more shall the saints of God then receive an enlargement of their felicity! In the meantime however they are entered into the lists of their essential beatitude, and are over the threshold of heaven.

How full and comfortable is the profession of the great apostle, who when he sweetly diverted the thoughts of himself and his Corinthians, from their light afflictions to an eternal weight of excelling glory; from things temporal, which are seen, to those everlasting, which are not seen; adds, For we know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 Cor. v. 1. This more than implies, that our eye is no sooner off from temporal things, than it is taken up with eternal objects; and that the instant of the dissolution of these clay cottages, is the entrance and possession of a glorious and everlasting mansion in heaven.

Canst thou believe this, oh my soul, and yet recoil at the thought of thy departure? Wert thou appointed, after a dolorous dissolution, to spend some hundreds of years at the gates of glory, though in the expectation of a late happiness; even this hope would itself be painful. But if a sense of pain were also added to the delay, this were more than enough to make the condition dreadful. But now that one minute shuts our eyes and opens them to a clear sight of God, determines our misery and begins our blessedness; oh the cowardice of our unbelief, if we shrink at so momentary a purchase of eternity! How many have we known, that for a false reputation of honour have rushed into the jaws of death, when we are sure they could not come back to enjoy it; and do I tremble at a minute's pain, that shall possess me of that glory which I cannot but for ever enjoy? How am I ashamed to hear a heathen Socrates, encouraging himself against the fears of death, from his resolution of meeting with some famous persons in that other world; and to feel myself shrugging at a short brunt of pain, that shall put me into the bliss-making presence of the all-glorious God; into the sight of the glorified humanity of my dear Redeemer, into the society of all the angels and saints of heaven!

SECTION 3.

The Perpetual Fruition of God.

SOME have vainly imagined that the soul sleeps, even from the evening of the dissolution, till the morning of the resurrection; and that all that while it has no vision of God, nor sense of joy or pain. But how can any christian possibly give entertainment to so absurd a thought, while he hears his Saviour say, 'Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am,' not in a safe sleep, but that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me.' John xvii. 24. Behold it, when? At last perhaps, when the body shall be resumed. Nay, to choke this cavil, the bliss is present, and already possessed. The glory which thou gavest me, I have given to them.' It was accordingly his gracious word to the penitent thief, This day shalt thou be with me in paradise. How clear also are the words of Paul, when contrasting the present with the future state: For now we see through a glass darkly but then, that is, upon our dissolution, face to face. 1 Cor. xiii. 12. This it was that inflamed the longing desire of the blessed apostle to depart and be with Christ, knowing that these two are inseparable, the instant of his departure, and his presence with Christ. Otherwise the departure were no less worthy of fear, as the greatest of evils; but now that it is our entrance into blessedness, it becomes the object of intense desire.

Away then with that impious frenzy of the soul's sleeping in death. No, my soul, thou dost then begin to live: thou dost not awake, till then. Now, while thou art in the bed of this living clay, thine eyes are shut, thy spiritual senses are tied up; thou art apt to sink into a sinful security, and to dream of earthly vanities. Then, only then are thine eyes opened, thy spiritual faculties freed, all thy powers quickened, and thou art perpetually presented with objects of eternal glory. And if at any time during this pilgrimage, thine eye-lids have been a little raised by divine meditation; yet how narrowly, how dimly art thou

wont to see! But then thine eyes shall be so broadly and fully opened, that thou shalt see a whole heaven at once; yea, which is more, the face of that God whose presence

makes it heaven.

Oh glorious sight, most blessed condition! Solomon truly observed that the eye is not satisfied with seeing, neither indeed can it be here below. Nothing is so great a glutton as the eye; for when we have seen all that we can, we still wish to see more; and that more is nothing, if it be less than all. But this Infinite Object, which is more than all, shall so fill and satisfy us, that we cannot desire the sight of any other; nor ever be glutted with the sight of this. Old Simeon, when once he had lived to see the Lord of life clothed in flesh, could say, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. If he were so full of the sight of his Saviour, in the weakness of human flesh, and in the form of a servant; how is he more than satisfied with delight and joy, to see the Saviour clothed with majesty; to see his all-glorious Godhead; and so to see, as to enjoy them; and so enjoy them, as that he shall never intermit their sight and fruition to all eternity.

SECTION 4.

The Knowledge of the Glorified.

WHAT the knowledge is of souls separated and glorified, we shall best know when ours come to be such. In the mean time we can much less know their thoughts, than they can know ours. Sure we are, they do not know after such a manner as they did, when they were in our bosoms; by the help of the senses, and the discursive inferences of ratiocination; but that they are elevated to a condition suitable to the blessed angels, so that they know like them, by supernatural light which they receive in their glorified state.

Whether by virtue of this divine illumination they know the particular occurrences we meet with here below, it

would be bold to determine This however we may confidently affirm, that they clearly know all those things which appertain to their state of blessedness. Amongst these, whether the knowledge of each other in that region of happiness may justly be ranked, is not unworthy of our disquisition. As in God there is all perfection eminently and transcendently, so in the sight and fruition of God, there cannot but be full and absolute felicity. This however is so far from excluding the knowledge of those things which derive their goodness and excellency from him, that it comprises and supposes it. Like as it is also in our affections: we love God only as the chief good, yet so as that we love other things in order to God. Charity is no more subject to loss than knowledge: both these shall accompany our souls to, and in that other world. As then we shall perfectly love God, and his saints in him, so shall we know both: and though it be a sufficient motive of our love in heaven, that we know them to be saints; yet it seems to be no small addition to our happiness, to know that those saints were once ours. And if it be a just joy to a parent here on earth to see his child gracious, how much more shall it be his joy above, to see the fruits of his loins glorious; when both his love is more pure, and their improvement absolute. Can we make any doubt that the blessed angels know each other? How senseless were it to grant that no knowledge is hid from them, but of themselves. Or can we imagine that those angelic spirits do not take special notice of those souls which they have guarded here, and conducted to their glory? If they do so, and if the knowledge of our beatified souls shall be like to theirs, why should we abridge our souls more than them, of the comfort of our mutual knowledge. Our dissolution will abate nothing of our natural faculties; our glory will advance them, so that what we once knew we shall know better. And if our souls can then perfectly know them selves, why should they be denied the knowledge of others?

Doubt not then, oh my soul, but thou shalt once see, besides the face of thy God whose glory fills heaven and earth, the blessed spirits of the ancient patriarchs and

prophets, the holy apostles and evangelists, the glorious martyrs and confessors; those eminent saints, whose holiness thou wert wont to magnify; and among them, those in whom nature and grace have especially interested thee-thou shalt see them, and enjoy their joy, and they thine. How oft have I measured a long and foul journey to see some good friend, and endured the tediousness of the way with the expectation of a kind entertainment, and the thought of that complacency which I should take in so dear a presence. Yet perhaps, when I arrived, I have found the house disordered; one sick, another disquieted, myself indisposed. Then with what cheerful resolution should I undertake this my last voyage, where I shall meet with my best friends, and find them perfectly happy, and myself with them.

How often have I begged of God, that it would please him to show me some little glimpse of the glory of his saints! It is not for me as yet, to wish to behold the face of the divine Majesty. This was too much even for Moses to sue for. My ambition only is, that I might, if but as it were through some cranny or key-hole of the gate of heaven, see the happy condition of his glorious

servants.

I know what hinders me; my miserable unworthiness, my spiritual blindness. Oh God, if thou please to wash off my clay with the waters of Siloam, I shall have eyes : and if thou anoint them with thy precious eye-salve, those eyes shall be clear, and enabled to behold those glories which shall ravish my soul.

And now, Lord, what pure and resplendent light is this in which thy blessed ones dwell. How justly did thine apostle call it the inheritance of the saints in light; light inexpressible, light inconceivable, light inaccessible! Lo, thou who hast prepared such a light to this inferior