36 What are no Signs PART II. The Text we are upon fpeaks of yoy unfpeakable, and full of Glory. And who that confiders what Man's Nature is, -and what the Nature of the Affections are, can reafonably doubt but that fuch unutterable and glorious Joys, may be too great and mighty for weak Duft and Afhes, fo as to be confiderably overbearing to it ? It is evident by the Scripture, that true divine Difcoveries, or Ideas of God's Glory, when given in a great Degree, have a Tendency, by affecting the Mind, to overbear the Body; becaufe the Scripture teaches us often,, that if thefe Ideas or Views fhould be given, to fuch a Degree, as they are given in Heaven, the weak Frame of the Body could not fubfift under it, and that no Man can, in that Manner, fee God and live. The Knowledge which the Saints have of God's Beauty and Glory in this World, and thofe holy Affections that arife from it, are of the fame Nature and Kind with what the Saints are the Subje6ts of in Heaven, differing only in Degree and Circumflances : What God gives them here, is a Foretafte of heavenly Happinefs, and an Earneft of their future Inheritance. And who (hall limit God in his giving this Earneft, or fay he {hall give fo much of the Inheritance, fuch a Part of the future Reward, as an Earneft of the Whole, and no more ? And feeingGod has taught us in hisWord, that the wholeReward is fuch, that it would at once defiroy the Body, is it not too bold a Thing for us, fo to fet Bounds to the fovereign God, as to fay, that in giving the Earneft of this Reward in this World, he (hall never give fo much of it, as in the leaft to diminifh the Strength of the Body, when God has no where thus limited himfelf ? The Pfalmift fpeaking of . vehement religious Affections he had, fpeaks ofan Effect in his Flefh or Body, betides what was in his Soul, exprefly diftingui_íhing one from the other, once and again, Pfal. 84.. 2. My Soul longeth, yea evenfaintethfor theCourts of the Lord, my Heart andmy Flefh crieth outfor the living God. Here is a plain Diffinc- tion between the Heart and the Flefh, as being each affected. So Pfal. 63. Y. My Soul thirfleth for thee, my Flefh longeth for, thee, in a dry and thirfly Land, where no Water is. Here alto is an evident defigned Diftinction between the Soul and the Flefh. The 'Prophet Habakkuk (peaks of his Body's being over-born, by a Senfe of the Majefty of God, Hab. 3. 16. When I heard, my Belly trembled, my Lips quiveredat the Voice, Rottennefs enter'd into my Bones, andI trembled in myfelf. So the Pfalmift fpeaks exprefly of his Flefh trembling, Pfal. 119. i2o. .My Flefh trembleth for Fear of thee. That fuch Ideas of God's Glory, are fometimes given in this World, have a Tendency to over-bear the Body, is evident, becaufe the Scripture gives us an Account, that this has fometimes a&uaIly been the Effe6t of thofe external Manifeftations Gód has made of him- felf, to fame of the Saints, which were made to that End, viz. to give them an Idea of God's Majefty and Glory. Such Infances we have
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