CHAP. XIV. Other Differences between our Beholding the Glory of Christ by Faith in this World, and by Sight in Heaven.

There are yet two other differences between our present beholding of the glory of Christ by faith and that heavenly vision which we shall have of him hereafter. These only will be named, and then we shall close this discourse.

1. In the view which we have here of the glory of Christ by faith, we gather things as it were one by one, in several parts and portions out of the Scripture, and comparing them together in our minds they become the object of our present sight — which is our spiritual comprehension of the things themselves. We have no proposal of the glory of Christ to us by vision or illustrious appearance of his person, as Isaiah had of old (Isaiah 6:1–4) or as John had in the Revelation (Revelation 1:13–16). We do not need it; it would be of no advantage to us. For as to the assurance of our faith, we have a word of prophecy more useful to us than even a voice from heaven (2 Peter 1:17–19). And of those who received such visions — though they were of great use to the church — yet as to themselves, one of them cried out, "Woe is me! I am undone," and the other fell as dead at his feet. We are not able in this life to bear such glorious representations of him for our edification.

And as we have no such external proposals of his glory to us in visions, so neither do we have any new revelations of him by immediate inspiration. We can see nothing of it, know nothing of it, but what is proposed to us in the Scripture, and that as it is proposed. Nor does the Scripture itself in any one place make an entire proposal of the glory of Christ with all that belongs to it — nor is it capable of so doing — nor can there be any such representation of it adapted to our capacity on this side of heaven. If all the light of the heavenly luminaries had been contracted into one, it would have been destructive and not useful to our sight; but being by divine wisdom distributed into sun, moon, and stars, each giving out its own proportion, it is suited to declare the glory of God and to enlighten the world. So if the whole revelation of the glory of Christ, and all that belongs to it, had been committed into one series and connection of words, it would have overwhelmed our minds rather than enlightened us. Therefore God has distributed the light of it through the whole firmament of the books of the Old and New Testament, from which it communicates itself by various parts and degrees for the proper use of the church. In one place we have a description of his person and the glory of it — sometimes in words plain and direct, and sometimes in a great variety of allegories conveying a heavenly sense of things to the minds of those who believe; in other places, of his love and condescension in his office, and his glory in it. His humiliation, exaltation, and power are in like manner represented to us in various places. And as one star differs from another in glory, so it was one way that God represented the glory of Christ in types and shadows under the Old Testament, and another in which it is declared in the New. Illustrious testimonies on all these things are planted throughout the Scripture, which we may gather as choice flowers in the paradise of God, as the object of our faith and sight thereby.

As the bride in the Song of Solomon considered each part of Christ's person and grace distinctly — his head, his locks, his face, his hands, his aspect — and concluded that he is altogether lovely (Song of Solomon 5:10–16), so we ought to search the Scripture as the prophets did, diligently inquiring into the grace and glory of Christ revealed in it (1 Peter 1:11–12). It is this seeing of Christ by parts and portions that is one cause why we see him here but in part.

Those who would make images of Christ by chopping, painting, or gilding feed on ashes; they trust in vanity and their deceived hearts have turned them aside. But Christ is evidently set forth — crucified among us — in the Scripture (Galatians 3:1). The wisdom of faith gathers up these parcelled descriptions and representations and brings them into one view for its contemplation of him. But in heaven the whole glory of Christ will be represented to us at once. One act of the light of glory will comprehend it all. We can now long for it, pant after it, and have foretastes of it — but there the whole soul will cleave eternally to the whole Christ.

In the vision we shall have above, the whole glory of Christ will be at once and always represented to us, and we shall be enabled in one act of the light of glory to comprehend it. Here indeed we are at a loss; our minds and understandings fail us in contemplating it. It will not yet enter into our hearts to conceive what is the beauty, what is the glory of this complete representation of Christ to us. To have at once all the glory of what he is, what he was in his outward state and condition, what he did and suffered, what he is exalted to, his love and condescension, his mystical union with the church and the communication of himself to it, with the recapitulation of all things in him — and the glory of God the Father in his wisdom, righteousness, grace, love, goodness, and power shining forth eternally in him in all that he is, has done, and does — all presented to us in one view, all comprehended at once: this is what at present we cannot conceive. We can long for it, pant after it, and have some foretastes of that state and season when our whole souls in all their powers and faculties shall constantly, inseparably, and eternally cleave by love to the whole Christ in the sight of the glory of his person and grace, until they are refreshed and filled to overflowing in the rivers of pleasure that are above forevermore. So must we speak of the things which we admire, adore, love, long for, and have some foretastes of in ineffable sweetness, yet cannot fully comprehend.

These are some few of those things from which arises the difference between that view which we have here of the glory of Christ and that which is reserved for heaven — namely such as are taken from the difference between the means or instruments of the two views, faith and sight.

There are also differences in the effects of the two visions. A few instances of this will be noticed, and then this discourse will be closed.

The first difference in effects is this: the vision in heaven is perfectly and absolutely transforming. It changes us wholly into the image of Christ. "When we see him, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2). But there are many things that lead toward this transformation, and many degrees in it, that we ought to attend to in our present way.

First, the soul upon its departure from the body is immediately freed from all the weakness, disability, darkness, and fears that had been impressed upon it from the flesh. The image of the first Adam as fallen is abolished. It is freed even from the sinless infirmities of its original constitution. This follows upon dissolution in order to the blessed state; the first entrance by mortality into immortality is a step toward glory. This freedom comes not from nature itself but from sanctification by the death of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:54–55). The souls of the departed are freed from all those impressions of sin and infirmity which had been their burden.

With wicked men it is not so — for them death is a curse, and their souls in the separate state are harassed with disquieting passions impressed by corrupt fleshly lusts. But the spirits of just men, being thus freed, have all their faculties and all their graces — faith, love, and delight — immediately set at liberty to exercise themselves on God in Christ. They are carried with a full and unhindered stream toward God. And in the resurrection, the body is purified, sanctified, and glorified to serve as a blessed organ for the soul's highest spiritual actings. There are thus three things preparatory to the full glory: departure from the body, the resurrection of the body, and the infusion of the light of glory into the mind.

With wicked men it is not so — for death is to them a curse, and the curse is the means of conveying all evil and not deliverance from any. Whatever they have been warmed and refreshed by through the influences of the flesh, they shall be deprived of. Their souls in their separate state are perpetually harassed with the disquieting passions that have been impressed on their minds by their corrupt fleshly lusts. In vain do such persons look for relief in death. If there is anything remaining of present good and usefulness to them, they shall be deprived of it. And their freedom for a season from bodily pains will in no way weigh in the balance against the confluence of evils which death will let in upon them.

2. The spirits of just men, being freed by death from the clog of the flesh not yet refined, have all the faculties of their souls and all the graces in them — faith, love, and delight — immediately set at liberty, enabled to exercise themselves constantly on God in Christ. The end for which they were created, for which our nature was endowed with them, was that we might adhere to God by them and come to the enjoyment of him. Being now freed wholly from all the impotency, perversity, and disability to this end — with all their effects, which came upon them by the fall — they are carried with a full stream toward God, cleaving to him with the most intense embraces. And all their actings toward God shall be natural, with facility, joy, delight, and satisfaction. We do not yet know the excellence of the operations of our souls in divine things when disburdened of the present weight of the flesh. And this is a second step toward the consummation of glory.

In the resurrection of the body, upon its full redemption, it shall be so purified, sanctified, and glorified as to give no obstruction to the soul in its operations, but to be a blessed instrument for its highest and most spiritual actings. The body shall never more be a trouble and a burden to the soul, but an assistant in its operations and a participant in its blessedness. Our eyes were made to see our Redeemer, and our other senses to receive impressions from him according to their capacity. As the bodies of wicked men shall be restored to them to increase and complete their misery in suffering, so shall the bodies of the just be restored to them to heighten and consummate their blessedness.

3. These things are preparatory to glory. The complete communication of it is by the infusion of a new heavenly light into the mind, enabling us to see the Lord Christ as he is. The soul shall not be brought into the immediate presence of Christ without a new power to behold him and the immediate representation of his glory. Faith now ceases as to the manner of its operation in this life while we are absent from Christ. This light of glory succeeds in its place, fitted for that state and all its ends, as faith is fitted for the present state.

4. In the first operation of this light of glory, believers shall so behold the glory of Christ — and the glory of God in him — that therewith and thereby they shall be immediately and universally changed into his likeness. They shall be as he is when they shall see him as he is. There is no growth in glory as to its parts, though there may be as to its degrees. Additions may be outwardly made to what is at first received, as by the resurrection of the body; but the internal light of glory and its transforming efficacy is capable of no degrees, though new revelations may continually be made to it throughout eternity. For the infinite fountain of life, light, and goodness can never be fathomed, much less exhausted. And what God spoke at the entrance of sin by way of contempt — "Behold, the man has become like one of us" — upbraiding him with what he had foolishly designed, on the accomplishment of the work of his grace he says in love and infinite goodness, Man has become like one of us, in the perfect restoration of his image in him. This is the first effect of the light of glory.

Faith also, in beholding the glory of Christ in this life, is accompanied with a transforming efficacy, as the apostle expressly declares (2 Corinthians 3:18). It is the principle from which, and the instrumental cause by which, all spiritual change is wrought in us in this life; but the work of it is imperfect — first because it is gradual, and then because it is partial.

1. As to the manner of its operation, it is gradual, and does not at once transform us into the image of Christ. Indeed, the degrees of its progress are for the most part imperceptible to us. It requires much spiritual wisdom and careful observation to obtain any experience of them in our own souls. The inward man is renewed day by day while we behold these invisible things (2 Corinthians 4:16–18) — but how? Even as the outward man decays by age, which is by insensible degrees and alterations. Such is the transformation wrought by faith in its present view of the glory of Christ. And according to our experience of its efficacy in this, is our evidence of its truth and reality in the beholding of him. No man can have the least ground of assurance that he has seen Christ and his glory by faith without some effects of it in changing him into his likeness. For as on the touch of his garment by the woman in the gospel, virtue went out from him to heal her infirmity, so upon this view of faith, an influence of transforming power will proceed from Christ to the soul.

2. As to the result, it is but partial. It does not bring this work to perfection. The change wrought by it is indeed great and glorious — or as the apostle says, it is from glory to glory, in a progress of glorious grace — but absolute perfection is reserved for vision. As with divine worship, perfection was not by the law — it did many things preparatory to the full revelation of God's will, but it made nothing perfect — so absolute perfection in holiness and the restoration of the image of God is not by the gospel, is not by faith, however many preparatory degrees toward it the gospel gives us, as the apostle fully declares (Philippians 3:10–14).

Second, the heavenly vision is beatific, as it is commonly called — and not amiss. It gives perfect rest and blessedness to those in whom it is. This may be briefly unfolded in the following observations.

1. There are continual operations of God in Christ in the souls of those who are glorified, and communications from him to them. For all creatures must eternally live even in heaven in dependence on him who is the eternal fountain of being, life, goodness, and blessedness to all. As we cannot subsist one moment in our beings, lives, souls, or bodies — inwardly or outwardly — without the continual actings of divine power in us and toward us, so in the glorified state our all shall depend eternally on divine power and goodness communicating themselves to us for all the ends of our blessed existence in heaven.

2. What is the way and manner of these communications, we cannot comprehend. We cannot indeed fully understand the nature and way of his spiritual communications to us even in this life. We know these things by their signs, their outward means, and principally by the effects they produce in the real change of our natures. But in themselves we see but little of them. The wind blows where it wills, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes — so is everyone who is born of the Spirit (John 3:8). All God's real operations in heaven and earth are incomprehensible, being acts of infinite power which we cannot search out to perfection.

3. All communications from the divine being and infinite fullness in heaven to glorified saints are in and through Christ Jesus, who shall forever be the medium of communication between God and the church, even in glory. All things being gathered into one head in him — things in heaven and things on earth — that head being in immediate dependence on God, this order shall never be dissolved (Ephesians 1:10–11; 1 Corinthians 3:23). On these communications from God through Christ depends entirely our continuance in a state of blessedness and glory. We shall be no more self-subsistent in glory than we are in nature or grace.

4. The way on our part by which we shall receive these communications from God by Christ — which are the eternal springs of life, peace, joy, and blessedness — is this very vision of which we speak. For as it is expressly assigned to this end in Scripture, so, since it contains the perfect operation of our minds and souls in a perfect state upon the most perfect object, it is the only means of our blessedness. And this is the true cause why there neither is nor can be any satiety or weariness in heaven in the eternal contemplation of the same glory. For not only is the object of our sight absolutely infinite — which can never be searched to the bottom and is perpetually new to a finite understanding — but our subjective blessedness, consisting in continual fresh communications from the infinite fullness of the divine nature derived to us through vision, is always new and will always be so to eternity. In this shall all the saints of God drink of the rivers of pleasure that are at his right hand, be satisfied with his likeness, and refresh themselves in the eternal springs of life, light, and joy forevermore.

This effect the view which we have by faith of the glory of Christ in this world does not produce. It is sanctifying, not glorifying. The best of saints are far from a perfect or glorified state in this life — and not only on account of the outward evils to which they are exposed in their persons, but also because of the weakness and imperfection of their inward state in grace. Yet we may observe some things to the honor of faith in those who have received it.

1. In its due exercise on Christ, faith will give to the souls of believers some previous participation of future glory, working in them dispositions toward and preparation for the enjoyment of it.

2. There is no glory, no peace, no joy, no satisfaction in this world to be compared with what we receive through that weak and imperfect view which we have of the glory of Christ by faith. Indeed, all the joys of the world are nothing in comparison with what we so receive.

3. It is sufficient to give us such a perception, such a foretaste of future blessedness in the enjoyment of Christ, as may continually stir us up to breathe and pant after it. But it is not beatific.

Other differences of a like nature between our beholding of the glory of Christ in this life by faith and that vision of it which is reserved for heaven might be enlarged upon, but I shall proceed no further. There is nothing further for us to do in these meditations but now and always to close them with the deepest self-abasement out of a sense of our unworthiness and insufficiency to comprehend these things, with admiration of that excellent glory which we cannot fully comprehend, and with vehement longings for that season when we shall see him as he is, be ever with him, and know him even as we are known.

The End.

There are two more differences between our present beholding of Christ's glory by faith and the heavenly vision of Him that awaits us. These will only be named here, and then we will bring this discussion to a close.

First, in our present sight of Christ's glory by faith, we gather things one by one — in parts and portions from Scripture — and by comparing them together in our minds they become the object of our present sight, which is our spiritual grasp of the things themselves. We have no presentation of Christ's glory through a vision or radiant appearance of His person, as Isaiah had long ago (Isaiah 6:1-4) or as John had in the Revelation (Revelation 1:13-16). We do not need it; it would bring us no benefit. For the assurance of our faith, we have the prophetic word — which is more useful to us than even a voice from heaven (2 Peter 1:17-19). Of those who did receive such visions — though they were greatly useful to the church — yet in their own experience, one of them cried out, 'Woe is me, for I am ruined!' and the other fell at His feet as though dead. We are not able in this life to bear such glorious representations of Him for our own growth.

And just as we have no such external presentations of His glory in visions, so we have no new revelations of Him through immediate inspiration. We can see nothing of it, know nothing of it, except what Scripture sets before us — and as Scripture sets it before us. Nor does Scripture in any one place give a complete presentation of the glory of Christ with all that belongs to it — nor could it — nor could any such representation be made in a form suited to our capacity on this side of heaven. If all the light of the heavenly bodies had been gathered into one, it would have destroyed rather than helped our sight; but distributed by divine wisdom into sun, moon, and stars — each giving out its proper measure — it is fitted to declare the glory of God and illuminate the world. In the same way, if the entire revelation of Christ's glory and everything belonging to it had been compressed into one continuous statement, it would have overwhelmed rather than enlightened our minds. So God has distributed its light across the whole expanse of the Old and New Testament, from which it communicates itself in various portions and degrees for the proper use of the church. In one place we have a description of His person and its glory — sometimes in plain, direct language and sometimes in richly varied images conveying a heavenly sense of things to the minds of believers; in other places, of His love and condescension in His office, and His glory in it. His humiliation, exaltation, and power are similarly presented across various passages. And as one star differs from another in glory, so God represented the glory of Christ one way in types and shadows under the Old Testament, and in another way in the plain declaration of the New. Brilliant testimonies on all these themes are planted throughout Scripture, which we may gather as choice flowers in the paradise of God — the object of our faith and sight.

As the bride in the Song of Solomon considered each part of Christ's person and grace separately — His head, His hair, His face, His hands, His bearing — and concluded that He is altogether lovely (Song of Solomon 5:10-16), so we should search the Scripture as the prophets did, diligently inquiring into the grace and glory of Christ revealed there (1 Peter 1:11-12). This seeing of Christ in parts and portions is one reason why we see Him here only in part.

Those who would make images of Christ by carving, painting, or gilding feed on ashes; they trust in something empty and their deceived hearts have led them astray. But Christ is set forth plainly — crucified before us — in the Scripture (Galatians 3:1). The wisdom of faith gathers these scattered descriptions and representations and brings them together into a single view for its contemplation of Him. But in heaven the whole glory of Christ will be set before us at once. One act of the light of glory will take it all in. We can now long for it, breathe after it, and receive foretastes of it — but there, the whole soul will cleave eternally to the whole Christ.

In the vision we will have above, the whole glory of Christ will be set before us at once and always, and we will be enabled in a single act of the light of glory to take it all in. Here we are at a loss; our minds and understandings fail us in contemplating it. We cannot yet conceive what the beauty and glory of this complete sight of Christ will be. To have at once all the glory of what He is — what He was in His outward state and condition, what He did and suffered, what He has been exalted to, His love and condescension, His mystical union with the church and His communication of Himself to it, the gathering of all things together in Him — and the glory of God the Father in His wisdom, righteousness, grace, love, goodness, and power shining forth eternally in Him in all that He is, has done, and does — all presented to us in a single view, all comprehended at once: this is what we cannot presently conceive. We can long for it, breathe after it, and have some foretastes of that state and season when our whole souls — in all their powers and faculties — will constantly, inseparably, and eternally cleave in love to the whole Christ in the sight of the glory of His person and grace, until they are refreshed and filled to overflowing in the rivers of pleasure that flow above forever. Thus we must speak of the things we admire, adore, love, long for, and have some foretastes of in inexpressible sweetness — yet cannot fully comprehend.

These are a few of the things from which the difference arises between the sight we have here of Christ's glory and that which is reserved for heaven — namely, differences that come from the contrast between the means of the two views: faith and sight.

There are also differences in the effects of the two visions. A few examples of these will be noted, and then this discussion will be closed.

The first difference in effects is this: the vision in heaven is perfectly and completely transforming. It changes us wholly into the image of Christ. 'When He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is' (1 John 3:2). But there are many things that lead toward this transformation, and many stages in it, that we ought to attend to in our present journey.

First, upon its departure from the body, the soul is immediately freed from all the weakness, inability, darkness, and fears that had been pressed into it from the flesh. The image of the fallen first Adam is abolished. It is freed even from the sinless frailties of its original constitution. This freedom comes with death as a step toward the blessed state; the first entry of mortality into immortality is a step toward glory. This freedom does not come from nature itself but from sanctification through the death of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:54-55). The souls of the departed are freed from all those marks of sin and frailty that had been their burden.

It is not so with wicked people — for them death is a curse, and in the disembodied state their souls are troubled with restless passions imprinted by corrupt fleshly desires. But the spirits of the righteous, being freed in this way, have all their faculties and all their graces — faith, love, and delight — immediately released to exercise themselves on God in Christ. They are carried with a full and unhindered current toward God. And in the resurrection, the body is purified, sanctified, and glorified to serve as a fitting instrument for the soul's highest spiritual operations. There are thus three things preparatory to the full glory: the departure from the body, the resurrection of the body, and the infusion of the light of glory into the mind.

For wicked people it is not so — death is to them a curse, and the curse is the means of bringing all evil, not relief from any. Whatever warmth and refreshment they have received through the influences of the flesh, they will be stripped of. In the disembodied state, their souls are endlessly troubled by the restless passions that their corrupt, fleshly desires have impressed on their minds. Those who look for relief in death look in vain. If there is anything remaining of present good and usefulness to them, they will be deprived of it. And the temporary release from bodily pain will not begin to compare with the flood of evils that death will unleash upon them.

Second, the spirits of the righteous — freed by death from the drag of flesh not yet refined — have all the faculties of their souls and all the graces within them — faith, love, and delight — immediately set free, enabled to exercise themselves constantly on God in Christ. They were created for this very end; our nature was endowed with these faculties so that we might cleave to God and come to the enjoyment of Him. Now fully freed from all the weakness, perversity, and disability to this end — with all their effects brought in by the fall — they move with a full current toward God, cleaving to Him in the most intense embrace. All their operations toward God will be natural — carried out with ease, joy, delight, and satisfaction. We do not yet know the excellence of the workings of our souls in divine things when unburdened of the present weight of the flesh. This is a second step toward the full completion of glory.

In the resurrection of the body — upon its full redemption — it will be so purified, sanctified, and glorified as to place no obstacle before the soul in its operations, but to be a blessed instrument for its highest and most spiritual workings. The body will never again be a trouble and burden to the soul, but a helper in its operations and a sharer in its blessedness. Our eyes were made to see our Redeemer, and our other senses to receive impressions from Him according to their capacity. As the bodies of the wicked will be restored to them to increase and complete their misery in suffering, so the bodies of the righteous will be restored to them to heighten and complete their blessedness.

Third, these things are preparatory to glory. The full communication of it comes through the infusion of a new heavenly light into the mind, enabling us to see the Lord Christ as He is. The soul will not be brought into the immediate presence of Christ without a new power to behold Him and the direct representation of His glory. Faith in the manner it now operates in this life — while we are absent from Christ — ceases. This light of glory takes its place, fitted for that state and all its purposes, as faith is fitted for the present state.

Fourth, in the first operation of this light of glory, believers will behold the glory of Christ — and the glory of God in Him — in such a way that they will be immediately and completely changed into His likeness. They will be as He is when they see Him as He is. There is no partial growth in glory as to its substance, though there may be as to its measure and degree. Additions may be made outwardly to what is first received — as by the resurrection of the body — but the inward light of glory and its transforming power is not capable of degrees, though new revelations may be made to it continually throughout eternity. For the infinite fountain of life, light, and goodness can never be fathomed, much less exhausted. What God said at the entrance of sin in contempt — 'Behold, the man has become like one of us' — taunting him with what he had foolishly attempted — upon the completion of His work of grace He says in love and infinite goodness: Man has become like one of us, in the perfect restoration of His image in him. This is the first effect of the light of glory.

Faith also, in beholding the glory of Christ in this life, carries a transforming power, as the apostle expressly states (2 Corinthians 3:18). It is the principle from which, and the instrument by which, all spiritual change is worked in us in this life — but its work is imperfect: first because it is gradual, and second because it is partial.

First, as to its manner of operation, it is gradual and does not transform us into the image of Christ all at once. In fact, the degrees of its progress are for the most part imperceptible to us. It takes much spiritual wisdom and careful observation to gain any experience of them in our own souls. The inner man is renewed day by day while we fix our attention on these invisible things (2 Corinthians 4:16-18) — but how? Even as the outer man decays with age — by imperceptible degrees and gradual changes. Such is the transformation that faith works in its present sight of the glory of Christ. And our experience of its transforming power here gives us evidence that it is real — that we are genuinely beholding Him. No one can have the slightest ground for assurance that he has seen Christ and His glory by faith without some effect of it in changing him into Christ's likeness. For just as when the woman in the gospel touched His garment, power went out from Him to heal her — so upon this sight of faith, an influence of transforming power flows from Christ to the soul.

Second, as to its result, it is only partial. It does not bring the work to perfection. The change it produces is real and glorious — or as the apostle says, it is from glory to glory, a progress of glorious grace — but absolute perfection is reserved for the heavenly vision. Just as in divine worship, perfection was not achieved by the law — the law did many things preparatory to the full revelation of God's will, but it made nothing perfect — so absolute perfection in holiness and the restoration of God's image is not achieved through the gospel or through faith, however many stages toward it the gospel carries us, as the apostle fully declares (Philippians 3:10-14).

Second, the heavenly vision is beatific — as it is commonly called — and not wrongly so. It gives perfect rest and blessedness to those in whom it dwells. This may be briefly explained in the following observations.

First, there are continual operations of God in Christ in the souls of the glorified, and continual communications from Him to them. All creatures must eternally live — even in heaven — in dependence on Him who is the eternal fountain of being, life, goodness, and blessedness to all. Just as we cannot exist for a single moment — in body or soul, inwardly or outwardly — without the constant working of divine power in and toward us, so in the glorified state our whole existence will depend eternally on divine power and goodness communicating themselves to us for all the ends of our blessed life in heaven.

Second, we cannot comprehend the way and manner of these communications. We cannot fully understand even the nature and manner of His spiritual communications to us in this present life. We know these things by their signs, their outward means, and primarily by the effects they produce in the real change of our natures. But in themselves we see very little of them. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it is coming from or where it is going — so is everyone who is born of the Spirit (John 3:8). All God's real operations in heaven and on earth are incomprehensible, being acts of infinite power that we cannot trace to their depth.

Third, all communications from the divine being and infinite fullness in heaven to glorified saints are in and through Christ Jesus, who will forever be the means of communication between God and the church — even in glory. All things being gathered into one head in Him — things in heaven and things on earth — that head being in immediate dependence on God, this order will never be dissolved (Ephesians 1:10-11; 1 Corinthians 3:23). Our continuation in a state of blessedness and glory depends entirely on these communications from God through Christ. We will be no more self-sufficient in glory than we are in nature or grace.

Fourth, the way on our part by which we will receive these communications from God through Christ — which are the eternal springs of life, peace, joy, and blessedness — is this very vision of which we speak. Scripture expressly assigns it to this end; and since it consists of the perfect operation of our minds and souls — in a perfect state, upon the most perfect object — it is the only means of our blessedness. This is the true reason why there is no satiety or weariness in heaven in the eternal contemplation of the same glory. Not only is the object of our sight absolutely infinite — which can never be fully explored and is perpetually new to a finite understanding — but our blessedness itself, consisting in continual fresh communications from the infinite fullness of the divine nature flowing to us through vision, is always new and will always be so to eternity. In this all the saints of God will drink from the rivers of pleasure at His right hand, be satisfied with His likeness, and refresh themselves in the eternal springs of life, light, and joy forevermore.

This effect the sight we have by faith of Christ's glory in this world does not produce. It is sanctifying, not glorifying. The best of saints in this life are far from a perfect or glorified state — not only because of the outward evils they are exposed to in their persons, but also because of the weakness and imperfection of their inward state of grace. Yet we may note some things to the honor of faith in those who have received it.

First, in its due exercise toward Christ, faith will give to the souls of believers some prior participation of future glory, producing in them dispositions toward it and a readiness to enjoy it.

Second, there is no glory, no peace, no joy, no satisfaction in this world that compares with what we receive through that weak and imperfect sight of Christ's glory which we have by faith. Indeed, all the joys of the world are nothing in comparison with what we receive through it.

Third, it is sufficient to give us such a perception — such a foretaste of future blessedness in the enjoyment of Christ — as will continually stir us up to breathe and long after it. But it is not beatific.

Other differences of a similar kind between our present sight of Christ's glory by faith and the heavenly vision reserved for us could be expanded on at length, but I will go no further. There is nothing left for us to do in these meditations but to close them, now and always, with the deepest humility — out of a sense of our unworthiness and our inability to take these things in — with wonder at that excellent glory which we cannot fully comprehend, and with earnest longing for the time when we will see Him as He is, be with Him always, and know Him even as we are known.

The End.