(1.) First, They shall have the clearest knowledge and revelation of God in, heaven.2 Here our visions of God are not clear; and this makes many a child of light to sit and sigh in darkness. Lam. iii. 44. God veils himself, he covers himself with a cloud. Man, when he is silent concerning God, seemeth to be something, bul when he begins to speak of God, it plainly appears that he is nothing.
Simonides being asked by Hiero, the tyrant, what God was, craved
1 • Painstaking.' — G. ' Nihil notum in terra, nihil ignotum in ccclo.
1 Peter I. 4] a string of pearls. 419
a day for to deliberate about an answer ; but the more he sought into the nature of God, the more difficult he found it to express ; there- fore, the next day after being questioned, he asked two days, the third day he craved four, and so from that time forth doubled the number ; and being asked why he did so, he answered, that the more he studied, the less he was able to define what he was, so incomprehensible is his nature.1
Our visions of God here are dark and obscure. Augustine, asking the question, what God is ? gives in this answer,2 Oerte hie est, de quo et quum dicitur, non potest dici; quum cestimatur, non potest cesti- mari; quum comparatur, non potest comparari; quum definitur, ipse sua dejinitione crescit : surely it is he, who when he is spoken of can- not be spoken of, who when he is considered of cannot be considered of, who when he is compared to any thing cannot be compared, and when he is defined, groweth greater by defining of him. It is observable, that it was not the Lord which the prophet Ezekiel saw, it was only a vision, Ezek. i. 28. In the vision it was- not the glory of the Lord which he saw, but the likeness of it ; nay, it was not the likeness of it, but the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord, that made him to fall on his face, as not being able to behold it. Sin hath so weak- ened, dazzled, and darkened the eye of our souls, that we cannot bear the sight of the glory of the Lord, nor the likeness of it, no ! nor the appearance of the likeness of it.
In the Psalms the Lord is said to ride upon a cherub, Ps. xviii. 10 ; upon which words one saith thus, Cherub quippe plenitudo scientice dicitur, proinde super plenitudinem scientice ascendisse perhibetur, quia majestatis ejus plenitudinem scientia nulla comprehendit, a cherub is so called, as being a fulness of knowledge ; and therefore is God said to ascend above the fulness of knowledge, because no know- ledge comprehendeth the fulness of his majesty.4
But when believers come to heaven, then they shall have a more clear vision and sight of God: J Cor. xiii. 12, 'For now we see through a glass, darkly ; but then face to face : now I know in part ; but then shall I know even as also I am known/4 Now we see him obscurely, as in a glass, but then we shall see him distinctly, clearly, immediately ; we shall then apprehend him clearly, though, even then,, we cannot comprehend him fully.6 Some sense those words, I shall know even as I am known, thus : Look, as God knoweth me after a manner agreeable to his infinite excellency, so shall I know God according to my capacity, not obscurely, but perfectly, as it were, face to face ; and this is the greatest height of blessedness and happiness, Now all veils shall be taken off; and we shall have a clear prospect of God's excellency and glory, of his blessedness and fulness, of his loveliness and sweetness.6 Now all masks, clouds, and curtains, shall be drawn for ever, that saints may clearly see the breadth, length, depth, and height of divine love, and that they may clearly see into the mystery of the Trinity, the mys- tery of Christ's incarnation, the mystery of man's redemption, the mys-
1 Cicero, de natura deor. 1. i. 2 Augustine defide cont. Arrian. c. vi.
3 Gregory Mor. 1. vii. c. 15. 4 ev amy pan, in a riddle.
5 In this life, saith Bernard, erit mira serenitas, plena securitas, ceterna fcelicitas, there will be wonderful serenity, full security, eternal felicity. 6 Visio clara no7i comprehensiva.
120 A STRING OF PEARL* [1 PETER I. 4.
tery of providences, the mystery of prophesies ; and all those mysteries that relate to the nature, substances, offices, orders, and excellencies of the angels, those princes of glory, who still keep their standings in the court of heaven ; and all those mysteries that concern the nature, ori- ginal, immortality, spirituality, excellency, and activity of our own souls, beside a world of other mysteries that respect the decrees and counsels of God, the creation of the world, the fall of Adam, and the fall of angels. Now the most knowing men in the world are much in the dark about these things ; but when we come to heaven, we shall have a close and a clear sight and knowledge of them. ISTow we shall know, as we are known ; now we shall see God face to face. 0 beata visio, videre Regent angelorwm, sanctum sanctorum, Deurn coeli, Rectorem terms, patrem, viventiv/m, ! Oh blessed sight! to behold the King of angels, the holy of holies, the God of heaven, the Ruler of the earth, the Father of the living !' 0 beata visio, videre Dewm in seipso, videre i/n nobis, el no$ i a i'o. Oh blessed vision and contemplation, wherein we shall see God in himself, God in us, and ourselves in God \2 But,