The saints everlasting rest, or, A treatise of the blessed state of the saints in their enjoyment of God in glory wherein is shewed its excellency and certainty, the misery of those that lose it, the way to attain it, and assurance of it, and how to live in the continual delightful forecasts of it and now published by Richard Baxter ...

* 1.1SECT. I.

THirdly, To draw yet neerer the heart of the work; The third thing to be discovered to you is, What Powers of the soul must here be acted? What affections excited? What considerations of their objects are necessary thereto? and in what order we must proceed? I joyn all these together, because though in themselves they are distinct things, yet in the practice they all concurre to the same Action.

The matters of God which we are to think on, have their various qualifications, and are presented to the soul of man in divers rela∣tive and Modal considerations: According to these several consi∣derations

of the objects, the soul it self is distinguished into its seve∣ral faculties, powers, and capacities▪ That as God hath given man five senses to partake of the five distinct excellencies of the ob∣jects of sense; so he hath diversifyed the soul of man either into faculties, powers or ways of acting, answerable to the various qua∣lifications and considerations of himself and the inferior objects of this soul: And as, if there be more sensible excellencies in the creatures, yet they are unknown to us who have but these five senses to discern them by, so whatever other excellencies are in God and our happiness, more then these faculties or powers of the soul can apprehend, must needs remain wholly unknown to us, till our souls have senses (as it were) suitable to those objects. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 as it is unknown to a tree or a stone, what sound, and light 〈◊〉〈◊〉 sweetness are; or that there are any such things in the world 〈◊〉〈◊〉.

Now these matters of God are primarily diversifyed to our con∣sideration under the Distinction of True and Good, accordingly the primary * 1.2 Distinction concerning the soul, is into the facul∣ties of Understanding and Will; the former having Truth for its object, and the latter Goodness. This Truth is sometime known by evident Demonstration, and so it is the object of that we call knowledg (which also admits of divers distinctions according to several ways of demonstration, which I am loth here to puzzle you with) Sometime it is received from the Testimony of others, which receiving we call belief. When any thing else would obscure it, or stands up in competition with it; then we weigh their several evi∣dences, and accordingly discover and vindicate the Truth, and this we call Judgment. Sometime by the strength, the clearness, or the frequency of the understandings apprehensions, this Truth doth make a deeper impression, & so is longer retained, which imp••••ssion and retention we call memory. And as truth is thus variously pre∣sented to the understanding and received by it; so also is the goodness of the object variously represented to the will, which doth accordingly put forth its various acts. When it appeareth on∣ly as good in it self, and not good for us, or suitable▪ it is not the object of the will at all; but only this Enuntiation [It is good] is passed upon it by the Judgment, and withal it raiseth an admira∣tion at its excellency. If it appeare evil to us, then we Nill it. But if it appear both good in it self, and to us, or suitable, then it pro∣voketh

the affection of Love: If the good thus loved do appear as absent from us, then it exciteth the passion of Desire: If the good so Loved and Desired do appear possible and feasible in the attain∣ing, then it exciteth the passion of Hope, which is a compound of Desire and Expectation; when we look upon it as requiring our endeavor to attain it, and as it is to be had in a prescribed way, then it provokes the passion of courage or boldness, and concludes in resolution. Lastly, if this good be apprehended as present, then it provoketh to delight or Joy: If the thing it self be present, the Joy is greatest: If but the Idea of it (either through the remainder or memory of the good that is past, or through the fore-appre∣hension of that which we expect) yet even this also exciteth our Joy. And this Joy is the perfection of all the rest.

Notes

• * 1.1

  §. 1.
• * 1.2

  For I am 〈…〉〈…〉 I call them di••stinct faculties because it is the common Judgment and not my own.