The Christians labour and reward, or, A sermon, part of which was preached at…

Secondly, It is an accumulative state, wherein there is an aggregation, and concentration, of all those things, which are requisite to make their happiness complete; it is not Esau's [Greek or Hebrew] but Jacobs [Greek or Hebrew] not having much, but having all will make man happy. Are here all thy Children? said Samuel unto Jesse, and would not sit down to the Feast,¹ till David, the only one wanting was come. Thus mans Soul cannot sit down to its Feast, and be satisfied, till ⟨p. 72⟩it hath all that goeth to its Perfection; the absence of any one Ingredient, keeps it in motion, looking and longing for it; and that is inconsistent with complete happiness, which consists in rest arising from satisfaction. Now in Heaven, there is a confluence of all, that the Saint, even then, when his faculties will be stretched out and enlarged to their utmost capacity, can possibly desire; He that overcometh shall inherit all things, ²and I will be his God. The glorified Saint hath above him, the beatifying Vision of God himself, and Jesus Christ, the purchaser of all his Felicity, whom he so loved on Earth, and longed to see. Within him he shall behold his own Soul, made perfect in all its noble Powers, satisfied with the Image of God,³ as full of Holiness as it can hold. Upon him he shall see that body, which was once so vile and corruptible, made Immortal, Spiritual, and Glorious, even like the Glorious body of Christ, the exemplar cause, after which it is fashioned: about him he ⟨p. 73⟩shall see an innumerable company of Holy Angels, and glorified Saints, his Brethren; not one of them envying his happiness, but all congratulating him for it, and rejoicing in it. Beneath him, he shall see the Infernal Pit of Hell; wherein so many millions of lost souls are to spend a miserable Eternity in unspeakable torment; which must needs fill him with ineffable joy to think, how near once, he himself was falling into it; but was happily prevented by the arms of free Grace, seasonably interposing and •atching him. In a word, he shall have joy without sorrow, health without languor, rest without labour, and life without end.