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the fifty sons of the prophets, to seek for thee, as they would needs do for Elijah, in vallies and mountains; 2 Kings ii. 16: they saw and worshipped thee, leisurely ascending up through the region of this lower heaven, till a cloud intercepted thee from their sight; neither then could easily be taken off, either by the interposition of that dark body, or by the interpellation of angels.

And now, O Blessed Saviour, how is my soul ravished with the meditation of thy glorious reception into thy heaven! Surely, if the inhabitants of those celestial mansions may be capable of any increase of joy, they then both found and shewed it, when they saw and welcomed thee, entering, in thy glorified Humanity, into that thy eternal palace of blessedness; and, if there could be any higher or sweeter ditty of Hallelujah, it was then sung by the Choir of Angels and Saints. And may thy poor servants, warfaring and wandering here upon earth, even second them, in those heavenly songs of praises and gratulations: for wherein stands all our safety, hope, comfort, happiness, but in this, that thou, our Jesus, art received up into glory; and, having conquered all diverse powers, sittest on the right-hand of God the Father; crowned with honour and majesty?

O Jesu, thou art our head, we are thy body: how can the body but participate of the glory of the head? As for thyself therefore, so for us, art thou possessed of that heavenly glory: as thou sufferedst for us, so for us thou also reignest. Let every knee therefore bow unto thee, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth; Phil. ii. 10. O blessed be thy name for ever and ever: Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heaven, and in the earth is thine: thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head over all; 1 Chr. xxix. 11.

And now, O Saviour, what a superabundant amends is made to thy glorified Humanity, for all thy bitter sufferings upon earth! Thine agony was extreme; but thy glory is infinite: thy cross was heavy; but thy crown transcendently glorious: thy pains were unconceivably grievous, but short; thy glory everlasting: if thou wert scorned by men, thou art now adored by angels: thou, that stoodest before the judgment seat of a Pilate, shalt come, in all heavenly magnificence, to judge both the quick and the dead: shortly, thou, which wouldest stoop to be a servant upon earth, rulest and reignest for ever in heaven, as the King of Eternal Glory.

O then, my soul, seeing thy Saviour is received up into this infinite glory, with what intention and fervour of spirit shouldest thou fix thine eyes upon that heaven, where he lives and reigns. How canst thou be but wholly taken up, with the sight and thought of that place of blessedness? How canst thou

abide to grovel any longer on this base earth, where is nothing but vanity and vexation; and refrain to mind the things above, where is all felicity and glory? With what longings and holy ambition shouldest thou desire to aspire to that place of eternal rest and beatitude, into which thy Saviour is ascended; and with him to partake of that glory and happiness, which he hath provided for all that love him! O Saviour, it is this clog of wretched infidelity and earthliness, that hangs heavy upon my soul; and keeps me from mounting up into thy presence, and from a comfortable fruition of thee. Oh, do thou take off this sinful weight from me, and raise up my affections and conversation unto thee: enable me constantly to enjoy thee, by a lively faith, here; till, by thy mercy, I shall be received into glory.

THE

INVISIBLE WORLD

DISCOVERED TO SPIRITUAL EYES,

AND

REDUCED TO USEFUL MEDITATION.

IN THREE BOOKS.

BY JOSEPH, BISHOP OF NORWICH.

THE PREFACE.

As those, that flit from their old home and betake themselves to dwell in another country where they are sure to settle, are wont to forget the faces and fashions whereto they were formerly inured, and to apply themselves to the knowledge and acquaintance of those with whom they shall afterwards converse; so it is here with me: being to remove from my earthly tabernacle, wherein I have worn out the few and evil days of my pilgrimage, to an abiding city above, I have desired to acquaint myself with that Invisible World, to which I am going; to enter-know my good God, and his blessed Angels and Saints, with whom I hope to pass a happy eternity: and if, by often and serious meditation, I have attained, through God's mercy, to any measure of lightsome apprehension of them and their blissful condition; I thought it could be no other than profitable to my fellow-pilgrims, to have it imparted unto them. And, as knowing we can never be sensible enough of our happiness, unless we know our own dangers and the woeful miscarriages of others; nor so fully bless our eyes with the sight of heaven, if we cast not some glances upon hell; I have held it requisite, to bestow some thoughts upon that dreadful Region of Darkness and Confusion: that, by the former of these, our desires may be whetted to the fruition of their blessedness; and, by the other, we may be stirred up to a care of avoiding those paths that lead down to that second death, and to a continual thankfulness unto that merciful God, whose infinite goodness hath delivered us from that pit of horror and perdition.

THE INVISIBLE WORLD.

THE FIRST BOOK:-OF GOD AND HIS ANGELS.

SECT. I.

THAT THERE IS AN INVISIBLE WORLD.

WHO can think other, but that the great God of Heaven loseth much glory by our ignorance? for, how can we give him the honour due to his Name, while we conceive too narrowly of him and his works? To know him as he is, is past the capacity of our finite understanding: we must have other eyes, to discern that incomprehensible essence: but, to see him in his Divine Emanations, and marvellous works, which are the back parts of that glorious Majesty, is that, whereof we may be capable, and should be ambitious. Neither is there any thing in this world, that can so much import us: for, wherefore serves the eye of sense, but to view the goodly frame and furniture of the creation? Wherefore serves the eye of reason and faith, but to see that lively and invisible power, which governs and comprehends it?

Even this sensible, and material world, if we could conceive aright of it, is enough to amaze the most enlightened reason: for, if this globe of earth, in regard of the immense greatness of it, is wont, not unjustly, to be accounted a world, what shall we say of so many thousand stars, that are, for the most part, bigger than it? How can we but admire so many thousand worlds of light, rolling continually over our heads; all made by the omnipotent power, all regularly guided by the infinite providence of the great God? How poorly must that man needs think of the workmanship of the Almighty, that looks upon all these, but as so many torches, set up in the firmament every evening, only so big as they seem! and, with what awful respects must he needs be carried to his Creator, that knows the vastness and perpetually-constant movings of those lightsome bodies, ruled and upheld only by the Mighty Word that made

them!

VOL. VIII.

A a

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