they deserve and yet are insensible of it and unthankful for it but he that is least in the Kingdom of God knows so much happiness in that state that he neither aspires to be happier nor envies those that are The same Light that makes happy le ts them see it and as the blind eye enjoys not the comfort of the day but is benighted at Noon and in utter darkness when the Sun shines clearest So the Glory of God which is the Light of Heaven would be no Joy to those that live within its shine if they did not see the illustrious splendor of it But the Saints in Light are happy so happy that they know it and own it and ever praise and glorify the Father Son and Holy Ghost their blessed Benefactors for it Secondly The Blessed in Heaven know one another Whether personally or no hath been matter of dispute though our Saviour seems to have determin'd it telling the Jews Luk. 13.28 That they should see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and what is there in reason that should hinder it Why may not Abraham and Isaac once so nearly related be again acquainted and with Joy repeat the History of the intended Sacrifice Why may not Moses and Aaron meet and discourse their old Adventures Why may not the Blessed Apostles and Holy Martyrs be known to one another and entertain themselves with gladsome relations of what they did and what they suffer'd together Why may not Friends that lived like brethren in the Lord that help't forward each others Salvation whose souls were mutually dear who were wont to pray and advise and serve God together and who went to Heaven as it were hand in hand why I say may not they embrace and return each other thanks for those Friendly and Christian Offices Holy David chear'd up his thoughts after the death of his Child with this Meditation I shall go to him but he shall not return to me 2 Sam. 12.23 Which had been little comfort if he had thought never to have known him more So St. Augustine comforted Italica an afflicted Widow who sadly bewail'd the loss of her Husband assuring her That as one day she saw him with her bodily Eyes but discerned no more then his outward shape and Lineaments so she should see him again and in that sight discern the very thoughts of his heart and be intimate to all his Counsels And that 's the next thing I am going to say That the Saints shall be acquainted with each others Thoughts the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed and every man shall read his Brothers soul There shall be no subtile reservation no laying of heads together no packing of thoughts no clubbing and combining amongst a few to provoke the jealousie of all the rest but every mans breast shall be clear and open as free from reserve as it is from design or guile Now none but such ingenuous Minds as understand the sacred Charms of trusty Friendship the Foundation whereof is laid in Vertue and Goodness are able to conceive what a wonderful ravishment and comfort it is for Saints thus freely and securely to unbosome themselves to one another to think in common to mingle souls and to affect and communicate each others joys But Thirdly The fundamental happiness of the Blessed the glorious Light through which they see and know all things else is the Knowledge of God We know him by Hear-say but they by sight by near intimacy and acquaintance but perpetual correspondence and familiarity they are ever with him and he never withdraws himself from their observation Neither doth he appear to them vail'd and vizarded in Mystery and Darkness but his nature is explained to their understandings And all those difficulties that so much puzzle and intricat our thoughts are made easie and familiar The great problem of the Trinity the eternal generation of the Son of God and the procession of the Holy Spirit such Paradoxes as reason can never unriddle they are abundantly satisfied in Those unsoundable depths which turn the Brain and make some Atheists and others Mad to look into they are made infinitely happy and wise in the discovery of They know that which it is a sin for us to look into and would be our ruin to discover For can a man see God and Live No we must die before we can see him as they do and as he is And certainly this must needs be a prospect infinitely transporting Did you ever see any thing that pleased you Did you ever consider any thing that delighted you Did you ever know any thing that you were glad to know Or had you ever any rude conceptions of any good thing above your understanding that you desired to know more of Why sum up all together and this sight is more than all more then ever was in the Eye or Imagination of man enough to fulfill all our desires and to consummate all our Joyes The Eye shall be satisfied with seeing the Contemplation ravish'd with considering and the unsatiable thirst of the soul after Knowledge shall be gratified in the highest and most unsearchable curiosities In him we shall behold such a sufficiency of all things that we shall desire to know and enjoy no more but shall ever rest satisfi'd and at peace in the fruition not of a force't and artificial contentment but of a plenary satisfaction of all our hopes and wishes For we shall not onely see God but we shall see him ours we shall see our selves in the possession and embraces of him We shall foresee a long Eternity before us in all which we shall never be depriv'd of that Blessed Vision no not for a moment We shall see God and nothing in him but what shall wonderfully please us His Justice shall not startle us when we shall not only have escap't it but shall be rewarded by it His Pow'r sholl not make us tremble for we shall be no otherwise concern'd in it then to consider how happily it shall have brought us thither and how infallibly it shall maintain and eternize our happiness His Omniscience shall not daunt us for we shall be capable of doing nothing we can be asham'd of but the glorious attributes of his Goodness and Mercy of his Love and Tenderness of his Bounty and Good VVill shall ever shine upon us in the greatest manifestations No Frown no Anger no Displeasure shall ever darken or beeloud his serene Countenance unto us And this it is and more then I can tell you to be Saints in Light to see God face to face and to see him as he is For God is Light and in him is no Darkness at all 1 John 1.8 But 2. This Light discovers to the Saints not only the Essence of God but also his Will with undoubted certainty and clearness We shall not only hear his Voice but we shall see his Thoughts and be acquainted with all his Mind The Divine
superseded by the fatisfactory provisions that God hath prepared and the reposed contentment of their own minds They have no hungry importunate appetites to care and purvey for they have no shameful nakedness to cloath and cover they are many degrees above the scorchings of the Sun by day and the pale and chilly influences of the Moon by Night and therefore they need not be at the trouble to raise Fortifications against extremity of Weather to erect Booths and plant gourds to shelter from the heat nor to Build Repair and Alter to guard the tender sences from the injurious Elements quibus sollicitis fervet Respublica curis for at this rate the world purchase and ensure their Health and Ease and Pleasure But the Blessed are advanced to those calm and pleasant Regions where none of those Storms and Troubles none of those straights and extremities none of those changes and uncertainties which discompose this lower world and so busie the hands and thoughts of men to prevent or remove them can make their approaches but they inhabit those mansions of eternal rest that are exempted from all disturbance and uneasiness and even the very fears of any where Fortune and inconstancy have nought to do And what need can there be of their labour or thoughtfulness when there is nothing wanting which they have not neither any wast or decay of what they have but all things they enjoy are like the house in which they dwell made to their hands nay made without hands eternal in the Heavens And then for those spiritual joys which the Righteous in this Life Tast and yet they do but tast them how hardly do they come by them What an host of difficulties must they break through e're they can attain them They must abjure the pleasures of the World sacrifice their most endeared interests stem the current of nature deny the cravings of sence and inclination repent and mourn Watch and Pray conquer Sin and Devils and and strictly tie themselves up to the rigorous observance of all the Laws of God that are so irksome to flesh and blood before they can tell what Peace of Conscience or Joy in the Holy Ghost mean For those Raptures and Transports those sudden flashes of Light and Joy which sometimes possess the minds of bad men who never paid so dear for them are but counterfeit and Enthusiastick But the joyes of Heaven tide themselves into the souls of the Blessed without their trouble and pains to dig a current for them There 's nothing lies in the way betwixt them and their happiness that may either hinder their enjoyment or be troublesome to remove They have no sins to repent of no headstrong Wills to break and subdue no wild unruly Passions to tame no evils no Temptations to Watch and Pray against ne voto opus erit all the difficulties of Religion are there made void and abrogated God abates them all the duties they owe to him but the chearful services of Thanksgiving and Praise and takes them off from all they owe to Men making void Relations and setting Kings and Subjects Fathers and Children Masters and Servants the Rich and Poor the Aged and the Infant upon the same level except the endearing and grateful duties of Love and Union Thus the Saints enjoy their Pleasures in perfect ease and rest and have nothing at all to do either for Souls or Bodies but to be happy But there 's one Thought more in the notion of rest which should not be omitted because it so raises and enlivens the pleasure of Saints and gives them an advantage of happiness above Angels themselves Rest presupposes labour labour that 's past and over and how will the sence and memory of what they did and endur'd add to the blisse they now enjoy What a new Heaven will it be to consider the World they went through and the Hell they escap't How will it enhance their Joy to recount their troubles How will it set off the state of Glory to compare it with the miseries of this sinful World Oh! How will they bless themselves to reflect by what narrow escapes through what hardships and dangers with what struglings and conflicts in what Agonies of despair and hope in what a deluge of sweat and tears with what bitter cries and strong desires their poor souls at last arrived safe into the Bosom of their rest and refuge never to return to know the like again 2. Light and Dominion are sometimes in Scripture promiscuously used for one another thus said Holy David in his last speech when the Spirit of the Lord was upon him He that Ruleth over men Shall be as the Light of the Morning 2 Sam. 23.3 4. So when Jeroboam wrested the ten Tribes out of the hands of Solomon God thus promised for Davids sake Vnto his Son will I give one Tribe that David my Servant may have a Light i. e. one to heir his Throne always before me in Jerusalem 1 Kings 11.36 And on the other hand the Psalmist says That God made great Lights the Sun to Rule by Day and the Moon to Rule by Night And I am sure the state of the Blessed is a State of Dominion and Sovereignty as well as Light whether the expression intend so much or no And therefore it is called a Kingdom and a Crown of Glory and the Saints are entitled Kings and are said to Reign with Christ Kings they are in the Rule and Government of that mighty Empire of their own Minds a Power greater then that of all the Kings of the Earth who are not able to give Laws to any one soul Now the Glory of a Kingdom is Peace to be secure from all invasions and encroachments from abroad and from Rebellions and Mutinies at home and this is the happy condition of Crowned Spirits Devils may roar and envy to see their greatness and glory which they cannot hinder nor deface bad men may spight them but they cannot hurt them Those damned Spirits that plagued and persecuted them in the World may vex and torment themselves and broyl in the heat of their own disappointed malice but though they curse and rage the gates of Hell cannot prevail There 's no access to any thing that 's Evil Lazarus is safe from Dives's revenge There 's a great Gulf the irreversible decree of God between them and that which confirms the Misery of the one secures the peace and happiness of the other And then in Heaven There 's an universal peace throughout the Roval Neighbourhood God is perfectly reconciled to every one of them and they to one another They are all united in an infringible League of eternal Friendship and Alliance and are so nearly concerned for each others VVelfare and Honour and their interests so mingled and combin'd that no one of them could be happy if any one of them should not be so That there 's no fear of a breach among themselves whose mutual dependencies make them infallibly
Though as St. Paul calls them they are the very bondage of corruption the most fordid slavery in the VVorld But they that dub their Lusts by the name of Light and their vices by that of Liberty deserve to be unnam'd unchristian'd themselves another profession would befit them better an Alcoran would more become them then the Bible for there they will be match'd with a debauch't Prophet and a beastly Paradise to their debauch't and beastly Religion But the liberty of Saints is an unrestrained power to render themselves as Holy and Perfect and therein as happy as glorious as 't is possible for humane nature to be 4. Light and darkness are often used for Life and Death so often that I need not instance For Life and Death and all their attendants that wait upon them and administer unto them The Life of Saints is a life indeed exempted both from the cause and symptoms of mortality Sin that usher'd Death into this World shall never gain admittance into the next the Blessed who have outliv'd it's poison are now above it's influence all their former sins are pardon'd and forgotten and their souls eternally secur'd from renewing them The possibility of sinning is taken away and all propensions to it lost and bury'd in the Grave A Saint cannot think of Sin but with horrour and indignation he cannot see Temptation in it nor will the Devil himself have the confidence to propose it Temptations were not prepared for any Life but this where every Condition is tedious and tiresome and poor uneasie mortals are willing to turn every way for rest and to close with any thing that hath but the face of pleasure and diversion that the wonder is not so great if some be baited and befool'd into their own ruine But Heaven is a place of that satisfaction and delight that nothing like an argument can be offer'd for a change Nothing can be proposed so tempting as what they enjoy those glories are so incomparably surpassing that the subtle Spirit can think of nothing like them So then Heaven hath not one hole for sin to enter at but it shall descend into the dark Regions from whence it came there to remain for ever And if sin be routed none of its black Guard none of its dismal effects shall stay behind Sorrow shall be a stranger to all Hearts and Tears to all Eyes Diseases and Anguish shall have no ill humors to work upon Death shall have no claim to our Lives because we shall not sin to forfeit them our bodies shall be raised glorious and immortal fit for eternal conjunction with glorify'd Spirits fit for the Society of Angels and Communion with their Maker prepared for eternity extracted from every thing that 's fading and corruptible delicately made up in wonderful Beauty and Splendor to attract and entertain the Holy Love and Admiration of all that see them curiously temper'd with exquisite sence for the delicious rellish of pure and refined pleasures How unconceivable then shall the joys of that enlightened state be when the ignobler part of man the gross and Elementary substance of our Bodies this sordid lump of corrupt Flesh which here the soul in time grows weary of and lays aside as an ungrateful burden shall at the great day rise out of its ashes a Spiritual Body bedect with Light and Glory and Immortality 5. The felicities of a glorifyed state are call'd Light because they principally consist in Vision and Knowledge The Understanding is the noblest faculty of the Mind And the infinite improvements the perfect illumination the enlargeing and fulfilling the capacities of it the settling it in its Empire and Government of the Soul the setting it upon objects worthy of its Contemplation the adapting those objects to its Apprehensions or rather raising it's conceptions to such infinite heights that it may be capable of reaching and fathoming the profoundest Mysteries the strengthning its powers that it may be able to look upon and consider the most Glorious lustre's without dazling or being confounded these make up in a great measure the happiness of Souls And therefore it is often exprest by seeing of God and seeing of his Kingdom and seeing his Glory c. And this is the felicity of the Saints that they shall have a full sight an open view of all that 's glorious and know all things that make for their Everlasting Comfort and Satisfaction But that you may the better understand the nature of this Beatifick Vision Consider 1. What it is that the Saints shall know And 2. After what manner 1. What it is that the Saints shall know I have told you in general that they shall know every thing that may confirm or increase their Joy And if we could tell particularly what they know Bonum esset nobis c. It were good for us to be Here and we should enjoy a Heaven as well as they We may make a general imperfect judgement of what they know but to give you a distinct account of all that comes within the vast comprehension of their inlightned Thoughts is a work as much above a man as the Saints are in Glory above us And they whose souls have been taken up to the habitations of the Blessed with purposes that they might return again have lost those Visions by the way as not fit to be brought down to the notices of men being so infinitely beyond the fathom of their Reason St. Paul who was wrap't up to the Regions of Glory what a broken account doth he give of what he there saw and heard 2 Cor. 12.2 c. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago whether in the Body I cannot tell or whether out of the Body I cannot tell God knoweth such an one caught up to the third Heaven And I knew such a man whether in the Body or out of the Body I cannot tell God knoweth how that he was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable Words which it is not lawful or possible for a man to utter No wonder he could not retain the Vision when he had thus lost himself St. John was of all the inspired Penmen pickt out on purpose to take a view of the New Jerusalem and to give the World a description of it Yet how imperfect is his model How does his Relation savour of Earth What gross and Elementary materials hath he chosen to describe it by as Gold and Pearl and pretious Stones Into what a narrow compass hath he contracted the infinite dimensions of it The height and length and breadth equally twelve thousand Furlongs and all this to shape and little it to our understandings to represent it to the esteem of mortals in such a form so furnish't and adorn'd made up of such materials as are most pretious and valuable in the Eyes of Men and in such low expressions as reason is capable of apprehending Because our short sight can discern but a little way therefore this infinite World