The First Fruits of the Spirit, or The Foretaste of Heaven

Rom. viii. 23. And not only they, but ourselves also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of the body.

§ I. By a beautiful figure of speech the Apostle had been describing, in the foregoing verses, the unnatural abuse which the creatures suffer through the sins of men, when they are employed to sinful purposes and the dishonour of God their Creator. Permit me to read the words and represent the sense of them in a short paraphrase. Ver. 22. “We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” The earth itself may be represented as groaning to bear such loads of iniquity, such a multitude of wicked men who abuse the creatures of God to the dishonour of him that made them. The air may be said to groan to give breath to those vile wretches who abuse it in filthiness and foolish talking, to the dishonour of God, and to the scandal of their neighbours; it groans to furnish men with breath that is abused in idolatry by the false worship of the true God, or the worship of creatures which is abominable in his sight. The sun itself may be said to groan to give light to those sinners who abuse both day-ligbt and darkness in rioting and wantonness, in doing mischief among men and committing fresh iniquities against their Maker. The moon and stars are abused by adulterers and thieves, and other midnight sinners, when they any way afford light enough to them to guide them in their pursuit of wicked ways and practices. The ‘beasts of burden’ may be said also to groan and be abused when they bear the wicked sons and daughters of Adam to the accomplishment of their iniquities: and even all the parts of the brutal world, as well as of the inanimate creation, are some way or other

21.y made to serve the detestable and wicked purposes of the sinful children of men, and may be figuratively said to groan on this account. And if we have tasted of the fruits of the Spirit of grace, we cannot but in some measure groan with the rest of the creation in expectation of the blessed day, when the creatures shall be delivered from this bondage of corruption, to which the providence of God has suffered them to be subjected in this degenerate state of things.

We hope there is a time coming, when the creatures themselves shall be used according to the original appointment of their Maker, agreeably to their own first design, and for the good of their fellow-creatures, and supremely for the honour of their God, “in that day when holiness to the Lord shall be written upon the bells of the horses; and every pot in Jerusalem shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts.” Why should we not join then with the whole creation in groaning and longing after this promised time, when all the works of God shall be restored to their rightful use, and the glory of the Maker shall some way or other be made to shine in every one of them?

The Apostle then adds, in the words of my text, “and not these creatures only, but ourselves also who have the first fruits of the Spirit,” we who are filled with the gifts and graces of the hoi)’’ Spirit, and eminently the first fruits hereof appear in our taste and relish of the divine provisions that God has given us here in this world to prepare for a better; and even bestows upon some of his Christian servants these first fruits of the tree of paradise, these blessings, and these foretastes which are near a-kin to those of the upper world, when the saints shall be raised from the dead, when their adoption shall be clearly manifested, and they shall look like the children of God, and their bodies and all their natural powers shall be redeemed from those disorders, whether of sin or sorrow, and from all the springs and seeds of them, which they are more or less liable to feel in the present state.

Here let it be observed, that the first fruits of any field, or plant, or tree, are of the same kind with the full product of the harvest; therefore it is plain, that the first fruits of the Spirit, in this place, cannot chiefly signify the gifts of the Spirit, such as the gifts of tongues, or of healing, or of miracles, nor the gifts of prophecy, preaching, or praying, because these are not the employments nor the enjoyments of heaven. The ‘first fruits of the Spirit’ must rather refer therefore to the knowledge and holiness, the graces and the joys which are more perfect and glorious in the heavenly state, than they were ever designed to be here upon earth. Now these first fruits of. graces and joys are sometimes bestowed upon Christians in this world, in such a degree as brings them near to the heavenly state: and that is the chief observation I design to draw from these words, viz. ‘That God has been pleased to give some of his children here on earth several of the foretastes of the heavenly blessedness, the graces and the joys of the upper world;’ as they are the first fruits of that paradise to which we are travelling: and these privileges have brought some of the saints within the verge of the courts of heaven, within the confines and borders of the celestial country. What these are I shall shew immediately; but before I represent them I desire to lay down these few cautions.

Caution 1. ‘These sensible foretastes of heaven do not belong to all Christians; these are not such general blessings of the covenant of grace, of which every Christian is made partaker;’ but they are special favours now and then bestowed on some particular persons by the special will of God. (1.) Such as are more eminent in faith, and holiness, and prayer than others are, such as have made great advancements in every part of religion, in mortification to the world, in spiritual-mindedness, in humility, and in much converse with God, &c. Or, (2.) sometimes these first fruits may be given unto such as are weak both in reason and in faith, and may be babes in Christ, and are not able by their reasoning powers to search out their evidences for heaven, especially under some present temptation or darkness. Or, (3.) sometimes to those who are called by providence to go through huge and uncommon trials and sufferings, in order to support their spirits, and bear up their courage, their faith and patience.

It is true, the more general and common way whereby God prepares his people for heaven, is by leading them through several steps of advancing holiness, sincere repentance, mortification of sin, weanedness from the world, likeness to God, heavenly mindedness, &c. These are indeed the usual preparatives for glory, and the surest evidences of a state of grace. Therefore let not any person imagine he is not a true Christian, because he hath not enjoyed these special favours and signal manifestations.

Caution 2. ‘If there be any who have been favoured with these peculiar blessings, they must not expect them to be constant and perpetual, nor always to be given in the same manner or same measure;’ they are rare blessings and special reviving cordials; they are not the common food of Christians, nor the daily nourishment of the saints. The word of God, and the grace of Christ in the promises is our daily support, and the constant nourishment of our souls. Cordials are not given for our daily nourishment in the life of grace.

Caution 3. ‘However great and rapturous these foretastes may be, let us not so depend on them as to neglect the more substantial and solid evidences for heaven, and those steps of preparation’ which I have elsewhere mentioned. Let not those who have enjoyed them give a loose to their souls, and let go their watchfulness, or neglect their daily mortification and diligence in every duty. Some of these divine raptures have sometimes been so nearly counterfeited by raptures of fancy, by warm self-love, or perhaps by the deceit of evil angels, that they are not so safe a foundation for our dependence and assured hope, as the soul’s experience of a sincere repentance, and general turn of heart to God, and mortification of sin, and delight in every practice of holiness. The devil sometimes “has transformed himself into an angel of light,” 2 Cor. xi. 14; and there have been some who at first hearing of the gospel have had wondrous raptures. Heb. vi. 4. it is said, “they have tasted of the powers of the world to come,” &c. who have yet fallen away again, and having lost all their sense and savour of divine things, have become vile apostates.

Caution 4. ‘If you seem to enjoy any of these affectionate and rapturous foretastes of heaven, be jealous of the truth of them, if they have not a proportionate sanctifying influence upon your souls and your actions.’

If you find they incline you to negligence in duty, to coldness in the common practices of religion and god’iness, if they make you fancy that common ordinances are a low and needless dispensation, if they seem to excuse you from diligence in the common duties of life towards man, or religion towards God, there is great reason then to suspect them. There is danger lest they should be mere suggestions and deceitful workings either of your own natural passions, or the crafty snares of the artful and busy adversary of souls, on purpose to make you neglect solid religion, and make you part with what is substantial for a bright and flashy glimpse of heavenly things.

But, on the other hand, if you find that these special favours and enjoyments raise your hearts to a greater nearness to God, and more constant converse with him; if they keep you deep in humility, and in everlasting dependence on the grace of Christ in the gospel, and warm and zealous attendance on the ordinances of worship; if they teach and incline you to fulfil every duty of love to your neighbour, and particularly to your fellow Christians, then they appear to be the ‘fruits of the Spirit;’ and as they fit you for every duty and every providence here upon earth, there is very good reason to hope they are real visits from heaven, and are sent from the God of all grace to make you more meet for the heavenly glory.

§ II. These are the four cautions. I proceed now to describe some of these ‘foretastes of the heavenly blessedness,’ and shew how nearly they resemble the blessedness and enjoyments of the heavenly world.

First, In ‘heaven there is a near view of God in his glories, with such a fixed contemplation of his several perfections, as draws out the heart into all correspondent exercises, in an uncommon, transcendent, and supreme degree.’ It is described as one of the felicities of heaven, that “we shall see God.” Matth. v. 8. that we shall behold him “face to face,” and not in shadows and glasses, 1 Cor. xiii. 12. Let us exhibit some particulars of this kind, and dwell a little upon them in the most easy and natural method.

1. In heaven the blessed inhabitants ‘behold the majesty and greatness of God’ in such a light as fixes their thoughts in glorious wonder and the humblest adoration, and exalts

TT

them to the highest pleasure and praise. Have you never fallen into such a devout and fixed contemplation of the ‘majesty of God,’ as to be even astonished at his glory and greatness, and to have your souls so swallowed up in this sight, that all the sorrows and the joys of this life, all the businesses and necessities of it hath been forgotten, for a season, all things below and beneath God have seemed as nothing in your eyes? All the grandeurs and splendors of mortality have been buried in darkness and oblivion, and creatures have, as it were, vanished from the thoughts and been lost, as the stars die and vanish at the rising sun and are no more seen? Have you never seen the face of God in his sublime grandeur, excellence and majesty, so as to shrink into the dust before him, and lie low at his foot with humblest adoration? And you have been transported into a feeling acknowledgment of your own nothingness in the presence of God. Such a sight the prophet Isaiah seems to have enjoyed, Isai. xi. 12, 15 — 17. “Behold the nations before him are as the drop of the bucket, and as the small dust of the balance, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. All nations before him are as nothing, they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity.”

When the lips are not only directed to speak this sublime language, but the soul, as it were, beholds God in these heights of transcendent majesty, it is overwhelmed with blessed wonder and surprising delight, even while it adores in most profound lowliness and self-abasement. This is the emblem of the worship of the heavenly world, see Rev. iv. 10, where the elders, saints and prophets, martyrs, angels, and dominions, and principalities of the highest degree “cast down their crowns” at the foot of him that made them, and exalt God in his supremacy over all.

2. In heaven there are such blessed and extensive surveys of the ‘infinite knowledge of God, and his amazing wisdom discovered in his works, as makes even all their own heavenly improvements in knowledge and understanding to appear as mere ignorance, darkness, and folly before him. In such an hour as this is, the holy angels may charge themselves with folly in his sight, as he beholds them in the imperfection of their understanding. Now have you never been carried away in your meditations of the all-comprehensive knowledge cf God to such a degree, as to lose and abandon all your former pride and appearances of knowledge and wisdom in all the native and acquired riches of it, and count them all as nothing in his sight? Have you never looked upward to the midnight skies, and with amazement sent your thoughts upward to him who ‘calls all the stars by their names,’ and brings them forth in all their sparkling glories, who marshals them in their nightly ranks and orders, and then stood overwhelmed with sacred astonishment at the wisdom which made and ranged them all in their proper situations, and there appointed them to fulfil ten thousand useful purposes, and that not only towards this little ball of Earth, but to a multitude of upper planetary worlds? Have you never enquired into the wonders of his wisdom in framing the bodies, the limbs, and the senses of millions of animals, birds, and beasts, fishes, and insects, as well as men all around this globe, and who hath framed all their organs and powers of nature with exquisite skill, to see and hear, to run and fly, and swim, to produce their young in all their proper forms and sizes, furnished with their various powers, and to feed and nourish them in their innumerable shapes and colours, admirable for their strength and beauty? And have you not felt your souls filled with devout adoration at the unspeakable and infinite contrivances of God? And not only his ‘works of creation,’ but of his providence too, have afforded some pious souls such devout amazement. What astonishing wisdom must that be which has created mankind on earth near six thousand years ago, and by his divine word in every age continues to create them or give them being, with all the same natural powers and parts, beauties and excellencies! That he hath wisely governed so many millions of animals with living souls or spirits in them, so many millions of intelligent creatures, endued with a free will of their own to choose or refuse what they will or will not do, and hath managed this innumerable company of beings in all ages, notwithstanding all their different and clashing opinions and customs, their crossing humours, wills and passions in endless variety, and yet hath made them all subservient to his own comprehensive designs and purposes through all ages of the world and all nations on earth! What unconceivable wisdom is that which hath effectually appointed them all to centre in the accomplishment of his own eternal counsels! And with what overwhelming amazement will this scene appear, when he shall shut up the theatre of this earth, and fold up these heavens as a curtain, and this visible structure of things shall be laid in ashes? What an astonishing view must this be of the all-surveying knowledge, all-comprehending wisdom of God, and with what holy and humble pleasure must the pious soul be filled who takes in and enjoys this scene of infinite varieties and wonders?

How near doth such an hour approach to the bliss of heaven and the raptures of contemplation, which belong to the blessed inhabitants of it?

3. I might add something of the almighty power of God in his creation and government of the world, in his kingdoms of nature and providence. Did not the angels rejoice at the birth-day of this universe, and “those morning stars shout for joy” at the first appearance of this creation) And what the inhabitants of heaven make their song, may not a holy soul be entertained with it, even to extacy and rapture? I behold, says he, in divine meditation, I behold this huge structure of the universe rising out of nothing at the voice of his command; I behold the several planets in their various orders set a moving by the same word of power. With what delightful surprise do I hear him pronouncing the words, “let there be light,” and, lo ‘the light appears?’ Let there be earth and seas; let there be clouds and heavens; let there be sun, moon and stars, and lo the heavens, and the dry land, and the waters appear, the clouds and the stars in their various order and situation, and all the parts of the creation arise, all replenished with proper ornaments and animals according to his word. At his command nature exists in all its regions with all its furniture; the beasts, and birds, and fishes in all their forms arise, and at once they obey the several Almighty orders he gave, and by the unknown and unconceivable force of such a word they leap out into existence in ten thousand forms.

Again, what divine pleasure is it to hear God beginning the work of his providence, and speaking those wondrous words of power to every plant and animal, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth;” and lo, in a long succession of near six thousand years the earth has been covered all over with herbs and plants, with shrubs and tall trees in all their beauty and dimensions. The air hath been filled with birds and insects, the seas and rivers with fish, and the dry land with beasts and men even to this present day. When all this philosophy is changed into devotion, it must also be transformed into divine and unutterable joy.

Nor are these things too low and mean for the contemplation of heavenly beings: for God is seen in all of them. There is not a spire of grass but the power and 28 T wisdom of God are visible therein. And it is certain the heavenly beings must be sometimes employed in the contemplation of many of these lower wonders. The plants and beasts in desolate regions where no man inhabits, and in distant and foreign oceans and rivers, where the fishy shoals in all their variety and numbers, in all their successions and generations for near six thousand years were never seen nor known by any of the sons of men; these seem to have been created in vain, if no heavenly beings are acquainted with them, nor raise a revenue of glory to him that made them.

This almighty power therefore which made this huge universe, which sustains the frame of it every moment, and secures it from dissolving; this power which brings forth the stars in their order, and worms and creeping things in their innumerable millions, and governs all the motions of them to the purposes of divine glory, must needs affect a contemplative soul with raptures of pleasing meditation; and in these sublime meditations, by the aids of the divine Spirit, a soul on earth may get near to heaven. And with what religious and unknown pleasure at such a season doth it shrink its own being as it were into an atom, and lie in the dust and adore!

4. The ‘all-sufficiency of the great God to form and to supply every creature with all that it can want or desire,’ is another perfection of the divine nature, which is better known in heaven than it ever was here on earth, and affords another scene of astonishment and sacred delight. And there may be some advances towards this pleasure found among saints below, some first fruits of this heavenly felicity and joy in the all-sufficiency of God.

My whole self, body and mind, is from God and from him alone. All my limbs and powers of flesh and spirit were derived from him, and borrowed their first existence from their original pattern in his fruitful mind. All that I have of life or comfort, of breath or being, with all my blessings round about me, is owing to his boundless and eternal fulness; and all my long reaching hopes and endless expectations that stretch far into futurity, and an eternal world, are growing out of this same all-sufficient fulness.

But what do I think or speak of so little a trifle as I am? Stretch thy thoughts, 0 my soul, through the lengths, and breadths, and depths of his creation, 0 what an unconceivable fulness of being, glory, and excellency is found in God the universal parent and spring of all! What an inexhaustible ocean of being and life, of perfection and blessedness must our God be, who supplies all the infinite armies of his creatures in all his known and unknown dominions with life and motion, with breath and activity, with food and support, with satisfaction and delight! Who maintains the vital powers and faculties of all the spirits which he hath made in all the visible and invisible worlds, in all his territories of light, and peace, and joy, and in all the regions of darkness, punishment and misery! In him all things “live and move, and have their beings,” Acts xvii. 28. Psal. civ. 29, “He withdraws his breath and they die.” He hath writ down all their names in his own mind, he gives them all their natures, and without him there is nothing, there can be nothing; all nature without him would have been a perpetual blank, a universal emptiness, an everlasting void, and with one turn of his will he could sink and dissolve all nature into its original nothing.

Confess, 0 my soul, thy own nothingness in his presence, and with astonishing pleasure and worship adore his fulness. He is thy everlasting all. Be thy dependence ever fixed upon him; thou canst not, thou shalt not live a moment without him, without this habitual dependence, and a frequent delightful acknowledgment of it. Such a devout frame as this, is heaven, and such scenes now and then passing through the soul, are glimpses of the heavenly blessedness.

§ III. Though the eternity and immensity of God might, perhaps, in their own nature, and in the reason of things, be first mentioned, yet his majesty, his power, and his wisdom in their sovereign excellency strike the souls of creatures more immediately, therefore I have put these first. However, let us now consider the eternity of the great God, and his omnipresence, and think how the spirits in heaven are affected therewith, and what kindred meditations may be derived from these perfections by the saints here on earth. I proceed therefore,

5. To the eternity of God: which though the most exalted spirit in heaven cannot comprehend, yet it is probable they have some nearer and clearer discovery of it than we can have here in this mortal state, while we dwell in flesh and blood. We have nothing in this visible world that gives us so much as an example or similitude of it. The great God “who is, who was,” and “who is to come” through all ages, he is, and was, and for ever will be the same. Let us go back as many thousand ages as we can in our thoughts, and still an eternal God was before them; a Being that had no beginning of his existence, nor will have any end of his life or duration. And as he says to Moses, my name is / am that I am, so as there is nothing which had any hand in his being, but all the reasons oi it are derived from his own self-fulness, therefore we may say of him that he is because he is, and because he will be. He had no spring of his first beginning, nor any cause of his continued existence, but what is within himself. We can never set ourselves in too mean a light when an eternal God is near us; and every thing besides God can be hut little in our eyes.

And, 0 my thinking powers, are ye not sweetly lost in this holy rapture, and overpowered with divine pleasure, in such meditation as this? Art thou not, 0 my soul, delightfully surprised with the thoughts of such self-sufficience and such an unconceivable perfection? Thy being, considered as here in this life, is not so much in the sight of God as an atom in comparison of the whole earth; and even the supposed future ages of thy existence in the eternal state are inconceivably short, when compared with the glory of that Being that never began his life or his duration.

Many things here on earth concur towards my satisfaction and peace; but if I have God my friend, I have all in him that I can possibly want or desire. Let me then live no longer upon creatures when God is all.

Let sun, moon and stars vanish, and all this visible creation disappear and be for ever annihilated if God please, he himself is still my eternal hope and never-failing spring of all my blessedness: my expectations are continually safe in his hands, and shall never fail while I am so near to him. This is joy unspeakable and akin to glory.

6. Let us meditate also on the immensity of God, which I think is much better expressed by his omnipresence. God is wheresoever any creature is or can be; knowing immediately by his own presence all that belongs to them, all that they are or can be, all that they do or can do, all that concerns them, whether their sins or their virtues, their pains or their pleasures, their hopes or their fears. It implies also that he doth by his immediate power and influence support and govern all the creatures. In short, this immensity is nothing else but the infinite extent of his knowledge and his power, and it reaches to and beyond all places, as eternity reaches to and beyond all time. This the blessed above know and rejoice in, and take infinite satisfaction therein: having God, as it were surrounding them on all sides, so that they cannot be where he is not, he is ever present with his all-sufficiency ready to bestow on them all they wish or desire while he continues their God, i. e. for ever and ever. They are under the blessing of his eye, and the care of his hand, to guard them from every evil, and to secure their peace.

Let thy flesh or spirit be surrounded with ever so many thousand dangers or enemies, they cannot do thee the least damage without his leave by force or by surprise while such an Almighty Being is all around thee: nor hast thou reason to indulge any fear while the spring and ocean of all life, activity, and blessedness thus secures thee on every side. If thou hast the evidences of his children on thee, thou possessest an eternal security of thy peace.

7. ‘The sovereignty and dominion’ of the blessed God is a further meditation and pleasure which becomes and adorns the inhabitants of the heavenly world. There he reigns upon the throne of his glory, and the greater part of the territories which are subject to him are more in their view than our scanty powers of nature or perception can now apprehend, and a proportionable degree of pleasure is found with the saints above in these contemplations.

But in our present state of mortality our souls can only look through these lattices of flesh and blood, and make a few scanty and imperfect inferences from what they always see, and hear, and feel. And yet the glorious sovereignty and dominion of the blessed God may so penetrate the soul with a divine sense of it here on earth, as to raise up a heaven of wonder and joy within.

t2

Adore him, 0 my soul, who surveys and rules all things which he has made with an absolute authority, and is for ever uncontroulable. How righteous a thing is it that he should give laws to all the beings which his hand hath formed, which his breath hath spoken into life, and especially that rank which his favour hath furnished with immortality? How just that he should be obeyed by every creature without the least reluctance or reserve, without a moment’s delay, and that to all the length of their existence?

Submit to his government with pleasure, 0 my nature, and be all ye my powers of soul and body in everlasting readiness to do whatsoever he requires, and to be whatsoever he appoints. Wilt thou have me, 0 Lord, lie under sickness or pain, wilt thou have me languish under weakness and confinement? I am at thy foot, I am for ever at thy disposal. Wilt thou have me active and vigorous in thy service? Lord, I am ready with utmost cheerfulness. Wilt thou confine me to painful idleness and long patience? Lord here I am, do with me what seemeth good unto thee, I am ready to serve thy purposes here, or thy orders in the unknown world of spirits, when thou shalt dissolve this mortal frame: I lay down these limbs in the dust of death at thy command: I venture into the regions of angels and unbodied minds at thy summons. I will be what thou wilt, I will go when thou wilt, I will dwell where thou wilt, for thou art always with me, and I am entirely thine. I both rejoice and tremble at thy sovereignty and dominion over all. God cannot do injury to a creature who is so entirely his own property; God will not deal unkindly with a creature who is so sensible of his just dominion and supremacy, and which bows at the foot of his sovereignty with so much relish of satisfaction.

8. Let us next take notice of the perfect purity of the nature of God, his universal holiness, the rectitude of the divine nature manifested in all his thoughts, his works, and his words, all perfectly agreeable to the eternal rules of truth and righteousness, and at the furthest distance from every thing that is false and faulty, every thing that is or can be dishonourable to so glorious a Being. Have we never seen God in this light, in the glory of his holiness, his universal rectitude, and the everlasting harmony of all his perfections in exact correspondence with all the notions we can have of truth and reason? And has not God appeared then as a glorious and lovely Being? And have we not at the same time beheld ourselves as unclean, and unholy creatures, in one part or other of our natures, ever ready to jar or fall out with some of the most pure and perfect rules of holiness, justice or truth? Have we not seen all our sins and iniquities in this light, with utmost abhorrence and highest hatred of them, and looked down upon ourselves with a deep and overwhelming sense of shame and displicence against our depraved and corrupted natures, and abased ourselves as Job does, in dust and ashes, and not daring to open our mouths before him? Job xlii. 6. “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, and I abhor myself in dust and ashes.” The least spot or blemish of sin grows highly offensive and painful to the eyes of a saint in this situation.

Every little warping from truth in our conversation, every degree of insincerity or fraud becomes a smarting uneasiness to the mind in the remembrance of our past follies in the present state. There is the highest abhorrence of sin among all the heavenly inhabitants, and this sight of God in the beauties of his holiness, and his perfect rectitude, is an everlasting preservative to holy souls against the admission of an impure or unholy thought. And therefore some divines have supposed, that the angels at their first creation were put into a state of trial before they were admitted to this full sight of the beauty of God in his holiness, which would have secured them from the least thought or step towards apostacy.

0 my soul, of what happy importance it is to thee to ijiaintain, as long as possible, this sense of the purity, rectitude and perfection of the nature of the blessed God, “who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity,” with the least regard of approbation or allowance? And what infinite condescension is it in such a God to find out and appoint a way of grace, whereby such shameful polluted creatures as we are should ever be admitted into his presence to make the least address to his majesty, or to hope for his favour?

Besides, in this sublime view of the holiness of God, we shall not only love God better than ever, as we see him more amiable under this view of his glorious attributes, but we shall grow more sincere and fervent in our love to all that is holy, to every fellow Christian, to every saint in heaven and on earth: we shall not bear any estrangedness or alienation from those who have so much of the likeness of God in them. They will ever appear to be the “excellent of the earth, in whom is all our delight:” their supposed blemishes will vanish at the thought of their likeness to God in holiness: and especially our blessed Lord Jesus, the Son of God, will be most precious and all-glorious in our eyes as he is the most perfect image of his Father’s holiness. There is nothing in the blessed God, but the man Christ Jesus bears a proportionable resemblance to it, as far as a creature can resemble God,* and he will consequently be highest in our esteem under God the Lord and Father of all.

9. The ever-pleasing attribute of divine ‘goodness and love’ is another endless and joyful theme or object of the contemplation of the heavenly world. There this perfection shines in its brightest rays, there it displays its most triumphant glories, and kindles a flame of everlasting joy in all the sons of blessedness.

But we in this world may have such glimpses of this goodness and love as may fill the soul with unspeakable pleasure, and begin in it the first fruits and earnest of heaven. When we survey the inexhaustible ocean of goodness which is in God, which fills and supplies all the creatures with every thing they stand in need of; when we behold all the tribes of the sons of men supported by his boundless sufficiency, his bounty and kind providence, and refreshed with a thousand comforts beyond what the mere necessities of nature require: in such an hour if we feel the least flowings of goodness in ourselves toward others, we shall humble ourselves to the dust, and cry out in holy amazement, Lord, what is an atom to a mountain? what is a drop to a river, a sea of beneficence? what is a shadow to the eternal substance? what good thing is there in time or in eternity, which I can possibly want which

* If the “man Christ Jesus” could be viewed either by saints above, or saints on earth, as separate from the Divine Person of the eternal Son, he would be shorn of the brightest rays of his glory. God forbid, that our meditations should ever terminate in his human nature, or that we should conceive so meanly of the Son of God, as to regard him as merely a creature ! — Ed.

is not abundantly supplied out of thine overflowing fulness? Hence arises the eternal satisfaction of all the holy and happy creation in being so near to thee, and under the everlasting assurances of thy love. I can do nothing but fall down before thee in deepest humility, and admire, adore, and everlastingly love thee, who hast assumed to thyself the name of love, 1 John iv. 8, “God is love.”

§ IV. Thus far our joys may rise into an imitation of the joys above, in the devout ‘contemplation of divine perfections.’

And not only the ‘perfections of God’ considered and surveyed singly in themselves, but the union and blessed harmony of many of them in the divine works and transactions of Providence and of grace, especially in the gospel of Christ, administer further matter for contemplation and pleasure among the happy spirits in heaven: and so far as this enjoyment may be communicated to the saints here on earth, they may be also said to have a foretaste of the business and pleasure of heaven. Let us take notice of this harmony in several instances.

1. In the sacred constitution of the person of our Lord Jesus Christ as God and man united in one personal agent: here majesty and mercy give a glorious instance of their union, here all the grandeur and dignity of Godhead condescends to join itself in union with a creature, such as man is, a spirit dwelling in flesh and blood. 1 Tim. ii. 5. “There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, even the man Christ Jesus.” But this man is personally united to the blessed God, he is “God manifested in the flesh.” He is a man in “whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” to constitute one all-sufficient saviour of miserable and fallen mankind. What an amazing stoop or condescension is this for the eternal Godhead thus to join itself to a creature, and what a surprising exaltation is this of the creature, for the man Christ Jesus thus to be assumed into so near a relation to the blessed God? All the glories that result from this divine contrivance and transaction are not to be enumerated on paper, nor by the best capacity of writers here on earth: the heavenly inhabitants are much better acquainted with them.

Again, here is an example of the harmony and co-operation of unsearchable wisdom and all-commanding power in the person of the blessed Jesus; and what a happy design is hereby executed, namely, the reconciliation of siniul man and the holy and glorious God: and who could do this but one who was possessed of such wisdom and such power? When there was no creature in heaven or earth sufficient for this work, God was pleased to appoint such an union between a creature and Creator, between God and man, as might answer all the inconceivable purposes concealed in his thought. If there be wanting a person fit to execute any of his infinite designs, he will not be frustrated for want of an agent, he will appoint God and man to be so nearly united as to become one agent to execute this design.

2. ‘In the manner of our salvation,’ (viz.) by an ‘atonement for sin.’ The great God did not think it proper, nor agreeable to his sublime holiness, to receive sinful man into his favour without an atonement for sin, and a satisfaction made to the Governor of the world for the abuse and violation of his holy law here on earth; and therefore he appointed such a sacrifice of atonement as might be sufficient to do complete honour to the law-giver, as well as to save and deliver the offender from death. Therefore Jesus was made a man capable of suffering and dying, that he might honour the majesty and the justice of the broken law of God, and that he might do it completely by the union of Godhead to this man and Mediator;* the dignity of whose divinity diffuses itself over all that he did and all that he suffered, so as to make his obedience completely acceptable to God instead of thousands of creatures, and fully satisfactory for the offence that was given him by them; here is a sacrifice provided equal to the guilt of sin, and therefore sufficient to take it away.

You see here what a blessed harmony there is between, the justice of God doing honour to his own law, and his compassion resolved to save a ruined creature. Here is no blemish cast upon the strict justice and righteousness of God, when the offender is forgiven in such a method as may do honour to justice and mercy at once. Rom. iii. 24, 25, “We are justified freely by his grace through the

* It is by the union of the two natures that the Lord Jesus is a proper Mediator. It is incorrect to say that the “Godhead” was united “to this man and Mediator.” It was the Son, or Word, not the Godhead, that “became flesh;” and thus humbling himself, gave himself for us, the Just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. — Ep.

redemption that is in Jesus Christ; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness,” even his perfect governing justice, though he passes by and pardons the sins of a thousand criminal creatures; fto declare,’ I say, ‘at this time his righteousness, that he might appear* to be just’ to his own authority and law, while he justifies the sinful man who believeth or trusteth in Jesus the Mediator as becoming a proper sacrifice and propitiation for sin.

3. By the ‘sanctification of our nature.’ There is also another remarkable harmony between the holiness of God and his mercy in this work of the salvation of sinful man. The guilt of sin is not only to be forgiven and taken away by a complete atonement and sacrifice, but the sinful nature of this ruined creature is to be changed into holiness, is to be renewed and sanctified by the blessed Spirit, and reformed into the image of God his Maker. He must not only be released from punishment by forgiveness, but he must be restored to the image of God by sanctifying grace; that so he may be fit company for the rest of the favourites of God in the upper world; that he may be qualified to be admitted into this society, where perfect purity and holiness are necessary for all the inhabitants of this upper world, and for such near attendants on the blessed God. In that happy state nothing shall enter there that defileth, Rev. xxi. 27, and therefore concerning the criminals amongst the Corinthians, as vile and as offensive to the pure and holy God as they are represented, 1 Cor. vi. 9 — 11, viz. “Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, drunkards, &c. but, it is said, they are washed, but they are sanctified, but they are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus5 and by the Spirit of our God.”

Now when the souls of the saints here on earth are raised to such divine contemplations, what transporting satisfaction and delight must arise from the surprising union and harmony’ of the attributes of the blessed God in these his transactions? And especially when the soul in the lively exercise of grace and view of its own pardon, justification, and restored holiness, looks upon itself as one of these happy favourites of the majesty of heaven; it

* The Scripture says, not that “he might appear to be;” but that “he might be just.” God’s actions are not sftow; they are realities. — Ed, cries out as it were in holy amazement, ‘What a divine profusion is here of wisdom and power, glory and grace, to save a wretched worm from everlasting burnings, and to advance a worthless rebel to such undeserved and exalted glories!’

§ V. ‘The wonders of divine perfections united in the success of the gospel,’ give an ecstasy of joy sometimes to holy souls. Not only do these views of the united perfections of God, as they are concerned in the contrivance of the gospel, entertain the saints above with new and pleasurable contemplations, but the wonders of divine wisdom, power and grace, united and harmonizing in ‘the propagation and success of the gospel,’ become a matter of delightful attention and survey to the saints on high.

This is imitated also in a measure by the children of God here on earth. Hare you never felt such a surprising pleasure in the view of the attributes of God, his grace, wisdom, and power in making these divine designs so happily efficacious for the good of thousands of souls? If there “be joy in heaven among the angels of God” at the conversion “of a sinner,” what perpetual messages of unknown satisfaction and delight did the daily and constant labours of the blessed Apostle Paul send to the upper world? What perpetual tidings were carried to the worlds on high of such and such souls, converted unto God from gross idolatry, from the worship of dumb idols, from the vain superstition of their heroes and mediator-gods, and from the impure and bloody sacrifices of their own countrymen, whereby they intended to satisfy their gods for their own iniquities, and to reconcile themselves to these invented gods, these demons or devils which were deified by the folly and madness of sinful men? What new hallelujahs must it put into the mouths of the saints and angels on high, to see the true and living God worshipped by thousands that had never before known him, and to see Jesus the Mediator in all the glories of his divine offices admired and adored by those who lately had either known nothing of him, or been shameful revilers and blasphemers of his majesty.

And what an unknown delight is diffused through many of the saints of God now here on earth upon such tidings, not only from the foreign and heathen countries, but even some that have professed Christianity, but under gross mistakes and miserable fogs of darkness and superstition? What an unconceivable and overwhelming pleasure has surprised a Christian sometimes in the midst of his zealous worship of God and his Saviour, to hear of such tidings of new subjects in multitudes submitting themselves to their divine dominion?

And even in our day, whensoever we hear of the work of grace begun by the ministry of the word awakening a drowsy and lethargic soul from its dangerous sleep on the brink of hell, rousing a negligent and slothful creature from his indolence and carelessness about the things of eternity; or again, in making a heart soft and impressive to the powers of divine grace, which was before hard- as the nether millstone; and especially when multitudes of these tidings come together from distant places, as of late we have heard from New England, and several of those plantations, from Scotland, and several of her assemblies, what additional scenes of heavenly joy and pleasure have been raised amongst the pious souls, both those who relate and those who hear them.

§ VI. Foretastes of heaven are sometimes derived from <the overflowing sense of the love of -God’ let in upon the soul.

The spirits above who are surrounded with this blessedness and this love, and rejoice in the everlasting assurance of it, cannot but be filled with intense joy. What can be a greater foundation of complete blessedness and delight than the immediate sensation and assurance of being beloved by the glorious, and supreme, and the all-sufficient Being, who will never suffer his favourites to want any thing he can bestow upon them to make them happy in perfection, and for ever? All creatures are under his present view and immediate command; there is not the least of them can give disturbance to any of the favourites of heaven, who dwell in the midst of their Creator’s love; nor is there any creature that can be employed towards the complete happiness of the saints on high, but is for ever under the disposal of that God who has made all things, and it shall be employed upon every just occasion for the display of his love to his saints.

Some have imagined, that that ‘perfect satisfaction of soul which arises from a good conscience, speaking peace inwardly in the survey of its sincere desire to please God in all things, and having with uprightness of heart fulfilled its duty,’ is the supreme delight of heaven. But it is my opinion God has never made the felicity of his creatures to be drawn so entirely out of themselves, or from the spring of their own bosom, as this notion seems to imply. God himself will be all in all to his creatures; and all their original springs of blessedness as well as being are in him, and must be derived from him. It is therefore the overflowing sense of being beloved by a God almighty and eternal, that is the supreme fountain of joy and blessedness in every reasonable nature, and the endless security of this happiness is joy everlasting in all the regions of the blessed above.

Now a taste of this kind is heavenly blessedness even on this earth, where God is pleased to bestow it on his creatures; and the glimpses of it bring such ecstacies into the soul as can hardly be conceived, or revealed to others, but it is best felt, by them who enjoy it.

§ VII. ‘Foretastes of heaven in the fervent emotions of soul in love to Jesus Christ.’

What the love and strong affections of the blessed saints above towards Jesus Christ their Lord and Saviour may impress of joy on their spirits, is not possible for us to learn in the present state; but there are some who have even here on earth felt such transcendent affections to Jesus the Son of God; even though they have never enjoyed the sight of him, yet they love him with most intense and ardent zeal; their devotion almost swallows them up and carries them away captive above all earthly things, and brings them near to the heavenly world. There is an unknown joy which arises from such intense love to an object so lovely and so deserving; such is that which is spoken concerning the saints to whom St. Peter wrote, 1 Pet. i. 8, “Whom having not seen, ye love, in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” It is through this divine taste of love, and joy, and glory communicated by the blessed Spirit, revealing the things of Christ to their souls, that many of the confessors and martyrs in the primitive ages and in latter times, have not only joyfully parted with all their possessions and their comforts in this life, but have followed the call of God through prisons and deaths of a most dreadful kind; through racks, and fires, and many torments for the sake of the love of Jesus. And perhaps there may be some in our day who have had so lively and strong a sensation of the love of Christ let in upon their souls, that they could not only be content to be absent from all their carnal delights for ever, but even from their intellectual and more spiritual entertainments, if they might be for ever placed in such a situation to Jesus Christ, as to feel the everlasting beams of his love let out upon them, and to rejoice in him with perpetual delight. As he is the nearest image of God the Father, they can love nothing beneath God equal to their love of him, nor delight in anything beneath God equal to their delight in Jesus Christ. Indeed their love and their joy are so wrapped up in the great and blessed God as he appears in Christ Jesus, that they do not usually divide their affections in this matter, but love God supremely for ever, as revealing himself in his most perfect love in Christ Jesus unto their souls. How near this may approach to the glorified love of the saints in heaven, or what difference there is between the holy ones above and the saints below in this respect, may be hard to say.

§ VIII. ‘Foretastes of heaven in the transcendent love of the saints to each other.’ I might here ask some advanced saints,

Have you never seen or heard of a fellow Christian growing into such a near resemblance to the blessed Jesus, in all the virtues and graces of the Spirit, that you would willingly part with all the attainments and honours that you have already arrived at, which make you neYer so eminent in the world or the church, as to be made so near a conformist to the image of the blessed Jesus as this fellow Christian has seemed to be?

Have you never seen or read of the glories and graces of the Son of God exemplified in some of the saints in so high a degree, and at the same time been so divested of self, and so mortified to a narrow selflove, as to be satisfied with the lowest and the meanest supports of life, and the meanest station in the church of Christ here on earth, if you might but be favoured to partake of that transcendent likeness to the holy Jesus, as you would fain imitate and possess?

Have you never had a view of all the virtues and graces of the saints, derived from one eternal fountain, the blessed God, and flowing through the mediation of Jesus his Son, in so glorious a manner, that you have longed for the day when you shall be among them, and receive your share of this blessedness? Have you never found yourself so united to them in one heart and one soul, that you have wished them all the same blessings that you wished to yourself, and that without the least shadow of grudging or envy, if every one of them were partaker as much as you? There is no envy among the heavenly inhabitants; nor doth St. Paul receive the less because Cephas or Apollos has a large share. Every vessel has its capacity enlarged to a proper extent by the God of nature and grace, and every vessel is completely filled, and feels itself for ever full and for ever happy. Then, there cannot be found the shadow of envy amongst them.

Now, to sum up the view of these things in short; who is there that enjoys these blessed evidences of an interest in the inheritance on high, who is there that has any such foretastes of the felicity above, but must join with the whole creation in groaning for that great day, when all the children of God shall appear in the splendor of their adoption, and every thing in nature and grace among them shall attain the proper end for which it was at first designed? And whensoever any such Christian hears some of the last words in the Bible pronounced by our Lord Jesus, “Surely I come quickly,” he must immediately join the universal echo of the sainis with unspeakable delight, “even so come, 0 Lord Jesus.”