The Whole Duty of Divine Meditation, Part 2 · Meditation 28
MED. XXVIII. Upon Heaven.
Psal. lxxxvii. 2
Glorious things are spoken of thee, thou City of God.
BUT all the most exalted Encomiums are infinitely below thy deserved Lauds and Praises: For, What Humane Understanding, What created Tongue, can be able to comprehend or express thy ineffable Excellencies? If this Inferior Orb, the Place of our Exilement, and a Theatre of inevitable Miseries, be so wonderfully delightful, that our Eyes are entranced with the Variety of its Objects, and can never sufficiently admire the Marvels they behold; if the Firmament, which is but a Foot-cloth for the Saints to tread on, be enamell'd with so many Starry Jewels, and imbellish'd with such radient Planets, and glittering Constellations: How transcendent! how superlatively Magnificent are the Inner Appartments and Chambers of that Emperial Palace where the Adorable Deity does vouchsafe to communicate his Essential and Ecstatick Glories?
II. O DESIRABLE Mansion! One Minute's Residence in thy Celestial Courts, will make us more than Recompence for all the Afflictions we can possibly suffer in this Valley of Tears: And And how conceivably will our Reward be, when, by a Miracle of Divine Mercy, we shall be admitted to an Everlasting Participation of thy Immense and Inexpressible Felicities! It was the certain Hope of thy Enjoyment, which animated the Primitive Martyrs to sustain the most fiercest Tortures with an undaunted Constancy, and to triumph in the mid'st of their Conflagration.
III. THE comfortable Expectation of thy Fruition, was the Grand Motive which induced the Magnanimous Ignatius, when threatned by his Persecutors with Extremity of Torments, to make this Heroick Replication; Fire, Gallows, Beasts, Breaking of my Bones, Quartering of my Members, Crushing of my Body, all the Torments of the Devil together; let them come upon me, so I may enjoy my Lord Iesus Christ.
IV. IT is an undeniable Axiom, That all Secular Felicitities are built upon brittle Foundations. The most sublime Terrestrial Pleasures, even in their greatest Complacencies, are but transcient Vanities, and conclude in Vexation; but the Objects of the Celestial Habitations are refined to such an extraordinary degree of Perfection, that they will be able to satiate the most extended Desires of our capacious Souls: There we shall possess, in lieu of a living Mortality, which moves us towards the Grave, a Vitality glorious beyond Imagination, durable as the Ages of Eternity, and whose Enjoyment will entitle us to excessive and inexplicable Satisfactions.
V. IF we admire Beauty: Our ravish'd Eyes, in lieu of Corporeal Objects, shall behold those Immaterial Glories which flow from the Fountain of Uncreated Light, and shall be permitted to contemplate that wonderful Clearness which proceeds from the Beatifical Visage of the Supreme Creator. If Riches be the Center of our Affections: Gold, Pearls, Diamonds, Rubies, Jewels, and whatever we account most precious and estimable in the Universe, are but faint Metaphors to describe the Inestimable Treasures of the Supernal World.
VI. IF Honour be the Subject of our Ambition: What are Scepters and Crowns, but Illustrious Miseries? What are the Grandeurs upon Earth, but gaudy Shadows, in comparison of those Incorruptible Diadems, those permanent and Substantial Dignities which flourish Above. If we delight in Musick: There we shall hear the Panegyrical Anthems of the Seraphick Choir; and shall bear a part in the solemn Celebration of that Almighty Being, whose only Presence will be sufficient to replenish us with immeasurable Felicity.
VII. TO Conclude: Nothing can be ded to that Immensity of Beatitude which we shall there enjoy; but we shall be as perfectly Happy, as the immediate Vision of the Incomprehensibly Glorious Trinity, the Society of Angels, the Conversation of Triumphant Spirits, and the inexpressible Accommodations of a blissful Heaven can possibly make us.: And to consummate our Felicity, all our Enjoyments shall be invested with Eternal Glory.