A44344:1197
A comment upon Christ's last prayer in the seventeenth of John wherein is opened…
A comment upon Christ's last prayer in the seventeenth of John wherein is opened the union believers have with God and Christ, and the glorious privileges thereof ... / by that faithful and known servant of Christ, Mr. Thomas Hooker ... ; printed from the authors own papers written with his own hand, and attested to be such in an epistle by Thomas Goodwin and Philip Nigh.A comment upon Christ's last prayer in the seventeenth of John wherein is opened the union beleevers have with God and Christ, and the glorious priviledges thereof ... / by that faithful and known servant of Christ, Mr. Thomas Hooker ... ; printed from the authors own papers written with his own hand, and attested to be such in an epistle by Thomas Goodwin and Philip Nye.
London: printed by Peter Cole, 1656
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
I say they happiness of our being in Heaven lies in this: for this is the end at which our Saviour aims in this Prayer. This is the end of that Privilege and blessing for which he Prays. For it is not the place of Heaven, though the lustre and beauty of it, is beyond compare, and indeed unconceivable; nor yet our being in Heaven, barely and nakedly considered could satisfy either our desires or wants, and answer the Expectation of the Soul. If Christ were not there, or we might no enjoy his presence, and •ee his face, though we were shut up in a corner of Heaven, certainly Heaven would be no Heaven, our happiness, no happiness, if we had no Christ. As he said, What avails m•, if I may not see the Kings face? And therefore the dregs of the vengeance of Hell is discovered in this, that they shall be destroyed from his presence, and from the glory of his power.
I say they happiness of our being in Heaven lies in this: for this is the end at which our Savior aimes in this Prayer. This is the end of that Priviledg and blessing for which he Prayes. For it is not the place of Heaven, though the lustre and beauty of it, is beyond compare, and indeed unconceivable; nor yet our being in Heaven, barely and nakedly considered could satisfie either our desires or wants, and answer the Expectation of the Soul. If Christ were not there, or we might no injoy his presence, and •ee his face, though we were shut up in a corner of Heaven, certainly Heaven would be no Heaven, our happiness, no happiness, if we had no Christ. As he said, What availes m•, if I may not see the Kings face? And therefore the dregs of the vengeance of Hell is discovered in this, that they shal be destroyed from his presence, and from the glory of his power.
The End, we say, is better than the Means, as that which adds beauty and am•bility to them. The End of our being in Heaven, is better than Heaven it self, and that is to see the glory of Jesus. and hence it is, This spiritual and special communion betwixt Christ and the Soul is ever implied in such expressions, as intimate the happiness of our being in Heaven. So when the Apostle would by a more than ordinary Cordial fetch up the fainting hearts of the Saints, here he lands all desires, Hopes, endeavours and expectation. 1 hess. 4. and last. The trump shall blow, the dead shall rise, we shall meet him, and be taken up into the Clouds, and ere