The General Assembly, Title page – To the reader
THE General Aſſembly: OR, A DISCOURSE OF THE Gathering of all SAINTS to CHRIST.
WHEREIN It appears that all SAINTS in all Places and Ages, ſhall be at laſt gathered together to CHRIST their Head.
TOGETHER With the Time, Manner, Ends and Reaſons of this laſt Great Congregating of all SAINTS, and what uſe may be made thereof.
BEING Some MEDITATIONS upon 2 Theſs. II. 1.
By O. H. Miniſter of the GOSPEL.
Melch. Adam in vit Joan. Jacob Grynaei, Pag. 877.
O praeclarum illum diem cum ad illud animorum concilium caelum que proficiſcar: Et cum ex hâc turbâ & collatione diſcedam ſi enim Ethnicus (i. e. Seneca) ita ſenſit, cur nos Chriſtiani eodem animo non ſimus.
LONDON: Printed for Tho. Parkhurſt, at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapſide. 1700.
TO THE Chriſtian Reader.
NEXT to the immediate Injoyment of God (which is the Top and Height of a Gracious Souls felicity) it is no doubt an adventitious Comfort to the Children of God, that they ſhall meet with all the Holy Souls in Heaven, of whom they have heard, and with whom they have injoyed ſweet Communion in this lower World: What a raviſhing Tranſport of Love was there reciprocally betwixt loving Jonathan and his beloved David, in their mutual Embraces when they kiſſed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded, 1 Sam. 20.41. Who can read that Paſſage with dry Eyes! But oh, what raptures of tranſcendent Joy will theſe Holy Souls be filled with, upon their meeting in Heaven! Where briny Tears ſhall be whiped from their weeping Eyes, and Sin and Sorrow ſhall flee away! Such joy would break their Hearts and kill them (as the Father died for joy on his two Sons coming off Victors in the Olympick Games) did not Almighty grace inlarge their Veſſels to a vast Extent: When they told Jacob that Joſeph was yet alive, Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not, Gen. 45.26, 27.but when he ſaw the Wagons ſent to carry him, the ſpirit of Jacob revived: Oh but what full demonſtrations both of the certainty and excellency of our godly Friends felicity be in Glory! No heſitation remains either it be ſo, no bitter ingredients to allay this joy: How will theſe pure ſtreams mingle and recur with raviſhment to all Eternity! The once tender-hearted Mother, will turn her deſires into delight, and ſay, what my Son! Pro. 31.2.and what, the Son of my womb! and what, the Son of my vows! Thou art welcome hither, now my ſad Agonies are turned into triumphant Songs: What ſweet ſolace will the godly Husband and gracious Wife take in each other! Once heirs together of the grace of life, 1 Pet 3.7.now full poſſeſſours of the life of glory: The godly Chriſtian Friends that walked to the houſe of God in company, Pſal. 55.14.and took ſweet counſel together, are now abundantly ſatisfied with the fatneſs of God's houſe,Pſal 36.8. and drink of the rivers of pleaſures, yea bath themſelves in this ocean of delights: Surely it will be no ſmall acceſſion of their joy to meet their old Friends, Relations and Companions there, never to part more: If Archimedes was ſo tranſported with finding out a Mathematical Concluſion, that he cryed out [foreign, foreign] I have found, I have found it, much more will the glorified Saint be exceedingly raviſhed, when after all his Pains and Fears, he can ſay, I have found my beloved, and all my Chriſtian Friends before the Throne; Oh happy day, Oh raviſhing ſight! To behold the Sun of righteouſneſs in all his Glory, and thoſe radiant Stars glittering in that upper Firmament; this indeed will ſurprize the Soul with aſtoniſhment: The reading of the incomparable Writings of Eminent Miniſters, hath been often a great refreſhment to ſtudious and ſerious Souls: Heynſius, the learned Library keeper of Leyden, profeſſed, that when he had ſhut up himſelf among ſo many illuſtrious Souls, he ſeemed to ſit down there as in the very lap of Eternity, and pittied Rich Worldlings that were ſtrangers to his delights. Oh but what brave Souls are the Spirits of juſt Men made perfect! What pleaſure will they take in the graces and happineſs of each other! If David could ſay of Jonathan, very pleaſant haſt thou been unto me; 2 Sam. 1.26.thy love to me was wonderful paſſing the love of Women: O what love and delight will be above in the proper Element of Love! Where Souls will be filled with God, and delight in his Image ſhining in all the Saints.
It is certain, that all the real Saints that ever died ſince the World began, are taken up into Heaven and enjoy God and each other; but whether the Saints departed or Angels, were participants of that Glory before which they have ſince Christ's Aſcention into Heaven,Dr. Owens Chriſtolog. v. 158. is doubted by ſome, yea the contrary aſſerted, which I diſpute not; nay, I am apt to think, every glorified Soul, looſed from the Fleſh, will be ſome addition to the Joy of the glorified above: O what acclamations of joy will every Soul landing ſafely in Glory cauſe, to Coeleſtial Inhabitants! Well met, Brethren, after a tedious, dangerous Voyage, in this Haven of Rest: Glad, full glad are we that you are got ſafe into Abraham's boſom: And whether the Saints ſucceſſively going off the ſtage of the World, inform them above of the State of the Church below? I have not to ſay: But as there is no Grief there, or occaſions of Sorrow, ſo there is multitudes of objects and occaſions of Joy and Triumph, the felicitating object, the place, the company, the duration; all afford matter of Comfort: And why may we not think their Reflection upon their former State in this lower World, will contribute ſomething to their Refreſhment! Yea, and their communicating Experiences one to another in that bleſſed State: If any one doubt, whether glorified Souls will have ſuch mutual, intelligible Entercourſes with each other, for Satisfaction herein, let them read the excellent Diſcourſe of precious Mr. John Flavil, called foreign, or a Treatiſe of the Soul of Man from Page 274 to 281, wherein you'l find the Objection anſwered of their wanting the Organs and inſtruments of Speech and Hearing. Surely (he ſaith) the Spirits of juſt Men are not mutes, ſuch an Auguſt Aſſembly of holy and excellent Spirits, do not live together in their Fathers Houſe, without mutual Converſe and Fellowſhip with each other as well as with God: The great Queſtion is, how this Diſcourſe is managed, and he affirms out of Zanchy, that is but a turning the key of the Will, and their Thoughts and Deſires are preſently ſeen and known by others to whom they will diſcover them, as a Man's Face is ſeen in a Glaſs, when he pleaſeth to turn his Face to it: Would one Spirit make known his Mind to another, it is but to Will he ſhould know it, and it is immediately known: And this internal way of ſpeaking, is more noble, perfect and excellent then by Words and Signs, both in reſpect of clearneſs, and alſo of diſpatch and ſpeed: See both cleared, ubi Supra, p. 280.
This is the Language of Spirits (called the Tongue of Angels, 1 Cor. 13.1.) but after the Reſurrection when bodies are united to Souls, poſſibly there may be the uſe of bodily Organs, howbeit in a more excellent way then now they can: Yet in the glorified State the joy of the Soul ſhall redound to the Body;Weemſe p. 202. ſo that ſome think there will be no uſe of the baſer Sences but only of the noble Sences, as Seeing and Hearing: The best pleaſure is, that of the Souls ſpiritual delights, are far more pleaſant then ſenſual; immediately after a gracious Soul is parted from the Body, it attains to that perfection of Knowledge with more eaſe then it could attain to a ſmall degree of Knowledge whilſt in the Body: Yet its queſtioned whether the glorified Soul ſhall be in a proficiency of Knowledge, which yet will be an addition to its Happineſs: For, the Soul being a Finite Being, cannot attain to a comprehenſive Knowledge of God, but what they injoy will be beatifical: O what an emphaſis is in that Word, ſeeing God face to face, 1 Cor. 13.12. 1 John, 3.2.and ſeeing him as he is; who can now tell what it means? Its true the Saints happineſs lies in being ever with the Lord, 1 Theſ. 4.17. 1 Cor. 15.20.and God's being all in all to them: But this mutual Delight in one another will be a bleſſed Circumſtance of their Felicity.
Whilſt I was muſing on the great Number of precious Souls breathing their laſt, Miniſters and Chriſtians, formerly and lately, known and unknown, whom I ſhall never ſee any more in this World, I begun to contemplate what's become of them, ſurely they are not loſt but laid up, when ſhall we meet again? Where ſhall we meet? In what Place or Condition? I am aſſured by Divine Revelation, that the Souls of Believers do immediatly paſs into Glory, and as our Lord ſaith to the penitent dying Thief,Luke 23.43. to day ſhalt thou be with me in Paradice, ſo he ſaith of the Soul of Lazarus,Luke 16.22. that he was carried by the Angels into Abraham's boſom; there only Saints are, there all the Saints are, 'tis a Place and State proper to Saints only, yet common to all the Saints, not one excluded, we need not fear want of good Company, yet, it is not the company of fellow Saints that will make us happy, for as one ſaith, Though the Strings receive not their ſound and vertues from each other, yet their concurrence cauſeth that Harmony which could not be by one alone;Mr. Baxters Saints Boſt, Part I. p. 97. for all the lines may be drawn from the center, and not from each other, and yet their Collocation make them more comely then one alone could be: But in this, caution is neceſſary, that we give Christ his Prerogative, and aſcribe not too much to Man, to expect that from them that's not in them; Survivers are too prone to this Idolatry, as Popery teſtifies: But in Heaven our Affections will be regular, God will have his due, and Saints theirs; we ſhall behold God in his Saints: All the glory will redound to God in what God's Children have been and then are; when he ſhall come to be glorified in his Saints, and to be admired in all them that believe in that day. 2 Theſ. 1.10.Oh what an happy, honourable, triumphant Aſſembly will that be! The contemplation I have had of this Day and State, hath extorted from me theſe Meditations; which have been very delightful to me in tranſcribing, and I ſhall pray that they may be profitable to the Reader, and that we may land ſafe in that bleſſed Haven, where ſo many of our godly Friends and Relations are arrived, that we may rejoyce and ſing together the Song of Moſes and the Lamb for ever more: Which is the prayer and care of
thy faithful Friend and Monitor, O. H. Sept. 22. 1698.
2 THES. II. 1.
Now we beſeech you, brethren by the coming of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt, and by our gathering together unto him.