in such an entire Union that by Complacence and an intimate Joy the Blessedness of all is as it were proper to every one as if every one were plac'd in the Hearts of all and all in the Heart of every one If in the Church of the first born Christians in the earthly Jerusalem the Band of Charity was so strict that 't is said the Multitude of Believers were of one Heart and one Soul How much more intimate and inseparable is the Union of the Saints in Jerusalem above where every one loves another as himself 'T is recorded of Alexander that entring with Haephestion his Favourite into the Pavilion of Darius his Mother then his Prisoner she bowed to the Favourite as having a greater appearance of Majesty thinking him to be Alexander but advised of her Errour she humbly begg'd his Pardon to whom the generous King replied You did not err Mother this is also Alexander Such was their Affection that whoever was taken of them the other was taken in him the less ascending in the greater without degrading the greater in the less This is a Copy of the holy Love of the Blessed but with the same difference as between the Description of a Star with a Coal and its Beauty in its proper Aspect And where all is Love all is Delight O how do they enjoy and triumph in the Happiness of one another With what an unimaginable tenderness do they embrace What Reciprocations of Endearments are between them O their ravishing Conversation and sweet Entercourse for their Presence together in Heaven is not a silent Show In the Transfiguration Moses and Elias talk't with Christ. With what excellent discourses do they entertain one another If David felt such inward pleasure from the sence of God's favours that he could not restrain the expression of it but invites the Saints Come and hear all ye that fear the Lord and I will tell you what he has done for my Soul Certainly in Heaven the blessed with overflowing affections recount the Divine Benefits the admirable Methods whereby the Life of Grace was begun preserv'd and carried on in the midst of Temptations the continual Succession of Mercies in the time of their Hopes and the Consummation of all in the time of their Enjoyment How joyfully do they concur in their thanksgivings to God for the goodness of Creation in making them reasonable Creatures capable to know love and enjoy Him when they might have been of the lowest Order in the whole sphere of Beings for his compassionate care and providence over them in this World But especially for his sovereign Mercy in electing them to be vessels of honour for his powerful Grace in rescuing them from the cruel and ignominious bondage of Sin for his most free Love that justified them from all their guilt by the Death of his only Son and glorified them with himself They are never weary in this delightful exercise but continually bless him for his Mercy that endures for ever We may judge by the Saints here when they are in a fit disposition to praise God what fervours they feel in their united Praises of him in Heaven The Psalmist in an Extasie calls to all the parts of the World to joyn with him The Lord reigns let the Heavens rejoyce and the Earth be glad let the Sea roar let the Fields be joyful and all that dwell therein He desires that Nature should be elevated above it self that the dead parts be inspir'd with Life the insensible feel Motions of Joy and those that want a Voice break forth in praises to adorn the Divine Triumph With what Life and Alacrity will the Saints in their blessed Communion celebrate the Object of their Love and Praises The Seraphims about the Throne cryed to one another to express their Zeal and Joy in celebrating his Eternal Purity and Power and the Glory of his Goodness O the unspeakable Pleasure of this Concert when every Soul is harmonious and contributes his part to the full Musick of Heaven O could we hear but some Eccho of those Songs wherewith the Heaven of Heavens resounds some remaines of those Voices wherewith the Saints above triumph in the Praises in the solemn Adoration of the King of Spirits how would it inflame our desires to be joyn'd with them Blessed are those that are in thy House they always praise thee 2. The fulness of Joy in Heaven is undecaying for the causes of it are always equal And those are the Beatifick Object reveal'd and the uninterrupted Contemplation of it Whilest we are here below the Sun of Righteousness as to our perception and sence has ascensions and declinations accesses and recesses And our Earth is not so purified but some Vapours arise that intercept his chearful refreshing Light From hence there are alternate successions of Spiritual Comforts and Sorrows of Doubts and filial Confidence in the Saints 'T is a rare favour of Heaven when an humble Believer in his whole course is so circumspect as not to provoke God to appear displeased against him When a Christian as those tutelar Angels spoken of in the Gospel always beholds the face of his Heavenly Father and converses with him with an holy Liberty And what a torment the hiding of God's Face is to a deserted Soul only they know who feel it External troubles are many times attended with more Consolations to the Spirit than Afflictions to Sense but to love God with a transcendent Affection and to fear he is our Enemy no Punishment exceeds or is equal to it As his Loving-kindness in their esteem is better than Life so his Displeasure is worse than Death How do they wrestle with God by Prayers and Tears and offer as it were a holy Violence to the King of Heaven to recover their first serenity of Mind the lost Peace of Heart How passionately do they cry out with Job in the Book of his Patience O that I were as in months past as in the days when God preserved me when his Candle shin'd upon my head and when by his Light I walk'd through darkness As I was in the days of my youth when the Secret of God was upon my Tabernacle And sometimes God delays the revealing himself even to his dearest Children not that he does not see their Necessities and hears their Prayers or is so hard that till their Extremities he is not moved with Compassion but for wise and holy Reasons Either that they may not return to folly if by any presumptuous Sin they forfeited their Peace or if they have been careful to please him yet he may deprive them of Spiritual Comforts for a time to keep them humble and that with an obedient resignation to his Sovereign Pleasure they may wait for his reviving Presence And then Joy returns greater than before For thus God usually renders with interest what he suspended only for tryal But the Saints above are for ever enlightned with the vital splendor and dear regards of
faculty Thus some have been strangely transported with the pleasure of a Mathematical Demonstration when the evidence not the importance of the thing was so ravishing for what is more dry and barren of delight than the speculation of Figures and Numbers Solon when near his end and some of his Friends that visited him were speaking softly of a Point of Philosophy by a sound of Wisdom was awaken'd from the sleep of Death that was just seizing on him and opening his eyes and raising his head to give attention being ask'd the reason of it answered That when I understand what you are discoursing of I may die Such was his delight in Knowledg that a little of it made his Agony insensible But here are many imperfections that lessen this intellectual Pleasure which shall cease in Heaven Here the acquisition of Knowledge is often with the expence of Health the flower of the Spirits necessary for Natural Operations is wasted by intense thoughts How often are the Learned sickly As the Flint when 't is struck gives not a spark without consuming it self So Knowledge is obtain'd by Studies that waste our faint sensitive faculties But then our Knowledge shall be a free emanation from the spring of Truth without our labour and pains Here we learn by circuit and discern by comparing things our Ignorance is dispell'd by a gradual succession of Light But then Universal Knowledg shall be infused in a moment Here after all our labour and toyl how little Knowledg do we gain Every Question is a Labyrinth out of which the nimblest and most searching Minds cannot extricate themselves How many specious Errors impose upon our understandings We look on things by false Lights through deceiving Spectacles But then our Knowledge shall be certain and compleat There is no forbidden Tree in the Celestial Paradise as no inordinate Affection But suppose that all things in the compass of the World were known yet still there would be emptiness and anguish in the Mind for the most comprehensive knowledg of things that are insufficient to make us happy cannot afford true Satisfaction But then we shall see God in all his Excellencies the supream Object and End the only Felicity of the Soul How will the sight of his Glory personally shining in our Redeemer in the first moment quench our extream thirst and fill us with joy and admiration 'T is not as the naked conception of Treasures that only makes rich in ideas but that Divine sight gives a real Interest in him The Angels are so ravish'd with the Beauties and Wonders of his Face that they never divert a moment from the contemplation of it 2. The pure Love of the Saints to God is then fully satisfied Love considered as an affection of Friendship is always attended with two desires to be assured of Reciprocal Love and to enjoy the Conversation of the Person beloved the testimony of his esteem and good-will This kind of affection seems to be inconsistent with that infinite distance that is between God and the Creature But though 't is disproportionable to the Divine Majesty 't is proportionable to his Goodness Accordingly our Saviour promises He that loves me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self unto him And to confirm our belief of this astonishing Condescention repeats it If a Man love me my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him In the present state the signs of God's special Favour are exhibited to his Friends Now he bestows on them the Honour of being his Sons the Graces and Comforts of his Spirit the precious Earnests of his Love and Seal of their Redemption But in eminency of degrees the effects of his Love are incomparably more glorious in Heaven Here the Saints are adopted there crown'd There he opens all the bright Treasures of his Wisdom the Riches of his Goodness the Beauties of his Holiness the Glories of his Power and by the intimate application of his Presence makes his Love most sensible to them O the mutual delights between God and glorified Souls God looks on them with an engaged Eye as his own by many dear titles and is well pleased in his own Goodness to them and ravish'd with the reflex of his own Excellencies shining in them As the Bridegroom rejoyces over the Bride 't is the language of Divine Love so their God rejoyces over them And what a blessed Rest do they find in the compleat fruition of their Beloved All their desires quietly expire in his Bosom What triumphs of Joy follow Can we frame a fuller Conception of Happiness than to be perfectly loved by infinite Goodness and perfectly to love him 3. The most perfect Joy of the Saints is for the Felicity and Glory of God himself For as the holy Soul feels no more powerful motive to love God than because he is most worthy of it as he is God a Being of infinite Excellencies and therefore to be loved above the dearest Persons and Things even it self so the highest Joy it partakes of is from this consideration that God is infinitely blessed glorious For in this the supream desire of love is accomplish'd that the most beloved Object is perfectly honour'd and pleased In Heaven the Love of the Saints to God is in its highest Perfection and they see his Glory in the most perfect manner which causes a transcendent Joy to them And this is one reason why the Saints though shining with unequal degrees of Glory are equally content For their most ardent Love being set on God that he is pleas'd to glorify himself by such various communications of his Goodness is full satisfaction to their desires Besides in those different degrees of Glory every one is so content with his own that there is no possible desire of being but what he is 4. The full joy of Heaven shall continue without diminution or end The number of Possessours cannot lessen it The Divine Presence is an unwasted Spring of Pleasure equally full and open to all and abundantly sufficient to satisfy the immensity of their desires Envy reigns in this World because earthly things are so imperfect in their nature and so peculiar in their possession that they cannot suffice nor be enjoyed by all But in Heaven none is touch'd with that low base passion for God contains all that is precious and desirable in the highest degrees of Perfection and all partake of the influence of his universal Goodness without intercepting one another In the Kingdom above there is no cause for the elder Brother to repine at the Father's Bounty to the younger nor for the younger to supplant the elder to obtain the Birth-right The Heirs of God are all rais'd to Sovereign Glory Every one enjoys him as entirely and fully as if solely his felicity God is a Good as indivisible as infinite and not diminish'd by the most liberal communications of Himself We may
what impatience does he pursue the pleasure of Sin which is but for a season An Ambitious Person with what an intemperate heighth of Passion does he chase a Feather A Covetous Man how greedily does he prosecute the Advantages of the present World that passes away and the Lusts thereof Ah! how do they upbraid our indifferent desires our dull delays and cold endeavours when such an high Prize is set before us Who is able to conceive the excesse of Pleasure the Soul feels when it first enters through the beautiful Gate of Paradise and sees before it that incomprehensible Glory and hears a Voice from Him that sits upon the Throne Enter into thy Masters Joy for ever be happy with him The serious belief of this will draw forth all our active powers in the service of God The feeding by lively thoughts on this supernatural food will add new vigor and lustre to our Graces and make our Victory easy over the World If we believe indeed that our Bodies shall be spiritual and our Souls divine in their perfections it will make us resolute to subdue the Rebel Flesh and rescue the captiv'd Spirit from all Intanglements of Iniquity Having the promise of such an excellent Reward let us always abound in the work of the Lord. 3. The lively hope of this Blessedness is powerful to support us under the greatest Troubles can befal us in this our mortal condition Here we are tost upon the alternate waves of Time but hereafter we shall arrive at the Port the blessed Bosom of our Saviour and enjoy a peaceful calm and so we shall ever be with the Lord. Words of infinite sweetness This is the Song of our Prosperity and Charm of our Adversity We shall ever be with the Lord. Well might the Apostle add immediately after therefore comfort one another with these words More particularly They are a Lenitive to moderate our Sorrows upon the Departure of our dearest Friends who dye in the Lord for they ascend from this valley of Tears to the happy Land of the Living What Father is so deserted of Reason as to bear impatiently the parting with his Son that goes over a narrow part of the Sea to a rich and pleasant Country and receive the investiture and peaceable possession of a Kingdom Nay by how much the Stronger his Love is so much the more transporting is his Joy especially if he expects shortly to be with him to see him on the Throne in the state of a King and to partake of his happiness If then it be impossible to Nature to be grieved at the felicity of one that is loved according to what principle of Nature or Faith do Believers so uncomfortably lament the Death of Friends of whom they have assurance that after their leaving our Earth they enter into an everlasting Kingdom to receive a Crown of Glory from Christ himself Our Saviour tells the Disciples If ye loved me ye would rejoyce because I said I go to my Father to sit down at his right-hand in Majesty A pure Affection directly terminates in the happiness and exaltation of the Person that is loved I am not speaking against the exercise of tender Affections on the loss of our dear Friends and a pensive feeling of God's hand in it which is an natural and necessary duty There is a great difference between Stupidity and Patience but violent Passion or unremitting Sorrow is most unbecoming the blessed Hope assur'd to us in the Gospel Chrysostom treating of this Argument and reflecting upon the custom of those Times wherein at Funeral Solemnities a train of Mourning Women attended the Corps tearing their Hair and Face and crying out with all the expressions of desperate Sorrow breaks forth Ah Christian Faith and Religion that was triumphant over thine Enemies in so many Battels and Victories by the Blood and Death of the Martyrs how art thou contradicted by the practice of these who profess thee in words Is this not to be sorrowful as those that have no hope Are these the affections the expressions of one that believes the blessedness of Immortal Life What will the Heathens say how will they be induc'd to believe the Promises of Christ to his Servants of a glorious Kingdom when those who are so in title behave themselves as if they had no stedfast faith in them 4. The hopes of this blessed state is able to free us from the fear of Death This last Enemy gives an hot Alarm to Mankind both as it deprives them of all that is pleasant here and for the terrible consequences that attend it To the eye of Sense a dead Body is a spectacle of fearful appearance He that a little before heard and discours'd and with a chearful Air convers'd and enjoy'd the World now is dead and all his senses in him the Eyes are dead to light and the Ears to sounds the Tongue to words and the Heart to feel any Affections and the Countenance to discover them nothing remains but silence horrour and corruption Besides after Death comes Judgment and a state of unrelenting Torments to the Wicked But a true Believer that has been obedient to his Saviour sees things by another light than that of sense and has living hopes in his dying Agonies He knows that Death to the Saints is but a sleep and while the Body rests in the Grave the Soul is as it were all Act continually exercising its most noble faculties on the best Objects Does the Soul sleep in that all-enlightned World that sees with open face the infinite Beauty of God that hears and bears a part in the hymns of the Angels Saints encircling his Throne that drinks of the Rivers of Pleasure that flow from his Presence that freely and joyfully converses with all the Celestial Courtiers the Princes of that Kingdom the Favourites of God Then it truly lives This reconciles Death to a Christian who has nothing more in his wishes than to be with Christ and knows that diseases and pains the forerunners of it are but as the breaking down the Walls of this earthly dark Prison that the Soul may take its flight to the happy Region and for ever enjoy the Liberty of the Sons of God And for his Body that shall be reunited to the Soul in Glory Methinks God speaks to a dying Believer as he did to Jacob when he was to descend to Egypt Fear not to go down into the Grave I will go down with thee and I will bring thee up again The same Almighty Voice that gave being to the World shall awake those who sleep in the dust and reform them according to the Example of Christ's glorified Body O how should we long for that triumphant day and with most ardent Aspirings pray Thy Kingdom come in its full power and glory I Shall now come to speak of the Mournful Subject the Cause of my Appearing here at this time the Deceased Reverend and Excellent Divine Dr. Thomas Manton A Name worthy of