(3.) In the pains of hell there is no mi- tigation, no mixture of mercy. In this life, God in anger remembers mercy. Hab. iii. 2. ; but in hell there is no alleviation, or lessening of the pains. As in the sacrifice of jealousy. Numb. v. 15., God would have no oil or frankincense put into it : so in hell there is no oil of mercy to lenify the suffer- ings of the damned, no incense of prayer to appease God's wrath.
(4.) In the pains of hell there is no in- termission. The poets feign of Endymion, that he got leave of Jupiter always to sleep. Wliat would the damned in liell give for one hour's sleep? Rev. iv. 8., " They rest not day and night." They are perpetually on the rack.
(5.) In the pains of hell there is no expi- ration ; they must always lie scorching in flames of wrath, Rev. xiv. 11., " The smoke of their torment ascended up for ever and
ever :" but, in the heavenly kingdom, the elect shall be freed from all infernal tor- ments : " Jesus hath delivered us from the wrath to come." A prison is not made for the king's children. Christ drank that bit ter cup of God's wrath, that the saints might never drink it.
A. 2. In the kingdom of heaven there is a glorious fruition of all good. Had I as many tongues as hairs on my head, I could not fully describe this. I may say, as Judges xviii. 9, 10. Heaven is called " the excel- lent glory," 2 Pet. i. 17. I may as well span the firmament, or drain the ocean, as set forth tlie glory of this kingdom. Coilum non habit hyperholum ; the kingdom of hea- ven is above all hyperbole. Were the sun ten thousand times brighter than it is, it could not parallel the lustre of this king- dom ; Apelles' pencil would blot, angels tongues would lessen it; lean but give you the skiagraphia, or dark shadow of it ; ex- pect not to see it in all its orient colours, till you are mounted above the stars. But let us not stand afar off, as Moses, to be- hold this Canaan, but enter into it, and taste the honey. Concerning the fruitions and privileges of this heavenly kingdom,
1. We shall have an immediate commu- nion with God himself, who is the inexhaust- ed sea of all ha])piness ; this divines call ' the beatifical vision.' The Psalmist did triumph in that enjoyment he had of God in this life, Ps. Ixxiii. 25., " Whom have I in heaven but thee?" If God, enjoyed by faith, doth give so much comfort to the soul ; how much more, when he is enjoyed by inunediate vision ! Here we see God but darkly through the glass of ordinances, but, in the kingdom of heaven wo shall see him " face to face," 1 Cor. xiii. 12. We shall have an intellectual sight of God, /. e. wo shall see him with the eyes of our mind ; we shall know God as much as the angels in heaven do, Mat. xviii. 10. and 1 Cor. xiii. 12., We shall know as we are known. We shall have a full knowledge of God, though not know him fully; as a vessel in the sea, is full of the sea, though it holds not all the sea. To see and enjoy (iod will be most delicious ; in God are beams of majesty, and bowels of mercy, (lod hath all excellencies concentered in him, ho/ium in quo omnia bona.
OF THE SECOND PETITION IN THE LORD'S PRAYER.
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If one flower should liave the sweetness of all llowers, how sweet would that flower be ! All the beauty and sweetness which lies scattered in the creature, is infinitely to be found in God ; therefore, to see and en- joy him, will ravish the soul with delifjht. We shall so see God as to love him, and be made sensible of his love; and, when we shall have this sweet communion with God, then God shall be " all in all," 1 Cor. xv. 28., light to the eye, manna to the taste, music to the ear.
2. We shall, in the kingdom of licaven, with these eyes, see the glorified body of Jesus Christ. This our Saviour makes a great part of the glory of heaven, to view the glory of his human nature, John xvii. 24., " That they may behold my glory." When Christ was transfigured upon earth, it is said, " that his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as tiie light," Mat. xvii. 2. If the glory of his transfigu- ration was so great, what will the glory of his exaltation be? Much of the glory of God shines in Christ, by virtue of the hy- postatical union. Col. ii. 9., " In him dwell- cth all the fulness of the Godhead bodilv." Through Christ's humanity, as through a bright mirror, we may see some beams of the Divine Majesty shine forth. Put a back of steel to a glass, and you may see a face in it : Christ's human nature is as a back of steel put to the divine nature ; ihrough this we may see God ; and then our capacities shall be enlarged to a wonderful degree, to receive this glorious object ; and we shall uot only see God's glory, but some of his glory shall be put upon us. Non tantum aderit (jlorla, sed viherit, Bern. A beggar may behold the glory of a king, and not be the happier ; but Christ's glory shall be ours, " we shall be like him," 1 John iii. 2. We shall shine by his beams.