II. The Final Reasons.

II. The Final Reasons.

§ 1. II 1. Is it not far better to dwell with GOD in Glory, than with sinful men in such a World as this? Though he be every where his Glory, which we must behold to our Felicity, and the perfecting Operations and Communications of his Love, are in the glorious World, and not on Earth. As the Eye is made to see the Light, and then to see other things by the Light, so is mans mind made to see God, and to Love him; and other things as in, by, and for him. He that is our beginning is our end: And our End is the first Motive of all Moral action, and for It, it is that all means are used. And the End attained is the Rest of Souls! How oft hath my Soul groaned under the sense of Distance, and Darkness, and Estrangeness from God! How oft hath it looked up, and gasped after him, and said, O when shall I be nearer and better acquainted with my God? As the Heart panteth after the water Brooks, so panteth my Soul after thee O God: My Soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: When shall I come and appear before God? Psa. 40. 12. And would I not have my Prayers heard, and my desires granted? What else is the sum of ⟨p. 131⟩lawful Prayers, but God himself? If I desire any thing more than God, what sinfulness is in those desires, and how sad is their signification? How oft have I said, Whom have I in Heaven but Thee, and there is none on Earth I desire besides Thee? It is good for me to draw near to God, Psal. 73. 25: 28. Woe to me, if I did dissemble: If not, Why should my Soul draw back? Is it because that Death stands in the way? Do not my fellow Creatures die for my daily Food? And is not my passage secured by the Love of my Father, and the Resurrection and Intercession of my Lord? Can I see the Light of heavenly Glory, in this darksome shell and womb of Flesh?

§ 1. II 1. Is it not far better to dwell with GOD in Glory, than with sinful men in such a World as this? Though he be every where his Glory, which we must behold to our Felicity, and the perfecting Operations and Communications of his Love, are in the glorious World, and not on Earth. As the Eye is made to see the Light, and then to see other things by the Light, so is mans mind made to see God, and to Love him; and other things as in, by, and for him. He that is our beginning is our end: And our End is the first Motive of all Moralaction, and for It, it is that all means are used. And the End attained is the Rest of Souls! How oft hath my Soul groaned under the sense of Distance, and Darkness, and Estrangeness from God! How oft hath it looked up, and gasped after him, and said, O when shall I be nearer and better acquianted with my God? As the Heart panteth after the water Brooks, so panteth my Soul after thee O God: My Soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: When shall I come and appear before God? Psa. 40. 12. And would I not have my Prayers heard, and my desires granted? What else is the summ of ⟨p. 131⟩lawful Prayers, but God himself? If I desire any thing more than God, what sinfulness is in those desires, and how sad is their signification? How oft have I said, Whom have I in Heaven but Thee, and there is none on Earth I desire besides Thee? It is good for me to draw near to God, Psal. 73. 25: 28. Woe to me, if I did dissemble: If not, Why should my Soul draw back? Is it because that Death stands in the way? Do not my fellow Creatures die for my daily Food? And is not my passage secured by the Love of my Father, and the Resurrection and Intercession of my Lord? Can I see the Light of heavenly Glory, in this darksome shell and womb of Flesh?

§ 2. All Creatures are more or less excellent and glorious, as God is more or less Operative and refulgent in them, and by that Operation communicateth most of himself unto them: Though he be immense and indivisible, his Operations and Communications are not equal: And that is said to be Nearest to Him, which hath most of those Operations on it, and that without the intervenient causality of any second created Cause; and so all those are in their Order Near unto him, as they have Noblest Natures, and fewest intervenient Causes; far am I from presuming to think that I am or shall be the Best and Noblest of God's Creatures, and so that I shall be so near him, as to be under the influx of no second or created Causes; (of which more anon.) But to be as Near as my Nature was ordained to approach, is but to attain the End and Perfection of my Nature.

§ 3. And as I must not look to be the Nearest to Him, as he is the first Efficient, no more must I as he is the first Dirigent or governing Cause: As now I am under the government of his Officers on Earth, I look for ⟨p. 132⟩ever to be under subgovernours in Heaven: My glorified Saviour must be my Lord and Ruler; and Who else under him I know not: If Angels are not equal in Perfection, nor as is commonly supposed equal in Power, nor without some regimental order among themselves, I must not conclude that no created Angel or Spirit, shall have any government over me: But it will be so Pure and Divine, as that the blessed Effects of God's own Government will be sweetly powerful therein. If the Law was given by Angles, and the Angel of God was in the burning Bush, and the Angel conducted the People through the Wilderness, and yet all these things are ascribed to God, much more near and glorious will the Divine Regiment there be, whoever are the Administrators.

§ 3. And as I must not look to be the Nearest to Him, as he is the first Efficient, no more must I as he is the first Dirigent or governing Cause: As now I am under the government of his Officers on Earth, I look for ⟨p. 132⟩ever to be under subgovernours in Heaven: My glorified Saviour must be my Lord and Ruler; and Who else under him I know not: If Angels are not equal in Perfection, nor as is commonly supposed equal in Power, nor without some regimental order among themselves, I must not conclude that no created Angel or Spirit, shall have any government over me: But it will be so Pure and Divine, as that the blessed Effects of God's own Government will besweetly powerful therein. If the Law was given by Angles, and the Angel of God was in the burning Bush, and the Angel conducted the People through the Wilderness, and yet all these things are ascribed to God, much more near and glorious will the Divine Regiment there be, whoever are the Administrators.

§ 4. And as I must expect to be under some created Efficient and Dirigent Causes there, so must I expect to have some subordinate Ends: Else there would not be a proportion and harmony in causalities; whatever nobler Creatures are above me, and have their Causalities upon me, I must look to be finally for those nobler Creatures. When I look up and think what a world of glorious Beings are now over me, I dare not presume to think that I shall finally any more than Receptively; be the Nearest unto God, and that I am made for None but Him. I find here that I am made, and ruled, and sanctified, for the Public or Common Good of many as above my own (of which I am past doubt:) And I am sure that I must be finally for my glorified Redeemer; and for what other Spiritual Beings or Intelligences that are above me, little do I know: And God hath so ordered all his creatures, as that they are mutually Ends and Means for and to one another, though not in an Equality, nor in the same respects. But whatever nearer Ends there will be, I am sure that he who is the first ⟨p. 133⟩Efficient and Dirigent, will be the ultimate final Cause And I shall be in this respect as near him, as is due to he rank and order of my Nature. I shall be useful to he Ends which are answerable to my Perfection.

§ 4. And as I must expect to be under some created Efficient and Dirigent Causes there, so must I expect to have some subordinate Ends: Else there would not be a proportion and harmony in causalities; whatever nobler Creatures are above me, and have their Causalities upon me, I must look to be finally for those nobler Creatures. When I look up and think what a world of glorious Beings are now over me, I dare not presume to think that I shall finally any more than Receptively; be the Nearest unto God, and that I am made for None but Him. I find here that I am made, and ruled, and sanctified, for the Publick or Common Good of many as above my own (of which I am past doubt:) And I am sure that I must be finally for my glorified Redeemer; and for what other Spiritual Beings or Intelligences that are above me, little do I know: And God hath so ordered all his creatures, as that they are mutually Ends and Means for and to one another, though not in an Equality, nor in the same respects. But whatever nearer Ends there will be, I am sure that he who is the first ⟨p. 133⟩Efficient and Dirigent, will be the ultimate final Cause And I shall be in this respect as near him, as is due to he rank and order of my Nature. I shall be useful to he Ends which are answerable to my Perfection.

§ 5. And if it be the honour of a Servant to have an honourable Master, and to be appointed to the most honourable work: If it be some honour to a Horse above a Swine, or a Worm, or Fly, that he serveth more nearly for the use of Man, yea for a Prince, will it not be also my advancement to be ultimately for God, and subordinately for the highest created Natures, and this in such Services as are suitable to my Spiritual and Heavenly State?

§ 6. For I am far from thinking that I shall be above Service, and have none to do! For Activity will be my Perfection and my Rest: And all such Activity must be Regular in harmony and order of Causes, and for its proper use. And what though I know not now fully what service it is that I must do? I know it will be good, and suitable to the blessed state which I shall be in: And it is enough that God and my Redeemer know it; and that I shall know it in due time, when I come to practice it: (of which more afterward.)

§ 7. The inordinate Love of this Body and present composition seduceth Souls to think that all their use and work is for its maintenance and prosperity, and when the Soul hath done that, and is separated from Flesh, it hath nothing to do▪ but must lie idle, or be as nothing, or have no considerable work or pleasure: As if there were nothing in the whole World, but this little fluid mass of matter, for a Soul to work upon? As if itself, and all the Creatures, and God were nothing, or no fit Objects for a Soul? And why not hereafter as well as now? Or as if that which in our compounded state, ⟨p. 134⟩doth Operate on and by its Organs, had no other way of Operation without them? As if the Musician lost all his power, or were dead, when his Instrument is out of tune or broken, and could do nothing else but play on that! As if the fiery part of the Candle were annihilated or transmutate (as some following-Philosophers imagine) when the Candle goeth out; and were not fire, and in action still: Or as if that Sun beam which I shut out, or which passeth from our Horizon, were annihilated, or did nothing, when it shineth not with us? Had it no other individual to illuminate or to terminate its beams or action, were it nothing to illuminate the common Air? Though I shall not always have a Body to Operate in and upon, I shall always have God, and a Saviour, and a world of fellow-Creatures; and when I shine not in this Lantern, and see not by these Spectacles, nor imaginarily in a Glass, I shall yet see things suitable intuitively and as Face to Face. That which is essentially Life (as a Living Principle) will Live: And that which is essentially an Active, Intellective, Volitive principle, force and Virtue, will still be such while it is itself, and is not annihilated or changed into another thing? (which is not to be feared:) And that which is such can never want an Object, till all things be annihilated.

§ 7. The inordinate Love of this Body and present composition seduceth Souls to think that all their use and work is for its maintenance and prosperity, and when the Soul hath done that, and is separated from Flesh, it hath nothing to do▪ but must lie idle, or be as nothing, or have no considerable work or pleasure: As if there were nothing in the whole World, but this little fluid mass of matter, for a Soul to work upon? As if itself, and all the Creatures, and God were nothing, or no fit Objects for a Soul? And why not hereafter as well as now? Or as if that which in our compounded state,

§ 8. Reason assureth me, that were my will now what it should be, and fully obsequious herein to my understanding, to fulfil Gods will would be the fulfilling my own will (for my will should perfectly comply with His) and to please him perfectly would be my perfect pleasure: And it is the unreasonable adhesion to this Body, and sinful selfishness, which maketh any one think otherwise now. I am sure that my Soul shall Live (for it is Life itself) and I am sure that I shall live to ⟨p. 135⟩God, and that I shall fulfil and please his blessed will; and this is (as such) incomparably better than my Felicity (as such:) And yet so far as I am pleased in so doing, it will be my Felicity.

§ 9. I begin now to think, that the strange Love which the Soul hath to this Body (so far as it is not inordinate) is put into us of God, partly to signify to us the great Love which Christ hath to his Mystical Political Body, and to every member of it, even the least: He will gather all his Elect out of the World, and none that come to him shall be shut out, and none that are given him shall be lost: As his Flesh is to them Meat indeed, and his Blood is to them Drink indeed, and he nourisheth them for Life eternal: (His Spirit in them, turning the Sacrament, the Word, and Christ himself in esse objectivo as Believed in, into Spirit and Life to us, as the Soul and our Natural. Spirits turn our food into Flesh, and Blood, and Spirits, which in a dead Body, or any lifeless repository, it would never be;) so as we delight in the ease and prosperity of our Body and each Member, and have pleasure in the pleasant food that nourisheth it, and other pleasant Objects which accommodate it; Christ also delighteth in the welfare of his Church and of all the Faithful, and is pleased when they are fed with good and pleasant Food, and when hereby they prosper: Christ Loveth the Church, not only as a Man must love his Wife, but as we Love our Bodies; And no Man ever hated his own Flesh, Eph. 5. 27, &c. And herein I must allow my Saviour the preeminence, to overgo me in powerful faithful Love! He will save me better from pain and death, than I can save my Body; and will more inseparably hold me to himself: If it please my Soul to dwell in such a House of Clay, and to operate on so mean a thing as Flesh, how ⟨p. 136⟩greatly will it please my glorified Lord, to dwell with his glorified Body, the triumphant Church, and to cherish and bless each Member of it? It would be a kind of death to Christ to be separated from his Body, and to have it die: Whether Augustine and the rest of the Fathers were in the right or no, who thought that as our Bodies do not only shed their Hairs, but by sicknesses and wast lose much of their very Flesh, so Christ's Militant Body doth not only lose Hypocrites, but also, some living justified Members, yet certain it is that confirmed Members, and more certain that glorified Members shall not be lost! Heaven is not a place for Christ or us to suffer such loss in. And will Christ love me better than I love my Body?

§ 9. I begin now to think, that the strange Love which the Soul hath to this Body (so far as it is not inordinate) is put into us of God, partly to signifie to us the great Love which Christ hath to his Mystical Political Body, and to every member of it, even the least: He will gather all his Elect out of the World, and none that come to him shall be shut out, and none that are given him shall be lost: As his Flesh is to them Meat indeed, and his Blood is to them Drink indeed, and he nourisheth them for Life eternal: (His Spirit in them, turning the Sacrament, the Word, and Christ himself in esse objectivo as Believed in, into Spirit and Life to us, as the Soul and our Natural. Spirits turn our food into Flesh, and Blood, and Spirits, which in a dead Body, or any lifeless repository, it would never be;) so as we delight in the ease and prosperity of our Body and each Member, and have pleasure in the pleasant food that nourisheth it, and other pleasant Objects which accommodate it; Christ also delighteth in the welfare of his Church and of all the Faithful, and is pleased when they are fed with good and pleasant Food, and when hereby they prosper: Christ Loveth the Church, not only as a Man must love his Wife, but as we Love our Bodies; And no Man ever hated his own Flesh,

Will he be lother to lose me than I am to lose a Member or to die? Will he not take incomparably greater pleasure in animating and actuating me for ever, than my Soul doth in animating and actuating this Body? O then let me long to be with him? And though I am naturally loth to be absent from the Body, let me be by his Spirit more unwilling to be absent from the Lord? And though I would not be unclothed had not sin made it necessary, let me groan to be clothed upon with my heavenly Habitation, and to become the delight of my Redeemer, and to be perfectly loved, by Love itself.

§ 10. And even this blessed Receptivity of my Soul, in terminating the Love and Delight of my glorified Head, must needs be a felicity to me! The insensible Creatures are but Beautified by the Suns communication of its Light and Heat; but the sensitives, have also the Pleasure of it? Shall my Soul be senseless? will it be a Clod or Stone? Shall that which is now the form of be then more Lifeless, Senseless, or uncapable than the form of Brutes is now? Doubtless it will be ⟨p. 137⟩a living, perceiving, sensible Recipient, of the felicitating Love of God and my Redeemer? I shall be loved as a living Spirit, and not as a dead and senseless thing, that doth not comfortably perceive it.

§ 10. And even this blessed Receptivity of my Soul, in terminating the Love and Delight of my glorified Head, must needs be a felicity to me! The insensible Creatures are but Beautified by the Suns communication of its Light and Heat; but the sensitives, have also the Pleasure of it? Shall my Soul be sensless? will it be a Clod or Stone? Shall that which is now the form of be then more Lifeless, Sensless, or uncapable than the form of Bruits is now? Doubtless it will be ⟨p. 137⟩a living, perceiving, sensible Recipient, of the felicitating Love of God and my Redeemer? I shall be loved as a living Spirit, and not as a dead and senseless thing, that doth not comfortably perceive it.

§ 11. And if I must rejoice with my fellow Servants that rejoice, shall I not be glad to think that my blessed Lord will rejoice in me, and in all his glorified Ones? Union will make his pleasure to be much mine? And it will be aptly said by him to the faithful Soul, Enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord, Mat. 25. 21. His own active Joy, will objectively be Ours, as Ours will be Efficiently His (or from Him.) Can that be an ill condition to me, in which my Lord will most rejoice: It is Best to Him, and therefore Best to me.

§ 12. And the heavenly Society will joyfully welcome a Holy Soul.¹ If there be now Joy in Heaven among the Angels for one Sinner that Repenteth (who hath yet so little Holiness and so much Sin:) What joy will there be over a perfected glorified Soul! Surely if Our Angels there behold our Fathers Face, they will be glad in Season of our Company: The Angels that carried Lazarus to Abraham's Bosom, no doubt rejoiced in their work and their success. And is the Joy of Angels and the heavenly Host as nothing to me? Will not Love and Union make their Joy to be my own: if Love here must make all my Friends and Neighbours comforts to become my own? And as their Joy according to their Perfection, is greater than any that I am now capable of, so the participation of so great a Joy of theirs, will be far better than to have my little separated apartment. Surely that will be my best condition which Angels and blessed Spirits will be best pleased in, and I shall rejoice most in that which they most rejoice in.

1. 1Luke 15. 10.