A Comment Upon Christs Last Prayer, Verse 26 · Doctrine 2
Our Union and Communion with God in Chriſt is the top of our happineſs in Heaven.Doct. 2.
And therefore this comes in as the laſt Iſſue of al that our Savior had prayed or could pray for, for them. The good of what he did deſire for them in Heaven, Father I wil, that thoſe, whom thou haſt given me, be where I am, that they may behold the glory, that thou haſt given me, for thou haſt loved me, before the foundation of the world. It was not to be in Heaven, nor to have glory in themſelves, but to gaze upon the glory, which was given to Chriſt, and was in him, from his Fathers love
The good and benefit of what he had done, and what he would do for them for ever here on Earth: yea the end and ſcope of al that they did in attending and in receiving direction from our Savior, and the glorious things that he had revealed unto them, Its here reſolved; I have made known, and will make known thy Name: they learned, and ſhal learn, what I ſhal teach on Earth; That they may be in Heaven and glory in me, That ſo they may get into the Boſom of the Father, and the love, wherewith he hath loved me, might be in them. And I in them. Hither he leads them, and here he leaves them, in the arms of Gods everlaſting love.
Here is the landing place, what Chriſt deſires for them in their behalf. The good of al, that he ſhould provide, and they ſhould receive, under his daily diſpenſations, by Hearing, Praying, Word, Ordinances, Providences, its al to bring them to Heaven, that they might be in glory, and his love might be in them.
Here he lands al. Ye muſt go beyond God himſelf, and the firſt out-goings of the Deity, if ye go any further.
We ſhal open here two things.
1. What this happineſs of Heaven is.
2. How this is the top and higheſt ſtrain of it.
1. Happineſs is a ful fruition of al Spiritual good things in ſo perfect a manner, as our feeble Natures are capable of,
Two things are to be attended in the Deſcription.
1. There muſt be a confluence and concurrence of all ſpiritual good things.
For we now ſpeak of the happineſs of the Soul, and that which is inward and ſpiritual: not of any outward and temporal happineſs, which is to be found in theſe outward things, and belongs alſo to wicked men; For they may proſper in them. For they grow as the graſs, and workers of iniquity flouriſh. It was that which Jeremy ſaw, and that which ſome repine at; Jer. 12.1. Why doth the way of the wicked proſper?
But we ſpeak now of ſpiritual, Heavenly, and eternal happineſs, and the firſt ingredient which is here eſpecially required, is, That there muſt be a meeting together of all ſpiritual good things. The gathering together of the Waters make the Sea: not the ſcattering of them in ſundry places, or the meeting of ſome little rivelets. So the gathering together of al ſuch ſpiritual excellencies, which anſwer the deſire and welfare of the Soul: Theſe make a compound of ſufficiency of ſupply, which we cal Felicity. As a Poſie of al Flowers. An Elixer, or Quinteſſence of al Cordials. Pſal. 144.15. Happy is that people that is in ſuch a caſe: Yea, happy is that people, whoſe God is the Lord.
Now theſe good things are conſidered, according to the pith, and ſubſtance of them, or according to the pleaſantneſs and ſweetneſs that doth attend upon them, and accompany them and the injoyment of them.
The confluence of thoſe good things, wherein the Marrow of a mans happineſs eſpecially conſiſts, may be preſented to our apprehenſions in three particulars
1. When the whole Soul, and ſo the whole man, is ſo wholly poſſeſſed of al Grace, that it can and doth put forth the exerciſe of al vertues, Intellectual and Moral, of the underſtanding and wil, exactly, to anſwer al the rules thereof according as occaſion at any time ſhal cal for the ſame.
Its not to have good, but to do good, which is a mans happines, Jam. 1.25. — b…eſſed in his deed. To do wel is our greateſt welfare in this world. Adam had al Grace, but was not happy with that, but fel away from God, deſtroyed himſelf and his poſterity. But if theſe things abound, ye ſhal never ſal. 2 Pet. 1.10. And it was Epaphras his Prayer, That they might be perfect, and carried ful fail in every good wil of God. Col. 4.12. So far, as the Soul miſſeth, is weak, or wanting in any work, when God cals, ſo far he miſſeth, and fals ſhort of his happineſs, and miſſeth of the ful injoyment of his laſt end.
That is to do al Gods wils, to wil Gods wils, to meet with him in every act, to give entertainment to him, and to take contentment in him. When we do his wil on Earth, as it is done in Heaven, we are then in the Suburbs of Heaven. He formed us for himſelf, and then we attain his end, and our own good alſo, when we ſhew forth his praiſe. Iſa. 43.21. And therefore Jam. 1.4. He wiſheth that patience may have her perfect work, have the exerciſe of al trials and miſeries, that we may be handy at al weapons: when we have with meekneſs borne one evil, we may with quietneſs bear al,
But what benefit wil there be in that?
Ye ſhal be perfect, Entire, and wanting nothing. When we grow skilful in the bearing of al trials, we then out-bid al evils, we meet with, in others, and in our own hearts: meet with God in the exerciſe of al his rules, injoy him in al, and ſo our end and good in the bearing of it: and therefore can want no good: becauſe we are not wanting to any rule, nor exerciſe of any Grace or Duty.
2. As the whole Soul doth put forth the exerciſe of al vertues to anſwer Gods wil and pleaſe him: The Lord alſo, he freely and fully lets in himſelf, and communicates of al his glorious excellencies to the Soul, and fils it ful of himſelf, and the glorious expreſſions and operations of his Spirit, pleaſeth us, and applies himſelf to us, whereby the Soul is furniſhed and fitted to do more and have more of God. Iſa. 64.5. Thou meeteſt him that rejoyceth and worketh righteouſneſs. He that doth more for God, God communicates more to him. A good work is the reward of it ſelf. Do and live. That is, do, and be inabled to do. For, to live, is to put forth acts of Obedience. And when Adam had pleaſed God, and attained this his Chief good and end, he could go no further, nor have any better, and therefore the reward was, That God would immutably aſſiſt him, that he ſhould be inabled to love him and pleaſe him.
So that however the Lord God is the Objective happineſs of the Soul, and ſo the happineſs of al is equal, and the ſame, as God is the ſame: Yet the more the heart is inlarged for God and laies out it ſelf in holy ſervices for his honor:
The more the Lord wil be in the communications of himſelf, and the more ful and effectual in lettings of his gracious preſence and operations of his Spirit into the Soul. And ſo the reward is proportioned to the work. Shall I withhold any thing from Abraham, for I know that he will command his Children, and his houſhold after him, and they ſhall keep the way of the Lord, to do Juſtice and Judgment &c. Gen. 18.17.19. He that loves and keeps: The Father and Chriſt wil come and manifeſt or ſhew themſelves to him. Joh. 14.21.23. And 2 Chron. 16.9. He wil ſhew himſelf ſtrong in the behalf of them, whoſe heart is perfect towards him.
3. The Soul acting upon God and meeting with him, in al the acts and exerciſe of the whole man, doth not only cloſe with the operations and expreſſions of God, let in: But laies hold upon that infinite excellency and ſufficiency in himſelf, and ſucks out a ſatisfactory ſweetneſs therein, through al eternity. For though it be the end of the Soul, being made for God, to work for him, and put forth al ſuch operations: yet I ſuſpect, the bare working is not al, nor the ful end of the Soul: But in this working to cloſe with God, and ſuck out a ſufficiency of ſupply from him. For no Creature, that is finite, can be the end of the Soul, nor give ſatisfaction to it. But all the expreſſions of God, let in, are ſuch. Therefore there is ſomthing more required. Lament. 3. The Lord is my portion. Whom have I in Heaven? Pſal. 73. Herein lies the pith of our happineſs; our pleaſing of God, our taking poſſeſſion, and ſo by fruition injoying of God. But ever with this good; wherein our bleſſedneſs doth conſiſt: There is ever a ſweetneſs and pleaſantneſs, that doth accompany the fruition of this, with a freedom and abſence of any evil or grievance in the leaſt kind or meaſure that may hurtfully annoy.
For where there is the fulneſs of an infinite good, letting in it ſelf, ſuitable to our deſires or wants, there can be no grievance in reaſon poſſible.
The Aromatical ſent of the Cordial is one thing, the Cordial another. The Poſie is one, the Smel another.
If a man were free from al Grievance in Heaven, if the Soul ſhould not cloſe with God, nor God let in the expreſſions of his Grace; Heaven were a Hell.
Therefore this is not our happineſs, but an attendant upon it. Pſal. 17.15. and 63.3. Thy loving kindneſs is better than life.
2. Member is.
This is done in ſo perfect a manner, as our Human Natures are capable of.
That lies in two things.
1. We ſhal ſee and injoy God immediately, not by means. And 1 Cor. 13.12. We ſhal ſee him as he is. And therefore not darkly, but clearly, not as vailed and covered in the works of Creation, but ſee him Face to Face. Therefore not ſee him ſparingly, and little of him, not as he drops himſelf in the means: and therefore we can ſee nor receive him in no other meaſure than they wil communicate: but we ſhal l…ve at the Wel and Fountain Head, he ſhal let out himſelf fully: We ſhal know as we are known. 1 Cor. 15.28. God ſhal be all in all.
2. As there is nothing to leſſen the fulneſs of the communication of himſelf and goodneſs, ſo there is nothing to abate and take off the ſweetneſs of the good we do injoy.
And this is the priviledg of Heaven: the unconceivable beauty and brightneſs of the place may d…zel us: but that it is free from the preſence of any evil. Rev. 21.27. No evil thing was ever there to defile it, nor can come there to annoy it. Eph. 1.21. Far above al principalities and powers. Whereas had we been in the world, we ſhould have been amongſt Devils and his Angels, wicked and ungodly men, the preſence whereof would have been grievous to us, though they ſhould never have prevailed againſt us through their Malice.
2. How this Ʋnion and Communion comes to be the top of this happineſs.
1. If we receive more from God, and do more for him: by this then we are more happy. For the more we have of our end, the more happy we be.
But by this we receive more from God, and do more for him. 1. More for him. Becauſe it was a principle of Grace which Adam received, when he was created, and it was that, which ſhould have been increaſed in a greater degree, if he had been glorified
But when man was loſt, it was not the Creature, nor any mutable principle in the Creature, that could bring the Soul to God, or keep it with him.
But God ſent his Son: and the God-Head of Chriſt in the Nature of man could only, and did only bring back the Soul to himſelf.
Nay God did his beſt, as I may ſay, and put forth the higheſt ſtrain of his excellency. Here was wiſdom above al the Wiſdom of Creation to contrive this: Almighty power above al the power of the Creature to work this; Grace above al the Grace of Creation, that muſt eſtabliſh this: for that Grace which Adam had, he loſt.
It was not now ſaying, Let man be Redeemed, But Chriſt muſt ſhed his Blood, or Els it could not be. 2. Theſſ. 1.10. — Admired in them that Beleeve. Admiration preſumes ſomthing not expected, or we cannot tel what to make of it when the Devils and wicked men, who knew ſuch men in their unbeleeving courſes under the curſe ſhal ſee them pardoned, reconciled; they that were Enemies to God, made now one with God in Chriſt, they wil be aſtoniſhed at it, 2 Theſſ. 1.12. That the Name of Chriſt, as he is made known in his word and work of Redemption may be made glorious, he in the Father giving al, and that meerly out of Grace. Joh. 13.31, 32.
2. We do more for God in Chriſt. For as he doth al by man, and he doth nothing: So he receives al from man, he takes nothing to himſelf.
Had Adam ſtood, man by Grace might have purchaſed life, and communicated it unto man in way of Covenant. Now the Covenant of works is, do and live. Its God in Chriſt doth al: and therefore he muſt through Chriſt receive al. We were formed to ſet forth his praiſe, and ſo we do. I live not, therefore work not. But Chriſt. Gal. 2.20. We are his workmanſhip, Its not ours, of our ſelves. Eph. 2.10. We are kept by the power of God through Faith. 1 Pet. 1.5. And ſo ſanctified by the power of God, quickened by the power of God through Faith &c. Its Chriſt is made of God, Wiſdom, Juſtification, Sanctification, Redemption, and ſo al the glory goeth to God in Chriſt.
2. By the neerneſs of this Union, we ſuck out the ſweetneſs of our end and laſt good, and ſo become happy thereby. Its Pauls expreſſion of the glory of Heaven. 1 Theſſ. 4.17. We ſhall ever be with him. To be in Heaven doth not make us happy (look we at the place Barely as a place) but to be with Chriſt. This is but the Suburbs, or the verge and skirts of Heaven, by this we get into the inmoſt Room.
Adam by Obedience and the Work of his Grace had met with him, and communicated of Grace from him, working as he wrought: but here is the Crown of his Glory.
Not to be in Heaven, nor glorious by Grace in us; that is a Creature: but we to be in Chriſt, and by Chriſt in the Father, and the Father through Chriſt in us. Not with him, but in him. This is the Diamond in the Crown. And therefore the Lord Jeſus makes it one ſtep into the innermoſt Room, not to be in the ſight, but in the Arms of Chriſt. Not to have Chriſt a Spectator, but an In-dweller. And therefore our Savior makes this the end of glory, as in the foregoing verſe, and ſo better than glory. The glory thou haſt given me, I have given them, that thou mayſt be it them, and I in them. We are in Heaven, if glory may be in us, and we in Chriſt.
3. That which carries the firſt and moſt ſupream and deepeſt impreſſion of the ſweetneſs of the chiefeſt good; that muſt cauſe our chiefeſt happineſs.
Thou art in the bounds of Heaven, but in the Boſom, nay in the Bowels of the Father.
This is the loweſt of al, ye cannot go deeper.
The higheſt of al, ye cannot go further.
This is ſomwhat beyond al Graces, beyond al Creatures, ſomthing above Heaven it ſelf. The firſt corner ſtone of our everlaſting unconceivable happineſs.
The firſt Out-going of the God-Head was, He knew and conceived himſelf, and ſo begot his Son, as a lively Character and ſhine of his own perſon, and thence he owned him, and loved him, and took him into that neereſt union and communion.
And at the next turn and ſtroak, he took a Creature neer to himſelf in his Son, as his Son, communicated with a Creature through his Chriſt, as his Chriſt.
Herein is the deepeſt, the deeareſt, the firſt, the choiceſt of al.
The expreſſion of common love, in the communication of common good, is of large extent.
He is the firſt being, and gives being.
He is Power, gives Power.
He is good, doth good to al.
But to be ſo nigh to him, and not to have common courteſies, but Fatherly kindneſs; its here firſtly.
He is firſtly a Father to Chriſt, and ſo loves him, and in Chriſt, he loves thee as him. Now thou art at the higheſt and furtheſt.
It was the firſt out-going of Gods love, and the greateſt that ever was. More cannot be conceived, nor indeed expreſſed, unleſs we would have more and better love than Chriſt, which is unreaſonably and unconceivably abſurd. He is firſt and we ſecond, not in Heaven, but in Gods heart.
USE, 1.
Its matter of Admiration; we may here ſee and be ſwallowed up with everlaſting wonderment, at the myſterious and uncomprehenſible depth of Gods diſpenſations in the covenant of Grace, and the Redemption of a ſinner by Chriſt; where he brings the greateſt good, out of our greateſt evil, the greateſt glory, out of the depth of our greateſt miſery; Advanceth us to the higheſt top of Heaven and happineſs, out of the lower-moſt Hel of ſin and wretchedneſs, out of the greateſt eſtrangment from God. To bring a ſinner to the neereſt union and communion with God.
Thus God comes to be admired in thoſe that beleeve. The Devils have ſeen one holy and gracious, adorned and beautified with the Image of God. But he that was a Rebel, an enemy unto Chriſt, and a hater of him, as contrary to him, as darkneſs to light, to be neer to him, one with him, nay, to be in Chriſt and Chriſt in him: It is the wonderment of Angels, and the aſtoniſhment of Devils. And we ſhould be amazed at this myſterious mercy.
And it is true Lord, ſaies Solomon, That thou wilt dwel amongſt men? 1 King. 8.27. But to be in them, to be one with them, and they with thee, Oh the depth of the riches of the Knowlegd and Wiſdom of God, How unſearchable are his waies, and his paths paſt finding out! To work our greateſt gaines out of our greateſt loſſes! To bring us by the bottom of Hel, into his own Boſom and Bowels!
USE, 2. Examination.
We may hence know what intereſt we have in happineſs, how neer to Chriſt, what Hopes of it.
As far as thou art from Union and Communion with God in Chriſt, ſo far from happines. 2 Cor. 13.5. Know ye not that Chriſt is in you, unleſs ye be Reprobates? Know ye not? prove and examine. Know ye not that Chriſt is in you? ye ſhould, it concernes you, els ye are Reprobates.
Is this the leaſt part of thy care, the furtheſt off thy thoughts? Thou mayeſt beleeve it, and conclude it, thou art far enough from happineſs, as far as Hel is from Heaven.
Its a deſcription of the wicked. Job. 21.14, 15. They ſay to the Almighty Depart from us. They ſay ſo to the waies, the Grace, the Laws, the Government of God in Chriſt; we wil not walk in thoſe waies, nor receive or be acted by thoſe Graces, or be ruled by that Scepter.
Doſt thou dream of Heaven, poor wretched Creature? it would be a Hel to thee: to have a Chriſt to redeem, a God, or mercy to tender, and ſave, thou wouldſt be in Hel, though thou wert in Heaven.
Thou ſhalt be puniſhed with everlaſting deſtruction from the preſence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. Thou haſt ſaid Depart; God wil ſay, Depart ye Curſed. Chriſt came to bleſs, and ye wil have no Chriſt. We wil not have this man to rule: therefore no bleſſing. He that loves not the Lord Jeſus, loves him not as a Lord to rule, as a Savior to ſave him from his ſinnes, let him be accurſed, Maran-atha, to the coming of the Lord. Curſe him al ye Angels of Heaven, al ye Churches on Earth let him be accurſed in life, in death, until Chriſt come to judgment, and then let him hear that curſe; go ye curſed into Hel Fire. Ye, would no Union, therefore ye ſhal have an everlaſting Seperation.
FINIS.
End of the text · Thomas Hooker, A Comment Upon Christs Last Prayer (1656)