Richard Baxter's dying thoughts upon Phil. I, 23 written for his own life and…

§ 3. II. Positively; Christ will have finished his cure on my will: The work of Sanctification will be perfect: And I. My will shall there by union and communion be made conformable to the will of Christ, and so unto the Fathers will. This must needs be meant (whatever more) in the Prayer of Christ, Joh. 17. 21, 22. Where he prayeth [that they may be One as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in us, that they may be one, even as we are one.] The will of Christ and of the Father will be my will, that is, I shall love and will (dispositively and actually) the same that God loveth and willeth (in the measure of a Creature, infinitely below him:) And if so, 1. How can the will of Man have greater honour, than to be the same with the will of God? Assimilation to a King among us poor Mortals goeth for Honour: Assimilation to Angels is much more: That we shall be like or equal to the Angels, is a high part of the Blessed's praise: But how much more is it, to be thus far like to God! Indeed God's Image and the Divine in us here, can be no less, than this similitude to God's will in the degree that we have it: But, alas, that degree is so very low, as that we can hardly tell whether our similitude or our dissimilitude be the more; I mean, whether our wills are for more that God willeth, or against more. O how many Thousand wishes and desires ⟨p. 166⟩have we had, which are against the will of God! But there we shall have the full impression of God's will upon our wills, as Face answereth Face in a Glass▪ or as the Wax answereth the Seal: As the Finger on the outside, answereth the motion of the Clock within, so in all things which belong to our duty and perfection, we shall answer the will of God. As the Echo answereth the Voice, defectively, but truly, without contradiction or discord, so will our wills be as the Echo of God's will.

§ 3. II. Positively; Christ will have finished his cure on my will: The work of Sanctification will be perfect: And I. My will shall there by union and communion be made conformable to the will of Christ, and so unto the Fathers will. This must needs be meant (whatever more) in the Prayer of Christ, Joh. 17. 21, 22. Where he prayeth [that they may be One as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in us, that they may be one, even as we are one.] The will of Christ and of the Father will be my will, that is, I shall love and will (dispositively and actually) the same that God loveth and willeth (in the measure of a Creature, infinitely below him:) And if so, 1. How can the will of Man have greater honour, than to be the same with the will of God? Assimilation to a King among us poor Mortals goeth for Honour: Assimilation to Angels is much more: That we shall be like or equal to the Angels, is a high part of the Blesseds praise: But how much more is it, to be thus far like to God! Indeed God's Image and the Divine in us here, can be no less, than this similitude to God's will in the degree that we have it: But, alas, that degree is so very low, as that we can hardly tell whether our similitude or our dissimilitude be the more; I mean, whether our wills are for more that God willeth, or against more. O how many Thousand wishes and desires