court in heaven; and the faints ihall all be his courtiers. ever near the King's person, seeing his face. The throne of Tod and of the Lamb fhall be in it, and his fervants shall ferve him, and they all fee his face, Rev. xxii. 3, 4.

(1.) They fhall fee Jefus Chrift with their bodily eyes, fince he will never lay aide the human nature. They will al ways behold that glorious bleffed body, which is perfonally united to the divine nature, and exalted far above principalities and powers, and every name that is named. There

we will fee, with our eyes, that very body which was born of Mary at Bethlehem, and crucified at Jerufalem betwixt "two thieves; that bleffed head that was crowned with thorns; the face that was fpit upon; the bands and feet that were nailed to the crofs; all fhining with unconceivable glory. The glory of the man Christ will attract the eyes of all the faints, and he will be for ever admired in all them that believe, 2 Theff. i. 1o. Were each star, in the heavens, thining as the fun in its meridian brightness, and the light of the fun fo increased, as the stars, in that cafe, should bear the fame proportion to the fun, in point of light, that they do now; it might poffibly be fome faint refemblance' of the glory of the man Chrift, in comparison with that of the faints; for though the faints shall shine forth as the fun: yet not they, but the Lamb fhall be the light of the city. The wife men fell down, and worshipped him, when they faw him a young child, with Mary his mother, in the house. But O! what a ravishing fight will it be to fee him in bis kingdom on his throne, at the Father's right hand! The World was made flesh. (John i. 14) and the glory of God fhall fhine through that flesh, and the joys of heaven fpring out from it, unto the faints, who shall fee and enjoy God, in Chrift. For fince the union betwixt Chrift and the faints is never diffolved but they continue his members for ever; and the members cannot draw their life, but from their Head; feeing that which is dependent on the head, as to vital influence, is no member: therefore Jefus Chrift will remain the everlasting bond of union betwixt God and the faints; from whence their eternal life shall spring, John xvii. 2, 3Thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he fhould' give eternal life to as many as thou haft given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only tru B b 2 • Go

· God, &c. Ver. 22. 23 And the glory which thou gavest ⚫ me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made • perfect in one.' Wherefore the immediate enjoyment of God in heaven is to be understood, in refpect of the laying afide of word and facraments, and fuch external means, as we enjoy God by in this world; but not, as if the faints fhould then caft off their dependence on their Head for vital influences: nay, 'the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne, fhall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters,' Rev. vii. 17.

Now when we ball behold him, who died for us, that we might live for evermere, whofe matchlefs love made him fwim through the Red fea, of God's wrath, to make a path in the midst of it for us, by which we might pafs fafely to Canaan's land: then we will fee what a glorious one he was, who fuffered all this for us; what entertainment he had in the upper house; what hallelujahs of angels could not hinder him to hear the groans of a perishing multitude on earth, and to come down for their help: and what a glory he laid afide for us. Then will we be more able to comprehend with all faints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and heighth; and to know the love of Chrift, which passeth knowledge,' Eph. iii. 19. When the faints fhall remember, that the waters of wrath he was plunged into, are the wells of falvation from whence they drew all their joy; that they have got the cup of falvation, in exchange of the cup of wrath his Father gave him to drink, which his finless human nature shivered at: how will their hearts leap within them, burn with feraphick love, like coals of juniper, and the arch of heaven ring with their fongs of falvation? The Jews celebrating the feaft of tabernacles, (which was the most joyful of all their feafts, and lasted feven days) went once every day about the altar, finging hofanna, with their myrtle, palm and willow-branches in their hand, (the two former figns of victory, the laft of chastity) in the mean time bending their boughs towards the altar. When the faints are prefented as a chaßte virgin to Chrift, and as conquerors have got their palms in their hands, how joyfully will they compass the altar evermore; and fing their hofannas, or, rather their hallelujahs about it, bending their palms to. wards

wards it, acknowledging themselves to owe all unto the Lamb that was flain, and redeemed them with his blood! and to this agrees what John faw, Rev. viii. 9, 10. A great • multitude stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands: and • cried with a loud voice, faying, Salvation to our God which fitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.'

(2.) They fhall Jee God, Matth. v. 8. They will be happy in feeing the Father, Son and holy Ghoft (not with their bodily eyes, in refpe&t of which God is invifible Tim. i. 17. but) with the eyes of their understanding; being bleft with the moft perfect, full,and clear knowledge of God and divine things, which the creature is capable of, This is called the beatifick vifion, and is the perfection of the underftanding, the utmost term thereof. It is but an obfcure delineation of the glory of God, that mortals can have on earth; a fight, as it were of his back part, Exod. xxxiii. 23. But there they will fee his face, Rev. xxii, 4. They fhall fee him in the fulness of his glory, and behold him fixedly; whereas it is but a passing view they can have of him here, Exod. xxxiv. 6. There is a vaft difference betwixt the fight of a king in his night clothes, quickly paffing by us; and a fixed leifure view of him fitting on his throne in his royal robes, his crown on his head, and his fceptre in his hand: fuch a difference will there be, between the greateft manifestation of God that ever a faint had on earth; and the difplay of his glory that shall be feen in heaven, There the faints fhall eternally, without interruption, feed their eyes upon him, and be ever viewing his glorious perfections. And as their bodily eyes fhall be ftrengthned and fitted, to behold the glorious majelly of the man Christ: as eagles gaze on the fun, without being blinded thereby; fo their minds fhall have fuch an elevation, as will fit them to fee God in his glory; their capacities fhall be enlarged, according to the measure in which he shall be pleased to communicate himself unto them for their compleat happiness.

This blissful fight of God, being quite above our present capacities, we must needs be much in the dark about it. But it feems to be fomething elfe, than the fight of that glory, which we will fee with our bodily eyes, in the faints and in the man Chrift, or any other fplendor or refulgence

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State IV from the Godhead whatfoever: for no created thing can b our chiet good and happiness, nor fully fatisfy our fouls and it is plain, that these things are fomewhat different fro God hemfelt. Therefore I conceive, that the fouls of th faints hall fee God himfelf: fo the fcriptures teach us, th we shall fee face to face, and know even as we are know 1 Cor. xiii. 12. And that we hall see him as he is, 1 Jol iii. 2. Howbeit the faints can never have an adequate co ceptica of God; they cannot comprehend that which is i finite. They may touch the mountain, but cannot grafp in their arms. They cannot with one glance of their ey behold what grows on every fide: but the divine perfectio will be an unbounded field, in which the glorified fhall w eternally, feeing more and more of God: fince they can ver come to the end of that which is infinite. They m bring their veffels to this ocean every moment, and fill th with new waters, What a ravishing fight would it be, fee all the perfections, and lovely qualities, that are fcatte here and there among the creatures, gathered together i cne! but even fuch a fight would be infinitely below blissful fight the faints shall have in heaven. For they f ice God, in whom all thefe perfections fhall eminently pear, with infinitely more; whereof there is no veftig be found in the creature. In him fhall they fee every t defirable, and nothing but what is defirable.

Then fhall they be perfectly satisfied, as to the lov God towards them, which they are now ready to que on every turn. They will be no more fet to perfuade th felves of it, by marks, figns, and teftimonies: they have an intuitive knowledge of it. They fhall (with protoundest reverence be it (poken) look into the hea God, and there fee the love he bore to them from all nity and the love and good-will he will bear to ther evermore The glorified fhall have a moft clear an ftinct understanding of divine truths, tor in his ligh thall fee light, Ptal, xxxvi. 9; The light of glory w a compleat commentary on the Bible, and lofe all the and knotty questions in divinity. There is no joy on e comparable to that which arifeth from the difcovery.oft no discovery of truth comparable to the difcovery of

I rejoice at thy word, fays the Pialmift, as one that findeth great spoil,' Pal. cxix. 162. Yet it is but an imperfect difcovery we have of it while here. How ravishing then will it be, to fee the opening of the whole treafure, hid in that field! they fhall alfo be let into the understanding of the works of God. The beauty in the works of creation and providence will then be fet in a due light. Natural knowledge will be brought to perfection by the light of glory. The web of providence, concerning the church, and all men whatsoever, will then be cut out, and laid before the eyes of the faints, and it will appear a most beautiful mixture; fo as they shall fay together, on the view of it, he hath done all things well. But, in a special manner, the work of redemption fhall be the eternal wonder of the faints, and they will admire and praise the glorious contrivance for ever. Then shall they get a full view of its fuitablene's to the divine perfections, and to the cafe of finners: and clearly read the covenant, that past betwixt the Father and the Son, from all eternity, touching their falvation. They fhall for ever wonder and praife, and praife and wonder at the mysteries of wisdom and love, goodnefs and holiness, mercy and juflice, appearing in the glorious device. Their fouls fhall be eternally fatisfied with the fight of God him. felf, and of their election by the Father, their redemption by the Son, and application thereof to them by the Holy Spirit.

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2. The faints in heaven shall enjoy God in Chrift by ex perimental knowledge, which is, when the object itself is given and poffeffed. This is the participation of the divire goodness in full measure; which is the perfection of the will, and utmost term thereof. The Lamb fhall lead them unto living fountains of waters, Rev. vii. 17. Thefe are ro other but God himself, the fountain of living wate:s, who will fully and freely communicate himself unto them. will ponr out of his goodness eternally into their fouls: and then fhall they have a moft lively fenfation, in the innermoft part of their fouls, of all that goodness they heard of, and believed to be in him; and of what they fee in him by the light of glory. This will be an everlasting practical ex. polition of that word, which men and angels cannot suffciently unfold, to wit, God himfelf fhall be their Gol,