Chapter 10: The Fifth Prerogative Royal

I pass on to the next thing to come, which is.

5. Our knowledge shall be clear. Knowledge is a beautiful thing; such was Adam's ambition to know more, that by tasting the Tree of Knowledge, he lost the Tree of Life: in heaven our knowledge shall be clear. Religion is a continued riddle; many things we have now but in the notion, which then we shall see perfectly; now we know but in part. The best Christian has a veil upon his eye, as the Jews have upon their heart; hereafter the veil shall be taken off. Here we see through a glass darkly, [illegible], in a riddle, or mystery; then face to face: that is, clearly (1 Corinthians 13:9).

There are five mysteries which God will clear up to us when we are in heaven.

1. The great mystery of the Trinity: this we know but in part. Unity in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, where one makes three, and three make but one: this is bad arithmetic, but good divinity; we have but dark conceptions of it: it is a mystery so deep, that we may soon wade beyond our depth.

Augustine being to write his books of the Trinity, was taught modesty by a child, who was bailing the sea into a little spoon; to whom Augustine said, that he labored in vain, for his little spoon would not contain the sea; to whom the child answered, My little spoon will sooner hold this vast ocean, than your shallow brain can contain the depth of the Trinity. How little a portion is known of God? If Job asked the question, Who can understand the Thunder (Job 26:14), we may much more ask, Who can understand the Trinity? But in heaven we shall see God as he is, that is, perfectly (1 John 3:2).

Question: But shall every saint enjoy God so perfectly that he shall have the same knowledge that God has?

Answer: the infinite essence of God shall appear to the saints Tota, but not totaliter; we shall have a full knowledge of God, but not know him fully, yet we shall take in so much of God as our human nature is capable of; it will be a bright and a glorious knowledge: here we know him but ab effectu, by his power, wisdom, mercy: we see but his back-parts, there we shall see him face to face.

2. The mystery of the incarnation, Christ assuming our human nature, and marrying it to the divine. Therefore called, [illegible] God-man, [illegible] God with us. A mystery which the angels in heaven adore. God said, The man is become as one of us (Genesis 3:22), but now we may say, God himself is become as one of us! It was not only mirandum, but miraculum. There was nothing within the sphere of natural causes to produce it. The incarnation of Christ is catena aurea, a golden chain made up of several links of miracles. For instance, that the Creator of heaven should become a creature; that eternity should be born; that he whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, should be enclosed in the womb; that he who thunders in the clouds, should cry in the cradle; that he who rules the stars, should suck the breasts; that he who upholds all things by the Word of his Power, should himself be upheld; that a virgin should conceive, that Christ should be made of a woman and of that woman which himself made; that the creature should give a being to the Creator; that the star should give light to the sun; that the branch should bear the vine; that the mother should be younger than the child she bore, and the child in the womb bigger than the mother; that he who is a Spirit should be made flesh (John 1:14); that Christ should be without father and without mother, yet have both, without mother in the Godhead, without father in the Manhood; that Christ being incarnate should have two natures (the divine and human) and yet but one person; that the divine nature should not be infused into the human, nor the human mixed with the divine, yet assumed into the person of the Son of God, the human nature not God, yet one with God (1 Peter 1:12). Here is, I say, a chain of miracles.

I acknowledge the mercy of the incarnation was great, we having now both affinity and consanguinity with Jesus Christ; Christ's incarnation is the saints' inauguration.

The love of Christ in the incarnation was great; for herein he did set a pattern without a parallel, in clothing himself with our flesh, which is but walking ashes; he has sewed as it were sackcloth to cloth of gold, the humanity to the Deity. But though the incarnation be so rich a blessing, yet it is hard to say which is greater, the mercy or the mystery. It is a sacred depth, how does it transcend reason, and even puzzle faith. We know but in part we see this only in a glass darkly, but in heaven our knowledge shall be cleared up, we shall fully understand this divine riddle (1 Timothy 3:16).

3. The mystery of Scripture: the hard knots of Scripture shall be untied, and dark prophecies fulfilled. There is a sacred depth in Scripture which we must adore: some places of Scripture are hard in the sense, others dark in the phrase, and cannot well be translated in regard of ambiguity; one Hebrew word having such various and sometimes contrary significations, that it is very difficult to know which is the genuine sense. As it is with a traveler which is not skilled in his way, when he comes to a turning where the way parts, he is at a stand, and knows not which way to take; I might give some instances. It is true, all things purely necessary in the Word of God, are clear: but there are some sacred depths that we cannot fathom, and this may make us long after heaven, when our light shall be clear. So for prophecies, some are very abstruse and profound; divines may shoot their arrows, but it is hard to say how near they come to the mark: it is dubious whether in such a particular age and century of the Church, such a prophecy was fulfilled. The Jews have a saying when they meet with a hard Scripture they understand not, Elias veniet & solvet nodos: Elias will come and interpret these things to us; we expect not Elias, but when we are in heaven we shall understand prophecies, our knowledge shall be clear.

4. The great Mystery of Providence shall be cleared up. Providence is Regina mundi, the Queen of the world; it is the hand that turns all the wheels in the universe; Chrysostome calls it the Pilot that steers the ship of the Creation. Providences are often dark; God writes sometimes in short-hand — the characters of Providence are so various and strange, and our eyes are so dim, that we know not what to make of Providence: therefore we are ready to censure that which we do not understand: we think that things are very eccentric and disorderly; God's Providence is sometimes secret, always wise. The dispensations of Providence are often sad, judgment beginning at the house of God, and the just man perishing in his righteousness (Ecclesiastes 7:15) — that is, while he is pursuing a righteous cause: though his way be pious, it is not always prosperous: and on the other side, those that work wickedness are set up, indeed, they that tempt God are delivered (Malachi 3:15). Though now our candle be in a dark lantern, and the people of God cannot tell what God is doing, yet when they are in heaven they shall see the reason of these transactions: they shall see that every Providence served for the fulfilling of God's Promise, namely, that all things shall work together for good (Romans 8:28). In a watch the wheels seem to move against one another, but all carry on the motion of the watch, all serve to make the alarm strike; so the wheels of Providence seem to move against each other, but all shall carry on the good of the elect; all the lines shall meet at last in the center of the Promise; in heaven, as we shall see Mercy and Justice, so we shall see Promises and Providences kissing each other: our light shall be clear. When a man is at the bottom of a hill, he cannot see very far: but when he is on the top, he may see many miles distant. Here the saints of God are in the valley of tears, they are at the bottom of the hill, and cannot tell what God is doing: but when they come to Heaven, and shall be on the top of the mount, they shall see all the glorious transactions of God's Providence; never a Providence but they shall see either a wonder or a mercy wrapped up in it. A limner at the first makes but a rough draft in the picture, here an eye, there a hand; but when he has limned it out in all its parts and lineaments, and laid them in their colors, it is beautiful to behold. We that live in this age of the Church see but a rough draft, as it were some dark pieces of God's Providence represented, and it is impossible that we should judge of God's work by pieces; but when we come to Heaven and see the full body and portrait of God's Providence drawn out in its vivid colors, it will be a most glorious sight to behold: Providence shall be unriddled.

5. The Mystery of hearts. We shall see a heart-anatomy (Ecclesiastes 12:14): For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing. We shall see the designs and cabinet-counsels of men's hearts discovered; then the hypocrite's mask shall fall off. O the dark conclave that is in the heart of man; the heart is deep: it may be compared to a river, which has fair streams running on the top, but when this river comes to be drained, there lies abundance of vermin at the bottom: thus it is with man's heart, there are fair streams running on the top, a civil life, a religious profession; but at the day of judgment, when God shall drain this river and make a discovery of hearts, then all the vermin of ambition, covetousness, shall appear, all shall come out: then we shall see whether Jehu's design was zeal for God, or the kingdom: we shall see clearly whether Jezebel had more mind to keep a fast, or to get Naboth's vineyard: then we shall see whether Herod had more mind to worship Christ, or to destroy him; all the secrets of men's hearts shall be laid open. Methinks, it would be worth dying to see this sight. We shall then see who is the Achan, who the Judas; the women's paint falls off from their faces, when they come near the fire; before the scorching heat of God's justice, the hypocrite's paint will drop off, and the treason hid in the heart will be visible: these mysteries will God reveal to us: our knowledge shall be clear.