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day be revealed. Judge then, by this, what happy creatures they will be, whose bodies shall be made like that glorious body, which, when it was but a while transformed in this world, made the place seem no less than a Paradise. How illustrious will the condition of true Christians be when they shall not merely dwell in such tabernacles as St. Peter wished, but in bodies resembling that which was so transfigured, or rather of a far greater splendour: there appearing then, as I said, but a twinkling of that glory of our Saviour to whom we shall be conformed.

For if you observe it afterward, when the heavenly light of our Saviour's glorified body encompassed the other apostle, St. Paul, (to whom he appeared in his way to Damascus,) he could not look upon it as St. Peter had done upon the other; but it was so shining that it put out his eyes, he continuing three days without sight. And, for any thing we know, he had never recovered the use of them more, had not the same Jesus restored his sight to him by a miracle. These senses of flesh were not able to bear a light so effulgent: it was to deprive them of all their operations to approach near to such a brightness. And yet such glorious creatures will our Lord make his faithful servants. So astonishing is his love, that he will never cease his kindness to them till they be " numbered among his saints in glory everlasting;" that is, till he impart his own most excellent glory to them.

Which signifies that they must be wonderfully changed from what our bodies are now in this vile state, wherein they are not capable to behold such a glory as shall then be revealed. But the serious belief and hope of it, founded upon the word of our Saviour and of those who were eyewitnesses of his majesty, is a marvellous comfort to us, and should make us study to purify ourselves more and more, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God. We should cleanse and refine our affections, and render them still more spiritual and heavenly; that being less moved with the things of this world, and finding our inclinations weaker towards them, we may more readily and cheerfully comply with the will of God, and prevent as much as we can the resurrection of the dead: when we shall have no lust

1 Acts ix. 9.

to do otherwise than as God would have us, but shall entirely please ourselves in accomplishing his good will and pleasure.

For the more faithfully and eminently any persons serve the Lord Christ, out of pure love to him and to his Christian brethren, the greater marks of his favour will he set upon them. Their very bodies, it is probable, will shine in a greater glory, and be made so much the more illustrious, according as their light here shone brighter before men, and moved them to glorify their heavenly Father. For St. Paul seems to teach, not only that the bodies we shall have after the resurrection will differ as vastly from those we have now as earth does from heaven, but that those heavenly bodies which we shall put on will differ very much among themselves in brightness and glory. As the glory of the celestial bodies is one, and the glory of the terrestrial another, so, he tells us, (among the celestial,) there is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the deadm. That is, some will have bodies more bright than others, and shine as stars of a greater magnitude, to note them to be persons of eminent rank, who have done very glorious service to their Lord.

The martyrs, for instance, whose bodies were slain or burnt. to ashes for Christ's sake, we may well suppose will be more splendid than those who were laid in their graves in peace. Nay, the church in St. Austin's time, out of their great affection to them, wished to behold the scars of those glorious wounds which they received for Christ's sake, shining with a peculiar glory in their immortal bodies. "And perhaps,” saith he", "we shall see them: for it will not be a deformity in them, but a dignity, and in the body will shine the beauty of their virtue more than of their body."

This the writers whom we call the Schoolmen imagine is the aureola, or little golden crown which the Judge will give to rare virtues. By which they mean some accidental reward superadded to the essential blessedness: like the little crown of gold wherewith the other crown upon the table of show

m 1 Cor. xv. 40—42.

n L. xxii. de Civ. Dei, cap. 19. [tom. vii. col. 682 E.]

bread was finished, as the Vulg. Lat. renders Exod. xxv. 25, from whence this expression seems to be borrowed. But that the overplus of reward which Christ will give to some shall consist only in a peculiar brightness of their body, I see no ground to determine; because God hath so many other ways to crown the faith, and love, and hope of those whom he delights to honour. It is better to conclude all this discourse with the words of the same father, which follow a little after ":" What and how great the spiritual grace of the body will be, because the time is not come to make experiment, I am afraid lest all that we say of it be rashly spoken." And therefore I shall only add, of which we may be certain, that, as Macarius observes, whether it be a greater or a lesser glory that we attain, we shall all shine together in one most blessed and glorious place. His words are these P:

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As birds produce feathers of a different kind, and some fly nearer to the earth, others further off, but all fly in one common air; or, as there is one heaven, which hath many stars in it, some greater than others, but all fixed in heaven; so the saints shall be differently planted ἐν ἑνὶ οὐρανῷ τῆς θεότητος, ‘in one heaven of the Divinity,' and in one invisible country." Thither let us all direct our paths, thither let us continually aspire, saying, as he does in another place 9, (to which I shall add the words of another great man :)

"O how ineffable are the promises of Christians, who have such glorious expectations, that the faith and riches of one single soul cannot be equalled by the glory and beauty of heaven and earth; though we take in all their furniture, and treasures, and variety, and goodliness, and bravery!" (And yet how fairly do these things shine in our eyes, and with what pleasure do we behold their beauty!) "If then the created life be so good, how good is that life which creates ! If the salvation we receive be so pleasant, how sweet is that salvation which gives all salvation! If that wisdom be so lovely which understands the works of God, how lovely is that wisdom which of nothing contrived them all! Finally, if there be so

o L. xxii. de Civ. Dei, cap. 21.

[col. 684 D.]

P Homil. 32. [§ 3. Galland. tom.

vii. p. 121 A.]

a Macarius, Homil. 4. [§ 17. p. 18 C.]

many and so great delights in delectable things, what and how great is that delight which is in him that made all things delectable! He that shall enjoy this good, what shall he have? what shall he not have? He shall have what he will, and what he would not he shall not have. . . . If honour and riches be desired, God will make his good and faithful servants rulers over many things. Nay, they shall be called sons of God, and gods; and where his Son is, there they shall be heirs of God and coheirs with Christ. If they desire true security, there is none like that: for, certainly, they shall be as certain that these, or rather this good, shall never by any means be wanting to them, as they are certain they shall never leave it of themselves, nor God their lover ever take it away against the will of those he loves; nor any thing stronger than he be able to separate them and God. They shall rejoice therefore perpetually. And they shall rejoice as much as they love, and love as much as they know. And how much, O Lord, shall they know thee then? how much shall they love thee? Certainly, neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man in this life, how much they shall know thee, and how much they shall love thee in that. I beseech thee, O God, let me know thee, let me love thee, that I may rejoice in thee. And if I cannot do it to the full in this life, O that I may profit every day until it come to the full! Let thy knowledge grow in me here, and there be made full let thy love increase, and there also be full: that here my joy may in hope be great, and there in possession full. Amen'."

CHAP. IV.

Of the eternity of this life.

FROM this larger (than was at first designed) consideration of the nature of this LIFE, pass we now to a short meditation of the ETERNITY of it; which indeed is the crown that God sets upon its head, the circle, if I may so speak, which wreathing

r Anselm. in Proslog. [capp. 24, 25. tom. i. p. 48.]

itself about this happiness, makes it to be our sovereign good. And it may not be unworthy our observation, that this Eternity of life is as far above the continuance of all other blessings heretofore promised as the life itself is. Life among the Jews, according to the letter of their law, signifying only all earthly good things; there was only a long life, not an eternal, in the land of Canaan, promised to them that kept that law. But quite otherwise the life promised by Christ consisting only in the enjoyment of spiritual and heavenly blessings; it is not a long, but an eternal, never-ending life, in the possession of these good things which he hath assured to us. It being but fit that as the life exceeds that which Moses promised; so the duration of it also should as much outrun his, as for ever extends itself beyond an age.

Now the word ETERNAL may be conceived to comprehend in it these three things.

I.

First, that there is nothing but life in this state of blessedness; which shall not be interrupted by any doleful accident. Life and death, I told you, in the holy language signify the same with blessedness and misery: and therefore the eternity of life must include in its notion a state of pure happiness, of mere and unmixed pleasure; without any thing that deserves the name of death to give it the least annoyance. There we may hope to be so happy as to know without mistake, and to be wise without folly, and to increase in knowledge without our present toil to acquire it. Love is there without hatred, jealousy or envy, joy without any sighing or sorrow, praises without complaints, obedience without reluctance, speed and alacrity without dulness and heaviness; in one word, perfect purity and holiness, without spot or blemish to sully the glory of it. As this lower region of the air we see is the place of clouds and darkness, thunder and lightning, storm and tempest; but to the dwellings of the sun and fixed stars none of these pitchy vapours ascend to obscure their brightness, or trouble their peace; just so is this world the scene of misery and vexation, confusion and disorder, our bodies are tossed with several storms, and our souls many times hurried with more violent tempests, the fierce gusts of their own passions; but when we

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