A Prospect of Heaven, Treatise · Chapter 24
CHAP. XXIV.
SECT. I.
MOreover, the affections of the Saints in glory are much enlarged, and are moſt quick and lively; our affections in this life are ſubject to diſtractions, but then they ſhall be compoſed and rightly placed.
1. In Special; the Saints ſhall love God with all their hearts,Sicut magnes impetum quendam imprimit ferro, quo illud ad magnetem trahitur, & ei ſe arctè jungit; ita Deus clarè conſpectus, impetum quendam imprimit animae, quo ipſa potentiſſimè in illum trahitur. Leſſius de ſummo bono. Ca. 11. with all their ſouls, with all their ſtrength: from the cleer contemplation of God preſently there ariſeth in the bleſſed a love, which moſt powerfully draws them unto God: and the greater any good is that is propounded, ſo much the more ſtrongly doth it draw the affection to it, eſpecially if it be cleerly diſcerned. But God is a good of infinite excellency, containing all things which the Saints can deſire, and is cleerly diſcerned by them, therefore he moſt ſtrongly draws their affections to himſelf. They ſhall in Heaven ſee ſo much excellency in God, and be ſo fill'd with his love, that their hearts ſhall be full of holy flames of love toward him: there ſhall be nothing either within them or without them to draw away their love from God, or leſſen or cool their affections toward him: all things that they ſhall ſee or hear, or underſtand, ſhall ſerve to fill them with his love, and keep up and confirm their love in the height of it for ever: they ſhall be ſo fully like to God, that it ſhall be impoſſible for them not to love him perfectly: God ſhall dwell in them, and they ſhall wholly poſſeſs him; and they ſhall dwell in God, and he ſhall wholly poſſeſs them: they ſhall be knit to each other in mutual love to all eternity. The principal employment of the Saints in Heaven is to love God; and all the vertues in Heaven are uſeleſs, except charity, and enjoyment, which is the reſt of love, and is alſo its recompence, ſaith S. Auguſtine; for as deſires do diſquiet lovers, when they poſſeſs not what they long for, ſo being now in the poſſeſſion of him whom they love, they are ſatisfied.
The love of the Saints in Heaven is much perfecter than ours upon the earth: whatever pains we take to love God on earth, our love is never without ſome notable defect to enfeeble it▪ i… is blind, becauſe faith that enlightens it, is (as one ſaith) a candle whoſe lamp is alwayes ſurrounded with a cloud or ſmoak: it is faint and drooping, becauſe we poſſeſs not the ſupream good we paſſionately affect, and being ſeparated from him, we are as well his Martyrs, as his Lovers. Here our love is alſo divided, becauſe ſelf-love is not yet extinguiſhed; and the greateſt Saints, if they mannage not their intentions well, do rob God of all the love wherewith they indulge themſelves. In brief! it is almoſt ever intereſted: we love not God ſo purely, as not to ſeek our own pleaſure with it, when we ſeek his glory; and we are more earneſt with God for riches and honours than for heavenly graces: but the Saints in glory have not one of theſe imperfections in their love; their love is not blind, becauſe they love him whom they ſee; and the brightneſs of glory that illuminates them, is a ray diſpelling all the darkneſs of their underſtandings: it languiſheth not as ours doth, nor ſpends it ſelf in its longings, becauſe they poſſeſs what they love, and being intimately united to God, are eternally inſeparable from him: their love is not divided, becauſe ſelf-love enters not into the celeſtial Jeruſalem, but is quenched by the flames of true charity; finally it is not intereſted, becauſe God's glory is the end of their deſires, yea in Heaven it ſelf they ſeek not ſo much their own happineſs as his glory.
SECT. II.
11. AS the Saints ſhall love God entirely, ſo they ſhall love each other in the Lord: they ſhall ſee the Image of God ſhining cleerly and gloriouſly in each other, and ſo ſhall love God in each other, and each other in God: Peter ſhall admire Chriſt in the glory conferred on Paul, and Paul ſhall admire Chriſt in the glory conferred on Peter: The Saints ſhall find themſelves all agreeing in God; and ſo among themſelves, they ſhall ſee nothing in any of their brethren, but what ſhall be moſt lovely, nothing to eſtrange their hearts, or damp their affections: they ſhall not be capable of any touch of envy, for every one of them ſhall be full of glory and bleſſedneſs: And albeit ſome have higher degrees of glory than others, yet this cauſeth no emulation or jealouſie among them. The variety of the world (as one obſerveth) is one of its rareſt ornaments; the flowers which checker a walk, do embelliſh it: the Stars which make an hundred ſeveral figures in the firmament, do ſet a luſtre upon its beauty; neither doth any thing make a Countrey more pleaſant, than the diverſity of the parts that compoſe it: the riches and glory of a ſtate dependeth upon its diverſity: if all ſubjects were of the ſame condition, there would neither be diverſion for ſtrangers, nor accommodation for the naturals. The ornament and profit of the body politique appeareth in this agreeable mixture of rich and poor, Artiſts and Husbandmen, Souldiers and Merchants, Magiſtrates and Miniſters; but here is the miſchief that attends it, that this variety of conditions which begets its beauty, breeds envy and jealouſie among the ſubjects: for as their goods are not common, becauſe their conditions are different, one is jealous of what another poſſeſſeth. Great men are apt to be proud, and to deſpiſe their inferiours: Men of low degree are envious, and murmure at thoſe that are above them. But in Heaven the difference of degrees produceth their beauty, and giveth no occaſion of envy or jealouſie; the Crowns of glorified Saints are proportionable to their labours and ſufferings for Chriſt. They that turn many to righteouſneſs ſhall ſhine as the Sun, Dan. 12. Peace bears rule among all the Inhabitants of Heaven: love which uniteth them renders their contentment common, though the juſtice that rewardeth them, maketh their condition gradually different. Every one is glad of anothers happineſs; and without intereſting in any one, they find that the felicity of particulars contributeth to that of the publique. In Heaven love is in its full perfection,Ludovic granat. Meditat. the property whereof is to cauſe all things to be common: there all the elect ſhall be more ſtraitly united to one another, than the Members of one and the ſame Body, becauſe all ſhall participate of the ſame ſpirit, which gives unto all one and the ſame being, one and the ſame bleſſed life. What is the cauſe why the members of one and the ſame body have ſo great an unity and love one to another, is it not becauſe they are all partakers of one and the ſame form? one and the ſame Soul giveth the ſame being and life to them all. Now if the ſpirit of a man hath power to cauſe ſo great an unity between the members that are ſo different in Offices and Natures: is it any wonder, if the Spirit of God Almighty, by whom all the Elect do live (which Spirit is as it were the common ſoul to them all) ſhould cauſe a greater and more perfect unity among them, eſpecially conſidering that the Spirit of God is a more noble cauſe, and of a more excellent vertue and power, and gives alſo a more noble being: now if this manner of unity and love do cauſe all things to be common, as we ſee in the members of one body, who rejoyce every one at each others felicity as its own: what delight then ſhall each one of the Elect take in the glory of all the reſt, conſidering that he ſhall entirely love every one of them as well as himſelf?