7. The seventh thing in glory, is eterni- ty, 2 Cor. iv. 17., " An eternal weight of glory."— hY, Glory is a weight: the He- brew AV'ord for glory {quod signijicat pon- dus) is a weight : God must make us able to bear it. — 2rf/^, An eternal weight. Glo- ry 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 para- dise fades not, 1 Pet. v. 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 arc all earthly comforts, they run with a full stream all the daytime 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, Ps. xvi. 11. Eter- nity is the heaven of heavens ; in fine gau- dium erit sine fine, Bern. The joys of hea- ven as overflowing, so everflowing.
Quest. 4. JVhen do believers enter upon possession of glory ?
Ans. They pass immediately after death into glory. Some hold, with the Platonists and Lucianists, that the soul dies ; but ma- ny of the sober heathens believed t!ie soul's immortality. The Romans, when their great men died, caused an eagle to be let loose, and fly about in the air, signifying hereby that the soul was immortal, and did not die with the body. Christ tells us the soul is not capable of killing, Luke xii. 4., therefore not of dying. And as the soul doth not die, so neither doth it sleep in the body for a time ; if the soul be at death ab- sent from the body, 2 Cor. v. 8., then it cannot sleep in the body. There is an im- mediate passage from death to glory ; it is but winking, and we shall see God, Luke xxiii. 43., " To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." By paradise is meant hea- ven. The third heaven into which Paul was rapt (which all hold to be the heaven of the blessed) was called paradise, 2 Cor. xii. 4. Now saitli Christ to the thief on the cross, " To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." His body could not be there, for it was laid in the grave ; but it was spoken of his soul, that it should be im- mediately after death in heaven. Let none be so vain as to talk of purgatory ; a soul ])urged by Christ's blood, needs no fire of purgatory, but goes immediately from a deathbed into a glorified state.
Use \st. See what little cause believers have to fear death, when it brings such glo- rious benefits; " to me to die is gain
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Wliy should the saints fear their prefer- ment ? Is it not a blessed thing to see God, to love God, and to lie for ever in the bo- som of divine love ? Is it not a blessed thinir to meet our p^odly relations in heaven ? ^\^ly should the saints be afraid of their blessings ? Is a virgin afraid to be matched unto the crown ? Now is but the contract, — at death is the marriage-supper of the Lamb, Rev. xix. 9. What hurt doth death, but take us from among fiery serpents, and places us among angels ? What hurt doth it do, but to clothe us with a robe of immor- tality ? Hath he any wrong done him that hatli his sackclotli pulled off, and hath cloth oi'gold put upon him? Fear not dying, ye who cannot live but by dying !
Use 2d. 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 contem|)lative lile, be- gin the life of angels here, and be in heaven before your time. Eudoxius was so affect- ed with the glory of the sun, that he thought lie was born <mly to behold it. What should we contemplate but celestial glory, when we shall see God face to face ; David was got above the ordinary sort of men, he was in the altitudes, Ps. cxxxix. 18., " I am still with thee." A true saint every day t.ikes a turn in heaven ; his thoughts and desires are like cherubims flying up to par.idise. Can men of the world so delight in looking