372 Chap.' ó. .dn Expofitionupon the Bookof OB. Verf. i pe vens, the thirdHeaven, the bigheft Heaven. The Apoftle faithof Chrift, that Heafcended farr above all Heavens, Ephef.4. ro. And yet he then afcended into heaven ; the meaning is, Chrift afcended above'all the vitible heavens, into that, which is in. vitibte to us who ate, on earth. This heaven yob pointed at while he laid, 1t9}ß record is on high. Take four dedufions from it. Firft, If heaven be higheft, then there is nothing but fere- nity in heavens The highest places in a civil fenfe, are fullof forms, and fo are high places in a natural fenfe, but the high- est places in natureare free from clouds, florins, and vapours, Naturalifts tell us of0ÿmpus, a very high Mountain, lifting up its head beyond the middle Region, whither no breath of wind ever comes : You maydraw Letters and Figures in the Sand, and come many years after, and find them no more furred , then if they had been written in Marble ; and if the highef places in nature are atwayes ferene, how fereneis the high place ofglory ? When you are once in heaven, you are beyond, not only proper, but figurative forms and winds for ever. Sccondly, Heaven is high, therefore it is a pure place. E- very thing innature, the more high it is, the more pure it is. Earth is the loweft, and the groffett of the Elements, the Wa- ter next to that, is more grofs then the Air ; the Air is more grofs then the Fire , which Philofophers call the higheft of the Elements ; The higher we go, the more purity we find; and when we are (in altiffimis) at the highest, there is not thing but purity, perfeft purity ; there is not the leaft mix- ture ofdrofs, nor the leaf (pot ofdirt in heaven : Heaven is all pure, and none fhaIl come thither but fuck as are pure. Pure perlons are fit for a pure place and only they are fit : No unclean thing (hall enter there, and he that bath this hope (of entring there) purifies himfelf, not only as heaven is pure, but as God is pure, in whole fight heaven it feltis impure, Chap. 15. ¡g. Thirdly, Heaven is high, ThenHeaven is afafeplace.. High places are fecure places; the high places of the earth are fo accounted ; and when God promifes fafety to his people, he tells them they thall dwell onhigh,while they are here below. ífa 33.16. He ¡hall dwell on high, his place ofdefence flu!! be
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