without any Satiety or Weariness Here on Earth they are often starting aside to the Creature with an inordinate Love and Delight but in Heaven there shall be an eternal fixedness of Soul with infinite Complacency and Delight in God Here our Affections are under great Irregularities To instance in two briefly and they are the Affections of Love and Joy As to the Affection of Love It is well known unto all what is a Christian's commanded Duty namely To love the Lord our God with all our heart with all our soul with all our mind and with all our strength And this Love to God operating by Love to our Neighbours is so acceptable a Duty that it is called by the Apostle the fulfilling of the Law But alas how do the best of God's Servants fall short in this respect when all they attain to is only to love God in Sincerity and with some degree of prevalency above all other Enjoyments But to love God so as to desire him so as to rejoice and delight in him above all other things with the utmost extremity of Love and Affection in Perpetuity and Constancy Oh where is the Soul that can be found that doth sol Vain and foolish yea sinful Objects also entangle our Affections and draw away our Hearts from God to an over-loving and delighting in them and to an impairing and weakning of our Love and Affections towards God How often do we meet with such Complaints as these in the mouths of God's People Oh that we could love God more Oh that we could love Christ more but alas we cannot Their Faith discovers to them a wonderful Amiableness in God and Christ which draws out the Desires of their Souls after them So saith the Apostle to you that believe he is precious or desirable But yet they find they cannot love God as they ought nor as they desire to do for by reason of that Earthliness that is still in them their Hearts and Affections are divided and carried out after other Objects so that as the Apostle complains they cannot do the things that they would But now in Heaven these Complaints shall cease and all the disorders and Irregularities of the Affections shall be cured and the Soul shall perfectly and everlastingly love God and contemplate the Excellencies and Perfections that are in him with unspeakable Delight and Satisfaction For where ever there is the Actings of these Affections it always carrieth much Pleasure and Delight along with it especially where the Object beloved is deserving and the Affections are strong towards it Now in Heaven the Object is most deserving to be beloved for it is the ever blessed God and the Affections of the Soul will be strongest for there Love shall be in its Height and Perfection and that which results from hence must be infinite Satisfaction and Delight unto the Soul so that it cannot chuse but it must love God There holy Souls shall have continual views of the perfect Beauty of him who is altogether lovely yea who is Love it self the sight of whom will not only wonderfully draw their Hearts and Affections towards him but fill their Souls with continual Ravishments of Love and Joy in him so that it is impossible they should do otherwise than rejoice and delight in him O this Life of Love which Saints always live in Heaven It is that which fills them with unspeakable Satisfaction and Contentment yea Love in Heaven is that which will be both the Work and the Reward of a Saint at once and that in Constancy and Perpetuity And so for a Saint's Joy which is another Affection of the Soul How irregularly doth it frequently act we rejoice when we should mourn and we mourn when we should rejoice or if not so yet we often exceed in our Joy and Delight Commonly it is with us in our Enjoyments of the World as it is with us in our Losses in the World When we lose the Comforts of the World we over grieve and are cast down so excessively as if we had nothing left to take any Delight or Comfort in And just so is it with us in our Enjoyments of the World when God blesseth us with outward Comforts we over-love and delight in them so that that which God gives us to draw our Hearts nearer to himself by the Excesses of our Joy and Delight in them takes away our Hearts more from him insomuch that we are more forgetful of God by our inordinate rejoicing in what he bestows upon us A very evil and ungrateful return unto God for his Kindness to us but yet it is that which we are very inclinable unto Hence therefore is it that we are so often caution'd against all excessive Love of or Delight in things here below for Love to and Joy and Delight in any thing always go together the Apostle therefore bids us 1 John 3.16 Love not the World nor the things of the World if any Man love the World the Love of the Father is not in him Not that it is absolutely unlawful to express any kind of Love to or Delight in Worldly Things But it is as if he had said so hard and difficult a thing it is for Christians in loving and delighting in worldly Enjoyments to keep their Affections within their bounds and to express no more of Joy and Delight in those things than is due to them that it is almost necessary to lay a Command upon them not to love the World at all such a proneness is there in the best of Christians to transgress when any allowance is given unto these carnal Hearts and Affections of ours towards worldly Enjoyments It is true a Believer is not only allowed but commanded to rejoice yea and to rejoice always and none have more cause so to do than he But it is not in the persons or things of this World but in God so runs the Command 1 Thes 5. Rejoice always in the Lord and again I say rejoice But yet all rejoicing in outward Enjoyments is not forbidden him neither A Christian who is accepted of God may as the wise Man speaks eat his Bread with Joy and drink his Wine with a merry Heart Eccles 4.7 that is he may rejoice and be chearful in the use of those Comforts and Refreshments that God bestows upon him But yet in the greatest abundance of them his Moderation ought to be known unto all Men and still he must rejoice in them as if he rejoiced not that is use them and rejoice in them with a holy kind of Indifferency of Soul But now here is the great failing of Christians they exceed those bounds and limits that God allows them letting out their Hearts and Affections inordinately towards them But now in Heaven these delightful Affections of the Soul shall be regulated A Saint's Joy there shall be always rightly placed and duly bounded God will there be the only Object of our Joy and the right bounding of our Joys
And in 2 Cor. 4.17 Our light Afflictions that are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory Here are great and glorious Expressions that may well raise the Spirits of Christians above all Discouragements let their Afflictions and Sufferings be what they will For here are Afflictions and to balance it here is Glory put in Opposition to it here are light Afflictions and here is a Weight of Glory here is light Afflictions for a moment and here is an eternal Weight of Glory yea here is more for here is a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory It is very observable when the Apostle speaks of Afflictions the People of God may meet with in the World he soon gets over them they are Afflictions says he but they are but light Afflictions and but of short continuance for they last but for a moment But when he comes to speak of the Glory and Happiness of Heaven which he sets in Opposition to them he heaps up one Expression upon another as if he laboured under the want of Words to set forth the greatness of that Happiness he was about to mention and therefore says he there shall be a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory Words they are of such great Importance and Signification that our English Tongue will not reach the Elegancy and Fulness of them O who would not then with Moses chuse to suffer Affliction with the People of God rather than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Season who with him by an Eye of Faith beholds the eternal Recompence of Reward Thirdly Hast thou O Christian a Right and Title to this heavenly Inheritance live then as one that is an Heir to and Expectant of so great a Happiness Let thy practice O Christian be suitable to thy Profession thy Conversation on Earth unto thy Hopes of Heaven There is a comely Behaviour required of Christians which if they are not careful to observe in their Actings before Men they betray their high and holy Calling and the greatness of their Hopes and Expectations unto scorn and contempt Art thou O Christian an Heir of Heaven Live as such an one The Scripture is frequent in pressing of this Exhortation Sometimes Christians are called upon to live as it becometh Saints Ephes 2.3 To have their Conversations as it becomes the Gospel of Christ Phil. 1.21 To walk as it becomes those that profess Godliness with good Works 1 Tim. 2.10 And sometimes which is very high indeed To walk worthy of God who hath called them to his Kingdom and Glory 1 Thes 2.11 12. Expressions fully comprehensive both of a Christian's Privilege and also of his Duty in the sense of that Privilege and the Apostle in joining these two together seems to intimate to us that no other Words could express the Duty of a Christian to the heighth but what expresseth the heighth and perfection of his Blessedness Now the heighth of a Christian's Blessedness is to enjoy God and to enjoy him there where his Enjoyment shall be most full and most lasting and that is in Heaven which the Apostle here calls his Kingdom and Glory Now upon the Hopes of a Christian's Enjoyment of this great Blessedness the Apostle calls him to the performance of as great a Duty and that is to walk worthy of God who hath called him to his Kingdom and Glory And to how great and glorious things Christians are hereby called to the performance of few understand and fewer live in the practice of And here I cannot but take occasion to shew my detestation of that great Sin which is too frequent in this Age of abominable Licentiousness I mean the Sin of condemning shall I say nay of scoffing and deriding at that which is called Strictness and Preciseness in the Ways of God as if any could be too circumspect in avoiding of Sin too strict in the discharge of his Duty too careful in his Endeavours to serve and please God or could have too much of Grace and Holiness in which a Christian is bound to grow and encrease all his Days as if a Man could be too like unto God in that which is his highest Excellency and Glory I mean his Holiness for he is called a God glorious in Holiness In Heaven there is the greatest exactness that can be for there is Holiness and nothing but Holiness yea there is nothing but Holiness in the utmost Perfection of it And how canst thou then O prophane Sinner who now scoffest at Holiness in the People of God expect to be admitted into that holy Place hereafter Heavenly Hopes and Expectations require a heavenly Conversation which thou art perfectly void of whilst thou art a Derider at Holiness in others Those therefore whose Hopes and Expectations are set upon Heaven must manifest it by a Conversation and Deportment suitable thereunto Now this in the general may imply Two Things Holiness of Conversation and Chearfulness of Conversation First It implies a Holy Conversation the Apostle 2 Pet. 3.11 Speaking unto those who liv'd in expectation of the Glory and Happiness of Heaven What manner of Persons says he ought you to be in all Holy Conversation and Godliness A Holiness even unto Wonder and Admiration should shine forth and adorn the Conversations of those who expect such a blessed Day as this is Christians Hopes are to be like unto Angels in Glory and Happiness and therefore they should now as far as is possible live like Angels in the Flesh in the practice of Holiness In 2. Cor. 7.1 says the Apostle having these Promises what Promises why he tells us in the foregoing Chapter Promises of being the Sons and Daughters of God by Adoption and Regeneration and so come to have a Right and Title to the Heavenly Inheritance in Glory having such Promises as these it becomes us to carry our selves as those that look for such great things by cleansing our selves from all Pollution of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of God And most clear is that in 1 John 3.3 where the Apostle having a little before set forth the greatness of God's Love to himself and others an instance whereof he gives us in these words That they should be called the Sons of God which though it be a great Privilege yet is there more to come still something that is great and extraordinary we are looking for though we know not what we shall be for it doth not yet appear yet this we do know That when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Now follows the Apostle's Inference from all this which should be the Practice of every Christian that hath the same hope that he had of being like unto Christ and of seeing God as he is which is only in Heaven Why he that hath this Hope in him Purifieth himself as God is Pure Dost thou O Christian look for Heaven
THE GLORY and HAPPINESS OF THE SAINTS IN HEAVEN OR A DISCOURSE Concerning the Blessed State of the Righteous after Death By Nathanael Ranew late of London Bookseller London Printed for N. R. and sold by J. Robinson A. and J. Churchill J. Taylor and J. Wyat. 1694. TO THE READER Christian Reader I Dare not suppose thee in an Age of somuch Light and Knowledge to be ignorant of a future State and Condition that doth abide thee and all Men after this Life for this were to conceive of the contrary not only to the sentiments of all Christians but even of Heathens themselves Neither can I think any to be so far blinded and hardned as to believe that this State which shall befall all Men after Death to be the same unto all Persons whether they be good or bad for though the Wise Man tells us in Eccles 9.1 2. That in this Life All things come alike unto all Men and there is one event to the Righteous and to the Wicked to the Clean and to the Vnclean So that in the way of God's common Providential dealings with Men in this World no Man knoweth Love or Hatred by all that is before them Yet when Death and Judgment come a discriminating Sentence shall pass upon all Men According to what they have done in the Body whether it be good or bad And then as the Apostle speaks All those who have not obeyed the Truth but have lived in Sin and Vnrighteousness shall receive Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul of Man that hath thus done Evil But to them who by patient continuance in well-doing have sought for Glory and Honour and Immortality shall be Eternal Life And of this none that live under the Light of the Gospel can be ignorant Now as to the former of these that State of Woe and Misery that is to be the Portion of Sinners in Hell it is not my design in the following Discourse to say any thing Having confined my Thoughts and Meditations therein unto the latter and that is that State of Bliss and Happiness that shall be the Portion of Holy Souls in Heaven All Men now will say they desire and seek after happiness but few there are that attain thereunto not that there is no such Thing or State attainable for Holiness always lays a sure Foundation for Happiness But Man being fallen from God and sunk into the Creature cannot without the help of Divine Grace raise up his Soul his Affections and Desires towards God towards Heaven and Heavenly things but takes up with what is suitable to his Earthly and Fleshly part and so the World and the Enjoyments thereof being adapted to the Inclinations of his present State and Condition here below accordingly with the greatest eagerness he pursues the Riches the Honours the Pleasures and Delights of this World as those things which when attained he vainly fansies will make him truly Happy but when he comes to enjoy them meets with Frustration and Disappointment All Men being forced sooner or later to subscribe unto what the Wisest of Men faith as a great Truth concerning all things under the Sun that they are but Vanity and Vexation of Spirit Wouldst thou not Christian Reader when thou comest to die be eternally deceived in thy Hopes and Expectations of Happiness Let not the World and the Enjoyments thereof take up thy Thoughts and Affections now God hath provided the good things thereof and by his Care and Providence brings them to thee daily for thy use that with this Gracious and Liberal Allowance of his thou mayest serve him with the greater Chearfulness and Delight of Soul in thy Passage through this World But he never intended thou shouldst take up with them as thy Happiness Believe it God hath provided better things for holy Souls in another World he intends himself to be their Portion his Heaven to be their Habitation and Dwelling place Angels Patriarchs Prophets Apostles to be their Associates and Companions where they shall live in the light of God's Countenance see his Face behold his Glory and be filled with his Love to all Eternity O blessed State of infinite Bliss and Happiness beyond what words is able to express Well may holy Souls with wonder and amazement cry out with the Apostle and say Eye hath not seen Ear hath not heard nor can it enter into the heart of Man to conceive what God hath provided for them that Love him And why mayest not thou who now castest thine Eyes upon these lines make one of that great number of holy Souls that shall be thus Eternally Happy and Blessed God hath not Excluded thee out of Heaven and why shouldest thou exclude and shut out thy self God is now displaying before thee the Excellencies and Glory of that Blessed State and wherefore doth he do so but to invite and draw Sinners to come and partake of this Happiness not that God needs us or any thing that we can do for he is as Happy without us as he can possibly be with us But we need him and cannot be happy without him Now therefore since he is pleased to continue the offers of such rich Grace and Mercy let none be found slighters and contemners thereof Disappoint not O Sinners the design of God in seeking to bring Souls to Heaven Frustrate not your own Expectations of Bliss and Happiness Make not your selves Eternally miserable by choosing any sinful course or walking in any allowed way of Wickedness Nor yet provoke God by any sinful delays or any sluggish and lazy desires and endeavours in seeking to obtain this Everlasting Happiness to deal with you as obstinate despisers and contemners thereof and swear in his Wrath that you shall never enter into his Rest If God may be Glorified and Souls receive benefit hereby unto Eternal Life the Author hath the desire of his Soul and an abundant Reward for what he hath done in the ensuing Discourse and that a Blessing from Heaven may make is thus Successful unto all that shall read it is and shall be the Prayer of the Publisher The CONTENTS CHAP. I. AN Introduction A State of Future Glory and Happiness proved What it is that makes the Happiness of Heaven so Excellent and Glorious with a short and brief Description thereof CHAP. II. A more particular Consideration of the Happiness of Heaven Of the Company and Society Believers shall enjoy in Heaven As 1. Communion with all the People of God 2. Communion with Angels 3. Enjoyment of Jesus Christ their Redeemer 4. Sight and Fruition of God What kind of Sight or Vision of God Saints shall have in Heaven Which shall be 1. Immediate and Clear 2. Transforming 3. Joyful 4. Permanent and Perpetual This Sight and Vision of God in Heaven will be a great Happiness because God is 1. An Vniversal Good 2. A Pure and unmixed Good 3. A Suitable Good 4. An All-sufficient Good 5. A Satisfying Good 6. An Everlasting Good
speak concerning Heaven the Palace or City rather of the great God but how great the Glory and Happiness of the Blessed shall there be none are able now to express The blessed Apostle therefore in 2 Cor. 12.3 4. when he sets himself purposely to relate his Journey into the other World all that he tells us of it is only this That there he heard those Words that were unspeakable and saw those Things that were not lawful or not possible to be uttered And other-where he tells us Eye hath not seen Ear hath not heard neither is it possible for the heart of Man to conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him The Eye hath seen great and glorious Things and the Ear hath heard much greater but the Heart of Man is able to imagine much more than either of them But whatever the Eye hath seen or the Ear hath heard or the Heart can imagine yet neither of them can reach to apprehend or conceive the great things that God hath prepared for them that love him Hence therefore it is that the same Apostle 2 Cor. 4.17 calls Heaven a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory The Happiness that a Believer attains to even on this side Glory when he hath received an Earnest or Beginning of Heaven in some glorious work of Sanctification upon his Soul Oh how doth the Joy of the Knowledge and Assurance thereof pass all understanding as the same Apostle speaks Phil. 4.7 Who is able to utter the sweetness of that Peace of Conscience and the spiritual Joy and Rejoycing of a Soul on whom the Love of God is shed abroad by the Hory Ghost Such a ravishing overcoming Joy and Delight flows in upon the Soul as it cannot express no nor sometimes is it able to bear up under it And if there be so much sweetness in a Taste of Heaven what is there then in a full enjoyment of Heaven The Beloved Apostle St. John tells us in 1 John 3.2 It doth not yet appear what we shall be no nor indeed can it appear now for in our present state we are not able to bear it Should but a little of the Glory of Heaven be revealed to us now Oh how would it amaze and confound us That weight of Glory would be so great that it would overwhelm us We read in Exod. 34.34 That when Moses had been conversing with God in the Mount and came down to the People again that his Face did so shine that the Children of Israel could not behold him until he put a Vail upon his Face And did a a small Ray of the Glory of God reflected upon Moses's Face shine so gloriously that the Israe lites could not look upon him Oh what a dazling confounding Brightness and Glory would Heaven it self break forth upon us with if the Vail between us and it were removed out of the way surely Flesh and Blood could not be able to bear it When the same Moses therefore in Exod 33.18 besought God to shew him his Face or his Glory which is all one what Answer doth God return him Not a positive Denial of his Request for he doth not say I will not shew it thee No but he tells him Thou canst not see my face and live It is that thou canst not bear it is an Object too glorious for thee to behold As if God had said Moses thou hast had some discoveries of my self unto thee and they have begotten farther desires in thee after more and greater manifestations thereof What thou askest at my hands is not a thing too great for me to bestow but it is too great for thee to receive a happiness it is too great to be enjoyed in this Life and therefore though I do not nor will not for ever deny thy Request yet I must defer it till it may be a Happiness unto thee and that is till thou come to Heaven where thou shalt for ever see my face and enjoy my Presence in as large and ample a manner as thou canst possibly desire but now thou canst not bear it for no man can see my face and live And as no man can take in the Happiness of Heaven here so no man can understand the greatness of it So true are the Words of the Apostle The things that God hath prepared for them that love him are so many and so great that they cannot enter into the heart of man to conceive The Psalmist therefore upon this Consideration cries out with Admiration Psal 31.19 Oh how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee great it was but how great he could not express And thus truly must we do when we have said all we can concerning Heaven we must sit down and admire the Greatness and Excellency of it but the Fulness Riches and Glory of it we shall never understand till we come for ever to enjoy it But though we cannot fully understand the Happiness of Heaven yet for the raising of the Hearts and exciting and quickning the Affections and Desires of Christians towards it and that their pursuits after the obtaining of it may be more diligent and servent I shall endeavour to represent something of the Glory and Excellency of that Blessed State that is to be enjoyed there according to what God hath been pleased to discover to us thereof in his holy Word though still when all that hath or can be said it is the Enjoyment of Heaven only that can make known to us what the Happiness of Heaven shall be But before I proceed unto a particular and distinct Explication of the Happiness of Heaven it will be necessary by some convincing Arguments to prove the Reality and Certainty of that Glory and Happiness that shall be enjoyed by the Godly there Now this I shall demonstrate by these following Arguments First From the infallible Promises of the Truth-speaking God Now so many are the Promises scattered up and down in sacred Writ concerning the Certainty Futurity and Eternity of the Saints Happiness that I cannot number them and surely Believers who have by those Promises an everlasting Inheritance of Glory and Happiness conveyed to and setled upon them as their Portion cannot be supposed to be Strangers unto them upon the supposition whereof I shall instance only in a few Fear not little Flock says our Lord for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you a Kingdom Luke 12.33 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Matt. 5.8 My sheep hear my voice and I give unto them eternal life John 10.28 This is his Promise that he hath given unto us even eternal life 1 John 2.25 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us says the Apostle 1 Pet. 1.3 4.
of that holy Plaee no thing or person that is defiled or polluted shall ever enter there and certainly this must needs be sweet and delightful Were it a thing that we might suppose possible as indeed it is not that here we could have Communion with the People of God and with them only yet the best of them have now so many Weaknesses and Imperfections as would render the purest Society of them sometimes uncomfortable for here being in their imperfect state they must be born withal in many things for they are still Men subject to like Passions and Infirmtiies with others Moses a Man eminent for Meekness so that there was none like him on Earth yet sometimes spake unadvisedly with his lips Job a patient Man even to a Proverb yet had sometimes his Fits of Impatience and Discontent Jonah a Prophet of the Lord yet very froward and peevish and justifies his Passion and Anger not only before Men but even unto the Face of God himself saying I do well to be angry even unto the death Yea most if not all the Saints and People of God mentioned in Scripture though eminent for Grace and Holiness yet have they had some Sins some Infirmities or other recorded of them that it might be known they were Men yea sinful Men also as well as Saints and if we expect Communion with any while we are here that are not Sinners as well as Saints we must then go out of the world as the Apostle speaks for all the People of God here have Flesh in them as well as Spirit Sin and Corruption in them as well as Grace and Holiness And yet notwithstanding all their Frailties and Infirmities they are still the best Company and Fellowship and Society with them most desirable And if while they have their Spots their Stains upon them their Company is so excellent and desirable what shall they be when they shall be free from all their Imperfections when they shall have no Ignorance no Blindness no Pride no Impatience no Spots no Blemishes nor any thing whereby they may be polluted or defiled but shall be adorned and beautified with all Grace and Holiness in the Fulness and Perfection of it Surely then their Company must needs be far more desirable yea even a kind of a little Heaven it self Secondly The Happiness of Believers in Heaven consists in their Communion with Angels the highest the noblest and most excellent of God's Creatures The Welfare of Man is that in which the Angels delight When Man was at first created those Morning-Stars sang together and those Sons of God as holy Job speaks shouted for joy Job 38.7 When Jesus Christ the Saviour of Mankind came into the World for this very end and purpose that he might be a Redeemer unto Man it is said that a multitude of the Heavenly Host joyned together in praising of God saying Glory to God on high on Earth Peace and Good Will towards Man Luke 2.13 And when any Sinners are turned unto God there is joy says our Lord among those Blessed Spirits Luke 15.10 This Heavenly Host of God now as the Apostle speaks rejoyce to be ministring Spirits unto the Saints Heb. 1.14 They are therefore called Ministring Spirits sent forth by God to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation Many Offices of Love and Kindness they do for the People of God now when they are in danger which they cannot observe nor take notice of for though their Help and Assistance be always real as to the effect and operation thereof yet is it always invisible as to their knowledge and observation it being impossible for them to understand how often and after what manner they are employed by God for their Benefit The Angels are the continual Guardians and Attendants of the People of God while they are in this world hence therefore our Lord bids those he spake to in Matt. 18.10 Take heed that they offended not any of those little ones that believed in him for says he in heaven their Angels do always behold the Face of my Father which is in heaven And that the Angels do protect and defend the People of God here is very clear in Psal 34.7 The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them And that 's a great Scripture and adds much to the confirmation of the Happiness of the People of God both in respect of their Fellowship with the Saints and their Communion with the Angels in Heaven in Heb. 12.22 23. Ye are come unto Mount Sion the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable Company of Angels and to the Spirits of just men made perfect While we carry about with us these earthly Tabernacles of our Bodies we are scarce capable of Communications with such spiritual heavenly Creatures but at Death the Saints shall know their old Friends and Fellow-Servants and then those Heavenly and Triumphant Chariots shall carry up their departed Souls with Shoutings and Acclamations of Joy into the Presence of God where they shall make Relations of the strange and wonderful Providences of God towards them while they were here and joyn together in the high Praises of God for evermore In this world the sight of one Angel though a Messenger of Peace and one that brings good Tidings along with him yet doth cause Fear and Amazement But in Heaven the Saints shall behold all the Angels of God and that not only without Dread and Horrour but with Joy and Delight as being their Fellow-Creatures with whom they shall eternally maintain a blessed Communion and Correspondency And oh what happy and delightful Company will those Glorious Creatures be in whom there is nothing but what is Amiable and Lovely yea nothing but what is Admirable and Wonderful And though this Communion with Angels be a part of that Happiness which the Saints shall enjoy in Heaven and a Truth of great Certainty yet the Way and Manner of the Saints converse with them there is very dark and obscure and that to which we are now altogether strangers Let therefore the Certainty thereof suppress our Curiosity and satisfie our Minds until we come thither when we shall have a full Revelation and Enjoyment thereof together being made not only like unto but equal with the Angels Thirdly The Happiness of the Saints in Heaven lies in this that there they shall have a Sight and Enjoyment of Jesus Christ as their Blessed and Glorious Redeemet Now this is a Happiness so great that a Saint cannot but account himself recompensed with infinite Gain and Advantage though he lost his Life in the attaining of it Christ says the Apostle Col. 3.11 is all in all It was doubtless a blessed and glorious sight to behold the Lord Jesus Christ when he was here upon Earth when in the days of his Flesh he humbled himself and took upon him the form of a Servant for certainly he was the comiiest Person
regard they are free from any Mixtures The Joys of the Wicked are always mixed with Fear and Sorrow and so are oftentimes the Joys of the Saints also And herein God manifests great Wisdom and Goodness to his People thus to temper their Joys Even as it is with Men of weak Constitutions who must have their Wine mingled with Water for fear of distempering their Bodies And so must the Godly in this Life such is their Weakness have their Joys mingled with Fears and Sorrows lest they should grow proud or wanton Sometimes their Joys are mixed with Fear Hence it is Psalm 2.11 that we are commanded to serve the Lord with fear and to rejoice with trembling And thus we read of the two Women Matth. 28.8 who though assured by Angels that Christ was risen yet 't is said they departed from the Sepulchre with fear and great joy And so is it with a godly Man though by an Eye of Faith he beholds the Death and Sufferings of Christ and looking into his Grave is assured that he is risen from thence for his Justification and Salvation yet cannot but have his heart filled with a fearful trembling kind of Joy And as a Saint's Joy here is mixed with Fear so is it also sometimes mixed with Sorrow for when a Believer by Faith looks upon Christ crucified and considers that a person so infinitely great and glorious should die such a painful shameful cursed Death for so vile a Sinner and so great an Enemy unto God as he was the consideration of this so great and incomprehensible a Love manifested towards him in reconciling God and him together in delivering him from Wrath and Hell and in obtaining Eternal Life for him in Heaven Though this Love of Christ in doing all this for him cannot but affect him with great Joy yet the Consideration of his Sins that pierced and wounded yea crucified the Lord of Life and Glory cannot but break his Heart with godly Sorrow But now in Heaven the Joy of a Saint will be free from all mixtures both of Sorrow and Fear there shall be no Sorrow for present Troubles nor any Fears of future Dangers all their Sorrows will then be turned into Joy The sight of their Eyes will then affect their Hearts that is the sight and knowledge of the great God the Supreme and Insinite Good whom the Saints shall always have with them in Heaven is that which will fill and ravish their Souls with unspeakable Joy Secondly the Joys of a Saint in Heaven are spiritual Joys Now spiritual things are things both of the greatest Reality and of the greatest Excellency Spiritual things are things of the greatest Reality all other things comparatively are not they are such things as have no Being no Subsistence therefore says the Wise Man Why wilt thou set thine Eyes upon that which is not speaking of the admired things of the World We do but abusively call Men that abound with worldly Enjoyments rich substantial Men for Substance is no where but with God he only is the true substantial Good the things of this World are no more than a shadow If a Man were hungry would painted Bread satisfie him if a Man were starving with Cold would painted Fire warm him No why truly all the things of this World will appear no better to a Man when he comes to die there 's no Comfort nor Satisfaction to be fetch'd from them The Reality and Substantialness of Good is only laid up in God and in the Enjoyment of him who is the Saint's Happiness both on Earth and in Heaven There is a Vanity as in all the Troubles of the World so also in all the Comforts of the World There is a Vanity in the Troubles that the Saints endure they are but skin-deep a varnish of Trouble so says the Apostle 2 Cor. 6.10 as sorrowful yet always rejoicing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing yet possessing all things And as it is with the Troubles of the World so is it with the Comforts of the World all that sense looks at it is meerly out-side and appearing all the Enjoyments of the World are but a shadow an appearance of that which is Good God and Heaven are Realities but whatever else is Good is but appearingly so The things of the World are not when they are they are not in Reality when they are in Appearance It is a very great mistake to think nothing to be real but what we can touch and handle with our hands or what we can see with our Eyes such as Gold Silver Houses Lands these are not really substantially good things they make a fair show outwardly they have a Gaudery and Excellency as to Sense but nothing of real Excellency as to the Soul Nothing is real but what is spiritual though the Body be more seen than the Soul yet the Soul is a more real Good because it is a spiritual Good and comes nearest to God who is a Spirit and who only is so says the Prophet speaking concerning God Isai 43.11 who only art and there is none besides thee God Christ Grace and Heaven these are spiritually and substantially good and therefore it is said of Christ I cause them that love me to inherit Substance Prov. 8.21 And the Apostle tells the believing Hebrews Heb. 10.34 Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your Goods knowing that in Heaven you have a better and an enduring Substance The Joys and Delights of Heaven they are real because they are spiritual But this is not all for the Saints Joys in Heaven because they are spiritual they are therefore excellent yea the most excellent There is nothing that is earthy in Heaven but all of a spiritual and refined Nature and therefore the more real and the more excellent and by how much the more spiritual by so much the more real and the more excellent also All Joy and Delight placed upon any thing below God is carnal and earthly that which hath dregs in it and comes not up to the Excellency of the Soul it may refresh the Senses and delight the outward Man but it reacheth not the Soul and Conscience it must be something that is spiritual for its Nature and refined for its Excellency that must suit with and be the Delight of a Soul that is spiritual and such is Heaven and the Joys and Delights that are there superlatively excellent and spiritual flowing into the noblest and most excellent part of Man his Soul and Spirit from God who is a Spirit Thirdly The Joys of Heaven are full Joys The Psalmist calls them Fulnesses of Joy and Rivers of Pleasures for the abundance of them Psal 116.11 And the Apostle speaking of Believers tells us 1 Pet. 1.8 That though now they see him not yet believing they rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of Glory If now the Joy of Faith in the Promises of God from some small experience of his Love and Favour to the Soul be above
and Delights in him will be to joy and rejoice in him without bounds and limits Let our rejoicing in him be never so great it cannot be so great as he deserves Were it possible for one glorified Soul in Heaven to contain in it all the Affections of Love and Delight that are scattered up and down in all the Saints and Angels in Heaven and to put forth the Extremity of those Affections towards the great and blessed God in loving and delighting in him to the utmost of its Capacity yet when that Soul hath acted with the greatest ardency of all these Affections towards God still is there more of Worth and Excellency in God than all these Affections can reach unto and infinitely more doth he still deserve to be loved and delighted in It is true a gracious Soul in Heaven shall have other Objects to delight in as Saints and Angels and the glorious place of its Habitation the highest Heavens But whatever Joy or Delight the Soul expresseth in or towards any of these Objects it is because of the Divine Excellencies and Perfections that are communicated to them and do shine forth gloriously in them But still God is the chiefest Object of their Joy Here on Earth a Saint's Joy is chiefly in God Hab. 3. I will rejoice in the Lord and joy in the God of my Salvation Psal 34.2 My Soul shall make her boast in the Lord Psal 33.1 Rejoice in the Lord O ye Righteous And if it be thus with the People of God here much more will it be so with them in Heaven that which is now their Duty shall there be their eternal Reward always to rejoice in God for in his presence is fulness of Joy and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore And oh what a support may this be to a Soul that by the excess of its Joy and Delight in worldly Enjoyments hath provoked God to hide his Face from it and being sensible of its Sin is returning unto God seeking after him with weeping and mourning because of its offending him though as yet it cannot find God graciously smiling upon it Go on still O Soul seek him and mourn after him and remember for thy Comfort though weeping may endure for a night yet joy will come in the morning there is a time coming when thy Sorrow shall be turned into Joy yea when thou shalt have fullness and perpetuity of Joy in Conjunction for it shall be that in which thou shalt bathe thy Soul with infinite Pleasure and Delight to all Eternity I shall now close this Chapter with a short Discourse of that which is a necessary addition unto all that hath been said for the compleating the Saints Happiness in Heaven and that is the perpetuity or eternity thereof This is a Crown unto our Crown of Glory that it shall be eternal It is true God is the chief Happiness of a Saint in Heaven but tho' God be the chief yea the only Happiness of glorified Souls and Heaven it self were no Happiness to a Saint without God there yet if it be not an eternal Enjoyment of God in Heaven a Believer's Happiness there would be as it were no Happiness to him for the greater the Good is that is enjoyed if mixed with continual Fears of losing it the less Joy and Delight is there unto any in the possessing of it because the fear of being deprived of so great a Good abates so much of the Happiness and Comfort that otherwise would accrue unto the Soul in the enjoying of it that it makes it to be very little comparatively to what it would be That which otherwise would be unexpressibly delectable in the Enjoyment by our Fears of losing it gives little Contentment to us while we are possessed of it Now though there be just Cause for us to fear the loss of all earthly Enjoyments and possibly it may be necessary that God should suffer such Fears to prevail upon us that worldly things may have less of our Hearts and Affections and himself the more yet as to Heaven and the Happiness thereof there is no ground for any such Fears Nay though the Happiness of Heaven be Ten thousand times greater than what we can promise our selves in all worldly Enjoyments yet that which adds to the excellency of that Happiness is this that it is a thousand times more certain and secure than any worldly thing can be The Happiness of Heaven is not only a full and compleat Happiness but it is also a secure Happiness It is a full Happiness holy Souls though they are never satisfied till then yet are they then fully satisfied In Heaven there is a Cessation of Desire In the enjoyment of God in that glorious Place there is more of Happiness than the Soul is able to receive or bear And as this Happiness is full and satisfactory so is it also secure it is a Happiness that cannot be lost The Gates of the New Jerusalem that is of Heaven are therefore said to stand open to shew there is no fear of any Enemies Approach to take away the Happiness of a Saint there God will never take away the Happiness of a Saint from him the Devil nor Sin cannot take it away neither shall Man himself either lose or throw it away The Happiness of a Saint in Heaven is not like the Happiness of Man in Paradise which was in his own keeping and so was soon lost by him but it is in God's hands and so it cannot be lost As the Power of God now preserves and keeps a Saint for the enjoyment of Heaven therefore says the Apostle 1 Pet. 1.5 You are kept by the mighty Power of God through Faith unto Salvation So the Love the Grace the Mercy of God that hath bestowed the Happiness of Heaven upon them will for ever secure the Enjoyment of it to them And as the Happiness of Heaven cannot be lost so it shall never decay it is therefore called by the Apostle 1 Pet. 1.4 An Inheritance incorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away And says the same Apostle chap. 5.4 When the chief Shepherd shall appear you shall receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away neither Moth nor Thief comes there neither internal nor external Means of Corruption or Decay Here on Earth the sweetest Comforts soonest fade as the sweetest Rose soonest withers But in Heaven there 's an eternal Freshness and Greenness upon a Saint's Blessedness When glorified Souls have sung the Song of Moses and the Lamb Millions of Millions of Years it is a new Song still and as pleasant and delightful as ever And that a Saint's Happiness may be perfect and compleat it is that which shall never have an end Heaven is not a Tenement at Will but an Inheritance purchased for the Saints by the Blood of Christ and setled upon them for ever We know says the Apostle that when this earthly house of our Tabernacle shall be dissolved we have a Building of
this World wicked men at once both vex and laugh at the Purity and Holiness of the Saints inwardly they vex and fret at it though outwardly in their Speeches and Countenances they laugh and deride it Yea and to some it is though it be a Devilish Contentment to them that they can reproach the Defects of the Godly Should such as these enter Heaven while they are such Heaven would be a place of exact Torture and Torment to them because there they would find nothing of that Sin and Wickedness which is agreeable to their corrupt Hearts and Natures but contrarily all that Purity and Holiness which they hate yea and nothing but perfect Purity and Holiness which hath no defects for them to abuse O the woful and deplorable but withal certain and unavoidable Misery of all unregenerate unsanctified persons for tho' Heaven be a place of unconceivable Bliss and Happiness yet Heaven it self cannot make such as they are happy Tell me O all ye wicked and prophane wretches who think no time mispent or lost but what is thrown away in Holy Duties that grudge at every word spoken in Prayer that think much of every sand in the Glass that runs at a Sermon and unto whom every Summons to the publick Service of God is as unacceptable as their Passing Bell that cry when will the Sabbath be gone and the Ordinances be over What would you do in Heaven or what can such unholy hearts as yours do there where a Sabbath shall not be barely as long as a day or a week or a year but as long as Eternity it self where there shall be nothing but a continual performance of Holy Duties and Services without so much as one spare minute or a vain thought or an idle word for ever where whatsoever you shall hear see or converse with shall be all Holy And let me add this by how much the more perfect the Holiness of Heaven is than what the Holiness of the Saints here on Earth was by so much the more irksome and intolerable will it be to the wicked for if their sore Eyes cannot endure the light of a Star how will they be able to bear the dazling brightness of the Sun Secondly Wicked men are not only unsuitable to the Work of Heaven but they are unsuitable to the Reward of Heaven The Work of Heaven is Holy and Spiritual and so is the Reward of Heaven a Holy and Spiritual Reward and it lies chiefly in two things both of them unsuitable to a wicked and carnal heart one is a clear and constant Vision of the Great and Blessed God and the other is an unconceivable entireness of Communion and Fellowship with him Now of all things in the World these are the things which as unboly Persons are unacquainted with so of all things in the World they cannot endure to speak of each of these briefly First For the Reward of Heaven that consists in a clear constant Vision of the Great God this a Sinner cannot bear Nothing is more terrible to a guilty Sinner than the sight of a Righteous and Holy God The Scripture acquaints us that many of God's own People have had dreadful apprehensions of God upon some though but restrained discoveries that he hath been pleased to make of himself unto them Thus Job in Job 42.5 6. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the Ear but now mine Eye sees thee wherefore I abhor my self and repent in Dust and Ashes So the Prophet Esay cries out Woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts And when our Saviour put forth his Divine Power in the working of a Miracle the Glory of it was so terrible that Holy Peter cries out Luke 6. Depart from me O Lord for I am a sinful man What was it now that made these Holy Men so full of fear and trembling upon these discoveries of God Why it was only from a likeness that was in them unto Wicked men from those remainders of Sin and Corruption that still abide in them whereby they too much resemble ungodly men which Grace in this life cannot perfectly destroy Adam in Innocency had not nor have the Saints in Heaven any such dreadful apprehensions of God No Adam then did and the Saints in Heaven shall for ever enjoy the smiles of God's face beaming forth upon them If now the faint and weak discoveries of God that he hath made of himself unto Holy Men be so astonishing O what a confounding sight will it be unto Sinners to have all the Glorious Attributes of God break forth in a full flash of Lightning not only upon the Faces but into the Consciences of Sinners and when particularly among the rest of them they shall behold that dreadful Attribute his provoked Justice not only sworn but armed with Power and bent for their Destruction Is this such a Sight of God and wicked men shall behold no other as will make Heaven desirable unto Sinners surely it is not O that such would think of it before it be too late Secondly Another part of the Reward of Heaven stands in that unconceivable entireness of Communion and Fellowship with God which the Saints there enjoy This is their great Happiness both on Earth and in Heaven Holy David therefore tells us He had none in Heaven but God and that there was none on Earth that he desired in comparison of him And the Apostle speaking of himself and other Believers saith Their Fellowship was with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ And O how sweet and delightful are those intercourses that pass between God and Holy Souls in the Duties of his Worship and Service O what blessed exchanges of Love for Love what returns of Obedience and Praise for Grace and Mercy received which is the sweetness of every Duty and that which powerfully draws and engages Holy Souls to the daily performance of them And in Heaven in self the fulness and perfection of the Saints Happiness is that there they shall be for ever with the Lord. Now these Spiritual and Heavenly Enjoyments wicked men are not only unsuitable to but they are things which they also hate they were ever strangers to them here on Earth and how then shall they be fit for them in Heaven Certainly for wicked men to be tyed up to such Spiritualities as these will make Heaven it self but an uncomfortable place to them But though wicked Men are neither fitted for the Work nor suited to the Reward of Heaven yet is there both a Work and a Reward in Heaven that remains to be performed and enjoyed by the People of God That Heaven is a Place of Rest Ease and Refreshment is the common and received Notion that all Men have of it but that is not all that the Happiness of Heaven is made up of For it is not only a place of Rest but it is also a place