(2.) They shall see him with shame and terror, looking upon him as to receive their just punishment: 1 John ii. 28, 'And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.' Our vision shall be joyful and familiar ; but the wicked are not able to endure the sight of God. As a judge they shun it, and fly from it ; as Adam hid himself when the Lord God walked in the garden, Gen. iii. 8. But to believers, the sight of Christ is comfortable ; he cometh for their benefit, and to put them in possession of their everlasting happiness.
(3.) The consideration of the object is different; the one look upon him as their inexorable judge, the other as their merciful saviour ; their interest in him maketh him dear to their souls. These look to receive from him the full effect of their redemption and salvation, and so re- joice in his favour and presence ; whereas the wicked shall see him as the God of others only, and to their eternal confusion. But to the godly it is comfortable when he shall appear in his glory ; it is the glory of their God : Ps. lxvii. 6, ' God, even our God, shall bless us.' It is the glory of him whom they served, and loved, and pleased, even when this glory was under a cloud and concealed from the world. Now their faith and hope is justified, and their loyal service cometh to be rewarded. They shall see him in his glory, not as unconcerned specta- tors, but as the persons mainly interested therein.
2. Mental vision or contemplation. The angels, which have not bodies, are said to behold the face of our heavenly Father, Mat. xviii. 10 ; and when we are said to see God, it is not meant of the bodily eye, for a spirit cannot be seen with bodily eyes ; so he is still the invisible God, CoL i. 15. And seeing face to face is opposed to knowing in part. And therefore it implieth a more complete knowledge than now we have. The mind is the noblest faculty, and must have its satisfaction. Now we have dull and low conceptions of God, and are little trans- formed by them, or weaned from worldly and fleshly lusts. Could we see God in all his glory, nothing would be dreadful, nothing would be snaringly or enticingly amiable to us any more : 1 John iii. 6, ' Who- soever sinneth hath not seen God, neither known him.' We can hardly now get such a sight of God as will prevent wilful and heinous sin ; but then we shall see him, and sin no more. We shall see then the excellency of his person, the union of the two natures in the person of Christ more exactly : John xiv. 20, ' At that day ye shall know that
1 am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you.' The clarity of the human nature, and what honour the Father puts upon him as mediator, all that wisdom, goodness, and power in conducting and bringing the saints into glory, and the happiness God will bestow upon them ; it is no longer matter of faith, which is a darker sight, but matter of sense :
2 Cor. v. 7, ' We walk by faith now, and not by sight ; ' by sight then, and not by faith. Now the more perfectly we understand these things, the greater impression they make upon us. In short, not to ravel into
4G2 SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. [SeR. III.
all the particulars which then we shall know, our knowledge must needs be greater then, and more completely satisfying, if we consider what is necessary to such a vision and sight of God as the creature is capable of.
Now three things are necessary — (1.) A prepared faculty ; (2.) A suitable object ; and (3.) The conjunction of both these. Now in the state of glory all these concur. The faculty is more capacious, the object is more fully represented, and the conjunction and fruition is more intimate and close than it can be elsewhere.
[1.] The faculty is more prepared, as we are more purified and clarified from the dregs of carnal sense, and those worldly vanities and fleshly lusts which do so blind the mind and divert the heart from God : Mat. v. 8, ' Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God ; ' Heb. xii. 14, ' Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.' The mind is now divided or distracted between God and other things ; now we have but transient glances of God, and a slight apprehension, but then a full view ; and it shall be our whole work to study divinity in the Lamb's face. The more clear the glass is, the more clearly is the image reflected upon it, but the more dusky, the more imperfect is the repre- sentation ; so here our understandings are not refined as they shall be hereafter.
[2.] The object is manifested and dispensed in a greater latitude ; for there God is all in all, 1 Cor. xv. 28, without the intervention of means. When God discovereth himself by means, we know no more of him than can be represented by these means. If a pipe should be put to a great ocean or river, the cistern or conduit can receive no more than the pipe can convey ; but there we see him not in a glass, but converse with God immediately : ' We see him face to face.'