of it which stands in knowledge Colos 3.10 so also that of holiness and righteousness Epes 4.24 which is seated chiefly in the will and affections your Souls shall be top full of Holiness You that now long and cry out for Grace and Holiness for an heart to love God to fear him to delight in him to be inlarged for him you shall then have your desire to the full never feel a weakness or impotency or straitness of heart God-ward more never find your hearts at your left hand but always dextrous in Holy works and inlarged for it then may each Saint say to another as 2 Cor. 6.11 and to God de praesenti as Psal 119.32 I will run c. For thou dost inlarge my heart And especially the affection and Grace of Love that shall be inlarged and flourish there Love to God and to his Saints the perfume of that will fill Heaven Heaven is the place of Love that is the head-grace there alwayes acting never failing 1 Cor. 13.8.13 Those affections that bring pain with them as tormenting fear and grief 1 Joâ— 4.14 and those Actings that imply Imperfection in them or a state of Imperfection accompanying them as prophesie and that inferiour imperfect way and manner of knowledge that we have here and those actings of faith and hope that are proper to this life in contra-distinction to the fight and presence of the good believed and hoped for though the Grace of faith and hope it self or dependance on God in Christ shall continue in Heaven those I say shall cease but Love is alwayes comfortable Philip. 2.1 and the full acting of Love implies perfection 1 Joh. 4.18 the more intensely and strongly Love acts and carries the Soul to God the more perfect we are the strongest acts of faith are under our greatest Imperfections wants and miseries when the good of the promise is wanting Heb. 11.1 And Love is most directly the spirit of Holiness and of actual sweet joyful Communion with God and therefore Love shall eminently continue and flourish in Heaven and be alwayes in fullest act and exercise 2. Filled and satisfied with good the heart of man is a large Vessel the desires have a vast reach even after infinite good This whole World cannot satisfie one heart but then it shall be filled that word full verified Isa 55.2 Brimful of Comfort and Contentment in the fruition of God who is goodness it self infinitely good enough to satisfie the endless reaches of the heart of man You shall then have as much as you would have when the will the desire is opened to the widest it shall be filled Psal 81.10 And whereas Love seeketh nearest Union and fullest Communion with the Beloved If thy Soul love God it would be drawn as near him as may be Cant. 1.4 Why Love shall be satisfied in this respect the Soul shall be as near God as it would be and have him as near as it would have ever loving him and ever loved of him delighting in him and delighted in by him lying in the arms and bosome of his Love Christ and all the faithful his Spouse will then give their Loves Cant. 7.12 each to other ever opening and exchanging hearts And so Joy will then be full Psal 16.11 All the liking affections whereby the will goes out unto embraces and enjoyes good shall then be fully satisfied as Psal 107 9. Jerem. 31.25 Psal 36.8 And for the Soul of man to be closing with and satiated actually satisfied in God the chief and infinite good this is Happiness this is the fruition that is beatifical 2. Consider the Glory of the Body viz. when that shall come to its Glorified estate as it shall do at and after its Resurrection It shall then be Glorified as well as the Soul being made like the Glorious Body of Christ Philip. 3.21 1 Cor. What that is was in some glimpse of it seen in Christs Transfiguration Mat. 17.2 that was a little glimpse and specimen of the future visible Glory of Christ and so of the Saints that shall be like him So Mat. 13.43 Consider but those passages to avoid curiosity here in 1 Cor. 15.42 43 44. It shall be the self same Body for substance but endowed with new and Glorious qualities viz. 1. Incorruption and Immortality it is sown i. e. as here buried in Corruption It is raised in Incorruption so v. 53 54. The Saints Bodies shall not be lyable to any Corruption hurt or decay by sickness pain old-age or death but clothed with Immortality All principle and power of dying being swallowed up 2. Cor. 15.4 To live for ever without liableness to death No fear of dying then when once in that other happy World The King of Terrours never sets foot there Luk. 20.36 Adam might possibly have lived and not dyed but these shall live and cannot die And as not exposed to death so not to any other hurt or aile inward decay or outward violence What abundance of Hurts and Ailes Maimes Accidents as also Inward Diseases now How many Tooles are at work to knock down this Clay-tabernacle but then it shall be so strongly built as to be Impregnable by the assaults of Corruption 2. Glory Splendor and Beauty v. 43. The Body is now a vile thing Philip. 3.21 when under earthly Adams Image especially in its decaying state under Sickness Sores Maimes Rheums Wrinkles c. It is a sorry poor ill-looking deformed pale noisome thing But then the Bodies of the Saints shall be Glorious Beautiful Goodly Amiable and Shining as the Sun whereof that of the shining of Moses his face and of Christ in his Transfiguration was but a little glimpse And far above that of Adam in innocency when neither shame nor deformity was yet known 3. Strength and Power v. 43. Now the Body is a weak fraile feeble thing often unable to perform its needful operations soon wearied tyred with action and at last sinking under its own frailty to the Grave But then Strong Vigorous Lively Healthy freed from all defects and infirmities above weariness and weakness And so from the Imperfection and weakness of Infancy or decrepit Age. All the Saints even such as die Children as Divines most probably conclude shall rise again in full strength and stature such as the flower and vigour of years did or would have given as such as Adam at his Creation was made in Vid. Aquin. Suppl Quaest 81. Bolton
of their Glory This compleatness of Glory and so the Accession or addition to what they had before at and after the Resurrection we may take up in several particulars 1. They shall then have full Conquest and victory over Death and full deliverance from the Curse The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death and that is not fully destroyed and swallowed up till the Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.26 54 56 57. Though the Soul dye not yet Death hangs and abides upon the Body and so upon the person and continues to make up a separation between those two Soul and Body which had it not been for sin should never have been parted untill it be raised and shake off its dust and the re-union effected hence the Curse is not fully finally and totally abolish'd to the Saints till the Resurrection For Death is a fruit of the Curse While the Body is turned into and abides in its dust there is somewhat of its Ancient Curse remaining Genes 3.19 It hath some hold of them while the Grave holds the Body But when that is rased and hath shaken off its dust and Corruption and this Corruptible put on Immortality now here is compleat deliverance from the Curse and every Rag and Remnant of it For Christ at his Resurrection had a compleat Victory over the Curse it can hold him under no loâ—ger so hath the Saint Here is now a Redemption of the Body and so of the whole man from the Curse and from all Enemies even the last of them which is Death Rom. 8.23 There is the Redemption of the Soul before i. e. simply in it self considered though Relatively as it stands in relation to the Body and naturally desires Re-union with it so it may be said not to be fully Redeemed that is the person is not fully Redeemed while any part of it lyes under the Curse But now is the Redemption of the Body from Death and Vileness and so now the whole man the person is compleatly Redeemed delivered set free from the whole Curse Hence it is called the day of Redemption Ephes 4.30 Hence when Christ tells us of a full Life that he will give us he tells us of the Resurrection Joh. 6.40 54. He hath not finisht his quickning work his work of giving life till then 2. The Body shall then be Glorified there will be the accession of the Glory of the Body which was not before That part of each Saint till now till the Resurrection was not Glorified but lay in the dust and among the Worms in vileness and debasement But now the Body shall not only be raised up and live and so be freed from death as before but also be carried and adorned with Glory Honour Beauty and Excellency unspeakable be made a Glorious Body Phil. 3.21 An impassible Beautiful Agile Strong Spiritual Body 1 Cor. 15.42 43 44. Of this Glory of the Body what it is we spoke something before touching the Personal perfection of a Glorified Saint I only mention it now as part of the Additional and Compleat Glory that acrew's to the Saints at and after the Resurrection which was not before And this will increase the Joy of the Soul the Glory of the Body will be an addition to the Joy of the Soul and so the Happiness and Glory of the Soul considered extensively i. e. in its relation to and participation with the Body rejoycing in its Joy c. will be greater after the Resurrection than it was before though considered intensively and intrinsically viz. as to the Essential Happiness of the Soul that consists in its vision and fruition of God so it is the same before and after the Resurrection The Adjunctive additional Glory or Joy of the Soul will be increased through the Essence of the Happiness of the same 3. Hence the person the whole person consisting of Soul and Body of each Saint shall then be Glorified or after an Happy Joyfull meeting of those two old friends Soul and Body there will be an enjoyment of compleat Happiness in and by the whole mar It was but a peice of a Saint that was Glorified before but a part though indeed the principal part the Soul but now the whole the entire person for neither the Soul alone nor the Body alone is the person but the entire whole made up of both that is now Glorified And look as the condition of a part is attributed or belongs to an integral whole as if a Leg or an Arm be hurt or wounded we say the man is hurt or wounded so the person may be truly said to be inglorious not Glorified while an Essential part the Body is so Though the Soul be Glorified and so the man in regard of that part yet properly the person is not till both Soul and Body be so Joh. 7.39 not Glorified because his Manhood was not So Mat. 22.31 32. Abraham properly i. e. the person of Abraham does not enjoy God and the good of the Covenant Eternal Life unless his Body be raised Indeed the Soul of Abraham might but not Abraham properly for Abraham is a person consisting of Soul and Body It is properly but the Soul of such a man that is Glorified before the Resurrection But now the man the person is the whole entire man consisting in Soul and Body And Hence 1. There will be an Happy and Joyful meeting or re-union of the Soul and Body this re-union will be mutually Joyful and the Joy of the whole For the Soul of man was naturally made to subsist in a Body hence it is incompleat and imperfect without it it hath not its perfect and compleat manner of subsisting in its separate estate hence it desireth and longeth after re-union with the Body and by re-union it receives though not any Essential yet an Integral perfection And as the parting of these two old friends was sorrowful and contrary to nature or to natural inclination though swallowed up and over-ballanced by that greater good the presence of Christ Phil. 1 23. yet in it self sorrowful and unpleasant unto nature so their meeting again will be wonderful joyful they meeting in a condition of Joy and Bliss When the Soul is in Glory it now wants but one thing to make its Joy compleat viz. To have the Body with it in the same Glory This is now attained and now it is come to its full rest 2. There is now henceforth from the Resurrection and so on to all Eternity an actual plenary enjoyment of Glory and Happiness by the whole man in both the parts of Soul and Body That Glory that was before but in a part is now diffused into the whole And the Soul acts more perfectly in a Glorified Body because more naturally then it did in its seperate estate Indeed now on Earth the Body is a clog to the Soul and hence the seperate Soul hath a fuller and freer enjoyment of Happiness than it can have here But the Glorified Body
up for them and will then actually and fully put upon them 2 Tim. 4 8. a Crown of Righteousness i. e. which the Righteous and Faithful God according to his Gracious Promises made to his own Grace in us and the appointment declared to all that run for the Prize of the Heavenly Calling will bestow on the Righteous It is the Saints Coronation-day and that must needs be a day of great Glory to them when they shall be openly Crowned before the World They are now Heirs and have Title c. to the Kingdom but that is their Coronation-day He that was before a Prince or lawful King yet at the Solemnity of Coronation appears in eminent Splendor and hath eminent Honour put upon him Such a day is the day of Judgment to the Saints they are now Princes and Kings unto God by Title c. But then they shall be brought forth and Crowned before all the World Actually installed into their Kingdom and into the fulness of the Glory thereof Mat. 25.34 So it is the Saints Marriage-day the Consummation of their Marriage with Christ after the Espousalls here wherein therefore they shall be brought forth in Robes of Glory befitting the Spouse of the King of Kings and that in the fight of all the World The Glory that God hath put upon his own Children and Christ upon his Spouse and Fellow-heirs shall then be manifested and openly revealed Hence 3. This Love of God and Christ to them in all this in all his wonderful works of Grace of wisdom power and goodness in all he hath done in and for them in Electing Calling Justifying Adopting Sanctifying preserving and keeping and carrying on by his power to Salvation and now fully Glorifying The whole Chain and Circle of his Love all the wonders of Mercy and Grace wherein he hath abounded toward his Saints shall then be revealed and discovered 1 Joh. 3.1 2. 2 Thes 1.10 The Glory of the Saints shall be so revealed as may Glorify God and make him admirable in all he hath done in and for them ver 11 12. As God will then reveal set forth and shew abroad his wrath and Justice on the Vessels of wrath Rom. 2.5 and 9.22 So he will reveal his Love Grace and Mercy towards the Vessels of Mercy in that day of Revelation The whole Mystery of Grace will be then unfolded in the Glory of it and to the Glory and Praise of God which as it is the last end of all Gods Dispensations toward the Elect Ephes 1.2 So that end shall then be attained We may say as Colos 1.26 27. Christ the whole mystery of Christ shall then appear in his full Glory and Grace is the sum and top of the whole mystery of Christ And this will be to the singular Comfort and Joy of the Saints as well as to the Glory of God the benefit of the compleat and final pardon of all their sins and this opened in its Glory what refreshment and joy will it be Act. 3.19 the like may be said of all the rest 4. The Superiority of the Saints over above the wicked and being preferred before them and in a Condition infinitly better and more Happy then they Psal 49.14 They the upright shall be the better men and better on 't then in a more Happy and Honourable Condition exalted far above them while they seemed to be the underlings of the world under Poverty and Persecution and this shall plainly appear and be seen in the morning of the Resurrection Then will that plainly appear that the Elder shall serve the Younger Gen. 25.23 The Esau's of the World the great Doers and Busslers and mighty Hunters therein shall come behind the younger Brother the despicable the more unlikely the Jacob's the plain men that dwell in Tents the pious and Godly though never so poor and mean and despicable in the World whose out-side promises not so much Here in this World men and things are oft mis-placed Servants on Horse-back Ham and Canaan Servants of Servants so the wicked are of servile busie ignoble Spirits and Conditions yet of him of such oft are the Nimrods the mighty Hunters in the Earth And Princes the Children of the King of Kings the Heirs of Heaven walking as Servants upon the Earth Eccles 10.7 6. But then all things shall be set to rights and put in their places then these Princes shall be on Thrones of Glory Luk 22.30 1 Cor. 6.2 3. And the wicked how high soever they have been here below at the Baâ— filled with shame and horrour Piety and Godliness shall then be honoured and advanced however it is despised now And the poor if Pious shall have the Crown Jam. 2.5 and 1.12 that will then appear Prov. 28.6 Yea and then the righteous Cause of the Lords people shall be judged owned and maintained which will tend to their Glory who have oft been condemned unjustly in this World as Christ himself was That Judgment-seat of Christ Jesus hath been oft appealed to by Martyrs and Sufferers and he will then receive those Appeals and judge them righteously and that openly to the confusion of all the unrighteous Judgments that have passed here in the time of this World Devils shall then receive their doom and punishment for all their wicked molestations of the Saints and oppositions of Christs Kingdom in one way or other and all enemies destroyed and brought down under the feet not only of Christ but of his Church also And this final and total subduing of enemies and exalting of the Church shall be seen and known openly and beheld And this manifestation of the Sons of God is that which the whole Creation and all the works of Providence are in Travel for Rom. 8.19 22 23. The Glory of the Sons of God is formed and prepared in the womb of Providence now but that is the Birth-day of the manifestation of it then the mystery of God is finished and the work of God upon and in his Saints is brought forth in its full beauty and perfection Thus of the Manifestation of the Saints Glory at the last day Add we another consideration shewing the Compleatness and Consummation of their Glory then 5. At the last day the whole number of the Saints will be compleated and the Mystical Body of Christ entirely filled up and then will God compleatly and most Gloriously communicate himself to the whole at once Christ will then represent his Kingdom and Body compleat and entire every way come to its full growth and consistency Ephes 4.13 as it shall abide forever and in that compleat Estate he with the Father and the Spirit will Communicate himself thereto in the most perfect and Glorious manner as Heb. 11.40 So the Saints that are now in Heaven shall not be made perfect without their fellows and till the remnant of their Brethren as Rev. 6.11 have run through their militant course and be come in there is yet a further perfection they shall have
through sufferings Act. 14.12 But it is but suffering a while compared with eternity or suffering a little as the Word may be rendred compared with the weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Doct. Eternal Glory in the World to come is that which the faithful the effectually called shall be brought unto or obtain by Christ Jesus or by the Grace of God through Christ Jesus after that they have suffered a while in this world This Eternal Glory is the prize of the High-calling oâ— God Phil. 3.14 i. e. the Prize the Crown the Glory which they are called to run for and to obtain possession of at the end of the race The perfection of everlasting Glory is that which the Calling of a Christian the work of Vocation aimeth at tendeth to and issueth in Rom. 8.30 and 9.23 24. Vocation is the first open work of Grace upon an Elect person and Glorification is the last so 2 Thess 2.14 1 Thess 5.9 We are upon the last great benefit that Believers have by Christ as we see in the Text it is by Christ Jesus setting forth the Blessed Estate as such viz. Glorification We have spoken of the Incoation of it which is in this life It follows to consider of the Perfection or Consummation of it which shall be hereafter in Heaven And this is the Subject now before us from this Text which plainly speaks of future Glory for it speaks of that shall be actually possessed and enjoyed after we have suffered a while here There is a Glory now upon the faithful in their sufferings 1 Pet. 4.14 But this Text speaks of that perfect fulness of Glory for ever that shall be enjoyed after all their sufferings are ended That it is so or the truth of the Doctrine is evident in the Text and in multitude of other Scriptures Rom. 8.18 2 Cor. 4.17 18. 5.1 Luk. 18.29 30. 1 Pet. 1.4 It is that God hath promised and appointed Jam. 1.12 2.5 Luk. 12.32 Christ hath purchased Hebr. 9.12 15. prayed for Joh. 17.24 and possessed as our forerunner Joh. 14.2 3. Hebr. 6.20 and that all the Saints have expected and lived and died in the certain hope of Hebr. 11.10 16 26. 13.14 Rom. 5.2 2 Tim. 4.8 18. Philip. 3.20 21. Col. 1.5 2 Thes 1.5 7. Ps 73.24 Nothing more evident and frequent in the Scripture than this As it is a matter of Faith not seen at present but believed and hoped for so God hath given us abundant ground for Faith or testimony concerning it in his Word Q. But the principal question before us is What this Glohy is that the faithful shall enjoy in the world to come A. We cannot fully tell you what it is 1 Cor. 2.9 if not the good and great mysteries of the Gospâ—l then much less the Glory of Heaven which is the up-shot of all those mysteries and whereof the best Saints do see but some glimmerings here But what the Scripture hath plainly recorded we may gather up and thence draw a little map or general view of that Glory that is prepared for us in another world such as may suit and reach useful practical ends to stir us up to seek after it to esteem it above all the world and make us account it the only great matter and necessity to get to Heaven and may help the Saints to rejoyce in their portion and comfort them over all their sorrows in this life c. though not to satisfie or feed a curiosity of roving speculation A sober apprehension of Heavens Glory is sufficient for us while we are in the way to it an exact comprehension of all particulars will be had time enough when we come thither But when Earth is full of trouble and evil round about us it is not unsuitable to hear of Heaven and to be looking into that 2 Cor. 4.16 18. we shall not faint as long as we look upward Act. 7.54 55. We are ready to look on the right hand and on the left but to be looking up stedfastly into Heaven is the best posture in evil times We need bitter things here to drive us off from the Earth but our hearts had need be relishing and tasting the sweetness of Heaven to draw them up thither When Peter wrote to the Saints under great and manifold tryals and afflictions in a time when Judgment must begin at the house of God and many amazements and terrours were ready to seize on poor Christians both men and women 1. Pet. 3.6 14. Now he discourses much of Heaven and of the Glory there He begins with it 1 Pet. 1.4 5 c. and ends with it in the Text. A discourse on such a subject is not unsuitable at such a season Now therefore for a short view of that eternal Glory that is the portion of the faithful in the world to come or of the Glory of the Saints in Heaven it may be set forth and considered 1. In a Positive 2. In a Comparative or Argumentative way from such Comparisons and Considerations as may argue the greatness and goodness of this Glory 1. In a Positive way so we may take this description of it ☞ The Glory of the faithful in the life to come wherein the benefit of Glorification is consummate it is the perfect blessedness of the Saints whereby in their souls after death and in soul and body after Judgment or after the Resurrection being fully freed from all evil both of sin and sorrow they shall be filled with holiness and comfort and all good in the full fruition of God or compleat communion with God Father Son and Holy Ghost all together in the highest Heavens for evermore The summe of it stands in 1. The Matter or Essâ—nce of it which consists 1. In perfect freedom from all evil 2. Perfect enjoyment of all good 2. The continuance or duration of it that it is eternal or for evermore 3 The degrees of it that it is enjoyed 1. In soul after death 2. In soul and body at and after the last Judgment 1. This Glory of the Saints in the world to come contains in it 1. Perfect freedom from all evil They are in part freed here some beginning of deliverance from sin and misery here but there perfectly every rag and remnant every spot of sin and wrinkle of misery shall be there utterly taken away and abolished Ephes 5.27 1. From sin the worst of evils there will bâ— perfect freedom and deliverance from sin not only guilt and reigning power but from thâ— being of it Those prayers then will be fully answered Hos 14.2 Psal 39.8 and that design of Christ fully accomplished 1 Job 3.5 Tit. 2.14 1 Pet. 2.24 Hebr. 12.23 therefore free from the moral imperfection of sin perfectly sanctified You shall then be freed from sin both 1. In the habit the disposition of sin will be â—hen abolished the roots and â—eeds and principles of it plucked up no more inclination or proneness to the least evil or
Hypocritical persons that are secret adversaries to Truth and Piety as 2 Cor. 11.26 Psal 55.12 13. You shall have no discouraging company in Heaven that will clog and thwart and hinder you in that that is good none to oppose either Truth or Piety but all to joyn with one accord in the serving and Glorifying of God 3. Divisions differences and dissentions among the Godly which the state of Imperfection on earth is lyably to and lamentably cumbred with and trouble and disquietment multiplied thereby but no such thing in Heaven there is but one mind and one mouth in Heaven as there is but one truth not so much as a dissering apprehension among all the thousands and millions of Saints there There we shall fully attain what is exhorted to 1 Cor. 1.10 and prayed for Rom. 15.5 6 7. There that goodly sight is to be seen in perfection Psal 133.1 The state of perfection there implyes and infers this Hebr. 12.23 The Saints while children may wrangle and contend and differ but when grown up to their adult age and to a perfect man they will have more grace than so Ephes 4.13 14. That ignorance weakness and darkness whereby we are oft here mistaken and miss the truth and cannot see the same truth by the same light our knowing in part whence we may be mistaken in part ignorant in part will then be done away and hence perfect union in the truth which is but one 1 Cor. 13.9 10 11 12. Si non amplius in his terris te visurns sum said old Grineus writing to Chytraeus apud Milch Adam pag. 879. ibi tamen conveniemus ubi Luthero cum Luingleo optimè jam convenit Paul and Barnahas Hooper and Ridley Luther and Zuinglius are there fully reconciled and shall never differ or contend more Heaven is full both of peace and truth even of that peace that is knit in the bonds of truth and holiness The griefs and distractions that result from dissentions among the Godly here are there all swallowed up in perfect peace And so all the difficulties and weary travails and oppositions that Christ's Kingdom now conflicts with and must be carried on through are there ended Mans corruptions Satans temptations weakness on every hand cumbers even Gods work with difficulty and obstruction here but no such thing there the Militant state of Christ's Kingdom is then ended and it passeth into a state of victory and rest 4. Bodily ailes sicknesses pains weakness deformities infirmities of what kind soever you shall be freed from all these in the life to come Philip. 3.21 Do you think the body of Christ now glorified knows any pain or grief or weakness as when on earth no more shall the bodies of the Saints in Heaven but be in perfect health in your beauty strength and Glory for ever 1 Cor. 15.42 43. The Resurrection to that life to come will cure the oldest pain aile ache disease lameness that could not be cured here those ailes that you carry to your Graves with you you shall not bring them out of your Graves again you shall rise again but they shall be buried and lost and laid aside for ever nor shall the body be so troublesome as now need so much ado about it and so many shores and props of meat drink sleep cloathing c. You are groaning now under many bodily ailes and evils but then comes a day of Redemption of the body as well as soul actual perfect Redemption of it from all evil Rom. 8.23 5. All other afflictions from the hand of God all the remnants of the Curse that Christ leaveth upon us in this world for our chastisement and correction Rev. 21 4. if it shall be so comparatively i. e. compar'd with the troubles of former times in the more glorious times of the Church Militant much more will it be so absolutely in the glorified estate of the Church-Triumphant While sin is with us as here there will be sorrow but the abolition of sin will abolish sorrow too perfectly No sin and no sorrow neither in Heaven All tears shall be wiped away i. e. all afflictions or troubles that are the cause of tears shall be quite taken away No more of those tears that arise from the various tryals of this weary life wants straits losses crosses in Name Estate Relations Imployments the briars thorns and thistles that grow in every corner of the field of this world Ezek. 26.24 There will need no rod in Heaven not a frown nor a blow nor a stroke of correcting anger there As there is nothing but wrath in Hell so there will be nothing but love in Heaven Here on earth there is a mixture of both yea even to Gods own people while they have sin in them and are full of faults though Children their Father cannot but be angry with them now and then and they need a rod ever and anon Psal 89.32 33. but in Heaven as no sin so no anger no not for chastening there◠the Lord will never knit his brows nor chide or strike never hide his face there be here Soul-afflictive spiritual Agonies from a sense of Gods anger and doubts of his love those also shall cease but they shall live under the smiles of his face and light of his countenance without interruption But thus in that as to fredom from all evil as 2 Cor. 5.4 so sin is swallowed up of grace and holiness the remainders of sin and sorrow that hang about us in this state of Imperfection are utterly swallowed up and abolished by that perfect holiness and perfect happiness that there is and continues for ever 2. Perfect enjoyment of all good It is not a meer negative happiness that the Saints in Heaven partake of viz. a not being miserable an absence of evil but also the positive presence and enjoyment of all good Psal 16.11 Joy is from the presence of good and full joy from the satisfying fulness of all good Under this Head may be comprised those great and glorious things that make up and compleat the positive happiness of the Saints in Heaven and were pointed to in the description As viz. 1. Full fruition or enjoyment of God perfect glorious and full communion with God the God of Glory God Father Son and Holy Ghost This is the main and the essence of the Happiness of Heaven It is not a carnal or sensual thing standing in bodily carnal pleasures and delights as Pagans and Mahometans teach and sensual Spirits dream but spiritual divine and coelestial standing in the enjoyment of God and communion with him This we have some little tast of here but being there in perfection it makes up perfect blessedness for mans blessedness lies in fruition of God the chief Good whom he was made for and in whom is that infinite fulness of all good that is able to satisfie and make happy the soul of man and to be the endless joy thereof It is not Creatures Crowns Kingdoms not a
They shall everlastingly be drinking down and Bathing themselves in those Rivers of Love that have been running down from Everlasting and from the well-spring of Election have issued forth in the whole Dispensation of Christ From the Father they were given to Christ Joh. 17.6 To him they shall then be presented Heb. 2.13 Jude 24. and by Christ brought into the nearest Union and Communion with him that possible can be Joh. 17.21 22 26. The Scripture speaks much of the Fathers Love 2 Cor. 13.13 1 Joh. 16.27 Rom. 8.39 And that often antecedent to the sending of Christ and all benefits by him as the original and fountain thereof Joh. 3.16 1 Joh. 4.8 9 10. Ephes 3.3 6. Tit. 3.4 6. This will then be seen and enjoyed in the fullest manner and measure according to the capacity of glorified Saints God the Father will be letting forth and pouring out his love into the souls of the Saints shedding it abroad in greater measures than now Rom. 5.5 and they drinking down the sweetness thereof for evermore beholding and tasting what manner of love that is which here they can see and conceive but a little of 1 Joh. 3.1 2. and as Ephes 3.18 19. They also making returns of love unto him and sweetest ebullitions thereof loving God then actually with all the heart soul strength and mind as is commanded This loving communion with God the Father or communion with him in love shall the Saints enjoy in Heaven in the fullest manner for evermore 2. The Son of God who is incarnate the Lord Jesus Christ who is Man as well as God his face shall be seen and his company enjoyed by the Saints in Heaven in a peculiar and most immediate manner you shall see the man Christ with bodily eyes as Job 19.27 you shall ascend to him then and be with him enjoy his immediate company and communion see him face to face Job 19.25 26 27. Philip. 1.23 2 Cor. 5.8 1 Thes 4.17 1 Joh. 3.2 You shall hear him speak to you and discourse of the great things of God each word of whose lips will be more sweet than ten thousands of Gold and Silver you shall behold him pouring forth himself and his love yea the love of God to you and the discoveries and communications of his grace and goodness through the lips and expressions of a man you shall then have full communion with the man Christ Jesus that everlasting Mediator between God and Man Why the company of a good man a loving friend a gracious Saint here that breaths much of Christ how sweet is it What then is the company of Christ himself who is full of grace and truth and that with the fulness of an head to derive like Grace and so now like Glory to all his members For as he is the meritorious and dispensing cause so also the exemplary cause as of all Grace here so of Glory hereafter as Joh. 1.16 so you shall have Glory for Glory Glory in your measure like unto his Glory the Glory that he shines with in Heaven you must share in it and have you shall have the same Glory for kind and nature though for measure and degree not equal but he will still have the preheminence Joh. 17.22 Rom. 8.29 1 Joh. 3.2 you shall live in the same Heaven with him Joh. 14.3 partake of the same love of the Father Joh. 17.23 drink of the same pleasures live the same life of holiness and happiness reign with him in the same Kingdom Rom. 8.17 Rev. 3.21 Be thrown into the same Ocean of Joy though Vessels of different quantity will take in different measures and so difference in degrees between the Saints themselves much more between the Saints and Christ Yea probably the Saints in Heaven may have Communion with Christ in the Acts of Grace as here in this life they have Communion with him in the habits of Grace i. e. that the same Actings the same Contemplations Tasts Apprehensions Ebullitions of heart the same springing of Love Joy Delight and sweet Affection that the man Christ hath shall run through Heaven and be in their measure communicated to all the Saints there For Glory properly stands in and results from the lively Acting of Grace and therefore Communion in Glory may import Communion in the Acts of Grace c. But however to be sure they shall be like him 1 Joh. 3.2 And bear his Glorious Heavenly Image there 1 Cor. 15.48 49. Like him in Soul Pure Heavenly Holy inlarged in Love to God and to his Glory as he is and like him in body too Phil. 3.21 And enjoy his Blessed Converse and Company What the particular Imployment and manner of Converse of the man Christ with and among the Saints in Heaven will be we cannot now tell you you shall know it when you come there to be sure it will be most Holy excellent and Glorious and full of mutual joy and delight I may suggest this meditation Look what Christ did in Converse with his Disciples after his Resurrection when he was then entred into a Glorified estate he then opened to them the Scriptures so as their hearts burnt within them Luk. 24.27 32 44 45. And spake of things of the Kingdom of God Act. 13. Then indeed but in order to the carrying on of the Kingdom of Grace and in such a measure as suited that end But why may we not think that he will then in Heaven in such a manner and measure as suites the Kingdom of Glory expound the Scriptures lay open the depths of the Book of God and the Mysteries of Divinity those fully and clearly that were here known but in a little part and other points that were not known at all the wonders of Law and Gospel of the Word and Works of God the depths and knowledge of Wisdom But especially the depths of Love and Grace the things that tend to the praise of the Glory of Gods Grace the great end of all his dealings with his people Ephes 1.6 those will he open and lay forth in a glorious manner And oh the burnings and flames and sparkling Impressions of Seraphical Affections that all the Saints about him will then be filled with Never such a Preacher and never such Hearers for Attention and Affection no Sleeping no Dulness no Weariness as there will be In a word Ordinances then shall cease but the quintessence and extract of all Ordinances shall be then enjoyed that power and Glory of God that beauty of the Lord be seen in the Sanctuary of Heaven that here were but glimpses through Glasses Mat. 26.29 Glorious and sweet Communion do the Saints here enjoy with Christ at a Sacrament in that Ordinance of the Lords Supper But in Heaven in the Kingdom of his Father he will as I may say celebrate that Sacrament i. e. give them the quintessence comfort and Communion of it in another manner in new fresh and immediate Communications of his Grace and sweetness There
Souls and Bodies i. e. considering them as they shall be after the Resurrection and last Judgment Consider therefore a little 1. Of the Glory of the Soul 2. Of the Body of a Saint 1. The Glory Felicity and Perfection of the Soul of a Glorified Saint The Soul is lifted up to its full Perfâ—ction Hebr. 12.23 endowed with all those Excellencies and Perfections that are proper to it especially the perfect Restoration of the Image of God and all the good and Excellency that resulteth thence made like unto the Soul of Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 3.2 The most proper and principal subjâ—ct of Heavens Glory is the Soul Hence it 's called the Salvation of our Souls 1 Pet. 1.9 that is the great Vessel that holds the Riches of Glory that are powered in there Rom. 9.23 The Soul of man is capable of more Glory and good than is in all this whole lower world put together all the Pleasures and Treasures of it cannot fill one Soul no not as it s now on earth in its narrow capacity for it shall be far larger when in its Glorified inlarged capacity in Heaven But then it shall be filled full as it can hold All the Excellency that a Created Soul is capable of shall then be put upon it and all the good and Glory its capable of holding poured into it Consider it in those two faculties of the Soul Understanding and Will 1. The Understanding shall be 1. Strengthned and enlarged enabled to see much and far raised and heightned to great quickness and deep Comprehensions of Understanding Isa 11.2 3. So when the spirit of Glory shall rest on the Saints in Heaven the Members of Christ it shall make them of quick and large Understandings yea quick to discerne and conceive of Spiritual objects and things which here we are dull and slow in Some men here on earth in this dark lumpish house of Clay have been of accute understandings quick apprehensions and vast Parts and Abilities what then shall Saints in Heaven be Solomon had a large Understanding that held as many Notions and Conceptions as there are Sands on the Sea-shore 1 King 4.29 And yet saith one viz. Dr. Goodwin on Rom. 8.18 page 56. the Soul of the least Child i. e. that was a Child here for vide Aquinas in supplement Q 81. and Bolton of Heaven page 129. in Heaven that went out of the World happily when but newly come forth of his Mothers Womb exceeds all the knowledge that Solomon had on earth Adam before the Fall had a large and ready Understanding as his so soon naming the Creatures according to their natures shewes But Heaven restores the Saints to Adam's Primitive Perfection and unto more then so All those Defects Wounds and Weaknesses in mans nature and so in his Understanding that came in by sin as fruits or punishments thereof or that import a miserable afflictive Imperfection or that unfit for the fruition of the appointed Glory these are all removed from the Glorified Saint 2. Furnished yea filled and satisfied with all useful desirable and Beatifical knowledge The Glorified Saint shall be abundantly stored and furnished with Knowledge of the Works of God and the admirable rayes and beams of Gods wisdom that shine therein in the frame of his Works of Creation and natures of his Creatures which men now gather up somthing of from Arts and Sciences True Learning will then and there come to and be in its Perfection The clear certain knowledge of all useful Truth will abound in that Heavenly Academy for this will be for the Glory and Honour of God that he may have the Glory of his Works and of his Wisdom therein that it may not be lost and buried as it would be most of it if neveâ— further seen into and minded than it is here Psal 104.24.36 And it is a part of the perfection and excellency of the Rational Creature an attaining of his end who was made to behold the wisdom of God in the World Job 36.24 25. And it was an Excellency he gave to Solomon when he would be kind to him therefore he will not deny it to his Saints in Heaven And our present defect and darkness in this knowledge is a fruit of the fall therefore shall then be removed 2. Of the Word of God and of all the deep Mysteries of Religion the meaning of the Holy Scriptures and of the hardest places therein the solution of the most knotty questions in Divinity the Explication of the most Glorious and ravishing Mysteries of God and Christ of Creation Providence Redemption and Application c. shall then be fully known and understood This is evident for knowledge especially in spiritual things matters of God and of Religion shall then come to its full perfection 1 Cor. 13.9 12. And the beatifical vision compriseth this Mat. 5.8 i. e. they shall see with the understanding as well as enjoy with the whole Soul God in all those discoveries and manifestations of himself that Creature is capable of and consequently in all truths concerning himself all those Divine Truths that make up that discovery Yea I add the mind shall be filled and satisfied with the knowledge and contemplation of those Glorious Truths and Objects unto ravishing Joy and Contentment Here the eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear with hearing Eccles 1.8 but then it shall though of so vast a concavity as we see here the mind of man is a vast thing it can take in and swallow down Heaps of Knowledge and yet is greedy after more it can grasp that World in its conception c. Much more large will this Vessel be when widened to its Glorified capacity yet it shall be filled and satisfied Psal 17.15 There is that to be seen and known in God that sufficeth Joh. 14.8 there is enough to suffice an infinite therefore more than enough for a finite understanding Iâ—â—sight of what was to be seen in Solomon and Solomon's Court and hearing of his wisdom was so ravishing and satisfying to the Queen of Sheba 1 King 10.3.8 What then will the fight of the Face and Glory of God in Heaven be The eye of a mans body is but a small thing and the apple of it smaller yet by the help of the Sun it is able to take in and behold half the world the whole Hemisphere at once How much more vast and large will the view and vision and prospect of the eye of the understanding be what vast objects delights and Glories will it take in when it hath the light of the Glory of God in Heaven shining about it yea into it Psal 36.8.9 It will take in great and wonderful discoveries of God and even see his face i. e. have a wonderfull Glorious view and vision of him and of all those clear manifestations of himself which he shall then communicate but how large soever it shall be filled unto full satisfaction Psal 17.15 2. The Will Heart and
of Heaven page 129. Bucan Lot Com. page 422. 4. Spiritualness v. 44. Not that the Body shall be then turned into a Spirit or lose the nature of a true Body But 1. The Body shall then live as Spirits and Angels do without Meat Drink Sleep and such like External Elementary Bodily supports as we need in this Animal-life being then sustained by the All-preserving All-quickning Spirit of God without the help of such means Mat. 22.30 2. The Body shall be perfectly conformable obedient and subservient to the operations of the Spirit or Soul as also to the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God The ready instrument of the Soul aptly imployed in spiritual work As when the Spirit or Soul serves the Carnal So when the flesh the Body readily serves the Spirit it may well be termed Spiritual Now in this Life the Soul is taken up in serving the Body the greatest part of our time Labour Strength Study is spent in the providing Meat and Clothing and Comforts for the Body and feeding that Eccles 6.7 But then the Body not needing those things shall be wholly serviceable to the Soul The Body shall be no more such a Troublesome Cumbersome thing as now it is needing so much tendance and adoe about it and oft interrupting Spiritual work thereby But then it shall be a more Spiritual and Heavenly peace alwayes free and ready for Soul work for Spiritual Heavenly imployment Your Contemplations Studies Sweet Affections and Communion with God never broken off and interrupted by Eating and Drinking by Dressing and Undressing c. as here they are 3. Activity Agility Lightness Nimbleness and speed in motion may also be implyed in this Spiritualness of the Body Not dull slow heavy-moulded as now but in Agility and Activity more like to Spirits Hence easily made to ascend to meet the Lord in the Aire 1 Thes 4.17 and afterward to go up with him to the third Heaven And able no doubt in a very little time though not properly in an instant to move through those vast spaces and distances of those Heavenly Mansions and from one quarter of the Coelestial World to another 3. The Glorious Company of Saints and Angels is another Additional part of Heavens Glory The fruition of God is the main Essence of it But this is an Accessional Adjunct or Concomitant that is full of Comfort Yea it is a necessary Concomitant for God will be enjoyed by his people in a Communion forever not in a single seperate way but in Conjunction and Society Mat. 8.11 and that Communion will be an help to their enjoyment of God a way and means of their Communion with God When we speak of our Immediate Communion with God in Heaven we are not to understand it absolutely that there shall be no mediums between us and the transcendant Majesty of God for there will be the Humane nature of Christ and the Communion of Saints who in a Coelâ—stial way and manner will be helpful and useful one to another to convey much of God to one another But Immediate compared with what we have here and so as these inferiour instituted means and helps and Glasses that we have here shall he laid aside But the Communion of Saints will then be in its Perfection and fullest Excellency in the Church triumphant And Love Holiness and Communicativeness which is the life of Communion then will flourish 1 Cor. 13.8 You must there enjoy Christ your Head not alone but in fellowship with all his Mystical Body Hence I said in the Description All together they shall have fruition of God All together in the Highest Heaven for evermore Heb. 11.22 23. We now come and are joyned to that body by Mystical Relation but then by way of actual Communion Consider here 1. There will be only true and Blessed Saints together in Heaven no mixture of unsound ones or secret enemies there the Communion will be absolutely pure such as is not to be expected nor no rule allowes us to expect or insist upon in the Church on earth for here there will be a mixture of Corne and Chaffe Wheat and Tears Sheep and Goats good and bad Fish while the World stands But then a perfect separation of Goates from the Sheep and the Latter alone go into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 25.34 46. 2. There will after the last day be all the Saints together all the Vessels of Glory gathered together the whole Congregation of the Righteous Psal 1.5 the whole general Assembly of the first born All the faithful seed of Abraham which are as the Stars in Heaven and as the Sand on the Sea-shore all that ever were are or shall be of the Elect and saved blessed number and this adds much to the Glory of it We know numerous and great Assemblies here on earth are very solemn and affecting The very faces of many Saints together are quickning each to other Psal 42.4 for a multitude to go and be together in the house of God is no small thing But what an Assembly will then be what an Heart-ravishing Congregation when all the Millions of Glorified Saints shall meet together all their faces shining with the Image of God to praise and Glorifie God and joyning in the same Hallelujah Revel 19.1 2 3. 3. There shall be a knowledge one of another the Saints in Heaven shâ—ll know one another Society without acquaintance is not comfortable this shall not be wanting in that place of Bliss Yea you shall know not only those that were of your acquaintance here but all the faithful even strangers whom you never knew before you shall be able to say as Mr. Bolton speaks this is Abraham Jacob David Paul this was Luther Calvin Bradford c. As may be gathered from the Apostles knowing Moses and Elias whom they had never seen before in that glimpse of Heaven at Christs Transfiguration And from Adams knowing Eve and whence she was at first sight without any humane information of which Argument Luther Discoursed the Evening before his death and thence concludâ—d the thing in hand viz. That we shall know one another in the life to come Melch. Adam in vita Lutheri pag. 154. and all Comfortable knowledge will be then vouchsafed but this is one part of it Yea if it should ask time to come acquainted with every one to be sure there will be time enough there remembering also the quickness and accuteness of understanding memory c. But a Superiour and more immediate way of this knowledge there may well be supposed 4. There will be most sweet Holy and comfortable Converse of the Saints together Though we cannot tell you the particular manner and order of it now it will excel in order as well as otherwise Yet to be sure it will be Precious and Glorious and full of sweetness and Comfort And there will be full time season and opportunity for it at large Moses and Elias were talking together with Christ in
turned out of the straight way to Heaven by such things as 2 Pet. 1.11 The Scriptures have told us before-hand of Sufferings and Tryals and therefore it should be no strange thing to meet with them But it hath also told us and set before us the Glory that shall follow this should swallow up the other and make us endure them easily Hebr. 12.2 and 11.26 2. Hence it is that that is worth looking and seeking after bending all our desires and endeavours to obtain viz. the Happiness and Glory of Heaven for it is Eternal and 2 Cor. 4.18 Eternal things should be the things we look at and after as our scope as the word is our aime mark and designe To lay out our selves about Temporal things and make them our maine business is a great folly Prov. 23.5 Psal 39.6 Men are busie about this and that about many things but there is but one great business Luk. 10.41 42. to provide for Eternity to get and make sure of that good part that shall last for ever and never be taken away from us And 3. With what study earnestness care and seriousness with what intention of mind what Ardency of affâ—ction should we look after Heaven For Eternal Glory and Salvation is a great matter a great object we had not need be slight or negligent about such a thing about a business of Eternal Concernment It is said of Zerxes that Elegant Painter when asked why he spent so much time and labour about what he did when others turned off their work apace that he answered Ego propter Etermitatem pingo I paint for Eternity that that should stand and continue in after times We in a more proper and full sense may say we act for Eternity and therefore we had need be more intense and exact when as we pray for Eternity ask Eternal life of God hear for Eternity follow God for Eternity come to Christ Jesus for Eternal and Everlasting Life How Serious Hearty Affectionate Fervent Intense should those Prayers Duties Comings be Why that is that we are seeking after if in earnest to lay hold on Eternal Life 1 Tim. 6.12 19. Oh with what fear and trembling care and diligence should we pursue that business Come not slightly to Christ in a negligent careless manner or with a piece of thy Heart when thou comest for Eternal Life c. The Salvation Christ holds forth and calls to attend unto and come and follow him for is Great Salvation for it is Eternal Salvation Oh be not negligent about that Hebr. 2.3 and 5.9 how humbly obedient unto him Oh with what an humble Heartiness Affection Seriousness Thankfulness whole heart should a poor sinner come and look to Christ imbrace and cling to him hang on him for deliverance from Eternal Death and for the gift of Eternal Life how precious is that Grace Rom. 5.21 for Rom. 6.23 SERMON IV. 3. IT follows to consider of the degrees of this future Glory as it is enjoyed 1. In Soul after Death 2. Both in Soul and Body at and after the Resurrection and last Judgement In the former state the Saints have a more incompleat though sweet and excellent in the latter a more compleat full and perfect enjoyment of this Glory I shall not speak of the different degrees of Glory in Heaven comparing one Saint with another Though that seems to be a truth that as we see there are dissâ—ring degrees of Grace and Holiness here and God distributes more eminent Gifts and Graces to one than to another not withstanding that the Imputation of Righteousness in Justification be equal to all so there will be in Glory hereafter When God shall Crown his own Graces in his Saints Every one shall not have such a Crown as Paul to whom the Fruits of his Ministry will then add to his Crown and rejoycing 1 Thes 2.19 nor be set next to Christ as some shall be Mat. 20.23 there will not want order in the Heavenly Mansions nor variety mixed with Identity wherein the Lord delights viz. Calvin Instit lib. 3. cap. 25. Sect. 10. and in Mat. 13.43 and 20.1 16. Bucan Loc. com pag. 446. Leigh's Body Divinity pag. 872. But only somewhat of the Glory of the Saints in those two â—â—ates the state of the Soul in its separation from the Body after their re-union which all the Saints that die do pass through Here 1. Consider the Glory and Happiness enjoyed by the Soul in its separate state after death from thence to the Resurrection 2. The Accession or increase or more compleat fulness of Glory that followes upon the re-union of the Soul and Body at and after the Resurrecion 1. The Souls of the Faithful do after death immediatly pass into Glory even that Glory that we have before spoken of The substance whereof they do enjoy in as perfect a degree or in as full a measure as the Soul in its separate state is capable of though there is a further degree and fulness of Glory reserved for the whole man upon re-union of the Soul and Body of which afterward the Soul of a Saint is presently Glorified after death though the Body be not It presently enters into peace Isa 57.2 Rest and Consolation Luk. 16.22 25 Into Blessedness and Glory Revel 14.13 from henceforth from this time from the time of their death and so on forward they are in blessedness and rest no fear of passing through paines of Purgatory for a time as Papists had taught before the Light of the Gospel broke forth The Souls of the Saints departed do enjoy that Heavenly Glory that we have spoken of For 1. They are at Death immediatly made perfect in Grace and Holiness Heb. 12.23 perfectly freed from all sin and endued with all heavenly perfection of mind and will of which what it is we spoke before Death puts an end to the death of sin in the Saint he rests from the Labour and Burden thereof and he is clothed with perfect Holiness fit for that place of Heaven and Heavenly presence of God which he is passing into 2. They enjoy the Beatifical vision and Glorious presence and Fellowship of God and Christ Philip. 1.23 No sooner departed and the union of the Soul and Body dissolved by death but he in his Soul is with Christ 2 Cor. 5 6 8. as soon as absent from the body and that is the Soul departed that is absent from the Body and while absent in its seperate estate If Paul be absent from the Body it is in his Soul which is there and oft in Scripture called man he is present with the Lord. When Stephen falls asleep by death the Lord Jesus receiveth his Spirit or Soul Act. 7.59 so Psal 49.15 Eccles 12.7 3. The Soul departed enjoyes in some way and some degree the Company and Communion of other Souls and Spirits of the Blessed Heb. 12.23 The Soul of Lazarus is with Abraham and so with all the Saints the Children of Abraham that
are departed this Life Luk. 16.22 Mat. 8.11 The Souls or Spirits of Isaac and Jacob are gathered to their people Genes 35.29 and 49.33 4. It is carried up by the Angels into the third Heaven there to be with Christ untill his second coming Luk. 16.22 with Mat. 8 11. Luk. 23.43 i. e. in his Soul for his Body was detained here on the Earth and thrown into the Grave By Paradise is meant the third Heaven 2 Cor. 12.2 with ver 4. so 2 Cor. 5.1 2. When the Soul goes out of the Tabernacle of this frail Body it enters into the Heavenly house that is Eternal It is not Harbour-less when turned out of all house and Harbour in this lower World The Soul of a Saint being departed out of the Body is with Christ Philip. 1.23 and Christ is in Heaven and there continues till his second coming 1 Pet. 3.22 Act. 3.12 Hence the Soul of a Saint of the Saint departed hath the knowledge and actual active fruition of its own Blessedness is comforted and rejoyced therein and actually drinking in those Pleasuâ—es and Joyes that are in the presence of God Luk. 16.25 Psal 16.11 with 2 Cor. 5.8 compared with which its state on Earth was but a state of absence from him v. 6. and hath an assurance of an Happy re-union with the Body and of all that fulness of Glory that the whole person shall enjoy at the Resurrection for which it waits and longs Rom. 8.23 till it be accomplished it is waited for Psal 16.9 Rev. 6.9 10 11. According to most Interpreters vid. Parens Dutch Diodate in Loc. Calvin opusc pag. 460. Bucan Loc. Com. pag. 447. in that Text is held forth that the Souls of the Saints departed being at present clothed with Robes of Glory do long for their consummate felicity in the full Redemption of the Church c. which shall be at the last Judgement A truth in it self whether the proper intendment of that place or no vid. Brightman in Lâ—c. 2 Tim. 4.8 All the Saints as on Earth so in Heaven do love and long for not with any disquâ—eting Impatience but with an Holy Expectation the appearing of Christ when they shall also appear with him in Glory But as there is an expectation of the future Glory of the Body the whole Person so there is a present enjoyment of Glory and Blessedness by the Soul while the Body is a vile and loathsome Carkass buried under the Clods fed on by the Worms and turned to dust the Soul is Shining and Triumphing in Glory Swimming in fulness of Joy in the presence of Christ and among the Spirits of the Just Hearing and Seeing after its intellectual way those things in Paradise that cannot now be uttered What some of the Saints and Prophets in Scripture have tasted of in raptures and Extasies and Paul in 2 Cor. 12.1 4. for a little see Mr. Norton's Orthodox Evang. pag. 339.341 wherein the Soul abstracted from use of bodily helps and Organs had a more immediate visional Contemplation of Objects presented that and more then that doth the Soul departed enjoy even a perpetual Vision of God and fruition of the Joyes of Heaven without the Body from Death to the Resurrection That conceit that some have had of the Souls sleeping or being in an unsensible unactive condition without the exercise of understanding memory or affections till the Resurrection is fond and foolish and contrary to the plain Testimonies of Scripture before cited which hold forth an actual enjoyment of Glory and Glorious Communion with God immediatly after Death as Well as to the nature of the Soul And was long since largely confuted by Calvin in his Psychopanychia Opuse pag. 449.476 one of the first things he wrote 1. How kind is God to his people that he will not put them off so long as the Resurrection before they enter into this Glory though the Body cannot according to appointed order come at it before yet the Soul shall have possession presently When Death must send the Body to the Grave Heb. 9.27 then he will take the Soul into Heaven and have its company there 2. This may sweeten Death to the Faithful and make them cheerfully yield up their Spirits into the hand of God who stands ready to receive them There is a present object of Glory before them a Joy immediatly to be enjoyed set before them which may make them cheerfully pass into it through the dark entry of Death Though there be a Land and Grave of darkness for the Body which yet is sweetned by the Burial of Christ yet an Inheritance of the Saints â—n light which the Soul shall presently pass into this is that that over-ballances Death and absence from the Body leaving the World even the presence of the Lord being with Christ which is best of all This should make us willing to leave the Body 2 Cor. 5.8 leave the old Crazy Rotten-house of the Body to go into the new building and into the bosome of Christ into Heaven 2 Cor. 5.1 4. And this is presently to be enjoyed you shall presently be with Christ when you leave this Body things remote affect not so much but this is near and just before you as Christ comforted them with that this day Luk. 23.43 The day of your dying is the day of your living in Paradise in Glory The day of your falling into the Earth as to the Body is the day of your ascending and being taken up to Heaven Luk. 9.51 Going to the Grave and going to Heaven they go together to the Faithtful inseparably together and there is more Comfort in the latter than discomfort in the former No sooner dissolved but you are in the Angels Arms to be carried into Christs Bosom even before you can be upon Friends Shoulders to be carried to the Grave The same step whereby you leave the World you go to the Father as Joh. 16.28 You no sooner depart hence but you are with Christ Philip. 1.23 are gathered to him and that Blessed company and people that are with him Genes 35.29 Oh how should this lift up all the Saints above the feat of that that can but kill the Body but pull out the Pins of this old house and dissolve that that is the furthest that all created power can go Luk. 2.4 Mat. 10.28 But Death and all the Instruments of Death are so far from killing the Soul that it lets that but out of Prison and sends it unto Life Eternal 2. Now consider what further Glory shall be added to the Saints for the full compleating and Consummation of their Glory and Happiness at and after the Resurrection upon the re-union of the Soul and Body It is a more incompleat or as some call it an Inchoate enjoyment of Heavenly Glory that the Saints have in their separate estate of their Souls But at the Resurrection of the Body and re-union thereof to the Soul they shall have the compleat fulness and Consummation
greatness thereof There be sundry obvious Comparisons from the less to the greater and some other Argumentative Considerations I shall put both together which may familiarly shew and Realize to us the greatness and excellency of this Glory Comp. 1. Consider what great things God gives out of his Common bounty even to wicked men in this World What then will he give out of his special and everlasting love to his own Children and Friends in Heaven Worldly and wicked men which are his Slaves yea enemies and appointed to destruction yet in the present time of patience and bounty the Lord cuts out to many of them great things such things as the World accounts very great and as are great in themselves though compared with Heavenly things are very little Riches Wealth Thousands and Ten Thousands of Gold and Silver Sumptuous Buildings Houses full of all Good Things Lands and Livings c. Yea sometimes Crowns and Kingdoms Scepters and Dominions of vast extent the Splendor whereof even of that Glory that sometimes worldly men are arrayed with even dazles the eyes of beholders Sometimes men of the World do glitter and glister with Glory an earthly Glory and Splendor such as strikes an awe and admiration into beholders Psal 49 16. Dan. 2.31 37 38. and 5.18 19. why if such be the Glory of the earth given to the earthly and wicked men What will be the true Glory of Heaven that God will bestow upon the Vessels of Glory there Luther sometimes called the Turkish Empire that vast Empire containing so many swelling Titles and large Dominions a Bone or Crum which God threw to that great Dog the Turk Such vast Empires and Kingdoms God hath sometimes given unto the worst and basest of men Dan. 4.17 How vitious and vile have the Turkish Sultans and many other Heathnish Princes been so Antiochus the illustrious a vile person Dan. 11.21 Why if God have such Crums to throw to the Dogs of the house what is the whole Loaf that he reserves for his Children If this great King of Heaven do keep his Prisoners so well during the few dayes of their Respit and Reprieve from Execution as look upon the brave accommodations and great Possâ—â—sions c. of the men of the World they are but as the fair Room of a Prison where eminent Malefactors are kept and well tended till they be brought forth to Execution Joh. 21.7 12 30. What will he do for his Children and Heirs who shall be with him in his own Palace for ever Psal 17.14 15. Some men of the World which have their Portion in this Life have a great Portion here even their Belly full as much as heart can wish as much of sensitive worldly good as they can possibly take in all manner of abundance of earthly delicates and this out of God his Treasure because it is hid and laid up in the several store-houses of this lower World Earth Air and Sea and brought forth by the workings of his Providence and bestowed upon them So that these things are given out of Gods Treasury by his common bounty to the men of the World And if you speak of what Earth can afford they are great things that are most given to them But David hath a greater perfection than all this Ps 171.5 But thus look upon the consolation that many wicked men have here Luk 16.25 and 6.24 which must needs be a poor thing Luk. 16.10 11. a nothing compared with the portion of the chosen Saints of God in Heaven when God shall set himself to pour out Love and Mercy into those Vessels thereof and yet often it is much it is strange to see what God hath given to some vile men this way as that they are ready to be cryed up for the only happy men This is a ready and useful meditation when we read in story of the Magnificence Riches and Greatness of Worldly men or see and observe any instances thereof to think oh then what is the Glory and Happiness that God hath prepared not of the same kind for worldly sensitive delights scrued up to the height but an Happiness of an higher a Spiritual and Caelestial nature for them that love him and for the subjects of his everlasting love in another World if there be so much given unto Enemies in this Comp. 2. Consider what the Saints enjoy in this World I mean not of outward things so much for they often have but little that way they shall not usually have very much of Earth lest they forget Heaven but of Spiritual and Heavenly Comforts and good things their fore-tasts of future Glory they are often exceeding sweet and precious a thousand times better than all the Earthly outward enjoyments of worldly men Yet all they have here is but a taste but an earnest an handfull of first fruits Epes 1.14 Rom. 8.23 What then is and will be the full draught the whole bargain the whole Harvest in Heaven Their best condition here is but a condition of absence from the Lord compared with that presence they shall have hereafter 2 Cor. 5.6 8. If God send to them such tokens and tasts of his Love in their absence What will he pour out upon them when they shall be present with him Consider it in two or three Particulars 1. The Communion the Saints have with God in his Ordinances here Oh how sweet is it Psal 84.10 What then is a day in Heaven yea Eternity there The World knows not nor can they well express the sweet incomes they have the heart-raising yea ravishing Communion the Quicknings Gracious Breathings the Comforts they meet with in Prayer sometimes in Hearing the Word a Christian said Mr. Dod is half in Heaven sometimes in Singing of a Psalm in Meditation Psal 63.5 6. in Gracious Spiritual Conference Luk. 24.32 In the Sacrament of the Supper where they are refreshed as with new Wine Why if dark glimpses through these glasses of the Ordinances be so sweet and Glorious 2. Cor. 3.18 what then will the sight face to face be 1 Cor. 13.12 The Ordinances of God and Communion with him therein is unspeakably better than the best of Earthly and Worldly Enjoyments Galeacious his Speech Psal 119.72 But all that Communion the Saints have here is but a little compared with that shall be in Heaven there is full Communion there they are present now in Comparison absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5.6 2. The special Joyes and Comforts of the Holy Ghost that the Lords Faithful Gracious ones do at times tast and partake of in this life Their ordinary constant Communion is precious but they have also some extraordinary Consolations and sheddings abroad of the Love of God sometimes when under great Sufferings and Tryals as the Martyrs whose Consolations have been wonderful and singular as their Sufferings were sometimes after long sickness and weakness and in preparation for sore Conflicts sometimes on Sick and Dying Beds Oh the Peace that passeth
mans Place and there find the Barnes and Out-houses excellently and Substantially built and much Cost laid out about them ample accommodations therein for every Beast and Creature about the house and liberal Provision for them every thing compleat and excellent you would say what is the Dwelling-house and what is the Furniture thereof Sure that is wonderful Rich and Stately and both the Building and Furniture beyond measure exquisite The application is obvious Even this lower World is a curious and costly piece The Earth which is but the dregs of Nature is full of Gods Riches Psal 104.24 In the Bowels of it is Gold Silver Precious Stones Mettals of all sorts the surface of it is in the Summer-season clothed with a pleasant dress delightful to the sense and profitable for use It is arrayed with more Glory than Solomon had in his greatest Splendor Mat. 6.28 30. Hos 14.5 6 7. Psal 65.12 The Sea is full of Riches and of the admirable Works of God Psal 104.24 25 26. The Air is a Treasury of fruitful showers and other admirable Meteors Deut. 28.12 The Aetherial Heaven is garnished with Stars Job 26.13 Therein is a Tabernacle for the Sun that admirable work of God travelling his dayly and yearly Circuit to give Light and Heat to all things on the Earth Psal 19.4 5 6. In these visible Heavens is such Divine Workmanship as may ravish all beholders Psal 8.3 and 136.4 5 7 8 9. and look upon the entertainment God gives unto all his Creatures here in this lower World all the multitudes that are down-lying and up-rising in this great house of his what Commodious and large Provision he makes for them even Inferior Creatures besides and beneath man Psal 104 27 28. The wild Asse hath the range of the Mountains for his pasture Job 39.6 8. There is enough to spare for him and all other wild Creatures that live upon the Grass in the Wilderness their table lyes alwayes spread and there is enough and to spare by the stately bounty of the large Creator The feeble Conies want not their houses and fortifications Psal 104.18 Nor the Birds their resting places ver 12.17 The young Ravens are not forgotten of God Job 38.41 Psal 147.9 Why is there such work and such Riches filling this lower World Earth and Sea and Water and the Starry Region what then is Heaven And what are the Riches and Glory that are laid up there What is the Entertainment there given to men yea to Saints and Members of Christ Jesus Christ uses that Argument as to this World Mat 6.26 much more may we use it as to the World to come when God shall pour out the fulnâ—ss of the Riches of his goodness upon the chosen Vessels thereof If such workmanship be laid out upon the Earth and the râ—st of this house of time what a curious piece is Heaven that house of Eternity 2 Cor. 5 1. the City and Palace of the King the very Region and place of Heaven the Fathers House where all his Children must be lodged and accomodated and dwell forever it does as far excel and is far above the Earth as the height of it and the ends and uses of it do excel The Pearls and Precious Stones c. that are found in the Earth will scarce serve to make the Walls of that City as appears by these Metaphorical Descriptions of the Heavenly Jerusalem which it meant of the Church on Earth is far excelled by the Glory of Heaven Revel 21.18 21. and if the outside be so Glorious that the best of the things on Earth are scarce worthy or fit to be shadows or resemblancs thereof what then is the outside What is the Furniture within and entertainment there Why it stands not in Carnal outward things and delights as the Mahomitan Paradice and the Heathen Elysian Fields they cannot be raised up to such an height as to make Heaven But Spiritual holy Delights and Joyes in the frution of God and those in their height and fulness compared wherewithal the Glory and Joy of the World is but a trifâ—le And the External condition of the Body shall in Glory Beauty Vigour Strength Spiritual Activity and Comfort every way unspeakably exceed what it is or can be conceived here Comp. 5. Consider the vast preparation God maketh for the Glorifying his Saints in Heaven The great preparation he maketh both to prepare Glory for them Mat. 25.34 Joh. 14.2 3. Heb. 11. 16 And to prepare them for Glory Rom. 9.23 2 Cor. 5.5 Col. 1.12 Election Redemption Christs Ascennsion and Intercession Vocation Sanctification Christs second coming Joh. 14.3 are all to make way and fit for and bring unto to this Glory When we see great and vaâ—â— preparations for a thing much time and cost spent therein as for a Kings Coronation for a Funeral for a Wedding we conclude it will be very magnificent â—n this preparation for Glory there is much time spent all the time of this life the Believer is fitting for it nay from before the foundation of the World from all eternity preparation hath been making Mat. 25.34 and all the time of Christs being in Heaven By his possessing it as our head Intercession c. Joh. 14.3 And great Cost all Ordinances are to this end to fit us for Heaven and all Providences Christs Death Bloodshed Ascention Intercession 1 Pet. 5.10 c. And all the Gracious operations of the Spirit 2 Cor. 5.5 All the promises point thither speak of that Glory and empty themselves there There and then viz. in the Glory of Heaven and not till then they shall be fully accomplished All the great and magnificent things which have so high a sound in all the promises in the Book of God they are fully found and met together there All the great expectations and hopes of the Saints Center and Issue there All which shew that the Glory of Heaven must needs be exceeding great and excellent And so the difficulty of it might be another Argument For difficilia quae pulchrà it cost Christ dear his Pains his Blood Life and it must cost the Christian not a little in Praying waiting watching striving Travelling Suffering the oppositions of Hell Flesh and World and not without great difficulty at last he gets to Heaven 1 Pet. 4.18 Mat. 7.14 Comp. 6. I might mention the Titles that are given to this Heavenly Glory in Scripture It 's called an Inheritance Ephes 1.18 Act. 20.32 that is amongst the best things on Earth A good Inheritance what care to obtain settle make sure of that a Rich Heir is counted happy though he wait long e're he come to Age But this is an Inheritance not Earthly but Heavenly Colos 1.12 1 Pet. 1.4 A Kingdom Mat. 25.34 Luk. 12.32 A Crown Jam. 1.12 1 Pet. 5.4 Crowns and Kingdoms are counted the top of Humane felicity on Earth the highest that mens Hopes Desires Ambitions Climbe what Scuffling and Strugling all the Earth over to be
plainer evidence of a state of Perdition than to be an Enemy yea if but a secret enemy and hater of those who it may be your Consciences tell you are in a state of Salvation and are such as are like to get to Heaven For I speak not of pretended but real Saints or real as far as appears at least to be an enemy to those is the directest way you can take to everlasting Confusion Psal 129.5 and 34 21. As you love your Souls take heed of being found in the least opposition to the Interest of Christ or of his people 2. Consider how or in what way these impenitent unbelieving sinners do come to lose or miss of this Eternal Glory viz. in General By neglecting or not embracing the Call of the Gospel in this day of Grace and turning aside to vain things He calls us saith the Text to his Eternal Glory by Christ Jesus Hence look as by Effectual Calling i. e. by obeying and answering hearkning to and imbracing the Call of the Gospel the faithful obtain it and are brought into it so on the contrary others that live under the Gospel miss on 't by not hearkning to this Call by turning a deaf ear thereunto refusing and neglecting when called to come to Christ Jesus Prov. 1 24 27. They that hear not Christ when he sayes come Luk. 14.17 in the Kingdom of Grace shall nâ—ver hear him say come in reference to the Kingdom of Glory as Mat. 25.34 And they that hear not this latter Call come it will be because they would not hearken to the former The Lord Jesus now calls to every one of you come unto me and possess Grace and Glory in and with me If you attend to this Call by the obedience of Faith you shall hear him then say to you Come you Blessed c. Isa 55.3 But alas men lose and put away that Eternal Glory by neglecting resisting and refusing this Call of Grace Here therefore take these two or three Considerations 1. Every time you neglect or refuse the Call and offer of the Gospel you put away this Glory as Act. 13.46 The Lord Calls you on his part to Eternal Glory or to come and receive both Grace and Glory in and with Christ Jesus Rom. 6.23 Heaven is offered you when Christ is offered Hence you slight and refuse and turn your backs upon all the Glory of Heaven when you neglect the Call of the Gospel or dis-accept of Christ offered therein The Salvation of God Eternal Salvation is offered to you Act. 28.28 and you will not hear on 't you despise all the wonderfull Happiness of Heaven that we have been speaking of Oh fearful wickedness monstrous madness and miserable miss of Heaven So when you will not pray nor meditate nor hear nor wait at Christ's gates It is as much as to say that you are not for Eternal Glory which is to be sought and obtained in such wayes and how Justly how unexcusably do such perish The Lord is calling you to Eternal Glory but you turn away from it 2. Consider what it is for the sake whereof you lose or turn away from this Glory and neglect the way to it Why a vile lust a vain World these are chosen and Heaven refused these have your affections when Christ and all his Glory can have none of them And so for the sake of those for this present World a heap of vanities a fashion that passeth away you lose all the good of that to come The voice of the World calling us to Eternal Glory by Christ Jesus cannot be heard for the voice of the World calling us to present Objects and things here And so for Earth men lose Heaven Mark 10.21 22. What a mad and foolish bargain and choice is this And yet thus it is there is never a sinner that misses Heaven but he chuses Earth before it 3. You lose and miss of this Glory when it was brought near to you in the Call and offer of the Gospel when according to the order of means you might have had it When you were called to Eternal Glory by Christ Jesus viz. by the outward Call of the Gospel a real Call though not to you Effectual the reflection upon this will be one day bitter and tormenting From under a Call to Heaven to drop to Hell from under a word and call and offer of Salvation to Perdition what a dreadful thing will that be i. e. in the Eternal dispensation of it you that live in the visible Church you had an Interest in the Kingdom of Heaven it was in your hands as it were left with you and you had the offer of it the dispensation of it Job 4.22 now to lose it to let it go to be dâ—prived of it For the Children of the Kingdom to be cast out that will bring with a witness wailing and weeping and gnashing of teâ—th Mat 8 12. After you have been lifted up to Heaven it will be a fearful thing to fall down to Hell Mat. 11.23 24. 3. Consider the greatness of this loss and the bitterness thereof 1. From the exceeding greatness of the good that is lost viz. Eternal Glory all the Happinss of Heaven the sweet fellowship of the Father Son and Holy-Ghost wherein is fulness of Joy c. Psal 16.11 and all the Concomitants thereof that Heaven affords Oh it is beyond our Expression or Conception All that we have before spoken of about this future happiness presents matter of meditation here aggravating this loss Go over the particulars and say I wretched sinner continuing in that Estate or if I live in sin and unbelief must lose and be thrust out from all this be seperated from the sweet pâ—esence of God from the Love of the Father the Grace of the Son and the Consolation of the Holy Ghost Be stript of Glory both in Soul and Body utterly deprived of the Image of God each spark whereof is more worth than a World Be thrust out of the Company of Saints and Angels among damned Wights and Devils Be shut out of Heaven that place of Bliss and Glory and this perpetually everlastingly for ever and for ever more Others must go in and enjoy all this But I I for my brâ—iâ—ish sinning away my day of Grace if I should go on as I have thus long done be thrust out what wailing would that produce Luk. 13.28 2. Compare herewith Worldly losses the loss of good things in this World and remember what a griefe and torment that sometimes is If you had or were but in a fair probability and expectation to have and then should lose but a great sum of Money lose your house by Fire a Commodious Dwelling a fair Estate or all that ever you have though but a little by this or that occasion much more a Kingdom a Crown what a bitter thing would that be If you do but lose a dear Friend by death a sweet Relation a yoak-Fellow a pleasant Child how