our eternal happiness now lies at the stake And how should it quicken our endeavours to have such a reward set before us to have Crowns and Scepters in our eyes would we but often represent to our minds the glorious things of another world what fervours should we feel in our hearts we should be all life and spirit and wing and should do Gods will almost with the same readiness and delight as the Angels do who continually behold the face of their Father The consideration of heaven and the firm perswasion of our future happiness should actuate all the powers of our souls and be continually inspiring us with new vigour in the ways of holiness and vertue How should this thought swell our resolutions and confirm our purposes of obedience that if we have our fruit unto holiness our end will be everlasting life 3. To mitigate and lighten the evils and afflictions of this life It is no great matter how rough the way be provided we be sure that it leads to happiness The incomparably greater good of the next life will to a wise and considerate man weigh down all the evils of this And the Scripture tells us that there is no comparison between them The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Rom. 8. 18. The evils of this life afflict men more or less according as the soul is fortified with considerations proper to support us under them When we consider that we have but a little while to be here that we are upon our journey travelling towards our heavenly Countrey where we shall meet with all the delights we can desire it ought not to trouble us much to endure storms and foul ways and to want many of those accommodations we might expect at home This is the common fate of Travellers and we must take things as we find them and not look to have every thing just to our mind These difficulties and inconveniences will shortly be over and after a few days will be quite forgotten and be to us as if they had never been And when we are safely landed in our own Country with what pleasure shall we look back upon those rough and boisterous Seas which we have escap'd The more troubles we have past through the kinder usage we shall find when we come to our Fathers house So the Apostle tells us that our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory When we come to heaven our happiness shall then be as real as our miseries were here upon earth and far greater and more lasting And what great matter is it though we suffer a while in this world provided we escape the endless unsufferable torments of the next though we have not our good things in this life if infinitely greater be reserv'd for us and we shall receive them with interest in the other Several of the evils and calamities of this life would be unsufferable indeed if there were nothing better to be hoped for hereafter If this were true Christians would not onely be of all men but of all creatures the most miserable But our Religion hath abundantly assur'd us to the contrary And the assurance of this was that which made the primitive Christians to embrace sufferings with so much cheerfulness to glory in tribulation and to take joyfully the spoiling of their goods knowing that in heaven they had a better and more enduring substance The seven brethren in the History of the Maccabees upon this perswasion would not accept deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection That storm of stones which was pour'd upon St. Stephen was no more to him than a common shower when he saw the heavens open'd and Jesus in whose cause he suffered standing on the right hand of God 4. To make us sincere in all our professions words and actions did men firmly believe the rewards of another world their Religion would not be onely in shew and pretence but in life and reality no man would put on a form of godliness that were destitute of the power of it we should do nothing for the opinion of others but all with regard to God and our own Consciences and be as curious of our thoughts and most retir'd actions as if we were in an open theatre and in the presence of the greatest assembly For in the next life men shall not be rewarded for what they seem'd to be but for what they really were in this world Therefore whatever we think or speak or do we should always remember that the day of revelation is coming when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclos'd when all disguises shall be laid aside and every ones mask shall be taken off and all our actions and designs shall be brought upon the publick stage and expos'd to the view of men and Angels There is nothing now hidden which shall not then be reveal'd nor secret which shall not be made known 5. To arm us against the fears of death Death is terrible to nature and the terrour of it is infinitely encreas'd by the fearful apprehensions of what may follow it But the comfortable hopes of a blessed immortality do strangely relieve the fainting spirits of dying men and are able to reconcile us to death and in a great measure to take away the terror of it I know that the thoughts of death are dismal even to good men and we have never more need of comfort and encouragement than when we are conflicting with this last Enemy and there is no such comfortable consideration to a dying man as the hopes of a happy eternity He that looks upon death onely as a passage to glory may welcome the messengers of it as bringing him the best and most joyful news that ever came to him in his whole life and no man can stay behind in this world with half the comfort that this man leaves it And now I have done with the two things implyed in this phrase of having our conversation in heaven viz. the serious thoughts and considerations of heaven and the effect of these thoughts and considerations upon our hearts and lives I crave your patience but a little longer till I make some reflection upon what hath been deliver'd concerning the happiness of good men after this life I have told you that it is incomparably beyond any happiness of this world that it is great in it self and eternal in its duration and far above any thing that we can now conceive or imagine And now after all this I am very sensible how much all that I have said comes short of the greatness and dignity of the thing So that I could almost begin again and make a new attempt upon this subject And indeed who would not be loth to be taken off from so delightfull an argument Methinks 't is good for us to be here and to let
of this world are so contriv'd as to yield us very little happiness If they go off quickly they signifie nothing and if they stay long we are sick of them After a full draught of any sensual pleasure we presently loath it and hate it as much after the enjoyment as we courted it and long'd for it in the expectation But the delights of the other world as they will give us full satisfaction so we shall never be weary of them Every repetition of them will be accompanied with a new pleasure and contentment In the felicities of Heaven these two things shall be reconcil'd which never met together in any sensual delight long and full enjoyment and yet a fresh and perpetual pleasure As in Gods presence there is fulness of joy so at his right hand there shall be pleasures for evermore 2. The happiness of the other life is not onely incomparably beyond any happiness of this world that it may be is no great commendation of it but it is very great in it self The happiness of Heaven is usually in Scripture describ'd to us by such pleasures as are manly and excellent chast and intellectual infinitely more pure and refin'd than those of sense and if the Scripture at any time descend to the metaphors of a feast and a banquet and a marriage it is plainly by way of accommodation to our weakness and condescention to our capacities But the chief ingredients of this happiness so far as the Scripture hath thought fit to reveal it to us are the perfection of our knowledge and the height of our love and the perpetual society and friendship of all the blessed inhabitants of those glorious mansions and the joyful concurrence of all these in chearful expressions of gratitude in the incessant praises and admiration of the fountain and author of all this happiness And what can be more delightful than to have our understandings entertain'd with a clear sight of the best and most perfect Being with the knowledge of all his works and of the wise designs of his providence here in the world than to live in the reviving presence of God and to be continually attending upon him whose favour is life and whose glory is much more above that of any of the Princes of this world than the greatest of them is above the poorest worm The Queen of Sheba thought Solomons Servants happy in having the opportunity by standing continually before him to hear his wisdom but in the other world it shall be a happiness to Solomon himself and to the wisest and greatest persons that ever were in this world to stand before this great King to admire his wisdom and to behold his glory Not that I imagine the happiness of Heaven to consist in a perpetual gazing upon God and in an idle contemplation of the glories of that place For as by that blessed sight we shall be infinitely transported so the Scripture tells us we shall be also transform'd into the image of the divine perfections we shall see God and we shall be like him and what greater happiness can there be than to be like the happiest and most perfect Being in the world Besides who can tell what employment God may have for us in the next life We need not doubt but that he who is happiness it self and hath promis'd to make us happy can easily find out such employments and delights for us in the other world as will be proper and suitable to that state But then besides the improvement of our knowledge there shall be the most delightful exercise of love When we come to heaven we shall enter into the society of the blessed Angels and of the spirits of just men made perfect that is freed from all those passions and infirmities which do now render the conversation even of the best men sometimes troublesome to one another We shall then meet with all those excellent Persons those brave Minds those innocent and charitable Souls whom we have seen and heard and read of in this world There we shall meet with many of our dear relations and intimate friends and perhaps with many of our enemies to whom we shall then be perfectly reconcil'd notwithstanding all the warm contests and peevish differences which we had with them in this world even about matters of Religion For Heaven is a state of perfect love and friendship there will be nothing but kindness and good nature there and all the prudent Arts of endearment and wise ways of rendring conversation mutually pleasant to one another And what greater happiness can be imagin'd than to converse freely with so many excellent persons without any thing of folly or disguise of jealousie or design upon one another For then there will be none of those vices and passions of covetousness and ambition of envy and hatred of wrath and peevishness which do now so much spoil the pleasure and disturb the quiet of mankind All quarrels and contentions schisms and divisions will then be effectually hinder'd not by force but by love not by compulsion but by that charity which never fails and all those controversies in Religion which are now so hotly agitated will then be finally determin'd not as we endeavour to end them now by Canons and Decrees but by a perfect knowledge and convincing light And when this blessed society is met together and thus united by love they shall all joyn in gratitude to their great Patrons and Benefactors to him that sits upon the Throne and to the lamb that was slain to God even our Father and to our Lord Jesus Christ who hath lov'd us and wash'd us from our sins in his own blood And they shall sing everlasting songs of praise to God for all his works of wonder for the effects of that infinite goodness and admirable wisdom and almighty power which are clearly seen in the creation and government of the world and of all the Creatures in it particularly for his favours to mankind for the benefit of their beings for the comfort of their lives and for all his mercifull providences towards them in this world But above all for the redemption of their souls by the death of his Son for the free forgiveness of their sins for the gracious assistance of his holy Spirit and for conducting them safely through all the snares and dangers the troubles and temptations of this world to the secure possession of that glory and happiness which then they shall be partakers of and are bound to praise God for to all eternity This this shall be the employment of the blessed spirits above and these are the chief ingredients of our happiness which the Spripture mentions And if there were no other as there may be ten thousand more for any thing I can tell yet generous and vertuous minds will easily understand how great a pleasure there is in the improvement of our knowledge and the exercise of love and in a gratefull and perpetual acknowledgement of
And from hence the Apostle infers in the next verse every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure So that if we live wicked lives if we allow our selves in the practice of any known sin we interrupt our hopes of Heaven and render our selves unfit for eternal life By this means we defeat all the designs of God's grace and mercy towards us and salvation it self cannot save us if we make our selves incapable of that happiness which God offers Heaven is in Scripture call'd an inheritance among them that are sanctified and the inheritance of the Saints in light so that it is not enough that this inheritance is promis'd to us but we must be qualifi'd and prepar'd for it and be made meet to be made partakers of it And this life is the time of our preparation for our future state Ours souls will continue for ever what we make them in this world Such a temper and disposition of mind as a man carries with him out of this life he shall retain in the next 'T is true indeed heaven perfects those holy and vertuous dispositions which are begun here but the other world alters no man as to his main state he that is filthy will be filthy still and he that is unrighteous will be unrighteous still If we do not in a good degree mortifie our lusts and passions here death will not kill them for us but we shall carry them with us into the other world And if God should admit us so qualifi'd into the place of happiness yet we shall bring that along with us which would infallibly hinder us from being happy Our sensual inclinations and desires would meet with nothing there that would be suitable to them and we should be perpetually tormented with those appetites which we brought with us out of this world because we should find nothing there to gratifie them withall For as the Apostle says in another sense The kingdom of God is not meats and drinks but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost The happiness of heaven consists in such things as a wicked man hath no gust and relish for So that if a covetous or ambitious or voluptuous man were in Heaven he would be just like the rich man in Hell tormented with a continual thirst and burnt up in the flames of his own ardent desires and would not be able amidst all the plenty and treasures of that place to find so much as one drop of suitable pleasure and delight to quench and allay that heat So likewise our fierce and unruly passions if we should carry them with us into the other world how inconsistent would they be with happiness They would not onely make us miserable our selves but be a trouble to all those with whom we should converse If a man of an envious and malicious of a peevish and passionate temper were admitted into the mansions of the blessed he would not onely be unhappy himself but would disturb the quiet of others and raise storms even in those calm regions Vain man that dreamest of being happy without any disposition or preparation for it To be happy is to enjoy what we desire and to live with those whom we love But there is nothing in heaven suitable to the desires and appetites of a wicked man All the joys of that place and the delights of that state are purely spiritual and are onely to be relish'd by those who have purified themselves as God is pure But if thou be carnal and sensual what are these things to thee What happiness would it be to thee to see God and to have him always in thy view who was never in all thy thoughts to be tied to live for ever in his company who is of a quite contrary temper and disposition to thy self whose presence thou dreadest and whom whilst thou wast in this world thou couldst never endure to think upon So that the pleasures of Heaven it self could signifie no good or happiness to that man who is not so dispos'd as to take pleasure in them Heaven is too pure an air for corrupt souls to live and breath in and the whole employment and conversation of that place as it would be unsuitable so would it also be unacceptable to a sensual and vicious person From all this it appears how necessary it is for us to prepare our selves for this blessed state by the constant and sincere endeavours of a holy life and by mortifying every lust and inordinate passion in our souls For till this be done we are not meet to be made partakers of the felicities of the other world And thus I have done with the first thing imply'd in this phrase of having our conversation in heaven viz. the serious thoughts and considerations of heaven or the happiness of that state and of the way and means whereby that happiness is to be attained II. The having our conversation in heaven does imply likewise the effect which those considerations ought to have upon our hearts and lives As 1. To convince us of the vanity of this world God hath on purpose made this world troublesome and uneasie to us that there might be no sufficient temptation to reasonable and considerate men to take them off from the care and thought of their future happiness that God and heaven might have no rival here below that there might be nothing in this world that might pretend to our affection or court us with any advantage in comparison of everlasting life and glory When we come to die and eternity shall present it self to our serious and waking thoughts then things will put on another face and those things which we valued so much in this life will then appear to be nothing worth but those things which we neglected to be of infinite concernment to us and worthy to have been the care and endeavour of our whole lives And if we would consider these things in time while the opportunities of life and health are before us we might be convinc'd at a cheaper rate and come to be satisfi'd of the vanity of this world before we despair'd of the happiness of the other 2. To make us very active and industrious to be as good and to do as much good as we can in this life that so we may be qualifi'd and dispos'd for the happiness of the next Men are usually very industrious for the things of this life to be rich and great in the world did we but value heaven half as much as it deserves we should take infinitely more pains for that So often as we consider the glories that are above how does it accuse our sloth and condemn our folly that we are less concerned for our souls than most men are for their bodies that we will not labour half so much for an eternal inheritance as men ordinarily do for these corruptible things Let us remember that we are hasting apace to another world and that