Household Prayers, Prayer 19
The nineteenth Prayer, For heauenly life.
Hee that heareth my worde, and beleeueth in him that ſent me, hath life euerlasting, and I wil raiſe him again at the latter day. Father, concerning thoſe whome thou haſt giuen me my deſire is, that they may be where I am, that they may be with me to beholde my glory.
Iohn. 5. &. 6. &. 17.
O Soueraign Father of al thinges, & by a ſingular priuiledge, Father of the children whome it hath pleaſed thee to adopt in our Lord Ieſus Chriſt, to be coheires with him in the celeſtiall life, I learne in thy word, that this inheritance & bleſſed eſtate is acontemplation of the glory of this great Sauiour of the elect, in an vnſpeakeable beatitude, onelyonly worthy to be loued, and to bee ſought inceſſantly night and day, with the lamp of thy trueth. Which is to ſee him as he is (true God, and true Man) and perfectlie to enioie his preſence with communicating of all his goodneſſe, to be in the ioy of his Lord, as a loyall ſeruant, and to beholde him face to face in his diuine eſſence, one with the father, and with the holy ghoſt, one onelie God in ſoueraigne Maieſtie which is to be vnited and conioyned with him, and by him; vntounto thee, O eternall GOD, who art all light and life, of the ſoule at her departure out of her earthly habitation, afterward reueſted with it fleſh in that great day of the glorious comming of the ſame Chriſt, when hee ſhall wholy render vppe vntounto thee the kingdome of thy grace, that thou maiſt be all in all: To be briefe, (which is both in body and ſoule) to be in him, and to liue of his glory. And this alſo is the eternall life, a life accompliſhed in knowledge, in louelove, in righteouſneſſe, in reſt, in honour, in beautie, in conſtancie, in ioy, felicitie, and peace, a life wherin the Angels and Saintes inceſſantly do ſound out and celebrate, O Lord, thy great name, in perfect and rauiſhing melodie, repleniſhed both with a deſire, and a fulneſſe of the celeſtiall bread (Ieſus Chriſt God & man) without this deſire breeding any griefe, or this fulneſſe any moleſtation. In ſumme, a life, which by the full view that wee ſhall hauehave of thy eternall deitie (O almightie GOD) ſhall make vsus knowe thee, as thou haſt knowne vsus, and as thou art in Trinitie of perſons (Father, Word, Spirit,) and in vnitie of eſſence: likewiſe to louelove thee according to the excellency of thy nature with our whole heartes and thoughts, and our whole ſtrength, and might, and in this louelove to obtaine our perfect & full contentment. To this heauenlie life, O Lord, my ſoule directeth her flight, this is the marke that ſhee aymeth at, the end whereto ſhee tendeth, and the reward that ſhe, by thy grace, promiſeth her ſelfe, for ſeeking after thy welbeloued Sonne, in whome it pleaſeth thee to be my God and my Father. Oh! I ſhall indeede goe and liue in this holy and ſacred place of the habitation of thy glorie, and there ſhall contemplate that which neuer eye ſawe vnderunder the heauen, neyther eare hath heard, nor heart comprehended, of the ſolide Riches whiche thou dooſt keepe from all eternitie for thy children.
I ſhall ſee, I ſay, theſe diuine wonders in thy ſanctuary, in thy light inacceſſible for all fleſh, knowing in the brightneſſe of thy countenance thy infinite power [O Father] thy incomprehenſible wiſedome (O Sonne) and thy incomparable vertue (O Holyghoſt) one onelyonly true God. A knowledge ſo ſingular and pretious, that therein reſteth all the felicitie of the Angels and ſaints, their only plentiful reward, their ſcepter, the diademe of their glory, and the full and perpetuall ioy that couereth their heads as with a crowne of victory, in a peace durable for euer. I beſeech thee therfore, O Lord, to giuegive mee grace, that withdrawing my affection more and more from the darke cloyſters of the earth, ſprinckled with teares, I may lift vp my deſires to the lightſome habitation of thy deitie, where the treaſures and incomparable ioyes of thy paradiſe do remaine in an eternall life. So that I may finiſhe my courſe in an earneſt and perpetuall meditation of this angelical and diuine being, and comforting my ſelf inceſſantly night and day, in that the promiſe is made vntounto mee through my ſauiour Ieſus Chriſt, to the end, that in my laſt hower (come out of my miſery and entered into my felicitie) I may with a happy flight goe take my reſt aboue in thy peace, O my God, which ſurmounteth all vnderſtanding, and for to ſing Pſalmes of thankſgiuing vntounto thee without end. So be it.