THE STATE OF BLESSEDNESS. By W. W. M. A. and Chaplain, to a Person of Honour. Published at the request of a Person of Quality. LONDON, Printed for Tho. Parkhurst, and are to be sold at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercer's Chapel, and at the Bible on London Bridge under the Gate, 1681. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL Sir John Roberts BARONETT. SIR, HEre is your Request; and I wish that you do not Repent you of it: That you do not discover greater failings by deliberate Reading, than you did in the transient Hearing of this discourse. It hath received some enlargement and alteration since I Preached it, and not without need; for the Truth is, the Subject was too great for me, and handled in too much haste: The Sermon being the immature conception of those few hours, which that weeks exercise afforded me. Sir, I am much afraid it will never answer that esteem you was pleased to express for it, but if it may be (in any degree) serviceable toward your attainment of the Glory it treats of, I shall be abundantly honoured and recompensed, for thus exposing myself. The hopes whereof is the greatest motive and encouragement to this bold attempt of Sir, Your most humble and most obliged Servant, W. W. COLOSSIANS 1.12. — The Saints in Light. NOT to trouble you with more than barely my Thoughts upon this expression, we shall consider the Saints in a double capacity. 1. As they are the sincere members of the Militant Church here on Earth. And, 2. As they are the glorified members of the Church Triumphant in Heaven. The Light in which the Saints Militant dwell, and by which they steer and direct their lives, is the Gospel of our Saviour, whereof Light is a proper Character; for its plainness and perspicuity in all things necessary to be known: For the discoveries it hath made of Life and immortality, which were either hidden from foregoing ages, or but obscurely and mystically revealed; for unvailing Moses' face, both explaining the designed difficulties of the Law, and unfolding it from those thicker shrouds of darkness, wherein humane Tradition, and the false glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees had enwrapped it. For opening to us a prospect and insight into some parts and perfections of Religion and Virtue, which Nature and the Law were ignorant of: For delivering the History of the Son of God, who is that true Essential Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World. And lastly, For the concurrence sake of the Holy Spirit, which always attends the Gospel to enlighten and direct the understandings, of those that by a modest and conscientious diligence and enquiry, search and labour after saving knowledge. But secondly, The Saints considered in a higher capacity, Triumphant with God in Heaven, I purpose for my present Theme, as I suppose them to have been designed by the Apostle in the Words before us. Whereupon I shall not attempt to Landscape Heaven, or describe that inaccessible light which neither eye hath seen, nor the thoughts of man conceived; but only sum up to you what God hath revealed, what the understanding of man is able to think of it, and what conclusions we may reasonably gather, of our future happiness, by reflecting upon our present wants: Still keeping within the bounds of the Text, and the metaphorical importance of the expression, and as 'tis counterposed to that figurative darkness which in Scripture, we so often read of. Light then (as 'tis used for that State of Blessedness which the Saints enjoy) is a term of infinite comprehension, and concludes in it all the good, all the joy, all the perfection that go to the making up of Heaven. For, 1. Sight is the most delicate and pleasurable of the senses, as Solomon testifies, Prov. 15.30. The Light of the Eyes rejoiceth the Heart: And so the same Author, Ecclesiast. 11.7. Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the Eyes to behold the Sun. That to describe Heaven by Vision, intimates it to be a state of exquisite delights, and pleasures; and those pleasures (like light) are pure and refined; and such undoubtedly they are, being purged from the gross mixtures of lust and sensuality, and adapted to the chaste desires of sanctified Spirits, and the Holy appetites of unvitiaed Reason. They are quite of another nature, than those fordid and unmanly pleasures, wherewith the carnal world entertain their degenerous inclinations; nay they are abstracted from those defects and imperfections, drawn off from those dregs, that (in this life) taint and embitter the most ●ational delights of the wisest and best of men. They are under no restraints of size and measure, but infinitely abound; they are not checked by the fears of excess in the enjoyment, for they are as innocent as delightful: They are not such luscious sweets as satiate the appetites of those that taste them, but at the fame time both fulfil their desires, and enlarge them; these are ingenuous and heroic pleasures, consisting in the perfection of Wisdom, and Love, and Holiness, those charms and graces of glorified souls, in the vision and inseparable enjoyment of God, their chiefest and most desirable object, in the acquaintance and fellowship of the glorious company of the Apostles, the goodly society of the Prophets, the noble Army of Martyrs, and of all the bravest Worthies of the World. Oh! What an eternal rapture of Joy must it needs prove for these Blessed Souls. These dearest Friends, to meet in the same place, to be concentred in the same happiness, to be linked together in mutual affections and embraces, never to know sorrow nor discord, nor parting again. These are harmless but most charming pleasures; pleasures fit to entertain great and generous minds, that favour not of Earth and sensuality: Pleasures that unconceivably delight and ravish, but leave neither guilt nor sting behind them: Pleasures so constant and successive that they shall leave no room for a moment's unhappiness to interpose; and so endless and immortal, that they shall never expire, nor give place to a worse succession. Such vast advantages have they of those foulsome and nauseous Lusts, which carnal Dotards rate above their souls, and for which they barter them, that it is their great perfection to be nothing like them; For the joy of Heaven, the felicity of Saints, is without measure, without allay, without sin, without intermission, and without end. Even the innocent Pleasures of good men, are (in this World) subject to be baw'kt and daunted, and the great care and pains whereby they are first obtained and then secured, is a mighty abatement to them; but it is not the least happiness of Saints, that when they die in the Lord, they rest from their Labours. Those sick and short lived joys that the world affords, are so inconsiderable, that the cost and travail of acquiring them, generally exceed the purchase: But those that the Saints enjoy are as cheap as daylight, and come freely in without their seeking: all pains and forecasts are there 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 cloth, 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 Wether, to erect Booths and plant gourds to shelter from the heat, nor to Build, Repair and Altar, to guard the tender senses 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 straits and extremities, none of those changes and uncertainties, which discompose this lower world, (and so busy 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 waist 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, Taste (and yet they do but taste them) how hardly do they come by them! What an host of difficulties must they break through e'er 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 sense 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 Enthusiastic: But the joys of Heaven tied 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 own to him, but the cheerful services of Thanksgiving and Praise, and takes them off from all they own 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 sense and memory of what they did and endured, add to the bliss they now enjoy! What a new Heaven will it be to consider, the World they went through, and the Hell they escaped! 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 struggle 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 David's sake, Unto 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 intent 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 than 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. Devil's may roar and envy to see their greatness and glory, which they cannot hinder nor deface, bad men may spite 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' 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 Welfare and Honour, and their interests so mingled and combined, 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 secure of one another. Lastly, Every soul is happy in the Government of itself, and settles all its faculties in peace and order. Death ends the great controversy between the Flesh and Spirit, and those affections that would sometimes revolt and lean to the wrong side, shall be perfectly reduced and become faithful: There shall be no more bitter chide between an enraged, injured Conscience, and a Tyrannous arbitrary Will. The warm disputes between Faith and Reason shall be stated and determined: The conflicts between Hope and Fear shall have an end, and all the jars and contradictions of our cross and perverse passions shall be laid aside: Every faculty shall comply and yield to the Government of Reason, and there shall be no dissension, no Schism in the Soul; Oh! Happy is that State with which neither God nor man hath any quarrel, happy that Church where the Head and every Member are inseparably jointed and sinewed together, by Unity and Concord; happy that Man that is reconciled to God, in Charity withal Men, and at Peace in his own Conscience: If you can fancy any bliss in these, (and I wish that our experience may teach us of this Nation to understand them all) then conceive how incomparably happy the Saints are; and how desirable a place the Kingdom of Heaven is, where blessed Peacemakers are they all! 3. By Light we may understand Liberty, as it's opposite is taken for restraint, St. Peter, and St. Judas tell us that the lapsed Angels are imprisoned in chains of Darkness till the day of Judgement, and the Prophet Isaiah foretold that the Messiah should be for a Light to the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind, and to bring them that sit in darkness, out of the Prison house, Isaiah 42.6, 7. Where darkness and Prisonhouse signify the same thing, viz. A restraint of Mind, a narrowness of understanding: So we say of a Recluse (a man of close retirement) that he dwells in darkness, that he does not see the Light; as if he had not eye-room, not space enough to look about him, but light is a spacious thing and of a vast extant and therefore a proper Metaphor to express Liberty by. Now the Liberty of Saints consist in the Freedom of of Thought and Action, and enjoyment, a latitude to do and think their own pleasure: Not that Heaven is a lawless place of Sin and disorder, and Toleration: But every man is a Law to himself, whose soul is grown to a perfection like that of God, and capable of Willing of Thinking, of doing nothing but what is innocent and good, what becomes that sacred place and company, what suits with the Majesty of God (in whose immediate presence they are) and the chaste unsullied purity of their own minds: And therefore to do what they please, is to do what they ought: For they can neither do nor take pleasure in any thing but what is excellent and holy; and to these they have all the freedom they can wish. When we frail Mortals attempt any thing that is good and worthy, what rubs do we meet with? What difficulties lie in our way? What checks do we feel in our natures! What dullness and irksomeness in our Flesh? How dubiously and cowardly we go about it, as if we were afraid to displease our corrupt natures, or disoblige the wicked one, by any thing that's good and virtuous! How do we resolve, and then repent! How tremblingly do we put forth our hand, which withers in the motion, and then we recall it into our bosom! How importunately doth the flesh press us to forbear! How doth Satan crowd something else into our thoughts! How are our lusts alarmed, and stand up in their own defence as if they were injuriously dealt with and betrayed! Thus when we would do Good, Evil is present with us, when we would break Prison, and get away from these restraints, our fetters hang at our feet, we run in chains the race that is set before us; and are in constant danger to fall and be overtaken. The flesh is a continual weight upon our Spirits, and either sinks us into the puddle of base thoughts, and foul degenerous actions, or at least keeps us dull and heartless, lazy and slow in our nobler undertake and pursuits. That as long as we carry this load of Clay about us, we must expect to find it troublesome and untoward, to every thing that is spiritual and sublime. David proposed well, Psal. 119.32. I will run the way of thy Commandments, but then as if he had been stopped, as if the flesh had bid him stand, he remembered that his Soul was under the Arrest of the Body, and adds a Condition to the Promise, When thou shalt enlarge my heart. It is not only backward itself to all good motions, but encumbers the mind with a multitude of engagements, brings it into a necessary acquaintance with the World, and is apt to endanger and betray it into excess and dotage; and how hard a thing is it to have much to do with the World and be innocent! How hard to use it as not abusing it! How hard to want it and not to covet it! How hard to possess it and not be endeared to it! It is apt to cling to our thoughts and to stick and fasten upon our affections: It will strangely grow and encroach upon us; it will insinuate itself into our very Souls, and become as great a Master there as God himself, and at length engross all our devoirs; for no man can serve God and Mammon. But the Blessed Saints have none of this Dirt upon their heels, they are not staked and fastened to the Earth, nor embodied and straightened in these Tabernacles of Clay; but they are freer than Air and as active as Angels; they have no engagements to call them off from Duty, nor any intruding lusts to disturb them at it: They have no peevish disatisfied Passions to contradict what their Reason proposes, nor such awkard unwieldy constitutions as we have, to protract their designs, or spoil and bungle them in the execution: Their Consciences forbidden them nothing that their wills incline to, neither are their actions bawked and bounded by Law, or impotence: But they are free to do every thing that is either their duty or delight (without regret or fear in themselves, without gainsaying and reproof from any other, without defect and imperfection in the Act itself) after the best and most accomplished manner. And now are we not ashamed by this time, of what many senseless wretches among us (but Saints if you will take them in their own Language) impudently profane these glorious names of light and liberty with? The carnal desires of the flesh, the vicious inclinations of corrupt nature, that deserve (and were wont to own) no better a name then Lust, they call Light, because they Pimp, and direct them through the paths of darkness to their shameful practices; so shameful that modesty would leave them nameless, and yet they impudently call them Liberty: Though as St. Paul calls them, they are the very bondage of corruption the most fordid slavery in the World. But they that dub their Lusts by the name of Light, and their vices by that of Liberty, deserve to be unnam'd, unchristianed themselves; another profession would befit them better, an Alcoran would more become them then the Bible; for there they will be matched with a debauched Prophet and a beastly Paradise, to their debauched 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 'tis 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 ushered Death into this World, shall never gain admittance into the next, the Blessed who have outlived its poison, are now above its influence, all their former sins are pardoned and forgotten, and their souls eternally secured from renewing them: The possibility of sinning is taken away, and all propensions to it lost and buried in the Grave. A Saint cannot think of Sin but with horror 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 uneasy 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 befooled into their own ruin. But Heaven is a place of that satisfaction and delight, that nothing like an argument can be offered 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 humours 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 glorified 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 Splendour, to attract and entertain the Holy Love and Admiration of all that see them; curiously tempered with exquisite sense, for the delicious relish 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, bedecked with Light, and Glory, and Immortality. 5. The felicities of a glorified state are called 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 enlarging 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 its conceptions to such infinite heights, that it may be capable of reaching and fathoming the profoundest Mysteries; the strengthening its powers, that it may be able to look upon and consider the most Glorious lustre's, without dazzling or being confounded; these make up (in a great measure) the happiness of Souls: And therefore it is often expressed by seeing of God and seeing of his Kingdom, and seeing his Glory, etc. 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 Beatific 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, etc. 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 enlightened 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 wrapped up to the Regions of Glory, what a broken account doth he give, of what he there saw and heard? 2 Cor. 12.2. etc. 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) picked 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 precious 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 furnished and adorned, made up of such materials, as are most precious 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 is thus represented in a Map, drawn in Little, and delineated (to use the Apostles own phrase) according to the measure of a Man, Rev. 21. No our understandings are too contracted, while they are bound up in these bundles of Flesh, to consider the amazing glory and lustre of those heavenly Mansions, that incomprehensible Light in which the Saints for ever dwell. Yet something may be guest at, something that may raise our desires, something that may stir the Affections, and make us Covetous and Ambitious, zealously concerned to know what they know, and to partake of those Blessed sights, which fill their souls with so much Pleasure and Contentment, and that we might perhaps do by these Three Rules. First. What God hath Revealed. Secondly. What we are ignorant of. Thirdly. What wise men, in their best Thoughts, most desire to know. That which God hath revealed to us concerning another Life, seems rather an account of what he intends we shall know hereafter, than a design that we should understand it now. What was imperfectly signified by the Law, was reserved for the clearer discovery of the Gospel, and to what the Gospel hints, but comes short in, Eternity shall reveal. 2. Those mysteries the Gospel treats of in a sense above our understanding, our understanding shall be enlightened and taught to know. 3. The Soul of man (when 'tis suffered to be free and serious) hath a natural aim at its own happiness, and will be looking (as far as it can) into those things that concern its peace, and thirsting after the knowledge of Divine matters, it cannot attain to: And it is but reasonable to think that it shall be gratified in this Holy curiosity, otherwise we cannot suppose it happy. But to examine these general Rules no further, I shall venture to descend to some particular instances of the knowledge of Saints in Light: And they are these. 1. They know themselves. 2. They know each other. And, 3. They know God. 1. They know themselves; a knowledge that men are strangely wanting in our Bodies, that we are best acquainted with, have many hidden parts, many unaccountable motions, many occult qualities, that neither we that bear them, nor they that study them are able to solve and discover. But for souls, which are the seat of knowledge; all we know of them is, that they are we know not what, that there is such a principle working in us we experience by the effects; that it is an immortal being, it hath owned itself to some Philosophers that have examined it, to which truth the Word of God hath given more infallible Testimony. But for its substance and perfection, its seat and residence, and the manner of its operations, these are Problems we are wont to discourse, but can come to no determinate conclusion about. But the Saints are perfect in the knowledge of themselves; a knowledge so excellent that some Philosophers have accounted it the greatest wisdom. I shall only instance in such things wherein much of their felicity consists, and not in that threadbare knowledge (if there be any such in Heaven) which is only curious and speculative. The Saints than know, 1. Their own Excellencies. And, 2. Their own happiness. 1. They know their own Excellencies, things that we are not only ignorant of, but much mistaken in: If we knew ourselves, we should value ourselves more, and behave have ourselves better. We should not prostitute our souls to every base lust, that courts and importunes us; nor sell them at such an under rate as the vanities of the world. We should carry ourselves more in state, and scorn to do any thing that might misbeseem us. We should live more like men, and reason would show itself in all our actions, we should pursue greater and nobler ends, set our thoughts upon better objects, and bestow our Pains, and Time, and Cares to more manly purposes: we should not bury all our thoughts in the Earth, nor make our souls cheap to temptation and sin. 'Tis a sad sign that we know not ourselves to be Men (or else we know not what a man is) when we live like beasts, when we are concerned for our souls as if we had none, and suffer ourselves to be governed and carried away by Sense, and Appetite, and Passion. If we knew ourselves we should give our noblest faculties the highest place in our esteem, and post the rest in their due subordination. We should not let Reason be commanded by the Will, nor the Will by passion, nor our passions by the World and the Flesh. We should not make over the interests of our souls to the wanton desires of the carnal man, as Honour, or Pleasure, or Advantage, (for what of these is so inconsiderable that a soul hath not been sold for?) But the Saints know their own Excellencies, and it is their happiness that they do so. What were any man the better for the richest treasures in nature's store, if he was either ignorant that he had them, or knew not how to prise them? But they have souls of incomparable value and know their worth, and therefore are capable of rejoicing in their own excellencies. How do we pride ourselves at the increase of our Estates, at the advance of Titles, which are no accessions to our Natures, but to our Names, or Fortunes. But what an infinite Joy will it be to them to consider that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, like unto the Angels in perfection, that they are right noble creatures, whose honour is not titular but real, not nominal but personal and essential? That they are rich in the admirable endowments of their minds and Bodies: That they have much of the image and likeness of God in them; nay that they are in the perfect likeness of the Son of God, who hath taken their nature and will do it the honour to wear it eternally: That they are capable, of partaking of such a happiness as God does, and of living like him, in a word, that they are such precious beings as are worthy to be the darlings of God, the Joy of of Angels, and the Love and wonder of one another. 2. They are not only acquainted with their Excellencies, but they rightly understand their own happiness. They make no such gross mistakes about it as we do: They do not as Solomon, and too many of the World beside, make a multitude of experiments before they fix, and endeavour to settle it upon this pleasure, or that fortune, and wear out their eternity as we do our lives, in folly and disappointment. But happiness meets and embraces, and entertains them at their very entrance into heaven, from which moment their acquaintance commences and continues for ever: They know that a soul can be happy in nothing but the favour and fellowship of God, and it's own innocence and peace, and what a felicity, what a comfort arises from the sense of these, they likewise know. They are not like those repining, discontented wretches that are in a good condition (better than 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, let's 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 splendour 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 determined 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 suffered together? Why may not Friends, that lived like brethren in the Lord, that helped 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 cheered 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 bewailed the loss of her Husband; assuring her, That as one day she saw him with her bodily Eyes, but discerned no more than 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 Brother's soul. There shall be no subtle reservation, no laying of heads together, no packing of thoughts, no clubbing and combining amongst a few, to provoke the jealousy of all the rest; but every man's 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 Virtue and Goodness, are able to conceive, what a wonderful ravishment and comfort it is, for Saints thus freely and securely to unbosom 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 veiled 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 easy 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 than ever was in the Eye or Imagination of man enough to fulfil all our desires, and to consummate all our Joys. The Eye shall be satisfied with seeing, the Contemplation ravished 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 satisfied and at peace in the fruition (not of a forceed and artificial contentment, but) of a plenary satisfaction of all our hopes and wishes: For we shall not only see God, but we shall see him ours, we shall see ourselves in the possession and embraces of him: We shall foresee a long Eternity before us, in all which we shall never be deprived 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 escaped it, but shall be rewarded by it: His Power sholl not make us tremble, for we shall be no otherwise concerned 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 ashamed of; but the glorious attributes of his Goodness and Mercy, of his Love and Tenderness, of his Bounty and Good Will, 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 than 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 Will shall be impressed upon ours, and we shall know his Thoughts by our own; his desires and ours will look the same way; and it shall be always in our Hearts, to do that which he would have done; and to serve him after that manner that we shall be infallibly sure to please him. Our Judgements shall be wholly resigned to his, and we shall approve whatsoever he does or likes of. God and his Saints have but one will, and whatsoever pleases God is legibly written in their own understanding, which must needs greatly contribute to their happiness, for this keeps Heaven in perpetual peace, that there can be no debates, no differences among them; but the judgement of every single member, passes the whole assembly, Nemine contradicente, and hath the Royal assent also. This secures the Blessed from all danger of doing amiss, and from the doubts and fears of displeasing: For they serve God after their own Wills and as they please themselves; and what seems right in their own eyes that is also acceptable unto him. This renders all their Duties easy and pleasurable: Whatsoever they do is consistent with their happiness, for God requires nothing but what they are willing to; nothing but what their own thoughts are inclining to. Nay such a mighty force hath the will of God upon theirs, and so strongly are they bend unto all that is good, that they could not be happy if they did it not. That Duty and Felicity there, are the same thing; and the worship and service of God their unspeakable pleasure and delight. Thirdly, The Saints are by virtue of that Light in which they dwell, not only acquainted with the Will, but with the Providences of God also. I do not mean that they have an Omniscient understanding of all that God does in the world: No, this is a point that Papists themselves dare not always stand by though a matter of great service and concernment to them: But my meaning is, that there is nothing in the management of the affairs of Providence, that now we look upon with amazement, and suspicion, as if they were contradictions to the justice and goodness of God; but we shall be able one day to render an account of. No Holy and Good man, that now groans under the weight of God's Judgements and knows not why (for when he examines his life with Job, he perhaps can find no notorious instances of Gild, to provoke God thus to express his Vengeance and Indignation against him,) but when he comes to heaven he shall be strait in the Light, and understand the reason of Gods dealing with him; and that there was infinite wisdom and goodness in those proceed, than he will find that God was just in his dispensations to him, and that he ought to have no quarrel with Providence upon that account; but his soul will bless its Maker and say with holy David Lord I know that in very faithfulness thou hast afflicted me, and it was good for me that I was in trouble. Then all those thwart and uneven Providences, that Reason is confounded, and that Faith staggers at, shall entertain the contemplation of the Saints with singular delight. They will see how God hath traced the Souls of men through a thousand turn, and by crossing their purposes endeavoured to chase them from their evil haunts and customs, how his Providence hath lain upon the catch, and watched to beguile them into the tracks of virtue and holiness. With what holy artifice and stratagem he hath managed the welfare of his Church, and what variety of methods he hath taken to secure both her Religion and Peace: Sometimes fortifying and encouraging her by mercies and kindnesses, and sometimes quite the other way by Judgements and Trials. Sometimes signallizing his Justice in the direct ruin of her Enemies, and sometimes tolling them into a Trap and Snare by success and triumph. How he hath made hopeful causes to defeat themselves, and bring forth contrary effects, and on the other hand brought evil out of good, and made the designs of Devils and bad men, to serve the ends of his mercies and goodness. This is a sweet Theme for Saints to compose their thanksgiving Songs upon, and to praise God for the wonders that he doth for the Children of men. last; The Saints shall be in the Light concerning the Judgements and Decrees of God, which are matters now of such fierce disputes among us. They shall fully understand the nature of the Eternal Covenant between God and Man, and the purposes of the Almighty in the Salvation or Condemnation of Sinners. And let the victory settle on which side it will, yet all parties of the Saints shall then concur in one opinion; and praise and admire the justice and wisdom and goodness of God in the excellent contrivance and management of that important affair; and nothing shall have passed between God and us, but we shall be satisfied (howsoever we disputed the matter in the world) that God was in the right, Let him be true and every man a Lyar. And having given you an imperfect account (as every thing we say of Eternity must needs be imperfect) of what the Saints know; I proceed to show the manner how this knowledge is conveyed into their minds, and unto what degrees of understanding it raises them, to both which I can only answer Negatively. 1. The Saints know immediately, they (and only they) are above Ordinances, and need not to be thus handed to God because they are always with him. They need not tract the Divine footsteps, (the farthest way) in his Works and Providences, nor study Notions of him out of his Holy Word, nor take impressions from Signs and Sacraments, for they know him infinitely better from the Original, then 'tis possible to do from Copies and Figures. There's no Temple in the new Jerusalem, for the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb are the Temple of it, Rev. 21.22. They need neither Prayer nor Preaching, neither Offering nor Receiving: For they see more in the face of God than it is possible for these to teach them. 2. They know impartially, they are ignorant of nothing that's fit or possible for them to know. There's no Tree in Paradise forbidden, but what would be the bane of them that taste it. If God have any Reserves of knowledge that he refuses to make over to them, they are either such as are inconsistent with their Happiness, or with their Being, such as would make them miserable (as the knowledge and sense of Evil) or such as they could not be Men and know. For doubtless God hath left some space, some degrees of perfection between us and Angels; and between them and his own nature, and these have their excellencies and distinctions that the Saints can neither arrive at, nor desire. Now God is so merciful that he will not suffer us to know any thing that may be our ruin; and so just that we may not encroach upon the Prerogative of Angels, which would be theirs. But we shall be as Glorious, as Happy, as knowing in our Kind as they; and as 'tis possible for Men to be: And to be somewhat more than Men, would as much unman us and make us as monstrous and deformed, as to be somewhat less. Again 3. As the Saints shall be ignorant of nothing that is fit to be discovered to them, so they shall err in nothing that they seem to know. God is the Light by which they see, and he is Truth and can neither deceive them, nor will suffer them to be mistaken. No, he will not mock our fancies with scene and Pageantry, but feed our understandings with blessed Truths. He will not tempt our approaches with apparent Glory, and when we come to lay hold on it, thrust a shadow into our embraces. We shall be where he is, and our eyes shall be opened that we may see him, and he will not shrink up his Beams and Brightness from us, to elude our knowledge; the Glass (the grossness of our Nature) that misrepresented things to our understandings shall be taken, away and we shall know our God, and in him all the objects of our felicity as infallibly as we are known of him. 4. We shall know him certainly without haesitancy or dubitation, we shall not scruple and quaere as John's Disciples did, Art thou he, or look we for another? But we shall be as bold and positive as the convicted Apostle, and say, My Lord, and my God. Thus (Lord) shall we behold thy face in righteousness, and when we awake, after thy likeness, we shall be satisfied with it. And now let me prevail with you by the power of this worthy consideration to observe these following instructions. 1. That you let this glory we have been now thinking of, be always seated uppermost in your Thoughts, and let all other interests give place and administer unto it. If you secure this, blessed are you, though you should be unhappy in all things else: This is the great end for which we came into the world; and if we fail in the accomplishment, it had been better for us never to have been born. Methinks this should be a motive of that importance, that it should engage all our Desires, all our Studies, all our Endeavours, in the pursuit of it, That we should be so concerned, so busied and taken up about it, that we should have no leisure to consider the addresses of importunate Temptations, much less any stomach to be prevailed with by them. Methinks he that hath such a Heaven in his eye should not look upon the World but with contempt and scorn, and think it a great debasement to his reason, to give it any place in his thoughts and affections, that dross and Dung should ever defile that mind, that was made for the contemplation of Heaven now, and for the enjoyment of it at the next remove. How would it daunt and shame the wanton dalliances of the flesh, and make it blush at all fond, unclean proposals, to object against it the Ravishing, but chaste delights of the Saints in Bliss! One serious thought thereof, would confront and baffle the Pleasures and Allurements of sense, and cause the most confident Temptation disgracefully to slink away and vanish. If we were but always armed with such Meditations, with what courage should we face and outbrave our present calamities, and Triumph in Affliction and Death itself? With what forward resolution and manly vigour should we press and fight, and make our way through all difficulties; with what eagerness and speed should we run the race, if we did but see the Reward, the Crown, the Joy that is set before us? 2. Let us not endeavour to anticipate Heaven, and to be alwise before our time, let us not exercise our thoughts in things that are too high for us: But be contented with such proportions of knowledge as God hath revealed, and enabled us to understand. To what purpose should we puzzle and distract ourselves and others with vain disputes about things above us? 'Tis a dangerous thing to meddle with sacred matters we do not understand, we sin in the very presumption, we may for aught we know commit a second sin in being mistaken and believing a lie, and 'tis seldom seen but we are betrayed into a third; for such disputes seldom are debated, but with heat and passion, and end in hatred and dissension. Let God alone with his Decrees, etc. And let us mind our own duty, see what part we have in the Covenant, let that be our Study to know and our business to perform. As for God's part we have no reason to be solicitous about it, further than he hath been pleased to discover himself. We may be assured what lies upon him, shall be faithfully discharged, he cannot but do all things well and righteously, and when we come to Heaven we shall know as much: In the mean time let us content ourselves with these hopes, and have no ill thoughts of God; his Judgements are unsearchable, but yet they are Just and Righteous. Wherhfore let us entertain no opinions of him that may impeach his Goodness or Equity and render them suspected here, but pray that we may be of the number of those Saints who shall see them brought to Light and cleared hereafter. Lastly, Let us cheerfully submit to the Providences of God, though we cannot solve them. Let us conclude that God is just in his dispensations, though we be weak and cannot understand them; though we see not his Reasons in the Government of the World, yet we may know the defects of our own, and thereto ascribe the cause, why several events seem to happen so preposterous and cross. All things work together for good where God has to do, this should establish our confidence, and silence our complaints: and we shall see it though not now; this should put bounds to our unreasonable curiosity; let us but wait with Patience until our change come, and then the crooked paths shall be made strait, and the rough places plain. Then all accounts between God and us shall be audited and made even, and these Providences that appear so perplexed and disproportionate, shall be evidently made out both to our wonder and fatisfaction. So that a man shall say, (what a happy experience shall infallibly teach him) Verily, There is a Reward for the Righteous, Verily he is a God that Judgeth in the Earth. To whom be Glory, etc. FINIS. ERRATA. P. 2. l. 29. r. and that those Pleasures. l. ult. r. rational. p. 3. l. 15. r. these blessed Souls, these dearest. p. 5. l. 28. r. pleasures. p. 8. l. 16. r. extent. l. 18. r. consists. p. 14. l. 24. for to r. so. p. 15. l. 9 r. wanting in: Our Bodies. l. 13. r. our Souls. p. 16. l. 34. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 17. l. 29. r. makes them happy. p. 19 l. 12. for but perpetual. r. by perpetual.