A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE Blessed Place and State OF THE Saints Above In a Discourse upon the Words of our Blessed Saviour John xiv 2. In my Father's House are many Mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a Place for you By WILLIAM BATES D. D. London Printed by J. D. for I. Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Churh-yard M.DC.LXXXVII THE PREFACE IT is the privilege of Christianity that Life and Immortality are brought to Light in the Gospel The Heathen World sat in Darkness was secure in Misery As one that sleeps is pleas'd with the Scenes of Fancy he Dreams of Treasures of Gold of Gardens of Feasts and thinks the painted Appearances the superficial Colours of Good to be Realities thus whilst Reason was darkned by Sense the World was content with pleasant Delusions Who amongst the many pretenders to Wisdom had a convincing knowledg of the Blessed Eternity to come Who had a glimpse of that Happiness that results from the sight of God in Glory This Instruction so refreshing our Spirits darkned with Sorrows here comes from the School of Heaven as the Sun revives us by its chearful Appearance and affords that Light without which it were impossible to behold it During the Legal Dispensation there was a Mist upon the Future State The notice of Eternal Things was a Twilight mixt with Shadows The Revelation of the Heavenly Glory was reserv'd till our Saviour's appearing in the World who purchas'd it with the dearest price and offers it upon such gracious Terms that whosoever sincerely desires and seeks shall obtain it and none shall be depriv'd of it but for their wilful and guilty neglect It might be expected that such a Proposal were sufficient to engage Men with all their Active Powers to secure such a precious Interest when indeed their best Endeavours and most zealous Affections are too slight and faint with respect to that excellent Happiness Are not the first Notions of Things that are written in our Brests sufficient to convince us that what is for ever is to be preferr'd before what suddenly passes away Or is it necessary in Matters of Temporal Concernment to use strong Arguments to perswade us rather to chuse a Treasure that will enrich us for our Lives than what will purchase food only for a day Yet 't is strange to amazement that in Things of Infinite Weight Consequence that respect the Soul and trivial Things that respect the Body Men make as preposterous a Judgment and Choice as if they were irreconcilable Enemies to themselves and obstinately averse from their own Happiness The Life to come extends beyond all possible Number of Ages the Felicity is so compleat and sure that the least shadow of Evil shall never eclipse it The Soul shall be in a state of highest Perfection and Joy the Vnderstanding illuminated with perfect Knowledg with no more study than opening the Eye and fixing it on the Glorious Objects the Will satisfied with the perfect Love and Enjoyment of the Blessed God The Body shall be clothed with Light as with a Garment and shine with a Beauty that never disflourishes and decays the innumerable Assembly of Angels and Saints always affords new and inestimable Delights and what is set in comparison against this transcendent Felicity in Heaven The poor despicable vanishing Life on Earth whose Pleasures are so shallow and empty that they can't satisfy the Senses much less our noble and comprehensive Faculties whose Griefs are sometimes so heavy and oppressing that all the Comforts of the World are no more effectual to relieve the Soul labouring under them than the sounding of Brass and the tinckling of Cymbals usually done by the Heathens were to free the Moon from its dark Eclipse which they fancied to labour in extremity Yet the petty Preferments the deceitful Riches the vain Pleasures here are chosen and ambitiously and eagerly persued and the infinite everlasting Happiness hereafter undervalued and rejected But as the Wonder ceases that a Man doth not see in the clearest Day by saying He is blind so Carnal Men are without Faith that is the Internal Light of the Mind they do not stedfastly believe the Reality of the Divine World tho so clearly open'd in the Gospel They are under so strong a Delusion and Error of Sensuality that they vilify a Spiritual Happiness a Glorious Futurity and present sensible Things of no price in comparison have the highest place in their Esteem and Affections The proper Means to recover Man from his woful Folly are unceasing fervent Prayers That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledg of him The Eyes of their Understandings being inlightned that they may know what is the Hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints and to represent this World and the next as they are to their considerate Minds that their Interest and Duty with united Efficacy may over-rule their Hearts and turn the Stream of their Indeavours into the right Channel that the judicious Comparison between Objects so vastly differing may be the governing Principle of their Lives All Things are vain and transient within the Confines of Time all Things stable and solid in the Territories of Eternity JOHN XIV I. In my Father's House are many Mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a Place for you OUR blessed Saviour in the words applies Heavenly Comfort to his Disciples to support their drooping Spirits in his absence from them He foretold his departure Little Children yet a little while I am with you Ye shall seek me and as I said to the Jews whither I go ye cannot come so now I say unto you This tenderly affected their Hearts But that their Sorrow might not flow into Despair he assures them that their Separation should not be final and that it was not the singular Privilege of St. Peter that he should follow him hereafter but that there were Rooms reserved in Heaven for them all and He would return and receive them to Himself This Consolation He addresses to them in a very affectionate manner Let not your Hearts be troubled No Work is more Divine none more proper and delightful to our Saviour than to comfort the afflicted Spirits of his People He directs them Ye believe in God believe also in me God is the Supreme Object of Faith his unchangeable Love and Faithfulness with his infinite Power in the accomplishing his Promises is the Security of Believers Christ as Mediator between God and guilty Creatures is the immediate Object of our Faith for he restores us to the Favour of God therefore 't is said we believe in God by him After this Preface to calm the unquiet Agitations of their Minds and make them more receptive of comfort he proposeth to them 1.
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
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
the Glory of Heaven and the Ruins of their Celestial Country would be repair'd by our Salvation And the glorified Saints are all Companions in the same Joy and the same Blessedness For never was there such a transforming of one Lover into another here as there is of the Saints in Heaven They are all animated by the same Divine Spirit their Thoughts and Inclinations are the same and have the highest satisfaction in the felicity of one another Behold how good and how pleasant is it for Brethren to dwell for ever in Unity Briefly we find that sensible Joy is in its elevation in the times of the Harvest and Vintage and after Victory when the Blessings of God the precious Fruits of the Earth the Hopes of our Labours and the Support and Comfort of the present Life are received an universal Joy fills the Country Now Light is sown for the Righteous and Joy for the upright in Heart 'T is sown in Tears but reapt with Exultation We gather the Fruits of Blessedness from Thorns Poverty and Mourning Hunger and Thirst and Persecution and this gives the more lively tincture to our Joy The Joy of Victory is transporting and that always in proportion to the Danger and Power of the Enemies subdu'd and the rich Spoils taken from them Now when our Spiritual Enemies so numerous so powerful and irreconcileable to our Souls Sin Satan Death are utterly broken how triumphant a Joy follows The Historian relating that most glorious Triumph at Rome when Pyrrhus their proud and potent Enemy was expell'd from Italy observes That of all the Show no part was more joyful than to see the Elephants that had been so terrible and carried Towers on their Backs to be subdued and led in Triumph Thus how joyful is it to see the Prince of Darkness with all his infernal Legions not without the tormenting sense of their Captivity bruised under our Feet to see the humane Nature of Christ rais'd to the highest honour to which that rebellious Spirit did proudly aspire O how delightful a Spectacle All the Saints will cast their Crowns before the Throne and sing the Praises of their victorious Deliverer 5. The Glory of this Place is discovered in the Scripture The Father of Christ is the God of Glory and the Father of Glory and Heaven is his lofty and glorious Throne becoming his Excellent Majesty and Universal Dominion The Lord hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens and his Kingdom ruleth over all Glory in its first Notion signifies the brightness and lustre of Light and from thence metaphorically imports Excellency in any Kind Thus the Divine Perfections are exprest God is Glorious in Holiness glorious in Power and the Joy of Believers is call'd unspeakable and glorious Heaven is set forth as glorious in a transcendent manner 't is call'd the Excellent Glory from whence a Voice came to the Apostles in that Holy Mount declaring Christ to be the Son of God So 't is call'd The richly glorious Inheritance the Inheritance of the Saints in Light When the Sun rises in its brightness a Deluge of Gold overflows the World and adorns the Universe but this is but a Shadow of the inherent Glory of the highest Heaven 'T was prepar'd by God for the House of his Kingdom and the Glory of his Majesty We reade of the vast preparations made by two great Kings for the building the Temple at Hierusalem such sums of Gold and Silver that would empty all the Treasuries of the Princes of the World that were it not recorded in Sacred Scripture it would exceed belief The number of the Workmen were seventy thousand employ'd seven Years without intermission the Materials were very rich and splendid Gold and Cedar and precious Stones and the excellency of the Architecture was such that no humane Art can equal for it was model'd by the Divine Mind and the delineation of its Parts was sent to David by an Angel But what are the Preparations of Earthly Kings to the Preparation of God And what is the Glory of the Temple made with Hands to that admirable Fabrick that receiv'd its Being and Perfection immediately from God We reade of the New Hierusalem the Type of Heaven that the Foundations were precious Stones the Gates were intire Pearls the Streets pure Gold as it were transparent Glass The Expressions are in condescendance to our Capacities and but a faint resemblance of the Glory of Hierusalem above In the Vision of the Prophet Esay the Seraphims cried to one another Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts the whole Earth is full of thy Glory 'T is a Theatre of innumerable Wonders divinely deck'd and the wise discerning Observer admires and praises God's Power and Providence so clearly manifested in it For the Excellency of the Work is answerable to the Art of the Maker and the Glory of the Maker results from the Excellence of the Work But what the Apostle saith in comparing the Legal and Evangelical Dispensation That if that which was done away was glorious much more that which remains is glorious and in that degree of eminence as to obscure the other may justly be applied to the Glory of God appearing in the Earth and the third Heaven for if the Earth the lowest stage of the World the Habitation of Brute Creatures and to be continued only for a time hath so much Glory in it what an excellent Glory is in the Supreme Heavens the native Habitation of the Angels and that is to continue for ever The Earth since Man's Rebellion doth not remain in its Primitive State but hath lost much of its Beauty and Usefulness At first it was intirely suitable to the rich Goodness of the Creator now terrible mixtures of his Justice appear in all the parts of it Barrenness in the Earth Thorns and Thistles the Fruits of the Curse for Sin Malignant Influences and Storms in the Air Tempests in the Sea Inundations of Water and how many Diseases are fatally natural to our Bodies But the highest Heaven remains in its original Beauty and pure Integrity The Earth is now the Habitation of his Enemies where they oppress his faithful Servants by their bold Injuries but Heaven is the Habitation of his Saints In short 't is a Place becoming the Majesty and Magnificence of God and his Love to his chosen Friends 'T is said of the Patriarchs whose Desires and Hopes were not centred in that Earthly Canaan tho flowing with Milk and Hony but they desir'd a better Country that is a Heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City To be stiled our God is a Title of the richest value and implies that all the Perfections of the Deity are to make us happy It had been a reflection upon his Greatness and Goodness if he had only given to the Patriarchs a Portion in this World But Heaven is a Place and State of Felicity becoming his Infinite Majesty
God than that a guilty Sinner should be reconciled to him As supposing the revival of a Phoenix from its Ashes 't is more easily conceivable that it should take its flight upwards which is the natural Motion of a living Bird than that it should be restor'd to Life in such a miraculous manner In short Heaven is a free Gift to us but dearly bought by our Saviour 't is the Gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He had a double Title to Heaven as the Son of God he was Heir of his Kingdom this Title is incommunicably his own and he acquir'd it by his meritorious Sufferings This he imparts to Believers who enter into Heaven by the new and living Way which he consecrated for them through his Flesh. 2. He ascended into Heaven to prepare a Place for us The Actions of our Saviour may be considered two ways either as terminated in himself or with a relative respect to Believers as the Head of the Church His Resurrection was not meerly Personal but hath an operative Force in raising all the Members of his Mystical Body As David's subduing Goliah was not his own personal Victory simply but was extended in its happy Consequences to all his Nation for in him as their Champion the Army of Israel overcame the Philistims Jesus Christ as Head of the Church hath broken the Dominion of Death and by virtue of his Conquest the Grave shall restore the Saints at the general Resurrection And his Ascension was not a personal Act purely to obtain his own Right but as our Forerunner he is enter'd for us into Heaven As the High Priest in his majestick mysterious Habit with the Names of the Children of Israel upon his Breast enter'd into the Holy of Holies so Jesus Christ enter'd into the Eternal Sanctuary as our Representer to take possession of it for us The Language of Despair is silenc'd for ever Who shall ascend up to Heaven to raise us thither Christ is lifted up to the highest Glory and will draw all his People after him The first Adam was from the Earth Earthly but Christ is the Lord from Heaven and is return'd to Heaven and shall Earth destroy what Heaven cannot restore The Apostle tells us That Believers sit with Christ in Heavenly Places that is as he is the Head of that Sacred Society his Church and his Promise is exprest To him that overcomes will I grant personally to sit with me in my Throne even as I also am set down with my Father in his Throne After victorious Obedience the Saints shall be taken into Soveraign Alliance with Christ and reign for ever In short his excellent Merit is the Foundation of our glorious Hope and his prevailing Intercession introduces us into actual Possession He that purchas'd Heaven disposes of it by his last Will thus he addrest to his Father immediately before his Death Father I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may see my Glory And he has Power to accomplish his own Testament What he hath done already for Believers is an uncontroulable Evidence and invincible Assurance of what he hath promised There is a vaster distance between the Deity and Misery than between Man and the Heavenly Glory For the Sun to go backwards ten Degrees was miraculous and astonishing but to ascend the Horizon is according to natural Order The abasement of the Son of God was stupendious but his advancement to the highest Glory is most becoming his Divine Relation and infinitely due to his exuberant Merits and a firm Foundation of Hope that all his redeemed Saints shall be where he is and be conform'd to him in all supernatural Divine Excellencies of Soul and Body for ever The Application 1. LET us adore the unconceivable Love of God who hath prepar'd such a Place of Joy and Glory for his Children when they leave the World The Father prepar'd it in his Decree from Eternity and by his creating Power from the Foundation of the World and we are assur'd 't is such a Place and State as fully answers the Design of God's Love that is to make a reasonable Creature as happy as 't is capable to be When Man was turn'd Rebel against his Creator when so chang'd from the Divine Resemblance imprest at first upon him into the disgraceful likeness of the Beasts that perish as the Psalmist justly reproaches him then to pardon us and prefer us to restore us to his Favour and Image and the nearest communion with himself in his Palace above is such an astonishing Mercy as is only proper to God who is Love And the Love of our Redeemer is equally admirable when we were expell'd Paradise he makes a reentry for us and intercepts the stroke of the flaming Sword that had destroy'd us We neither know the depth of our Misery from whence we are freed nor the heighth of Glory to which we are rais'd by our Redeemer In what Heart but that of the Son of God could ever such compassion and charity be conceiv'd He took our Flesh to Heaven to prepare it for us and interchangeably left his Spirit on Earth to prepare us for Heaven How just is the solemn and terrible denunciation of the Apostle He that loves not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha And how are we obliged to God for the blessed and glorious Gospel that infinitely excels all humane Books in the matter it contains the everlasting Happiness of Man and the certain way to obtain it and in the manner of conveying those great and Sacred Truths by Divine Revelation And what an Argument of thankfulness is it to consider the distinguishing Grace of God that when the most are so blind in the clear Light of the Gospel as not to discover the lustre of the Pearl of Price and so immers'd in Vanities as to disrelish Heavenly Joys that he is pleased to inlighten the Eyes of our Mind that we may know what is the Hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints The number of Fools that understand not the Price that is put into their Hands in comparison of the truly Wise is greater than of common Stones that lie in the Mire of the Streets to precious Stones of the highest value Diamonds and Rubies How affectionately should we give thanks to the Father who has made us meet for the Inheritance of the Saints in Light But we have such Allays by the Relicks of Carnality that without the Heavenly Spirit 's inspiring our cold Earth we shall never be ardent and lively in the Praises of our Blessed Benefactor Even David himself was fain to call upon his Soul with repeated fervency and excite every Faculty within him to bless the Lord who had forgiven his Iniquities and redeem'd his Life from destraction and crown'd him with loving Kindness and tender Mercies 2. From hence we may infer the great Guilt of
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