the light of thy countenance upon us." And in Psa. Ixii. "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: When shail I come and appear before God!" This is the desire also of the prophet Asaph, in the lxxxvth Psalm, "God of hosts, cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved." Secondly, We have heard David say, "I shall see thy face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness," Psa. xvii. And St. Paul promiseth, that we shall see God face to face. And St. John assures us, "That we shall see God as he is." Thirdly, In the xiith chapter of Numbers, God speaks in this manner to Aaron and Miriam, who had murmured against their brother Moses, "If there be a prophet amongst you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream: my servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold." Lastly, We have heard the voice from heaven, that represents to us the blessed state of the glori fied, saying, that "they shall see the face of God."

If it were lawful for me to engage myself in such an high meditation, which is above the capacity of men and angels, I should declare to you in a few words, how it may be said that we shall see God, and in what manner it is impossible to behold him. But first, we must take notice of two or. three distinctions, which, being well understood, will remove the principal difficulties in question.

First, God may be considered in three several respects; as he is in himself, and in his proper being. It is in this respect that our souls earnestly long for him, and desire to draw near, and be united to him, as to their sovereign good, and the bottomless fountain of glory and happiness. Secondly, As he reveals and discovers himself on earth, by

certain

certain images and tokens of his favourable reception. Thirdly, As he shall manifest himself in heaven by the glorious images, and divine marks of his presence.

Secondly, We must distinguish the several kinds of sight; for there is a sight of the body, which looks only upon the objects, whereof the images and species are within the reach and capacity of our eye-sight, as are colour and light. There is the sight of the understanding, which sees and beholds the things that are at a distance from our senses, as the spiritual and invisible substances, and the essential forms of the body. There is also the sight of faith, which riseth yet something higher than our understandings, as it is during our abode here below; when it is enlightened with God's divine grace, it sees and beholds things which the eye of the body never saw, and the sensual understandings of men could never comprehend; as the mysteries of the Christian religion, and the powers of the world to come.

Lastly, We must distinguish the knowledge of the understanding; for sometimes it is obscure and confused, at other times it is clear and distinct. Moreover, that knowledge which is the clearest and the most distinct, is of two sorts; the one hath bounds and limits suitable to its subject, that is to say, suitable to the ability and reach of the understanding; the other is absolute, and of the same extent as its object, that is to say, as the thing itself which the understanding looks upon and beholds.

God, as he is in himself, and in his own essence and being, hath never been seen by the eye of the body, and shall never be, neither in this life, nor in the life to come; for God is a spirit, and of an invisible nature, John iv. In this respect St. Paul affirms, "That God dwells in a light which no man can approach unto; that no man hath ever seen him, nor can

see

see him." But this good God, who of himself is invisible, delights to shew himself to his creatures in several ways.

First, God shews himself to all men, in the works of the creation of the great world; for St. Paul saith in the first of the Romans, "The invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead." Particularly, he hath given the light, which is as his eldest daughter, and the first of all outward productions, and image and resemblance of him. For as there is nothing more ample, purer, and more beautiful than the light, so there is no visible creature that represents so well this great God, who is a Being most pure, most beautiful and perfect, the Father of lights, and the true Sun of souls.

Secondly, God discovers himself by all the workings of his wonderful providence, and chiefly in his extraordinary and miraculous operations. For when men perceive works which exceed all the ordinary strength of nature, they are forced to acknowledge, that they come immediately from an infinite power. As Pharaoh's magicians, when they found, that, by their magic art, they were not able to counterfeit Moses's miracle, confessed, "That it was the finger of God."

Thirdly, God discovers himself in his holy and divine word, which is to us a perfect and divine looking-glass, where we may see his image, and brightness of his glory; that was St. Paul's judgment, when he saith, "That all we that behold, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord with open face, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord," 2 Cor. iii. 18.

Fourthly, God revealed himself to the church of Israel, in the ark, the sign and ordinary token of his gracious pre

sence.

sence. He spoke to his people from the midst of the two golden cherubims, and published his divine oracles. There was he pleased to discover himself in divers representations, chiefly in the cloud and fire which came down from heaven. Therefore the sign, bearing the name of the thing signified, is sometimes styled the Lord; as in that passage, where David saith, "My soul is athirst for God, for the mighty and living God; O when shall I go and appear in the presence of God!" Psa. xlii.

Fifthly, God manifested himself to the patriarchs and prophets, in dreams and visions, by divine raptures, and prophetical elevations. In this manner he appeared to the patriarch Jacob in Bethel; for when 'tis said, that God was at the end of the mystical ladder, which reached up to heaven, without doubt he gave some sign and testimony there of his presence. And when the prophet Isaiah mentions his glorious throne, he makes no difficulty to say, "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple; above it stood the seraphims, each one had six wings, with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly; and one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, and the whole earth is full of his glory! and the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke," Isa. vi. And the prophet Micaiah, when he speaks of this vision, he saith, "I have seen the Lord sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing at his right-hand, and at his left," 1 Kings xxii. And the prophet Daniel describing one of his visions, speaks in this manner, "I beheld, till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool; his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire; a fiery stream issued and came forth from before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him."

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Sixthly,

Sixthly, God shewed himself to Moses in a particular manner, not only when he appeared to him in Horeb, and spoke to him out of the flaming bush, but especially when God appeared to him in the holy mountain, and for the space of forty days and forty nights discoursed with him familiarly, as with a friend. For at that time he set before him such glorious and magnificent tokens of his divine presence, that it was almost the same thing as if he had seen God himself. God gave him more light and knowledge of his glory than any other of his prophets, and revealed himself to him in a more familiar manner than to any other living person. Because of these glorious and extraordinary appearances of God's presence and of the brightness of his light, which shined so clear in the soul of Moses, because of that holy familiarity which he had with God, that he speaks of it in such a manner, in the xiith chapter of the book of Numbers; for we cannot understand that place in a literal sense, that Moses did really see God himself, and that, with the eyes of the body, he beheld his Being, which is altogether invisible. But we must thus understand it, that never any man beheld such glorious expressions of the Godhead with the eyes of the body; that never any man discoursed so familiarly with God, as Moses; never any man hath ever had so clear and plain a knowledge of his great glory and divine majesty.

Seventhly, God hath often appeared to men in human shapes, and hath given them such visible expressions of his holy presence, that such as have seen those images, tell us, that they have seen God. It is in this manner that Jacob speaks, when he had wrestled with an human body, moved, not only by an assisting angel, but also by God himself, who discovers there his divine virtue; "I have seen, (said he,) God face to face, and my soul hath been saved," Gen xxxii. Manoah, the father of Samson, tells as much, when he had seen the human shape in which God was pleased to appear, when he ascended up into heaven in the flames of his sacri