A Body of Practical Divinity, Sermon 46
A Believers Privilege after Death.
Phil. 1.21.
And to dye is Gain.
3. AT Death the Souls of Believers pass into Glory: Death brings Malorum omnium ademptionem: Omnium ademptionem; Death's the day-break of Eternal Brightness. And here I shall lead you to the top of Mount Pisgah, and give you a glimpse of the Holy Land.
Quest. 1. What is comprehended in Glory?
Resp. Glory is Status omnium Bonorum aggregatione perfectus, Boetius. It is a perfect State of Bliss, which consists in the Accumulation and heaping together all those good things which immortal Souls are capable of. And truly here I am at a loss; *Vox faucibus haeretall that I can say falls short of the Celestial Glory: Appelles Pencil cannot delineate it; Angels Tongues cannot express it: We shall never understand Glory fully, till we are in Heaven: Only let me give you the foreign, or some dark views and some imperfect Lineaments of that State of Glory the Saints shall arrive at after Death.
1. The first and most sublime part of the Glory of Heaven is the full and sweet Fruition of God: Ipse Deus sufficit ad praemium, Aug. We are apt to think the Happiness of Heaven is in being free from Pain and Misery, but the very foreign and Quintessence of Happiness, is the Enjoyment and Fruition of God; this is the Diamond Ring of Glory God is an infinite inexhaustible Fountain of Joy; and to have him is to have all. Now the enjoying of God implies three things.
1. It implies our seeing of God.
2. Our loving of God.
3. Gods loving of us.
1. The enjoying of God implies our seeing of God, 1 Iohn 3.2. We shall see him as he is: Here we see him as he is not; not mutable, mortal; there as he is.
Quest. 2. How shall we see God?
Resp. 1. We shall see him intellectually, with the Eyes of our mind. This Divines call the Beatifical Vision. We shall have a full knowledge of God, though not know him fully. If there were not such an intellectual sight of God, then how do the Spirits of just Men made perfect see him? This sight of God will be very glorious: As when a King on his Coronation-day, shews himself in all his Royalty and Magnificence.
2. We shall corporeally behold the glorified Body of Jesus Christ: And if it be a pleasant thing to behold the Sun, Eccles. 11.7. then how blessed a sight will it be to behold the Sun of Righteousness; to see Christ clothed in our humane Nature, sitting in Glory above the Angels! Solomon saith, The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Eccles. 1.8. But sure the Eyes of the Saints will be satisfied with seeing that Orient Brightness which shall shine from the beautiful Body of Christ. It must needs be satisfying, because, through Christs Flesh some Rays and Beams of the God-head shall gloriously display themselves. Gods excellent Majesty would overwhelm us, but through the Vail of Christs Flesh, we shall behold the Divine Glory.
3. Our seeing of God will be transforming. We shall so see him as to be in some measure assimilated and changed into his image, 1 Iohn 3.2. We shall be like him. If when Moses was with God on the Mount, and had but some imperfect sight of his Glory, Moses face shined, Exod. 34.33. How shall the Saints glorified shine, being always in God's Presence, and having some beams of his Glory put upon them! We shall be like him. One that is deformed may look on Beauty, and not be made Beautiful. But the Saints that so see God, as that sight shall transform them into his Likeness, Psal. 17.15. When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness. Not that the Saints shall partake of God's Essence; for as the Iron in the Fire is made Fiery, yet remains Iron still; so the Saints by beholding God's Majesty shall be made Glorious Creatures, but yet Creatures still.
4. Our seeing of God in Heaven will be unweariable. Let a Man see the rarest Sight that is, he will be soon cloyed; when he comes into a Garden, and sees delicious Walks, fair Arbours, Pleasant Flowers, within a little while he grows weary. But it is not so in Heaven; there is no Surfeit, Ibi nec Fames nec Fastidium, Bern. The Saints will never be weary of their Prospect, viz. of seeing God; for God being infinite, there shall be every Moment new and fresh Delights springing from God into the Souls of the Glorified.
II. The Second thing implied in our enjoying God, is our Loving of God, foreign; it is a Saints grief that his Heart is like the Frozen Ocean, that he can melt no more in Love to God; but in Heaven the Saints shall be like Seraphims burning in Divine Love. Love is a pleasing Affection. Fear hath Torment in it, 1 Iohn 4.18. Love hath Joy in it. To love Beauty is delightful: God's amazing Beauty will attract the Saints Love, and it will be their Heaven to Love him.
III. The Third thing implyed in enjoying God, is Gods Loving us. Were there Glory in God, yet if there were not Love, it would much eclipse the Joys of Heaven; but God is Love, 1 Iohn 4.16. The Saints glorified, cannot love so much as they are loved. What is their Love to God's? What is their Star to this Sun? God doth love his People on Earth, when they are black as well as comely; they have their foreign Imperfections. O how intirely will he Love them, when they are without Spot or Wrinkle, Eph. 5.27.
1. This is the Felicity of Heaven, to be in the sweet Embraces of God's Love. To be the Hephsibah, the delight of the King of Glory. To be Sunning our selves in the Light of Gods Countenance. Then the Saints shall know that Love of Christ which passeth Knowledge, Eph. 3.19. From this glorious manifestation of God's Love, will flow infinite Joy into the Souls of the Blessed. Therefore Heaven is call'd entring into the joy of our Lord, Mat. 25.21. The Seeing of God, the Loving of God, and being Beloved of God, will cause a Jubilation of Spirit, and create such Holy Raptures of Joy in the Saints, as is unspeakable and full of Glory, 1 Pet. 1.8. In Deo quadam dulcedine delectatur anima, imo rapitur, Aug. Now the Saints spend their Years with Sighing, they weep over their Sins and Afflictions; then their Water shall be turned into Wine; then the Vessels of Mercy shall be fill'd and run over with Joy; they shall have their Palm-Branches and Harps in their Hand, Rev. 14.2. in token of their Triumphs and Rejoycing.
2. The Second thing comprehended in Glory, is the good Society there. There are the Angels; every Star adds to the Light. Those Blessed Cherubims will welcome us into Paradise. If the Angels rejoyced so at the Conversion of the Elect, First, How will they rejoyce at their Coronation! Secondly, There is the Company of the Saints, Heb. 12.23. The Spirits of Iust Men made Perfect.
Quest. Whether shall the Saints in Glory know each other?
Resp. Certainly they shall; for our Knowledge in Heaven shall not be diminished, but increased. We shall not only know our Friends and Godly Relations, but those glorified Saints which we never saw before. It must be so; for Society without Acquaintance is not comfortable. And of this Opinion were St. Austin, Anselm, Luther. And indeed the Scripture seems to hint so much to us. For, if Peter in the Transfiguration knew Moses and Elias, whom he never saw before, Mat. 17.4. then surely in Heaven, the Saints shall know one another, and be infinitely delighted in each others Company.
3. The Third thing comprehended in Glory, is Perfection in Holiness. Holiness is the Beauty of God and Angels, it makes Heaven. What is Happiness but the quintessence of Holiness? Here a Christians Grace is imperfect, he cannot write a Copy of Holiness without blotting. He is said to receive but Primitas Spiritus, the first Fruits of the Spirit, Grace in Fieri, Rom. 8.23. But at Death Believers shall arrive at Perfection of Grace. Then this Sun shall be in its Meridian Splendour; then they shall not need to pray for Encrease of Grace, for they shall be as the Angels, foreign their Light shall be clear, as well as their Joy full.
4. The Fourth thing in Glory is Dignity and Honour, they shall reign as Kings. Therefore the Saints glorified are said to have their insignia Regalia, their Ensigns of Royalty, their white Robes and their Crown, 2 Tim. 4.7. Caesar after his Victories, in token of Honour had a Chair of Ivory set for him in the Senate, and a Throne in the Theatre; the Saints having obtained their Victories over Sin and Satan, shall be inthroned with Christ in the Empirean Heaven. To sit with Christ, denotes Safety, to set on the Throne, Dignity, Rev. 3.21. This Honour have all the Saints.
5. The Fifth thing in Glory is the Harmony and Union among the Heavenly Inhabitants. The Devil cannot get his Cloven Foot into Heaven: He cannot conjure up any Storms of Contention there; there shall be perfect Union. There Calvin and Luther are agreed; there's no jarring String in the Heavenly Musick▪ there is nothing to make any difference, no Pride or Envy there. Though one Star may differ from another, one may have a greater degree of Glory, yet every Vessel shall be full. There shall the Saints and Angels fit as Olive-Plants round about their Fathers Table in Love and Unity. Then shall they joyn together in consort, then shall the loud Anthems of Praise be sung in the Heavenly Quire.
6. The Sixth thing in Glory is a blessed Rest, Heb. 4.9. There remains a Rest, Foelix transitus à labore ad requiem, here we can have no rest, tossed and turn'd as a Ball on Racket, 2 Cor. 4.8. We are foreign troubled on every side. How can a Ship rest in a Storm? But after Death the Saints get into their Haven. Every thing is quiet in the Center. God is centrum quietativum animae, as the Schoolmen, The Center where the Soul doth sweetly acquiesce. A Christian after his weary Marches and Battels shall put off his Bloody Armour, and rest himself upon the Bosom of Jesus, that Bed of Perfume. When Death hath given the Saints the Wings of a Dove, then they shall fly away to Paradise and be at rest.
7. The Seventh thing in Glory is Eternity, 2 Cor. 4.17. An Eternal weight of Glory. First, Glory is a Weight; The Hebrew Word for Glory, (quod significat Pondus,) is a Weight: God must make us able to bear it. Secondly, An Eternal Weight. foreign. Glory is such a Manna as doth not breed Worms. If the Saints glory in Heaven were but for a time, and they were in fear of losing it, it would eclipse and imbitter the Joys of Heaven, but Eternity is written upon their Joys. The Garland made of Flowers of Paradise fades not, 1 Pet. 5.4. I have read of a River which they call the Day-River, in which time it runs with a full Torrent, but at Night it is dried up; such are all Earthly Comforts, they run with a full Stream all the Day-time of Life, but at the Night of Death they are dried up; but the Saints glorified shall drink of the Rivers of Pleasure for evermore, Psal. 16.11. Eternity is the Heaven of Heavens; in fine Gaudium erit sine fine, Bern. The Joys of Heaven as overflowing, so ever-flowing.
Quest. 2. When do Believers enter upon Possession of Glory?
Resp. They pass immediately after Death into Glory. Some hold with the Platonists and; Lucianists that the Soul dies. But many of the Sober Heathens believed the Souls immortality. The Romans when their Great Men died, caus'd an Eagle to be let loose, and fly about in the Air, signifying hereby that the Soul was immortal, and did not dye with the Body. Christ tells us the Soul is not capable of Killing, Luke 12.4. Therefore not of Dying. And as the Soul doth not Dye, so neither doth it Sleep in the Body for a time. If the Soul be at Death absent from the Body, 2 Cor. 5.8. then it cannot Sleep in the Body. There is an immediate passage from Death to Glory: It is but winking and we shall see God, Luke 23.43. This Day shalt thou be with me in Paradise; by Paradise is meant Heaven, the Third Heaven into which Paul was wrap'd, (which all hold to be the Heaven of the blessed) was called Paradise, 2 Cor 12.4. Now saith Christ to the Thief on the Cross, foreign This Day shalt thou be with me in Paradise, his Body could not be there, for it was laid in the Grave: But it was spoke of his Soul, that it should be immediately after Death in Heaven. Let none be so vain as to talk of Purgatory. A Soul purg'd by Christs Blood, needs no fire of Purgatory, but goes immediately from a Death-bed into a glorified State.
Use 1. See what little cause Believers have to fear Death, when it brings such glorious Benefits, To me to Dye is Gain. Why should the Saints fear their Preferment? Is it not a blessed thing to see God, to love God, and to lye for ever in the Bosom of Divine Love? Is it not a blessed thing to meet our Godly Relations in Heaven? Why should the Saints be afraid of their Blessings? Is a Virgin afraid to be matched into the Crown? Now is but the Contract, at Death is the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb, Rev. 19.9. What hurt doth Death but take us from among Fiery Serpents, and place us among Angels? What hurt doth it do, but to cloath us with a Robe of Immortality? Hath he any wrong done, that hath his Sack-Cloath pull'd off, and hath Cloath of Gold put upon him? Fear not Dying, who cannot live but by Dying.
Use 2. You who are Real Saints, whose Hearts are purified by Faith, spend much time in musing upon these glorious Benefits which you shall have by Christ at Death. Thus might you by a Contemplative Life, begin the Life of Angels here, and be in Heaven before your time. Eudoxus was so affected with the Glory of the Sun, that he thought he was born only to behold it. What should we contemplate but Caelestial Glory, when we shall see God Face to Face? David was got above the ordinary sort of Men, he was in the Altitudes, …sal. 139.18. I am ever with thee. A true Saint every Day takes a turn in Heaven, his Thoughts and Desires are like Cherubims flying up to Paradise. Can Men of the World so delight in looking upon their Bags of Gold, and Fields of Corn, and shall not the Heirs of Heaven take more delight in Contemplating their Glory in Reversion? Could we send forth Faith as a Spy, and every Day view the Glory of the Ierusalem above, how would it rejoyce us, as it doth the Heir, to think of the Inheritance which is to come into his Hand shortly?
Use 3. Consolation. This is that which may comfort the Saints in Two Cases.
1. Under their Wants; they abound only in Wants. The Meal is almost spent in the Barrel, but be patient till Death, and you shall have a Supply of all your Wants▪ You shall have a Kingdom, and be as Rich as Heaven can make you. He who hath the promise of an Estate, after the expiring of a few Years, though at present he hath nothing to help himself, yet comforts himself with this, that shortly he shall have an Estate come into his Hands, 1 Iohn 2.3. It doth not yet appear what we shall be; we shall be enamel'd with Glory, and be as rich as the Angels under their Sufferings.
2. A true Saint is (as Luther,) Haeres Crucis; but this may make us go chearfully through our Sufferings; there are great things laid up in store, there is Glory coming which Eye hath not seen; we shall drink of the Fruit of the Vine in the Kingdom of Heaven; though now we drink in a Wormwood Cup, yet here is Sugar to sweeten it; we shall taste of those Joys of Paradise which exceed our Faith, and may be better felt than they can be expressed.