The Whole Duty of Mourning and Preparing Ourselves for Death, Part 1 · Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII. Eternal Life described, and practically considered.
THis Consideration of the last period of our Life ought most to affect us, which must end in Eternal Bliss, or everlasting Woe: this being duly thought upon, may serve to make a deeper Impression upon the Soul, and be retained in the memory more than all the memorials that have been rehearsed: Now would it not seem Strange, if any Person were to have Executed upon him the next day a Shameful and Ignominious Death, or to be Exalted to a Rich and Honourable Estate; think you that this Person could not keep in mind the Judgment approaching, or the glad Tidings of his Worldly Happiness, without the help of a remembrance: and more strange is it, that these great and main Concerns of Eternal Salvation, or Eternal Misery, should not by their own value press the Heart of Man with their ponderosity, unto a continual remembrance of them, without other warnings; when as we know not whether we shall have a days Respite before they approach.
II. The Last End of the Righteous is Eternal Life, and this Life consists especially with God and the Saints: Now, by Fellowship with God, Men come to see God, Math. 5.8. Even to see him as he is, 1 John. 3.2. to see his face, which no man can see, and live, Ex. 33.20. to see him, before whom the Glorious Seraphims, Cover their faces with their wings, Isa. 6.2. To see the Holy Trinity, the Blessed Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Cloathed, with the Sacred Robes of their several Beauty, and Majesty, shining distinctly, as the pure Jaspar, the Carnation Sardine, and the Green Emerald: Rev. 4.3. then the Son will manifest himself to those who are his, John. 14.21. and they shall behold his glory: John. 17.24. and and the Father shall be seen in him: John. 14.9, 10. and with them both, the seven spirits which are before the throne, even that one and the same spirit Enlightning with his Seven-Fold Graces and Gifts that bright Seven-fold Lamp of his Church. Rev. 14. chap. 4.5. 1 Cor. 12.11.
III. With this Vision, shall the soul be satisfied when it awakes: Psal. 17.15. and this Pleasure Surpasses all that Mortal Eye can behold; for even the Heavenly Angels, are but a shadow of that Goodness and Glory, which is in God the Creator and Author of all things: Rom. 11.36. all is but as a drop of a Bucket, or as a small Mote of dust, that turns not the ballance; yea; as nothing, and less then nothing before him: Isa. 40.15.17. The Beauty of this World, and the Excellencies of all Earthly things, are such as Eye hath seen, and the Heart imagined; but this Glory and Pleasant Countenance of God is Exceedingly above all that we can desire or think: Eph. 3.20. Such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor ever entred into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 1 Cor. 2.9.
IV. Now, we ought not to forget this End, but Imprint it in our minds; for though we know not distinctly, what the things prepared are, yet we know they are Great and Glorious; for so much is revealed unto us by Gods Spirit, and we have the mind of Christ: 1 Cor. 2.10.12.16. and therefore, O thou great being, teach us to make a Covenant with our Eyes; to turn them away from beholding of Vanity; and ever to look at this mark, and to feed our Eyes with a sight of this Glory, and even afarr off to behold it by Contemplation, until we approach neerer unto it, and with the Psalmist be satisfied therewith, Psal. 17.1….
V. And in our Fellowship with God, we are not only allowed to see him, but to enjoy him, and all that we see in him: by Covenant he gives himself to be our God: Gen. 17.7.8. and is our portion and inheritance: Psal. 16.5. Jer. 10.16. Lam. 3.24. in this Promise are Contained all the Riches of Glory, and all the Treasures of Immortality: and in all the Promises of the Gospel, there is not more Comfort, then that which is included in this Word: for what Gift is greater then God? or what can be wanting to them that have the Lord for their exceeding great reward: Gen. 15.1.
VI. The Comfort of this Gift is unspeakable for the present in the midst of affliction; but in the last period of our lives, then is the fulfilling of this, and the like Promises: therefore is that End ever to be remembred and longed after: then especially shall it appear how his Flock shall remain as Lambs in the Bosome of the Lord their Shepherd: Isa. 40.11. then will it be further revealed, how God dwelleth in them, and they in him: 1 John. 4.15, 16. he that fills heaven and Earth: Jer. 23.24. is himself a House wherein they shall dwell, and they a Mansion wherein he shall make his abode: John. 14.23. by this Heavenly Conjunction and Cohabitation with God shall the Elect be one, even as the Father and the Son are one; Christ in them and the Father in him, that they may be perfect in one: John. 17 22.
VII. This thrice Blessed and most Glorious Union is that Green bed of Christ and his Spouse, Cant. 1.16. an Eternal Paradise of Delights and Garden of Spiritual Comfort: by this Communion God Embraceth those who are his with both armes of his love, and putteth them in his bosom; Cant. 2.6. chap, 8.3. and in this divine Embracement there is felt more Happiness and Heavenly Joy, then all the Love and Fruits of Love, or whatsoever went under the Name of the Tenderest and Strongest affection in this World, could ever yield unto the Heart of Man: for if the first Fruits of Spiritual Joy now at this pesent, in the midst of Tribulation, be an Hundred fold more than all the Pleasure of Houses and Lands, Fathers and Mothers, Wife and Children, the most desirable things of this World; Mark. 10.29, 30. then how can it be but more then an Hundred Thousand fold Pleasure to enjoy the Beauty and Face of God in Heaven; to inherit the fulness of Joy in his Presence, and Pleasures for evermore at his Right Hand.
VIII. If the infinite Blessedness of the Glorious Persons in the Holy Trinity doth appear in their mutual Union, so that they were an all sufficient and Eternal delight unto themselves, in enjoying one another continually before the World was, and before Men or Angels were made: Pro. 8.30. then may we well think, how our Vessels shall be filled and overflow with Heavenly Comfort: 1 John. 14. when we come to Drink of that Divine Fountain, and Enter into our Masters Joy, Mat. 25.21.23. and taste the sweetness of that Communion; this Love of God is better then life it self: Psal. 63.3. and all our Life and Love of this World is to be hated in Comparison of it: Luke. 14.26.
IX. And as in Soul, so in Body shall we be made like unto Christ: our vile bodies shall be changed, and fashioned like unto his glorious body, and this according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself; Phil. 3.21. that is, as effectually and Comfortably as an Almighty Power is able to bring to pass: and therefore as in the transfiguration of Christ, his face did shine as the Sun; Mat. 17.2. Even so shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father: Mat. 13.43. as the raiment of Christ through the brightness of his Body, did shine as the Transparen light; and was exceding white as snow: Mark. 9.3. and withal white and glistring: Luke. 9.29. So the whole Person of the Righteous, made whiter then snow in their transfiguration, shall shine, Glister, and Sparkle, with a Radient Beauty and Heavenly Brightness, then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously, Isa. 24.23. then he shall be glorified in his Saints, and made marvellous in all them that believe: 2 Thes. 1.10.
X. If the Face of Moses, while he was yet Cloathed with Corruption, when he had seen but the Back-parts of the Almighty, and that but for a moment in one Vision, did yet shine so Gloriously, that Men fled away amazed from him and durst not behold the Brightness of his Countenance: Exod. 34.30. chap. 33.23 What then shall be the Glory of the Righteous when being Cloathed with Immortality, they shall see God Face to Face, and that in a perpetual Vision for evermore.
XI. From this Transfiguration of the Saints made so Glorious by the sight of God and Fellowship whith him, ariseth the Glory of their Fellowship one with another, which is also an unspeakable Felicity of the Second Life; to enjoy all the Beauty and all the Love, of all the Glorified Souls and Bodies in Heaven: as Jonathan seeing the Grace of God in David, was knit unto him, and loved him as his own Soul: 1 Sam. 18.1. So here the Saints beholding the Glory of God revealed in each other, shall be link'd together in the nearest bonds of entire Affection: they that first give themselves to God, do then give themselves to one another by the will of God: 2 Cor. 8.5. they are all one in Christ Jesus: Gal. 3.28. there is one body, and one spirit: Eph. 4.4. all are gathered together in one, under one head, whether things in heaven, or in Earth, Men and Angels whether they be Thrones, or Principalities, or Powers: Eph. 1.10.22. all things are the Saints, whether it be Pauls, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are theirs. and they are Christs, and Christ is Gods: 1 Cor. 3.21, 22, 23.
XII. Hereupon the Angels take the Souls of Men deceased into their Bosomes, and convey them to Heaven; and then even the Poorest of the Faithful come into the Bosomes of the chiefest among the Saints; even Lazarus the Beggar into Abraham he Patriarks Bosome: Luke. 16.22, 33. and not Lazarus only, but many from the East and West, shall come and Sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven: Mat. 8.11. then especially shall those which one Mourn'd for Zion, be filled with Comfort, and rejoyce for ever with Jerusalem: they shall suck and be satisfied with the Breasts of her Consolation: there is no weeping, nor Complaining; Rev. 21.4. no Curse, no angry Word; no Countenance of dislike, or disdain▪ no Evil, nor no occasion of Evil; no appearance of Evil, nor no suspicion of Evil: no want of Good in themselves, nor no envy of Good in others; but every Mans Joy doubled for anothers Salvation, and Glorified in anothers Glory.