Ambrose - Houston-Packer Collection BX5200 .A49 1674

Chap.1. Secl:. 9· Jloolitng unto :,JcfuS'. Book VL 6o7 2 • for the particulars, wherein more efpecially is Gad"" all i>z ali? I anfwu, 1 In our (njnying God immediately; here we enjoy God by means; either be com.municates lumfclf mHo us throogh hJS Creatures, or through his Ordina.,ces, and hence it is, that we know him but 111 part, we tee him but in a glafs darkly; but c , when he !hall be our all inall, we ihall fee htm face tof.ce; we .fiull then fee God: J~l~: ;~·;:· as he is clearly and tmmedlately. Oh how excdlentiS thiS enJoyment above all prefent enjoyments here below: as the enjoyment of a friend in his piCl:ure, letters, rokens, is fitort of what we <nJ•lY when we have hiS perfonal prefence; or as the heat and light of the Sun throu;;h a cloud IS beneath that heat and light when the glorious body of it is open to us Without auy interpofition; even fo all the enjoyments of God in the ure of means, graces, b!dlings, ordinances are infinitely inferior to that enjoyment of God which fiull be without all means; all the ravi!hments of our Spirit in prayer, h;aring, reaqing, meditating, is but a fip of thofe Rivers which we !hall have in heaven. I know the remembrance of God in a private meditation is fweet, Pfai.I04·34• and c<;mmunion with God in any Ordinance is ~feaft of fweatm[s •nd marrow, and fotnefs, Pfal. 63. 5, 6. But when the Soul !hall immt~ dimly poffefs God, when this Kingdom ot grace !lull expire, and. all the Admini· firations of it !hall vanifh away,will not the fountain bemuch mare fweet then all the !\reams? fur~ly fia(h,Jnd fwtetnes ,and marrow, andfa!mfs, are terms exceedingly too diminitive to give us any more then a froall hint of that incomprehenfible r. tisfatl:ion by immediate communoen. 0 the Wonders of Heaven! there !hall be Light withOYt a candle, and a perpetual day without a Sun, there !ball be health without phy- ' fick, and firength of body without ufe of food;. there !hall be knowledge without Scripture, and fetled ~;overnme•.'t wuhout a wntten Law; there !hall be _Commu~ nion without Sacraments, and JOY w11hout prom1fes to be m fewel; the foul it~ glo· ry {ball go !height unto God, and immediately participate his glory and happimfs. 'Tis the companfon of a learned DIVIne, fuppofe you Jaw a compony of Cbry~al Globes pl•ced in a parallel line, becaufe their pojiture will not admit the Sunr immediate beams; "'"'11 fuppofe another Jingle Globe Jet by tbe middle of tbem, to tranfmitthe Sun.beamJ '"""all tbofe Globu, b.! thif means thry all fhine, though it be only by refieetion; but when the SHn fftall fo come about, ar that they may immediately receive its .beamJ, ther's no further 11[e of the. Jingle. Globe.tben; fo bere,.whilt ,,. tbrot~gh our /dtjfa11ce from God ore "~capable of tmmedtate en;nyme111, tber'Ja neceffity of Cbrift'I Mediation, but wben all tbing1 that caufe that di/lance are r.emoved, anawe brought int~ the , prefeace-chamber of God himfelf, there'' 11• fuch need of • Mediator then. Now here is one thing, wherein he is our all in all, £hall enjoy him immediately. 2. ItconfiRs in our enjoying of God fully. N owll;.now ill part (faith the Apo: f\Je) but then I fhall k.now, even as I am k.~.,V/1; our enjJyment of God is but here !Cor. r3. 12 • in its infancy, there it v;ill be in its full age; here it is in drops, there it will be in the Ocean; here w~ fee God's back puts, and we can fee no more, but there we fitall fee his face, nqt his fccond face (aj fpme dillingui!h) which is his grace and favour enjoyed by ~·aith, but his firH face, which is his Divir.e e(fence enjoyed by fight. Yet I mean ne>t fo, as if the foul which is a Creature could take in the whole Effencc of God which is incompehent;ble; but the Soul f11all and mull be fo full of God, as that it !hall not be able to receive, or defire one jot rr.1dre. And oh how excellent is this enjoyment above all prefent enjoyments? it is now our highe{l happinefs to have Come glimpfes of his glory !hining on us, and fame drops of his favour difiilled into us, oh but when God !h1ll be our all in all, we !hall have as much of God as our foulsun hold, we !hall have the glory of God fo poured in, till we !hdl be able to receive no more. And· her< is that which gives the Soul a full faiisfaCl:ion; . never would it be fatisficd till it came to this; fuppofe that God would drawo.ut all the beauty, fweetnefs, goodnefs that he hath communicated to all Creatures in the world, and bring the quintdfence of all, and communicate that unro th~ foul of one poor S>mt, certamly tt would not ferve the turn, there mufl be a greater communication before the Soul be fully fatisfied and rdl conrent; only once admit it.into theglarious prefence of him who is all in all,and prefmtly it expires its infinite ddire into the bo~ fome of that God ; for there's enough to till his .Spirit; he cannot defire fo much, bu! there is more, and y<t inli~itely mo_re; if there be enough in God for the fp1rits pf all JUfl men made pe1fect With God, tf-there be enough in God for Angels whofe capacities

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