The Christian Life, Chapter 1
CHAP. I. Concerning the ultimate End of the Christian Life.
IN order to our understanding, what is the Nature, Use, and Excellency of any Means, it is necessary we should have a true and genuine Notion of those peculiar Ends which they drive at. For the nature of them, as they are Means, consists in being serviceable to some End; but to what they are particularly serviceable, must be collected from the nature of those particular Ends whereunto they are directed. And therefore till we know what those particular Ends are, it is impossible we should know whether they are Means or no, or, which is the same thing, whether they are serviceable to any End or Purpose.
IT being therefore the Design of this Work to explain the nature of the Christian Life, it will be necessary (for the clearing of our way) to give some account of the blessed End for which it is intended; which will very much contribute to our right understanding of the great usefulness and subserviency of each part of it thereunto. Therefore,
I. I shall endeavour to shew what is the peculiar End of the Christian Life.
II. Wherein the true Nature of this End consists.
I. As for the End of the Christian Life, we are assured from Scripture, that it is no other but Heaven it self, that state of endless Bliss and Happiness which God hath prepared in the World above, for the reception of all those, who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality. That this is the End of the Christian Life, is evident from hence, because 'tis every where proposed by our Saviour and his Apostles, as the Chief Good of a Christian, and the Supreme Motive to all Christian Virtue. For so St. John, that bosome-Favourite of our Saviour, assures us, that This is the promise which Christ hath promised us, even Eternal Life, 1 John ii.25. And if we look into the Gospel of St. John, who hath more largely recorded our Saviours Sermons and Discourses than any other Evangelist, we shall find Eternal Life still proposed by him as the supereminent Promise to encourage and persuade men to the profession and practice of Christianity. For so John iv.36. 'tis proposed by our Saviour as that which is the Harvest of a Christian, to which, like the Husbandman's plowing and sowing, all our care and endeavour is to be directed; He that reapeth, receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto eternal life. Consonantly whereunto St. Paul tells us, that he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting, Gal. vi.8. And this, as our Saviour tells us, is the great Reward which he gives to all those that hear and follow him, John x.27, 28. and this the great argument which he every where insists on, that he that believeth hath Life Everlasting, that whosoever heareth his word hath Life Everlasting, and that his commandment is Life Everlasting. And Rom. vi.22. Everlasting Life is expresly said to be the End of having our fruit unto Holiness; and as such we are bid to direct our actions unto it, to believe in Christ unto Everlasting Life, 1 Tim. i.16. to do good, to this end, that we may lay hold upon Eternal Life, 1 Tim. vi.18, 19. to look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, &c. Heb. xii.2. And therefore Heaven is described to be the Christian Canaan, to which we are to direct all our steps, whilst we are travailing through this World. Heb. xi.14, 15, 16. And the whole life of a Christian is expressed by seeking it: Mat. vi.33. Heb. xiii.14. Col. iii.1. And the incorruptible Crown is affirmed to be as much the end of the race of the Christian Life, as those corruptible Crowns were of the races in the Olympick Games. 1 Cor. ix.25. For it is to Eternal Glory that we are called, 1 Pet. v.10. 2 Thes. ii.14. and in the discharge of all that Duty whereunto we are called, we are to look to this blessed Hope as our great End and Encouragement, Tit. ii.13.
THIS I have the more largely insisted upon, because of a great mistake that many persons have lain under in this matter; which is, that the Glory of God is the only ultimate End of a Christian, and that this is a distinct End from Heaven; The first of which I confess, is very true, but the last absolutely false. That the glory of God is the last End of a Christian, is evident from those Texts which bid us do all to the glory of God, 1 Cor. x.31. and which make the glory of God to be the point in which all the fruits of righteousness do concenter, Phil. i.11. which propose this as the End of all Religious Performances, that God in all things may be glorified, 1 Pet. iv.11. and affirm, that tis to this purpose that we are chosen to be Christians, that we should be to the Praise of his Glory. Eph. i.12. But that the glory of God ▪ is no distinct End from our being made partakers of the Happiness of Heaven, is as evident from hence, that this Glory consists not in any thing that we can add or contribute to Him, whose essential Glory is so immense and secure, that there is nothing we can do, can either Increase or Diminish it; and there is no other Glory can redound to him from any thing without, but what is the Reflection of his own natural Rays. He understands himself too well, to value him self either the more or the less for the Praises or Dispraises of his Creatures. For he is enough of Stage and Theatre to himself, and hath the same satisfying Prospect of his own Glory in the midst of all the loud Blasphemies of Hell, as among the perpetual Halelujahs of Heaven. And having so, it cannot be supposed that he should injoyn us to Praise and Glorifie him for the sake of any Good or Advantage that can accrue to Himself by it, or out of any other pleasure he takes in hearing himself applauded and commended by us, than he doth in any other Act that is decent and reasonable in it's own Nature; but 'tis therefore, he will have us Praise him, because he knows it is for Our Good, and highly conduces, as it is a most reasonable Action, to the Perfection and Happiness of our reasonable Natures; because our praising him naturally excites us to imitate him, and to transcribe into our own Natures those Adorable Perfections, which we do so admire and extol in His. So that to pursue our own Perfection and Happiness, is to Glorifie God according to his own design and intention; who requires us to Glorifie him for no other purpose, but that thereby we may Glorifie our selves. And indeed our Happiness is Gods Glory, even as all other worthy Effects are the Glory of their Causes. Tis He that gives being to it, and consequently He that is glorified by it. It being nothing but the resplendency of his own Almighty Goodness, or his own out-stretched Rays shining back upon Himself. And therefore we aim at Gods glory just as He himself doth, when we aim to be as happy as He would have us, that is, when we pursue Heaven and co-operate with his Infinite Goodness, whose great design is to advance us to that blessed condition in which we shall Glorifie him for ever, and be Everlasting Monuments of his overflowing Benignity. So that whether we call our last End Heaven, or the Glory of God, it is all but one and the same thing; since by obtaining Heaven, we shall Glorifie him according to his own Design and Intention. And this, I think, may suffice to shew, what is the true ultimate End of the Christian Life. But then
II. IT will be yet farther necessary for our clearing the way to the Design in hand, to enquire what Kind of Happiness this is; Which when we understand, we shall be the better able to comprehend what Duties or Means are necessary for the obtaining it. And this Enquiry will be easily resolved, by considering the Nature of Those for whom it was prepared and intended. For all Happiness consists in the free and vigorous Exercise of the Faculties of Nature, about Objects that are suitable to themselves. There is indeed a privative happiness, which is nothing but Indolence or freedom from pain and misery; and this consists not so much in the Exercise, as in the rest and quiet of the Faculties. And herein the soft and restive Epicureans placed the whole Happiness of a Man: In which I confess, they would not be very much mistaken, if there were no happiness belonging to a Man beyond that Animal and Sensual one, in which the Disciples of this Atheistical Philosopher placed their chief Good. For the greatest part of the Pleasures of Sense indeed are merely Privations of Misery, and short Reprieves from the Griefs and Troubles of a wretched Life. For what else is our Ease and Rest, but only the removal of our Pain and Weariness? which being removed, the Pleasure is presently over, and then we grow weary again of our Rest and Ease; till Pain and Weariness return and sweeten them, and gives them a fresh and new relish. For when we are weary of Rest, we are fain to recreate our selves with Action, and when we are weary of Action, to refresh our selves with Rest, and so round again still in the same Circle. Thus the greatest part of the pleasure of Eating and Drinking consists in asswaging the pain of our Hunger and Thirst. For when this is over, you see the pleasure ceases, and till it returns again, every fresh morsel is but a new load to a tired Digestion. So that in short, the greatest part of those sensual Felicities which we do here enjoy, are only short intermissions of the pains and uneasinesses of a wretched Life. But if there were no other Happiness belonging to a Man, but what consists in not being sensible of Misery, it were much more desirable to be a Stone than a Man, and the only way for him to be perfectly Happy, would be, to deprive himself of all Sense and Perception.
TIS true, That which is positive in our Happiness can never be perfectly injoyed by us, without a perfect Indolence and Insensibility of Pain; it being impossible for us to have a perfect sense of any thing, whilst we have the least touch or feeling of its Contrary. But were Happiness nothing else but a non-perception of Misery, it would have no positive Essence or Reality of its own, which is directly contrary to all humane Experience. For we plainly feel, that our Happiness hath in it, not only a Rest from Evil, but a grateful Motion to Good, and that as our Pain and Misery consists in an acute and sensible perception of such things as are most ungrateful to our Natures; so Pleasure or Satisfaction consists in a vigorous perception of the contrary. So that besides the not being miserable (which is not so properly an Essential Part of Happiness, as a necessary Disposition to it, without which the Faculties of our Natures will be indisposed to relish and perceive it) there is a positive Happiness which (as I said before) consists in a constant free and vigorous Exercise of the Faculties about such Objects as are most convenient and suitable to their Natures. For Happiness in the general includes Perfection and Pleasure, both which are necessarily included in such an Exercise of the Faculties. For then the Faculties are Perfect, when they are freely, constantly and vigorously imployed about such objects, as are most congruous to their several natures; when they are recovered from all indispositions, whether natural, or moral, to those proper motions and exercises for which they were framed; and do freely, constantly, and without any clog or interruption direct all their courses towards such Objects as are their natural Centers. And then the Faculties are most pleas'd and delighted too, when they are most vigorously exercised about that which is most suitable to them; when they are not only determined to such Objects as are most agreable to their Natures, but do also act upon and exert themselves towards them with the greatest Sprightliness and Vigour.
THESE things I thought meet to premise concerning Happiness in the General, as being very needful to the clearer resolution of the present Enquiry, viz. Wherein consists the Heaven or Happiness of a Man. In short therefore, the proper Heaven and Happiness of a Man, considered as a rational Being, consists in the constant, free, and sprightful Exercise of his Faculties about such Objects as are most convenient to his rational Nature, which consisting wholly of Vnderstanding, and Will, that is, of a Faculty of Knowing and a Faculty of Chusing, the most suitable Objects of it are such as are most worthy to be known, and most worthy to be chosen. When therefore the Vnderstanding is always vigorously exercised in seeing and contemplating the most glorious and excellent Truths, and the Will is always vigorously employed in chusing and embracing the most desirable Goods, then is the whole Rational Nature Happy. Now if you cast abroad your thoughts over the whole extent of Being; you will presently find that there is nothing in it so worthy to be known and chosen as God; whose Power being the source and fountain of all Truth, that is, of all that either is or is possible, and whose Nature being the subject of all rational Perfection, wherein it originally resides, and from whence'tis derived to all the Rational Creation; you must upon these accounts necessarily allow Him, to be infinitely the most worthy Object in all the World of Beings, for our Vnderstanding to contemplate, and our Will to chuse. And if so, then the very Life and Quintessence of the Heaven of a Man considered as a Reasonable Being, must needs consist in a close and intimate Knowledge of God, and a Free and Uncontroverted Choice of Him.
BUT that we may more fully comprehend the Nature of this Happiness, it will be needful that we should more distinctly explain, what these two Essential Acts of it do import, and what Happiness is included in them. And
I. THE Happiness of a Man consists in a free and intimate Knowledge of God, For our Vnderstanding hath naturally as strong an Appetite to Truth, as our Stomach hath to Food, and as grateful a relish of it, when it hath once discovered it, as an Hungry-man hath of a pleasant morsel. And though in this life its Appetite is many times pall'd and deadned, partly through the difficulty of knowing, occasioned either by the natural indispositions of its Organs, or the inveterate prejudices of a bad Education; and partly by being continually employed in secular cares and pursuits, which do perpetually divert, and so by degrees wean it from its natural inclination to Truth: Yet when we go from this World, and leave these causes behind us, which give such a check to its Appetite, doubtless its hunger after Knowledge will immediately revive, and there will be no possibility of ever satisfying it without it.
SUPPOSE we then the future World to be inhabited with a company of Intellectual Beings, that do all most vehemently gasp after the knowledge of Truth; What can there be imagined more grateful to them, than to be admitted to the very Fountain of all Truth and Reality, there to quench their Thirst, and satisfie their infinite Desires, with the free and easie, but still fresh discoveries of his infinite Glories and Perfections? Where will they be able to fix their greedy Eyes with comparably that Pleasure and Delight, as upon the Mysterious Trin-un-Divinity, which is the eternal Author of all Being, the Root of all Good, and the Rule and Source of all Perfection? But then supposing, what is the case of these Blessed Contemplators, that their Minds are so raised, and their Apprehensions are rendred so unspeakably quick and sagacious, as that they can All know whatsoever they have a mind to, without the difficulty of Study, and presently discern the Dependence and Connexion of Things without any puzling Discourse, or laborious Deduction: with what incomparable satisfaction must they needs peruse that infinite Volume of the Divine Being and Perfections.
NOW that in that Blessed State they have unspeakably clearer and more perspicuous apprehensions of Things, than ever they had here, that noble passage of St. Paul assures us, 1 Cor. xiii.12. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know, even also as I am known; that is, now our Knowledge of Divine things is very obscure and imperfect, they being shewn us as it were through a glass, on purpose to give us but a glympse of them; but when we come to Heaven, we shall look close upon them, and have a far clearer, and more distinct Apprehension of them. Then we shall know God as truly as He knows us, and have as real and certain Apprehensions of his All-glorious Being, as He hath of Ours. So that in Heaven, you see, the Eyes of those Blessed Minds, that inhabit it, are so invigorated, that they can gaze upon the Sun without dazling; contemplate the pure and immaculate Glories of the Deity, without being confounded with their brightness; and their Understandings being thus exalted, they must needs apprehend more at one single view, than we can do in volumes of Discourse, and tedious long trains of Deduction.
AND then enjoying as they do, a most perfect repose both from within and without them, they are never disturbed in their eager contemplations; which having such an immense Horizon of Truth and Glory round about them, are still discovering farther and farther, and so continually entertain'd with fresh Wonders and Delights. What an infinite deal of Pleasure then must that All-glorious Object afford to such raised and elevated Minds as these, which like transparent Windows let in without any Labour or Difficulty all that Divine and Heavenly light which freely offers it self unto, and shines for ever round about them; and which by every new Discovery of God, and of these bottomless secrets and mysteries of his Nature, are still enlarged to discover more, and still have new Discoveries offering themselves, as fast as they are enlarged to receive them. This of it self is so great a part of Heaven, that St. John himself seems to be at a loss how to imagine any Heaven beyond it. 1 Joh. iii.2. Beloved, now we are the Sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like him, that is in Glory and Happiness, for we shall see him as he is. But then
II. THE Heaven or Happiness of a Man consists also in a free and undistracted choice of God; that is in chusing him for the Rule and Pattern of our Natures, and for the object of our Love, Adoration and Dependence; all which, (as I shall shew hereafter) are Beatifical Acts, and do abundantly contribute to the Happiness of Reasonable Creatures. For Happiness, (as hath been premised) consists not in Rest, but in Motion, and there is no Motion can contribute to the Happiness of any Being but what is suitable to its own Nature. Now what motion can be more suitable to the nature of a Reasonable Creature, than to Love and Adore the Author of its Being and Well-Being; to bow to the will of the Almighty Sovereign, and to imitate the Perfections of the Supreme Standard and Pattern of all Reasonable Beings; to rely and depend on his infinite Power, that is always conducted by his infinite Wisdom and Goodness? All which are founded upon so many strong, evident and undeniable reasons, that the very naming of them is sufficient to justifie them to our Faculties, and demonstrate them to be infinitely agreeable to the most fundamental Principles of our Reasonable Nature. And being so, it is impossible but that of themselves they should be exceeding joyous and blissful; for as the sensitive nature is most gratified with those acts that have most of Sense in them, so is the Rational with those that have most of Reason in them. And certainly those have most Reason in them which are terminated upon Objects which most deserve them; and what Object can so well deserve to be acted upon by Reasonable Beings as God? or what Acts can they so reasonably exert upon him, as those of Love and Adoration, Homage, and Imitation, Trust and Dependence? But as no Acts of Sense can be very grateful to our Sensitive Nature so long as we exert them either with repugnance, or indifferency, so neither can any Acts of Reason be to our Rational; the Pleasure of all Acts, whether Sensitive or Rational, consisting (as I shew'd before) in the Sprightfulness and Vigour of them. And this is the cause why men now find so little Felicity in these most Rational Acts of Godliness; because by their own bad customs they have rendered themselves averse, or at least very cold and indifferent to them, which necessarily renders us dead and listless in the exercise of them, and consequently causes them to go off with little gust, if not with an ungrateful relish. But even in this imperfect state we find by experience, that the more our corrupted nature discharges and disburdens it self of those vicious indispositions, which do so cramp and arrest it in these its Heavenly operations, the more it is pleased still and delighted in them; Yea, and that when it is so far inured to a Godly Life as to be able to practise the several vertues of it, but with the same degree of activity and vigour as 'twas wont to do its most beloved Lusts, it is unspeakably more pleased and satisfied, and finds more Sweetness by a thousand degrees, in its Love and Adoration, Obedience and Imitation of God, than ever it did in the highest relishes of Epicurism and Sensuality; that the more perfectly we Love and Adore, &c. the more of Heaven we tast in these Blessed Acts, and that, when by a long and constant practice of them we have once rendered them natural to us, we enjoy such an Heaven upon Earth in the easie, free and vigorous exercise of them, as we would not exchange for all the Pleasures and Felicities which the World can afford us. And yet, God knows, the most perfect state of Godliness which we attain to here, hath so many degrees of imperfection in it, and in this we are so disturbed and interrupted by bodily Indispositions, and the troubles and necessities of this present Life, that from the Joy and Pleasure which results from it here, we can hardly guess at those ravishing Felicities which will spring out of it hereafter. When we shall be perfectly released from all the encumbrances of flesh and blood, and sin, when we shall be translated into a free and quiet state, wherein we shall have nothing else to do, but only to know and love, obey and imitate, and have no imperfection either natural or vicious, to clog or disturb us in this our Beatifical employment. Wherein we shall act with all our vigour and might, and thrust forth the whole strength of our Souls in every Love and every Obedience; so that every motion of our Souls towards God, shall have the Vehemence of a Rapture in it, without the Violence. When, I say, we shall be eternally fixed in a State of such perfect Freedom and Activity, our Happiness must needs be as large as our Desires, and as great as our utmost Capacity or Power of Acting upon God. For now we shall most lively imitate the most Perfect, and adore the most Adorable, as much as ever we are able; that is, we shall perform with all our might and vigour the Acts that are most agreable to our Reasonable Nature: and in the utmost vigour of such Acts (as I have already shewed) consists our utmost Happiness.
SUPPOSE we then a Society of Rational Beings placed in such a State, wherein they have an Object of infinite Perfections always before them, and no Evil from without or within to check or divert them from exerting all their Powers upon him in the most reasonable Actions: Suppose them now to be moving with unspeakable vigour and agility, like so many ever-, living Orbs about this their everlasting Center; to be as full of Love and Duty to him as ever their Hearts can hold; to be copying his Perfections, and adoring his Excellencies with an uncontrouled Freedom and Alacrity, and breathing forth themselves to him in chearful Praises and Rapturous Halelujahs; in a word, to be exercising themselves about him to their utmost Strength and Power, in all those blessed Offices which his Nature and their Relation to him call for: Suppose, I say, all this, and you have before ye that which is the very top and flower of the Heaven of a reasonable Creature; who in this blessed state is fixed, as it were in his own proper Element, where without any let or disturbance, he freely moves and acts according to his most natural Tendence and Inclination.
AND now by this time I think it is clear enough, that the main and principal Part of the Heaven of a Man, considered as a reasonable Creature, consists in Knowing and Chusing of God. But besides this, there are other blessed Ingredients of Heaven; the principal whereof is, the Knowing and Chusing those that are most like unto God; namely, the blessed Jesus in his Human Nature, and the Holy Angels and Saints, who are all in their several Measures and Degrees the express and lively Images of God. And therefore if to Know and Chuse God be the supreme Felicity of Heaven, then doubtless the next to that is, to Know and be Acquainted with these blessed Images of him, and freely to chuse their Company and Conversation, and be entirely united to them in Affection; without which it would be no Felicity to dwell in the same place with them. For to co-habit with Jesus and with Saints and Angels, and not be acquainted with, and united to them in Heart and Affection, would be rather a Burden than a Pleasure. The Happiness therefore of being in their Society, consists in Knowing and Chusing them. And this is every where implied, where our being with them is mentioned as a part of our Heaven. Thus 1 Thes. iv.17. to be ever with the Lord, is the same thing with being ever in Heaven; but then 'tis to be ever with him upon Choice; for so those words imply, Phil. i.23. I desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better. And accordingly this is mentioned by the Apostle as a dear Priviledge of our being Members of the Christian Church, whereby we are entituled to the Society of Holy Myriads of Angels, of the general assembly of the Church of the first-born, of God the Judge of all, of the Spirits of Just men made perfect, and of Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, Heb. xii.22, 23, 24. And indeed this must needs be an inestimable Happiness, not only to co-habit, but be acquainted with, and in Heart and Will united to this Blessed and Glorious Company. For what Soul that has any Spark of Cordial Love to Jesus, the best Friend of Souls that ever was; any grateful remembrance of what he did and suffered for our sakes; would not esteem it a mighty Felicity to be admitted into his Presence, and to be an Eye-witness of the happy Change of his past woful Circumstances? To see him that was so cruelly treated, so barbarously vilified, tortured, and butchered for our sakes, raised to the highest pitch of Splendour and Dignity, to be Head and Prince of all the Hierarchy of Heaven, to be worshipped and celebrated throughout all the noble Choir of Archangels and Angels and Spirits of just men made Perfect? Verily methinks had I only the Priviledge to look in and see my dear and blessed Lord surrounded with all this Circle of Glories, it would be a most Heavenly Consolation to me, though I were sure never to partake of it. The very Communion I should have in the Joyes of my Master, would be a kind of Heaven at Second-hand to me, and my Soul would be wondrous Happy by Sympathizing with him in his Felicity and Advancement. But Oh! when that Blessed Person shall not only permit me to see his Glory, but introduce me into it, and make me Partaker of it; when I shall not only behold his Beloved Face, but be admitted into his Dear Conversation, and dwell in his Arms and Embraces for ever; when I shall hear him record the wondrous Adventures of his Love, through how many woful Stages he passed to rescue me from Misery, and make me Happy, and in the mean time shall have a most ravishing Feeling of that Happiness; how will my Heart spring with Joy, and burn with Love, and my Mouth o'reflow with Praises and Thanksgivings to him!
AND as our Acquaintance with, and Choice of the Blessed Jesus must needs contribute vastly to our Happiness; so must also (though not in so high a Degree) our being intimately acquainted and united with Saints and Angels. Who being not only endowed with large and comprehensive Vnderstandings, but also with perfect Good-nature and most generous Charity, must needs make excellent Company. For as their Goodness cannot but render their Conversation infinitely free and benign, so their great Knowledge must necessarily render it equally profitable and delightful. And then being so Knowing as they are, they must needs be supposed to understand all the wise Arts of Endearment; and being so Good, they must be also supposed to be continually practising them. And if so, what a Heavenly Conversation must theirs be, the Scope whereof is the most glorious Knowledge, and the Law whereof is the most perfect Friendship? Who would not be willing to leave a foolish, froward, and ill-natured World, for the blessed Society of these wise Friends and perfect Lovers? And what a Felicity must it be to spend an Eternity in such a noble Conversation! Where we shall hear the deep Philosophy of Heaven communicated with mutual Freedom in the Wise and Amicable Discourses of Angels and of Glorified Spirits; who without any Reserve, or affectation of Mystery, without Passion or Interest or peevish Contention for Victory, do freely Philosophize, and mutually impart the treasures of each others Knowledge. For since all Saints there are great Philosophers, and all Philosophers perfect Saints, we must needs suppose Knowledge and Goodness, Wisdom and Charity to be equally intermingled throughout all their Conversation; and being so, what can be imagined more delightful! When therefore we shall leave this impertinent and unsociable World; and all our good old Friends that are gone to Heaven before us, shall meet us as soon as we are landed upon the shore of Eternity, and with infinite congratulations for our safe Arrival shall conduct us into the Company of the Patriarchs and Prophets, Apostles and Martyrs, and introduce us into an intimate Acquaintance with them, and with all those brave and generous Souls, who by their glorious Examples have recommended themselves to the World; when we shall be familiar Friends with Angels and Arch-Angels, and all the Courtiers of Heaven shall call us Brethren, and bid us Welcome to their Masters Joy, and we shall be received into their glorious Society with all the tender indearments and Caresses of those Heavenly Lovers; what a mighty Addition to our Happiness will this be!
THERE are indeed some other additions to the Happiness of Heaven; such as the Glory and Magnificence of the Place, which is the Highest Heaven, or the upper and purer Tracts of the Aether, which our Saviour calls Paradise, Luke xxiii.43. and St. Paul the Third Heaven, 2 Cor. xii.2. both which in the phrase of that Age bespeak it to be a place of unspeakable Glory; for so the Jews do commonly call this blessed Seat the Third or Angel-bearing Region of Heaven, by which they denote it to be the Palace of the King of the whole World, where his most glorious Courtiers do reside; and they also call it Paradise, in allusion to the Earthly Paradise of Eden; because as that was the Garden of this lower World, so this is of the whole Creation. And though we have no exact description of this place in Scripture, and that perhaps because no humane language can describe it; yet since God hath chosen it for the Everlasting Theatre of Bliss and Happiness, we may thence reasonably conclude that he hath most exquisitely furnished it with all accommodations that are requisite to a most happy and blissful Life.
BESIDES which also there is the everlasting Duration of it, which is another great Accession to its Happiness. That such is the Nature of its Enjoyments, as that they do not, like all other Pleasures, spend and wast in the Fruition; that though it will be always feeding our Faculties with new Delights, yet it will never be exhausted, but be always equally, because infinitely, distant from a Period. So that its Happiness consisting of an infinite Variety of Pleasure extended to an infinite Duration, it will be impossible for those that enjoy it to be either cloyd with the repetition of it, or tormented with the fear of losing it.
BUT these Two last I only mention, because they do not so properly belong to our present Argument; which is only to explain the Nature of Heaven so far as is necessary to the right understanding of the Nature of those Means by which it is to be attained.
NOW from what hath been said concerning this great End of the Christian Life, these Two things are to be inferr'd concerning the Nature of it.
I. THAT the main of Heaven consists not so much in any outward Possession, as in an inward State and Temper. For though Heaven be doubtless a most glorious Place, and all its blessed Inhabitants do possess and hold it by an everlasting Tenure; yet 'tis a great mistake to imagine that the main happiness of Heaven consists in living for ever in a glorious Place, which separated from all the rest of Heaven would be but a poor and hungry kind of Happiness. For Life is no otherwise a Happiness, than as it is the Principle of all our pleasant and grateful Perceptions; and if we could live for ever without perceiving, it would be the same thing to us, as if we were nothing but a Company of everlasting Stones and Trees; and what great matter would it signifie to live for ever in a glorious Place, unless we could be for ever affected by it with a delightful sense and perception; which is impossible, because all delightful sense (as hath already been proved) arises out of the vigorous exercise of our Faculties about such Objects as are suitable to them; but what can there be in the most glorious Place so suitable to a Rational Mind and Will, as to keep them for ever vigorously employed and exercised about it? It may indeed for a while employ the Mind in an eager Contemplation of its new and surprizing Beauties; but how soon would the Mind dis-relish it, were it to be its only Entertainment for Eternity? And as for the Will, what would a fine Place signifie to it, if it were not replenished with such Objects as are suitable to its own Options? And indeed there is nothing that can everlastingly gratifie a Rational Mind and Will, but what has in it such an Infinity of Truth as is everlastingly Knowable, and such an Infinity of Goodness as is everlastingly Desireable; or, which is the same thing, nothing but what hath Truth enough in it for the one to be vigorously contemplating for ever, and nothing but what hath Goodness enough in it for the other to be as vigorously loving, adoring, and imitating for ever. And such an Infinitude of Truth and Goodness is no where to be found but in God. But God, as well as the Place, and Duration of Heaven, being an Object that is external to us, neither is, nor can be a Happiness to us unless we act upon him, and freely exercise our Faculties about him; unless we Know him, and Love him, &c. So that that which Felicitates all, is our own Internal Act; 'tis by this that we enjoy Heaven, and perceive all the Pleasures of it. 'Tis not by being in Heaven that men are constituted Happy, but by vigorously exerting their Faculties upon the Heavenly Objects. For without this, to be in Heaven or out of it would be altogether indifferent to us. The Happiness of Heaven therefore consists in a State of Heavenly Action; in being so attempered and connaturaliz'd to the Objects of Heaven, as to be always acting upon, and chearfully employing our Faculties about them. For as there is no Pleasure in Acting coldly upon suitable Objects, so there is Pain and Trouble in acting vigorously upon unsuitable ones. And therefore to make Heaven it self a Happiness to us, tis necessary not only that we should act vigorously upon the Objects of it, but that we should so act from a suitableness of Temper to them. That we should contemplate God, submit to his Will, adore and imitate his Perfections from a God-like Temper and Disposition. For otherwise these Acts will be Penances instead of Pleasures to us; and the more intensely we exert them, the more painful they will be. And if we were in Heaven, all that Heavenly Exercise in which the Happiness of it consists, would be but a Torment and Vexation to us, unless we had a Heavenly Temper. For as the Parts of Matter can never rest, but do move about in a perpetual Whirl-pool, till they are hit into a place or Interstice that is of the same Form and Figure with them; so there is nothing can rest in Heaven but what is Heavenly. All that is otherwise rebounds and flyes off of its own accord, and can never acquiesce there, till 'tis of the same Form, and Temper, and Disposition with it. From hence therefore it's evident, that the Happiness of a Man in Heaven consists not so much in the outward Glory of the Place, as in the inward State of his own Mind, which from a suitableness of Temper to the Heavenly Objects doth always freely employ and exercise its Faculties about them.
II. THAT the Heavenly State is nothing else but the Perfection of all Heavenly Vertue. For it hath been already proved, That Heaven consists in a clear and intimate Knowledge, and a free and uncontested Choice of God, and of those Blessed Beings that resemble him; and these Two comprehend all Heavenly Virtue. So that the difference between the state of Grace and Glory is not in Kind, but in Degree. For Grace is the Seed of Glory, and Glory is the Maturity of Grace. 'Tis Knowledge exalted above all Error and Prejudice, above all Difficulty or Obscurity of Apprehension; 'tis Love strained from all repugnancies of Flesh and Spirit, and refined into a pure Celestial flame; tis Obedience to and Imitation of God, perfectly separated from all sinful Defects, and freed from the Clog of counter-striving Principles; 'tis Adoration of and Dependency upon him, without the least degree of Indisposition or Despondency; in a word, 'tis a free and uncontrolled Motion of all the Heavenly Virtues together, in which they are every one most vigorously exerted, without the least Check or Impediment. This therefore being the State of Heaven, as is evident from what hath been discoursed, it hence follows, that the main difference between Virtue and Heaven is only Gradual; that Virtue is the Beginning of Heaven, and Heaven is the Perfection of Virtue. And if so, then as the lowest Degree of true Virtue is a step Heaven-wards, so every farther Degree is a nearer Approach towards the Heavenly state. So that as we grow in Grace, and proceed from one Degree of Virtue to another, we draw nearer and nearer to that blessed Condition in which we shall be all pure Virtue without any sinful Alloy or Intermixture. And this is the true State and Condition of HEAVEN.