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CHAP. V.

Union with God by knowledge and love, the perfection and felicity of the saints-The pleasure that springs from knowledge, and from the enjoyment of God-The blessed communion between the saints and Christ in heaven-The love of the saints is fully satisfied with the glory of God.

UNION with God by knowledge and love, accomplishes the perfection and happiness of the saints. The most pernicious effect of sin is the separation of the soul from God; and the restoration of us to happiness is by re-union with him. This we obtain by Christ, who is Emmanuel both in his nature and by office. He took our flesh, which he offered as a sacrifice to God; and gives his Spirit to dwell in us as a permanent active principle, by whose special operation faith is produced in our hearts; that is, such a belief of his love in redeeming us as inspires us with a sincere and superlative love to him. By these vital bands we are united to him; and as his true members, live the same life with him in grace and glory.

Now in heaven our union with God is more near and noble, more intimate and influential, more inseparable and eternal. It is observable in natural

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Union with God in Heaven.

[CHAP. V.

causes, that what is of a more refined and purer nature is more active and penetrating, and more closely unites with other things than what is more gross and material. Light, which is the purest quality in the world, actuates all colours and makes them visible; it also actuates the eye, and conveys the lively image of the object with shining evidence. The sun shoots its invisible virtue into the deepest mines. Fire is more subtile and pure than water, and will pierce into solid metals, which the water cannot penetrate. The glowing iron seems to be all fire. Now God is the purest Spirit, and of infinite energy; he can unite himself to our spirits more intimately than the closest union between any creatures in the world. He unites himself to the understanding by an immediate irradiation, and a discovery of his glorious excellencies. In thy light, saith the Psalmist, we shall see light. He unites himself to the will by the infusion of his love, and thus drawing forth our love to him. This union is complete in heaven, and most communicative of the divine Influences to the saints; and consequently their conformity and fruition of God is in the highest degrees that created spirits are capable of. This is the most desirable and perfect state of reasonable creatures; for God is the everflowing fountain of felicity, the only stable centre of the soul, in which it reposes itself for ever. Accordingly the Psalmist speaks, Return to thy rest, oh my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.'

CHAP. V.]

Union with God in Heaven.

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When the soul opens its eyes to the clear discoveries of the first truth, in which is no shadow of error, and its breast to the dear and intimate embraces of the supreme good, in which is no mixture of evil, and beyond which nothing remains to be known, nothing to be enjoyed; what a deluge of the purest and sweetest pleasures will overflow it. We cannot ascend in our thoughts so high as to conceive the excess of joy that attends those operations of the glorified soul upon its proper object. But something we may conjecture.

Those who are possessed with a noble passion for knowledge will despise all lower pleasures in comparison of it. They forget themselves, neglect the body, and retire into the mind, the highest part of man, and the nearest to God. The bare apprehension of such things as by their internal nature have no attractive influence upon the affections, is pleasant, to the understanding. As the appearance of light, though not attended with any other visible beauties, refreshes the eye after long darkness; so the clear discovery of truths, how abstract soever, that were before unknown, is grateful to the intellectual faculty. Thus some have been strangely transported with the pleasure of a mathematical demonstration, when the evidence, not the importance of the thing, was so ravishing; for what is more dry and barren of delight than the speculation of figures and numbers. Solon when near his end, and some of his friends who visited him were speak

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Union with God in Heaven.

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ing softly of a point of philosophy, by that sound of wisdom, was awakened from the sleep of death that was just seizing on him; and being asked why he opened his eyes, and raised his head to give attention, he answered, "When I understand what you are discoursing of, I may die.' Such was his delight in knowledge that a little of it made his agony insensible.

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But here are many imperfections that lessen this intellectual pleasure, which shall cease in heaven. Here the acquisition of knowledge is often at the expense of health; the flower of the spirits, necessary for natural operations, is wasted by intense thoughts. How often are the learned sickly. the flint when it is struck, gives not a spark without consuming itself; so knowledge obtained by studies that waste our faculties. But then our knowledge shall be a free emanation from the spring of truth, without our labour and pains. Here we learn by circuit, and discern by comparing things; as darkness is dispelled by a gradual succession of light. But then perfect knowledge shall be infused in a moment. Here, after all our labour and toil, how little knowledge do we gain? Every question is a labyrinth, out of which the acutest and most searching minds cannot extricate themselves. Many specious errors impose upon our understandings. look on things by false lights, through deceiving spectacles; but then our knowledge shall be certain and complete. There is no forbidden tree in the celestial paradise, and no inordinate affection. But

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CHAP. V.]

Love fully satisfied.

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suppose all things in the compass of the world were known, yet there would be emptiness and anguish in the mind; for the most comprehensive knowledge of things that are insufficient to make us happy, cannot afford true satisfaction. But then shall we see God in all his excellencies, the supreme object and end, the only felicity of the soul. How will the sight of his glorious perfection in the first moment quench our thirst, and fill us with joy and admiration. It is not as the naked conception of treasures, which only makes us rich in ideas; but that divine sight gives a real interest in him. The angels are so ravished with the beauties and wonders of his face, that they never divert a moment from the contemplation of it.

The pure love of the saints to God is fully satisfied in the possession and enjoyment of him, and cousequently the greatest delight and complacency is shed abroad in their hearts. Love considered as an affection of friendship, is always attended with two desires; to be assured of reciprocal love, and to enjoy the conversation of the person beloved, the testimony of his esteem and good-will. This kind of affection seems to be inconsistent with that infinite distance that is between God and the creature. But though it is disproportionable to the divine Majesty, it is proportionable to his goodness. Accordingly our Saviour promises, He that loves me shall be loved of my Father; and I will love him, and manifest myself unto him.' And to confirm our belief

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