1 Cor. xv. 50. And this no doubt will be done, by the putting off that Flesh and Blood, which cannot inherit the Kingdom of God: By that Change, which fhall be wrought in our Perfons and our Tempers, by being fet at large from thofe Neceffities and Appetites, Frailties and Paffions, which now incumber and cramp up the Mind. A Freedom from these cannot but render the Thoughts of Spiritual objects more eafy and more agreeable, give another taste and turn to our Souls, refine our Delights and Defires, as well as our Ideas. And, fince our likeness to God did at firft confift in an intelligent and free Spirit; the more this is improved, and the lefs it is clogged with the Body, the more nearly we refembie Him. And, the nearer we resemble Him, the more we shall be qualified to know, and to love Him. And thus may be affirmed, that the Seeing God as he is, infers our being like him, as an indifpenfable Predifpofition; fuch as all they, who have not arrived to, are under a natural Disability of fo feeing Him. They are in the Circumstances of dim Eyes, and fully'd Glaffes; the Former must be cleared and ftrengthned before they can sustain, the Latter cleanfed and polished before they can take in, the Rays of fo bright and beautiful an Object. it 2. The Other, and I think, more commonly received, Senfe of the Words now under Confideration is, That the Seeing God as He is will produce in Us a likeness to the Perfections we fee. The Foundation of all Goodness is laid in right Apprehenfions of God. For Mankind feem to have been all along pretty well agreed in this Point, That to be like God is both our Duty, and our Happiness. But then the different Notions Men have of God, have led them into different ways of Endeavouring after that Likeness. And, reprefenting God to themselves otherwife than He is, they confequently framed themselves upon diffe different Models, and have invented falfe, and fometimes most extravagant and impious, Schemes of Religion. This was the Cafe of Heathens heretofore, who, the better to countenance their own Lewdness and Exceffes, impofed upon Themselves and the Word, with a Pretence of voluptuous, drunken, and lafcivious Deities. This is too much the Cafe of Chriftians too, who indeed acknowledge nothing in God, but what is truly excellent and good, and adore him, as the Source and Sum of all Excellence: Yet, according to the difference of their Complexion, or Customs, they attend fo much more to, and often prefer one Excellence fo far above another; as that hereby is produced a great Diversity, both in Opinion and Practice. His Juftice, his Power, his Mercy, his Holiness, are all confefs'd Perfections. Yet, because the due Temperament of thefe is not duly understood, as one or other of them happens to be uppermoft in our Thoughts, and more ftrongly to affect us, occafions are taken for fuch Notions of God, as fet those Attributes at variance, and do not only fhew God, as He is not, but difpofe us to conform our felves to that mistaken Idea we have of him. Were the Sanguine and the Gay, the Liberal and Open, and the Phlegmatick and Melancholick, the Man of Rigour and Preciseness, the Fatalift and the Morofe, to be examined thoroughly; I make little doubt, but their Notions of Almighty God would be found at as wide a diftance from each other, as we may plainly fee, their Humours and Deportment to be. And all this probably from the felf-fame Caufe, of Seeing God as He is not, and judging of that imitation He requires, by false Systems of their own. Again. Nothing can be more evident, than that the Will of Man, though free in the choice of this or that particular Object, is yet, in the general, deter N 2 mined mined to the Choice of Good. And, when the thing chofen is not really fuch, it is, because the Man was cheated with a falfe Appearance of Good. But this is our Mifery, that we often mistake Evil for Good, or elfe prefer a lefs before a greater Good. So that, all our Vices and Moral Defects are owing to want of Knowledge or Confideration, of Care, or of Integrity, in judging of our true Happiness, and the means proper to attain it. But now, in the next Life, all Things will be fet in their true Light, all the Bribery and Byafs of Senfe and Flesh will then be taken away, and we shall not only be enabled to understand, but inclined to approve and chufe, that which is beft. We fhall then, without any dividing our Affections, difcern God to be our Chief, our only Good; and a Conformity to his imitable Excellencies, to be our perfect Happiness. In fhort, we shall then do that, which we here with for in vain, fee Virtue in all its Charms. Of which, as an Eminent Philofopher* hath well obferved, could we behold the full Luftre and Beauty, it would, even in this frail and corrupt State,engage our Hearts fo powerfully, as fcarce to leave a poffibility of deviating from it. And how noble, how wonderful, may we well imagine, will the Improvement be, of Minds thus fixt upon one only amiable Object, always contemplating with Joy unfpeakable, always admiring and loving, always copying after and approaching to, the fum of all Perfection; And, to use in this Senfe the Words of St. Paul, *Cicer. de Offic. Lib. I. 2 Cor. iii. 18. with open Face bebolding, as in a glass, the Glory of the Lord, and changed into the fame Image from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord: A Glory conftantly fhining upon, and communicating it felf to them. Thus much may fuffice to fhew, what certain Connexion there is between our feeing God as He is, and our being like Him: And it leads us very naturally too to the 3. Third 3. Third Enquiry propofed under this Head, Wherein that Likeness to God will confift. Now the Scriptures, from whence alone we can fafely take our Meafures in this Matter, have, among other things relating to it, acquainted us, that our Bodies, when they die, fhall be quickened again; that they are, as Seed caft into the Ground, to come up with vaft Improvement, and very different from the Condition they lay down in, That they are fown in Corruption, but raifed in Incorruption; fown in Difononour, but raised in Glory; fown in Weakness, but raised in Power; fown Natural Bodies, but raifed Spiritual Bodies. That Flefb and Blood, as now it is, cannot inherit the Kingdom of God: And therefore, I Cor. xv. 42, 43, 44. 50. 53. 1 Cor. xv. 52. Phil. iii. 21. to qualify us for that Inheritance, This Corruption must put on Incorruption, and this Mortal must put on Immǝrtality. And how this mighty Alteration fhall be effected, we are likewife informed. For the Saviour the Lord Jefus Christ, at his Coming from Heaven, fhall in a moment, in the twinkling of an Eye, at the last trump, change our vile Body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body, according to the mighty working, whereby he is able to fubdue all things to himself. Thus we shall be like to Christ, as Man, in the utmost Perfection this part is capable of. And, in the fame refpect we fhall be like him as God too, fo far, as the being fet above all the Incumbrances and Defects of thefe Bodies, we now carry about us, can make us like him. No Wants or Rev. vii. 16, 17. Infirmities, no Importunity of Appetite, no Unevenness of Paffion, no Hunger or Thirst, no Weariness or Sleep, no Pain or Sorrow, no Feebleness or Decay, no Sickness or Old-age, no Dying any more: But Beauty for ashes, and Joy for mourning, even the Joy of our Lord. A Joy, that we are very fignificantly faid to enter into, N 3 Luke x. 35. be because it is too vaft to enter into us: A Joy, that could not be perfect, if it were not immortal; and a Crown, therefore to be valued infinitely above any other, because incorruptible, and that fadeth not away. 1 Cor. xiii. 12. Pfal. xvii. 15. But, as God himself is a Spirit, fo the most defirable part of our likeness to him will be that of our Souls. And thefe will be like him, in clear and unerring, in full and comprehenfive Knowledge, in feeing face to face, in knowing even as we are known. In perfect Holiness; For there fhall we behold God's face in righteousness, there we shall not have spot, or wrinkle, or any fuch thing, but be unftained and without blemish. There every Temptation and Occafion of Sin fhall ceafe, no Devil to feduce us, no Vanities or Pomps of the World to allure us, no warring of the Spirit againfl the Flesh, and the Flesh against the Spirit. But a Peace, that paffeth all Understanding, even the Peace of God ruling in our Hearts, without Controul. Like him, in fervent and unbounded Charity, the Love of God, and of our Brethren; Without any other Object to divert the Former; Without any Emulation, or Envy, or Grudging, to give check to the Latter. There all fhall be of one Heart, and of one Soul, and nothing fhall be feen, or heard, or felt, but Righteoufnefs, Phil. iv. 7. Coloff. iii. 15. Rom. xiv. 17. and Peace, and Joy in the Holy Ghost. Such is the Likeness, which, we know, fhall belong to us, The Enlargement of our Understandings, the Rectitude of our Wills, the Purity and Harmony of our Affections. A State fo perfect, fo very like to God, as no other ever was, or can be; not even that of Man in his primitive Innocence. For then it was indeed poffible for Man not to fin, but in this it fhall not be fo much as poffible for him to fin. But, tho' we cannot be fo happy here, yet Some approaches toward it we may, and muft, and, if |