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Sect. 1. THus, I say, shall they be bid Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire, &c. while on the contrary the same Christ shall say unto the other, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from before the foundati∣on of the world, Mat. 25. 34. Which Kingdom is a place where
are such joys as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive, 1 Cor. 2. 9.
A place where there shall be no evil present, nor good ab∣sent, Heb. 9. 12. Mat. 6. 20. In comparison whereof, all the Thrones and Kingdoms upon earth, are less than the drop of a bucket, Deut. 10. 14. 2 Cor. 12. 2, 4. Isai. 66. 1.
Heaven in Scripture is compared to a Kingdom for Sove∣raignty, to a Throne for preheminency, to a Crown for state and majesty, to an Inheritance for perpetuity, to a Marriage-feast for plenty, pleasure, and delicacy, and to whatsoever else may set forth its excellency; though indeed in these comparisons, there is little or no comparison, as I might shew you in many particulars, if I would be large: for instances in this case would be endless.
There death shall have no more dominion over us, Rom. 6. 9. The Sun shall not burn us by day, nor the Moon by night, Ps. 121. 6. There all tears shall be wiped from our eyes, Rev. 7. 17. There shall be no sorrow, nor pain, nor complaint, there is no malice to rise up against us; no misery to afflict us; no hunger, thirst, wearisomness, temptation, to disquiet us, Mat. 6. 19, 20. Heb. 9. 12. There is no death nor dearth, no pining nor re∣pining, no fraud, sorrow, nor sadness, neither tears nor fears, defect nor loathing, Rev. 7. 16, 17. and 21. 4. Heb. 9. 12. There, O there, one day is better than a thousand; there is rest from our labours, peace from our enemies, freedom from our sins, &c. John 3. 17. Heb. 4. 3. 9, 10, 11. Rev. 14. 13. Heb. 9. 12, 15.
Sect. 2. Unto which Negative Priviledges, there are also added Positive of all sorts, as I might plentifully prove, but I study brevity. Do we delight in good company? What pleasure shall we take in the company of Saints and Angels? In whom there is nothing but amiable, comfortable, delecta∣ble? Nothing in us that may cool the fervour of our love and affection to them. And so of all other enjoyments. As, Dost thou desire beauty, riches, honour, pleasure, long life, or whatever else can be named? No place so glorious by Creation, so beautiful with delectation, so rich in possession, so comfortable for habitation, nor so durable for lasting, Heb. 12. 22. 1 Pet. 1. 4. 2 Cor. 4. 17, 18. Rom. 9. 3. and 8. 18.
There are no Estates but Inheritances, no Inheritances but Kingdoms, no Houses but Palaces, no Meals but Feasts, no Noise but Musick, no Rods but Scepters, no Garments but Robes, no Seats but Thrones, no Coverings for the Head but Crowns, Rom. 8. 17. Tit. 3. 7. Heb. 9. 15. Mat. 25. 31. 34. 2 Tim. 4. 8. Gal. 4. 7. 1 Pet. 3. 9, 10. Mar. 10. 23, 24, 25. Rev. 7. 13, 14, 15. & 6. 11.
There we shall see the blessed face of God, which is the glory of all sights, the sight of all glory. Yea, we our selves shall out-shine the Sun in brightness, Mat. 13. 43. For if the brightness of the body shall match the Sun, what will the glo∣ry and splendour of the soul be? And yet such honour shall all the Saints have. For when Christ, which is our head and life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory. And he shall change our vile and mortal body, that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body, Col. 3. 4. Phil. 3. 21.
Briefly, Our joy shall there be full, and none shall be able to take it from us, or diminish it, John 15. 11. and 16. 22. There is fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore, Psal. 26. Joys and plea∣sures never ebbing, but ever flowing to all contentment. There we shall rejoyce; for the pleasantness of the place we possess, for the glory of our souls and bodies, which we have put on; for the world which we have overcome; for hell which we have escaped; for the joys of heaven which we have attained to. We shall have joy above us, by the beatifical vision and sight of God; joy within us, by the peace of conscience, even the joy of the holy Ghost; and joy round about us, by the blessed company and fellowship of our associates, the holy Saints and Angels.
Sect. 3. And in reason, if a Christian-soul in this Tabernacle of the body, wherein we see but as in a glass, be so delighted to see the face of God manifested in Jesus Christ: If it so glads a Child of God, when he can but in the least measure master his corruptions, or hath occasion to manifest the sincerity of his affectionate love to his Maker and Redeemer, and to serve his brethren in love; How joyful will he be, when these graces shall be perfected, and he freed from all grievances inward & outward? Yea, if the communion and enjoyment of Gods Spirit, and Christ in his Gospel and Ordinances, be so sweet
here, that one day with us, is better than a thousand with the ungodly, Psal. 84. 10. What will it be to enjoy the immediate presence, and glory of God our Father? Christ our Redeemer and Elder-brother? The holy Ghost our Comforter? The Angels and Saints our Comforts and Companions?
Our condition there will be so joyful, that look we outward∣ly, there is joy in the society, Heb. 12. 22. if inward, there is joy in our own felicity, 1 Cor. 2. 9. Look we forward, there is joy in the eternity, 1 Pet. 5. 10. Mark 10. 30. So that on every side we shall be even swallowed up of joy, Isai. 35. 10. and 51. 11. Mat. 25. 23. and 18. 10. Heb. 12. 2, 22. Psal. 16. 11. As, oh the multitude and fulness of these joys! so many, that only God can number them; so great, that he only can estimate them; of such rarity and perfection, that this world hath nothing comparable to them, 2 Cor. 12. 24. As, oh the transcendency of that Paradise of pleasure! where is joy without heaviness or interruption; peace without perturbation; blessedness without misery; light without darkness; health without sick∣ness; beauty without blemish; abundance without want; ease without labour; satiety without loathing; liberty without restraint; security without fear; glory without ignominy; knowledge without ignorance; eyes without tears; hearts without sorrow; souls without sin: where shall be no evil heard of to affright us, nor good wanting to chear us: for we shall have what we can desire, and we shall desire nothing but what is good, Deut. 10. 14. Isai. 66. 1. 1 Kings 8. 27. Mark 10. 21. Luke 18. 22. 1 Pet. 5. 10. John 4. 36, and 10. 28. Mat. 25. 46.
Sect. 4. While we are here, how many clouds of discontent have we to darken the Sunshine of our Joy? When even com∣plaint of evils past, sense of present, and fear of future, have in a manner shared our lives among them. Here we love and loath in an instant (like Amnon to his Sister Tamar) in heaven there is no Object unlovely, nothing which is not exceeding amia∣ble and attractive: and not attractive only, but retentive also; for there we shall not be subject to passion, nor can we possibly there misplace our affection. Here we have knowledg mixed with ignorance, faith with doubting, peace with trouble, yea, trouble of conscience. Or in case we have peace of conscience,
alas, how often is it interrupted with anguish of spirit? Now rejoyce we with joy unspeakable and glorious, 1 Pet. 1. 8. but alas, anon it falls out that we need to pray with David, Re∣store unto us the joy of thy salvation, Psal. 51. 12. but there is peace, even full without want, pure without mixture, and perpetual without all fear of foregoing, Dan. 2. 44.
There shall be no concupiscence to tempt, no flesh to lust a∣gainst the spirit, no law in our members to rebel against the law of our minds.
Now abideth Faith, Hope, and Charity, these three now abide: but in heaven, Vision succeeds in the place of Faith: attainment in the place of Hope, and perfect fruition and delectation in the room of Charity. There Promises shall end in performances, Faith in sight and clear vision, Hope in fruition and possession: yea, time it self shall be swallowed up in Eternity: these are the Souls dowries in heaven, where God shall be all in all to us! Now he is but as it were something single; as righteousness in Abraham, temperance in Joseph, strength in Sampson, meekness in Moses, wisdom in Solomon, patience in Job (for it is rare to find all these graces compleatly to meet in any one subject) but then and there he shall be omnia in omnibus; all these in every of his servants! God shall be all in all, even the fulness of him that filleth all in all things, as the Apostle speaks, Eph. 1. 23. The only knowledge of God, shall fill up our understandings; and the alone love of God, shall possess our Affections. God shall be all in all to us; he will fill up our rational part with the light of wisdom; our concupiscible part or appetite, with a spring of righteousness; and the irascible part with perfect peace and tranquillity, as Bernard expresseth it. That is a blessed state perpetual and unchangeable. There is eternal security, and secure Eternity, as Bernard speaks: or as Austin hath it, There is blessed Eternity, and everlasting Blessedness.
Let the end of our life then be, to come to a life whereof there is no end; unto which the Lord in his good time bring us, that we who now sow in tears, may then reap in joy, the which he will be sure to do, if we but for a short time serve him here in righteousness and sincerity. But otherwise, look we not for eternal happiness, but for everlasting misery: For it is
an everlasting Rule, No grace, no holiness here; no glory, no hap∣piness hereafter.
To sum up all in a word; there is no joy here comparable to that in Heaven: all our mirth here to that is but pensiveness: all our pleasure here to that, but heaviness: all our sweetness here to that is but bitterness. Even Solomon in all his glory and royalty, to that, was but as a spark in the chimney, to the Sun in the firmament. Absaloms beauty, to that, is but deformity. Samp∣sons strength, to that, is but infirmity. Methuselahs age, to theirs, is but minority and mortality. Asahels speed, and swiftness, but a snails pace to their celerity. Yea, how little, how nothing, are the poor and temporary enjoyments of this life, to those we shall enjoy in the next? 1 Cor 2. 9. Yea, Paradise, or the Garden of Eden, was but a wilderness, compared with this Paradise. And indeed, if the gates of the City be of Pearl, and the streets of Gold; what then are the inner rooms, the dining and lodging chambers? the presence chamber of the great Monarch of Heaven and Earth? what then may we think of the maker and builder thereof?
In fine (that I might darkly shadow it out, sith the lively representation thereof is meerly impossible) this life everlast∣ing is the perfection of all good things. For fulness is the per∣fection of measure; and everlastingness the perfection of Time; and infiniteness the perfection of number; and immutability the perfection of State; and Immensity the perfection of Place, and Immortality the perfection of Life, and God the perfection of All, who shall be All in All to us, meat to our taste, beauty to our eyes, perfumes to our smell, musick to our ears. And what shall I say more? but as the Psalmist saith, Glorious things are spoken of thee, thou city of God, Psalm 87. 3. See Rev. 4. 2, 3. and 21. 10. to the end.
Sect. 5. The glory of Heaven, cannot be comprehended here; only God hath vouchsafed to give us some small glimpses in ••he Scripture, whereby we may frame a conjecture, considera∣ble enough to make us sell all we have to purchase that Pearl of ••rice. It hath pleased God, out of his fatherly condescension, to ••oop to our capacity, in representing Heavenly things under ••arthly types: shadowing out the joys thereof, by whatsoever
is precious and desirable in this life; as Cities, Kingdoms, Crowns, Pearls, Jewels, Marriages, Feasts, &c. which supereminent and superabundant felicity, St. Paul, that had been an only witness, when he had been caught up in the third Heaven, not able to describe, much less to amplifie, sums up all in these words; A sure, most excellent, exceeding and eternal weight of transcend∣ent glory, 2 Cor. 4. 17. and 12. 2. But alas, such is mans pra∣vity, that he is as far from comprehending it, as his arms are from compassing it, 1 Cor. 2. 9. Heaven shall receive us, we cannot conceive Heaven. Do you ask what Heaven is? faith one: When I meet you there I will tell you; For could this ear hear it, or this tongue utter it, or this heart conceive it, it must needs follow, that they were translated already thither, 2 Cor. 12. 2, 4. Yea, who can utter the sweetness of that peace of Conscience, and spiritual rejoycing in God, which himself hath tasted? If then the beginning and first fruits of it be so sweet, what shall the fulness of that beatifical Vision of God be? If the earnest penny be so precious and promising here; What shall the principal, and full crop and harvest of happiness in Heaven be? So that a man may as well with a coal paint out the Sun in all his splendor, as with his pen, or tongue express, or with his heart (were it as deep as the Sea conceive the fulness of those Joys, and sweetness of those Pleasures, which the Saints shall enjoy at Gods right hand for evermore, Psal. 16. 11. In thy presence is the fulness of joy, and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore. For quality, they are pleasures; for quan∣tity, fulness; for dignity, at Gods right hand; for Eternity, for evermore. And millions of years multiplyed by millions, make not up one minute to this Eternity, 2 Cor. 4. 18. John 10. 28.
The Eye sees much, the Ear hears more, the Heart conceives most; yet all short of apprehension, much more of comprehen∣sion of those pleasures. Therefore it is said, Enter thou into thy Masters joy; for it is too great to enter into thee, Mat. 25. 23. Neither will I any further exercise my self in things too high for me, Psal. 131. 1. For as St. Paul tells us, The heart of man is not able to conceive those joyes; which being so, How should I be able to express them in words?
And yet though we cannot comprehend this glory, this far
most excellent, exceeding, and eternal weight of transcendent glo∣ry; yet may and ought we to admire the never enough to be admired bounty and goodness of God and our Redeemer, in crying out, O the depth, &c. O the sweetness of his love, how unsearchable are his thoughts, and intendments to man-ward? (once miserably forlorn, lost and undone) and his ways past finding out, Rom. 11. 33.