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Blood of the Lamb: Therefore are they before the Throne of God, and ferve him Day and Night in his Temple, and he that fitteth on the Throne fhall dwell among them; The Lamb which is in the Midft of the Throne fall feed them, and fhall lead them unto living Fountains of Water; and God fhall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes (t). O blind, deceived World! Can you fhew us fuch a Glory? This is the City of our God, where the Tabernacle of God is with Men, and he will dwell with them, and they fhall be his People, and God himself fhall be with them, and be their God. The Glory of Ged fhall lighten it, and the Lamb is the Light thereof. And there fall ben more Curfe; but the Throne of God and of the Lamb fall be in it; and his Servants fall ferve him, and they hall fee his Face, and his Name fhall be in their Foreleads. Thefe Sayings are faithful and true, and the Things which must shortly be done (u). And now we fay, as Mephibofheth, let the World take all, forafmuch as our Lord will come in Peace (w). Rejice therefore in the Lord, O ye Righteous, and fay with his Servant David, the Lord is the Portion of mine Inheritance: The Lines are fallen unto me in pleafant Places; yea, I have goodly Heritage. I have fet the Lord always before me, because he is at my right Hand I fhall not be moved. There fore my Heart is glad, and my Glory rejoiceth; my Fle elfo fhall reft in Hope. For thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell, neither wilt thou fuffer thine Holy One to fee Corruption. Thou wilt few me the Path of Life, in thy Prefence is Fulness of Joy, at thy right Hand there are Pleasures for evermore (x). What Prefumption would it have been, once to have thought or spoke of fuch a Thing, if God had not spoken it before us? I durft not have thought of the Saint's Preferment in

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Rev. ii. 7, 17. iii. 12, 21. vii. 14, 15, 17.
(w) 2 Sam. xix. 30.

24.

xxii. 3, 4, 6.

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this

(u) Rev. xxi. (x) Pfalm xxxi. I.

this Life, as Scripture fets it forth, had it not been the exprefs Truth of God. How indecent, to talk of being Sons of God-fpeaking to him-having Fellowfhip with him-dwelling in him and he in us (y); if this had not been God's own Language? How much lefs durft we have once thought of fining forth as the Sun of being Joint-heirs with Chrift-of judging the World -of fitting on Chrift's Throne-of being one in him and the Father (z); if we had not all this from the Mouth, and under the Hand, of God? But hath he faid, and fhall be not do it? Hath he spoken, and fhall he not make it good(a)? Yes, as the Lord God is true, thus fhall it be done to the Man, whom Chrift delighteth to honour (b). Be of good Chear, Chriflian, the Time is near, when God and thou fhalt be near, and as near as thou canst well defire. Thou shalt dwell in his Family. Is that enough? It is better to be a Door-keeper in the Houfe of God, than to dwell in the Tents of Wickedness (c). Thou fhalt ever ftand before him, about his Throne, in the Room with him, in his Prefence-Chamber. Wouldst thou yet be nearer? Thou shalt be his Child, and he thy Father; thou shalt be an Heir of his Kingdom; yea more, the Spouse of his Son. And what more canft thou defire? Thou fhalt be a Member of the Body of his Son; he fhall be thy Head; thou fhalt be one with him, who is one with the Father; as he himself hath defired for thee of his Father; that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in usz and the Glory which theu gaveft me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one; 1 in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and

(y) John iii. 1.
xiii. 43. Rom. viii.
(a) Numb, xxiii. 19.

B 6

Gen. xviii. 27. 1 John i.
17. 1 Cor. vi. 2. Rev.
(b) Ether vi. 11.

that

3, iv. 16. (z). Matt.
i. 21. John xvii. 21..
(c) Pfalm. xxxiv, 10.

that the World may know that thou haft fent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me (d).

$9. (5) WE muft add, that this Reft contains a fweet and conftant Action of all the Powers of the Soul and Body in this Enjoyment of God. It is not the Reft of a Stone, which ceaseth from all Motion when it attains the Centre. This Body fhall be fo changed, that it fhall no more he Fiefh and Blood, which cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; but a fpiritual Body. We few not that Body that shall be, but God giveth it a Body as it hath pleafed him, and to every Seed his own Body (e). If Grace makes a Christian differ fo much from what he was, as to fay, I am not the Man I was; how much more will Glory make us differ? As much as a Body fpiritual, above the Sun in Glory, exceeds these frail, noifome, difcafed Lumps of Flefh, fo far fhall our Senfes exceed those we now poffefs. Doubtlefs as God advanceth our Senfes, and enlargeth our Capacity, fo will he advance the Happiness of those Senfes, and fill-up with himfelf all that Capacity. Certainly the Body fhould not be raifed up, and continued, if it should not share in the Glory. As it hath fhared in the Obedience and Sufferings, fo fhall it alfo in the Bleffednefs. As Chrift bought the whole Man, fo fhall the whole partake of the everlafting Benefits of the Purchase. O Bleffed Employment of a glorified Body! to ftand before the Throne of God and the Lamb, and to found forth for ever, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive Glry, and Honour, and Power. Worthy is the Lamb that was flain, to receive Power, and Riches, and Wifdem, and Strength, and Honour, and Glory, and Bleffing; for thou haft redeemed us to God by thy Blond, out of every Kindred, and Tongue, and People, and Nation, and haft made us unto our God Kings and Priests. Alleluia, Salvation, and Glory, and Honour,

(3) John xvii. 21---23.

(e) 1 Cor. xv. 50, 44, 37, 38.

Honour, and Power, unto the Lord our God. Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

Chriftians! This is the bleffed Reft; a Reft, as it were, without Reft; for they reft not Day and Night, faying, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come (f).- -And if the Body fhall be thus employed, oh, how fhall the Soul be taken up! As its Powers and Capacities are greateft, fo its Actions are ftrongeft, and its Enjoyments sweetest. As the bodily Senfes have their proper Action, whereby they receive and enjoy their Objects, fo does the Soul in its own Action enjoy its own Object, by knowing, remembering, loving, and delightful joying. This is the Soul's Enjoyment. By thefe Eyes it fees, and by thefe Arms

it embraces.

As

So. Knowledge of itfelf is very defirable. far as the Rational Soul exceeds the Senfitive, fo far the Delights of a Philofopher, in difcovering the Secrets of Nature, and knowing the Mystery of Sciences, exceed the Delights of the Glutton, the Drunkard,, the Un clean, and of all voluptuous Senfualifts whatsoever. So excellent is all Truth. What then is their Delight who know the God of Truth? How noble a Faculty of the Soul is this Understanding? It can compafs the Earth; it can measure the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Heaven; it can foreknow each Eclipfe to a Minute, many Years before. But this is the Top of all its Excellency, that it can know God, who is infinite, who made all thefe, a little here, and more, much more hereafter. O the Wisdom and Goodnefs of our bleffed Lord! He hath created the Understanding with a natural Bias and Inclination to Truth, as its "Object; and to the prime Truth, as its prime Object, Chrifian, when, after long gazing Heaven-ward, thou haft got a Glimple of Chrift, doft thou not fometime

(f) Rev. iv. 11. v. 12, 5, 10, xix. 1, 6. iv. 8.

feem

feem to have been with Paul in the third Heaven, whether in the Body, or out, and to have feen what is unutterable (g)? Art thou not, with Peter, ready to fay," Mafter, it is good to be here (h)? Oh that I

might dwell in this Mount! Oh that I might ever

fee what I now fee!" Didst thou never look fo Jong upon the Sun of Righteoufnefs, till thine Eyes were dazzled with his aftonishing Glory? And did not the Splendor of it make all Things below feem black and dark to thee? Efpecially in thy Day of Suffering for Chrift, when he ufually appears most manifeftly to his People, didft thou never fee one walking in the Midst of the fiery Furnace with thee like the Son of God (i)? Believe me, Chriftians, yea, beLeve God; you that have known moft of God in Chrift here, it is as Nothing to what you shall know; it fcarce, in Comparifon of that, deferves to be called Knowledge. For as thefe Bodies, fo that Knowledge, must ceafe, that a more perfect may fucceed. Knowledge fall vanish away. For we know in Part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in Part fhall be done away. When I was a Child, I fpake as a Child, I underflood as a Child, I thought as a Child; but when I became a Man, I put away childish Things. For now we fee thro' a Glass darkly, but then Face to Face; now I know in Part, but then frall I know even as alĵo I am known (k). Marvel not therefore, Chriftian, how it can be Life eternal, to know God, and Jefus Christ (1). To enjoy God and Chrift, is eternal Life; and the Soul's en joying is in knowing. They that favour only of Earth, and confult with Flefh, think it a poor Hap giness to know God. But we know that we are of God, and the whole World lieth in Wickedness; and we

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know (i) Dan. iii. 25.

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