Here I shall show — (1.) What is this glory ; (2.) What it is to be- hold this glory ; (3.) Why our happiness lieth in it.
First, What is this glory ?
1. The excellency of his person. The union of the two natures in Christ's person is one of the mysteries that shall then be unfolded : John xiv. 20, ' At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.' How he is God-man in one person, how the Father, Son, and Spirit are one. We were made for the under- standing of this mystery. God had happiness enough in himself ; he made creatures on purpose, angels and blessed men, to contemplate his excellency.
2. The clarity of his human nature. It is happiness enough to see Jesus Christ upon his white throne : Rev. xxii. 4, ' They shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads.' We shall be eye- witnesses of the honour which the Father puts upon him as mediator. It will be a wonderful glory ; we want words to make it intelligible ; the visible sun hath scarce the honour to be Christ's shadow. We
VeR. 24.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XYII. 103
may guess at it by his appearance on Mount Sinai, when he gave the law, Exod. xix., compared with Heb. xii. 18, 19 ; by the transfigura- tion. Mat. xvii., when the disciples were astonished ; by the glimpse given to Paul, when a light from heaven shined round about him, Acts ix. 3 ; Paul was three days without sight, and could neither eat nor drink ; by those emissions of light and glory, John xviii. 6, ' As soon as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.' All these apparitions were formidable, but in heaven they are comfortable. "We are more able to bear it, the natural faculties being fortified ; and we come to consider it as a glory put upon him for our sakes.
Secondly, What is this beholding ? It is either ocular or mental.
1. Ocular ; our senses have their happiness as well as the soul ; there is a glorified eye as well as a glorified mind : 2 Cor. v. 7, 'We walk by faith, not by sight.' He doth not mean present sense, and the present view of things ; the life of faith is sometimes opposed to that ; but now he meaneth our privileges in heaven. Job pointed to his eyes : Job xix. 26, 27, ' Though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God ; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another,' We shall see that person that redeemed us, and that nature wherein he sufi'ered so much for us. God intendeth good to the body, he hath intrusted it with the soul, and the soul with so much grace, that he will not lose the outward cask and vessel. There is a glory to entertain our eyes in heaven ; not only the beautiful mansion, and the glorious inhabitants, but the face of the Lamb. We shall be always looking on that book.
2. There is mental vision or contemplation. The angels, that are not corporeal, are said * always to behold the face of our heavenly Father,' Mat. xviii. 10. Angels have no eyes, yet they see God. When we are said to see God, it is not meant of the bodily eye ; a spirit cannot be seen with bodily eyes. And therefore God is called doparo<;, ' the invisible God,^ Col. i. 15. And seeing face to face is opposed to knowing in part : 1 Cor. xiii. 12, ' Now we see through a glass darkly, then face to face ; now we know but in part, then we shall know even as also we are known.' The mind is the noblest faculty, and therefore it must be satisfied in heaven, or else we cannot ]>e happy. It is the mind maketh the man ; it is our preferment above the beasts that God hath given us a mind to know him. Man is a rational creature, and there is as great an inclination to knowledge in tiie soul as in beasts to carnal pleasures. Drunkards may talk of their pleasures, and the gratifications of sense ; but the pleasure and delight of the soul is knowledge. And besides this general capacity, there is a particular inclination in believers by grace ; and therefore, that we may be completely happy, the mind must be satisfied with the sight of God.
Thirdly, W^hy our happiness lieth in beholding Christ ?
1, It is the cause of all our fruition and enjoyment in heaven.
2. All fruition and enjoyment is resolved into it again.
1. It is the cause of all our fruition in heaven. Ocular vision maketh way for mental, and mental vision for complete holiness or
104 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeR. XLII.
conformity to God, and conformity for love, and love for delight, and delight for fruition.
[1,] Ocular vision • maketh way for mental. We go to heaven to study divinity in the Lamb's face : Kev. xxii. 4, ' They shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads.' There is an assembly sitting round about the throne, and the Lamb is in the midst of them, and there, by looking upon his face, they learn more of God. We need no other books than beholding his glory. We converse with Christ that we may know more of God. Thus we come to knowledge with- out labour and difficulty ; Christ in his glory and eminency is bible enough.