vf their State by Creation. .35 All which may further btcaft into this Series: That whereas God, know"~ ond r~:jo)•td, iHhe fupream h.~ppinefs of Man in all Conditions, .God h"ath <?hap. I• ordained fcveral ways, dtffen.ng not only tn degrees, but ktnd ot Knowi11g~ and tlljuJiflg of htm. All whrth the Apoille reduceth to •.'Dtchotoinj·, r Cor, 13 . 12 . Either, 1 Jn rtGiafJ, ot td a R•ddl·e, darkly, nowm rillS World: Or, ~. RJCt to face, _t'~ thatro corne. Th~ one, we may call_fpu~t~.lr~s cogmt 10 ; the other, !ntrutwa; The one medtate nnd mcerly , 111 alto, tn another thing; that other immediate, in fe, as in himfelf, Fact to (ace. And nnfwerable to each of thefe K11owltdges of him, is there an epjoyment of him by the Will , goe~ along therewith, to delight and refl farisfied irr i1im : For the Underflandmg and the Wt!l are commenfurated and proportioned each rp-oth'cr, according to that known Rule, In quaritu'm co}!.nofctmus, in tant11m amamus> w quant11m amamus in tlntt~mgaudtmtu: So much, or fo far as we khoW tod aright, we love him ; fo far as we love him, we re- ;3ice 'in'an~ are made ~appy by him, · This fpecular or mediate Knowledg~ of Gt>d ih this World, is eith-er, l';' Such as that, whith Adam had, feeing and enjoying him in the Creatures, which wa~ his Glafs,as it was faid ofold,Sprcttlum Crratur:te;or enjoyieg him in ond bv the Covenant ofWorks, the Glafs of the law; accompanied with Peace of oin:cience following the doing his Will; or at the befl, but feeing and en– joying him in V:lions and Apparitions'· a~ the Father of. old did. Or elfe, 2. It is that knowledge wh1ch we have of hrm by Revelauon m the Glafs of the Gofpel, •hisCnve11ant of Grace, in which the Glory of God[hi?tes forth in rhr facl! of .'fefmChn/1, M i11 aGtafi, as 2 Cor. 3• ult. and Chap. 4· 6. com· pared. Which is Q'ccompanied often with, Peace which paffrth Vndrr{/alld– iltg, Joy unfpeakable, and glorious, aSI Prt. r.and but only as in rhi~Glafs, And it we-compare either this Knowledge of God in Chrift , prefcnted in this Glafs, with that of Adam, his will be found to be but as in a riddle, da'rl<er 11ntl obfturtr far, for the kind and way of knowing him, though for degrees, in its own kind , it was more compleat. And in like manner, the leafl drop of Joy of the Holy Ghoft, the droppings of Heaven, which he puts into the heart, will be found more than all Ad,,ms full Springs of Peace, which arole but out of his own Confciencc , which was but as a Spring on Earth, in tom– parifon of this other. And both thefe ways of knowing and enjoying God , whtch a Believer in part here h1nh, I take it to be the Apoflle atms at, Vtrj. 8. calling the one , namely that by R.elation in the Gofpel, Prophuti11g, which isthe 01cansof revealing God in Chrift by the Scriptures, which are theG!afs and Ordtnance that preknt Godin Chrifl mort livel y to us i The other KtJ•w– lu!g, namely, that obtained by the Creatures, as fame have difihenced thefe two. · But then there is a Knowledge, which is R•ct to face, as being more im– mediate after this Li1e; whereof I take it, there are two degrees alfo, where· of the one fhall exceed the other. The firfr, is the feeing and enjoying Chrifr the Lord perfon•lly in glory, Face to face, and fo the Godhead in him. So as l\ill the chiefefr and emincmefl way of knowing and enjoying the GmJheadf ihould be in Chrifl only, wh1ch I take is the chicleft way both for the Souls fe· par>re, both before and at the RefurreCl:ion, till the day of Judgment be over~ whenwe lba/J (et htm ,ah' is, a11d 6t m•dt like him; which infinitely tranf· cends our feeing God in Chrifl here; when Chrifl himfelf is made known but imp:rfedly in a Glafs, in Ordinances of Grace, and is truly a feeing Fr1ce to f <lct, namely of the Lord Chrlft, being compared with our way of feeing him here ab(enr by Faith, and not by fight, as 2 Cor. 5, 6, 7, 8. Yet fo as ~here lS a fecond and further degree of fceing God in himfelf, Face to face, -tar more exceedmg , th'at is, for us to fee himF,,a to face, as Chrifl himfe!f n?w cloth;. whon he fhall have given his Kingdom up, by which only, as by h1m admmtflred, God is more eminentl y to be known, till the day of Judg– ment IS over: Then fi1a!l God become A/J i11 ,,[J immediately himfdf; whicl1 mufl needs exceed all elfe, as God himfelfexceeds all thefe ways of revealing him, ThU'
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