The beatitudes: or A discourse upon part of Christs famous Sermon on the Mount.: Wherunto is added Christs various fulnesse. The preciousnesse of the soul. The souls malady and cure. The beauty of grace. The spiritual watch. The heavenly race. The sacred anchor. The trees of righteousnesse. The perfume of love. The good practitioner. By Thomas Watson, minister of the word at Stephens Walbrook in the city of London.

SECT. 1.

Setting forth the excellency of the Beatifical vision.

NOW concerning this blessed sight of God, it is so sublime and sweet, that I can but draw a dark shadow of it; we shall better understand it when we come to heaven; only at present I shall lay down these nine Aphorisms or Maxims.

1. Our sight of God in heaven shall be a transparent sight; here we see him per aenigma, through a glass dark∣ly, 1 Cor. 13.12. But through Christ we shall behold God in a very illustrious manner; God will so far unvail himself, and shew forth his glory, as the soul is capable to receive; if Adam had not sinned, yet it is probable he should never have had such a clear sight of God as the Saints in glory shall. 1 John 3.2. We shall see him as he is; now we see him as he is not; he is not mutable, not mortal; there we shall see him as he is, in a very transparent manner; then shall I know, even as also I am known, 1 Cor. 13.12. that is, clearly: Doth not God know us clearly and fully? then shall the Saints know him (according to their capacity) as they are known; as their love to God, so their sight of God shall be perfect.

2. This sight of God will be a transcendent sight, it will surpass in glory; such glittering beams shall sparkle

forth from the Lord Jesus, as shall infinitely amaze and de∣light the eys of the beholders. Imagine what a blessed sight it will be to see Christ wearing the Robe of our humane na∣ture, and to see that nature sitting in glory above the An∣gels. If God be so beautiful here in his Ordinances, Word, Prayer, Sacraments; if there be such excellency in him when we see him by the eye of faith through the prospective glass of a promise, O what will it be when we shall see him face to face! when Christ was transfigured on the Mount, he was full of glory, Matth. 17.2. If his transfiguration were so glorious, what will his inauguration be? what a glorious time will it be, when as it was said of Mordecai, we shall see him in the presence of his Fa∣ther, arrayed in Royal apparel, and with a great Crown of gold upon his head, Esth. 8.15.* 1.1. There will be glory beyond Hyperbole; if the Sun were ten thousand times brighter than it is, it could not so much as shadow out this glory; in the heavenly Horizon we shall behold beauty in its first magnitude and highest elevation; there we shall see the King in his glory* 1.2. All lights are but Eclipses, compared with that glorious Vision; Appelles pensil would blot, Angels tongues would but disparage it.

3. This sight of God will be a transforming sight: 1 John 3.2. We shall be like him: The Saints shall be changed into glory; as when the light springs into a dark Room, the Room may be said to be changed from what it was. The Saints shall so see God, as to be changed into his image. Psal. 17. ult. Here Gods people are black'd and sullied with infirmities, but in heaven they shall be as the Dove, covered with silver wings; they shall have some rayes and beams of Gods glory shining in them; as a man that rowles himself in the Snow, is of a Snow-like white∣ness; as the Chrystal by having the Sun shine on it, spark∣les and looks like the Sun; so the Saints by beholding the

brightness of Gods glory, shall have a tincture of that glory upon them; not that they shall partake of Gods very essence; for as the iron in the fire becomes fire, yet remains iron still; so the Saints by beholding the lustre of Gods Majesty shall be glorious creatures, but yet creatures still.

4. This sight of God will be a joyful sight. Acts 2.28. Thou shalt make me glad with the light of thy countenance. After a sharp Winter, how pleasant will it be to see the Sun of righteousness displaying himself in all his glory! Doth faith breed joy? 1 Pet. 1.8. In whom though now you see him not, yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable. If the joy of FAITH be such, what will the joy of vision be? the sight of Christ will amaze the eye with wonder, and ravish the heart with joy. If the face of a friend whom we intirely love doth so affect us and drive away sorrow; O how chearing will the sight of God be to the Saints in heaven! then indeed it may be said, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, your heart shall rejoyce, John 16.22. And there are two things which will make the Saints vision of God in heaven joyful.

1. Through Jesus Christ the dread and terror of the Divine Essence shall be taken away. Majesty shall appear in God to preserve reverence, but withal Majesty cloath∣ed with beauty, and tempered with sweetness to excite joy in the Saints. We shall see God as a friend, not as guilty Adam did, who was afraid, and hid himself* 1.3; but as Queen Esther looked upon King Ahashuerus, hold∣ing forth the golden Scepter* 1.4; surely this sight of God will not be formidable, but comfortable.

2. The Saints shall not only have vision, but fru∣ition; they shall so see God, as to enjoy him. Aquinas and Scotus dispute the case whether the formalis ratio, the very formality and essence of blessedness be an act of the

understanding or the will. Aquinas saith, Happiness con∣sists in the intellectual part, the bare seeing of God. Sco∣tus saith, Happiness is an act of the will, the enjoying of God; but certainly true blessedness comprehends both* 1.5; it lies partly in the understanding, by seeing the glory of God richly displayed; and partly in the will, by a sweet delicious taste of it, and acquiescence of the soul in it; we shall so see God as to love him* 1.6, and so love him as to be filled with him; the seeing of God implies fruition. Matth. 25.21. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord; not only behold it, but* 1.7 enter into it. Psal. 36.9. In thy light we shall see light, there is vision. Psal. 16. ult. At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore, there is fruition. So great is the joy which flows from the sight of God, as will make the Saints break forth into trium∣phant Praises and Hallelujahs.

5. This sight of God will be a satisfying sight: Cast three worlds into the heart, and they will not fill it; but the sight of God satisfies, Psal. 17.15. I shall be satis∣fied when I awake with thy likeness. Solomon saith, the eye is not satisfied with seeing, Eccles. 1.8. But there the eye will be satisfied with seeing; God and nothing but God can satisfie. The Saints shall have their heads so full of knowledge, and their hearts so full of joy, that they shall find no want.

6. It will be an unweariable sight: Let a man see the ra••est sight that is, he will soon be cloyed; when he comes into a Garden and sees delicious walks, fair Arbours, pleasant Flowers, within a little while he grows weary; but it is not so in heaven, there is no surfet* 1.8; we shall never be wea∣ry of seeing God; for the Divine Essence being infinite, there shall be every moment new and fresh delights spring∣ing forth from God into the glorified soul; the soul shall not so desire God, but it shall still be full; nor shall it be

so full, but it shall still desire; so sweet will God be, that the more the Saints behold God, the more they will be ravished with desire and delight.

7. It will be a beneficial sight, it will tend to the bet∣tering and advantaging of the soul; some colours while they delight the eyes, they hurt them; but this intuition and vision of God shall better the soul, and tend to its infinite happiness. Eves looking upon the Tree of knowledge did prejudice her sight; she afterwards grew blind upon it; but the Saints can receive no detriment from the inspection of glory, this sight will be beatifical: The soul will never be in its perfection till it comes to see God, this will be the crowning blessing.

8. This sight of God shall be perpetuated; here we see objects awhile, and then our eyes grow dim, and we need Spectacles; but the Saints shall always behold God; as there shall be no cloud upon Gods face, so the Saints shall have no Mote in their eye; their sight shall never grow dim, but they shall be to all Eternity looking on God, that beautiful and beatifical object. O what a soul-ravish∣ing sight will this be! God must make us able to bear it; we can no more endure a sight of glory, than a sight of wrath* 1.9; but the Saints after this life shall have their ca∣pacities enlarged, and they shall be qualified, and made fit to receive the penetrating beams of glory.

9. It will be a speedy sight. There are some who deny that the soul is immediately after death admitted to the sight of God; but I shall make good this Assertion, that the Saints shall have an immediate transition and pas∣sage from death to glory; assoon as death hath closed their eyes, they shall see God; if the soul be not presently af∣ter death translated to the beatifical Vision, then what be∣comes of the soul in that juncture of time till the Re∣surrection?

1. Doth the soul go into torment? That cannot be; for the soul of a believer is a member of Christs body mystical; and if this soul should go to hell, then some∣thing of Christ should go to hell; a member of Christ might be for a time damned; but that is im∣possible.

2. Doth the soul sleep in the body as some drowsily imagine? How then shall we make good sense of that Scri∣pture? 2 Cor. 5.8. We are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. If the soul at death be absent from the body, then it cannot sleep in the body.

3. Doth the soul dye? so the Lucianists held that the soul was mortal, and did dye with the body; but as Scaliger observes, it is impossible that the soul being of a spiritual uncompounded nature should be subject to cor∣ruptibility* 1.10. Such as say the soul dies, I would demand of them wherein the soul of a man then differs at death from the soul of a brute? By all which it appears that the soul of a believer after death goes immediatly to God: Luk. 23.43. This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. That word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, with me, shews clearly that the Thief on the Cross was translated to heaven, for there Christ was, Ephes. 4.10. And the other word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, this day, shews that the Thief on the Cross had an im∣mediate passage from the Cross to Paradise; so that the souls of believers have a speedy Vision of God after death; it is but winking, and they shall see God.

Notes

• * 1.1

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.2

  Isa. 33.17.
• * 1.3

  Gen. 3.10.
• * 1.4

  Esth. 5.2.
• * 1.5

  Illi acu rem tangunt, qui in visione & amo∣re Dei simul consistere vo∣lunt beatitudi∣nem. Dr. Ar∣rows.
• * 1.6

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.7

  Non tantum aderit gloria, sed incrit. Bern.
• * 1.8

  Ibi nec fames nec fastidium. Bern.
• * 1.9

  Sensibile forte destruit sensum.
• * 1.10

  Luke 12.••.