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
come Frequently therefore O Christian have recourse unto Heaven dwell much there in thy Thoughts and Contemplations this will inflame thy Soul with Love to God this will make thee pray with Zeal and Fervour hear with earnestness and attention and perform all the Duties God requires of thee with activity and liveliness Thirdly A Heart set upon Heaven will make a Christian live the most joyful and comfortable Life in the World A Heavenly Mind will be a joyful Mind A Saint on Earth hath the same ground of Joy that a Saint in Heaven hath he derives his Joy and Peace from the Apprehensions he hath of God's being his God and Father in Jesus Christ and from the sence and enjoyment of his Love and Favour manifested to his Soul And so doth a Saint in Heaven only he hath a clearer knowledge and discovery as also a larger and fuller enjoyment thereof at present than a Saint on Earth hath but what he wants in Enjoyment he hath in the Promise and the Promises to a Saint on Earth are as certain and as true as the performance of them to a Saint in Heaven for God is never worse but usually better than his Word to his People here but to be sure they always find it so when they come to Heaven Now they that are Rich in Promises as all the People of God are and can act Faith upon them may very well live a Life of Peace and Joy for whatever they have not in possession they have in reversion And when a Believer's Faith and Hope is entertained above with the delightful Views and Contemplations of the Glory and Happiness of Heaven which he shall ere long be in the possession of what should make him walk uncomfortably and sadly here below In Heaven all is Peace and Joy and most of Peace and Joy here below resides with those that live most in Heaven while they are here on Earth an instance of this we have in the Holy Apostle none ever lived a more Heavenly Life on this side Heaven than Blessed St. Paul did and none also ever lived a more Peaceable and Joyful Life than he did How full of Joy doth he express himself upon all Occasions I Joy and Rejoice with you all says he Philip. 2.17 I am filled with comfort I am exceeding Joyful in all our Tribulations 2 Cor. 7.4 So in Rom. 5.1 2. Being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and Rejoice in Hope of the Glory of God And not only so but we Glory in Tribulation And Verse 11. We also Joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have received the Atonement So in 2 Tim. 4.8 I have fought a good Fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give unto me at that Day Now he that could say all this must needs be full of Joy and Comfort and being thus filled with Joy and Peace in believing though he knew that Bonds and Imprisonments did abide him in every place yet could he say that none of these things moved him neither counted he his Life dear unto him so he might finish his Course with Joy as himself speaks Acts 20.23 24. And this Joy of the Lord being his strength how earnestly and passionately doth he expostulate and chide with those Friends of his that would have disswaded him from Suffering Acts 21.13 What mean ye to weep and break mine Heart I am ready not only to be bound but to die for the Name of the Lord Jesus at Jerusalem From whence now came all this Courage and Boldness from whence did he receive and draw all this Joy and Consolation why it came from thence where his Hope his Heart his Life and Conversation was and that is from Heaven for so himself tells us Philip. 3.20 Our Conversation is in Heaven from whence we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ O this Hope of Eternal Life laid up for the Saints in Heaven as the Scripture calls it This laying hold of the blessed Hope set before us as it is called Heb. 6.18 19. This this was that which the Aposile had as an Anchor to his Soul sure and stedfast being that which entereth into that within the Vail that is into Heaven This made him not only to be content in every State and Condition but to rejoice in the worst that did befal him witness that strange Triumphant Speech of his 2 Cor. 12.3 I take pleasure says he in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in disiresses Now this peaceable joyful Life that this Blessed Apostle lived was not a Priviledge granted only unto him by way of special Grace and Favour because he was so eminent an Apostle and Servant of God but it is a Priviledge that is extended more commonly also unto other Believers it being that of which the Kingdom consists as the Apostle himself tells us Rom. 14.17 The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost And therefore as a Duty incumbent upon Christians he urgeth the practice of it in several Scriptures So we read Philip. 3.1 Finally my Brethren rejoice in the Lord and in 1 Thess 5.10 Rejoice evermore Phil. 4.4 Rejoice always in the Lord and again I say rejoice Now the way for Christians to attain unto a Life of Peace and Joy is to be much conversant above to live a Heavenly Life to exercise his Thoughts and Contemplations daily upon Heaven and that State of Bliss and Happiness that is to be eternally enjoyed there Heaven is a place full of Peace and Joy yea a place where there is nothing else and the more of Heaven comes down into any Soul in this Life or the more any Soul ascends up into Heaven in Divine Contemplations the more comfortable and joyful Life doth that Soul lead while it is here upon Earth Fifthly Is there such a State of Bliss and Happiness to be enjoyed by the People of God hereafter let every one then examine themselves what Right and Title they have thereunto whether they are such as are qualified for the enjoyment of that blessed State First Examine thy self whether ever thou didst experience a work of Sanctification and Holiness wrought upon thy Soul if not whatever thy pretences for Heaven may be they are false and groundless and will end in Horror and Vexation of Soul The Command of God is that we should be Holy in all manner of Conversation that we should be Holy as God is Holy and the great Pattern and Exemplar of our Holiness is the Lord Jesus Christ who as the Apostle tells us was Holy Harmless Vndefiled separated from Sin and from all pollution and defilement both from Sin and Sinners Here now is both a Christian's Rule and a Christian's Example Now though a Christian cannot reach the exactness and perfection
Death arise from his Ignorance of what Death is in it self and of what it will be unto him and this makes him walk so uncomfortably under the thoughts of it And yet the worst that Death is and the worst it can do unto him is only to make a Separation between those two old loving Acquaintance his Soul and Body whereby the viler part the Body consumes and rots in the Grave being fed upon by Worms till it turns to Dust and Ashes for some little time after which it shall arise again a glorious refined purified Body from all its dross and corruption and made like unto the Glorious Body of Jesus Christ to be again united unto that Soul which during the time of its silent sleeping in the dust was rejoicing with Saints and Angels yea with God and Christ in a state of infinite and unconceivable Happiness unto which the Body after its re union with the Soul shall ascend with it to partake of the same Blessedness in Heaven to all Eternity Surely such a Soul instead of being timorous and fearful should rather say with the Apostle I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Phil. 1.21 Secondly The Consideration of so great a Happiness provided in Heaven for Believers should moderate their Sorrows for the Death of their Godly Friends and Relations It is true when such are taken away by Death the loss is great unto those that survive them and therefore the God of Bowels and Mercy allows us to mourn when by his Providence he makes such breaches among us Abraham mourned for Sarah his Wife Joseph wept for his Father Jacob the Israelites made great lamentations for the loss of Moses and both Mary and her Sister Martha mourned for their Brother Lazarus and our Lord doth not reprove them but sympathizeth with them in their loss and testifies it by his weeping also But though we are allowed to mourn at the Death of our Godly Friends and Relations yet are we to set bounds to our mourning for we are not to sorrow as those that have no Hope nor are we so to grieve and afflict our selves as to refuse to be comforted Friends use to rejoice in the advancement of one another in the World though it be in the enjoyment of that which is but Temporary and therein they shew their Love to one another And will not should not you much more rejoice when your Friends and Acquaintance are by Death preferred to the enjoyment of a Happiness that is Spiritual and Eternal Shall a Natural and contracted Relation either by Blood Cohabitation or Friendship engage to greater Love and Affection than a Spiritual and Supernatural Relation by Grace and Adoption shall do Believers are all nearly and intimately related to one another they are all Members of one and the same Body they have all one and the same Father they have all one and the same Redeemer they have all one and the same Sanctifier and Comforter they have all one Faith one Hope and shall all one day enjoy one and the same Heaven though they go thither in different ways and at different times Grieve not mourn not then O Believer that thy Friends and Relations are gone to Heaven a little before thee Time was it may be when you and they did take sweet Counsel together and walked to the House and Ordinances of God in company and very sweet and delightful was your Society one with another but now Death hath made a Separation between you so that the sweetness of that Friendship is at an end and they are not as to your enjoyment of them and this makes you passionately cry out Oh my loss my loss my Friends and Relations are dead and gone and what shall I now do But where O Believing Soul is thy love to thy dead Friends and Relations Is it at an end and all buried in the Grave with them Be patient for a while and Death will quickly open thee a passage into that place of Bliss where they now are and in the mean time shew thy Love to them by thy rejoicing in their present real though unseen Blessedness and if you cannot do this your Love to your self is great but your Love to your Friends is but little None of our Relations that die in the Lord are lost they are only gone to Heaven a little before others whither the rest of all the Faithful shall ere long be called also And while any Believers are left here behind in the World they have a God to live upon that will never leave them nor forsake them the enjoyment of whose presence and the manifestations of whose Love and Favour will abundantly more than recompense for the absence and loss of all our Friends We read in 1 Sam. 1.8 that Hannah was greatly afflicted because of her barrenness insomuch that she refused to eat what course doth Elkanah her Husband take to comfort her O why says he art thou troubled and why doest thou not eat Am not I better to thee than ten Sons Truly it may be much more said unto any Believer from whom God hath taken any dear and pious Relations why are you cast down why do you grieve and mourn is not God better than many yea than all your Friends and Relations put together and he lives still though your Friends and Relations be dead And truly this is that God expects at a Believer's hands that when he hath taken from him the comfort of near and dear Friends and Relations he should bear up himself cheerfully with this Consideration That having God to be his God doth infinitely more than countervail for the loss of all Stay up thy self therefore O desponding Christian yea solace thy Soul under all thy losses with this Consideration that God is thy God And say therefore with Holy David The Lord lives and blessed be my rock and let the God of my Salvation be exalted Seventhly Is there such a place of Bliss and Happiness provided for and assured unto Believers let the consideration hereof put them upon unwearied Diligence and Constancy in the Work and Service of God that is attended with so great a Reward The Scripture abounds with Exhortations and Commands to press this Duty upon Christians Josh 22.5 Take diligent heed to do all the Commandments of the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul And in Phil. 3.11 12 13 14. the Apostle gives us his own Example and Practice I have not already attained says he nor am I already perfect but I follow after if I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ Jesus Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting the things that are behind I reach forth unto those things that are before pressing towards the mark for the prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus if by any means I may attain unto the Resurrection of the
of any Soul after them certainly that Object is God and that Place is Heaven where God is fully and eternally to be enjoyed and in the enjoyment of whom there is not only nothing but what is lovely and desirable but where there is every thing that is lovely and desirable also We read frequently of the Expressions of many Holy Men that set forth the greatness of their Love and Affection towards God but there is none that we meet with in Sacred Writ whose Soul did more delightfully vent it self in pathetical expressions of this Nature than Holy David The Book of Psalms abounds with them Psal 42.1 2. As the Hart panteth after the Water Brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God My Soul is athirst for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God Psal 84.1 2. How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts my Soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord my Heart and my Flesh cryeth out for the living God A day in thy Courts is better than a thousand I had rather be a Door-keeper in the House of my God than to dwell in the Tents of Wickedness Psal 63.1 2 3. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my Soul thirsteth for thee my Flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty Land where no water is that I may see thy Power and thy Glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary Now all these expressions of this Holy Man are but the streamings forth of the Love and Affection of his Soul at several times and upon several occasions after the enjoyment of God in his House and Ordinances which he was then deprived of And if the mediate presence of God and the comnications of his Grace and Love to a Soul in Holy Duties be so much to be defired because therein it enjoys God and hath thereby the manifestations of his Love and Favour sealed and confirmed to it Is not then the immediate presence of God in Heaven much more to be desired where the Soul shall stand in no need of any Duties or Ordinances to confirm the Love of God unto it because there shall be no Sin in it to provoke God to hide his Face from it or to interrupt the Peace and Joy of the Soul 's delighting it self in him to Eternity To be in such a frame as to be able to say though I experience not those ravishing Joys in the Hopes of Heaven that some Servants of God attain unto though I am a Stranger unto those vehement longings and holy pantings of Soul after God and Heaven that some are acquainted with whereby they are ardently desirous of a dissolution yet to be able to say I bless God I am very well content to submit to his Will the thoughts of Death are not terrible and amazing to me but I am willing to yield my self up unto the good pleasure of God when he sees good to call me hence This indeed is something of the temper of a good Christian and that which God takes well at the hands of any if it be done upon good grounds But this is not all that God expects nor is it all that the Christian Religion teaches and requires the certain and sure Principles of Christianity founded on the Divine Oracles will enable a Believer to go further for it discovers an unbodied State of Happiness to be enjoyed by Holy Souls in another World after which there should be such strong Workings and earnest Groanings as should carry forth the Soul in Holy Longings and Desires after the participation thereof And this now is not a frame of Soul to be found in a Believer upon a Death bed only but it is that which should be the joyful Companion of his Life in the time of his Health and Strength and the Reason is this because God and Heaven have the same loveliness and desireableness in them at one time that they have at another in Health that they have in Sickness in Life as they have in Death and therefore they call for and deserve the same height of Love and Affection and the same strength of Joy and Delight to be exercised towards them when a Believer hath the greatest enlargements of outward Prosperity as when he is under the greatest confinement of Adversity or Sickness Live therefore O Believer with a Holy Longing and Desire of Soul springing up in thee continually after Heaven be earnestly desirous after thy departure hence that thou may'st be with God This was that Blessed Frame Holy Souls of old lived in so the Apostle speaks of himself and others in that excellent Scripture 2 Cor. 5.2 4 8. We says he that are in this Tabernacle do groan earnestly that we may be cloathed upon with our House that is from Heaven And we groan being burthened that Mortality might be swallowed up of Life And yet again says he We are always confident or we do always with confidence expect and desire to be absent from the Body But why so Oh there is good Reason for it because says he Whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent or we are kept at too great a distance from the Lord. To be content to Die is a good temper of Soul and that which is rarely found in any wicked man to be sure not upon good grounds but truly when I consider how much farther a Christian might go and what he is yet short of that might tend to the Glory of God the Credit of the Christian Religion and the Peace and Comfort of his own Soul methinks his present attainment compared with what is his Duty to Labour after is no extraordinary great thing For consider a little what a strange kind of expression is it and how harshly doth it sound to say concerning a Believer that he is content to be Happy As to Worldly enjoyments it is not usual to say of any Man that he is Content to have them who says concerning Silver and Gold that a Man is Content to be enriched with them No the common expression in this case is not that Men are Content to be Rich but that they are Covetous after Riches And so for Honour and outward Greatness we say not that Men are Willing to be Honoured and Advanced above their Neighbours but they are Ambitious in seeking after Promotion And why then should it be said of a Christian only that he is Content to be Happy Content to be with God in Heaven Now if Worldly Mens desires work thus strongly after Earthly and Temporal Enjoyments which cannot make them Happy when attained surely the desires of a Christian should work as strongly after Heavenly and Eternal Enjoyments which when attained can and will make them truly and really Happy And here I will add one thing let the whole Creation be ransackt let Earth and Heaven be searcht there is nothing no Person no Object to be found in either that can
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life that is in the midst of the Paradise of God Rev. 2.7 To him that overcometh will I give to sit with me on my Throne even a I have overcome and am set down with my Father on his Throne Rev. 3.21 Believers are the greatest Heirs in all the World for as the Apostle speaks They have the Promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come And says the same Apostle All things are yours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or Life or Death or things present or things to come all is yours and you are Christ's and Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3.22 Secondly The Certainty of a future state of Glory and Happiness may be demonstrated from the great Undertaking of the Lord Jesus Christ And indeed this was a Work fit for none but him to undertake for none else were able to accomplish it Whatever worth or excellency there is either in all the Men on Earth or in all the Saints and Angels in Heaven should they have proffered to have done and suftered all that their Natures are capable of to have purchased the Love and Favoun of God to have been enjoyed though but by one Soul and that but for one moment of time in Heaven it would have been rejected and despised by God But now the Death and Sufferings of Jesus Christ were of equal worth and value with Heaven and the Enjoyment of God to eternity for his Blood was the Blood of God and therefore the shedding of it deserved the Presence Love and Favour of God to be bestowed upon Believers as their Portion for ever This Jesus Christ hath done for this he hath both suffered and died and because he hath made a Purchase of these things with his Blood Believers shall therefore enjoy them for Christ will not lose his Purchase nor shall Believers therefore lose their Happiness The bringing many Sons unto Glory was the End which Christ designed in the laying down of his Life and therefore he willingly submitted unto the Way by which he was to accomplish it and that was by his suffering Death and from hence therefore the People of God are said to obtain an inheritance among them that are sanctified by Faith in him Thirdly Another Ground or Reason we have to believe a state of Glory and Happiness hereafter may be taken from the Spirit 's introductory or preparatory working in the Hearts of Believers here in this Life By this now I mean the Beginning of Grace wrought in the Soul for Grace and Glory are one and the same thing Grace is Glory and Glory is Grace all the Difference between them is only in the degree Grace is Glory begun and Glory is Grace perfected And when the Spirit of God works Grace in any Soul he then gives the first Fruits the Earnest or Fore-taste of Glory Grace therefore is sometimes called Glory in Scripture so we read 2 Cor. 3.18 We all with open face beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory unto Glory that is from one degree and measure of Grace unto another And Grace there is called Glory because when Grace is advanced unto its highest degree of perfection it is Glory Now where ever any receive the first fruits of Heaven in Grace and Holiness they shall receive the full Harvest of Glory it self Grace therefore is called the Spirit 's forming or fitting of the Soul for Glory Hence the Apostie speaking of himself and others as groaning and longing to be cloathed with their House which is frown Heaven that Mortality might be swallowed up of Life In 2 Cor. 5.3 4. he adds in the 5th verse He that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God who hath also given us the Earnest of the Spirit which in Ephes 1.14 is called the Earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased Possession Where ever Grace is in truth it is always in Growth and it shall be in perfection So saith the Apostle Phil. 1.6 He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the Day of Jesus Christ Where the Spirit gives unto any the Nature and Disposition of the Children of God he thereby gives them an undoubted Right and Title unto Heaven and Glory yea such a Right and Title as shall never be lost or broken off So saith the Apostle Rom. 8.16 17. For the Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God and if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and joint-Heirs with Jesus Christ and if we suffer with him we shall also be glorified together Fourthly and lastly Imight argue the Certainty of a future state of Glory and Happiness from the constant believing Hopes and Expectations yea and Sufferings also of the Saints and People of God in all Ages If Believers had hope only in this Life they were then as the Apostle speaks of all men most miserable But it is not so for their Hopes and Happiness lies in those things that are to be enjoyed beyond Time even in Eternity And hence it is that they have such strong Consolation as bears up their Souls above all the Sufferings that they meet with in this present Life because they have sled for Refuge to lay hold on the Hope that is set before them which Hope they have as an Anchor of the Soul that is sure and stedfast because it entreth into that within the Vail Heb. 6.18 19. It is the Nature of the New Creature where-ever it is to cause the Soul to look upwards and hence it is that the People of God are said to be begotten again unto a lively hope of an Inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for them 1 Pet. 1.3 4. From this now springs great Joy and Consolation and therefore upon this account it is that Believers are said to rejoyce in hopes of the Glory of God Rom. 35.2 Should I now attempt to lay down a Description of Heaven that Place of perfect Bliss and Happiness I should prevent my self in what I intend to speak more fully and largely to afterwards Only in the General to excite and quicken our Desires and Affections after it take this following short Sum of it Heaven is a Place where there is a total and everlasting exclusion of all that is evil and imperfect and where there is a full perfection and perpetual enjoyment of all that is Good and that in the largest latitude and extent of it In Heaven there is nothing to afflict or torment but every thing that is satisfactory and delightful There is nothing of Sin there and therefore nothing of Sorrow Saint in Heaven enjoy the best Company There is the Great and Glorious God seen and known in all his glorious Excellencies and Perfections There is the Blessed Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of Life
arose again for their Justification and Glorification that this was he that with the price of his own Blood not only bought their Pardon but purchased that glorious Inheritance for them which now they are instated into the possession of this must needs put a new Life of Joy into their Souls and create a new kind of Happiness in them which they never were acquainted with nor was it possible for them to understand before Christ is the Desire of all Nations the Joy of Angels the Delight of God himself he in whom he is always well pleased All the Glory and Happiness of Heaven is wrapp'd up in him The Treasures of the Divine Wisdom Love and Kindness which were sometimes hid and concealed are now laid open in Heaven to the view of all the Saints O with what ravishing Joy and Delight then must those Souls be eternally filled with that live in the Sight Possession of him as theirs for ever Is not his Love better than Wine Will not the lifting up of the light of his Countenance upon the Soul administer more cause of Joy and Rejoycing than the greatest increase of all worldly enjoyments whatsoever O is not this the Language of holy Souls His Love is Life yea his loving kindness is better than Life O how shouldst thou chide thy self O Believing Soul whose Faith gives thee an Interest in him that thou art so afraid of his Appearance Whence is it that thou art so backward to go unto him Is the Enjoyment of him in Glory who is all Love all Life all Joy all Peace a frightful thing How comes it to pass that thou art so unwilling to die and be for ever with him whom thou callest thy Saviour Hath he laid down his Life and shed his Blood to redeem thee and will he now make an eternal Slave of thee What hath his Ascension into Glory changed his Nature and rendered him less lovely or the Happiness of Heaven in the Enjoyment of him less desirable No certainly he is not less lovely in himself because of his Exaltation into Glory but the more Nor is the Happiness of Heaven in the Enjoyment of him less but the more desirable and the more easily to be obtained for as the Apostle says If when we were Enemies we were reconciled by his Death much more being reconciled shall we be saved by his Life And because he lives glorified in Heaven therefore shall Believers live with him there and therefore also should they be the more desirous to be there because he is there Awake therefore O ye drowsie Saints rouze your selves up out of your Security and Slothfulness for a careless indifferent frame of Spirit doth not become those who are Expectants of so great and glorious a Redeemer and of so great a Happiness as is the eternal Enjoyment of him O what a holy Impatience and Vnquietness of Soul should rather be found in Believers after this Blessed Redeemer Is it not he by whom you expect to escape the Wrath and Vengeance of God Was not his Body broken and his Blood poured forth to make an Oblation for your Souls Was it not he whose Death and Sufferings have made full satisfaction to the Justice of God for your Sins Is it not he who to deliver you from the Curse of the Law was himself made a Curse for you Is it not he by whom alone you escape everlasting Burnings and hope to obtain an Inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you Is there any thing either in this World or in the World to come that is comparable to him Look upon him well O Believing Souls both in respect of what he once was and in respect of what he now is and you cannot but say he is made up of Love Henceforth therefore wonder not O blind and ignorant World that the People of God express such passionate longing Desires after the Enjoyment of this Blessed Jesus but rather wonder at your selves that such Blindness and Darkness should be found within you that you should not be able to discern those Excellencies and that Loveliness that is in him Were the Eyes of your Understanding opened had you but a Spirit of discerning bestowed upon you to see into those glorious Excellencies and Perfections that are in the Lord Jesus and the Happiness that is in the Sight and Fruition of him in Heaven you would then say We see now there is the greatest Reason in the World why the Saints and People of God have such vehement Desires after him are so covetous of being in his Presence and beholding of his Glory For what Soul that knows him that hath tasted of his Love and experienced the Manifestations of his Grace and Favour towards it but doth most earnestly wish not only to see him but to live for ever with him O my Soul Whence is it then that thou that canst say thou lovest him in Truth and in Sincerity dost yet make it no more thy daily Care and Study to gain more and farther Knowledge of him and a more dear and intimate Acquaintance with him that so thou maist be brought into a more full and immediate Enjoyment of him And O thou infinitely Blessed Lord Jesus who hast all Loveliness and Amiableness in thee look down graciously upon thy poor Creatures and discover unto them more of those ravishing transcendent Beauties and Excellencies that are in thee and let us every day have more and farther insight into those never to be fully known Perfections of Glory and Loveliness that are in thy self that thereby we may be enabled not only to commend thee a thousand times more feelingly and affectionately unto others but may thereby also win upon yea command the Affections and Desires of all that hear of thee unto thee that nothing short of the Enjoyment of thy self and the Manifestations of thy Love and Favour in Eternal Glory may satisfie and content us or them but that we may continually be crying out in that known Language of thy Church Come Lord Jesus come quickly Fourthly and Lastly The Saints Happiness in Heaven consists in this That there they shall have the Vision and Enjoyment of God himself being always where he is seeing his Face and beholding his Glory Now in speaking to this great Happiness of the Saints the Beatifical Vision of God I shall content my self with those things that are most plain and will be most benificial Now the Sacred Scripture gives us an Account of this Great and Mysterious part of the Saints Happiness in many high and lofty expressions calling it sometimes a seeing of the Face of God Rev. 22.4 They shall see his Face Sometimes it is set forth by our becoming like unto God and seeing him as he is so in 1 John 3.2 Now says the Apostle we are the Sons of God but it doth not no nor can it yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall
for my Name sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven Thus whatever condition the People of God are in yet still they ought always to joy and rejoyce in God and the Reason is this because they have the special Presence of God with them and where that is there are frequent though secret discoveries of God's Love unto them How often doth God lift up the light of his Countenance upon such whilst they are attending upon him in holy Duties secretly whispering to their Souls that they are accepted in the Beloved vouchsafing to them some Discoveries of the invisible and unseen but yet real Glory and Happiness of Heaven and of their Interest in it whereby their Souls are even ravished with an excess of strange and unusual Joy and Delight beyond what they are able to express And yet all this is whilst as the Apostle speaks Believers walk by Faith and not by Sight Now if this little Sight and these small Enjoyments that the Saints have of God here which in comparison of what they shall see and enjoy of God hereafter may be said to be no Sight for so the Apostle calls it 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom as yet having not seen if this Sight of God which as it follows in the next Words is only our Believing in God if this fills the Soul of a Believer with so great Joy and Delight what then shall the Beatifical Vision of God in Heaven do If Faith and Hope do so ravish the Souls of Believers with Joy and Delight even then whilst we are absent from the Lord for as the Apostle speaks Whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. If yet the Joy of Faith and Hope be so great O what then shall the Joy of Vision be when Believers shall not only be absent from the Body and present with the Lord but shall be ever present with the Lord both in Soul and Body seeing him face to face and enjoying him as he is Surely this Joy must needs be unspeakably great and glorious indeed this Sight of God is that which will not only amaze the Eye with wonder but ravish the Heart with eternal Ecstasies of Joy and Delight Fourthly The Saints Sight and Vision of God in Heaven shall be permanent and perpetual In this Life the People of God have not always the Presence of God with them nor the Manifestations of his Love and Favour towards them but are often in the dark for either they sin away God's Presence from them which is most frequent or else God for wise and holy Ends sees good to withdraw himself from them for a time and when either of these happen it is a sad time with such Souls especially if Sin hath been the Cause of it Such therefore walk very dejectedly and the Truth is their Case is very sad but yet it is that which many of the People of God have experienced See how the Church complains Esa 49.14 But Sion said the Lord hath forsaken me my God hath forgotten me So the Spouse Cant. 5.6 I opened to my Beloved but my Beloved had withdrawn himself my Soul failed when he spake I sought him but I could not find him I called him but he gave me no Answer And as it hath been thus with the People of God formerly so sad Experience tells us it is so with many of them still Sometimes they enjoy something of God his Presence and the Manifestations of his Love towards them in a Duty and O how sweet and delightful is it to their Souls when they thus meet with God! It is Heaven upon Earth but these things do not last for when Duties are ended the People of God grow careless and remiss yield to Temptations give way to Sin become vain and worldly and so lose the Presence of God by reason whereof they walk in Darkness have no Manifestations of his Love and Favour towards them insomuch that their Souls are even ready to faint and sink within them under a despair of Mercy This now is the Case of many a Child of God in this World sometimes he hath the benign Instuences of the Divine Favour darted into his Soul which makes him greatly to rejoyce but what God thus graciously gives he doth not wisely and holily retain These joyful Seasons abide not always with the People of God but they soon lose them the Light of God's Countenance is eclipsed and his Face hid from them by reason of their Foolishness But it is not thus in Heaven no Sin comes there to intercept between the Face of God and those holy Souls for ever There is no complaining of any Saint in Heaven that God hath forsaken him or hides his Face from him But it shall ever be with those holy Ones as our Lord tells us it is now with their Angels Matth. 18.10 They shall always behold the Face of God in Glory This blessed Object of the Saints Happiness in Heaven shall never be withdrawn from them to eternity nor shall their Sight ever be wearied with beholding of it nay without this constant Vision and enjoyment of God Heaven would not be a Happiness great enough to fill and satisfie the Desires of the Saints Their Souls are so raised so capacious that they cannot be content with any thing even in Heaven it self unless they enjoy God there Should God bestow upon them the Glory of all the Creatures either in Heaven or in Earth should he confer upon them the Glory of all the Kings and Emperors in the World yea should he add to that the Glory of the Sun Moon and Stars nay should he add to them the Glory of all the Angels and Cherubims in Heaven yet still they would say they had not enough to make them happy for all these are not God When therefore God hath given Heaven to the Saints he must there give them the Vision and Enjoyment of himself or else they will not account themselves happy Nay I will go a little farther still it is not the Vision and Enjoyment of God in Heaven for a little time suppose it were for a few Days or Years nay were it for many Thousands of them this would not give their Souls full Satisfaction and Contentment unless they could eternally enjoy God This only can make them compleatly happy and now and never till now do they say they have enough And O how sweet is this Word Ever unto the Saints in Heaven in the sense I am speaking of Ever to be with the Lord ever to have him smile upon the Soul ever to behold his Face ever to have his Presence with it and ever to be under the Manifestations of his Love and Favour Here here is Heaven and Happiness indeed thus to see and enjoy God for ever And so much for the First Thing What kind of Sight or Vision of God the Saints shall have in Heaven Secondly Wherein doth it appear that this Vision of God
into the Kingdom of God 2 Tim. 3.12 All that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer Persecution They who are not of the world but chosen by God out of the world are sure to meet with the World's Hatred so our Lord tells us John 15.19 John 17.14 A Saint's Peaceable and quiet State is yet to come In this Life they receive all their evil things from God from Men and from Devils and when they arrive at Heaven their afflicted persecuted State is over and instead thereof they shall for ever be partakers of Peace and Joy O all ye Saints and People of God that now can set upon no Work or Service for God but you meet with Opposition yea and if you will go through with it are sure not only to lose the Love of the World and to part with many of your outward Comforts and Enjoyments in so doing but also to meet with many Enemies that will afflict and persecute you in the discharge of your Duty yet be not affrighted at it but persevere therein and for your Encouragement know that while you do so you are secure of the Love and Favour of God to you and the Time is almost come when you shall see an End of all your Persecutors yea and of their Persecutions also How quickly will Death come in to your Relief and put you out of the reach of all their Malice to harm you for ever For in Heaven you shall never meet with any company that shall discourage your Hearts or weaken your Hands but such only as will gladly further you in your holy Work by joyning Hearts and Voices with you in everlasting Joys and Praises And until that Time doth come let Faith and Hope support and bear you up that you may always in Patience possess your Souls And whatever Reproaches you meet with for well doing bind them as so many Crowns upon your Heads value them with Moses as greater Riches to you than all the Treasures of the world yea as the blessed Apostle says in Jam. 1.2 Let it be all joy unto you when you fall into divers Temptations remembring God can deliver you from them however he will quickly deliver you out of them recompensing Tribulation to them that trouble you but unto you who are troubled Rest and Peace for ever In this Life also the People of God suffer many Losses meet with many Disappointments But in Heaven there are no such things All Treasures laid up on Earth are subject to the Moth to the Rust and to the Thief Inward Corruption or outward Violences do often deprive us of them or if we lose them not so Death to be sure will put an end to our Enjoyment of them But it is not so in Heaven Treasure laid up there is safe and secure there 's no Moth nor Rust to corrupt it nor no Thieves to rob and spoil us of it A Saint's Happiness in Heaven cannot be lost nor shall a Godly Man ever meet with any Disappointments there unless it be by finding a Happiness far greater than ever he imagined All in Heaven is like unto the God of Heaven permanent and abiding It shall not be with a Saint there as it is with him here Now his Condition is subject to Change and Alteration sometimes he is high and sometimes low sometimes rich and sometimes poor sometimes in peace and liberty and sometimes under restraint and imprisonment But the Happiness of Heaven is always one and the same subject to no Changes or Vicissitudes And as for the loss of Friends and Relations a great Affliction unto many in this World it shall not be so with us in Heaven for whoever of them we meet with there they and we shall never be parted Saints in Heaven have not only the best Company but they have that Society with the greatest Advantage being such as shall never be broken but continue everlastingly Here the People of God greatly love and delight in the Society of one another as they are Saints but because they are also Sinners Death will make a separation between them But when once Sin is extirpated out of them as it shall be in Heaven then as they shall be the best Company so they shall be a perpetual Society Here the Fear of losing our Friends and Relations is a great Disquietment to us while we enjoy them but in Heaven all such Fears are abolished Let but Husband and Wife let but Parents and Children let but Friends and Relations make Heaven sure to their own Souls let them but clear up to themselves their Title unto that Happiness that is to be enjoyed in Heaven through the great and blessed Redeemer and then though Death will part them one from another for a Time yet it shall certainly bring them together again in Heaven and though some of them are more Happy than others because by dying before them they get to Heaven sooner than they yet shall they all come thither in their appointed Time and then shall they be free'd from all Fears of ever being parted asunder any more And instead thereof they shall know themselves to be confirmed in the Happy and Everlasting Enjoyment of one another in Glory In this Life also the People of God are often afflicted with many Weaknesses and Distempers of Body in respect whereof their Lives may be called a Dying Life Oh! what wearisome Days what tiresome Nights do they sigh and groan away by Reason hereof Oh! what mournful Complaints are there made by them upon this Account some daily crying out Oh my Head Oh my Stomach others Oh my Side Oh my Bowels seldom are they free two days together from some Distemper or other yea so rack'd and tormented are they with Extremity of Pain that their Lives are little better almost than a continual Burthen to them But now in Heaven all these Complaints shall cease they are only the Effects of Sin and therefore to accompany us only in our sinful State and when Sin shall be expelled out of the Soul as it shall be in Heaven Sickness and Distempers shall never more annoy these Bodies of ours As Job speaks of the Grave there the weary are at rest that is those who now are wearied with labours and pains when they come to lye down in their Graves shall be at Rest And if it be thus in the Grave how much more shall it be so in Heaven and that not by insensibleness and want of feeling as it is with those that are dead but because the Happiness of that State is so great as is not only exclusive of but cannot possibly admit of any such thing as Pain and Sorrow being a State made up of perfect Joy and Delight in an eternal Perpetuity for they obtain joy and gladness and Sorrow and sighing flee away Esai 35.10 Secondly in Heaven the Saints shall enjoy a perfect Freedom from all Temptations In this World Temptations make the Lives of God's People very uncomfortable to
them go bowing down greatly yea to sigh and mourn continually What says holy David Psal 38.3 4 5 6 There is no soundness in my Flesh because of thine Anger neither is there any rest in my Bones by reason of my Sin Mine Iniquities are gone over my head as a Burden too heavy for me to bear My Wounds stink and are corrupt because of my Foolishness I am troubled I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the day long Thus holy Paul complains also in Rom. 7.14 I am carnal and sold under sin Verse 21. I find a Law that when I would do good Evil is present with me And 23 I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bridging me into captivity to the Law of Sin that is in my Members In the sense whereof he cries out as a Man greatly oppressed in the next Words Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death In-dwelling Sin renders the Lives of God's People very bitter and uncomfortable And how can it be otherwise For Sin is the constant Source and Fountain of all their Miseries There is no Distress or Trouble befalls a Godly Man but Sin is the meritorious procuring Cause of it Sometimes Sin disturbs his Peace sometimes it impairs his Grace sometimes it breaks his Bones but it always pollutes and defiles his Soul Oh what sad work doth Sin make continually and the best it can end in is Repentance and godly Sorrow A Christian in this Life is always in a Conflict with Corruptions Sin and Lust are continually warring against the Soul So saith the Apostle Gal. 5.17 The Flesh iusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these two are contrary the one unto the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would Sin draws a godly Man one way and Grace draws him another Sin in him will not yield and Grace in him cannot yield And though through the strength of the Spirit enabling him to exercise Grace he is daily getting ground of his Corruptions yet is it very slowly what he gains is as it were by Inches every step he takes through his Enemies Country he is fain to force his way and he never obtains a Victory over Sin but it is with great strugling and wrestling He is always standing upon his Guard and if he chance to slumber never so little or be negligent in his spiritual watch he is presently furprized by a diligent Enemy that always lies in wait and observes him This now is the constant Life of a Christian always to be maintaining a Warfare with Sin that is continually stirring in him and ever ready to put forth it self one way or other to do him Mischief Sin is continually making the Life of a godly Man uncomfortable and while Sin is in him it will not be otherwise Now Sin will always be in him while he is in this World and therefore he will always have some Troubles some Perplexities to afflict and disquiet him But when Death that Friend of the Saints for so Death is to them and to none but them comes they shall be perfectly free from all that which now afflicts and troubles them because they shall be perfectly free from Sin that is the Cause of it And therefore that I may note it by the way With what rejoycing of Soul should a godly Man upon this account entertain the thoughts of Death How welcome should the approach of this Friend of his be unto him For certainly a Saint hath not a better Friend in all the World for next unto Jesus Christ who hath made satisfaction for a Believer's Sins and obtained Life and Salvation for his Soul Death must needs be his best Friend because it frees him from all Sin He that frees us from the Evil of our Sins and from suffering eternal Punishments due to us because of them by satisfying the Justice of God for them must needs be our best and chiefest Friend and next unto him he that frees us from the being of Sin that we may no more offend God thereby and that is Death And indeed none in the World can be kinder to a Saint or do such an Office of Love for him as Death doth for at once it sets him not only out of the reach of all his Enemies but perfectly frees him from that which caused them to be so and that is Sin and herein the Goodness of God is greatly to be observed that Death which is a Punishment for Sin should be turned into the destruction of the very Being of Sin and so it is to every Believer For after Death Sin shall not only cease to act but shall cease to be Two Things commend Death and ought to make it desirable to every Believer One is That it frees him from all Sin and the other is That it brings him to the everlasting enjoyment of God and the latter depends upon the former for till a Believer is perfectly freed from all Sin he can have no entrance into Heaven where God the Fountain of all Bliss and Happiness is seen and enjoyed And certainly where Sin is felt as a heavy Burthen by any Soul and where God is the Delight of that Soul Death must needs have an amiable Aspect and so it will if the Soul act as it ought to do Should God ask one Godly Man after another What is it that you most desire tell me and it shall be given you would they not all with one consent say Lord that we might be freed from Sin Oh that we might be delivered from our Corruptions that we might never offend and displease God Lord thou that knowest our hearts knowest that nothing in all the world is so great a Burthen to us as these sinful Hearts and Natures of ours whereby we are necessitated to offend thee this is the constant Language of their Prayers of their Cries of their Tears day and night that they might be rid of Sin Would it not be the most welcome News in the world to them that the Time were come wherein they should sin no more Certainly were it offered to their choice there is no godly Man in all the World but would rather chuse to be freed from Sin than to be made the Heir yea than to be the Possessor of the whole World What good says a Godly Man would the World do me so long as Sin and a naughty Heart inhabit in me These Lord saith a gracious Soul would do me more hurt in one day than the Enjoyment of the whole World to Eternity can do me good O Lord therefore whatever thou dost with me or whatever thou dost for me deliver me from this Body of Sin and Death that I continually carry about with me Why know all ye holy and gracious Souls whoever you are that thus go up and down mourning and complaining by reason of Sin know for your eternal Comfort that when
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 a part of the Happiness thereof as every thing that the heart of Man can desire or imagine that is truly excellent doth make up the Happiness of that blessed State But that which chiefly constitutes Heaven is Holiness there is a holy God there is a holy Place there is holy Company and Society yea every thing that is holy and nothing but what is holy There it is that holy Souls shall be for ever united to a holy God by a continual fervour of holy Love there it is that they shall always holily depend upon God by holy and heavenly Acts of Faith and Hope There it is that they shall eternally obey God with a holy Joy and Delight and all this with the same holy Love Faith Hope and Joy which they did put forth towards God here upon Earth only in Heaven these Graces shall be advanced and exalted above all those Imperfections and Frailties that in this Life did attend them This now is the Glory of Heaven and indeed what greater Glory can there be than this Holiness being the Glory of God himself Thus Moses stiles God in his triumphant Song Exod. 15.11 Where he tells us though he be a God that is fearful in Praises and infinite in Power yet that wherein he is most glorious is his Holiness Who is a God like unto thee O Lord amongst the Gods Who is like unto thee glorious in Holiness fearful in Praises doing Wonders And what is the Glory of the Saints in Heaven but only a Reflexion of the Glory of God cast upon them Now as God is in an especial manner glorious in his Holiness so are they glorious in their Holiness And what then will become of all the hopes of wicked and profane Sinners whose Hearts are full of Hatred and Malice not only against those that are holy but against Holiness it self witness their impious and profane scoffing at Holiness their persecuting all those that make a stricter Profession of it than themselves What a strange kind of Heaven do these Men hope for and how miserably do they deceive themselves for if Grace and Glory if Holiness and Heaven be one and the same thing as they are then certainly all the hopes of such wretched Sinners are built upon a rotten Foundation For how can they that hate and persecute a little Holiness in a Saint on Earth where it is mingled with much Sin and Corruption take delight in Heaven where there are greater measures and degrees of Grace and Holiness than all the Saints that ever lived here upon Earth did or could attain to in this World yea where there is nothing else but Grace and Holiness In vain O Sinner dost thou wish or hope for a Heaven where there is nothing but Ease and Pleasure a Place where thou may'st be above all thy Cares and Fears where thou may'st enjoy a constant Freedom from all thy Pains and Distresses that now afflict and torment thee such a Heaven as this is impossible God never made any such nor canst thou in reason expect it but contrarywise know thou must to thy Terror and Amazement that the great God hath joyned sin and the curse so close together that Heaven it self would be no Sanctuary to secure thee either from the stinging Horrors of an Evil and now too late awakened and accusing Conscience nor from the ghasty and tormenting Fears of Wrath and Hell if sin and guilt should enter with thee into that Holy Place Secondly Holiness is a necessary Qualification for Heaven because without it there is no suitableness between us and Heaven All true Pleasure and Delight is caused from the suitableness that there is between the Object and the Power or Faculty in man that receives it It is therefore a pleasant thing for the Eyes to behold the Light and so is it also for the Ears to hear melodious sounds because these Objects are suited unto those Sences which otherwise would not be delightful to them as we see in those that are Blind and Deaf the one takes no Pleasure in the Light nor the other in Musick And so it is with us in reference unto Heaven there is nothing there would be Pleasant and Delightful to us did not God before hand prepare and suit our Souls by his Grace unto that Glory that shall there be revealed to us Hence we find the Apostle Col. 1.12 Giving thanks unto God who by a work of Sanctification had made them meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light To illustrate this a little further there is a two fold unsuitableness between every wicked man and Heaven he is unsuitable to the work of Heaven and he is unsuitable to the Reward of Heaven both which are Holy First Every wicked man is unsuitable to the work of Heaven What shall be the work of Holy Souls in Heaven but to admire and adore to Bless and Praise and with Pleasure and Delight to Love and Serve God for ever This is that joyful work wherein Saints and Angles shall spend an Eternity in And canst thou O Prophane Sinner who hast all thy life time accustomed thy self to wallow in sin and uncleanness impose such a cheat upon thy Soul as to think thou shalt be able to croud into the number of that Holy and Blessed Company in Heaven and there joyn with them in those Holy and Blessed Works that will be the Delight of those Holy ones to all Eternity If Sanctification and Holiness be the only Qualification that manifests any do belong to that Holy Place What shall we then say unto all wicked and prophane sinners who not only take no Delight in the practice of Holiness but unto whom the thoughts of it are grievous and burthensome who are so far from keeping up in their minds constant Meditations of Holy things accompanied with strong and lively affections towards them that they know no Task or Burthen so heavy upon them nor so affictive to them nor that they undertake so unwillingly as the Duties of Holiness and Obedience Oh what a trouble to them is it sometimes to be drawn though but to the external performance of Holy Duties witness their so seldom engaging in them with their so slight and careless management of them If I should now enquire what is the reason of all this why truly that which lies at the bottom of all is an unholy Heart an unsanctified Nature and what would such as these do in Heaven would not that Holy place be a Hell rather than a Heaven to them a place of Torment rather than a place of Happiness it being that place where Saints and Angels spend an Eternity in the most Holy fixed Contemplations and most ardent Love of God And surely they that cannot bear the weak and imperfect Holiness of the People of God here without railing at it as a piece of unnecessary and peevish preciseness will never be able to bear that perfect spotless Holiness that is in Heaven In
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