(2dly.) So great a part of mankind as the Mohammedans, unto whom God hath given all the principal and most desirable parts of
336 OF SPIRITUAL MINDEDNESS. [PART I.
the world to inhabit and possess, do conceive the state of future bless- edness to consist in the full satisfaction of their sensual lusts and pleasures. And evidence this is that the religion which they profess hath no power or efficacy on their minds, to change them from the love of sin, or from placing their happiness in fulfilling the desires of the flesh. It doth not at all enlighten their minds to discern a beauty in spiritual things, nor excite their affections unto the love of them, nor free the soul to look after blessedness in such things as alone are © suited unto its rational constitution; for if it did, they would place their happiness and blessedness in them. Wherefore, it is nothing - but an artifice of the god of this world to blind the eyes of men, unto their eternal destruction.
(3dly.) Some of the philosophers of old did attain an apprehension that the blessedness of men in another world doth consist in the soul's full satisfaction in the goodness and beauty of the divine nature. And there is a truth in this notion, which contemplative men have adorned with excellent and rational discourses; and sundry who have been and are learned among Christians have greatly improved this truth by the light of the Scripture. From reason they take up with thoughts of the goodness, the amiableness, the self-sufficiency, the all-sufficient satisfactoriness of the infinite perfec- tions of the divine nature. These things shine in themselves with such a glorious light as that there is no more required unto a per- ception of them but that men do not wilfully shut their eyes against it through bestial sensuality and love of sin. From reason also do they frame their conceptions concerning the capacity of the souls of men for the immediate enjoyment of God, and what is suited therein unto their utmost blessedness. No more is required unto these things but a due consideration of the nature of God and man, with our relation unto him and dependence on him. By the light of the Scripture they frame these things into that which they call the “beatifical vision ;” whereby they intend all the ways whereby God, in the highest and immediate instances, can and doth communicate of himself unto the souls of men, and the utmost elevation of their in- tellectual capacities to receive those communications. It is such an intellectual apprehension of the divine nature and perfections, with ineffable love, as gives the soul the utmost rest and blessedness which its capacities can extend unto.
These things are so, and they have been by many both piously and elegantly illustrated; howbeit they are above the capacities of ordinary Christians,—they know not how to manage them in their minds, nor exercise their thoughts about them. They cannot reduce them unto present usefulness, nor make them subservient unto the exercise and increase of grace. And the truth is, the Scripture gives
CHAP, VI.] DIRECTIONS FOR OUR THOUGHTS ON THINGS ABOVE. 337
us another notion of heaven and glory, not contrary unto this, not inconsistent with it, but more suited unto the faith and experience
_ of believers, and which alone can convey a true and useful sense of
these things unto our minds. This, therefore, is diligently to be in-
- quired into, and firmly stated in our thoughts and affections.
(4thly.) The principal notion which the Scripture gives us of the state of heavenly blessedness, and which the meanest believers are cap-
"able of improving in daily practice, is, that faith shall be turned
into sight, and grace into glory. ‘“ We walk by faith, and not by sight,” saith the apostle, 2 Cor. v. 7. Wherefore, this is the differ- ence between our present and our future state, that sight hereafter shall supply the room of faith, 1 John iii. 2; and if sight come into the place of faith, then the object of that sight must be the same with the present object of our faith. So the apostle informs us, 1 Cor, xiii. 9, 10, 12, “ We know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then
_ face to face.” Those things which we now see darkly, as in a glass,
we shall then have an immediate sight and full comprehension of; for that which is perfect must come and do away that which is in part. What, then, is the principal present object of faith as it is evangelical, into whose room sight must succeed? Is it not the manifestation of the glory of the infinite wisdom, grace, love, kind- ness, and power of God in Christ, the revelation of the eternal
counsels of his will and the ways of their accomplishment, unto the
eternal salvation of the church, in and by him, with the glorious
; exaltation of Christ himself? Wherefore, in the full, satisfactory
representation of these things unto our souls, received by sight, or a
direct, immediate intuition of them, doth the glory of heaven prin-
cipally consist. We behold them now darkly, as in a glass,—that is the utmost which by faith we can attain unto; in heaven they shall - be openly and fully displayed. The infinite, incomprehensible excel- lencies of the divine nature are not proposed in Scripture as the