Unbelievers in the Christian Church and such are all those who implicitly despise and reject Heaven for the present World This will aggravate the Sin and Sentence of the Carnal and Worldly that they despise such glorious Realities for empty Vanities Desperate Gamesters that venture a Kingdom at every Throw What blindness of Mind or rather perversness of Heart is it that Men pursue with their best strength and desires the fading and false World and slight Heaven an inestimable and everlasting Treasure Certainly when Death shall open their Eyes they will have chang'd thoughts of Things 'T is related by a wise Historian That a Citizen pleaded his own Cause of great moment before Philip King of Macedon who slept during the Plea and a little after pass'd an unrighteous Judgment against him the injur'd Person reply'd I appeal from your Sentence A word that seem'd so presumptuous to an Independent Soveraign that with indignation the King asked him To whom he appeal'd He answered From the King sleeping to the King waking Thus Men who are led by Sense are asleep whilst the Cause of infinite Concernment eternal Salvation is faithfully pleaded by the Advocates of their Souls and they determine for the Interest of the Flesh against the Spirit but their waking Thoughts will discover the unrighteousness of their carnal Judgment In the next State how will they with restless Anguish remember their foolish Bargain to exchange an everlasting Treasure for fading Toys We may a little conjecture the Torments of the Damn'd by the Terrors of the Dying then the enlightned guilty Conscience makes them cry out O that we had been wise so to use the World that we might enjoy God! O that we had been so careful to have obtain'd an Interest in Heaven as we have been to gain the Earth Then the stinging Remorse begins that shall never end 3. Let us make it our fixed Aim our zealous constant Endeavour to secure our Title to this heavenly Inheritance Let Eternity be our Counseller and guide our Choice Let us not build our Felicity on the Sand but on the Rock that cannot be shaken Such is the excellent Goodness of God reveal'd in the Gospel that every Person that sincerely and regularly seeks Heaven shall obtain it and no Person shall be depriv'd of it but for his wilful neglect Now our Blessed Saviour who open'd the Eternal Kingdom has declar'd to us upon what terms it may be obtain'd in his conference with Nicodemus Verily verily I say unto thee Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Natural Birth and Accomplishments tho never so high and noble are of no advantage there The degeneracy of Man from his Primitive Holiness makes him both unworthy and uncapable of having a right or possession of Heaven without a Divine Change a Spiritual Regeneration The supernatural Inheritance is annext to the being born of God that is the receiving a Principle of Life and Actions suitable to the Life of God in universal Holiness and Righteousness 'T is not a ground of Title to Heaven that we have a natural alliance to God as the Father of Spirits in the first Creation but we must be his Off-spring by a new and more excellent Creation according to our Saviour's words That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit We must be renewed in the Spirit of our Minds spiritualiz'd in our Affections before we can obtain an interest in his Love which was forfeited by our Rebellion and consequently in his Kingdom Adoption into God's Family and the Line of Heaven is always in conjunction with the renovation of the Divine Nature and Image in us The Holy Spirit witnesses with our Spirits that we are the Children of God but his witnessing is always consequent to his working in us those Graces that constitute us to be the Children of God an humble Fear to offend him a Care to please him a Zeal for his Glory delight in Communion with him resignation to his Will and Wisdom trust on his Fatherly Love and a desire to be in his Blessed Presence By the discovery of these filial Affections our Divine Relation is made sure The Apostle infers If Sons then Heirs Holiness is the infallible Evidence of Election for the Vessels of Mercy are prepar'd by Holiness for Glory the Seal of Adoption whereby God's Children are distinguish'd from the World and the Earnest of their Inheritance for Heaven is a blissful State of Purity and the Graces with the Comforts of the Spirit are the beginnings of it here 'T is further to be observ'd that our right in the Heavenly Inheritance depends upon our union with Christ. He instates his Members in the same Relation with himself to God Thus he declares to his Disciples I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God Christ's Relation hath precedency in Point of Dignity and Causality and he derives a Right to us in his Father's House We are Coheirs with Christ. Now 't is universally and necessarily true what the Apostle saith Whoever is in Christ is a new Creature For our vital Union with him is by the Sanctifying Spirit on Christ's part and by Faith and Love on our part Briefly Without Holiness no Man shall see God The Exclusion is absolute and universal of all unsanctified Persons 'T is impossible God should admit them into Heaven for the Rights of Justice are inviolable we must come to Christ's Tribunal before we come to his Throne We must come to God the Judg of all before we are admitted into the number of Just Men made perfect According to our Works the Reward will be and Men are uncapable of enjoying Heaven without Holiness The Wisdom of God appears in that the various sorts of Creatures live in the Elements from which they were produc'd and have Natures suitable to the Places of their Residence The Beasts that were form'd from the Earth walk and rest there the Birds and Fishes that were produc'd out of the Waters the one sort flies in the Air that is rarefied Water the other swim in Water that is the thickest Air and that Wisdom more evidently appears in suiting the everlasting States of Men to their moral Dispositions Thus we must be born from above if we would joyfully live above The Apostle tells us That Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven The natural Body must be spiritualiz'd and invested with Celestial Qualities before it can enter into that Glorious Place and the Reason is more strong that earthly sensual Souls can never enter into Heaven there being an absolute Contrariety and Opposition between the habitual constitution of such and that place and state they must be Holy and Heavenly to be prepar'd for the Divine Presence and to converse with the purified Assembly Above 'till they are wrought for that blessed End cleansed and purified and endued with Holy Qualities till they are made meet they cannot possess the
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
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
A blessed Doctrine In my Father's House are many Mansions capable to receive all his Disciples 2. Gives them an infallible assurance of it 1. From his inviolate Love and Truth If it were not so I would have told you 2. That his going away was not to reign alone in the Kingdom of Glory but to prepare a place for them The Point that I shall discourse of from these words is this There is a blessed Place Above prepared for all the faithful Disciples of Christ wherein they shall be glorified with him for ever In the managing this Argument I will endeavour 1. To represent the Excellencies of this Place specified by his Father's House and the state of Felicity that is inseparable from all that dwell in it 2. Consider the infallible Assurance we have of obtaining it 1. The Excellencies of this Place may be argued from the Maker of it and its Attributes specified in Scripture First God is said to be the artificial Builder of this City to signify a correspondent Excellency in the Work to the Divine Maker All the Works of God have a Divine Impression of his Power and Providence but in some are more conspicuous Characters of his Perfections For the wise Author of all Things hath ordered their several degrees of Excellence both in the Matter and various Art of adorning them suitable to the End for which they were design'd Now the supreme Heaven was made to be the Temple of the Divine Majesty wherein he would diffuse the richest Beams of his Goodness and Glory to his chosen Servants for ever and accordingly is a most noble Work of his Omnipotent Hand and there are two Remarks to be made in its Creation from whence we may infer its peculiar Excellency 1. 'T is the beginning of the Creation Amongst intellectual Beings the Angels are the First-Born of God's Power and in Natural and Divine Prerogatives excel Men. From hence it is that the Excellency of any praise-worthy Quality in Men is set forth by a resemblance of the Angels Excellent Wisdom in David My Lord the King is like an Angel of God Excellent Eloquence by St. Paul is stiled the Tongues of Angels Heroick Vertue and excellent Holiness in the Christian Church The House of David shall be as the Angel of the Lord for that which is highest in any kind of Perfection is the Rule and Measure of the degrees of that Perfection And thus in forming the material World the supreme Heaven hath the precedence in order and dignity before all the other Parts of it Indeed Moses only recites particularly the Creation of the visible World and by what gradations this great Fabrick with all its Furniture was compleated And the History of that is instructive of the Creation of invisible Things which is expresly specified in the Gospel But as Paradise was first made and then Man created to be the Inhabitant of it so we may infer that the highest Heaven the Seat of the Angels was made before they were created Now the Angels we are inform'd by Divine Revelation were present when the Foundations of the Earth were laid and God stretched his Line upon it Then the Morning Stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for joy They saw the rising World the variety and beauty of its Frame the admirable Order that distinguishes and unites its Parts that all Things were divinely done and transported with wonder and joy celebrated the praises of the Creator 2. The Supreme Heaven is the effect of God's immediat Creation The Earth with all its Ornaments was form'd of preexistent Matter the Chaos a confused Mass was the Embrio of the sublunary World but the Supreme Heaven is his more immediate and exquisit Workmanship and receiv'd its Being and Perfection at once You may illustrate this by the Account is given by Moses of the Creation of Man God made Man of the Dust of the Ground His Body derives its Birth from the low Element and the Wisdom of the Creator is wonderful in the artificial structure of it 'T is added God breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life and Man became a living Soul The Earth enters into the composition of his Body but his Soul was inspired by the Breath of God that is by his Divine Power immediately created and in nobility of Nature and its spiritual Endowments incomparably excels the Body And the third Heaven though not a spiritual Substance yet in the purity of its Nature far transcends whatever was form'd of gross Matter This being premis'd I will now consider what the Scripture reveals to us of that place that is eminently the House of God 1. The Amplitude of it Our Saviour tells us The Way is narrow and the Gate strait that leads to it to excite our diligence but there are many Mansions in the Celestial Pallace to encourage our Hopes 'T is therefore call'd a City a Kingdom If we look up to the shining Sky wherein are the Sun that by the computation of late Astronomers some thousands of times exceeds the Earth in its magnitude and innumerable Stars and some of that greatness that they eighty times exceed this Globe of Earth tho to the ignorant and therefore incredulous they are judged to be as they appear upon the account of that unmeasurable distance between the Firmament and us but glistering points of Light our Minds will be tir'd and lost in taking measures of that that seemeth boundless and this vast Expansion with all the glorious Luminaries is but the Portal of the House of God Therefore Solomon setting forth the boundless Greatness of God saith Behold the Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him that is neither the Airy nor Ethereal Heaven nor the Supreme Heaven that encompasses and exceeds it 'T is a spacious Pallace becoming the Divine Maker's Greatness the Image of his Immensity and the State of Felicity there is answerable The blessed God in whom there is an eternal Union of all Perfections perfections is all in all to his People The Sun in its brightness may be as truly included in a Spark as the Divine Excellencies be measur'd by created Contemplation There is an infinite variety in the Supreme Good that makes it always rare and new in the fruition The universal Love and universal Fulness of the Deity exceedingly satisfies all the Desires and perpetuates the Delights of the Saints He stiles himself in the gracious Covenant with his People I am God Alsufficient walk before me and be perfect He is sufficient in all things that are requisite to the compleat Felicity of the most comprehensive Spirits and is sufficient to make all that innumerable Company of Angels and Saints as happy as one Person God is Light and the Emanations of his Goodness are sensibly represented by it Heaven is call'd the Inheritance of the Saints in Light As the Sun his Almoner diffuses its Light and Heat so generally that every one indifferently enjoys it
God the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Love brought him down from his Throne in Heaven where he was ador'd by the Angels and united him to our nature in our lowly state in order to the raising us to his Kingdom and uniting us to himself in Glory Love unvaluable and incomparable If Solomon upon God's descending in a Cloud to take possession of the Temple was surpriz'd with heavenly astonishment But will God indeed dwell on Earth with infinite more cause have we considering the incarnation of the Son of God to say Will God indeed dwell on Earth For what was the appearance of a Vapour that might be easily dispell'd to the coming of Jesus Christ into the World in whom the Fulness of the Godhead dwelt substantially What is so worthy of reverence and admiration New Things suspend the actings of the mind glorious Things overwhelm the Faculty and never was there so rare and excelling an Object This so signal and amazing Effect of our Saviour's Love gives assurance to Christians that he will take them to an everlasting Communion with himself in Glory As 't is more for a Prince to live with a private Person in a Cottage with complacency than to receive that Person into his Court and invest him with Honour The Love of our Saviour never abated to his Disciples when he was in view of Death with its troops of Terrors 't is said Having lov'd his own he lov'd them to the end And after his Resurrection to a Heavenly Life he exprest the same dear affection Go to my Brethren a stile as high as Love can rise 'T is further considerable what was touch'd on before that the Disciples of Christ besides the common Calamities of Mankind wherein they are involv'd are for his Truth and Cause expos'd to Indignities and Injuries of all kinds and degrees which the malice of Satan and his Instruments the perverted World can fasten upon them The complaint of the Church of old is often renew'd For thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as Sheep for the Slaughter And can the Love of Christ so tender so compassionate that the Love of a Mother to a sucking Infant is not an adequate representation of it can such Love let the Saints be separated from him for ever Then according to the Apostle's expression If in this Life only we have hope in Christ we are of all Men most miserable 2. His Truth gives an infallible assurance that we shall be receiv'd with him in Glory He declares his own Titles I am the Way the Truth and the Life If Truth it self be true and deserves our intire trust we may rest upon his Promises who values his Word more than the World The Pillars of Heaven shall fall and the Foundations of the Earth be overthrown before one tittle of his Words shall be without a full accomplishment If any Man serves me let him follow me and where I am there shall my Servant be 'T is his most gracious Promise to encourage Obedience and he assures his Disciples If I go away and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also To shew the validity of Christ's Promise let us consider the unchangeable Perfections of God's Nature are the Foundation of his unchangeable Councils and from thence the unchangeableness of his Promises is justly inferr'd The Decrees of God are engraven with the point of a Diamond and are unretractible The Counsel of the Lord shall stand for such is the perfection of his Knowledg that he can never be surpriz'd by any sudden unforeseen Event that should induce a change of his Will and such is his Omnipotence that he gives an infallible accomplishment to his Decrees and his Word endures for ever The immutability of his Nature gives firmness to his Counsels and the fidelity of his Nature to his Promises In him there is no variableness nor shadow of change and he is God that cannot ly He reveals himself by his Name Jehova to his People to signify that he is the same in performing as in promising Now Jesus Christ his Son is equal to the Father in all essential Perfections He stiles himself the Amen the true and faithful Witness If he deceive his Servants with a false expectation of a joyful glorious State hereafter it would be a blemish to his unspotted Holiness an eternal reflection upon his inviolate Truth 'T is therefore a faithful Saying and worthy of all acceptation That where Christ is in Glory there shall his Servants be with him otherwise he would have told them 2. We are to consider the other firm ground of assurance in our Saviour's next words I go to prepare a place for you This specially respects his Ascension into Heaven but it supposes his Death He purchas'd Heaven by his Death He prepares it by his Ascension His Blood shed on the Cross and pleaded in Heaven gives to Believers a right to it here and actual possession hereafter 1. His obedient Sufferings are the price of this glorious Inheritance In our Guilty State Heaven is as inaccessible to us as Paradise was to Adam after his expulsion when guarded by a Cherubim with a flaming Sword For neither the Divine Wisdom nor the Law of God would permit that an unpardon'd Sinner should be receiv'd into his Kingdom The Justice of God doth not infringe his rich Goodness but that he may bestow upon an innocent Creature the most excellent Blessings the Testimonies of his Bounty If Adam had persever'd in his Duty God might have translated him to Heaven and that happy change had been a free Favour for his Obedince had not been comparable to the Glory that shall be revealed in the Saints But Justice sets up a Legal Barr against the Guilty they are excluded from the Heavenly Glory The Creature must be intirely innocent or graciously pardon'd to be capable of enjoying that Supreme Happiness When the guilt of Sin is abolish'd it hath no malignant Power either to subject us to Evil or deprive us of Good Now our Saviour by Satisfying the Injur'd Justice of God hath wash'd away our Sins in his Blood and hath infinitely pleas'd God that we obtain by him not only redemption from Hell but the possession of Heaven This was the Design of God's Love in giving his only begotten Son that whoever believes should not perish but have everlasting Life Accordingly the Apostle saith That being justified by his Grace through Jesus Christ we should be made Heirs of Eternal Life And by the gracious unalterable tenour of the Gospel these great Benefits are inseparable it being equally impossible that an unpardon'd Sinner should enter into Heaven or that a pardon'd Sinner should be excluded The Connexion is indissolvable Whom he justifies them he glorifies Nay 't is more easily credible that a pardon'd Sinner should be admitted into the glorious Presence of
without prejudice to others As the Sun streams forth in Rays every moment yet which is a perpetual Miracle in Nature without the least diminution of his Lustre and Efficacy thus the Son of Righteousness dispences his influences of Knowledg and Love and Joy to all the blessed Assembly above and is the universal Happiness of all and the entire Happiness of every Saint God is an inexhaustible Fountain of Felicity As he that drinks of a living Spring tho inflam'd with thirst yet leaves it flowing and full as before sufficient to refresh a thousand Men without being dry thus God is able to make many Worlds happy An earthly Inheritance is either entirely and peculiarly the first Born's or is lessen'd by division but all the Sons of God have the dignity of the first born and are Heirs of God and enjoy an undivided Inheritance Our Heavenly Father verifies to every Saint what the Father in the Parable said to his Son All that I have is thine 2. The stability and firmness of it The Apostle saith 'T is a City that hath Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God Cities that are raised by the greatest Kings who are corruptible and mortal are so slitely built that they may be consum'd by Fire batter'd by Storms and without external Violence yet from an inward principle of Decay sink into Ruins but Heaven is the City of the living God the Seat of his eternal Empire This present World is like a Tent pitcht for a time whilst the Church is sojourning in the Wilderness the most solid parts of it the visible Heaven and Earth shall perish either by an entire Consumption or their ruin shall terminate in a renovation to a better State But the third Heaven is above the dominion of the Elements exempted from all changes and for ever remains 'T is an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and fades not away The integrity purity and glory of it are always the same 'T is the habitation of God's Throne He sits in Heaven secure from all the tumultuous Conspiracies of his Enemies and derides their impious Attempts against his Son and Church His Throne is unshaken there notwithstanding things below are turn'd about in a vertiginous Circle And as the House so the Inhabitants and their felicity are eternal Glory Honour and Immortality are the Reward of all that patiently continue in well-doing Our Saviour assures his Disciples Because I live ye shall live also He tasted Death for them and swallowed it up in Victory He declar'd in Vision to St. John Behold I am alive for evermore The Lord of Life will uphold the Saints in that blessed State for ever They shall never fall out of the Arms and Bosom of a gracious God He will never withdraw his Love and they shall never forfeit it for Sin is from the perverseness of the Will and disorder of the Affections join'd with some error of the Mind But in the Light of Glory and full enjoyment of God the Understanding is so perfectly illuminated the Will and the Affections so exceedingly satisfied that 't is impossible they should apprehend erroneously or desire irregularly This glorious Advantage the redeemed Saints have by Jesus Christ who obtain'd eternal Redemption for them above the Grace given to Angels and Man in the first Creation The Angels were upon trial of their Obedience not in a determin'd state of Felicity Their first declination of Love and Subjection was a downfal from their blessed Habitation Woful change how unlike themselves in their original Purity and Glory An unparallel'd Example of the frailty of the Creature that forsakes God and of the Divine Severity Man did but stand in Paradise for a little while and had a ruinous fall with all his Progeny But the glorified Saints actually sit with Christ in Heavenly Places and enjoy an unchangeable happy State The felicity Above is permanent as the everlasting Object that produces and preserves it and the everlasting Soul wherein it dwells Blessed Security how triumphantly do the glorified in Heaven sing This God is our God for ever and ever Earthly Relations how near soever determine in Death and the sorrow of losing them is in proportion to the delightful enjoying them But the Heavenly Relation between God and the Saints is as everlasting as the Object on which 't is fixt This God in whom are all amiable Excellencies all Sweetness and Beauty to feed Desires and Delights is our God in strict propriety in the dearest and most reviving fruition for ever Their Happiness is crown'd with Eternity This is so real an accession to their Felicity that without the entire assurance of it the state of Blessedness were incompleat the least jealousie of losing it would disturb their peaceful fruition and joyful tranquillity in Heaven For as Hope in Misery allays Sorrow so fear in Happiness lessens Joy The apprehension of losing such a Kingdom would cause torment But as in the contrary state reprobate Sinners that are in Hell under an utter impossibility of deliverance are rack'd and tortur'd by absolute despair So the Blessed Above that enjoy the Beatifick Vision by the infallible assurance of its perpetuity are fill'd with a Joy unspeakable and glorious 3. The Sanctity of this blessed House 'T is separate from the rest of the World in its sublime Situation and its unparallel'd Excellencies Sanctity of Place is Relative and is founded either upon the manifestation of God's special Presence or consecration of it to his Service 'T is consistent with the Divine Immensity to be differently present in several places as the Soul is in another manner present in the Head where it performs its noblest Operations than in other parts of the Body and upon any special appearance of God a Place is Sacred Thus when Moses approach'd to see the Flaming Bush he was enjoin'd Do not come near hither pluck off thy Shoes from off thy Feet the place where thou standest is Holy Ground The visible Testimony of the Divine Presence sanctified the Place and the most humble outward Reverence was due a Sign and Effect of the internal Respect that is owing to his most adorable Majesty The sanctity of that Place was an extraordinary Relation and ceas'd upon the vanishing of the Flame the sign of God's Presence There is also a Relative Sanctity by the Consecration of Time or Place for Holy Uses Thus the Seventh Day upon the finishing the Creation was hallowed by God himself set apart as the first Fruits of Days for his Service and applied to Divine Worship that Man might more entirely exercise his Mind in admiring and praising the Creator whose Glory was visible in his Works And in both these respects the Temple of of Hierusalem was Holy as being appropriated to God's Service by his own Election and Appointment and being the place wherein he exhibited his Presence in a special manner Solomon expresseth this as the End of building the Temple in
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