his special Love and eternal Duration 'T is an Observation of Tertullian That God who made other Things by command by the omnipotent Umpire of his Will appli'd himself with Counsel to form the Body of Adam which was the original Model of all Perfections that a humane Body is capable of for the beauty of Aspect without and the artificial order of the Parts within and the reason was Love drew the Lineaments Thus Love the Queen of the Divine Attributes employ'd infinite Wisdom and almighty Power to build this Celestial City for the reception of his chosen Favourites The King of Glory dwells there in a special manner The Heaven even the Heavens are the Lord's but the Earth hath he given to the Children of Men. By Right and Dominion the Earth is the Lord's and the Fulness thereof and the possession of it is from his Bounty to Men but Heaven is reserv'd for himself the Place of his glorious Residence As a Prince that hath many Houses gives some for to be inhabited by his Servants but the Imperial Palace is kept for his own Dwelling God manifests himself there in the most refulgent manner All the Perfections of the Glorious Deity are reveal'd to the Saints in their purity and radiancy The Divine Presence is the Supreme Glory of Heaven The Lord Jesus Christ is there crown'd with the Majesty of the Divine Empire This Glory is the Reward of his meritorious Obedience and Sufferings He was made a Subject and a Servant and endur'd the most ignominious cruel Death to satisfy God's injur'd Justice What hath not the Son done for the Glory of his Father He lost his Life rather than his Obedience And what will not the Father do for the Honour of his Son What Recompence is correspondent to such astonishing Humiliation Our Saviour in his last solemn Prayer with his Disciples addresses himself to God I have glorified thee on Earth I have finish'd the Work thou gavest me to do And now O Father glorify me with thy Self with the Glory I had with thee before the World was The Father was so highly honour'd by Christ that to satisfy his infinite Love towards him he hath dignified him with a Name and State that transcends all created Glory He is the Lord of Angels the Head of the Church and sits at the right Hand of Majesty on high In Heaven he appears in his triumphant Glory of which in the Transfiguration there was a transient glimpse when his Face did shine as the Sun but allayed and moderated that his Disciples might sustain his Presence There the Angels the Princes of the Celestical Court in all their bright Orders encompass the Throne of God and pay their humblest Homage to him The Saints appear there in their Robes of Glory for they are transform'd into the glorious likeness of the Son of God Their Souls radiant with pure unspotted Holiness shine through their Bodies as Sun-beams transmitted through Chrystal They all reign in Soveraign State for ever It becomes the Divine Majesty that all God's Subjects should be Kings and the highest Principality on Earth is but servitude compar'd with the Royalty enjoy'd by the Saints above For how often are the mightiest Monarchs on Earth in perfect bondage to their lawless Passions and the Soul in dull captivity to the sensual Appetites How often are the strongest Empires dissolv'd and ruin'd But the Saints in Heaven by obeying God reign triumphantly no Passions no Fears no Desires resist their Will nothing is able to trouble the sincere Delight the perfect Tranquillity of their State They in their several degrees of Glory shine like the Stars for ever and ever To sum up all What is promised to the Church is fulfill'd in Heaven The Sun shall be no more thy Light by Day nor the Moon by Night but the Lord shall be thy everlasting Light and thy God thy Glory Thus I have endeavour'd to represent that luminous Palace and the bright Inhabitants but how short is the description of the glorious Realities all humane Words are too weak and narrow to express it as it is The Glory and Joy of that blessed State are unspeakable as the Apostle a Spectator thereof certifies And 't is observable that our Saviour himself expresses the greatest Things by low familiar Terms and Resemblances as he tells his Faithful Disciples they shall eat and drink at his Table in his Kingdom In his Promises of Rewards it was not his intention meerly to make a show of his Power but to declare his Love Like a God he doth not magnify the Favours he will bestow but leaves it to their Spirits to conceive what becomes Almighty Goodness to bestow on his Servants In the plainest manner of promising the Reward there is a clear Character of the excellent Greatness of the Giver and his Gifts I will now consider the infallible Assurance we have of this blessed Place and State This is built on our Saviour's Love to them and his Truth and his going to prepare that Blessedness for them He saith to his Disciples Otherwise I would have told you implying that his Affection and Sincerity make it impossible that he should deceive them with an empty Promise of future Happiness 1. His Love secures them He would never have chosen them to be the Companions of his Cross never have expos'd them as Sheep among Wolves to suffer for his sake and to leave them for ever and reign alone in Heaven Love is a benevolent affection rising in the Breast and expressing it self in real Benefits according to the Power of the Lover and the Wants or the Capacity of the Person beloved and the more intense the Affection is the more evident and noble effects of Kindness will proceed from it All the most liberal Expressions without real performance are but a vain pageant of Friendship Now the Love of our Saviour to his Disciples was not only sincere but in such a degree of eminence that they might safely rely upon his Promises His pure Love was the motive of selecting them from the World and dignifying them with the endearing title of his Friends His Conversation with them was infinitely sweet a Miracle of Benignity and that glorious performance of his Love for them and all Believers in leaving Heaven for their sakes is the strongest assurance that he will bring them to his Father's House above 'T is represented as the peculiar Glory of Theodosius that he seated Majesty and Love in the same Throne for Love unites and conforms Persons and makes them as it were Peers and it seems too low a submission for a Soveraign to descend from his Throne to a kind of equality with a Subject or too high an exaltation to assume a private Person into such a degree of affection as to make him as himself yet such was the condescension of that great and amiable Emperor But how distant is the greatest Monarch in the World from the Eternal Son of
Inheritance of the Saints in Light How vain and impossible are the hopes of unrenewed Sinners The Presence and Conversation of the Saints is now an offence to them damps their carnal Jollity and wild Mirth for it upbraids their neglect of Serious Religion How fearful will the sight of God be to them If the unpurg'd Eye cannot bear the Light of a Candle how will it sustain the glorious Light of the Sun The Lord's Day in its Sacred employment is their burden how can they expect to enjoy an everlasting Sabbath Above How can there be a lively Hope of Heaven that implies perfection of Holiness when they neither seriously desire nor endeavour to be Holy They may have a Cobweb Hope that will be swept away but Hope that is as an Anchor to secure the Soul hath always a purifying influence on the Heart and Life Whoever hath this Hope of being like to Christ in Glory purifies himself even as he is pure In short as the Jews had a carnal conceit of the Messias and transform'd him into a temporal Prince coming with Pomp and Splendor to free their Nation from Bondage and exalt it to the highest Dominion in the World and this Conceit so strongly possest them that when the Son of God who was Holy Harmless and Undefiled and separate from Sinners appear'd in an humble state to reform and save Mankind they rejected him Thus the unregenerate have a carnal conceit of Heaven They can only fancy it as a place of visible Glory and a Sanctuary and Refuge from the Torments of Hell and in that Notion desire it but as the Place wherein that Holy God is enjoyed and glorified by the Saints they cannot desire nor delight in it 4. From hence we should be induc'd to regulate our Minds Affections and Conversation becoming our present State and future Hopes Our Father's House our Everlasting Home is Above and here we are Strangers in Condition and should be so in Disposition to present Things This should lessen our Esteem our Desires and Delights and moderate our Endeavours with respect to the present World 'T is the wise and earnest counsel of St. Peter Dearly beloved Brethren I beseech you as Pilgrims and Strangers abstain from fleshly Lusts that war against the Soul Sensual Lusts darken the Mind that it doth not rightly value Things nor make judicious Comparisons between superficial fleeting Things of Time and the sure and solid good Things of Eternity The lower Appetites are not capable nor careful to obtain a Spiritual and Future Happiness but intensely applied to what is present and sensible But the serious Thoughts of our present Tenure how frail how uncertain and of the next State how unchangeable and fixt would be effectual to frame our Hearts that we may manage the World with indifferent Affections To rejoice in it as if we rejoiced not to buy as if we possessed not to use it so as not to abuse it How doth the Faith of the Saints under the Law upbraid our Infidelity They had not so clear a revelation of the Heavenly State yet they confest they were Pilgrims and Strangers on Earth and desir'd a better Country And David not only when he was as a Patridg chas'd upon the Mountains but when seated on the Royal Throne acknowledges We are Strangers as all our Fathers were and his Affections were accordingly weaned from the World Was ever Passenger so foolish that being to pass over a narrow Strait of the Sea of a days sayling makes Provisions for a Voyage of a Year or that will be at great cost to paint an Inn and adorn it with rich Furniture where he is to lodge but a Night 'T is incomparably more reproachful folly to spend the best of our Time and Strength and Spirits for the gaining the present World as if we were to continue here for ever How many are sensual and secure in their earthly Enjoyments 'till as the rich Voluptuary that was cloth'd in Purple and far'd deliciously every day they unexpectedly die and irrecoverably drop into Hell Just like a Traveller that lays himself under the shadow of some Trees in his way Home and sleeps till the Night with its Darkness and Dangers surprizes him and he is destroyed by Robbers or wild Beasts How plain and necessary a Lesson is the vanity and shortness of the present Life but how few effectually learn it The Psalmist addresses himself to God for Instruction So teach us to number our Days that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom Let Men fancy what they please of their Tenure here they are but Strangers and have no continuing City here and the consequent Duty is most clearly and strongly urged by the Apostle Let them seek one to come 5. Let our Conversation be in Heaven whilst we are upon the Earth Every Thing in Nature hath a tendency to its Original and Perfection Rivers that come from the Sea are in a living Motion returning thither If you stop their Course and confine them though in Receptacles of Marble they corrupt and die The Divine Nature in the Saints hath a strong tendency to Heaven from whence it came and raiseth the Soul by solemn Thoughts and ardent Desires to that Blessed Place A Philosopher that was ask'd of what Country he was replied He was a Citizen of the World The Scripture corrects the Language and teaches us that we are Citizens of Heaven we are passing to the Jerusalem Above the Land of Promise the true Land of the Living and all our Aims and Endeavours should have a final respect thither Our Hearts should be where our Treasure is How joyful how advantagious is a Heavenly Conversation The serious and believing Contemplation of Heaven is a temperate Extasy and brings the Soul into the Divine Presence anticipates the Joy of it by a sweet foretast by a supernatural elevation of Mind by frequent lively Thoughts of our Glorious Inheritance we gradually enter into it the prospect of that causes in the Saints a Holy Contempt of the World as not worthy our Ambition and Diligence it causes such a self-denial from the inviting temptatations of Sense that Men whose Portion is in this Life are forc'd to admire their restraint from those Objects that ravish Carnal Hearts A Heavenly Christian will improve sensible Things for spiritual Ends as Feathers that have a natural Weight inclining to the Center yet planted in the Wings of a Bird by a living Motion carry it aloft in the free Air. Our rising in the Morning is an Emblem of the Resurrection from the Grave to behold the bright Day of Eternity All the Refreshments and Comforts of the present Life should be an advantage to raise our Minds to God who is the Supreme Good whose Fulness eminently contains all Good and infinitely exceeds all our Expectations Heavenly Love will dry up the Vanity of our Thoughts and Affections and rescue the Mind from the prostitution to sensible Things and most pleasantly exercise
it upon Things Above Love between Friends is maintain'd by immediate Converse or by Letters when absent thus is Love between God and the Soul And if God that is to himself his own Blessedness his own Kingdom and Glory yet is pleas'd in his gracious Communications to his Children on Earth how much more should they by frequent and affectionate Duties address to him who is their eternal lnfinite Good Thus they are acquainted with him and enjoy a sweet Peace and obtain an humble Confidence of appearing before him in his Holy and Glorious Habitation whereas those who live without God in the World are justly fearful of Death for then the Spirit returns to God that gave it Briefly let us with zealous Affections and persevering Diligence prepare our selves for the Presence of God and the Society of Blessed Spirits in our Father's House Let us always abound in the Work of the Lord knowing our Labour is not in vain Let us join Works of Charity with Works of Piety employ the fading Riches of the World for the Relief of the Saints that as our Saviour Promises when we shall fail when in the Hour of Death our Flesh and Hearts shall fail us and our Souls be dislodged from our Earthly Tabernacles we may be received into Eternal Habitations The Everlasting Judg that dispenses Rewards and Punishments has acquainted us with the Rule of Judgment at the last Day Those who mercifully relieve him in his Members shall inherit the Kingdom of Glory and those who neglect that Duty shall be cast into the Lake of Fire Though many who are wretchedly careless of doing Good according to their Ability now satisfy themselves that they are not injurious to others Yet it will be a small mitigation of their Sentence at last that they are condemn'd not for the Defect of Justice but of Charity 6. Let the belief that there are Mansions of Rest and Joy prepar'd for the Saints in their Father's House gloriously support them under their heaviest Troubles here This World is the Devil's Circuit wherein he is alwayes ranging about seeking to devour The pleasant Things of the World are his Temptations to ensnare the Carnal the Men of the World are his Instruments to oppress the Saints and were it not for the Restraints of the Divine Power what Desolations would be made in God's Heritage 'T was a strange and barbarous Custom among the Persians that upon the Death of the Emperor for five days the Empire was left without Government And as upon removing the Stone from the Fabulous Cave of Aeolus the Winds broke out in their fury so by taking away the authority of the Laws licence was given to all Licentiousness and the whole Kingdom was in mortal Paroxisms All were in Arms some to do Injuries others to revenge them the Chastity of none was secure but conceal'd nor the Estates of any but defended the Bridle of Fear was taken off no Wickedness but was boldly committed or attempted and the Kingdom became a Field of Bloody War But when the new King was proclaim'd all things were immediately reduc'd to Order that the Advantage of Government might be set off by the experimental Confusions and Mischiefs of Anarchy But if God left the perverted World and Satan the Prince of it one day to their rage against his People did he not shut it in with Doors and Bars as he doth the impetuous Ocean so swelling and diffusive is their Malignity that it would like the Deluge drown all and not a Remnant of the Saints would be left Yet God wisely permits many Temporal Evils to be inflicted on his Servants by their Enemies for the tryal of their Fidelity and their noble Resolution to glorify him whatever they suffer for his sake And it becomes them with an undisturb'd serenity of Mind and harmony of Affections with an invincible Patience to bear all the Scorn and Contempt all the Malice and Fury to which they are expos'd upon a Christian account Let them remember they are Strangers and Sojourners here and live by other Laws than the World doth which causes their hatred But in their Father's House there will be perfect Rest. St. Paul who had experience of both in a singular manner declares I reckon that the Sufferings of the present State are not worthy to be compar'd to the Glory that shall be reveal'd in us In that State of pure Felicity there are no remains of Afflicting Evils all is Peace and Joy and Glory Seneca the Philosopher when an Exile and confin'd to the Mountains of Corsica entertain'd himself with the contemplation of the Heavens and the bright Luminaries in their various but regular Motions Thus when banish'd from the Court and City he dwelt amongst the Stars and casting his Eyes down upon the Earth despis'd all Humane Greatness and Possessions that are so vainly magnified by figurative Flatteries as we do a grain of Sand. Did Philosophy inspire him with such Principles of Patience and Fortitude yet it ascended no higher than the visible Heavens How much more should Faith that raises a Christian by high and steady Thoughts to the Supreme Heaven where the Divine Glory shines comfort him in all the Troubles of this World Add further That 't is an excellent Preservative from Envy and Fretfulness at the Prosperity of the Wicked to consider that their Felicity is as transient and vanishing as the Trouble of the Saints I have seen the Wicked in great Power and spreading himself like a green Bay Tree yet he pass'd away and lo he was not yea I sought him and he could not be found All the Riches and Greatness and Pleasures of the World are weighed number'd and measur'd by the Psalmist and found to be as light and fading as Vanity Naked they came into the World and naked they must go out and how much more tormenting will it be to be stript of all their Enjoyments how much more sorrowful will they be to go from their great Possessions than for one that leaves the World and never had them Their Hopes are like the giving up of the Ghost and expire with their Breath for ever I went into the Sanctuary saith the troubled Saint then understood I their End The End of their Felicity and the Miseries of the Righteous Besides the Evils suffer'd for Righteousness-sake there are innumerable Sorrows that befal the Saints here How many afflicting Diseases sad Occurrences vexing Passions harras them Some Afflictions are so wounding to their Spirits that no Balm that growns on Earth can heal But the lively Hope of Heaven is an Universal Cure for all their Troubles Let the mourning Christian consider the wise Providence of God that orders all Events and believe his Love in sending and his End in all their Afflictions Such is the Divine Power that God could immediately free us from all Troubles as easily as turn the Wind from a blasting Quarter of the Heavens to the most Benign and
Refreshing Are we pain'd with Diseases he can more easily change the Tone of Nature in a sickly Body and make it healthy than one can change the stop in an Organ that presently alters the sound but his Love dispenses bitter Things to us that are necessary for our Spiritual and Everlasting Good His End is to prepare us for Heaven that is prepared for us The Apostle declares He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God that is made us fit for the Heavenly Glory The Divine disposal of Things here to the Saints has a certain Order to their Eternal State He purgeth out our vicious guilty Affections to the World by sharp Physick that our Hopes of Heaven may be more pure and vigorous more actuated by serious Thoughts and intense Desires that we may feel the sense of the Psalmist's Expression O when shall we come and appear before God! In short Art thou in the Vale of Tears languishing in Sorrow and dying every Day by Faith ascend to the Mountains of Spices the Blessed Place Above and thou wilt find the Comforts of God to revive and delight thy Soul 7. Let this reconcile Death to us The Pale Horse is sent to bring us to our Father's House The Apostle expresses the true Christian Temper In this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed with our House that is from Heaven And we are willing rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord. Every Saint in the present World is both a Prison and a Captive his Soul is detain'd from the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God by confinement to his Body Therefore methinks he should not merely be content to die out of the Necessity of Nature when he can live no longer but desire the happy removal and say with the Psalmist I rejoic'd when they said to me Let us go into the House of the Lord. 'T is true Nature will recoile and the extinguishing the present Life with all its sensible pleasant Operations is uneasy to us but as when the Candles are put out the Sun rises in its brightness so when the Natural Life ceases the Spiritual Life springs forth in its Oriency and Glory When the Earthly Tabernacle is dissolv'd the naked separate Soul shall be received into a Building not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens Our joyful Affections in leaving the World and ascending to Heaven should be in some manner suitable to our reception there What a joyful Welcome will entertain us from God himself Our Saviour comforted his Disciples with a Heavenly Valediction I go to my Father and your Father to my God and your God The Gracious Relation sweetens the Glorious He that joyfully receives the rebellious but penitent Son to Grace will joyfully receive his obedient Sons to Glory He that now receives their Prayers with the Affection of a Father will receive their Persons with the dearest Expressions of Love His Fatherly Providence watch'd over them in the Way and will triumphantly bring them Home Here many Blessed Testimonies of God's Love are given to the Saints that produce such a spiritual sweetness in their Hearts that they esteem his loving Kindness as better than Life more worth than all the World but the full revealing of his Love is only in Heaven And as a Child knows by Experience the Love of his Father but the Degrees and Strength of his Affection he does not understand till arrived at mature Age and sees the Inheritance his Father enstates upon him Thus in Heaven only the Saints shall know the excellent and perfect Love of God to them when they are possess'd of that Glorious Kingdom his most free and rich Gift which transcends all their present Thoughts And our blessed Redeemer that by so many Titles has an Interest in us that is not contented in his own Personal Glory without our partaking of it that by his Resurrection open'd the Grave and by his Ascension open'd Heaven for us how dearly will he receive us He esteems Believers to be his Joy and Crown and with an extasy of Affection will present them to his Father Behold I and the Children that God has given me The Angels and Saints Above overflow with Joy when the Soul as a pure Spark freed from its Ashes ascends to the Element of Spirits how joyfully is it entertain'd by that Glorious Assembly The Angels that rejoice at the Conversion of a Sinner will much more at the Glorification of a Saint and the Saints have a new accession to their Joy upon the reception of any of their Brethren to that State of Felicity The Saints of all Ages may be resembled to a Fleet of Merchant-men that are bound for the same Port some arrive sooner others later according to the time of their setting out but those who arrive first how do they welcome their Friends that come safely afterwards An imperfect resemblance how dearly and joyfully the Saints that are gone before us welcome those who arrive in Heaven every day knowing the dangerous Seas they have past through where so many have been cast away and lost for ever All Heaven is in Musick celebrating the Praises of God and expressing their joyful sense when a Victorious Saint is come to receive his Reward How does this Consideration upbraid us that we are so unwilling to be dissolv'd and to be with our best Friends in the best Place that our Tears and Sorrows for leaving the Earthly Tabernacle and the low Comforts of this Life should continue till we come to the Gate of Heaven How can we be content with the Imperfections of the present State Here we are as distant from compleat Happiness as the highest Heaven is from the Earth Where is our Faith in the Promises of God Where is our Love to our Redeemer and our Souls The lothness of a Sincere Christian to die and be with Christ is a deflection from his Christianity Lastly This should refresh our Sorrows for the loss of our dearest Friends that die in the Lord. Here is a mournful parting when they are laid in the cold dark and silent Mansions of the Earth when those whom we lov'd as our own Souls are finally separated from us and we shall see their Faces no more And as one that is directed by the Light of a Torch in the Night when 't is taken away is more sensible of the Darkness than if he had not been inlightned by it So when those dear Friends are taken away whose Conversation was the Light and Joy of our Lives we are more darkned with Sorrow than if we had never injoy'd them But if we duly consider Things there is more reason of Joy than Sorrow at the departure of the Saints Our Saviour tells his Disciples that were mourning for his signifying that he must go away If ye loved me ye would rejoyce because I say I must go to my Father to reign with him in Soveraign Glory Sincere Love will make us more to