ON THE OLOR pressing towards him. But it obtains not its point, it comes not to its centre and rest in this world. But now above, all things are clear and serene; all plain and evident in our beholding the glory of Christ; we shall be ever with him, and see him as he is. This is heaven, this is blessedness, this is eternal rest. The person of Christ in all his glory shall be contin- ually before us; and the eyes of our understandings shall be sn gloriously illuminated, as that we shall be able steadily to behold and comprehend that glory. But, alas! here at present our minds recoil, our meditations fail, our hearts are overcome, our thoughts confused, and our eyes turn aside from the lustre of this glory; nor can we abide in the contemplation of it. But there an immediate, constant view of it, will bring in everlasting refreshment and joy unto our whole souls. This beholding of the glory of Christ given him by bis Father, is indeed subordinate unto the ultimate vi- sion of the essence of God. What that is we cannot well conceive; only we know that thepure in heart shall seq God. But it bath such an immediate connexion with it, and subordination unto it, as that without it we can never behold the face of God, as the object- ive blessedness of our souls. For he is, and shall be, to eternity, the only means of communication between God and the church. And we may take some direction, in our looking into and longingafter this perfect viewof the gloryof Christ, from the example of the saints under the Old Testa- ment. The sight which they had of the glory of Christ, (for they also saw his glory) through the obscu?ity of ils revelation, and its being veiled with types and shadows, was weak and imperfect in the most illuminated be- liever, much inferior unto what we now have by faith, through the gospel. Yet such it was, as encouraged them to inquire and search diligently into what was revealed, 1 Yet. i. 10, 11. Howbeit, their discov- eries were but dark and confused, such as men have of things at a great distance, or in a land that is very far off; as the prophet speaks, lsa. xxxiii. 17. And the continuanceof this veil on the revelation of the glory of Christ, whilst a veil of ignorance and blindness was upon their hearts and minds, proved the ruin of that church in its apostacy, as the apostle declares, 2 Cor. iii. 7. 11 But if the ministration of death written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the chil- T 01+ CHRIST. 63 dren of Israel could not stedfastlybehold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away, ver. 13, 14. And not as " Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the chit- " dren of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished.But their minds were blind- " ed: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away, in the reading of the Old Testament; which " veil is done away in Christ." This double veil (the covering covered, the veil veiled) God promised to take away, Isa. xxv. 7. " And he will destroy in this as mountain the face of the covering castover all people, " and the veil that is spread over all nations."And then shall they turn to the Lord, when they shall be able clearly to behold the glory of Christ, Cor. 16. Nevertheless, when it shall tuan to Me Lord, the veil shall be taken away, But this caused them who were real believers among them, to desire, long, and pray for the removal of these veils, the departure of thoseshadows, which made it as night unto them in comparison of what they knelt., would appear, when the SunofRighteousness shouldarise with healing in his .wings. They thought it long ere the daydid break,, and the shadowsfee away, Cant. ii. 17. chap. iv. 6. There was (as the apostle speaks, Rom. viii..19.) a thrusting forth of the head, with de- sire and expectation of the exhibition of the Son of God in the flesh, and the accomplishment of all divine promises therein. Hencehe was called the Lord whom they sought and delighted in, Mal. ill, 1, And great was the spiritual wisdom- of believers in those days. They rejoiced and gloried in the ordinan- ces of divine worship which they did enjoy. They looked on them as their chiefest privilege, and attend- ed unto them with diligence, as an effect of divine wis- dom and love, as also because they had a shadow of good things to come. But yet at the same time they longed and desired that the time of reformation were come, wherein they should all he removed; that so they might behold and enjoy the good things signified by them. And those who did not so, but rested in, and trusted unto their present institutions, were not accept- ed with God. Those who were really illuminated did not so, but lived in constant desires after the revelation of the whole mystery of the wisdom of God in Christ, as did the angels themselves, 1 Yet. i. 3. w Blessed
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