The Book of Nature Translated and Epitomized, Chapter 13
Chap. 12.
Sect. I.
The different fruits of the two chief loves, the love of God, and self.
THat which is finally expected and desired by man, from other creatur's, is fruit. Every kind of fruit has its proper seed; and every seed brings forth its peculiar fruit, distinct from others. The will of man is a kind of spiritual field, wherein two chief loves, as two very different seeds, are sown; self love, and the love of God. Let us now enquire after the final fruit producible from these two seeds or roots, which being contrary to each other, the fruits must needs be so too.
Endless joy and endless sorrow wilbe the two final fruits, springing up in the field of man's will, from the love of God, or self. Man seek's for joy in all he does; hates and flee's sorrow. True joy springs up only from the love of God; true sorrow, from self-love.
God only is that infinite, invariable, al-sufficient good, which when man firmly loves and enjoys, he hath joy enough; and that such, as none can ever deprive him of. Tis a fixed, solid, invariable joy. Such as the thing chiefly loved is, such is the love, and such the joy arising therefrom. The nature, conditions, and properties of such joy as arises from the love of God, are the same with those of the love of God, above demonstrated. The fruit is of the same nature with the root. If the love of god be a just, holy, true, orderly, pure, clean, excellent love, suitable to the nature of man and of God; the joy arising therefrom, is also a just, holy, true, orderly, pure, righteous, excellent joy. Such joy will endure as long as the love it spring's from; and such love will endure as long as the thing beloved, God. The heart then that's fix'd on God, will have everlasting gladnes, eternal pleasure, delight, complacency, rest, peace, satisfaction, jubilations. Joy dilat's, fortifies, comfort's, delight's the heart of man. Sadnes contract's, weaken's, discourages, and destroy's it. He that has perpetual joy, has perpetual life; he that has perpetual sorrow, has perpetual death.
God is an alsufficient, inexhaustible fountain of life and joy eternal, to innumerable creatur's, without any diminution to himself. Nor will the joy which any man will have eternally in God, be any way's diminished, but increased by the like joy in other men. If the holy angels rejoyce afresh at the conversion of a sinfull man unto God, as receiving an addition thereby to their former joy, how can it be but that all elect men and angels should eternally and mutually rejoyce in the joy which all of them will have in the lord?
By how much the more cleerly any man sees and know's the lord, so much the more will he love him, and rejoyce in him. Perfection of joy in God, arises from the perfection of love to him; and the perfection of such love arises from the perfect knowledg of him. Nothing can destroy such love, such joy, that cannot destroy God himself, with whom man is inseperably united by such love.
SECT. II.
Resurrection.
THe perfection of man's eternal joy and blessednes in heaven, argues the resurrection of his body. The spirit of man has a natural inclination and love to its own body, as that which was fashion'd by the hand of God, and brought into a kind of natural marriage-union with it. The body alone is not a man, nor yet the spirit; but both, as put together in personal union. The recovery and restitutiō of the body then, after it is laid down by death, cannot but be naturally desired by the spirit, as a necessary ingrediēt into the compositiō of the man. Till he hath all the essentialls of his humane constitution about him, so as to be compleated in his personal being, wanting nothing that may justly he desired by him, his joy cannot be absolutly perfect and compleat. And on the same ground that we may conclude the body wilbe restored, may we farther conclude, that it wilbe restored in a state most proportion'd, lovely and desireable to the elect; to wit, a most beautiful, come…ly, glorious, impassible, immortal, agile, spiritual body. He that can advance the soul into a higher and more excellent state then at first he gave it, will proportionally rarefy, spiritualize, and exalt the body, at the resurrection, into a far more excellent state, then when formed by him out of the dust of the ground Gen. 3. 19. or fashioned in the lowest parts of the earth, his mother's womb. Psal. 139. 15. The spirit of man, transform'd by the love of God, ascends to a partaking of the divine nature: 2. Pet. 1. 4. the body, by its proportionable transformation, will ascend into a spiritualty of being, as partaker of the very nature of the spirit. In the essentials of his constitution, thus advanced, compleated, and perfected, will he have an absolute fulnes of joy and blessednes, for ever. He will for ever have all he can desire, and for ever be rid of all he hates, and would not have. And then farther; from this radical, fundamental joy in God, will spring up innumerable other secondary joy's, on the account of all that are in the same state of blessednes with himself. His joy wilbe multiplied according to the numberless multitude of saved men and angels. Rev. 7. 9. The elect angels rejoyce in man's hapines; why should not elected men rejoyce eternally in theirs? Every man in heaven, will ever love every one, as himself, that's in the same blessed condition with himself; and therefore equally rejoyce in the joy of every one, as in his own. If then therebe innumerable men, that will have the like joy in God, every one of them will have innumerable joyes. Every ones unspeakable joy in God, wilbe innumerably multiplied by the like unspeakable joy in others. All this is the necessary, certain, eternal fruit and consequent of man's wel-fix'd love of God.