West Port Experiment

XIV. The rest of God, from the work of the creation, was a type of a far more glorious rest of God from the work of the glorification of the whole universe. When God had created the first world, so as to be a commodious habitation for man during his probation, and an illustrious theatre of the perfections of the Creator; he took pleasure in this his work, and rested with delight. For he bestowed upon it all the perfection which was requisite to complete that state. But he had resolved, one day, to produce a far more perfect universe, and, by dissolving the elements by fire, to raise a new heaven and a new earth, as it were, out of the ashes of the old: which new world, being blessed with his immutable happiness, was to be a far more august habitation for his glorified creatures; in which, as in the last display of his perfections, he was for ever to rest with the greatest complacency. And besides, as God, according to his infinite wisdom, so wisely connects all his actions, that the preceding have a certain respect to the following; in like manner, since that rest of God after the creation was less complete than that other, when God shall have concluded the whole, and which is to be followed by no other labour or toil; it is proper to consider that first rest of God as a type, and a kind of prelude of that other, which is more perfect. In fine, because it tends to man’s greatest happiness, that the whole universe be thus glorified, and himself in the universe, that God may altogether rest in him, as having now obtained his last degree of perfection, he is said “to enter into the rest of God,” Heb. 4:10.

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XXXVI. The second thing, in which the last day shall contribute to the consummation of our happiness, is such a great effulgence of the divine perfections in the works of glory, that a more illustrious neither the understanding can conceive, nor the heart wish for. Undoubtedly the soul of man, immediately upon its reception into heaven, most distinctly sees very many things in and concerning God, which on earth it understood only by the faint glimmering light of faith; but yet God has postponed the full display of his glory to that day. And therefore that vision of God, which we maintain to belong to the separate soul, though more evident than we can now well conceive, is not yet so perfect but a greater measure of new light. For as knowledge depends most of all on the revelation or discovery of the objects, so that knowledge cannot be brought to its perfection, while a great part of the objects lie concealed. But a great part of the objects, in the contemplation of which our mind shall be employed, lie concealed, till a new heaven and a new earth are made, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Indeed, the more illustrious the works of God are with which the blessed find themselves surrounded, the greater is the pleasure with which they contemplate the glory of God therein. But what more illustrious, than to see this vast universe, delivered from the bondage of corruption, and brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, which this created world, with earnest expectation, waited for? Rom. 8:19, 21. What more noble and divine than that general judgment, in which they shall hear themselves not only acquitted, their enemies not only condemned, but themselves also appointed to judge angels in Christ their head? 1 Cor. 6:3. What more illustrious than that general assembly of all the elect, from the beginning of the world to the last day, who, being clothed with heavenly bodies, shall each of them shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father? And with what pleasing astonishment may we imagine the soul will look upon its body, which it formerly knew to be subject only to very many and great infirmities, but shall then behold it glittering with such a blaze of light, as that it may seem not indeed equal to, but yet greatly resembling the glorious body of Christ? And as, in all these things, it can admire nothing but the effulgence of the divine glory, may it not be said, while it beholds them, to see God himself in a most eminent manner? Hence John says, 1 Epis. 3:2, “But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” And David, in like manner, promises himself only after the resurrection, that contemplation of God which gives the most full satisfaction. Ps. 17:15; “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.” To this also we are to refer that of Paul: “For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known,” 1 Cor. 13:12. That is, in a manner most perfect and altogether divine, a more excellent than which cannot, it seems, be the portion of any creature. For both the object shall be most clearly represented, as well in its most glorious operations, as in its immediate illapse or entrance into the mind, in a manner which at present we cannot explain; and the subject will be disposed in the best manner, in order to behold and observe in God whatever can complete its happiness.

[from Economy of the Covenants]