produced OTHERS there are who may be some way Strangers but are no way Enemies unto this Mystery and to the practical Exercise of Faith therein Unto such I shall tender the ensuing Directions 1. RECKON in your Minds that this beholding of the Glory of Christ by beholding the Glory of God and all his Holy Properties in him is the greatest Priviledge whereof in this Life we can be made Partakers The Dawning of Heaven is in it and the First Fruits of Glory for this is Life Eternal to know the Father and whom he hath sent Christ Jesus John 17. 3. Unless you value it unless you esteem it as such a Priviledge you will not enjoy it and that which is not valued according unto its Worth is despised It is not enough to think it a Priviledge an Advantage but it is to be valued above other things according unto its Greatness and Excellency Destruction and Death say we have heard the Fame of it with our Ears Job 28. 22. And if we do no more we shall die Strangers unto it We are to cry after this Knowledge and lift up our Voice for this Vnderstanding if we design to attain it 2. AS it is a great Priviledge which requires a due Valuation so it is a great Mystery which requires much Spiritual Wisdom to the right understanding of it and to direct in its Practise 1 Cor. 2. 4 5. Flesh and Blood will not reveal it unto us but we must be taught of God to apprehend it John 1. 12 13. Mat. 16. 16 17. Mere unsanctified Reason will never enable us unto nor guide us in the Discovery of this Duty Men are not so vain as to hope for Skill and Understanding in the Mystery of a secular Art or Trade without the diligent Use of those Means whereby it may be attained and shall we suppose that we may be furnished with spiritual Skill and Wisdom in this sacred Mystery without Diligence in the Use of the Means appointed of God for the attaining of it The Principal of them is Fervent Prayer Pray then with Moses that God would sâ—ew you this his Glory pray with the Apostle that the Eyes of your Vnderstandings may be enlightened to behold it Pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of him Fill your Minds with spiritual Thoughts and Contrivances about them Slothful and lazy Souls never obtain one View of this Glory the Lion in the way deters them from attempting it Being carnal they abhor all Diligence in the Use of spiritual Means such as Prayer and Meditation on things unto them uneasie unpleasing and difficult Unto others the Way partakes of the Nature of the End the Means of obtaining a View of the Glory of Christ are of the same Kind of the same Pleasantness with that View it self in their Proportion 3. LEARN the Use hereof from the Actings of contrary vitious Habits When the Minds of Men are vehemently fixed on the pursuit of their Lusts they will be continually ruminating on the Objects of them and have a thousand Contrivances about them until their Eyes become full of an Adulteress and they cannot cease from sinning as the Apostle speaks The Objects of their Lusts have framed and raised an Image of themselves in their Minds and transformed them into their own Likeness is this the way of them who go down to the Chambers of Death Do they thus frame their Souls and make them meet for Destruction until their Words Gestures Actions proclaim the Frame of their Minds unto all that look upon them And shalt we be slothful and negligent in the Contemplation of that Glory which transforms our Minds into its own Likeness so as that the Eyes of our Understandings shall be continually filled with it until we see him and behold him continually so as never to cease from the hoâ—y Acts of Delight in him and Love unto him 4. WOULD we then behold the Glory of God as he manifesteth it in and by the holy Properties of his Nature with their blessed Operations and Effects without which we have nothing of the Power of Religion in us whatever we pretend this alone is the Way of it Go to the whole Creation and all things contained in it they can say no more but we have heard the Famâ— and Report of these things and what we have heard we declare but it is but a little Portion of them that we are acquainted withal The Heavens indeed declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy Work The invisible things of God are understood by the things that are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead But comparatively it is but little that we can hence learn of these things as unto what we may behold of them in Christ Jesus How blind herein was the best Philosopher in comparison of the meanest of the Apostles yea of him who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven BUT herein it is required that we rest not in the Notion of this Truth and a bare Assent unto the Doctrine of it The affecting Power of it upon our Hearts is that which we should aim at Wherein doth the Blessedness of the Saints above consist Is it not herein that they behold and see the Glory of God in Christ And what is the Effect of it upon those blessed Souls Doth it not change them into the same Image or make them like unto Christ Doth it not fill and satiate them with Joy Rest Delight Complacency and ineffable Satisfaction Do we expect do we desire the same State of Blessedness It is our present View of the Glory of Christ which is our Initiation thereinto if we are exercised in it until we have an Experience of its Transforming Power in our Souls THESE things are it may be of little use unto some Such as are Babes in spiritual Knowledge and Understanding either because they are Carnal 1 Cor. 3. 1 2. or slothful in hearing Heb. 5. 12 13 14. are not capable of these Divine Mysteries And therefore the Apostle did in an especial manner declare this Wisdom of God in a Mystery unto them that were perfect 1 Cor. 2. 6 7. That is who were more grown in spiritual Knowledge and had their Senses exercised to discern Good and Evil. It is unto them who are exercised in the Contemplation of invisible things who delight to walk in the more retired Paths of Faith and Love to whom they are precious SOME few Inferences from the Whole of what hath been declared shall put a Close to this part of our Discourse 1. THE Holy Properties of the Divine Nature are not only represented unto our Faith in Christ as unto their own essential Glory but as they are in the Exercise of their Powers for the Salvation of the Church In him do we behold the Wisdom Goodness Love Grace Mercy and Power of God acting themselves in the
they knew not what Luk. 9. 30 33. And the reason hereof was because no man in this life can have a Visive Power either spiritual or corporeal directly and immediately to behold the real Glory of Christ. SHOULD the Lord Jesus appear now to any of us in his Majesty and Glory it would not be unto our edification nor consolation For we are not meet nor able by the Power of any Light or Grace that we have received or can receive to bear the immediate appearance and representation of them His beloved Apostle John had leaned on his bosom probably many a time in this life in the intimate familiarities of love But when he afterwards appeared unto him in his Glory he fell at his feet as dead Rev. 1. 17. And when he appeared unto Paul all the account he could give thereof was that he saw a light from Heaven above the brightness of the Sun whereon he and all that were with him fell to the ground Act. 26. 13 14. AND this was one Reason why in the days of his Ministry here on earth his Glory was vailed with the infirmities of the flesh and all sorts of sufferings as we have before related The Church in this life is no way meet by the Grace which it can be made partaker of to converse with him in the immediate manifestations of his Glory AND therefore those who dream of his Personal Reign on the earth before the day of Judgment unless they suppose that all the Saints shall be perfectly glorified also which is only to bring down Heaven to the Earth for a while to no purpose provide not at all for the edification or consolation of the Church For no present grace advanced unto the highest degree whereof in this World it is capable can make us meet for an immediate converse with Christ in his unvailed Glory How much more abominable is the folly of men who would represent the Lord Christ in his present Glory by Pictures and Images of him When they have done their utmost with their burnished Glass and Guildings an eye of flesh cannot only behold it but if it be guided by reason see it contemptible and foolish But the true Glory of Christ neither inward nor outward sight can bear the rays of in this life THE dispensation which we are meet for is only that of his presence with us by his Spirit We know him now no more after the flesh 2 Cor. 5. 16. We are advanced above that way and means of the knowledge of him by the fleshly carnal Ordinances of the Old Testament And we know him not according unto that bodily presence of his which his Disciples enjoyed in the days of his flesh We have attained somewhat above that also For such was the nature of his Ministry here on earth that there could not be the promised dispensation of the spirit until that was finished Therefore he tells his Disciples that it was expedient for them that he should go away and send the spirit to them John 16. 7. Hereon they had a clearer view of the Glory of Christ than they could have by beholding him in the flesh This is our spiritual posture and condition We are past the knowledge of him according to the flesh we cannot attain nor receive the sight of him in Glory but the life which we now lead is by the Faith of the Son of God I SHALL not here enquire into the nature of this vision or the power and ability which we shall have in Heaven to behold the Glory of Christ. Some few things may be mentioned as it relates unto our Minds and our Bodies also after the Resurrection 1. FOR the Mind it shall be perfectly freed from all that Darkness Unsteadiness and other Incapacities which here it is accompanied with and whereby it is weakened hindred and obstructed in the Exercise of Faith And they are of two sorts First such as are the remainders of that depravation of our Natures which came upon us by sin Hereby our Minds became wholly vain dark and corrupt as the Scripture testifieth utterly unable to discern spiritual things in a due manner This is so far cured and removed in this Life by Grace as that those who were darkness do become light in the Lord or are enabled to live unto God under the Conduct of a new spiritual Light communicated unto them But it is so cured and removed in part only it is not perfectly abolished Hence are all our remaining Weaknesses and Incapacities in discerning things spiritual and eternal which we yet groan under and long for deliverance from No Footsteps no Scars or Marks that ever it had place in our Minds shall abide in glory Ephes. 5. 27. Nothing shall weaken disturb or incapacitate our Souls in acting all their Powers unimpeded by Vanity Diversions Weakness Inability upon their proper Objects The Excellency hereof in universal Liberty and Power we cannot here comprehend Nor can we yet conceive the Glory and Beauty of those immixed spiritual actings of our Minds which shall have no Clog upon them no Encumbrance in them no Alloy of Dross accompanying of them One pure Act of spiritual Sight in discerning the Glory of Christ one pure Act of Love in cleaving unto God will bring in more Blessedness and Satisfaction into our Minds than in this World we are capable of 2. THERE is an Incapacity in our Minds as unto their Actings on things spiritual and eternal that is meerly natural from the Posture wherein they are and the Figure which they are to make in this Life For they are here cloathed with Flesh and that debased and corrupted Now in this State though the Mind act its Conceptions by the Body as its Organ and Instrument Yet is it variously streightned encumbred and impeded in the exercise of its native Powers especially towards things heavenly by this Prison of the Flesh wherein it is immured There is an Angelical Excellency in the pure Actings of the Soul when delivered from all material Instruments of them or when they are all glorified and made suitable helps in its utmost spiritual Activity How and by what degrees our Minds shall be freed from these Obstructions in their beholding the glory of Christ shall be afterwards declared 2. AGAIN a new light the light of Glory shall be implanted in them There is a Light in Nature which is the Power of a Man to discern the things of Man An Ability to know perceive and judge of things natural It is that Spirit of a Man which is the Candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly Prov. 20. 27. BUT by the light hereof no man can discern spiritual things in a due manner as the Apostle declares 1 Cor. 2. 11 12 13 14 15. Wherefore God gives a superior a supernatural Light the Light of Faith and Grace unto them whom he effectually calls unto the knowledge of himself by Jesus Christ. He shines into their hearts to give
occasioned by a vail of Types and Shadows cast on it by the Represenâ—ative Institutions of it It doth not arise from the want of a clear Doctrinal Revelation of the Person and Office of Christ But as was before declared it proceedeth from two other Causes First from the nature of Faith it self in comparison of Vision It is not able to look directly into this excellent Glory nor fully to comprehend it Secondly from the way of its proposal which is not substantiâ—â— of the thing it self but only of an Image of it as in a Glass But the light the view of the Glory of Christ which we shall have in Heaven is much more above that which we now enjoy by the Gospel than what we do or may so enjoy is above what they have attained under their Types and Shadows There is a far greater distance between the Vision of Heaven and the sight which we have now by faith than is between the sight which we now have and what they had under the Old Testament Heaven doth more excell the Gospel-State than that State doth the Law Wherefore if they did so pray so long for so desire the removal of their Shadows and Vails that they might see what we now see that they might so behold the Glory of Christ as we may behold it in the Light of the Gospel how much more should we if we have the same Faith with them the same Love which neither will nor can be satisfied without perfect fruition long and pray for the removal of all Weakness of all Darkness and Inâ—erposition that we may come unto that immediate beholding of his Glory which he so earnestly prayed that we might be brought unto To sum up briefly what hath been spoken There are three things to be considered concerning the Glory of Christ three degrees in its manifestation The Shadow the perfect Image and the Substance it self Those under the Law had only the shadow of it and of the things that belong unto it they had not the perfect Image of them Heb. 10. 1. Under the Gospel we have the perfect Image which they had not or a clear compleat revelation and declaration of it presenting it unto us as in a glass But the enjoyment of these things in their Substance is referred for Heaven we must be where he is that we may behold his Glory Now there is a greater difference and distance between the real substance of any thing and the most perfect image of it than there is between the most perfect image and the lowest shadow of the same thing If then they longed to be freed from their state of Types and Shadows to enjoy the Representation of the Glory of Christ in that Image of it which is given us in the Gospel much more ought we to breath and pant after our deliverance from beholding it in the Image of it that we may enjoy the Substance it self For whatever can be manifest of Christ on this side Heaven it is granted unto us for this end that we may the more fervently desire to be present with him AND as it was their Wisdom and their Grace to rejoyce in the Light they had and in those typical Administrations of Divine Worship which shadowed out the Glory of Christ unto them yet did always pant after that more excellent Light and full Discovery of it which was to be made by the Gospel So it will be ours also thankfully to use and improve the Revelations which we enjoy of it and those Institutions of Worship wherein our Faith is assisted in the view thereof yet so as continually to breath after that perfect that glorifying sight of it which is reserved for Heaven above AND may we not a little examine our selves by these things Do we esteem this pressing towards the perfect view of the Glory of Christ to be our Duty and do we abide in the performance of it If it be otherwise with any of us it is a signal evidence that our Profession is Hypocritical If Christ be in us he is the hope of Glory in us and where that hope is it will be active in desires of the things hoped for Many love the World to well and have their minds too much filled with the things of it to entertain desires of speeding through it unto a state wherein they may behold the Glory of Christ. They are at home and are unwilling to be absent from the body tho to be present with the Lord. They hope it may be that such a season will come at one time or another and then it will be the best they can look for when they can be here no more But they have but a little sight of the Glory of Christ in this World by Faith if any at all who so little so faintly desire to have the immediate sight of it above I cannot understand how any Man can walk with God as he ought or hath that Love for Jesus Christ which true Faith will produce or doth place his Refreshments and Joy in spiritual things in things above that doth not on all just occasions so meditate on the Glory of Christ in Heaven as to long for an admittance into the immediate sight of it OUR Lord Jesus Christ alone perfectly understood wherein the Eternal Blessedness of them that believe in him doth consist And this is the sum of what he prays for with respect unto that end namely that we may be where he is to behold his Glory And is it not our Duty to live in a continual desire of that which he prayed so earnestly that we might attain If in our selves we as yet apprehend but little of the Glory the Excellency the Blessedness of it yet ought we to repose that confidence in the Wisdom and Love of Christ that it is our best infinitely better than any thing we can enjoy here below UNTO those who are inured unto those Contemplations they are the salt of their Lives whereby every thing is condited and made savory unto them as we shall shew afterwards And the want of spiritual diligence herein is that which hath brought forth a negligent careless wordy profession of Religion which countenancing it self with some outward Duties hath lost out of it the power of Faith and Love in their principal Operations Hereby many deceive their own Souls Goods Lands Possessions Relations Trades with secular Interests in them are the things whose Image is drawn on their Minds and whose Characters are written on their Foreheads as the Titles whereby they may be known As believers beholding the Glory of Christ in the blessed Glass of the Gospel are changed into the same Image and Likeness by the Spirit of the Lord so these Persons beholding the Beauty of the World and the Things that are in it in the cursed Glass of Self-love they are in their minds changed into the same Image Hence perplexing Fears vain Hopes empty Embraces of perishing things fruitless desires earthly carnal
is the most blessed means of exciting all our Graces spiritualizing all our Affections and transforming our Minds into his likeness And if we have not another and that a more excellent way of beholding him than they have who behold him as they suppose in Images and Crucifixes they would seem to have the advantage of us For their Minds will really be affected with somewhat ours with nothing at all And by the pretence thereof they inveagle the carnal affections of Men ignorant of the Power of the Gospel to become their Proselytes For having lived it may be a long time without any the least experience of a sensible impression on their Minds or a transforming power from the Representation of Christ in the Gospel upon their very first Religious Devout Application unto these Images they find their Thoughts exercised their Minds affected and some present change made upon them BUT there was a difference between the Person of David and an Image with a bolster of Goats Hair though the one were laid in the room and place of the other And there is so between Christ and an Image though the one be put into the place of the other Neither do these things serve unto any other end but to divert the Minds of Men from Faith and Love to Christ giving them some such satisfactions in the room of them as that their carnal Affections do cleave unto their Idols And indeed it doth belong unto the Wisdom of Faith or we stand in need of spiritual Light to discern and judge between the working of natural Affections towards spiritual Objects on undue motives by undue means with indirect ends wherein all Papal Devotion consists and the spiritual Exercise of Grace in those Affections duely fixed on spiritual Objects BUT as was said it is a real experience of the Efficacy that there is in the spiritual beholding of the Glory of Christ by Faith as proposed in the Gospel to strengthen encrease and excite all Grace unto its proper exercise so changing and transforming the Soul gradually into his likeness which must secure us against all those Pretences and so I return from this Digression HEREBY we may understand whether the Lord Christ doth so withdraw himself as that we do not as that we cannot behold his glory by Faith in a due manner which is the thing enquired after For if we grow weak in our Graces unspiritual in our Frames cold in our Affections or negligent in the exercise of them by holy Meditation it is evident that he is at a great distance from us so as that we do not behold his Glory as we ought If the weather grow cold Herbs and Plants do whither and the Frost begins to bind up the earth all men grant that the Sim is withdrawn and makes not its wonted approach unto us And if it be so with our Hearts that they grow cold frozen withering lifeless in and unto spiritual Duties it is certain that the Lord Christ is in some sence withdrawn and that we do not behold his Glory We retain Notions of Truth concerning his Person Office and Grace but faith is not in constant exercise as to real views of him and his Glory For there is nothing more certain in Christian Experience than this is that while we do really by Faith behold the Glory of Christ as proposed in the Gospel the Glory of his Person and Office as before described and so abide in Holy Thoughts and Meditations thereof especially in our private Duties and Retirements all Grace will live and thrive in us in some measure especially love unto his Person and therein unto all that belongs unto him Let us but put it to the trial and we shall infallibly find the promised event DO any of us find decays in Grace prevailing in us deadness coldness lukewarmness a kind of Spiritual Stupidity and senseless coming upon us Do we find an unreadiness unto the exercise of Grace in its proper season and the vigorous actings of it in Duties of Communion with God And would we have our souls recovered from these dangerous diseases Let us assure our selves there is no better way for our healing and deliverance yea no other way but this alone namely the obtaining a fresh view of the Glory of Christ by faith and a steady abiding therein Constant contemplation of Christ and his Glory putting forth its transforming power unto the revival of all Grace is the only relief in this case as shall further be shewed afterwards SOME will say that this must be effected by fresh supplies and renewed communications of the Holy Spirit Unless he fall as dew and showers on our dry and barren hearts unless he causeth our Graces to spring thrive and bring forth fruit unless he revive and increase faith love and holiness in our souls our backsâ—idings will not be healed nor our spiritual state be recovered Unto this end is he prayed for and promised in the Scripture see Cant 4. 1. 6. Isa. 44. 3 4. Ezek. 11. 19. chap. 36. 26. Hos. 14. 5 6. And so it is The immediate efficiency of the revival of our souls is from and by the Holy Spirit But the enquiry is in what way or by what means we may obtain the supplies and communications of him unto this end This the Apostle declares in the place insisted on We beholding the Glory of Christ in a Glass are changed into the same image from glory to glory even by the spirit of the Lord. It is in the exercise of Faith on Christ in the way before described that the Holy Spirit puts forth his renewing transforming Power in and upon our souls This therefore is that alone which will retrive Christians from their present decays and deadness SOME complain greatly of their State and Condition none so dead so dull and stupid as they They know not whether they have any spark of heavenly life left in them some make weak and faint endeavours for a recovery which are like the attempts of a man in a dream wherein he seems to use great endeavours without any success Some put themselves unto multiplied duties Howbeit the Generallity of Prifessors seem to be in a pining thriftless condition And the reason of it is because they will not sincerely and constantly make use of the only remedy and relief like a man that will rather chuse to pine away in his sickness with some useless transient refreshments than apply himself unto a known and approved remedy because it may be the use of it is unsuited unto some of his present occasions Now this is to live in the exercise of Faith in Christ Jesus This himself assures us of Joh. 15. 4 5. Abide in me and I in you As the branch cannot bear fruit of it self except it abide in the vine no more can ye except you abide in me I am the vine ye are the branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without
in the Vision which Isaiah had when he saw his Glory and spake of him Chap. 6. 1 2. I saw the Lord sitting upon a Throne high and lifted up and his Train filled the Temple About it stood the Seraphims c. It was a Representation of the Glory of the Divine Presence of Christ filling his Humane Nature the Temple of his Body with a Train of all glorious Graces And if this Typical Representation of it was so glorious as that the Seraphims were not able stedfastly to behold it but covered their Faces upon its Appearance v. 2. how exceeding glorious is it in it self as it is openly revealed in the Gospel OF the same Nature are the immediate Testimonies given unto him from Heaven in the New Testament So the Apostle tells us he received from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a Voice unto him from the excellent Glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased 2 Pet. 1. 17. The Apostle intends the Time of his Transfiguration in the Mount for so he adds Ver. 18. And this Voice which came from Heaven we heard who were with him in the holy Mount Howbeit at sundry other times he had the same Testimony or to the same purpose from God even the Father in Heaven Herein God gave him Honor and Glory which all those that believe in him should behold and admire not only those who heard this Testimony with their bodily Ears but all unto whom it is testified in the Scripture are obliged to look after and contemplate on the Glory of Christ as thus revealed and proposed From the Throne of his Excellency by audible Voices by visible Signs by the opening of the Heavens above by the descent of the holy Spirit upon him God testified unto him as his eternal Son and gave him therein Honor and Glory The Thoughts of this Divine Testimony and the Glory of Christ therein hath often filled the Hearts of some with Joy and Delight THIS therefore in reading and studying the holy Scripture we ought with all diligence to search and attend unto as did the Prophets of old 1 Pet. 11. 12. if we intend by them to be made wise unto Salvation WE should herein be as the Merchant man that seeks for Pearls he seeks for all sorts of them but when he hath found one of Great Price he parts with all to make it his own Mat. 13. 45 46. The Scripture is the Field the Place the Mine where we search and dig for Pearls see Prov. 2. 1 2 3 4 5. Every sacred Truth that is made effectual unto the good of our Souls is a Pearl whereby we are enriched but when we meet with when we fall upon this Pearl of price the Glory of Christ this is that which the Soul of a Believer cleaves unto with joy THEN do we find Food for our Souls in the Word of Truth then do we taste how gracious the Lord is therein then is the Scripture full of Refreshment unto us as a Spring of Living Water when we are â—aken into blessed Views of the Glory of Christ therein And we are in the best Frame of Duty when the principal Motive in our Minds to contend earnestly for retaining the possession of the Scripture against all that would deprive us of it or discourage us from a daily diligent search into it is this that they would take from us the only Glass wherein we may behold the Glory of Christ. This is the Glory of the Scripture that it is the great yea the only outward Means of representing unto us the Glory of Christ and he is the Sun in the Firmament of it which only hath Light in it self and communicates it unto all other things besides 3. ANOTHER Direction unto this same End is That having attained the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of Christ from the Scripture or by the Dispensation of the Truth in the preaching of the Gospel we would esteem it our Duty frequently to meditate thereon WANT hereof is that fundamental Mistake which keeps many among us so low in their Grace so regardless of their Priviledges They hear of these things they assent unto their Truth at least they do not gain say them but they never solemnly meditate upon them This they esteem a Work that is above them or are ignorant totally of it or esteem themselves not much concerned in it or dislike it as Fanatacism For it is that which no Considerations can ingage a carnal Mind to delight in The Mind must be spiritual and holy freed from earthly Affections and Encumbrances raised above things here below that can in a due manner meditate on the Glory of Christ. Therefore are the most Strangers unto this Duty because they will not be at the Trouble and Charge of that Mortification of earthly Affections that Extirpation of sensual Inclinations that Retirement from the Occasions of Life which are required there unto See the Treatise of Spiritual-mindedness IT is to be feared that there are some who profess Religion with an Appearance of Strictness who never separate themselves from all other Occasions to meditate on Christ and his Glory And yet with a strange Inconsistency of Apprehensions they will profess that they desire nothing more than to behold his Glory in Heaven for ever But it is evident even in the Light of Reason that these things are irreconcilable It is impossible that he who never meditates with delight on the Glory of Christ here in this World who labors not to behold it by Faith as it is revealed in the Scripture should ever have any real gracious Desire to behold it in Heaven They may love and desire the Fruition of their own Imaginations they cannot do so of the Glory of Christ whereof they are ignorant and wherewith they are unacquainted It is therefore to be lamented that Men can find time for and have inclinations to think and meditate on other things it may be earthly and vain but have neither Heart nor Inclinations nor Leasure to meditate on this glorious Object What is the Faith and Love which such Men profess how will they find themselves deceived in the Issue 4. LET your occasional Thoughts of Christ be many and multiplied every Day he is not far from us we may make a speedy Address unto him at any time so the Apostle informs us Rom. 10. 6 7 8. Say not in thine heart who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ down from above or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead for the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart The things that Christ did were done at a Distance from us and they are long since past But saith the Apostle the Word of the Gospel wherein these things are revealed and whereby an Application is made of them unto our Souls iâ— nigh unto us even in our hearts that is if we are
of it that I can conceive and less than that very little that I can express Yet may it be my duty to excite not only my self but others also unto due Enquiries after it unto which End I offer the things ensuing 1. LABOVR that your minds may continually be fitted and prepared for sâ—ch Heavenly Contemplations If they are carnal and sensual or filled with earthly things a due sense of this Love of Christ and its Glory will not abide in them Vertue and Vice in their highest Degrees are not more diametrically opposite and inconsistent in the same mind than are an habitual Course of sensual worldly Thoughts and a due Contemplation of the Glory of the Love of Christ Yea an earnestness of Spirit pregnant with a multitude of Thoughts about the lawful Occasions of Life is obstructive of all due Communion with the Lord Jesus Christ herein FEW there are whose Minds are prepared in a due Manner for this Duty The Actions and Communications of the most evidence what is the inward Frame of their Souls They rove up and down in their Thoughts which are continually lead by their Affections into the Corners of the Earth It is in vain to call such Persons unto Contemplations of the Glory of Christ in his Love An holy Composure of Mind by virtue of spiritual principles an Inclination to seek after Refreshment in Heavenly Things and to bath the Soul in the Fountain of them with constant Apprehensions of the Excellency of this Divine Glory are required hereunto 2. BE not satisfied with General Notions concerning the Love of Christ which represent no Glory unto the Mind wherewith many deceive themselves All who believe his divine Person profess a Valuation of his Love and think them not Christians who are otherwise minded But they have only General Notions and not any distinct Conceptions of it and really know not what it is To deliver us from this Snare peculiar Meditations on its principal Concerns are required of us As 1. WHOSE Love it is namely of the divine Person of the Son of God He is expresly called God with respect unto the Exercise of this Love that we may always consider whose it is 1 Joh. 3. 16. Hereby we perceive the Love of God because he laid down his Life for us 2. BY what Ways and Means this wonderful Love of the Son of God doth act it self namely in the divine Nature by Eternal Acts of Wisdom Goodness and Grace proper thereunto and in the humane by Temporary Acts of Pity or Compassion with all the Fruits of them in doing and suffering for us see Ephes. 3. 19. Heb. 2. 14 15. Rev. 1. 5. 3. WHAT is the Freedom of it as unto any desert on our Part 1 Joh. 4. 10. It was Hatred not Love that we in our selves deserved which is a Consideration suited to fill the Soul with self-abasement the best of Frames in the contemplation of the Glory of Christ. 4. WHAT is the Efficacy of it in its Fruits and Effects with sundry other Considerations of the like Nature By a distinct Prospect and Admiration of these Things the Soul may walk in this Paradise of God and gather here and there an Heavenly Flower conveying unto it a sweet Savour of this Love of Christ. See Cant. 11. 2 3 4. MOREOVER Be not contented to have right Notions of the Love of Christ in your Minds unless you can attain a gracious Taste of it in your Hearts no more than you would be to see a Feast or Banquet richly prepared and partake of nothing of it unto your Refreshment It is of that Nature that we may have a spiritual Censation of it in our Minds whence it is compared by the Spouse to Apples and Flagons of Wine We may taste that the Lord is gracious And if we find not a Relish of it in our Hearts we shall not long retain the Notion of it in our Minds Christ is the Meat the Bread the Food of our Souls Nothing is in him of an higher spiritual Nourishment than his Love which we should always desire IN this Love is he Glorious for it is such as no Creatures Angels or Men could have the least Conceptions of before its Manifestation by its Effects And after its Manifestation it is in this World absolutely incomprehensible CHAP. VI. The Glory of Christ in the Discharge of his Mediatory Office AS the Lord Christ was Glorious in the Susception of his Office So was he also in its Discharge An unseen Glory accompanied him in all that he did in all that he suffered Vnseen it was unto the Eyes of the World but not in his who alone can judge of it Had Men seen it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory Yet to some of them it was made manifest Hence they testified that in the Discharge of his Office they beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father Joh. 1. 14. And that when others could see neither Form nor Comliness in him that he should be desired Psal. 53. 2. and so it is at this day I shall only make some few Observations first on what he did in a way of Obedience and then on what he suffered in the Discharge of his Office so undertaken by him 1. WHAT he did what Obedience he yielded unto the Law of God in the Discharge of his Office with respect whereunto he said Lo I come to do thy Will O God â—ea thy Law is in my Heart it was all on his own free choice or Election and was resolved thereinto alone It is our Duty to endeavor after Freedom Willingness and Chearfulness in all our Obedience Obedience hath its formal Nature from our Wills So much as there is of our Wills in what we do towards God so much there is of Obedience and no more Howbeit we are antecedently unto all Acts of our own Wills obliged unto all that is called Obedience From the very Constitution of our Natures we are necessarily subject unto the Law of God All that is left unto us is a voluntary Compliance with unavoidable Commands with him it was not so An Act of his own Will and Choice preceded all Obligation as unto Obedience He obeyed because he would before because he ought He said Lo I come to do thy Will O God before he was obliged to do that Will. By his own Choice and that in an Act of Infinite Condescention and Love as we have shewed he was made of a woman and thereby made under the Law In his Divine Person he was Lord of the Law above it no more obnoxious unto its Commands than its Curse Neither was he afterwards in himself on his own Account unobnoxious unto its Curse merely because he was Innocent but also because he was every way above the Law it self and all its force This was the Original Glory of his Obedience The Wisdom the Grace the Love the Condescention that was in this Choice animated every Act every
them the knowledge of his Glory in the face of his dear Son Howbeit this new Light doth not abolish blot out or render useless the other Light of Nature as the Sun when it riseth extinguisheth the Light of the Stars But it directs it and rectifies it as unto its principle object and end Yet is it in its self a Light quite of another Nature But he who hath only the former Light can understand nothing of it because he hath no Taste or Experience of its Power and Operations He may talk of it and make Enquiries about it but he knows it not NOW we have received this Light of Faith and Grace whereby we discern spiritual things and behold the glory of Christ in the Imperfect manner before described But in Heaven there shall be a superadded light of Glory which shall make the Mind it self shine as the Firmament Dan. 12. 3. I shall only say three things of it 1. That as the Light of Grace doth not destroy or abolish the Light of Nature but rectifie and improve it so the Light of Glory shall not abolish or destroy the Light of Faith and Grace but by incorporating with it render it absolutely perfect 2. That as by the Light of Nature we cannot clearly comprehend the true Nature and Efficacy of the Light of Grace because it is of another Kind and is seen only in its own Light so by the Light of Grace we cannot absolutely comprehend this Light of Glory being of a peculiar Kind and Nature seen perfectly only by its own Light It doth not appear what we shall be 3. That this is the best Notion we can have of this Light of Glory that in the first Instance of its Operation it perfectly transforms the Soul into the Image and Likeness of Christ. THIS is the progress of our nature unto its Rest and Blessedness The principles remaining in it concerning Good and Evil with its practical convictions are not destroyed but improved by grace as its blindness darkness and enmity to God are in part taken away Being renewed by Grace what it receives here of spiritual Life and Light shall never be destroyed but be perfected in Glory Grace renews Nature Glory perfects Grace and so the whole Soul is brought unto its rest in God We have an Image of it in the blind Man whom our Saviour cured Mark 8. 22 23 24. He was absolutely blind born so no doubt Upon the first touch his Eyes were opened and he saw but very obscurely he saw men walking like Trees But on the second he saw all things clearly Our minds in themselves are absolutely blind The first visitation of them by Grace gives them a sight of things spiritual heavenly and eternal but it is obscure and unsteady The sight of Glory makes all things clear and evident 2ly THE body as glorified with its senses shall have its use and place herein After we are cloathed again with our flesh we shall see our Redeemer with our Eyes We know not here what power and spirituality there will be in the acts of our glorified Bodies Such they will be as shall bear a part in eternal Blessedness Holy Stephen the first Martyr took up somewhat of Glory by Anticipation before he died For when he was brought to his Tryal before the Council all that sate therein looking stedfastly on him saw his face as the face of an Angel Act. 6. 15. He had his Transfiguration according unto his measure answerable unto that of our Blessed Saviour in the Mount And by this initial Beam of Glory he received such a piercing vivacity and edge on his bodily eyes that through all those inconceivable distances between the earth and the residence of the Blessed he looked stedfastly into Heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God Act. 7. 55 56. Who then can declare what will be the power and acting of this sense of sight when perfectly glorified or what sweetness and refreshment may be admitted into our Souls thereby IT was a priviledge who would not have longed to partake of it to have seen him with our bodily eyes in the days of his flesh as did the Apostles and other his Disciples Howbeit he was not then glorified himself in the manifestation of his Glory nor they who saw him in the change or transformation of their nature How great this privilenge was himself declares unto those that so saw him Mat. 13. 17. Verily I say unto you that many Prophets and righteous Men have desired to see those things which ye see whereunto we shall speak immediately And if this were so excellent a priviledge as that we cannot but congratulate them by whom it was enjoyed how excellent how glorious will it be when with these eyes of ours gloriously purified and strengthned beyond those of Stephen we shall behold Christ himself immediately in the fulness of his Glory He alone perfectly understands the greatness and excellency hereof who prayed his Father that those who believe in him may be where he is so to behold his Glory THESE are some of the grounds of this first difference between our beholding the Glory of Christ by Faith here and by immediate Vision hereafter Hence the one is weak imperfect obscure reflexive the other direct immediate eaven and constant and we may stay a little in the contemplation of these things THIS view of the Glory of Christ which we have now spoken unto is that which we are breathing and panting after that which the Lord Christ prays that we may arrive unto that which the Apostle testifies to be our best the best thing or state which our nature is capable of that which brings eternal rest and satisfaction unto our Souls HERE our Souls are burthened with innumerable Infirmities and our Faith is clogged in its Operations by Ignorance and Darkness This makes our best estate and highest attainments to be accompanied with groans for deliverance We which have received the first fruits of the spirit even we our selves groan withing our selves waiting for the Adoption even the redemption of the body Rom. 8. 23. Yea whilst we are in this Tabernacle we groan earnestly as being burthened because we are not absent from the body and present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 2 4 8. The more we grow in Faith and Spiritual Light the more sensible are we of our present burthens and the more vehemently do we groan for deliverance into the perfect liberty of the Sons of God This is the posture of their minds who have received the first fruits of the Spirit in the most eminent degree The nearer any one is to Heaven the more earnestly he desires to be there because Christ is there For the more frequent and steady are our views of him by faith the more do we long and groan for the removal of all obstructions and interpositions in our so doing Now groaning is a vehement desire mixed with sorrow for the
by the Light of Glory Hereby shall we be enabled and sitted eternally to abide in the Contemplation of the Glory of Christ with joy and satisfaction The understanding shall be always perfected with the Vision of God and the Affections cleave infeparably to him which is Blessedness THE very essential faculties of our Souls in that way and manner of working which by their Union with our Bodies they are confined unto are not able to comprehend and abide constantly in the Contemplation of this Glory So that though our sight of it here be dim and imperfect and the proposal of it obscure yet from the weakness of our minds we are forced sometimes to turn aside from what we do discern as we do our bodily eyes from the beams of the Sun when it shines in its brightness But in this perfect State they are able to behold and delight in this Glory constantly with eternal satisfaction BVT as for me saith David I will behold thy face in Righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness Psal. 17. 15. It is Christ alone who is the Likeness and Image of God When we awake in the other World with our Minds purified and rectified the beholding of him shall be always satisfying unto us There will be theâ— no Satiety no Weariness no Indispositions but the Mind being made perfect in all its faculties powers and operations with respect unto its utmost end which is the enjoyment of God is satisfied in the beholding of him for evermore And where there is perfect satisfaction without Satiety there is blessedness for ever So the Holy Spirit affirms of the four living Creatures in the Revelation They rest not day nor night saying holy holy holy Lord God Almighty Chap. 4. 8. They are continually exercised in the Admiration and Praises of God in Christ without weariness or interruption Herein shall we be made like unto Angels 2. AS our Minds in their essential powers and Faculties shall be enabled to comprehend and acquiesce in this Glory of Christ so the means or instrument of the beholding of it is much more excellent than Faith and in its kind absolutely perfect as hath in part been before declared This is vision or sight Here we walk by Faith there by Sight And this Sight is not an external aid like a Glass helping the weakness of the visive faculty to see things afar off but it is an internal power or an act of the internal power of our Minds wherewith they are endowed in a glorified state Hereby we shall be able to see him face to face to see him as he is in a direct comprehension of his Glory for this sight or visive power shall be given us for this 〈…〉 do Hereunto the whole Glory of Christ is clear perspicuous and evident which will give us eternal Acquiescency therein Hence shall our sight of the Glory of Christ be invariable and always the same 2. THE Lord Christ will never in any one instance on any occasion so much as one moment withdraw himself from us or Eclipse the proposal and manifestation of himself unto our sight This he doth sometimes in this life and it is needful for us that so he should do We shall be ever with the Lord 1 Thes. 4. 17. without end without interruption This is the Center of good and evil as to the future different states of Men. They shall be for â—ver Eternity makes them absolutely good on the one hand and absolutely evil on the other To be in Hell under the wrath of God is in it self the greatest penal Evil But to be there for ever without the Intermission of Misery or Determination of Time is that which renders it the greatest evil unto them who shall be in that condition So is Eternity the Life of future Blessedness We shall be ever with the Lord without Limitation of Time without Interruption of Enjoyment THERE are no vicissitudes in the heavenly state The New Hierusalem hath no Temple in it for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple thereof Revel 21. 24. There is no need of instituted means of Worship nor of Ordinances of Divine Service For we shall need neither encrease of Grace nor Excitations unto its exercise The constant immediate uninterrupted enjoyment of God and the Lamb supplieth all And it hath no need of the Sun nor of the Moon to shine in it for the Glory of God doth enlighten it and the Lamb is the Light thereof The Light of the Sun is excellent howbeit it hath its Seasons after it hath shone in its brightest Lustre it gives place to the night and darkness So is the Light of the Moon of great use in the Night but it hath its Seasons also Such is the Light we have of the Glory of God and the Lamb in this World Sometimes it is as the Light of the Sun which under the Gospel is seven fold as the Light of Seven Days in one in comparison of the Law Isa. 30. 26. Sometimes as the Light of the Moon which giveth relief in the Night of Temptations and Trials But it is not constant we are under a vicissitude of Light and Darkness Views of Christ and a loss of him But in Heaven the perpetual presence of Christ with his Saints makes it always one Noon of Light and Glory 3. THIS Vision is not in the least liable unto any weaknings from internal defects nor any assaults from Temptations as is the sight of Faith in this Life No Doubts or Féars no disturbing Darts or Injections shall there have any place There shall no Habit no Quality no Inclination or Disposition remain in our Souls but what shall eternally lead us unto the Contemplation of the Glory of Christ with delight and complacencey Nor will there be any defect in the gracious Powers of our Souls as unto a perpetual exercise of them and as unto all other opposing Enemies we shall be in a perpetual triumph over them 1 Cor. 15. 55 56 57. The mouth of iniquity shall be stopped for ever and the voice of the self avenger shall be heard no more WHEREFORE the Vision which we shall have in Heaven of the Glory of Christ is Serene always the same always new and indeficient wherein nothing can disturb the Mind in the most perfect Operations of a blessed Life And when all the faculties of the Soul can without any internal weakness or external hindrances exercise their most perfect operations on the most perfect Object therein lies all the blessedness which our nature is capable of WHEREFORE whenever in this life we attain any comfortable refreshing View of the Glory of Christ by the exercise of Faith on the Revelation of it with a sense of our interest therein we cannot but long after and desire to come unto this more perfect abiding invariable Aspect of it CHAP. XIV Other Differences between our Beholding the Glory of Christ by Faith in this World and by Sight in
all these things pass by without any further consideration BUT here I must fix with them unto whom I speak at present unless there be a full Conviction in them of the woful deplorable condition of every Soul of whatever Quality Profession Religion outward State it be who is not yet made partaker of Christ all that I have further to add will be of no signification Remember then that the due consideration hereof is unto you in your State your chiefest concernment in this World and be not afraid to take in a full and deep sense of it for if you are really delivered from it and have good Evidence thereof it is nothing unto you but matter of eternal Praise and Thanksgiving And if you are not so it is highly necessary that your Minds should be possessed with due Apprehension of it The work of this Conviction is the first effect of true Religion and the great Abuse of Religion in the World is that a pretence of it deludes the Minds of men to apprehend that it is not necessary for to be of this or that Religion of this or that way in Religion is supposed sufficient to secure the Eternal State of men though they are never convinced of their lost estate by Nature 4. HEREON consider the Infinite Condescention and Love of Christ in his Invitations and Calls of you to come unto him for Life Deliverance Mercy Grace Peace and Eternal Salvation Multitudes of these Invitations and Calls are recorded in the Scripture and they are all of them filled up with those blessed Encouragements which Divine wisdom knows to be suited unto lost convinced Sinners in their present state and condition It were a blessed Contemplation to dwell on the Consideration of the Infinite Condescention Grace and Love of Christ in his Invitations of Sinners to come unto him that they may be saved of that mixture of Wisdom and perswasive Grace that is in them of the force and efficacy of the pleading and Argument that they are accompanied withal as they are recorded in the Scripture but that belongs not to my present Design This I shall only say that in the Declaration and Preaching of them Jesus Christ yet stands before Sinners calling inviting encouraging of them to come unto him THIS is somewhat of the Word which he now speaks unto you Why will ye dye why will ye perish why will you not have compassion on your own Souls Can your Hearts endure or can your hands be strong in the day of Wrath that is approaching It is but a little while before all your Hopes your Reliefs and Presumptions will forsake you and leave you eternally miserable Look unto me and be saved come unto me and I will ease you of all Sins Sorrows Fears Burthens and give rest unto your Souls Come I entreat you lay aside all Procrastinations all delays put me off no more Eternity lyes at the door cast out all cursed self-deceiving Reserves do not so hate me as that you will rather perish than accept of Deliverance by me THESE and the like things doth the Lord Christ continually declare proclaim plead and urge on the Souls of Sinners as it is fully declaclared Prov. 1. ver 20. to the 34. He doth it in the preaching of the word as if he were present with you stood amongst you and spake personally to every one of you And because this would not suit his present state of Glory he hath appointed the Ministers of the Gospel to appear before you and to deal with you in his stead avowing as his own the Invitations that are given you in his Name 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. CONSIDER therefore his Infinite Condescention Grace and Love herein Why all this towards you doth he stand in need of you Have you deserved it at his hands Did you love him first Cannot he be happy and blessed without you Hath he any Design upon you that he is so earnest in calling you unto him Alas it is nothing but the overflowing of Mercy Compassion and Grace that moves and acts him herein Here lyes the entrance of innumerable Souls into a Death and Condemnation far more severe than those contained in the Curse of the Law 2 Cor. 2. 15 16. In the contempt of this Infinite Condescention of Christ in his Holy Invitation of Sinners to himself lies the sting and poyson of Unbelief which unavoidably gives over the Souls of Men unto Eternal Ruine And who shall once pity them to Eternity who are guilty of it Yea but 5. PERHAPS if you should on his Invitation begin to look to him and resolve to come to him you are greatly afraid that when it comes to the Tryal he will not receive you for no Heart can conceive no Tongue can express what wretched vile and provoking Sinners you have been That the Lord Christ will receive unto him such as we are we have no hopes or that ever we shall find Acceptance with him I say it is not amiss when Persons come so far as to be sensible of what Discouragements they have to conflict withall what difficulties lye in their way and what objections do arise against them for the most do perish in a senceless stupidity they will not consider how it is with them what is required of them nor how it will be in the latter end they doubt not but that either they do believe already or can do so when they please but when any come so far as to charge the failure of their Acceptance with Christ on their own unworthiness and so are discouraged from coming unto him there are Arguments for their Conviction and Perswasion which nothing but the Devil and Unbelief can defeat Wherefore that which is now proposed unto consideration in answer hereunto is the Readiness of Christ to receive every Sinner be he who or what he will that shall come unto him And hereof we have the highest Evidences that Divine Wisdom and Grace can give unto us This is the Language of the Gospel of all that the Lord Christ did or suffered which is recorded therein This is the Divine Testimony of the Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and of the Three that bear witness in Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood all give their joynt Testimony that the Lord Christ is ready to receive all Sinners that come to him they who receive not this Testimony make God a Lyar both Father Son and Spirit Whatever the Lord Christ is in the Constitution of his Person in the Representation of the Father in his Office in what he did on the Earth in what he doth in Heaven proclaims the same Truth Nothing but cursed Obstinacy in Sin and Unbelief can suggest a thought unto our minds that he is not willing to receive us when we come unto him Herein we are to bear Testimony against the Unbelief of all unto whom the Gospel is preached that come not unto him Unbelief acting