Mount Pisgah, Part 3 · Section 1
The third Priviledge contained in Cohabitation is Fruition.
A third Priviledge implyed in the Saints being with the Lord, 3. Priviledge Fruition.is Fruition; Viſion, in Glory, is accompanied with fruition; and this is that which makes it truly beatifical: whatever glorified Saints ſee, they do enjoy, elſe this Viſion would not differ much from Report; nor that ſtate of glory, from an Heaven in a well-drawn Launskip. The very Reprobate (it ſeemeth) have a proſpect of Heaven, Luke 13.28but to their torment, they themſelves being thruſt out.
Now Fruition conſiſts of a ten-fold Ingredient or Property.
Viz.
1. Propriety.
2. Poſſeſſion.
3. Intimacy.
4. Suitableneſs
5. Satiety, or fulneſs.
6. Freſhneſs.
7. Preſent.
8. Fixedneſs.
9. Reflection.
10. Complacency.
The firſt Ingredient into Fruition is Propriety; 1. Ingredient Propriety.Whatſoever the Saints ſee in Heaven is their own; God ſaith to Abraham, Gen. 13.14now in the heavenly Canaan, what he once ſaid to him of the earthly, Lift up thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art Northward, Southward, Eaſtward and Weſtward; for all the land which thou ſeeſt … thee do I give it; whatever is within that vaſt circumference of Heaven it is Abraham's, and all his ſpiritual ſeeds for ever. Now David may tune his Michtam a key higher; and inſtead of, Gilead is mine, Pſal. 60.7, 8and Manaſſeh is mine, Ephraim and Judah, &c. he may now ſing, God is mine, and Chriſt is mine, and the Spirit is mine; all the elect Angels are mine, and all the whole Congregation of the firſt-born mine, all the glory of Heaven is mine. And ſo may the beſt of the Saints in heaven triumph, all is mine, and what pleaſures, or riches, or honours, or glory, or joyes, are in the preſence of God, they are all mine. foreign, John 1.13They did ſing ſo while yet in the valley of tears; or they might have ſung ſo; Faith gave them a title, their Jus adrem, a right to Heaven, but the bleſſed viſion giveth them now real intereſt, Jus in re, right in Heaven; and they need not now fear to call it theirs; they might have ſaid, my God, my Chriſt, and my Comforter here below, but one thing was to be done firſt; ſound Scripture evidence was to be cleared out, and ſealed up to their ſouls, but ſome or other defect therein (did not ſeldom) check their confidence, and damp their joy for a time. But now in glory Propriety is beyond all diſpute; their evidences were ſeen and allowed at their firſt admiſſion into Heaven, and now mine, mine, is their ſong and triumph to all eternity, and God is not aſhamed to be called their God; truly he was not aſhamed to be called ſo, even when they had but too much cauſe to be aſhamed of themſelves, and gave God too much cauſe to be aſhamed of them. But now God is ſo far from being aſhamed of owning them, that he rejoyceth in them, and glorieth over them.
This people I have formed for my ſelf, Iſai. 43.21they ſhall ſhew forth my praiſe: And again,
Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, verſe 1I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine.
Yea, I have loved thee with an everlaſting love, Jer. 31.3therefore with loving kindneſs have I drawn thee.
The Lord Jeſus Chriſt is not aſhamed to call them brethren; to own them for Subjects, Friends, Rev. 15.3 chap. 14.1Coheirs with himſelf in glory, his Bride. And they claim their Propriety in him as ſuch. The King of Saints, chap. 1.6 verſe 5, 9with their Fathers name written in their foreheads; they follow the Lamb whitherſoever he goeth, chap. 21.9 Mat. 18.10owning themſelves as his beloved, his redeemed, Kings and Prieſts unto God and his Father; yea, as the Lambs Wife. They have a propriety in all the elect Angels of God: they be ſtill their Angels, as ready to do them brotherly offices as ever, and take more complacency in their company and in them than ever, by how much more purified and Angelified they are, then when they lay among the pots of the earth, now made like themſelves, fellow Angels (as it were) as well as fellow Saints.
They have propriety in one another, although they may know ſome of the Saints under the notion of natural relations; yet do theſe all ceaſe there, as now being retired into the firſt and chief root and Spring-head of divine Relation; Children of one heavenly Father, in whoſe Houſe they are all together, embracing and courting one another in pureſt communion and communications of love; each Saint not more himſelf than his fellow Saints.
In a word; the place where the Saints are met together (never to part) it is their own, not a ſtrange Country (where they ſee one another as Strangers and Pilgrims do ſometimes viſit and comfort one another) Heaven is not a borrowed Palace (where they are admitted by curteſie) to celebrate a Feſtival for a few dayes or years, but the Saints in Heaven are at home now, 2 Cor. 5.2in their own houſe and Kingdom.
Their own
1. By Inheritance, Col. 1.13. An Inheritance prepared for them, from before the world had any foundation, but what it had in Gods Decree, Matth. 25.24.
2. By purchaſe: Therefore is Heaven called the Purchaſed poſſeſſion, Epheſ. 1.14. Their dear Lord and Bridegroom purchaſed them and their Inheritance together with his own blood, 1 Pet. 1.19.
He bought the Inheritance for them, and them for the Inheritance at the ſame price.
This is the firſt thing implyed in Fruition, Propriety; without which the viſion were no way beatifical; for how can that make me happy, which I have no title to or intereſt in? Tolle meum, tolle Deum.Take away mine and ye take away Heaven; yea, take away mine and ye take away God: good is no farther good (to me) than as it is mine; and as I may warrantably claim my right to it, and intereſt in it.
A ſecond Property of Fruition is, Poſſeſſion; 2. Ingredient Poſſeſſion.the Saints have not only propriety in Heaven, but Poſſeſſion of Heaven; when their deareſt and ſweeteſt Lord left the world, and aſcended to his Father, they took poſſeſſion of Heaven in him, as in their great Repreſentative and Head, Joh. 14.2. But when they aſcended to him, now they take poſſeſſion of it in their own perſons. They had livery and ſeaſin given them by the Father, upon the conſummation of their marriage with his dear Son Jeſus Chriſt, their Royal Bridegroom. And it was done in the preſence of the eternal Spirit, the publick Notary of Heaven, 1 John 5.8. All the holy Angels ſtanding by as ſo many Witneſſes; ſo that God himſelf could not make Heaven ſurer to them than he hath made it.
While the Saints were upon earth, Heaven was theirs, but it was only in reverſion, and they counted themſelves bleſſed in that, Matth. 5.3. But now reverſion is turned into poſſeſſion; the Saints hold nothing in Heaven by reverſion, that title ceaſeth there: All the Beatitudes in Heaven are preſent poſſeſſion; God, and Chriſt, and the Holy Ghoſt, Angels, and Saints, and all the glory of the upper world, are ſo many poſſeſſions; the Saints are poſſeſt of God, and poſſeſt of Chriſt, and poſſeſſed of the Holy Ghoſt, and poſſeſt of glory: as on the contrary, the damned in hell are poſſeſt of the Devil, they are poſſeſt of hell, and of utter darkneſs, and of the worm that ſhall never dye, &c. Oh dreadful poſſeſſion!
Hope was once their tenure: Titus 1.2 Rom. 5.1In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lye, &c. And they rejoyced in it; Ye rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God, and they bleſſed God for it: Bleſſed be the God and Father of our Lord Jeſus, which hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, &c. of which hope faith was the ſubſtance and baſis, Heb. 11.1. and even this hope was very precious unto them a little heaven upon earth, ſave that now and then ſome clouds of fear and doubts did interpoſe between heaven and their dim eye, and ſo eclipſed their viſion.
But faith and hope did ſet them down at the gate of heaven, and then, with Moſes, died in the mount; and took leave of them for ever.
And if faith was ſo precious to them then, what is ſight now? If hope made their hearts (not ſeldom) leap for joy, how doth poſſeſſion now fill them with joy unſpeakable and glorious, foreign, above all hyperbolye of expreſſion!
Object. If any ſhould be ſo critical as to object, In heaven the Saints live in the hope and faith of the continuance of heaven!
We make uſe of the Apoſtles Maxime for Anſwer.
Hope ſeen is not hope: Rom. 8.24All the glory of heaven is ſeen, and all is preſent, there is no futurity in heaven: heaven i… but one point of eternity; 1 Cor 13. laſtthe Saints have all beatitudes, and all at once in God; now abideth indeed faith and hope, but then poſſeſſion. Mat. 18.1They ſhall ſit down with Abraham, Iſaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is theirs, and they ſhall ſit by it. All the precious priviledges of the Goſpel, which coſt Chriſt ſo dear, are now perfected into full poſſeſſion. Adoption is now perfect; now they are the Sons of God, and they know what it is to be the Sons of God: Juſtification is now compleat: Sanctification is now at perfect age: In a word, all their hopes are now their inheritance. This is fruition!
A third Ingredient, of which Fruition doth conſiſt, 3. Property Intimacy.is Intimacy: Propriety and Poſſeſſion are not ſufficient to conſtitute fruition: Mutual converſe will not ſerve the turn, without intimate communion: Communion not with one anothers perſons only, but with one anothers ſpirits; this is fruition, when friends are poſſeſt of one anothers heart, and one anothers ſpirits. In Heaven there is not mutual cohabitation only, but mutual inhabitation. 1 John 4.16.This is the great beatitude of heaven, even vital viſion, with all the beatifying objects thereof; mutual in dwelling, and mutual in being. God dwells in the Saints, and the Saints dwell in God: It was ſo here, God is Love: He that dwells in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him. The Saints love to God is now made perfect (without a figure) and as their love is, ſo is their mutual in being, perfect; I in them, John 17.23and they in me, that they may be made perfect in one: Perfect, according to the ſupreme Exemplar, verſe 21As thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they alſo may he one in us: This alſo had its imitation on earth, it hath now its conſummation in heaven; the Saints can be no nearer God than they are: (Eſſential union is the ſole prerogative of the glorious Trinity:) They dwell alſo, in Chriſt; I in them, and they in me: Eternity is their wedding day, Heaven their bride-chamber, their bed of love is the heart of Chriſt, and it is alwayes green, alwayes freſh, and alwayes flouriſhing with interchangeable loves.
There the Saints ſee the place where they were conceived from all eternity, and read the very original thoughts wherewith their Redeemer and Bridegroom loved them, when as yet they were not formed in their Mothers belly; and their Epithalamium, or Nuptial ſong is, I am my Beloveds, and my Beloved is mine; Cant. 2.1…they began this Song in the day of their eſpouſals, and continue it in their everlaſting wedding-day, which they celebrate in mutual embraces and feſtivities, joying in one another, and glorying in one another, delighting themſelves in mutual appropriations and appreciations, mutually contemplating and commending one anothers beauties and perfections. Behold thou art fair, my Love, behold thou art fair, and there is no ſpot in thee.
The Angels and Saints in light, behold they dwell not with one another only, but in one another; they inhabit, as it were, in one anothers hearts.
That primative Congregation, Acts 4. was a lively type of this Royal Congregation of the firſt-born, Acts 2.1 foreign. Crederes unam ani…am in omnibus …eſſe diviſam. Chap. 4.32They are all with one accord in one place; ſo theſe, one place holds them all, and one ſoul animateth and acts them all. The whole multitude of Saints in heaven are, foreign, all of one heart and of one ſoul: Neither ſaid any of them, that ought of the things which he poſſeſſeth are their own, but the joy of one is the joy of all, (I cannot ſay the ſorrow of one is the ſorrow of all, for this is their prerogative which was not on earth, there is no ſorrow in heaven:) The Saints and Angels mutually open their hearts one to another, and communicate their notions, and myſteries, and loves, and deſires one to another, as having as much ſhare in; and right to one another as to themſelves.
Neither are thoſe celeſtial Inhabitants e're a whit the more remote from God, when they thus go into one another, There is no diverſion in Heaven from the ſummum bonuo….for (where ever it is) they meet with God, he fills Saints and Angels, not only as he doth the world, with the fulneſs of his being and power, but with the fulneſs of his glorious and beatifying preſence; they are ſtill in God, and God in them.
In a word, whatever beatitude there is in heaven, the Saints and Angels are in it: hence it is ſaid, they enter into joy: here below joy entred into them, but there they enter into joy: Heaven is all inſide, yea, God himſelf is the inſide of heaven: This is fruition indeed.
A fourth Ingredient into Fruition is, Fulneſs: A fourth In gredi… Falne….There is in Heaven good, and there is enough of it: Fulneſs to ſatisfaction: They ſhall be abundantly ſatisfied with the fatneſs of thy houſe, Pſal. …8.and thou ſhalt make them drink of the river of thy pleaſures: The joyes of heaven are compared to a Feaſt, Venachal g…ada necha.conſiſting of all imaginable rarities both of meats and drinks, fatneſs expreſſing the delicacy of food, and the River of Eden (for ſo the word ſignifieth) of the River of thy Eden; the raviſhing ſweetneſs of their drink, infinitely beyond all that is fancied by the Poets, of the Nectar and Ambroſia of the Gods (which indeed was but an imperfect notion of the joys of Heaven, filched out of ſome fragments of Scripture by thoſe blind Naturaliſts.) But of ſuch deliciouſneſs doth this marriage Supper conſiſt of, and there is plenty of them, plenty even to ſatiety, they ſhall be ſatisfied with the fatneſs, and inebriated with thoſe wines upon the lees well refined: The Maſter of the feaſt will ſay to his Gueſt;, then in the feaſt, what he ſaid here below in the figure.
Eat O friends, drink, yea, drink abundatlny, Cant. 5.1. Heb. Or be drunken with love.my beloved.
And it muſt needs be ſo; for every one of the glorified Inhabitants do enjoy an whole God, even the whole glorious and thrice bleſſed Trinity; an whole Chriſt in his glorified humane nature; every one doth enjoy an whole Heaven, with all the felicities of it, as much as if Heaven had been made but for one individual perſon. For although the Church of the firſt-born in heaven conſiſts of ten thouſand times ten thouſands, and thouſands of thouſands, yet hath no one the leſs for what others do enjoy.
As in Nature, every beholder hath an whole Sun, and the whole Heavens to himſelf, with all their ſplendour and influence, as much as if there were but one man in the world.
In terreſtrials (indeed) it is not ſo; there what one man hath, another hath not, and where many ſhare, every ſingle mans portion is the leſs: whence it is that Meum and Tuum fills all the world with quarrels and confuſions:
But there is no ſuch thing in heaven: the multitude of heirs do not divide or leſſen the Inheritance: the Reaſon is, becauſe there are no particles in Eſſentials; every one hath all, and none the leſs for what another enjoyeth.
Yea, the more, becauſe the joy of one is the joy of all; every heir of Glory enjoyeth not only what himſelf hath, but what his Co-heir hath too; ſo that upon the point each Saint enjoys as many heavens as there be Angels and Saints in heaven: A bleſſed Myſtery of Multiplication.
With thee is the fountain of life: Pſal. 36.9.how can they chuſe but be full, who are alwayes at the fountain-head? Yea, are alwayes drencht and immerſt in the immence Ocean of Beatitudes, God himſelf, the Latitude of all Being, Truth, and Good.
God is infinitely full of himſelf, and infinitely happy in his own happineſs, and infinitely ſatisfied in his own happineſs.
And this is the augment of the Saints joy, that they are not able to contain that infinite Object of Glory: apprehend it they may, comprehend it they cannot: And this the bleſſed Angels and Saints rejoyce in, that God only dwelleth in himſelf, and they in him, and are as full of God, as a finite Creature can be of an infinite Creator, brim-full, and running over: yet ſo, as that in all this reduncancy not one drop ſhall be ſpilt, or run waſt for all the overflowings of ſweetneſs and glory do run back again into the fountain, in ſtreams, or (rather) in the flames of love and admiration; they take in by fruition, and give out again by praiſe and admiration.
And thus of all other the unconceiveable Beatitudes of glory, there ſhall be ſatiety without nauſeating, ſo that they ſhall ſay they have enough, without envying others, or wiſhing more for themſelves. Now they may have ſome fits of joy, but then they ſhall have their fill; even the external ſences of the glorified body ſhall now contain more glory, 2 Cor. 4.17than the ſpiritual ſences of their Souls were capable of in this imperfect ſtate. foreign, a preſſing or oppreſſing weight.The Saints ſhall have as much glory as they are able to ſtand under; hence we read of a weight of glory, a weight that would utterly ſink and cruſh them into nothing, were there not an Arm of Omnipotence to ſuſtain them, and to make them bear it, as their Crown, not as a burden, with eaſe and delight.
Suitableneſs is another Ingredient into Fruition, 5 Ingredient Suitableneſs.without which both the former, ſcil. both Intimacy and Fulneſs would be a burden, and not a bliſs; ſuffering rather than fruition. In the choice of our inferiour felicities in this life, whether things or perſons, we have more reſpect to the ſuitableneſs of them, than to their preciouſneſs: the juſt content of the married eſtate conſiſts not in the rareneſs of beauty, or largeneſs of portion or poſſeſſions, no, not (alwayes) in the eminency of grace, but in the ſuitableneſs of diſpoſition; and ſo our experience will tell us of all other ſtates and conditions in the world; and this is the great infelicity of this preſent world, that it affords it not ſuch an abſolute parity between the perſon and the poſſeſſion (from the King upon the Throne, to the Hermit in the Cave) as that a Perſon ſhould be found that can ſay (unleſs it be upon the account of gracious ſubmiſſion to the divine will) I would not wiſh my condition other than it is.
This is only Heavens prerogative: All the Beatitudes of that upper world, both in their nature and degree, ſhall be moſt agreeable to the conſtitution of the Saints; in their nature, they being ſutable to the nature of the Saints, to the heavenly Principles of purity and holineſs communicated to them from the divine nature; both the objects and ſubjects of glory are of one and the ſame conſtitution. This muſt needs breed unconceiveable delight.
And as ſuitable are all the Joyes of Heaven in their degrees and proportions to the heavenly capacities: The Objects of glory.neither too much, nor too little, nor too heavy for the Saints to bear, nor too light, neither too vehement, nor overflat.
The weight of that prepared glory ſhall not be heavier than thoſe bleſſed Souls ſhall be well able to ſuſtain with exceeding pleaſure, neither ſhall it be ſo light, that they ſhall be able to ſay, I could bear more.
The light of glory ſhall not hurt the organ, by an over-vehement brightneſs; neither yet ſhall there be the leaſt dimneſs in it, to abate the delight of the acuteſt ſence.
The language of the new Jeruſalem, Iſai. 33.19. Gal. 4.26.ſhall be one and the ſame throughout all the ſtreets thereof; not a ſpeech deeper than the meaneſt Saint can perceive, nor a barbarous tongue that they cannot underſtand ſhall be heard there, but the Mother-language, intelligible and Iſacile to be underſtood and ſpoken, by the meaneſt Inhabitant, ſhall be the language of the upper Canaan, that all may hear, and all may underſtand, to their unſpeakable ſatisfaction.
The muſick of Heaven ſhall be ſweeteſt melody to every ear, and though it conſiſts of the rareſt ſtrains, and moſt delicate airs, that ever ear heard, yet it ſhall not tranſcend the skill of the loweſt capacity, but the meaneſt Choriſter in the heavenly Temple ſhall bear his part with the moſt Seraphick Angel, in the higher or lower praiſes of the moſt high God in moſt perfect Symphony.
The infinite variety of moſt luſcious delicacies, wherewith the Table ſhall be ſpread, where Abraham and all his ſpiritual Seed ſhall be feaſted, ſhall conſiſt of relliſhes ſuitable to the pallate of every Gueſt there; what is fancied of the Manna of the neather heavens, ſhall be fully verified of the Manna of the third heaven; it ſhall give that taſte to every palat, which every palat likes beſt, yea, all the Saints ſhall be but of one and the ſame gueſt, the delight of one is the delight of all.
In a word, all the Objects of glory do hit the faculty with a moſt perfect and commenſural proportion: there is nothing in heaven to offend or greive the leaſt in the Kingdom of God, yea, which is not of the moſt abſolute complacency.
Earth is a place of mixture and compoſition, ſomewhat ſuitable, and ſomewhat unſuitable; ſome pleaſure, ſome vexation: Hell and Heaven are the extremes: Hell is a place of unmixed torment, nothing there but what is renitency to the will of the damned; nothing preſent but what the Reprobate would not; nothing abſent but what he wiſheth for.
Heaven is a place of unmixed joy; Nullum bonum abeſſet hominis quod recta voluntas op…ar… poſſit. Aug. De Ci. vit. Dei.nothing wanting of all that bleſſed Souls can rationally deſire; nothing abſent, the abſence whereof can poſſibly give any check to their fulleſt delight.
And though poſſibly there may be ſeveral orbs of glory, (for as one Star differeth from another in glory, ſo alſo is the Reſurrection of the dead) yet ſhall not the inferiour orbe envy the ſuperiour, nor think it ſelf too low; there ſhall be no ſuch voices heard from the mouth of any the meaneſt Inhabitant, Oh were I but in ſuch a ſuperiour orbe I ſhould be happy, ſuch a Manſion would pleaſe me better: This would deſtroy fruition, and make heaven ceaſe to be heaven: but no ſuch whiſper is to be heard, no ſuch thought in that holy Mountain; becauſe, the glory of one is the glory of all, and every Saint is as happy in anothers fulneſs, as in its own; yea, it enjoyeth its own and the others glory too; the narroweſt capacity is widened by the others fulneſs; the joy of one is the joy of all.
In a word, the Saints ſhall live in love, and have all in him who is all, not ſo much as wiſhing their fellow Saints leſs, or themſelves more, nor any thing in that whole world of felicities otherwiſe than it is. This is fruition.
Oh that all that have this bope in them would ſtudy to begin this life here below!
The next property of this fruition is Fixedneſs: 6. Fixedneſs.There be of thoſe things in the world which men call felicities, which (if they be not miſtaken in their nature) to be ſure they will find floating and unfixed. There is ſcarce a comfort which we poſſeſs in this moveable world, that we can find the ſame at the years end, or at the months end, which we fancy them to be at the beginning: all our moſt beautiful objects, how quickly they change colour, and our very options grow ſtale upon our hands, In the morning it flouriſheth and groweth up, in the evening it is cut down and withereth, 1 Pet. 1.4.Pſal. 90 6. But bleſſed be the God and Father of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us to an inheritance, foreign, Iſidore. Semper vivens.uncorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away; the heavenly inheritance is compared to that precious ſtone that cannot be ſoiled; (as one of the Antients writes) and to a choice flower that never withereth, but is alwayes green.foreign, 1 Cor. 7.31. 1 John 2.18. foreign, a mathematical figure. Rev. 4.8. Mat. 18.10. Worldly pleaſures engratiate themſelves by intermiſſion: Voluptates commendst rarior uſus. Whereas heavenly pleaſures heighten and advance themſelves by fixed and conſtant emanations.
The world is compared to a Stage, where the Scean is quickly changed, and another face of things doth ſuddenly appear; but Heaven is a place of fixed and immutable beatitudes: Heaven is ſtill of one faſhion, their work the ſame, they reſt not day and night, ſaying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
And their joy the ſame; They do alwayes behold the face of their heavenly Father. They are in God, like God, Yeſterday, and to day, and the ſame for ever; with whom is no variableneſs, neither ſhadow of turning. The Saints in Heaven are ſo far from mutation, that there is no ſhadow of it. Here on earth our choiceſt delights meet with changes; created beings ſhew their face a while, then hide it again; their colour goes and comes, they are alwayes in motu & fluxu. Godly acquaintance is ſweet, but the farewell is bitter; we call at the door, and ſip of the cup, but we cannot ſtay by it. The beſt of our time is but a ſeventh part of it, and how wofully full of diverſions! Such is our heaven on earth; but our heaven in glory, or our glory in heaven, is not ſo, God is the only unchangeable object of the Soul; there the Soul ſtayes, and ſucks, and drinks immeaſurably, and yet there is not a drop leſs in the object.
A ſeventh property is Reflextion. 7. Property, Reflection.Reflexion is one of the choiceſt Ingredients into Fruition: to enjoy Heaven in all the beatitudes thereof, and to know I do enjoy it, this is the beatitude of all beatitudes. Direct Acts and Priviledges of Grace, ſcil. to believe, to love Chriſt, to be united to him, to have communion with him, to be cloathed with his Righteouſneſs, to be acted by his Spirit, &c. theſe may make a Chriſtian ſafe, but (alone) they cannot make him ſure: theſe may conſtitute a Chriſtian happy, but not give him the comfort of his happineſs: and how many precious Saints of God are there in this vale of tears, whoſe all conſiſts in theſe bare naked direct acts; the new-born Babe, Vivit & eſt vitae neſcius ipſo ſuae.oft like the natural Babes in the womb, hath ſpiritual life in him, but he knoweth it not? how many gracious Souls believe, but know not they do believe? Yea, cannot believe, they do believe? They think they have no grace, becauſe they have ſo much corruption; they think they have no grace, becauſe they have not ſo much grace as they would have; they love Chriſt, but know not they love Chriſt: they covet ſo much love to Chriſt, that they ſeem to themſelves to have none at all; they are united to Chriſt, and have communion with him, but can apprehend neither this nor the other. Et ſic in caeteris.
And this is that which makes their lives ſo uncomfortable to them for the preſent, Pſal. 42.9.and cauſeth them to go mourning all the day long; yea, ſometimes with Mary, they talk with Chriſt, and Chriſt with them, but their eyes are held, they know him not. Chriſt and the Soul ſpeak like ſtrangers one to another, John 20.15.Woman, ſaith Chriſt: Sir, ſaith the Soul: Until Chriſt be pleaſed to ſpeak in a more familiar dialect, better underſtood by the poor Believer, (Mary) and then the raviſhed Soul turns it ſelf unto him, ver. 16.and ſpringing into his arms, cryes out, (Rabboni) My Maſter, my Lord and my God.
It fareth with many a poor believer here in the wilderneſs of deſertion, Gen. 21.16.17.18: Iſai. 12.3.as it did with Hagar in hers, they ſit down to dye, for want of water, when there is a well before them; yea, ver. 19.many a well of living water (the precious promiſes) out of which wells of ſalvation they might with joy draw water, and drink and forget their ſorrows; but alas they ſee them not, until God open their eyes, and then they can go and fill their bottles, and drink, and cauſe others to drink alſo. This is oft the ſtate of the way! Oh but now, in the Country, the land of fruition, there the Saints have their reflext Acts as well as their direct Acts; they ſee, and they know they ſee; they love, and they know they love; yea, they are beloved, and they know they are beloved: They are bathing themſelves in the Rivers of pleaſures, and they know where they are, and what they do: All tears are wiped from their eyes, and they know who wiped them off with the kiſſes of his mouth. They are ſafe, yea, and they are ſure; they are bleſſed, and they know they are bleſſed. The Spouſe is now got into the Throne, the boſom of her Beloved, the King of Glory, and there ſhe ſingeth (and ſhe ſins not in it as the Harlot did) Here I ſit as a Queen, Rev. 18.7.and am no widow, and ſhall ſee ſorrow no more for ever.
In a word, all the acts of love, and joy, and delight in Heaven, are acts of higheſt aſſurance, without the leaſt mixture of doubt and uncertainty. There is no fear in this love, becauſe love being now perfected, hath caſt out fear. And now the Saints come to ſee the reaſon of their love to God to be Gods love to them, and the reaſon of Gods love to them to be God himſelf; and in this the Soul ſweetly acquieſceth triumphing for ever; I am my Beloveds, and my Beloved is mine; for he hath loved me with an everlaſting love; therefore with loving kindneſs will he draw me, and I ſhall remain in his love for ever.
Eighth, Freſhneſs. 8. Properly, Freſhneſs.The Joyes of the glorified Saints are alwayes freſh from the Spring-head, that makes them ſo ſweet and luſcious: what we receive by the mediation of Creature-Conduits, loſeth much of its native delicacy. Heaven is an Inheritance incorruptible, 1 Pet. 1 4. foreign. Druſius. The name of a flower called Amarantus.and that fadeth not away: It is incorruptible, not foreign only that cannot dye, but foreign, not obnoxious to corruption, it is made all of materials that cannot corrupt; and as it is in incorruptible, ſo it is foreign alſo, ſtill freſh and green.
Adam and Eve were created in the prime ripeneſs and bravery of the humane nature, in perfection of beauty and ſtrength, and ſuch ſhall all the Saints be reſtored, of what age and ſtate of body ſoever they lay down in the grave; the Children of the Reſurrection ſhall riſe (in the morning) in the moſt ſparkling gallantry of youth, and in that poſture ſhall be for ever. Like as the Angels are pictured to us, in the adult and perfect beauty of youth, not (indeed) of infancy, that would import immaturity; nor yet of old age, that would intimate a declining ſtate; but (I ſay) of youth, to ſhew they ſtill retain the vive impreſſions of their firſt Creation.
The moſt delicate of all our ſublunary delights, of which we are (at firſt) ſo fond, that we cannot ſpare them a moment out of our eye, but are alwayes courting of them, and ſolacing our ſelves in their fruition, do quickly grow ſtale and flat upon our hands.
What is ſtoried of Tython, a beautiful active young man, holds full analogy with all our Creature-felicities; Aurora (for the elegancy of his perſon and induſtry) begg'd him of Jupiter to be her Husband; withall praying, that he might never dye; both which Jupiter granted; but ſhe, through her womaniſh inadvertency, forgetting to pray that he might not grow old as well as not dye, in his old age he grew impotent and burdenſome to himſelf, and to Aurora too; ſo that repenting of her choice, Jupiter out of pity turn'd him into a Graſhopper.
Such are all our worldly beatitudes, we would fain eſpouſe them to our ſelves, and write eternity upon them; but how brave and ſprightly ſoever they appear in our firſt appetitions of them, they quickly grow old and faſtidious, and ſignifie no more than ſo many impotent Graſhoppers.
But now there is no ſuch thing in Heaven; there is eternity but no old age; the joyes of heaven are alwayes young.
The flowers of Paradiſe, of which the Saints Poſie is made, do neither wither nor change colour, the drops of their morning dew ſtanding thick upon them (like orient Pearls) preſerve them in their perpetual verdure and odoriferouſneſs.
God himſelf the fountain and ſpring of all thoſe glorious beings, is not a moment older than he was from all eternity; and therefore all their freſh ſprings being in God, their roots feed their branches with continual and unchangeable moiſture and influence.
God, who is an Object of infinite fulneſs, doth alwayes feaſt the glorified Saints and Angels with freſh viſions of delight and wonder.
Yea, God himſelf, the fountain and ſpring-head of all thoſe glorious Beatitudes, doth waſh their roots perpetually with freſh moiſture and influence: though God be but one and the ſame ineffable eſſence, yet he being an Object of ſuch infinite fulneſs, it cannot be conceived, but he muſt needs feaſt the eye of the glorified Angels and Saints with freſh diſcoveries of delight and wonder to all eternity; ſo that they can never be cloyed or furfeited with the ſame beatifical viſion.
All the joyes of Heaven are preſent; 9. Property, Preſent.there is nothing in the beatifical viſion antecedaneous or future: but as God himſelf is but one pure Act or Being, alwayes the ſame, from eternity to eternity, ſo are all the felicities of Heaven.
There are no fragments in glory: There is nothing in glory which ſhall be, and is not; nor any thing in fruition which ſhall ever ceaſe or change.
Glory borrows that immenſe title of the God of Glory, (what the Jews ſay of the ten Commandements) is, Rev. 1.4. foreign.and was, and is to come; a name that is not to be divided or taken aſunder, but muſt be ſpoken all together in one word.
So Is, as that it was, ſo was as that it ſhall be, ſo ſhall be as that it is: Eternity is a ſingle Point, ſuch are all the bleſſedneſſes of the Saints, were, and are, and ſhall be: ſo Paſt, as to come, and ſo to come as preſent, this is a myſtery, and it is marvellous in our eyes.
Out of theſe nine Ingredients or Properties there ariſeth a tenth, the very top of all, ſcil. Delight and Complacency; 10 Property. Complacency.and this makes Heaven to be Heaven indeed, the joy of the Lord, even the ſame joy which God himſelf poſſeſſeth; the ſame for kind, though not for degree.
Propriety, Poſſeſſion, Intimacy, Suitableneſs, Satiety, Reflexion, Immutability, they all meet in God eſſentially, making up an infinite delight and complacency in the Saints and Angels, they are perfectly, though bounded and limitted according to the capacity of the Creature, We cannot conceive it until it receive us.making up a delight and joy, which (on this ſide Heaven) paſſeth all underſtanding; of which the Pſalmiſt ſings,
In thy preſence is fulneſs of joy, Pſal. 16.11.and at thy right hand are pleaſures for evermore.
Behold faith in the glorious Redeemer doth (at times) raiſe the Soul of the poor Believer to a marvellous high pitch of joy and raviſhment, 1 Pet. 1.8.Whom having not ſeen ye love, in whom, though ye now ſee him not, yet believing ye rejoyce, with joy unſpeakable and full of glory.
The expreſſion is very full, faith brings the Soul in love with an unſeen Chriſt, and fills the heart with joy; not ordinary joy, ſuch as men do eaſily expreſs upon all occaſions, but unſpeakable, the heart conceives ſuch joy that the tongue cannot utter, foreign, ineffabilis. foreign.yea, it is not to be uttered by the tongue of men or Angels; it cannot be ſpoken, it is ineffable, and that is not all, it follows, it is glorious, and our tranſlation gives it an addition very emphatical, Of the Saints j…y and delight in heaven, ſee incomparable Mr. Baxter's Saints everlaſting reſt, p. 41 part. 1. And elſe where abundantly.full of glory; and yet that reacheth not the top of this joy, for the Greek ſignifieth not glorious only, but Glorified: faith fills the heart with glorified joy, a joy that rivals (as it were) the joy of the glorified Saints, a joy which ſets the Soul for the preſent above it ſelf, and puts it into Heaven before its time. Oh Chriſtians, if faith, (which muſt not enter in within the veil) can tranſport the Soul into ſuch extatical raptures, what can viſion and fruition do? Oh the mountings of mind, the raviſhing joys of heart, the ſolace of ſoul, which glorified Saints poſſeſs in the beatifical viſion!
The Soul ſhall live in joy, and be filled with delight in the mirrour of all delights; love and joy ſhall run in a circle, and mutually empty themſelves into one another, love ſhall diſſolve into joy, and joy ſhall reſolve into love, a River, an Ocean of unmixed Complacency, wherein the Soul ſhall bathe it ſelf for ever
The Saints are ſo pleaſed with their own beatitudes, that as they cannot ſpare any joy they have, ſo they know not what their ſouls can wiſh for more. This is pure complacency, there are none above them that they need envy, none beneath them capable of their pity. Oh bleſſed ſtate!