The Excell~ncy uf Heavenly Treafores. /hall bt [atisfird with thy likenef;. W'hen I awake; that is, when 1 awake in Glory, after the Jhort fiumbcr of Death. then l 01all be fatisfied with the likcnefs and fi .. militude of God. · 553 Confider here, · , ( J.) 'The true Reafon of the Vanity and Unfatisf<l.Cl:orinefs of all Earthly th1'ngs, · it is, becaufe none of them are fo good as the Soul is, nor none of them are fo great, as to be able to fill up the vaft Capacity of the Soul: The Soul it is like a wide Gulf; throw in Pleafures, and Profits, and Honour, nay the \\'hole World, yet there is a vaft hollowncfs in the Soul fti11, that can never be filled up by thefe things. Your Sou ls are of a noble and excellent. Being, and, excepting Angels, they are the top and flower of the Creation, and therefore it is a debafcment of them to cleave to any thing here that is worfe than it felf. Now fo long as all things here below are lefs than the Soul, and worfe than the Soul, the Sou l cannot pofflbly receive fatisfaCt.ion and contentment in them. But God now is infinitely great, and therefore he can fill the Soul·; and God is alfo infinitely good, and therefore he can fatisfle the Soul, fo that it Jhall not de lire any thing above, or be fides him. ( 2.) Confider, the Soul is to be made happy with the fame Happinefs wherewith God himfdf is to be for ever Bletfed; and mufi: not this be infi uitcly fatisfadory? Wherein doth God's infinite Bletfednefs confifi:? Is it not in the clofe, near, intimate :tnd immediate enjoyment and fruition of Himfelf? Is not God himfelf his own Happinefs? Why this alfo is the Happinefs of the Saints, a clofe, intimate, and immediJ te enjoyment of God. Enlarge then, 0 Soul, fpread forth thy fclf wide, make room for thine own Glory, thou art to be made Happy with the fame Happinefs that God himfelf is bleJl(:d with; he is blefiCd in the eternal enjoyment of himfclf, and thou fhalt be blelfed with the eternal enjoyment of God a!IO. Enlarge then, 0 Soul, fprea:d forth thy felf wide, fi:rctch out thy Defires as wide as Heaven it felf, for the God offJeaven will fill them. And is not here now euough to fatisfie? Certainly that Soul muft be very neceOitcus, that an infinite God and an infini te Good cannot fill up and fatisfi.e. And thus you fee Heavenly Treafures arc fatisfJClory in tbemfelves. 3• .As they art fatts{4Efory in them{elves, {o they make Earthly Comforts and Enjoymtr.ts to be {atis[aEfory alfo. That Soul that bath laid up and made fure of Htavcnly 1 rcafure, finds Satisf;.tC\ion and Contentment in every outward condition. He that enj 'Jys m oft of Heaven, enjoys moft of Earth, though others may polfefs more than he; and what he hath nor, Contentment makes him JlOt to. want. What fays the .:llpojlle in PhiI. 4- t t. 1 have learn'd, in whA.tewr jfatt I am, therewith tQ be c~ntent. And what can any Man have more? If the Lord afford him but a little of tbefe things, he is content; and if he encreafeth them too much, he can be but content. 0 what a bleJTed condition is this, that exempts a Man from a poffibili~ ty of being under Affiitl:ion, as to outward things! Thus it will be with you, if you have laid up your Treafure in Heaven; it will fatisfie you, and make every outward cond ition farisfaCt.ory alfo, and that for two Reafons. .Firfr, it will brgct in ) 'OU mean and flight thought; of all thing; hat belo1v. You wdl rate them no "higher than the Afoftle doth, but Lofs and Dung; and will any Man be difcontemed or troubled what befalls" fuch.. things, what becrmes of his LofiCs, and of his Dung and Drofs ? Suppofe a fweeping lhower Jhoutd upon a fudden fall, and wafh away the loofe Duft that lyes upon · your Ground, would you count this a lofs of your Land? Would any of you be troubled at this, as being bereaved of part of Efi:are? Truly, to a Child of God all the things of the \;vorld are no other, and if a rempefi: of Providence fuddenly fweeps them away, he is not troubled at i£; he counts it no lofs of his luht.rirance, the Duft only is walhed away, but the Land is fafe fi:iH: Truly there· is uone in the World abound more with Superfluitic5 than :i. .St1int cloth: T ake a wicked Man, upon whom a\\ the !tore and abundance of the World doth .empty themfelves, upon whom Riches, and Honours, and Pleafures flow in, in a full T ide, and all unburthcn thernfelves into his Bofom ; yet, poor Man, he hath no mo~e than· he needs ; and it's no wonder that he calls them by great Names, dus thing a Crown, . and that thing a Kiftgdom and TrtAjiwc . .'\ !as; thefe poor Deceits are all that he hath to pleafe himfelf with, to Call little thingi by .great and fwe\ling Names. But now a Saint, that harh nothin~ but Food and Raiment, even they are Super.fluities, whilft God and Chrift is hts; and if God A a a a a cafts
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