shall be seen through the Body in such a sort as the life of the Soul is seen and observed in and by the vivacity and liveliness which it imparts by action and motion to the outward visible parts of the Body Dr. Rich. Sheldon of mans last end and not only did the face of Christ shine as the Sun at his Transfiguration on Mount Tabor but also his rayment was white as the light Matth. 17.2 St. Mark addeth that his rayment became shining exceeding white as snow so as no Fuller on earth can white them Mark 9.3 Now his garments did cover his Body yet such was the glory and clarity of his Body that his rayment became white as snow for it became not Christ or the Angels to appear in naked Bodies Cyril Hierosol Catech 18. Cyril of Jerusalem speaking of this point saith The Just shall shine as the Sun and as the Moon and as the brightness of the Firmament And God foreseeing the incredulity of Men Ut Anima ista dum exercet functiones suaâ— in corpore impertit ei colorem totam hanc externam Corporis gloriam ita tum cum Deus erit omnia in omnibus spiritus Christi in nobis habitam induet Corpora nostra gloriosissima quibusque qualitatibus Rolloc in Johan cap. 5. hath given unto little Worms called Glow-worms a shining Body that they might shine therewith that from those things which do appear we might believe what we do expect he that hath made a Worm so to glister will make the Bodies of the Saints much more bright and shining SECT II. Of the agility of glorified Bodies THe Bodies of the Saints in Heaven shall also have a wonderful agility whereby they shall be able to move from place to place with incredible swiftness this agility is a glorious quality whereby the Bodies of the glorified are totally subject to the Souls as to most powerful movers to be moved by them without the least reluctancy or resistance for the Soul shall then as some Learned men say have a most absolute dominion over the Body and by a redundancy and emanation impart to it a glorious quickning and vivacity far beyond that which any mortal Creatures in their bodily heavy parts can have for glorified Souls shall then be made perfect and glorified Bodies shall have more perfect instruments for motion then those which corruptible Bodies usually have and the weight of their Bodies shall not in the least hinder their motion And albeit the same Father saith Certe ubi volet Spiritus ibi protinus erit Corpus that the Body will presently be there where the Soul would have it Yet may we not grant unto the same Bodies any instantanean motion so that in an imagined instant of time they may make any true real corporal motion for time in a proper speech hath no true or real instant either as part or period or end of it self for then a glorified Body must pass thorow the beginning middle and end of a space at once if it move from place to place in an instant which were more then utterly impossible involving a contradiction and would be destructive to the nature of a true Body Yet the motion of glorified Bodies may be very sudden and in so short a time as it were imperceptible Augustine compares it to the Sun-beams August Epist 4â— the which as it were in an imperceptible moment of time do fill this whole Hemisphere with their glorious lustre The Author of the Book of Wisdom saith The Righteous shall shine and as sparks among the stubble they shall run too and fro Sap. 3.7 Whereby some think the agility of the Saints Bodies in Heaven and their facility for motion is figured One saith that its agility will be so great that it will out-pass the winds and lightning it will flie without wings through the spacious Regions of the Air it will walk upon the water and not sink and in a very short time passing from one end of the World to the other will be no longer a clog and torment to the Soul Moreover which way soever they shall move they shall have the glorious presence of God with them in Heaven the Saints live move and have their glorious being in him they live of him by partaking of his glorious life move before him like the holy Angels by a most prompt and ready obedience and are in him being entered into the joy of their Lord. SECT III. Of the spirituality of glorified Bodies A Farther degree of the happiness of a glorified Body is that it shall be spiritual It is sown a natural Body but it riseth a spiritual Body 1 Cor. 15.44 It is called a spiritual Body not as though the Body were changed into the Soul and Spirit for so that which is raised should not be Man consisting of a Soul and Body but a third distinct thing differing from Man it shall not then cease to be a Body it shall change condition but not change nature were its nature changed the mystery of the resurrection of the flesh should be quite taken away and so the same thing that fell should not be raised again Neither is it called a spiritual Body as though the Body after the resurrection were rarified like the Air and Wind as the Eutychians of old affirmed denying glorified Bodies to be palpable but I call it spiritual 1. Because as the Body shall be re-united to the Soul so it shall be perfectly submitted to it as the Spirit serving the Flesh may not unfitly be called carnal so the Body obedient to the Soul is rightly termed spiritual The Soul shall have a more powerful influence upon and dominion over the Body after the resurrection then it ever had or could have in the time of her mortality it shall no longer be the Prison but the Temple of the Soul then the Body shall readily yield to every motion of the Spirit 2. The Body shall be endued with spiritual properties the Bodies of the Saints shall be even as the Angels are now in Heaven they shall be able to live without sleep without eating and drinking without marriage they shall need none of such things as these natural Bodies in this mortal condition do Our Bodies now are but so many clogs to our Souls subject to toyl and weariness but then the Body will have such advantages as will free and clear it from all such corporal imperfections and defections as bodily and corporal substances are obnoxious to the corruptible Body overladeth and oppresseth the Soul and this earthly tabernacle presseth down the mind meditating on heavenly things but in Heaven when the Souls of the Blessed shall see the glory of God and be for ever in the contemplation of him they shall then be freed from all clogs and hinderances that so they may bend themselves with all their might to the contemplation love and fruition of God whose goodness will then be most clearly and fully presented
utter darkness but through God's permission Satan's chain is sometimes lengthened but then no more lengthening now he walketh up and down assaying to devour and seeking whom he may devour but then he shall walk no longer the Saints shall follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth and shall not in all their walks meet with a Devil to tempt them to any sin whatsoever 5. The state of glory is liberty from death from the fears of it and from all things tending to mortality bondage to death will be swallowed up of this life of liberty glory is triumphant over Death Hell and the Grave bidding defiance to them O Grave where art thou O Hell where art thou O Death where art thou 1 Cor. 15.54 55. Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire Rev. 20.14 By Hell there we must understand the Grave Death and the Grave shall be damned as well as the wicked 6. The state of glory is a liberty from the rage wrath and persecution of all the wicked men in the world their rage and persecution is a bondage and captivity to the Saints hindring them from serving God with desired freedom they cannot put forth their godliness but they expose themselves to the scoffs hatred rage and persecutions of the world now the state of glory will put a great gulf between the Godly and the Wicked which will hinder them from all intercourse for know that if the damned could again be in company or in the place where the godly are they would persecute them again to the uttermost though they know they must be damned and therefore the Devils now hate and tempt them though they aggravate their own torments 7. It is a liberty from all imperfections of graces and weakness in their serving God 1. From all imperfections of their graces which in this present life are very imperfect we know but in part saith the Apostle so we believe but in part we love God but in part we are Holy but in part we are zealous for God but in part there is more doubts and ignorance than knowledge more unbelief than faith more want of love than love there is more sin than grace and holiness now the state of glory is a state of perfection we shall know as we are known our understandings will be enlarged that we shall know God fully and perfectly our faith will be turned into sight our hope into possession we shall then love God with all our hearts with all our souls c. The Angels are called Seraphims because as some say they burn in love and zeal toward God so shall all the Saints be filled with this Seraphical love we shall be as holy as our natures are capable The Church and people of God in this life are compared to the Moon because of those spots in her which are imperfections but in the state of glory they are compared to the Sun which hath no spots in it and as the Prophet speaks of the Sun and Moon that the light of the Sun shall be seven-fold more resplendent than now so the graces the holiness of the Saints shall be seven-fold more holy than now they are 2. It shall be a liberty from all weaknesses and infirmities in serving God this is the necessary consequent of the former for the more glorious and holy a man is the more able he is to serve God if perfectly sanctified then he serveth God perfectly the Angels fulfil the whole will of God because they are filled with grace they run yea they fly in the wayes of his commandements this liberty and enlargement shall all the Saints have in the state of glory while they are here they are in bondage to much spiritual deadness and slothfulness they pray they praise God acceptably though they cannot pray nor praise him perfectly they may pray and purpose to run the wayes of God's Commandements but cannot because they are too weak and are fettered with spiritual slothfulness and deadness glory will do away all this and make us as ready and able to do the whole will of God as Angels do 8. It is a liberty from all natural clogs which the body in this state of union fastens upon the soul insomuch that the body is animae ergastulum the prison of the soul it is pondus or onus animae the burden or weight of the soul the regenerate soul cannot act vigorously because the body is so unweildy the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak but when the soul and body shall be reunited and meet in a state of glory the body will be a nimble handmaid and pliable to all the motions and commands of the soul the body then which is now the souls prison will be the souls paradise and both soul and body will act most vigorously the soul will never tyre out the body nor will the body clog the soul they will both be unwearied in their glorious services the body then will be spiritual though not a spirit and become immortal incorruptible as the soul is 9. It is a liberty from many duties and services and spiritual exercises which are now required of us the Saints work shall be lessened in Heaven The Service of the Church and people of God under the Gospel is much less than it was under the Law hence the state of the Church under the pedagogy of the Law is by the Apostle called a state of bondage a state of subjection but the state of the Church under the Gospel is called a state of liberty but when the Church shall be taken up into glory then their services shall be far less than now they are many duties and graces shall be done away in Heaven we shall pray no more for any mercy for our selves all praying shall be turned into praising of God we shall not hear the Word nor receive the Sacraments any more nor fast and afflict our souls any more we shall no longer mourn for sin repentance will be done away yea faith it self as many Divines conceive shall be done away Pray we shall not because then we shall never be in want our souls shall be so abundantly satisfied with the fulness of God's house we shall mourn and repent no more because we shall sin no more Our service in the state of glory will be taken up in praising God in admiring God in loving God rejoycing in God giving him praise and glory for the riches of his grace toward us in Christ Jesus 10. In respect of the place it is a state of liberty indeed the vast Heaven of Heavens O ye Saints shall be the place of your habitation and delight what is the whole world compared to it it is but a narrow prison an house of correction an house of bondage to a gracious spirit it is but as a Cage to a bird so is the world to the soul of a Godly man 11. It is a liberty from all fears or dangers of everlosing their glory and blessedness
violent impressions yet may we not deny but that there shall be such sensitive actions of seeing hearing c. and consequently answerable passions which include not corruption as may be fitting for that glorious place each sense shall there have its own proper delight and glory doubtless the Bodies of the Saints shall not be destitute of their senses but be compleatly furnished with most perfect organs and spirits fit for their use and therefore shall have the most perfect use of their senses and verily in vain should the Body be resumed if there might not be the use and delight of the senses seeing the Body of man is not necessary or useful to the Soul but for the use of the senses neither shall there be wanting objects which may be perceived and may delight and refresh the senses 1. Because the Soul is not only rational but also sensitive and in both parts is capable of taking its delights therefore it must not only be made happy in the rational part which shall be done by the vision and fruition of God but also in the sensitive part which shall be brought to pass by the perception of the most excellent sensible objects fitted to every sense 2. The Saints in this life had many grievous afflictions and mortifications for Christ's sake in their senses for the greatest part of the torments which the holy Martyrs endured was in their senses They were tortured they had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings yea moreover of bonds and imprâ—sonments they were stoned they were sawn asunder they were slain with the sword they wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented Heb. 11.36 37. And the greatest part of the work of mortification lies in the mortification of the senses there is by nature an inordinateness in all our outward and inward senses thence we read in Scripture of a wanton eye 2 Pet. 2.14 Genes 21.7 of itching ears 2 Tim. 4.11 the lust of the palate Numb 11.4 5. of the lust of the nose Prov. 7.18 so of the touch Prov. 7.13 so that we cannot with safety trust them without Job's covenant Job 31.1 or the Prophet Hosea's hedge Hos 2.6 or Solomon's knife Prov. 23.7 or David's bridle Psalm 39.1 Not only the rational and intellectual but also the whole sensitive part of man is subject to lust and much of the work of mortification lies in subduing the inordinateness of the bodily senses so in Heaven likewise the sensitive parts and faculties which have been instruments of the Soul in the exercises of righteousness and in suffering for righteousness sake shall also receive their appointed rewards and consolations which shall be accommodated to every one of the senses 3. This is confirmed by the contrary for the damned in Hell shall be greatly tormented in all their senses the wanton eyes shall always be terrified with the sight of ugly Devils which should they behold here when they are alone would almost scare them out of their wits the delicate ears shall be affrighted with the horrid noise of damned Ghosts crying and roaring out with doleful shriekings cursing the day that ever they were born they shall famish and pine away for ever without one bit of bread to stanch their hunger and without one drop of water to cool their tongues tormented in the infernal flames your dainty delicate persons that now cannot brook the least unsavoury smell shall lie down in a stinking dungeon in a loathsome lake that burns with fire and brimstone for ever Now if the Damned in Hell shall be so grievously tormented in their senses then shall the senses of the glorified Saints be exceedingly refreshed for God is not more severe in punishing then bountiful in rewarding SECT VII HEre let us consider some of the particular Senses and parts of the Body and take notice what notable things might be spoken of them 1. The Eyes those windows in the upper story how lightsome shall they be and what high and glorious objects shall they behold the Eyes shall then be renewed and made more bright and clear then the light of the Sun the very act of seeing shall be most clear and perfect they shall be freed from all darkness dimness obscurity and defect no glorious object shall dazle the eyes of the Inhabitants in Heaven for the brightness of the heavenly Bodies shall not trouble the spirits of the eyes as the light of the Sun troubleth them now but shall most sweetly strengthen them We may conceive that those that are in this place of blessedness at one single aspect may perfectly see from one end of the Heaven to the other there being no defect in the objects medium or organ or any thing to intercept the sight the objects being so transparent and glorious here we may see a Star in a dark night at many thousand miles distance but as the objects in Heaven shall be most glorious so the eyes of the Saints shall be enabled perfectly to behold them Again the medium shall no way be defective here the thickness or darkness of the Air often dulls our sight but in Heaven there shall be nothing but a perfect serenity round about them as in Hell is utter darkness so in Heaven there shall be most perfect light The organ also the instrument of sight the eye shall be wholly free from all dimness and be able to discern any glorious object presented to it it shall be free from weakness able to bear the brightest splendor nor shall it be any way offended with the glory of any visible thing though never so transcendently glorious I shall now speak of the glorious objects which the bodily eye shall behold in Heaven I. It shall behold the glory of God himself in a most glorious manifestation of himself to it It is a question whether we shall see God with our bodily eyes But I will not burden you with variety of opinions but take these things in answer to the question The sight of God in Heaven is to be referred to the understanding to the eye of the mind not to the eye of the body The Reasons of it are these Reas 1. Because the Divine Essence is most spiritual therefore it altogether exceeds the power of bodily eyes though glorified and raised to a far more admirable ability to discern far above what now it possibly can see Potentia organica ultra corpora non potest extendi by the sight of sense with our bodily eyes we can only see corporal things and materially bodily objects and so we cannot see our own Souls much less the Essence and Substance of God Reas 2. Because the Apostle saith of God that he is absolutely invisible 1 Tim. 6.16 whom no eye hath seen nor can see namely with bodily eyes And though it be said of Jacob that he saw God face to face Genes 32. and that God talked with Moses mouth to mouth as a man talketh with his friend Numb 13. yet they saw not
without doors in comparison of this but this is within it is a sin so inward to the Body that it diffuseth it self through the whole Body and makes it wholly a slave and instrument to its lust yea the Body is as it were the object of these sinful lusts they do in a peculiar manner defile the Body What greater indecorum can there be for one that hopeth to have his Body glorified in Heaven then thus to debase and vilifie it upon the Earth Take heed likewise of intemperance in meats and drinks of gluttony and drunkenness for this also dishonoureth the Body takes away the heart and makes it to stick fast in the mire of sensuality and makes a man a stranger to heavenly-mindedness it sets a man below a rational man much more below a spiritual man whose heart whose hope whose conversation is in Heaven St. Paul saith Meats for the belly and the belly for meats but God shall destroy both it and them If you expect to have your Bodies lifted up to heavenly glory be not ye Sâ—rvants to the belly and to meats and drinks both which are appointed to destruction Miserable then is the condition of those persons now whose god is their belly whose greatest delight is to pamper their bodies and please their palates that have not the least savour of heavenly things The more heavenly minded any man is the more he raiseth his heart far above these things and denieth himself in them and it shall be no little ground of comfort to a glorified Saint when after the mortification and diligent looking to the senses which continued so short a time he finds himself so wholly immersed in that deep fountain of glory without finding any bottom or end of so many and such exceeding great joys Oh then let us make it our meat and drink to do the will of our Father which is in Heaven using these outward blessings as not abusing them as furtherances and not as hinderances in the service of God eating and drinking for Heaven and whatsoever we do doing all for Heaven that this among other may be one good evidence to our Souls that we are Vessels of Honour prepared for glory fitted for Heaven where we shall be full of God and have no need nor desire to fill our selves with meats and drinks Vse 2. This may exhort us to a patient bearing of all afflictions and present evils be they many be they grievous Suppose your Bodies are as full of diseases as the Body of Lazarus was full of sores they are sick weak crazy deformed blind maimed ulcerous leprous if all these or any of these be upon thy Body bear it patiently for Christ will one day redeem thy Body from all these and make it glorious like to his own Body Vse 3. Be hence encouraged to give up your Bodies to suffer for Christ what evil soever cruel Tormentors through God's permission shall inflict upon your Carcasses if they judge thee to the loss of ears of eyes of tongue of hands yea the whole Body to be burned at a stake or to be devoured by wild Beasts such torments Martyrs have endured willingly submit to all Christ will restore those eyes ears tongues hands or any other member whatsoever which your Adversaries shall pull from you Vse 4. Be not afraid of dying neither let the thoughts of the dissolution of thy Body into dust and the long abode of thy Body in the dark prison of the grave be a trouble to thee God will redeem this Body of thine from the grave saying Give up the dead which are in thee give up my Saints and he will make thy Body to out-shine in glory The Grave is God's Refining-pot where he refineth our vile Bodies it is the mould in which he casteth our glorious Bodies to new mould them it is his Work-house wherein he sheweth his power and wisdom in transforming our Bodies Death causeth the Saints to put off these vile Bodies that they may put on more glorious Finally be exhorted to glorifie God in your Bodies since he will one day make them glorious Bodies 1 Cor. 6.20 CHAP. XVII I Have spoken somewhat largely of the substance of that happiness which Christ hath purchased for the Saints so far as concerneth the Body in the next place I shall speak somewhat of that unconceivable blessedness to which the Soul the principal part of man shall be advanced and here is something peculiar in that glory prepared for the Soul above that of the Body not only that the Soul in its own nature is capable of a greater perfection and excellency then the Body but also in respect of the time for whereas the Body shall remain under the power of Death and corruption until the general Resurrection the Soul in the mean time shall be triumphing in glory so that the Souls of the Saints will come under a double consideration 1. Before the Resurrection 2. After the Resurrection 1. Before the Resurrection when the Soul shall remain seperated from the Body of which I shall speak somewhat briefly because among other wretched Doctrines hatched of old and lately revived this is found to be one viz. that the Soul dieth or sleepeth with the Body and so abideth till the great day of the general Resurrection when it shall be raised again with the Body But two clear Scriptures may be opposed against this Opinion the first is in Heb. 12.23 where the Apostle speaking of the priviledge which the Saints have while they are upon Earth said they were come to the spirits of just men made perfect not the Souls of any of the Saints living on the face of the Earth for they are imperfect for we know in part and prophecy in part but when that which is perfect is come that which is in part shall be done away Hence then it remaineth that the spirits of just men made perfect must be no other then the Souls of the Saints seperated from the Body and translated unto glory Now if the spirits of just men seperated from their Bodies are made perfect they are not dead for death is the destruction of perfection the Body is never so imperfect as when it is dead a diseased Body is much more perfect then a dead Corpse so then if the Souls of the Saints were dead with their Bodies they should be so far from being made perfect that they should utterly lose those beginnings of perfection which they had while they were in the Body their graces would be extinguished and there would be a loss to them of that enjoyment of God and communion with him which they had here upon the Earth The second place of Scripture I shall produce against this Opinion of the Mortalists is in 2 Cor. 5.6 7 8. Therefore we are always confident knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord for we walk by faith not by sight we are confident I say and willing rather to be
absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. Here you may see that while the Souls of the Saints are present in the Body as they are during this life they are absent from the Lord albeit Jesus Christ dwelleth in them by his Spirit and they are spiritually united to him yet in regard of local distance they are absent from Christ in respect of his Humane nature not seeing him face to face they walk by faith not by sight Moreover when their Souls are absent and seperated from the Body by death they shall be present with the Lord not walking by faith at a distance from Christ but resting in his presence immediately beholding him The Souls of the Saints then do not die with the Body but live in the presence of their Saviour at the very same time when they are absent and seperated from the Body by death This must needs be meant of the state of the Soul not after the resurrection but between death and the resurrection for that is the only time when the Soul is absent from the Body and during that time the Apostle saith it shall be present with the Lord. To these may be added that gracious answer of Christ to the penitent Malefactor Verily I say unto thee this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luke 27.43 viz. the very same day wherein he died Now the heavenly Paradise is no burying place for dead Souls but a glorious habitation for the living spirits of just men made perfect Observe likewise that argument of Christ grounded upon the speech of God to Moses at the bush which strongly proveth both the resurrection of the Body and the immortality of the Soul as well before as after the resurrection Matth. 22.31 32. Have you not read what is spoken to you by God saying I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living This was spoken long after the natural death of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and so the Argument standeth thus Those who have God for their God by Covenant are not dead but living but Abraham Isaac and Jacob have God for their God by Covenant Ergo they are not dead but living So then they live in their principal parts their Souls while they are absent from the Body whereunto their Bodies are to be re-united at the great day that their whole persons may fully enjoy their God and perfectly possess the fruit and benefit of God's covenant verse 34. this argument silenced the Sadduces Finally consider what meant Stephen's prayer at his death Lord Jesus receive my Spirit or Soul Acts 7.59 If his Spirit or Soul had died with his Body why should he call upon Christ more for the receiving his Soul but because he knew his Spirit or Soul was immortal and must live and subsist when it was seperated from the Body he prayed Christ to give present entertainment to his Soul that he might rest in the bosome of his love until his Body should be raised and reunited to it Now as this may stop the mouth of this lying Spirit which of late is crept forth into the World again so it may demonstrate according to the point in hand that the Souls of the Faithful after their seperation from the Body are instated into blessedness By which places fore-mentioned and such like is refuted their Heresie who either directly deny the immortality of the Soul or imply it as the Socinians who say that Mori est penitus extingui V.d. Gens in Confes remonstrant p. 254 256. resurgere est ex non ente iterum existere And this Opinion some others have seemed to favour in the Declaration of their Opinions about the Articles of Religion in that they are altogether silent in the point that concerneth the blessed rest of the Saints Souls after this life CHAP. XVIII Of the blessedness of the Soul in general MUch more might have been spoken of the blessedness of the Soul in glory when it is absent from the Body but because these things belong as well to the Soul re-united to the Body when it hath full possession of salvation I chuse to treat of them under that consideration 1. This shall be the wonderful felicity of the Soul in that it shall have a Body every way suitable to it self immortal spiritual incorruptible glorious as its habitation for a pure immortal glorious Spirit to dwell in in this respect the glorified Souls now in Heaven all the time of their seperation do even vehemently desire and wait for the redemption of their Bodies who were their yoke-fellows in the day of their pilgrimage upon Earth Though the Soul of a Believer reign with Angels yet hath she a passion for her Body and all the good she doth possess cannot take her from the desire and memory thereof though she hath made trial of its revolts though this friendly Enemy hath oftentimes persecuted her and that she hath desired death to be freed from the tyranny thereof yet doth she languish as it were and vehemently long after it Though the Body be reduced to dust though it cause pity in its Enemies and though it cause horror in those to whom it was lovely yet she forbears not to desire it and to expect the resurrection with a kind of impatience that her Body may partake of the bliss which she enjoyeth The Souls of the Saints departed this life do not account their glory their blessedness compleat till their Bodies be reunted hence they do naturally desire their re-union and as they cry under the Altar How long Lord how long will it be ere thou avenge our blood so all the Souls of just men made perfect with one voice cry out How long Lord how long will it be ere thou redeem our Bodies that we may be perfectly blessed in the full fruition of thy self Oh then how shall the glorified Soul rejoyce in its glorified Body raised from among worms dust and rottenness rescued from its captivity from under the power of death and corruption and now again made one with the Soul no longer to be a snare or burden to it but a companion meet for it taking in no object by the senses that may in the least degree endanger the polluting of the Soul and having nothing in it that may stupifie the affections or any way discompose the eternal rest disturb the peace eclipse the joy of the Soul interrupt its enjoyment of God or any way diminish its compleat happiness 2. There shall be a perfect harmony between the Body with all its parts and the Soul with all its powers and both Soul and Body shall be fully conformed to Christ and so shall most sweetly comply each with other and I conceive the very remembrance of that dulness sottishness earthiness and drossiness which in the state of mortality is in the Body shall be matter of great joy to the Soul now that it
findeth such a wonderful change in the Body transformed unto such a glorious perfection even as it is a great refreshment to the mind of a man after a perfect cure to find the Body lightsome full of spirits and in perfect health after a lethargy or some other dulling disease that hath debilitated nature exhausted the spirits and indisposed it for action Then shall the happiness of man be perfect when a glorified Soul shall be united to an immortal Body and mutually communicating all their advantages the Soul shall be happy in the felicity of the Body and the Body happy in that of the Soul all their differences shall then be composed in this general peace the Soul shall then forget all the revolts of the Body nor shall the Body any more complain of the severities of the Soul but both of them remembring only the good they have done each other they shall reign in Heaven in a community of glory CHAP. XIX Of the more distinct blessedness of the Soul SECT I. Of the perfection of the apprehensions of the Saints in glory LEt us now more distinctly consider of the blessedness of the Soul first laying this general rule that it shall be perfect for the Apostle plainly sheweth that the Spirits of just men are made perfect Heb. 12. Now the perfection of the Soul principally consisteth in the knowledg of God Now there is Scientia directa intuitiva a direct knowledg of God upon view and sight Now this is either perfect or imperfect A full and perfect knowledg of God himself none hath but God himself no creatures no man no Angel is capable of it God himself fully and perfectly seeth himself which no other can do for a full and perfect knowledg of an infinite Beeing is infinite as that Beeing is He that hath a full and perfect knowledg of any thing whatsoever it be hath the full measure of that thing in his understanding which he fully and perfectly knoweth Now what is the shallow and narrow capacity of any created understanding of Man or Angel that it should measure the infinite essence and excellency of the God-head it is not so much as a spoon to the Ocean and there is less disproportion between the water of the Sea and the capacity of a spoon then the understanding of Man or Angels and the infinite majesty and excellency of God Now God knoweth himself fully and perfectly in himself If the Sun-beams were animated and living creatures endued with reason how clearly and perfectly would they know and see through themselves every way being altogether light and transparent God is the light of lights a most pure bright and glorious Beeing and he is of infinite wisdom and so fully and perfectly knoweth himself On the other side there is a knowledg of God direct and intuitive or upon view which is not perfect and this is of those blessed Creatures already possessed of glory such knowledg have the Angels who see God face to face as our Saviour saith Matth. 18.10 The Angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in Heaven They do not only see his back-parts as Moses did but his face by an immediate view beholding the beauty and glory of the Lord. Whether the Saints departed before the resurrection of the Body do thus see the face of God I determine not doubtless they do already enjoy a great degree of blessedness the fruition whereof is more sweet for one day then the enjoying of all the World for a mans life howsoever after the resurrection when they shall be fully possessed of glory they shall see the face of God as the Angels do Job 19.25 26 27. I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh I shall see God whom I shall see for my self and not another c. So David compareth the temporal prosperity of Worldlings which they enjoy in this life with the blessed estate which he expected after the resurrection of the Body he calleth them Psal 17.14 15. Men of the World which have their portion in this life and whose belly the Lord filleth with his hid treasures which are full of Children and leave the rest of their substance to their Babes This was their seeming happiness all worldly and temporary Now on the other side he speaketh of his own condition As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness He cared not for those hidden treasures locked up in the mines and bowels of the earth nor for a portion in this life nor for large portions for his Posterity c. but to behold the face of God in righteousness to see him face to face which he was assured of by faith and so to be satisfied with his Image Object But why is this knowledg said to be imperfect sith the Apostle speaking of this glorious condition of the Saints saith That then that which is perfect shall come and that which is imperfect shall be done away Sol. I answer this knowledg of God which the Angels have and the Saints shall have in God himself is Perfect in regard of the Subject in which it is Imperfect in regard of the Object of whom it is Perfect in regard of the Subject and that in two respects 1. Because it filleth the understanding and satisfieth the spirit with a fulness of light resulting from so glorious an object so that the Soul hath a beatifical vision of God so far as it is capable And as the eye is refreshed by an object fitly proportioned and hurt or dimmed by a disproportionable eminency or excellency in the object surpassing its strength and ability so the Soul perfected and glorified and the Angelical Spirits have such a knowledg of God in himself as filleth them not such as confoundeth them and this is perfect in regard of them because it is such a perfection as they are capable of and can contain 2. It is perfect in respect of the subject in which it is in that it is as much as is due and requisite to make their happiness compleat and perfect without any defect it is so perfect that they need no more knowledg of God then that which they have and who can deny but that this is a perfection of knowledg in respect of the subjects they are as blessed every way and so especially in regard of the knowledg of God as such creatures can be and that is a perfection though relative and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they say in relation to the subjects in whom it is Secondly on the other side this knowledg which these glorified spirits have and shall have of God in himself is imperfect in respect of the Object of whom it is viz. God whom they know in himself that is it is not a knowledg matchable to the infinite essence and
cleerly discerned But God is a good of infinite excellency containing all things which the Saints can desire and is cleerly discerned by them therefore he most strongly draws their affections to himself They shall in Heaven see so much excellency in God and be so fill'd with his love that their hearts shall be full of holy flames of love toward him there shall be nothing either within them or without them to draw away their love from God or lessen or cool their affections toward him all things that they shall see or hear or understand shall serve to fill them with his love and keep up and confirm their love in the height of it for ever they shall be so fully like to God that it shall be impossible for them not to love him perfectly God shall dwell in them and they shall wholly possess him and they shall dwell in God and he shall wholly possess them they shall be knit to each other in mutual love to all eternity The principal employment of the Saints in Heaven is to love God and all the vertues in Heaven are useless except charity and enjoyment which is the rest of love and is also its recompence saith S. Augustine for as desires do disquiet lovers when they possess not what they long for so being now in the possession of him whom they love they are satisfied The love of the Saints in Heaven is much perfecter than ours upon the earth whatever pains we take to love God on earth our love is never without some notable defect to enfeeble it iâ— is blind because faith that enlightens it is as one saith a candle whose lamp is alwayes surrounded with a cloud or smoak it is faint and drooping because we possess not the supream good we passionately affect and being separated from him we are as well his Martyrs as his Lovers Here our love is also divided because self-love is not yet extinguished and the greatest Saints if they mannage not their intentions well do rob God of all the love wherewith they indulge themselves In brief it is almost ever interested we love not God so purely as not to seek our own pleasure with it when we seek his glory and we are more earnest with God for riches and honours than for heavenly graces but the Saints in glory have not one of these imperfections in their love their love is not blind because they love him whom they see and the brightness of glory that illuminates them is a ray dispelling all the darkness of their understandings it languisheth not as ours doth nor spends it self in its longings because they possess what they love and being intimately united to God are eternally inseparable from him their love is not divided because self-love enters not into the celestial Jerusalem but is quenched by the flames of true charity finally it is not interested because God's glory is the end of their desires yea in Heaven it self they seek not so much their own happiness as his glory SECT II. 11. AS the Saints shall love God entirely so they shall love each other in the Lord they shall see the Image of God shining cleerly and gloriously in each other and so shall love God in each other and each other in God Peter shall admire Christ in the glory conferred on Paul and Paul shall admire Christ in the glory conferred on Peter The Saints shall find themselves all agreeing in God and so among themselves they shall see nothing in any of their brethren but what shall be most lovely nothing to estrange their hearts or damp their affections they shall not be capable of any touch of envy for every one of them shall be full of glory and blessedness And albeit some have higher degrees of glory than others yet this causeth no emulation or jealousie among them The variety of the world as one observeth is one of its rarest ornaments the flowers which checker a walk do embellish it the Stars which make an hundred several figures in the firmament do set a lustre upon its beauty neither doth any thing make a Countrey more pleasant than the diversity of the parts that compose it the riches and glory of a state dependeth upon its diversity if all subjects were of the same condition there would neither be diversion for strangers nor accommodation for the naturals The ornament and profit of the body politique appeareth in this agreeable mixture of rich and poor Artists and Husbandmen Souldiers and Merchants Magistrates and Ministers but here is the mischief that attends it that this variety of conditions which begets its beauty breeds envy and jealousie among the subjects for as their goods are not common because their conditions are different one is jealous of what another possesseth Great men are apt to be proud and to despise their inferiours Men of low degree are envious and murmure at those that are above them But in Heaven the difference of degrees produceth their beauty and giveth no occasion of envy or jealousie the Crowns of glorified Saints are proportionable to their labours and sufferings for Christ They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the Sun Dan. 12. Peace bears rule among all the Inhabitants of Heaven love which uniteth them renders their contentment common though the justice that rewardeth them maketh their condition gradually different Every one is glad of anothers happiness and without interesting in any one they find that the felicity of particulars contributeth to that of the publique In Heaven love is in its full perfection Ludovic granat Meditat. the property whereof is to cause all things to be common there all the elect shall be more straitly united to one another than the Members of one and the same Body because all shall participate of the same spirit which gives unto all one and the same being one and the same blessed life What is the cause why the members of one and the same body have so great an unity and love one to another is it not because they are all partakers of one and the same form one and the same Soul giveth the same being and life to them all Now if the spirit of a man hath power to cause so great an unity between the members that are so different in Offices and Natures is it any wonder if the Spirit of God Almighty by whom all the Elect do live which Spirit is as it were the common soul to them all should cause a greater and more perfect unity among them especially considering that the Spirit of God is a more noble cause and of a more excellent vertue and power and gives also a more noble being now if this manner of unity and love do cause all things to be common as we see in the members of one body who rejoyce every one at each others felicity as its own what delight then shall each one of the Elect take in the glory of all the rest considering that he shall entirely
the Children of God and these are imperfect in this world and fully perfected and consummated in the world to come Glory to speak properly of that which is to come I rather conceive to be the general comprehending holiness it self and all other excellencies of this glorious estate and condition then a part or member distinguished from it for that perfection of holiness which the Saints shall then enjoy shall be exceeding glorious but thus I speak according to our usual manner of expressing these things The glory of the Saints in Heaven is that which accomplisheth that which grace hath begun and setteth a Seale upon the fullness of all our felicities Glory as one well observeth implieth some great eminency and excellency Dr. Sibs as the foundation of it and then a manifestation of that excellency Though there be excellency yet if there be not a manifestation thereof it is not Glory Christ was inwardly glorious while he was upon earth in the state of abasement he had true glory as he was God and man but there was not a manifestation of it till he was received up into glory therefore the glory of the Saints is called the manifestation of the Sons of God Rom. 8.19 Glory also implyeth victory over all opposition here God's children are subject to abasement to shame to sufferings in divers kinds but glory will exempt them from all baseness and all that may diminish esteem and excellency and in the day of their glorification their excellency shall shine and break forth and all things shall be removed that might hinder their glory so that glorified souls shall be like that Egyptian Pyramid which perpendicularly reflected on by the Sun did cast no shadow When the Saints shall appear with Christ in glory they shall appear as so many glorious Conquerours over their enemies they shall see Sin and Satan their Spiritual enemies subdued and they shall appear Conquerours over wicked men who did in this life trample upon them and they shall see them damned before their faces SECT II. ADam in Paradise was but a little inferiour to the Angels and crowned with glory and honour Psal 8. He discoursed familiarly with the Angels and he knew that his Soul though included in a body was little inferiour to those blessed Spirits but hereafter the Saints shall be made like or equal to the Angels The Lord will raise his Saints to a higher pitch of glory then Adam was in Paradise which may thus be illustrated 1. Adam was made Lord of the inferiour Creatures in that happy State all was submitted to his will he was equally absolute in his Person and Dominion he was Lord of the Universe but the Saints at the last day shall be raised to such a degree of glory that they shall have no need nor use of these inferiour Creatures the Fowls of the Air the Fishes of the Sea the Beasts of the Earth were put under the feet of Adam before his fall but then they shall be below all the necessities of the Saints who shall be raised far above these things enjoying all in and from the fountain of life God himself living and reigning with his children will be their everlasting inheritance he will fill all their desires perfect all the powers of their Souls and communicate himself so surely and so abundantly to them that as there is nothing they have cause to fear so there is nothing they need or can wish for 2. Adam indeed was crowned with Glory but yet left in a possibility to stain his Glory Man in Paradise could not raise himself up to God nor defend himself against the Devil without the assistance of grace saith St. August August Epist 109. ad Bonif. he was therefore soon exiled from Paradise and constrained to endure a banishment as long as life and here he undergoes all the miseries of an exterminated person he is deprived of his goods and being driven out of Paradise is fallen from all those honours that equalled his condition to that of Angels and reduced to a deplorable estate rendring his condition little different from that of the beasts that perish Job was more happy in his misery saith the same Father then Adam in his Innocence August in Psal 29. he was victorious on the dunghil this other was defeated on his Throne He gave no ear to the evil counsel of his wife this other was cajol'd bâ— His He despised all the assaults of Satan this other suffered himself to be worsted at the first temptation He preserved his righteousness in the midst of his soâ—rows this other lost his innocence in the midst of his pleasures The first man saith he in another place received in Paradise a liberty void of all servitude God presented him with fire and water and gave him leave to chuse man took fire and rejected the water God who is just let him grasp what he had chosen so that he was therefore unhappy because he would be so Man was left in a possibility to stain his honour and lose his glory he did not long abide in that honour Adam fell as is probable the same day he was created 1. Because Christ saith of the Devil he was a murtherer from the beginning John 8.44 His malicious mind being such toward them that stood himself being fallen that he could not endure to see them in that estate no not for an hour 2. If he had continued one day or one night in his integrity the blessing of God upon his Marriage would have taken place and so he would have begotten children without sin which sith he did not but begat Children in his own Image Gen. 5.3 It 's likely he fell the same day wherein he was Created 3. See the Answer that Eve makes to the Devil Gen. 3.2 We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the Garden i. e. Have free liberty to eat signifying that as yet they had not eaten and therefore it could be no long time But the Saints at the last day shall be raised to such a state of glory and honour as shall never fade their Crown and Garland shall never wither fading glory is very imperfect it is like a flash of lightning Adam was tempted and lost his present Glory his dignity was soon gone but the Glory that God will put upon his Saints shall be like the fixed Stars shining in the Kingdom of the Father they shall be like unto Christ whose Glory is Eternal this is the greatest and last benefit they shall receive by Christ far greater then Adam's in his state of innocence St. John saith that when he shall appear we shall be like him 1 John 3.2 that is like him in glory Now when I say the Saints shall be like unto Christ you must consider that there is a great difference between likeness and equality Things may be like each other which may be very unequal Water in a Dish is like the Water in the River but very unequal
the manner But now see the curious zeal of the Soul it will not only have a Body again but in a precise society it will have only its own again not any other new created Bodies but the same numerical and substantial Bodies shall rise again and be re-united to their proper Souls 1 Cor. 15.53 54. Phil. 3.21 Job 19.26 27. St. Paul saith This corruptible shall put on incorruption and Christ shall change our vile Bodies And Job saith in his flesh he should see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me There may be some general alteration in respect of their stature deformities superfluities c. to a glorified perfection but still it shall remain the same essential Body and good reason there is for it 1. The justice of God requireth that the same Body which hath been instrumental in the actions of righteousness or unrighteousness should be rewarded or punished The Godly must receive their rewards according to what good they have done in these Bodies 2 Cor. 5.10 It were injustice that this flesh should be killed and that should be crowned that the same Body in which we served God wherein God was glorified Absurdum Deo indignum ut haec caro lanietur illa vero coronetur ut corpora quae in via sacta fuerint membra Christi in patria aliis suffectis in eorum locum arcerentur Tertul. de Resurrect cap. 56. which suffered for God and was for Christ exposed to all the injuries indignities and torments of wicked Persecutors should be eternally laid up in the dust and another Body should be created to receive the reward due to the Body in the grave 2. Because if God should not raise the very same Bodies of his People in which they lived and served God in their generation then God shall not deal so honourably with the dead Saints as with those that shall be found alive at Christ's coming for their very same Bodies shall be delivered from the bondage of mortality and corruption into incorruption and immortality 3. Because Christ who is the pattern of the resurrection did not rise in another Body but in that in which he was fastened to the Cross in which also after his death appeared the prints of the nails in his hands and the holes in his side John 20.27 Therefore Christ after his resurrection for the cure of Thomas his unbelief whose faith lay in his fingers bids him put his finger into his hands and side and not be faithless but believing It seems those scars remained in Christ's Body after his resurrection Vulnerum signa virtutum insignia Aquinas else how could Thomas see and feel them as he is willed to do But these scars were no blemishes in his Body then they were no signs of defect but ensigns of Victory For as that worthy and renowned Captain Caius Marius being on a time accused of Treason in the Senate tore his clothes and shewed his wounds and scars and slashes he had received in the Wars in the service and for the safety of his Country saying Quid opus est Verbis Vulnera clamant What need is there of my Words my Wounds cry loud enough So Christ might shew his pierced Side goared Hands and Feet not only to shew that it was the very same organical Body of his that was crucified on the Cross but also to shew his love to his People and what he did and suffered for them And when the eleven Disciples were gathered together at Jerusalem Jesus appeared to them and they being affrighted supposing they had seen a Spirit he said unto them Why are ye troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts Behold my hands and my feet it is I my self a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me to have Luke 24.39 40. A Spirit hath not parts members and dimensions as I have therefore you may be sure being infallibly taught by your sense that it is my very Body which you see in which I long conversed with you suffered and was buried which is now truly risen again Whence as Theodoret saith he proveth it was his true Body that was crucified on the Cross that was now raised from the dead 4. Should not the Saints rise with the same Bodies it were no resurrection but a new creation Moreover the same Souls do rise unto Grace from the death of Sin to the life of Righteousness which is called in Scripture the first Resurrection Rev. 20.6 therefore the same Body shall rise unto Glory in the second Resurrection 5 Consider that Death in Scripture is called a Sleep a Dream and the Resurrection an awaking from Sleep Psalm 17. ult therefore as the same Body that lies down to sleep at night awaketh in the morning so the same Body that lies down to sleep in the dust shall awake and rise again in the morning of the Resurrection Hence we see that the Soul will have its own numerical Body again for the preserving of such numerical identity there shall be wonderfully restored the substantial union which is but formally distinguished from the parts united there shall be restored a personality and lastly the native temperament which doth contain the individuating dispositions whereby such a matter hath a peculiar appetite to such a form which matter by vertue of such inclination remains as formerly the same though it may be varied by extension as when the Infant shall be raised into a Man the person shall be enlarged but not multiplied Object But that of the Apostle may be objected who saith That flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 15.50 Resp St. Paul speaks of corruptible qualities of flesh and blood not of the substance of it Identitas formae in quacunque materia consistit q. ex identitate formae consequitur identitas materiae cum materia nullam per se habeat actualitatem sed esse suum accipit à forma Numerica identitas non continetur in sola identitate primae materiae nudae sed etiam identitate corporis humani Durand sent 4. distinct 44. plura de resurrectione Vide Synops purior theol disput de resurrect as is manifest in the last clause of the verse neither doth corruption inherit incorruption But flesh and blood by the Almighty power of God may be without corruption as the Body of Christ was after his Resurrection incorruptible immortal and spiritual not converted into a spirit but to the distinction of a living body that must be maintained by food Luke 24.39 This then may confute those that deny the identical resurrection of the Body and affirm that our Bodies at the resurrection must be aerial of a more subtil nature not consisting of flesh and members such were divers of the Anabaptists of Germany and Socinus with his Followers who call into question this Article of our Creed Credo resurrectionem carnis I
to them But as for subtilty which properly signifies a property whereby such things as are spiritual have a penetrative vertue to pass through the corpulent parts of any thing that hath a Body having parts and dimensions I cannot see how it can be attributed to glorified Bodies which after the resurrection shall have the same extensive and bodily parts for quantity and material substance as they had before and can no more pierce thorow any true bodily substance which hath the dimensions of quantity as length breadth thickness then they could before their resurrection during the time of their mortality and corruption Although divers of the Antients affirm that Christ after his resurrection entered into the room where his Disciples were the doors being shut John 20.26 by passing thorow the door yet if it were so we may not attribute the same as a thing natural to his glorified Body it having the same dimensions of quantity for fulness of matter it had before but must rather be attributed to the power of his God-head to whom nothing is impossible but I suppose though the doors were shut presently before and after his passage yet they opened of their own accord or by his Divine power at the instant of his passage as Acts 12.10 the Creature giving place to the Creator otherwise we must hold the Body of Christ made a penetration thorow the doors and then there must be two solid Bodies in one place at the same time which were impossible And St. Augustine saith even of glorified Bodies Tolle spatia corporibus corpora non erunt take away spaces from the Bodies and they will cease to be bodies SECT IV. Of the impassibility of glorified Bodies MOreover the Bodies of the Saints in glory shall be made impassible in this life we are subject to many infirmities to thousands of miseries our Bodies are Butts against which miseries and afflictions which are the Arrows of the Almighty are shot but glorified Bodies are subject to none of these they suffer no pain Christ will wipe away all tears from their eyes sorrow and mourning shall flee away and be sent packing to Hell among the Devils and damned Wretches their afflictions are their portion Heaven and the blessed state of the Saints in Heaven is as free from misery as from sin this World to the godly is as the Prison to Joseph as Nebuchadnezzar's Furnace to the three Children as the Lions Den to Daniel this World to the godly is like an House of Correction wherein is much toyl and labour and very much scourging besides We are born to be miserable we shall do nothing else but suffer but we shall be taken out of Prison our Bodies shall be drawn out of the Furnace freed from the House of Correction and no grief nor misery shall evermore touch our glorified Bodies Their impassibility will then free them from all the injuries of the Elements the natural heat which now wasteth them shall no more consume the natural moysture the contraries that compose man will then agree and the Body being no longer tormented with hunger and thirst will stand in need neither of meat nor drink he will be in a state of consistency wherein he will have his just proportion The Apostle tells us that what is sown in weakness shall be raised in power and vertue so that the Body shall not need that propping up as the weak pillars thereof do now need support in this state of mortality But this power is no supernatural vertue making the elementary parts and qualities to be of another nature then now they are for there must be no change nor destruction but only a perfection of Nature neither shall these elementary qualities by the power of God be limited or obstructed in their operations that they shall not fight against each other to their mutual destruction for then the impassibility of glorified Bodies should not be an internal vertue as abiding in the Body which is against the Apostle's intent but only an external assistance of God Aquinas saith Aquin. supplem qu. 82. art 1. that this vertue and power of impassibility floweth immediately from the Soul her self which informing the Body doth so fully and perfectly subdue all the powers and qualities of the same unto her self that no contrary Agent can be able to make any violent impression upon or act violently against the Body either to corrupt or destroy it or in the least to be able to draw it from that quiet and peaceable state wherein it resteth SECT V. Of the incorruptibility and immortality of glorified Bodies FInally the glory of the Body shall be so firm and stable that it can never wither or decay it shall be incorruptible The Body is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption 1 Cor. 15.42 This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality verse 53. The Bodies of the beatified shall then be embalmed with the Spirit that shall cause them for ever to be incorruptible their Bodies shall be made incorruptible and immortal like the glorious Body of Christ these earthly Tabernacles or demicilia Animae must be taken down and then these Bodies of dust must return to dust we must say to Corruption thou art our Mother and to the Worm thou art our Sister and the Soul must suffer a divorce from the Body But when Christ shall appear our mortality shall be swallowed up of life then our corruption shall put on incorruption these vile dusty Bodies of ours shall be made glorious Mansions for our Souls and our Souls shall be for ever united to our Bodies again so that they shall never suffer a divorce from the Body and the Body shall never see corruption any more We shall then enjoy an eternal spring of years which shall never wither our days will pass on yet shall we never feel any decay or declension in our selves our budding verdure will fear no Winter the Lillies and Roses of our Countenances will keep their freshness and as original Righteousness served to Man as a Garment in the state of Innocence so Glory will be instead of a Robe to the Blessed God hath made the Soul of so powerful a nature August Epist 66. ad Dioscor saith one of the Antients that from her glorious happiness there redounds to the Body the vigour of incorruption and so long as the glorified Soul shall be subject to God and the glorified Body be subject to the Soul so long it shall be impossible for any bodily agent whatsoever to have any transient action or impression which may any way change or hurt the same But as St. Paul saith Rom. 6.10 In that Christ died he died unto sin once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God so we shall then live with God and unto God as Christ for ever SECT VI. ALbeit glorified Bodies shall be impassible and incorruptible so that they shall not be subject to any contrary or
the Gentiles and the rest What a ravishing sight will it be to see the glorious company of the Apostles to behold the goodly fellowship of the Prophets to set your eyes on that noble Army of Martyrs and Confessors that have shed their blood for the cause of Christ What a joyful sight will it be to see those holy Prophets Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel and the rest above the reach of their cruel Persecutors cloathed with long white garments with Palms in their hands and with the glorious ensigns of their victorious triumphs Will it not be a goodly sight to behold that glorious fore-runner of Christ who chose rather to lose his head then to dissemble the filthiness of an incestuous King and no less delightful will it be to see St. Stephen who was stoned to death for Christ and that holy Apostle St. James who was slain with the sword of Herod that cruel Tyrant now reigning with Christ in glory What an excellent sight shall it be to see those famous Lights of the Church of Christ Peter and Paul shining there very gloriously with the Trophies of their Martyrdom wherewith they were Crowned and this shall add to the perfection of this sight that the Saints shall all enjoy the glories of each other as if they were properly their own If the sight of the Saints in communion here be so sweet even an Heaven upon Earth what will it be when all the blessed Souls that have been from the beginning of the World and shall be to the end shall meet all together and they wholly freed from all corruptions and imperfections what a blessed sight will that be If there be such great pleasure in the sight of Flowers and Jewels what great delight will there be in the sight of the innumerable company of the Blessed who shall all shine as the Sun especially when all shall be dearer to their Parents Children Relations then now they are to behold multitude the beauty and excellency of the inhabitants of Heaven and their sweet familiarity with one another will be a most pleasant spectacle Their multitude will be innumerable God hath many Sons and Daughters that must be brought to glory Heb. 2.10 there are a numberless number that are to follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes Rev. 14.1 there shall be no empty places in Heaven nor any void of inhabitants Likewise the beauty of all shall be admirable they shall be like unto the Angels of God and be the most excellent images of their heavenly Father and how pleasant a thing will this be to behold In dignity all shall be the Citizens of Heaven and the Children of God all shall be triumphant Kings having had the victory over the World the Flesh and the Devil We count it an admirable sight if we could see one King among an hundred thousand persons in his glory Oh then what a sight shall this be when we shall see millions of glorious Kings and Christ the King of infinite glory in the midst of them All shall be Priests unto God offering the sacrifice of praise perpetually to him In brief the least Saint in Heaven shall be greater in dignity and glory then all the Kings of this World Moreover they shall be most delighted to behold that sweet converse they shall have together If it be a delightful thing in the Court of some great Prince to obtain the favour and good will of all what pleasure will it be to enjoy the friendship and familiarity of such an innumerable company of noble Persons Oh what a royal Feast and most magnificent Banquet will the Lord make for his Children when they shall all meet together in his holy Mountain let Worldlings get them to their gluttonous and carnal feasts let them even burst themselves with their superfluous excesses such a Feast as this where the choicest dainties are served in by the holy Angels where even Christ himself the Master and maker of the Feast will as it were gâ—rd himself and serve is convenient only for God and his chosen People SECT IX ANd as the eyes shall be freed from all dimness so the ears shall be freed from all defects of deafness the ears shall always hear that ravishing Musick sounding forth from the heavenly Quire where a consort of innumerable Angels and glorified Saints are singing Hallelujahs to their God and magnifying their glorious Redeemer for ever for the high praises of God shall be in the mouthes of all his Saints Psal 149.6 by reason of their ardent love to God who hath heaped so many good things upon them they shall break forth into praises and thanksgivings They shall praise him out of all his works and benefits from his works of Creation and Providence from his works of Redemption and Justification Adoption and Sanctification from his works of Mercy and Justice from the Rewards he bestoweth on the Righteous and the Punishments he inflicteth on the Wicked and from all his secret and revealed Judgements They shall have all these things before the eyes of their minds and shall clearly understand the counsel of God in them all and shall be filled with incredible consolation and by reason of the greatness of their joy shall praise him for all peculiarly blessing him and giving him immortal thanks they shall not want matter for everlasting praise and they shall not only praise him with their heart but also in their body with their tongues there shall be a most excellent harmony of voices incomparably surpassing the musick in the World this will be exceeding sweet and pleasant that one only sound of it were able to bring the whole World asleep Now as the Saints shall incessantly with vocal praises magnifie the Lord so without doubt their vocal Hallelujahs shall be heard and understood of one another what ravishing expressions of love shall they then hear from Christ and from each other what Songs of joy and triumph Upon the consideration whereof devout St. Augustine breaks forth into this meditation Omne opus sanctâ—rum leus Dei sine fiâ—e sine defectione sine labore faelix ergo vero in perpe tuum faelix si post resolutionem hujus corpusculi audivero iila cantica caelestis enelodiae quae cantantur ad laudem Regis aeterni ab illis superâ—ae petriae civibus beatorumque spirituum agminibus c. August medâ—t cap. 25. The whole work of the Saints in Heaven shall be to praise God without end without failing without labour happy therefore and truly happy am I for ever if after the resolution of my body I shall be counted worthy to hear those Songs of heavenly melody which are sung in praising the everlasting King by those Citizens of the Country that is above and by the Troops of those blessed Spirits which are there Oh how happy shall I account my self to be if I may be admitted to sing those songs and stand by my King my God the Captain of my salvation and behold
him in his glory Now as it was said of the eye in respect of things seen so it is said of the ear in respect of things heard Neither is the ear silled with hearing Eccles 1.8 it is spoken in respect of things heard here below all the things in the World which are most delightful to it cannot fill it they may tire the ear but cannot satisfie it but in Heaven the ear shall be filled but never cloyed with hearing it shall hear whatsoever is pleasing to it and nothing that is distasteful How should this consideration make us to think the time long till we be out of Egypt and freed from those chains which link us to such shameful services and so unworthy of a Soul ransomed with the blood of the Son of God Alas when will the time come that we shall hear the Canticles of glory when shall we go to the Daughters of Zion to our Country crying out with a loud voice that the spiritual Pharaoh is swallowed up under the Abysses and that all those Troops of Enemies which now pursue us have suffered a dismal shipwrack not under the Waves of the red Sea but under the Lake of Fire and Brimstone and everlasting malediction Oh then let us not suffer the noise and tumult of this World to strike our ears with so many unprofitable extravagant and dangerous discourses but rather let us seal up our ears against wicked words filthy speeches profane and rotten communications idle and foolish jestings and inure them to such as are suitable to those they shall hear in Heaven SECT X. AS for the sense of feeling we may not deny it to be in Heaven for that includes not any corruption and if congruous to sense it is a perfection not a defect of nature and that glorified Bodies be palpable and may be felt that speech of our Saviour after his resurrection makes it clear Handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me to have Luke 24.39 The sense of touching will receive its delights both from the heavenly Air and the soft touch of heavenly Bodies as also from the most inward sense of the best temperament for man being perfectly sound hath a pleasant sense and feeling of the good constitution of the Body As for the smell and taste some think as they are inferiour senses so they are subservient to this mortal state and that there shall be no use of them in a state of glory the taste is for the trying of meats and drinks and it shall be one great part of the Saints happiness not to hunger and thirst any more but to be far above these things being like to the Angels of God to be so replenished with the love and influences of the presence of God as to live immediately upon him in him and by him and not to lead such a weak and frail life as now they do that lean upon the staff of bread and must be underpropped by the creatures But if there be any use of these senses in Heaven it shall be after another manner then now it is the sense of smelling shall then be refreshed with most sweet and pleasant savours not of such vaporous things as we have here but of such as be proportionable to the glory of Heaven In like manner the taste shall be satisfied with incredible sweetness and delights Ludovic Granat Medit. not for the sustentation of life but for the accomplishment of all glory as one noteth And albeit touching the sense of taste some difficulty may arise yet though there be no delicious taste by eating or drinking delicious dainties such as the sensual Epicures of these times make their God notwithstanding it is not absurd to think â—r Rich Sheldon of Man's last end that glorified Bodies by God's appointment shall have some delicious and pleasant moisture resting upon the palate or place of taste that so by such a means that sensible part may have her full content And Lessius saith Lessius de summo bono if the Damned in Hell are most sharply punished in these senses as the rich Glutton that in Hell torments was tormented in his tongue why should not the Saints who have suffered so many things so grievous to the senses in this life receive delight and refreshing in them Concerning all which Laurence Justinian writes thus The flesh of man made spiritual Laurent Justinian lib. de Dicipl Monach cap. â—3 shall abound with delights of divers sorts in all the senses the eye shall be delighted in the lovely sight of the Redeemer when it shall see the King of glory decked with his own comeliness the melodious songs of the Citizens that are above shall not a little delight their ears likewise the fragrant pleasantness of the Celestial odours shall embrew the smelling with a wonderful liquefaction and an unspeakable sweetness of all delectable things shall as it were cram the palate of the mouth and the touch shall abound with delights suitable to it it is requisite that all the members of the Body should extol their Creator in their own way that as they took their beginning from him so also they may bring down the end of their blessedness toward him that God may be all in all And Anselm when he had said that the Damned shall have the greatest pains in all their senses and members addeth in like manner but in a contrary consideration in that life that is to come a certain unspeakable delight shall inebriate good men and abundantly satisfie them with its invaluable sweetness The eyes the ears the nostrils the mouth the throat the hands the liver the lungs the bones the marrow the bowels and every particular member of the Body shall be replenished with such a wonderful sense of delight and sweetness that truly we shall drink large draughts of it in the torrents of delight and instead of the dew of Manna wherewith the Israelites were refreshed we shall be satiated in an Ocean of Nectar and Ambrosia that is without bounds limits measure or bottom O happiness not so much to be spoken of as to be wished and desired and to be purchased if it were possible with a thousand lives had we so many to give for the same SECT XI Vse 1. THe first Use that I shall make of this is to commend unto you that of the Apostle 1 Thes 4.3 4 5. That ye should abstain from fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and in honour as men that seek for glory honour and immortality not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God as those who have hope only in this life who have no entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Flee fornication every sin that a man doth is without the body but he that commiteth fornication sinneth against his own body 1 Cor. 6.18 Other sins are
this life and they shall also have an everlasting enjoyment thereof 2. They shall likewise rejoyce in the good things of the mind and chiefly in the perfection of all their graces and that cleer knowledg they shall have of all things which shall wonderfully delight them They shall also be much affected with joy from the consideration of the evils and dangers as well temporal as eternal which they shall then perceive themselves to have escaped from the danger whereof they shall see themselves to be secure for ever and beholding the horrible fire of Hell and the numberless multitudes of those that are cast into everlasting burnings and the danger to which themselves were exposed how shall their hearts be fill'd with joy upon the meditation of God's infinite mercy by which they were saved from everlasting destruction and carried in safety into the Port of eternal blessedness 3. They shall likewise rejoyce in the glory of their bodies when they shall perceive their bodies to shine as the Sun to be swift as it were like lightening to be like a Spirit immortal incorruptible impassible 4. They shall rejoyce in the amiableness of their habitation seeing themselves now translated from Earth to Heaven into the glorious Kingdom of Heaven into the Paradise of all delights into the Region of light into the Vision of peace into the Land of the living into the celestial Jerusalem into the place of the Blessed a place abounding with all delights and with all good things and void of all discommodity grief and sorrow out of every one of these good things of their own ariseth to them unspeakable joy SECT III. FUrthermore they shall rejoyce every one in the good things of each other and in the felicity of all their companions for they shall most ardently love all as the Sons of God and their own Brethren and Sisters and fellow Heirs and withall they shall rejoyce in their splendour glory excellency wisdom vertues blessedness as in their own and that much more than any Parent in this life can rejoyce in the felicity of his Children or one Friend in the prosperity of another Quest But with what affection shall the Parent and the Child the Husband and Wife and one Friend greet another in Heaven Sol. We must not surely imagine that any of these conjugal or paternal affections which had their consummation on Earth can be of any use in Heaven nor that there shall be any return of by-past and mortal affections towards Friends Kindred and Children but as the body must put on incorruption and immortality e're it can be a fit companion for the Soul so must the soul likewise be devested of all such desires as are apt again to wed it to earthly and transitory delights before it can be received into the blessed communion of the Saints and as the Soul shall assume the hand the eye and every member of the body unto a participation of glory without soliciting them again to undergo the fore-past drudgeries in the flesh so the Father and the Child and one Friend may behold another without the intimation of such duties or any resultance of such mortal desires as are implied in those relations But as the Soul is permitted to resume its own body rather than another and reason exacts it should gratifie that flesh whose inmate it had been rather than another so likewise those persons whom some nearer relations had formerly united may be conceived to retain so much partiality in the dispensation of their joy as in the first place to rejoyce that they are again united in the participation of glory excluding none from being an argument of their joy but preferring some in the order of their rejoycing but it may be that this affection must comply with the justice of the divine bounty and that we shall there bestow a greater measure of our joy where he hath been pleased to confer a greater portion of his glory It would seem unreasonable that the Soul alone should inherit that glory which was procured perhaps by the torments and sufferings of the body as in holy Confessors and Martyrs and the same reason which makes the Soul and Body sharers of the same happiness begets a mutual claim among the Saints to each others joy for one man may be a powerful Instrument of another's blessedness the Father's care may preserve the Child and the piety of the Son may enflame the Father the Mothers tears may reduce the perverted Son the believing Husband may save the unbelieving Wife and one Friend may with happy success instruct admonish rebuke and pray for another Now is it more reasonable to think that these immortal benefits and obligations shall be promiscuously and undiscernably swallowed up in the Sea of glory or to say that these parties whom it may concern shall see each other face to face some gratefully rejoycing that the Instruments of their Salvation like Stars of a greater magnitude are more eminently glorious others alwayes rejoycing in beholding their labours so highly bless'd as to have procured the endless bliss of their fellow-creatures Our Saviour tells us what joy there shall be for the conversion of a Sinner in the presence of the Angels who by reason of their nature are strangers to us if Angels who are in the presence of God and but of a remote alliance to us be as it were turned aside from the contemplation of the chiefest good to behold with joy a repenting Sinner shall not men who are of the same stock and lineage be much more allowed some expressions of joy suitable to the greatness of the wonder when they behold one another no longer repenting Sinners but glorious Saints In those parts of the world near the Line where the Sun is near them all the year they are said to have no Winter the Earth and Trees being alwayes green as in a perpetual Spring so the Saints in glory upon whom the face of God and Christ shall shine for ever shall never see one cloudy day one winters night nor feel any sorrow or discomfort but shall enjoy a constant plenitude or fulness of joy as a perpetual Spring for ever To conclude the frame of their bodies and spirits the place of their abode their company the objects which they shall see and hear all things within them and without them shall concur to make their joy compleat and to cause their hearts to rest in everlasting peace CHAP. XXVI SECT I. AS for the affection of desire it shall have no place in Heaven the infinite sweetness which the Saints shall tast in God and Christ and in the love of God and Christ shall abundantly satisfie them and leave no place for desire their perfect enjoyment of God shall admit no hungring or thirsting after further delights they shall find it is enough they shall be fully satisfied but never cloyed nor satiated Whence S. August saith August Tract 3. in Joâ—n such shall that delight of beauty in