Downame - Puritan-02038 v2

V Of the ioyes of beauen. 877 Monarch ouer the whole world,fhould enioy a long,peace_ ChryfoR.ia able,andprofperous raigne,without any warres,care,trouble Hebræos cap. orvexation,louing all,and being beloued of all his fubiei s. 4.11omril.ó, Or to an imginarie aduancement ofa Kings child out of his mothers wombe to fit on the throne of the kingdome, not according to the ordinarymaner,by degrees, when he corn- meth to age, but attaining vnto age and foueraigntie toge- ther,and all vpou a fudden. Or as ifa man fhould in the fame hourelie in a darke and noifome dungeon,hungrie, naked, and comfortleffe,continually expe6ing a cruel! and fhame- ful death, and infiantly be aduanced to a kingdome,and to the fruition ofal delights which it could yeeld him. Others expreffe them bymaking a proportionable comparifon be- tweene the mothers wombe, the world, and the kingdome ofheauen : namely,thar this heauenly kingdom as much ex- ceedeth this world in glory,beauty, & variety ofal delights, as the world herein excelleth the mothers wombe; in which comparifon ifthere be any difproportion, it is becaufe our heauenly ioyes being infinite and without the mixture of any miferie,doe by innumerable degrees excel! the pleafitres and maieflie of the world, more then the world excelleth that darkeand dole prifonofthe mothers belly. By all which it appeareth that theft heauenly ioyes be vn- 4.Sec`f.4. fpeakable, and in themfelues infinite and incomprehenfible, That there are but yet in refpe& ofvs who fhall enioy them there are ( I diners degrees take it) diners degrees of them. For thereas in thefe hea- uenly ioyes there are two things to be confidcred ; the firff l inrdne:e ofc is the cauCe or obiea of this ioy and happineffe ; the other cmaurn:frft the application, comprehenfion, and fruition of them : it is premed by tefti_ true in the former reipeói, one cannot be more happic and shier ofscriy- bleffed then another,becaufe al Thal inioy God;as theirfum- mumbanum,andchief good,and thofeheauenly ioyes which he will communicate unto them ; but inrefpcé of the other, there are diuers degrees, as one more then another is more capable and comprehenfue ofthis infinit goodneffe,where- by heis fitted and difpofed CO a more large and perfc ì frui- tion of God,and fo becommeth more bicfred,becaufe hee