immediate object of our faith; nor shall they be so unto sight in
: heaven. The manifestation of them in Christ is the immediate ob-
_ ject of our faith here, and shall be of our sight hereafter. Only
~
through this manifestation of them we are led even by faith ulti- mately to acquiesce in them, as we shall in heaven be led by love perfectly to adhere unto them with delight ineffable. This is our immediate objective glory in heaven; we hope for no other. And
this, if God will, I shall shortly more fully explain.
_ Whoever live in the exercise of faith, and have any experience of
_ the life, power, and sweetness, of these heavenly things, unto whom - they are a spring of grace and consolation, they are able to meditate
VOL. VII. Tay
338 OF SPIRITUAL MINDEDNESS. [PART I.
on the glory of them in their full enjoyment. Think much of hea- ven, as that which will give you a perfect view and comprehension of the wisdom, and love, and grace of God in Christ, with those other things which shall be immediately declared.
Some perhaps will be ready to say, that if this be heaven, they can see no great glory in it, no such beauty as for which it should be desired. It may be so, for some have no instrument to take a view of invisible things but carnal imaginations. Some have no light, no principle, no disposition of mind or soul, whereunto these things are either acceptable or suitable. Some will go no farther in the consideration of the divine excellencies of God, and the faculties and actings of our souls, than reason will guide them; which may be of use. But we look for no other heaven, we desire none, but what we are led unto and prepared for by the light of the gospel; that which shall perfect all the beginnings of God’s grace in us, not what shall be quite of another nature and destructive of them. We value not that heaven which is equally suited unto the desires and inclinations of the worst of men as well as of the best; for we know that they who like not grace here, neither do nor can like that which is glory hereafter. No man who is not acquainted experimentally, in some measure, with the life, power, and evidence of faith here, hath any other heaven in his aim but what is erected in his own imagination. The glory of heaven which the gospel prepares us for, which faith leads and conducts us unto, which the souls of believers long after, as that which will give full rest, satisfaction, and compla- cency, is the full, open, perfect manifestation of the glory of the wis- dom, goodness, and love of God in Christ, in his person and media- tion, with the revelation of all his counsels concerning them, and the communication of their effects unto us. He that likes it not, unto whom it is not desirable, may betake himself unto Mohammed’s paradise or the philosophers’ speculations; in the gospel heaven he hath no interest. These are the things which we see now darkly, as in a glass, by faith; in the view of them are our souls gradually changed into the likeness of God, and the comprehension of them is that which shall give us our utmost conformity and likeness unto him whereof our natures are capable. In a sense and experience of their reality and goodness, given us by the Holy Ghost, do all our spiritual consolations and joys consist. The effects produced by them in our souls are the first-fruits of glory. Our light, sense, experience, and enjoyment of these things, however weak and frequently inter- rupted; our apprehensions of them, however dark and obscure,—are the only means whereby we are “made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.”
To have the eternal glory of God in Christ, with all the fruits of
CHAP. VI.] DIRECTIONS FOR OUR THOUGHTS ON THINGS ABOVE. 339
his wisdom and love, whilst we are ourselves under the full partici- pation of the effects of them, immediately, directly revealed, pro- posed, made known unto us, in a divine and glorious light, our souls _ being furnished with a capacity to behold and perfectly comprehend them,—this is the heaven which, according unto God’s promise, we look for. But, as was said, these things shall be elsewhere more fully treated of.
It is true that there are sundry other things in particular that belong unto this state of glory; but what we have mentioned is the fountain and spring of them all. We can never have an imme- diate enjoyment of God in the immensity of his nature, nor can any created understanding conceive any such thing. God’s communica- tions of himself unto us and our enjoyment of him shall be in and by the manifestation of his glory in Christ. He who can see no glory, who is sensible of no blessedness, in these things, is a stranger unto that heaven which the Scripture reveals and which faith leads unto. ;
It may be inquired, What is the subjective glory, or what change is to be wrought in ourselves that we may enjoy this glory?’ Now, that consists principally as unto our souls, in the perfection of all grace which is initially wrought and subjectively resides in us in this world. The grace which we have here shall not be done away as unto its essence and nature, though somewhat of it shall cease as unto the manner of its operation. What soul could think with joy of going to heaven, if thereby he must lose all his present light, faith, and love of God, though he be told that he should receive that in lieu of them which is more excellent, whereof he hath no experi- ence, nor can understand of what nature it is? When the saints enter into rest, their good works do follow them; and how can they do so if their grace do not accompany them, from whence they pro- ceed? The perfection of our present graces, which are here weak and interrupted in their operations, is a principal eminency of the state of glory. Faith shall be heightened into vision, as was proved before; which doth not destroy its nature, but cause it to cease as unto its manner of operation towards things invisible. If a man have a weak, small faith in this life, with little evidence and no as- surance, so that he doubts of all things, questions all things, and hath no comfort from what he doth believe ; if afterward, through supplies of grace, he hath a mighty prevailing evidence of the things believed, is filled with comfort and assurance; this is not by a faith or grace of another kind than what he had before, but by the same faith raised unto a higher degree of perfection. When our Saviour cured the blind man and gave him his sight, Mark viii, at first he saw all things obscurely and imperfectly,—he saw “men as trees, walking,”