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firmities. For the body being composed of the same principles with other sensitive creatures, was in a perpetual flux, and liable to hunger, and thirst, and weariness, and was to be repaired by food and sleep. Adam was made a "living soul," 1 Cor. 15. 45. therefore subject to those inclinations and necessities which are purely animal. And though whilst innocent, no disease could seize on him, yet he was capable of hurtful impressions. Immortality was not the essential property of man as compounded of soul and body, but conditional upon his obedience, and consequent to his eating the fruit of the tree of life. Gen. 3. 22. Therefore man, after his sin, was expelled from paradise, that he might not eat of it and live for ever. By which it appears that eternal life in that happy state was not from the temperament of the body, but to be preserved by the divine power in the use of means. From hence it follows that Adam in his natural state was not capable of the vision of God. Heaven is too pure an air for him to have lived in. The glory of it is inconsistent with such a tempered body. "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven." 1 Cor. 15. 50. The faculties would be confounded with its overcoming brightness. Till the sensitive powers are refined, and exalted to that degree that they become spiritual, they cannot converse with glorified objects. Now the bodies of the saints shall be invested with celestial qualities. The natural shall be changed into a spiritual body, and be preserved as the angels by the sole virtue of the quickening spirit. The life above shall flourish in its full vigour, without any other support, than the divine power that first created it. As the body shall be spiritual, so truly immortal, and free from all corruptive change; as the sun, which for so many ages hath shined with an equal brightness to the world, and hath a durable fulness of light in it. In this respect the "children of the resurrection," are equal to the angels, Luke 20. 36. who being pure spirits, do not marry to perpetuate their kind, for they never die. And the glorified body shall be clothed with a more divine beauty in the resurrection, than Adam had in the creation. The glory of the second temple shall excel that of the first. In short, the first "man was of the earth, earthy." 1 Cor. 15. 47. and could derive but an earthly condition to his descendants: but the Lord Christ is from heaven, and is the principle of an heavenly and glorious life to all that are united to him.

Thirdly. The felicity of heaven exceeds the first, in the manner and degrees of the fruition, and the continuance of it.

The vision of God in heaven is immediate. Adam was a spectator of God's works, and his understanding being full of light, he clearly discovered the divine attributes in their effects. The strokes of the Creator's hand are engraven in all the parts of the universe. The heavens, and earth, and all things in them, are evident testimonies of the excellency of their author. The "invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen." Rom. 1. 20. And the knowledge that shined in his soul, produced a transcendent esteem of the Deity, in whom wisdom and power are united in their supreme degree, and a superlative love and delight in him for his goodness. Yet his sight of God was but "through a glass," an eclipsing medium. For inferior beings are so imperfect, that they can give but a weak resemblance of his infinite perfections. But the sight of God in heaven, is called the "seeing of him as he is," 1 John 3. 2. and signifies the most clear and complete knowledge, which the rational soul when purified and raised to its most perfect state can receive, and outshines all the discoveries of God in the lower world. Adam had a visible copy of his invisible beauty, but the saints in heaven see the glorious original. He saw God in the reflection of the creature, but the saints are under the direct beams of glory, and " see him face to face." 1 Cor. 13. 12. All the attributes appear in their full and brightest lustre to them: wisdom, love, holiness, power, are manifested in their exaltation. And the glorified soul, to qualify it for converse with God in this intimate manner, hath a more excellent constitution than was given to it in the creation. A new edge is put upon the faculties, whereby they are fitted for those objects which are peculiar to heaven. The intellectual eye is fortified for the immediate intuition of God. Adam in paradise was absent from the Lord, in comparison of the saints who encompass his throne, and are in the presence of his glory.

Besides, it is the peculiar excellency of the heavenly life, that the saints every moment enjoy it without any allay, in the highest degree of its perfection. The life of Adam was always in a circle of low and mean functions of the animal nature, which being common to him and beasts, the acts of it are not strictly human. But the spiritual life in heaven is entirely freed from

those servile necessities, and is spent in the eternal performance of the most noble actions of which the intelligent nature is capable. The saints do always contemplate, admire, love, enjoy, and praise their everlasting benefactor. "God is to them all in all."

In short, that which prefers the glory of heaven infinitely before the first state of man, is the continuance of it for ever :' it is an unwithering and never fading glory. Adam was liable to temptations, and capable of change, he fell in the garden of Eden, and was sentenced to die. But heaven is the sanctuary of life and immortality; it is inaccessible to any evil. The serpent that corrupted paradise with its poison, cannot enter there. As there is no seed of corruption within, so no cause of it without. Our Redeemer offered himself by the eternal Spirit, and purchased an eternal inheritance for his people. Their felicity is full and perpetual, without increase, for in the first moment it is perfect and shall continue without declination. The day of judgment is called the "last day:" for days, and weeks, and months, and years, the revolutions which now measure time, shall then be swallowed up in an unchangeable eternity. "The saints shall be for ever with the Lord." 1 Thes. 4. And in all these respects, the glory of the redeemed, as far exceeds the felicity of man in the creation, as heaven, the bright seat of it, is above the fading beauty of the terrestrial paradise.

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CHAP. XI.

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Practical inferences. Redeeming love deserves our highest admiration, and

humble acknowledgments. The illustration of it by several considerations. God is infinitely amiable in himself, yet his love is transient to the creature. It is admirable in creating and preserving man, more in redeeming him, and that by the death of his Son. The discovery of God's love in our redemption is the strongest persuasive to repentance. The law is ineffectual to produce real repentance. The common benefits of providence are insufficient to cause faith and repentance in the guilty creature. The clear discovery of pardoning mercy in the gospel can only remove our fears, and induce us to return to God. The transcendent love of God should kindle ia us a reciprocal love to him. His excellencies and ordinary bounty to mankind cannot prevail upon us to love him. His love to us in Christ only conquers our hatred. Our love to him must be sincere and superlative. The despising of saving mercy is the highest provocation. It makes the condemnation of men most just, certain, and heavy.

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HIS redeeming love deserves our highest admiration, and most humble acknowledgments. If we consider God aright, it may raise our wonder, that he is pleased to bestow kindness upon any created being. For in him is all that is excellent and amiable; and it is essential to the Deity to have the perfect knowledge of himself, and perfect love to himself. His love being proportioned to his excellencies, the act is infinite, as the object : and the perfections of the divine nature, being equal to his love, it is a just cause of admiration that it is not confined to himself, but is transient and goes forth to the creature. When David looked up to the heavens, and saw the majesty of God written in characters of light, he admires that love which first “made man a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honour,” Psal. 8. and that providential care which is mindful of him, and visits him every moment. Such an inconceivable distance there is between God and man, that it is wonderful God will spend a thought upon us. “ Lord, what is man that thou takest knowledge of him ? or the Son of man that thou makest account of him? Man is like to vanity, his days are as a sha: dow that passeth away.”. Psal. 144. His being in this world

for our

hath nothing firm, or solid; it is like a shadow, that depends upon a cause that is in perpetual motion, the light of the sun, and is always changing, till it vanishes in the darkness of the night. But if we consider man in the quality of a sinner, and what God hath wrought for his recovery, we are overcome with amazement. All temporal favours are but foils to this miraculous mercy, and unspeakably below the least instance of it: without it all the privileges we enjoy above inferior creatures in this life, will prove aggravations of our future misery. God saw us in our degenerate state, destroyed by ourselves; and yet, O goodness, truly divine! he loved us so far, as to make the

way recovery. High mountains were to be levelled, and great depths

. to be filled up, before we could arrive at blessedness : all this hath been done by mighty love.

God laid the curse of the guilty upon the innocent, and exposed his beloved Son to the sword of his justice, to turn the blow from us. What astonishing goodness is it, that God who is the author and end of all things, should become the means of our salvation ? and by the lowest abasement ? What is so worthy of admiration as that the eternal should become mortal, that being in the form of God, he should take on him the form of a servant? that the judge of the world should be condemned by the guilty ? that he should leave his throne in heaven to be nailed to the cross ? that the prince of life should taste of death ? These are the great wonders which the Lord of love hath performed, and all for sinful, miserable and unworthy man, who deserved not the least drop of that sweat and blood he spent for him : and without any advantage to himself, for what content can be added to his felicity by a cursed creature ? Infinite love! that is as admirable as saving! “ Love that passeth knowledge !” and is as much above our comprehension as desert. In natural things, admiration is the effect of ignorance, but here it is increased by knowledge. For the more we understand the excellent greatness of God, and the vileness of man, the more we shall be instructed to admire the glorious wonder of saving mercy.

A deliberate admiration springing from our most deep thoughts, is part of the tribute and adoration we owe to God, who so strangely saved us from the “ wrath to come.”

And the most humble acknowledgments are due for it. When David told Mephibosheth, 2 Sam. 9. 7, 8. that he should weat bread with him at his table continually; he bowed himself, and

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