curious impression left upon wax, nothing can lineaments of Other things adequately fill the dimensions and it but the seal that stamped it. may cumber the mind, but not content it. As soon may a trunk be filled with wisdom as a soul with wealth; and bodily substances nourished with shadows, as rational spirits fed with bodies. Whatsoever goodness creatures have is derivative, whatsoever happiness they enjoy stands in reduction to the original of their being. The motion of immortal souls is like that of celestial bodies purely circular. They rest not without returning back to the same point whence they issued, which is the bosom of God himself. Fishes are said to visit the place of their spawning yearly, as finding it most commodious for them; and sick patients are usually sent by physicians to their native soil, for the sucking in of that air from which their first breath was received. Heaven is the place where souls were produced ; the spirit of man was at first breathed in by the Father of spirits, and cannot acquiesce till he be enjoyed, and heaven in him. $3. Witness was born to this truth by the Amen, the faithful and true witness, when speaking of those whom the Father had given him, he uttered that remarkable assertion, This is life eternal that they may know thee, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.'* Also, when he made his followers that promise of rest, "Come unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, &c. and ye shall find rest to your souls."+ God would not rest from his works of creation till man was framed: man cannot rest from his longing desires of indigence till God be enjoyed. Now since the fall God is not to be enjoyed but in and through a Mediator: therefore when any man closeth with Christ, and not till then, he may say with the Psalmist," Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bounti fully with thee.” That which the King of Saints testified will be most readily attested by all his loyal subjects. Enquire of such as are yet militant upon earth, wherein their happiness con sists, the answer will be in their having " fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." Let those who are triumphant be asked what it is that renders their heaven so glorious, their glory so incomprehensible, ye shall have no other account but this, it is because they have now attained a complete fruition of that all-sufficient, all-satisfying, ever-blessed and ever-blessing object God in Christ. 4. Nor can it easily be denied by such as consider that in this object there is found a threefold fulness, opposite to the threefold vani * John xvii. 3. Matth. xi. 28, 29. 1 John i. 3. C * ty in the creatures, which I discoursed of before. First a fulness of utility opposite to their unprofitableness. Infinite goodness extends itself to all cases and exigents without being limited to particulars, as created goodness is. Hence in the scripture God and Christ are compared to things most extensive in their use, and of most universal concernment. Philosophers look at the Sun as a universal cause: Christ is called the Sun of Righteousness by the Prophet; and The Lord God, † saith the Psalmist, is a Sun and Shield. In a tree the root beareth the branches, and the branches fruit. Christ is both root and branch. A root, in Isaiah, " In that day shall there be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious." A branch, in Zechariah," Behold I will bring forth my servant the branch." § In a building the foundation and corner-stone are most considerable in point of use. Christ is both. "Thus saith the Lord God, behold I lay in Sion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation. In military affairs what more useful for offence than the sword, for defence than the shield? The Lord is both. "Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto thee, O people, saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is *Malac. iv. 2. + Psal. lxxxiv. 11. Isa. xi. 10. § Zech. iii. 8. ¶ Isa. xxviii. 16. the sword of thine excellency! " * In civil commerce money is of most general use for the ac quiring of what men need, of which Solomon therefore saith, "It answereth all things," † (whence it is that worldlings look at a full chest as having a kind of Deity in it, able to grant them whatsoever their hearts desire) of God in Christ it is most true. He only can answer all the desires, all the necessities of his people; and is accordingly said to be their silver and gold, as Junius renders the place in Job. ‡ To him a soul may not only say as Thomas did, "My Lord and my God," but as another, "Deus meus & omnia, My God and my all." § 5. Secondly, a fulness of truth and faithfulness opposite to their deceit. The creatures do not, cannot perform whatsoever they promise, but are like deceitful brooks, frustrating the thirsty traveller's expectation. We read of Semiramis that she caused this motto to be engraven upon her tomb, "If any King stand in need of money, let him break open this monument.' Darius, having perused the inscription, ransacks the sepulchre, finds nothing within, but another writing to this effect, "Hadst thou not been unsatiably covetous, thou wouldst never have invaded a Deut. xxxiii. 29. Eccles. x. 19. Quicquid nummis præsentibus opta, et veniet; clausum possidet arca Jovem. Petron. Arbit. † Job. xxii. 25. § Erit Omnipotens lectissimum aurum tuum, et argentum, viresque tibi. monument of the dead." Such are all the things of this world. They delude us with many a promising motto, as if they would give us hearts ease; but when we come to look within, instead of contentment, afford us nothing but conviction of our folly in expecting satisfaction from them. With God it is otherwise. He is faithful that promised,* saith the apostle; and again, Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." I am the way," saith Christ of himself, "the truth and the life.”‡ In him believers find not less, but more than ever they looked for; and when they come to enjoy him completely are enforced to cry out, as the Queen of Sheba did, "The half was not told me." § § 6. Thirdly, a fulness of unchangeableness opposite to their inconstancy. This God challengeth to himself, "I am the Lord, I change not." And Jesus Christ is said to be the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." ¶ Another apostle, speaking of the Father of lights, "from whom descends every good and perfect gift," ** (therein alluding, as Heinsius ++ conceives, to the High Priest's Urim and Thummim, that is lights and perfections; to Urim in these words Father of lights, to Thummim in these perfect gifts) tells us that with him is "no variableness † 1 Thess. v. 24. Heb. x. 23. + John xiv. 6. ¶ Heb. xiii. 8. tt Heinsius in locum. |