A fourth volume containing one hundred and fifty sermons on several texts of Scripture…

we track him by the Effects of his Power, and Wisdom and Goodness: but then we shall see him as he is in himself: ipsum cognoscemus per ipsum, we shall know him by himself. 1 Cor. 13.12. Now we see through a Glass darkly, then face to face. In the Creatures there are Vestigium, the Tract and Foot-print of God; in the Law there is Umbra, the Shadow of God; in the Gospel there is Imago, the Image of God, a fair Draught of God, as in a Picture; but in Heaven there is Facies Dei, the Face of God. We shall have excellent Books to study, the large Manifestations of Glory, the Majesty of Christ's Person, the Lamb's Face, who is the Bride; we shall be always sitting about the Throne, and the Lamb in the midst. There God maketh out himself in the highest Manifestations we are capable of.

we track him by the Effects of his Power, and Wisdom and Goodness: but then we shall see him as he is in himself: ipsum cognoscemus per ipsum, we shall know him by himself. 1 Cor. 13.12. Now we see through a Glass darkly, then face to face. In the Creatures there are Vestigium, the Tract and Foot-print of God; in the Law there is Vmbra, the Shadow of God; in the Gospel there is Imago, the Image of God, a fair Draught of God, as in a Picture; but in Heaven there is Facies Dei, the Face of God. We shall have excellent Books to study, the large Manifestations of Glory, the Majesty of Christ's Person, the Lamb's Face, who is the Bride; we shall be always sitting about the Throne, and the Lamb in the midst. There God maketh out himself in the highest Manifestations we are capable of.

2. There is complete Love. There is a constant clearing of Heart to God, without Change and Weariness, a Love that never ceaseth working, without Weakness and Distractions. If we delight in any thing here, we soon grow weary, and have a Change of Objects; but God in heavenly Communion is always fresh and new. Here are Distractions and startings aside to the Creature; but there is an eternal Solace and Complacency, a continual Sabbath that never groweth weary and burdensome. All the Heart and Bowels run out after Christ, we shall never want the actual breathings of the Spirit: The Spirit came upon Sampson at times, so it doth upon us here, we have several Motions and Fleetings, but there Jesus Christ is a more lovely Object, and the Delights of the Soul are carried out to him without Satiety; we shall have a sweet Complacency in, and liking of him. Also outward things clog the Appetite, as soon as we have them we despise them, because our Desires are restless; we sip of them, as the Bee doth of the Flower, and then we must have Change, and go to a new Flower; but here is an eternal Complacency in Christ. Here we are troubled when we want outward Comforts, and cloyed when we have them; Curiosity is soon satisfied, and Fruition discovereth their Imperfection: still the more they are enjoyed, the less they are beloved; as Amnon hated Tamar, when his Lust was satisfied. Imperfections that before lay hid, then appear to view, and so our Affections are confuted by Experience. But there the more we enjoy God, the more his Infinite Perfections are manifested, and our Pleasure is augmented by our Enjoyment.