xvii. 24.

if I may fo express myself, more glorious than Cor. xv.1. others. But wherever Shechinah is, or the glorious Body of Chrift, it fpreads its Rays like a new Star, and its Light around it, and in its Neighbourhood all around it, the bleffed Saints fhall dwell, as under a Throne of Glory. Chrift has often told us that, and thus, being about to die, accofts his Father, Father, I will that those whom thou haft given John xii. unto me, where I am should be with me, that 26. xiv. 3. they may behold the glory which thou haft given me; for thou lovedft me before the Foundation of the World. But ftrictly to define these Seats and these Manfions of Blifs, is not in our Power at prefent; nor, indeed, does it much concern us: But fince the Saints fhall have their Habitation in Heaven, and their Inheritance in the Realms of Light, 'tis very 2 Cor. v. probable that their Seats will be not only Col. i. 5. above the Globe of the Moon, but above the Atmospheres of all the Planets, in those Ætherial Regions where there is eternal Day, and where Night never comes. Lastly, fince Chrift has taught us, that in his Fa- Eph.iv.ro. ther's Houfe there are many Manfions, 'tis but Joh.xiv. 2.. reasonable to fuppofe, that every Saint, or Affembly of Saints, according to the Degree of their Purity and Perfection, will have their Habitation nearer to Shechinah, or to the Throne of Glory.

THUS much concerning the Station and Seat of the Bleffed. As for their Condition,

(for

(for we have said that both of them are comprehended under the Name of Heaven,) that is, the Kind and Degree of Felicity, which the Saints will enjoy in these Etherial Regions, the Saying of the Apoftle has here I Cor.ii.9. defervedly a Place; Eye hath not feen, nor bath Ear heard, nor can the Mind of Man conceive the Happiness that God has prepared for those who love him. Thefe Things furpafs our present Capacities, and the Force of human Thought. Yet this is certain, that let them be what they will, they must all be referr'd, either to the Body, or to the Mind. What the Body of the Bleffed will be in Heaven, both as to the Matter and to the Form of it, we have in the feventh and eighth Chapters, to the best of our Power, explain'd: That befides its incomparable Endowments, it will be free from every Evil of Sicknets, or Pain, or Trouble, with which we are afflicted in our present Bodies: And that it will willingly, and without Reluctance, obey the Commands of Reason, prepar'd and ready for every kind of Obedience. As for the Soul, all its Faculties in that State, will grow greater and stronger, and will aspire to the utmost Perfection. The Senfes, the Affections, all the Faculties of the Soul will become more lively, and will terminate in greater and more illuftrious Objects.

AND first of all, new and most wonderful Objects will not be wanting to entertain

the

the outward Senses, when being exalted above all the Planets, we fhall view the boundless Ocean of the Universe, and innumerable Globes of Worlds floating along the vast Stream of the Sky, each fill'd with its proper Inhabitants: For the Force of the Eye, and the visual Faculty will be fo ordain'd and constituted, that it will furpafs all the Power of the most artful Glaffes, and will reach and take in Objects much greater and nobler, and more remote than what we now difcern in this muddy Air. Then, when we shall contemplate the fix'd Stars, those eternal celestial Fires, thofe numberless Suns of prodigious Magnitude, fucceeding one another without End, through all the immenfe Spaces of the Sky, what Pleasure, what Raptures will not this Profpect of the Universe raise in us? How great is the Lord, how great is our God, the Author and Creator of every Creature, of every Thing that fills this boundless All.*

LASTLY, Befides this Magnificence of the Works divine, there will be a matchless Beauty in the Face of the Heavens, feeing that the Stars, like fo many Gems of different Orders, and of different Kinds, will fhine with a thousand several Glories, and a thousand various Colours; when in the Confines of the Orbs, and their Approaches

Alas! How vile does this Earth feem, when I look up to Heaven! See the Place of Senec. in his Natur. Quafi. Brafat. Quam juvat inter. Sydera, &c.

to each other, their Rays being variously refracted, new Lights and painted Arches will arife, and numerous Kinds and Forms of Splendors will be feen, fuch as are painted by the Prophet in the holy City, Revel. xxi. 18, 19, &c. This, befides, ought to be added, that when we fhall have obtain'd a Station, or Seat, in those Ætherial Regions, a Station exalted above all the Planets, we shall not only fee one Hemisphere, or half of the Heavens, as now we see it, but shall behold the Sphere intire, and at one and the fame Time become Spectators of the vaft Circumference and Amphitheatre of the World, the Palace of the univerfal King, with all its Ornaments, and its moft fplendid Furniture. What and how much will be added to this celestial Sight by the Prefence and Influence of the divine Shechinah, is beyond all mortal Power to exprefs.

BUT why do we dwell fo long upon the outward Senses? The chief Felicity of the Saints in Heaven will confift in the Contemplation of their Minds, and the Motions of their Affections. But this Felicity efcapes us, or, as the Apostle expreffes it, does not enter into the Heart of Man in this prefent State. But this, nevertheless, we know, that the greater and the more excellent the Objects of the Understanding are, the purer and the fuller Joy does the Mind receive from the Contemplation of them. This likewife we know, that there

is nothing in the Universe, or the Nature of Things, greater than the divine Nature; and the Perfections of it, to whom nothing that is finite can be equal, or fecond; from which the Confequence is very clear, that to Minds rightly prepared, the moft tranfporting Happinefs must arife from the Contemplation and the Love of God. So far the Point is clear; but we are not able, in this Life, either to express in Words, or to reach in Thought, the very lowest Degrees, or fo much as a light Idea of this high Beatitude; so foreign and fo remote is true Felicity from our present Condition.

BUT to proceed a little: By the fame Degrees that we make an Improvement and Proficiency in the Knowledge of God, will the Love and Admiration of him increase in us, than which Affections human Nature knows nothing that brings more Felicity to it: Then the facred Scripture teftifies, and Reafon on several Accounts convinces us, that our Knowledge of Things divine will be improv'd in the Heavens, to the very utmost of our Endeavour, and our Capacity. Here, fays the Apostle, our Knowledge is like that of Children; but it will be there like that in the Vigour and Maturity of manly Age; Here we fee through a Glass darkly, but Cor.xiii there Face to Face; now I know in Part, 12. but then I shall know as alfo I am known. Whatever fecret Senfe thefe Words of the Apoftle may have, confider'd one by one,

Y 2

and