But " as for me," saith David, " I will behold thy face in righteous- ness : I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness," Ps. xvii. 1 5. It is Christ alone who is the likeness and image of God. When we awake in the other world, with our minds purified and rectified, the beholding of him shall be always satisfying imto us. There will be then no satiety, no weariness, no indispositions ; but the mind, being made perfect in all its faculties, powers, and operations, with respect unto its utmost end, which is the enjoyment of God, is satis- fied in the beholding of him for evermore. And where there is perfect satisfaction without satiety, there is blessedness for ever. So the Holy Spirit affirms of the four living creatures, in the Eevelation, " They rest not day and night, saying. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty," chap. iv. 8. They are continually exercised in the admi- ration and praises of God in Christ without weariness or interruption. Herein shall we be made like unto angels.
2. As our minds, in their essential powers and faculties, shall be enabled to comprehend and acquiesce in this glory of Christ ; so the means or instrument of the beholding of it is much more excellent than faith, and in its kind absolutely perfect ; as hath in part been be- fore declared. This is vision or sight. Here we walk by faith ; there, by sight. And this sight is not an external aid, like a glass helping the weakness of the visive faculty to see things afar off; but it is an internal power, or an act of the internal power of our minds, where- with they are endowed in a glorified state. Hereby we shall be able to " see him face to face, — to see him as he is," in a direct comprehen-
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE FAITH AND SIGHT OF IT. 40-7
sion of his glory ; for this sight or visive power shall be given us for this very end, — namely, to enable us so to do. Hereunto the whole glory of Christ is clear, perspicuous, and evident ; which will give us eternal acquiescency therein. Hence shall our sight of the glory of Christ be invariable and always the same.
S. The Lord Christ will never, in any one instance, on any occa- sion, so much as one moment, ivithdraiu himself from us, or eclipse the proposal and manifestation of himself unto our sight. This he doth sometimes in this life ; and it is needful for us that so he should do. " We shall ever be "s^dth the Lord," 1 Thess. iv. 17, — without end, without interruption. This is the centre of good and evil as to the future different states of men. They shall be for ever. Eternity makes them absolutely good on the one hand, and absolutely evil on the other. To be in hell under the wrath of God is in itself the greatest penal evil ; but to be there for ever, without the intermission of misery or determination of time, is that which renders it the greatest evil unto them who shall be in that condition. So is eternity the life of future blessedness. " We shall ever be with the Lord," without limitation of time, without interruption of enjoyment.
There are no vicissitudes in the heavenly state. The new Jeru- salem hath no temple in it ; " for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple thereof," Rev. xxi. 22. There is no need of in- stituted means of worship, nor of ordinances of divine service ; for we shall need neither increase of grace nor excitations unto its exercise ; • — the constant, immediate, uninterrupted enjoyment of God and the Lamb supplieth all. And it hath no need of the sun nor of the moon to shine in it ; for the glory of God doth enlighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof The light of the sun is excellent ; howbeit it hath its seasons; — after it hath shone in its brightest lustre, it gives place to the night and darkness. So is the light of the moon of great use in the night ; but it hath its seasons also. Such is the light we have of the glory of God and the Lamb in this world. Sometimes it is as the light of the sun, which, under the Gospel, is sevenfold, as the light of seven days in one in comparison of the Law, Isa. xxx. 26 ;■ — some- times as the light of the moon, which giveth relief in the night of temptations and trials. But it is not constant ; we are under a vicis- situde of light and darkness, — views of Christ, and a loss of him. But in heaven the perpetual presence of Christ with his saints makes it always one noon of light and glory.
4. This vision is not in the least liable unto any Aveakenings from ■internal defects, nor any assaults from temptations, as is the sight of faith in this life. No doubts or fears, no disturbing darts or injec- tions, shall there have any place. There shall no habit, no quality, no inclination or disposition remain in our souls, but what shall eter-