60 MEDITATIONS A How much more abominable is the follyof men who would represent the Lord Christ in his present glory by pictures and imagesof him? When they have done their utmost with their burnishedglass and gildings, an eye of flesh can not only behold it, but ifit be guided by reason, see it contemptible and foolish. But the true glory of Christ neither inward nor outward sight can bear the rays of in this life. The dipensation which we are meet for is only that ofhispresence with us by his Spirit. We know him now nomore after theflesh, 2 Cor. v. 16, We are advan- ced above that way and means of the knowledgeof him by the fleshly carnal ordinances of the Old Testament. And we know him not according unto that bodily pre- sence of his, which his disciples enjoyed in the days of his flesh. We have attained somewhat above that also. Forsuch was the nature ofhis ministry here on earth, that there could not be the promised dispensation of the Spirit until that was finished. Therefore he tells his disciples that it was expedient for them that he should go away and send. the Spirit to them, John xvi. 7, Hereon they had a clearer view of the glory of Christ, than they could have by beholding him in the flesh. This is our spiritual posture and condition. We are past the knowledge of him according to the flesh; we cannot attain nor receive the sight of him in glory: but the life which we now lead is by the faith of the Son of God. 3 shall not here inquire into the nature of this vision, or the power and ability which we shall have in heaven to behold the glory of Christ. Some few things may be mentioned, as it relates unto our minds and our bodies also after the resurrection. 1. For the mind, it shall be perfectly freed from all that slackness, unsteadiness, and other incapacities, which here it is accompanied with; and whereby it is weaken- ed, hindered, and obstructed in the exercise of faith. And they are of two sorts. (1.) Such asare the remainders of that depravation of our natures, which came upon us by sin. Hereby our minds became wholly vain, dark, and corrupt, as the scripture testifieth, utterly unable to discern spirit- ual things in a due manner. This is so far cured and removed in this life by grace; as that those who were in darkness do become light in theLord, or are enabled to live unto God, under the conduct of a new spiritual ND DISCOURSES light communicated unto them. But it is so cured and removed in part only, it is not perfectly abolished. I-hence are all our remaining weaknesses and incapaci- ties in discerning things spiritual and, eternal, which weyet groan under, and long for deliverance from. No footsteps, no scars or marks that ever had place in our minds, shall abide in glory, Ephes. v. 27. Nothing shall weaken, disturb, or incapacitate our souls, in act- ing all their powers, unimpeded by vanity, diversions, weakness, inability, upon their proper objects. The excellency hereof in universal liberty and power, we can- not here comprehend: nor can we yet conceive the glo- ry and beauty of those immixed spiritual actings of our minds, which shall have no clog upon them, no encum- brance in them, no alloy of dross accompanying of them. One pure act of spiritual sight in discerning the glory of Christ, one pure act of love in cleaving unto God, will bring in more blessedness and satisfaction into our minds, than in this world we are capable of. (2.) There is an incapacity in our minds, as unto their actings on things spiritual and eternal, that is merely natural, from the posturewherein they are, and the figure which they are to make in this life. For they are here clothedwith flesh, and that debased and cor- rupted. Now in this state, though the mind acts concep- tions by the body as its organ and instrument, yet it is variously straitened, encumbered, and impeded in the exercise of its native powers, especially towards things heavenly, by this prisonof theflesh, wherein it is im- mured. There is an angelical excellency in the pure actings of the soul, when delivered from all material in- struments of them; or when they areglorified and made suitable helps in its utmost spiritual activity. How and by what degrees our minds shall be freed from these obstructions in their beholding the glory of Christ, shall be afterwards declared. 2. Again a new light, the light of glory shall be im- planted in them, There is a light in nature, which is the power of a man to discern the things of man; an ability to know, perceive, and judge of things natural. It is that spirit of a man which is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts ofthe belly. Prov. xx. 27. But by the light hereof no man can discern spiritual things in a due manner, as the apostle declares, t Cor. ii. 11 -16. 0 For what man knoweth the things ofa
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