of that holy Plaee no thing or person that is defiled or polluted shall ever enter there and certainly this must needs be sweet and delightful Were it a thing that we might suppose possible as indeed it is not that here we could have Communion with the People of God and with them only yet the best of them have now so many Weaknesses and Imperfections as would render the purest Society of them sometimes uncomfortable for here being in their imperfect state they must be born withal in many things for they are still Men subject to like Passions and Infirmtiies with others Moses a Man eminent for Meekness so that there was none like him on Earth yet sometimes spake unadvisedly with his lips Job a patient Man even to a Proverb yet had sometimes his Fits of Impatience and Discontent Jonah a Prophet of the Lord yet very froward and peevish and justifies his Passion and Anger not only before Men but even unto the Face of God himself saying I do well to be angry even unto the death Yea most if not all the Saints and People of God mentioned in Scripture though eminent for Grace and Holiness yet have they had some Sins some Infirmities or other recorded of them that it might be known they were Men yea sinful Men also as well as Saints and if we expect Communion with any while we are here that are not Sinners as well as Saints we must then go out of the world as the Apostle speaks for all the People of God here have Flesh in them as well as Spirit Sin and Corruption in them as well as Grace and Holiness And yet notwithstanding all their Frailties and Infirmities they are still the best Company and Fellowship and Society with them most desirable And if while they have their Spots their Stains upon them their Company is so excellent and desirable what shall they be when they shall be free from all their Imperfections when they shall have no Ignorance no Blindness no Pride no Impatience no Spots no Blemishes nor any thing whereby they may be polluted or defiled but shall be adorned and beautified with all Grace and Holiness in the Fulness and Perfection of it Surely then their Company must needs be far more desirable yea even a kind of a little Heaven it self Secondly The Happiness of Believers in Heaven consists in their Communion with Angels the highest the noblest and most excellent of God's Creatures The Welfare of Man is that in which the Angels delight When Man was at first created those Morning-Stars sang together and those Sons of God as holy Job speaks shouted for joy Job 38.7 When Jesus Christ the Saviour of Mankind came into the World for this very end and purpose that he might be a Redeemer unto Man it is said that a multitude of the Heavenly Host joyned together in praising of God saying Glory to God on high on Earth Peace and Good Will towards Man Luke 2.13 And when any Sinners are turned unto God there is joy says our Lord among those Blessed Spirits Luke 15.10 This Heavenly Host of God now as the Apostle speaks rejoyce to be ministring Spirits unto the Saints Heb. 1.14 They are therefore called Ministring Spirits sent forth by God to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation Many Offices of Love and Kindness they do for the People of God now when they are in danger which they cannot observe nor take notice of for though their Help and Assistance be always real as to the effect and operation thereof yet is it always invisible as to their knowledge and observation it being impossible for them to understand how often and after what manner they are employed by God for their Benefit The Angels are the continual Guardians and Attendants of the People of God while they are in this world hence therefore our Lord bids those he spake to in Matt. 18.10 Take heed that they offended not any of those little ones that believed in him for says he in heaven their Angels do always behold the Face of my Father which is in heaven And that the Angels do protect and defend the People of God here is very clear in Psal 34.7 The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them And that 's a great Scripture and adds much to the confirmation of the Happiness of the People of God both in respect of their Fellowship with the Saints and their Communion with the Angels in Heaven in Heb. 12.22 23. Ye are come unto Mount Sion the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable Company of Angels and to the Spirits of just men made perfect While we carry about with us these earthly Tabernacles of our Bodies we are scarce capable of Communications with such spiritual heavenly Creatures but at Death the Saints shall know their old Friends and Fellow-Servants and then those Heavenly and Triumphant Chariots shall carry up their departed Souls with Shoutings and Acclamations of Joy into the Presence of God where they shall make Relations of the strange and wonderful Providences of God towards them while they were here and joyn together in the high Praises of God for evermore In this world the sight of one Angel though a Messenger of Peace and one that brings good Tidings along with him yet doth cause Fear and Amazement But in Heaven the Saints shall behold all the Angels of God and that not only without Dread and Horrour but with Joy and Delight as being their Fellow-Creatures with whom they shall eternally maintain a blessed Communion and Correspondency And oh what happy and delightful Company will those Glorious Creatures be in whom there is nothing but what is Amiable and Lovely yea nothing but what is Admirable and Wonderful And though this Communion with Angels be a part of that Happiness which the Saints shall enjoy in Heaven and a Truth of great Certainty yet the Way and Manner of the Saints converse with them there is very dark and obscure and that to which we are now altogether strangers Let therefore the Certainty thereof suppress our Curiosity and satisfie our Minds until we come thither when we shall have a full Revelation and Enjoyment thereof together being made not only like unto but equal with the Angels Thirdly The Happiness of the Saints in Heaven lies in this that there they shall have a Sight and Enjoyment of Jesus Christ as their Blessed and Glorious Redeemet Now this is a Happiness so great that a Saint cannot but account himself recompensed with infinite Gain and Advantage though he lost his Life in the attaining of it Christ says the Apostle Col. 3.11 is all in all It was doubtless a blessed and glorious sight to behold the Lord Jesus Christ when he was here upon Earth when in the days of his Flesh he humbled himself and took upon him the form of a Servant for certainly he was the comiiest Person
them go bowing down greatly yea to sigh and mourn continually What says holy David Psal 38.3 4 5 6 There is no soundness in my Flesh because of thine Anger neither is there any rest in my Bones by reason of my Sin Mine Iniquities are gone over my head as a Burden too heavy for me to bear My Wounds stink and are corrupt because of my Foolishness I am troubled I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the day long Thus holy Paul complains also in Rom. 7.14 I am carnal and sold under sin Verse 21. I find a Law that when I would do good Evil is present with me And 23 I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bridging me into captivity to the Law of Sin that is in my Members In the sense whereof he cries out as a Man greatly oppressed in the next Words Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death In-dwelling Sin renders the Lives of God's People very bitter and uncomfortable And how can it be otherwise For Sin is the constant Source and Fountain of all their Miseries There is no Distress or Trouble befalls a Godly Man but Sin is the meritorious procuring Cause of it Sometimes Sin disturbs his Peace sometimes it impairs his Grace sometimes it breaks his Bones but it always pollutes and defiles his Soul Oh what sad work doth Sin make continually and the best it can end in is Repentance and godly Sorrow A Christian in this Life is always in a Conflict with Corruptions Sin and Lust are continually warring against the Soul So saith the Apostle Gal. 5.17 The Flesh iusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these two are contrary the one unto the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would Sin draws a godly Man one way and Grace draws him another Sin in him will not yield and Grace in him cannot yield And though through the strength of the Spirit enabling him to exercise Grace he is daily getting ground of his Corruptions yet is it very slowly what he gains is as it were by Inches every step he takes through his Enemies Country he is fain to force his way and he never obtains a Victory over Sin but it is with great strugling and wrestling He is always standing upon his Guard and if he chance to slumber never so little or be negligent in his spiritual watch he is presently furprized by a diligent Enemy that always lies in wait and observes him This now is the constant Life of a Christian always to be maintaining a Warfare with Sin that is continually stirring in him and ever ready to put forth it self one way or other to do him Mischief Sin is continually making the Life of a godly Man uncomfortable and while Sin is in him it will not be otherwise Now Sin will always be in him while he is in this World and therefore he will always have some Troubles some Perplexities to afflict and disquiet him But when Death that Friend of the Saints for so Death is to them and to none but them comes they shall be perfectly free from all that which now afflicts and troubles them because they shall be perfectly free from Sin that is the Cause of it And therefore that I may note it by the way With what rejoycing of Soul should a godly Man upon this account entertain the thoughts of Death How welcome should the approach of this Friend of his be unto him For certainly a Saint hath not a better Friend in all the World for next unto Jesus Christ who hath made satisfaction for a Believer's Sins and obtained Life and Salvation for his Soul Death must needs be his best Friend because it frees him from all Sin He that frees us from the Evil of our Sins and from suffering eternal Punishments due to us because of them by satisfying the Justice of God for them must needs be our best and chiefest Friend and next unto him he that frees us from the being of Sin that we may no more offend God thereby and that is Death And indeed none in the World can be kinder to a Saint or do such an Office of Love for him as Death doth for at once it sets him not only out of the reach of all his Enemies but perfectly frees him from that which caused them to be so and that is Sin and herein the Goodness of God is greatly to be observed that Death which is a Punishment for Sin should be turned into the destruction of the very Being of Sin and so it is to every Believer For after Death Sin shall not only cease to act but shall cease to be Two Things commend Death and ought to make it desirable to every Believer One is That it frees him from all Sin and the other is That it brings him to the everlasting enjoyment of God and the latter depends upon the former for till a Believer is perfectly freed from all Sin he can have no entrance into Heaven where God the Fountain of all Bliss and Happiness is seen and enjoyed And certainly where Sin is felt as a heavy Burthen by any Soul and where God is the Delight of that Soul Death must needs have an amiable Aspect and so it will if the Soul act as it ought to do Should God ask one Godly Man after another What is it that you most desire tell me and it shall be given you would they not all with one consent say Lord that we might be freed from Sin Oh that we might be delivered from our Corruptions that we might never offend and displease God Lord thou that knowest our hearts knowest that nothing in all the world is so great a Burthen to us as these sinful Hearts and Natures of ours whereby we are necessitated to offend thee this is the constant Language of their Prayers of their Cries of their Tears day and night that they might be rid of Sin Would it not be the most welcome News in the world to them that the Time were come wherein they should sin no more Certainly were it offered to their choice there is no godly Man in all the World but would rather chuse to be freed from Sin than to be made the Heir yea than to be the Possessor of the whole World What good says a Godly Man would the World do me so long as Sin and a naughty Heart inhabit in me These Lord saith a gracious Soul would do me more hurt in one day than the Enjoyment of the whole World to Eternity can do me good O Lord therefore whatever thou dost with me or whatever thou dost for me deliver me from this Body of Sin and Death that I continually carry about with me Why know all ye holy and gracious Souls whoever you are that thus go up and down mourning and complaining by reason of Sin know for your eternal Comfort that when
you have continued waiting but a few days longes God will grant your Desires for when you come to Heaven whither Death will certainly and suddenly bring you Sin an unholy Heart and Nature shall never more afflict or trouble you for Sin that was here your Burthen to feel shall there be your Delight to be for ever without that impenitent unbelieving Heart those vain yea sinful Thoughts which were wont to lie down and rise up with you which did use to follow you to every Duty and accompany you in every Place and Service and which you could no more leave behind you when you went to Pray to Hear to Read or to Meditate than you could leave your selves behind you shall all be left behind you when you come to die they did and would keep you company while you lived but they shall not go one step with you beyond Death then you take your leave of them bidding an eternal Farewel to all Sin O my Soul when shall that blessed day come that thou shalt thus take thy leave of Sin never to wound thy Conscience never to defile thy Soul nor never to displease thy God thereby any more O what a blessed state will that be when Death shall send a godly Man to Heaven perfectly free from all Sin not only as to the Power of it but also as to the vexing and disquieting Presence of it where he shall spend ars Eternity in serving and praising of God without the least interruption imperfection or weariness of Soul for ever And doth not Death in this appear a Believer's great Friend in that what Prayers and Tears Sighs and Groans together with the assistance of the Spirit of God did gradually that is mortifie and destroy Sin that Death doth for a Believer at one blow perfectly freeing him from the Burthen and Being of Sin for ever Fourthly In Heaven the People of God shall arrive unto a Perfection of Grace and Holiness As all that the Saints have here is but mean compared to what they shall attain to hereafter so all that the Saints do here is but mean compared to what they shall be enabled to do hereafter Grace in a godly Man in this Life is in its minority and therefore the acting of Grace must needs be accordingly The Excellency and Beauty of a Saint lies inward in the hidden Man of the Heart or as the Psalmist speaks he is one that is all glorious within And because Grace in him is inward therefore its Excellency is not so visible and apparent Grace in a godly Man neither doth nor can shine forth in its Glory and Beauty here because Sin in him eclipses the splendor of its appearance The imperfection of Grace is discernable here but the Perfection and Beauty of Grace is neither known nor attainable here The highest degrees of Grace and Holiness that the best of God's People reach unto here comes infinitely short to what they shall attain to in Heaven It is true a little Grace in a Saint now makes him glorious in the eyes of those who have a Spirit of discerning to behold it in respect whereof the Saints are called the excellent ones of the Earth Psal 16.3 Now if the weakness and imperfection of Grace for that which the People of God attain to of Grace here it no more compared with what they shall attain to in Heaven if this weakness and imperfection of Grace be so excellent and glorious O how exceeding glorious will the perfection and beauty of Grace be hereafter How glorious have some of the Saints of God of old appeared when their Excellency hath chiefly appeared in the Oriency and sparkling Beauty but of some one particular Grace as for instance How glorious was Abraham for his Faith Moses for his meekness self-denial Nehemiah for his zeal for God and his Glory David for his Love to God and his Ordinances Job for his Patience S. Paul for his unwearied Industry and Laboriousness in the Work of God and the Service of Souls O how eminently glorious have the particular actings of these particular Graces in these Servants of God made them in all Ages insomuch that the Spirit of God hath thought good to record their Excellencies in the holy Scriptures and their Praise shall be in all the Churches of God to the end of the World Now if the Saints Eminency in some particular Graces have made them so glorious notwithstanding their Imperfections other ways how glorious and excellent will they appear when all that Grace and Holiness that shall accompany them to Heaven and is there necessary unto their Happiness that they may see and enjoy God to eternity shall be fully and compleatly perfected having nothing of the least allay of any spot or imperfection in their Graces or in their Persons to take off from the Beauty and Glory of the one or of the other for ever In Heaven Grace in a Saint is in its excellency and in its visibility there is Grace and nothing but Grace there is Grace and all Grace yea there is all Grace shining forth in its fulness and utmost perfection of Glory to eternity In this Life Grace in the People of God is never perfect in some things they are always defective in other things always wanting they are continually aiming at and going on unto Perfection though while they are here they do not attain unto it In the Work of Regeneration they are truly sanctified and made holy but it is in Heaven only that they are perfectly sanctified The Lord Jesus Christ now loves his Church and he hath abundantly manifested that he doth so in giving himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word as the Apostle speaks But he never presents it to himself a Glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle till he brings it to Heaven By a work of Sanctification he is now daily cleansing and purifying of it but the full Perfection and Beauty of Holiness is not put upon it till the Marriage between him and his Church be consummated in Glory Here in this Life there is much Imperfection in the Righteousness and Holiness of the Saints many Faults and Infirmities they have that others may censure and condemn and themselves ought to bewail and mourn for but in Heaven they shall be Faultless so saith the Apostle Jude 24. Whilst the Church is Militant upon Earth though she is black and hath her spots yet is she comely but when she comes to be Triumphant in Heaven then will she be as a beautiful Bride adorned with fulness and perfection of Grace and Holiness fitted and prepared for her Lord and Husband's Company Rev. 22.2 where every Saint shall behold and love the Blessed and Holy God and their dear Lord Jesus with a Love equal to Angels and Cherubims satiating and delighting their Souls in him with a Joy far exceeding the highest Joys that any of the People of God ever were
the Spring but the Resurrection of them again unto a new Life And what is Death unto us but a pulling down of these Clay Houses of our Bodies into the Dust And what is the Resurrection but a raising or rebuilding of the same Houses of our Bodies out of the same Dust again And this shall as certainly be accomplished by God as any of the former have been Moreover God hath given great Encouragement to our Faith to believe the Truth hereof by raising many from the Dead already both in the Old Testament and in the New as the Shunamite's and the Widow of Naim's Sons with Tabitha and Lazarus who had lain four days in the Grave together with many others that at the Death of Christ arose out of their Graves and went into the Holy City and were seen of many Now what God hath already done to some he can and will do unto all at the last Day For as our Lord saith The hour is coming wherein all that are in their Graves shall hear his Voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation John 5.28 29. And O what great encouragement is here unto Believers both against their own Death and the Death of their Godly Friends and Relations How sweet upon this account may the Thoughts of Death be unto Believers themselves Therefore maist thou O believing Soul chearfully yield unto the stroak of Death for though by it thou art carried unto the Grave that Place of silence where thou shalt moulder away into Dust and Rottenness yet maist thou die in the assured Belief of this great Truth That as certainly as now by Death thou goest down intothe Grave so certainly shalt thou ere long be raisedr up out of it again and then shall thy Soul and Body have a comfortable meeting together again never to be parted any more but be made happy together in an eternal Enjoyment of God in Glory Here is also matter of great Comfort against the Death of our godly Friends and Relations What a blessed Support is this to a Believer when Death comes and takes away any such from him How comfortably may he take his leave of them delivering them up unto Death and the Grave knowing assuredly that they shall rise again unto Glory and Happiness Those that die in Christ and sleep in Jesus them he will certainly raise out of their Graves and bring with him unto Judgment Cease therefore thy immoderate Grief drown not thy self in Tears for those whose Souls are at present triumphing in Glory and whose Bodies shall shortly be raised up unto a participation of the same Glory and Happiness Whenever therefore O believing Soul either thou thy self shalt come to lie upon a Death-Bed taking thy last Farewell of thy godly Friends and Relations in this World or when any such godly Friends and Relations shall upon their Death-Beds take their last Farewell of thee let this great Truth of the Resurrection of the Body teach thee how thou shouldst do it not as one without hope but as it becomes a Christian and that is willingly and chearfully not because thou art thereby rid of a Trouble or Charge or because by their Death thou shalt be a gainer in thy worldly Concerns this shews a very evil sinful frame of Spirit and is no way becoming a Christian but let let thy willingness herein proceed from a more excellent Motive even this comfortable consideration that there is but a little short space of Time between thy Death and theirs as also between all your Deaths and the Time of your Resurrections which will quickly shde away whilst you and they are sleeping quietly in your Graves and then shall both you and they be raised up together thence with great Joy and Rejoicing so saith the Prophet Isa 26.19 Awake and sing ye that dwell in the Dust for then shall there be everlasting Joy upon your Heads But I must not forget that this is not the Subject I am treating upon it being that which comes in here only as a necessary Introduction unto that Happiness which the Bodies of the Saints shall partake of in Heaven unto which I now come to treat more particularly Now in speaking unto this I shall reduce all that I have to say unto these four Heads the Incorruptability the Spirituality the Power or Agility and the Glory and Beauty of the Body First The Bodies of the Saints in Heaven shall be incorruptible Their Souls are always immortal for when they leave their Bodies which by Death drops from them into the Grave yet they die not but returning unto God are adjudged to and initated in an everlasting state of Blessedness But now in Heaven the very Bodies of the Saints shall be as immortal as their Souls In this World the best carry up and down with them weak frail dying Bodies always yielding to Decays exercised with Pains and Aches that insensibly waste and wear them away till at length Death by some incurable Disease lays them from the Second Death yet have they thereby no exemption from the First Death but they as well as others must taste thereof because they as well as others have sinned It is true the Sting of Death shall never reach them that they are delivered from and gain Victory over by Jesus Christ but the stroke of Death must and will reach them Death cannot hurt them that 's certain because it hath no Poison in it but Death will have Dominion over them for a time But though Death play the Tyrant here on Earth sparing none either for their Greatness or their Goodness yet hath it no admittance into Heaven For when the Saints shall be cloathed upon with their House which is from Heaven then shall Death and Mortality be swallowed up of Life and the Life of the Body as well as the Life of the Soul shall then be everlasting The Apostle 1 Corinth 15.42 speaking of the Body tells us it is sown in Corruption but it is raised in Incorruption So in verse 52. in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last Trump the Dead shall be raised incorruptible and this Mortal must put on Immortality And O how comfortable must the Thoughts hereof needs be to the Saints to think that though now they have sickly diseased yea dying Bodies yet there is a time coming when they shall have Bodies free from all manner of Aches and Pains not subjected to Decays nor Death but always lively and vigorous The Resurrection will do more for the Bodies of the Saints than a Colledge of the ablest Physicians ever could do for it will at once perfectly cure them of all their Infirmities and Distempers which all the Physicians here on Earth could never do Alas they could only give some case and relief under some particular Distempers and that but for a little time but they soon returned again or