Heaven and Happiness not upon any good works he had done but upon what Christ had done and suffered for him though he had whereof to Glory as himself saith yet he looked upon all as nothing and desired only to be found in Christ And whatever Conceit or Opinion sinners may have of themselves and of the Merit of their Duties and Services in their Health and Prosperity when Death and Judgment according to their Apprehensions seems to be many years distant from them or whatever men may say in the heat of a Dispute concerning the Merit of their good Works yet certainly they will be of another mind when Death lays hold of them with its cold hands and when an awakened Conscience is hurrying them on to make their appearance before the Tribunal of the great God the Righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth There are few if any that are so bold and presumptuous as to boast of their Merits upon a Death-bed No Death and Judgment convince and alter mens minds making them speak quite another Language than what they did formerly It is not then Lord deal with me according to my Deserts but Lord deal with me according to thy Mercy Blot out mine Offences O Lord not according to the Merit of a dying sinner but according to the Merit of a dying Saviour This this is the Language of a sinner upon a Death bed Then a Bellarmine will confute himself and cry out Oh it is safest trusting to the Merit of Jesus Christ Thirdly The final Cause of the Saint's Happiness is the Honour and Glory of God We read Luk. 2.13 14. when our Lord Jesus came into the World on this very Errand that he might obtain eternal Redemption and Salvation for Sinners the Angels those extraordinary Ambassadors of Heaven proclaim the Tydings thereof to the Shepherds saying Glory to God in the Highest on Earth Peace and good Will towards Man Not only is Man commanded to do all things for the Glory of God but God himself doth all he doth with respect to his own Glory As for Man God made him for himself and it is highly rational that as the enjoyment of God is Man's highest Happiness so his Glory should be his chief end and unless this be a chief Ingredient into all our Duties and Services they are neither acceptable to God nor comfortable to us The Scripture commands this as our great Duty that we make the Glory of God our supreme End in all our Actions Matth. 5.16 Let your Light so shine before Men that they may see your Good Works for what end that they may glorifie your Father that is in Heaven So 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink or whatever ye do do all to the Glory of God Yea in Heaven where the Saints shall be fully and compleatly happy yet shall it be their eternal Exercise to ascribe Blessing Honour Glory and Praise unto him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for evermore Rev. 5.13 And not only is Man commanded to do all that he doth to the Glory of God but God himself doth all he doth with respect to his own Glory The Work of Creation the Works of Providence the Work of Redemption they are all transacted here in Time and perfected in Eternity that God thereby may be glorified Our next Enquiry shall be concerning the great Qualification of the Saints for Heaven and that is Holiness Now by Holiness I mean not any one single Grace wrought in the Heart of a Believer but the universal Operation or Conjunction of all the Graces of the Spirit of God wrought in the Soul of a Saint Holiness is a real inward thorough Change wrought in the whole Man by the powerful Operation of the Spirit of God whereby not only the Heart is purged from the Love of all Sin and the Life from the Dominion and Practice thereof but it is that also whereby the whole Man is carried out in Ways of Duty and Obedience in the daily Exercise of Grace till it be brought to eternal Glory in Heaven Now that Holiness is the great Qualification of a Saint for Heaven the Scripture abundantly manifests Psal 15.1 Lord who shall dwell in thy Tabernacle Who shall ascend into thy Holy Hill The next Words tell us He that walketh uprightly and worketh Righteousness and that speaketh the Truth in His Heart Matth. 5.6 Blessed are the Pure in Heart for they shall see God Heb 12.14 Follow Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord. Heaven is so holy a Place that no unclean thing shall in any wise enter therein Acts 26.18 To open their Eyes and to turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of Sins and an Inheritance among them that are sanctified Sanctification and Holiness is the great Qualification of all those that shall partake of the Happiness of Heaven Not that Holiness is the meritorious Cause of that Happiness no that is nothing but the Blood of Christ Holiness is only that which qualifies and makes a Believer fit to partake of the Happiness of Heaven And this is the meaning of the Apostle Col. 1.12 Giving Thanks to God and the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light There is an absolute necessary connexion between Holiness and Heaven Holiness is Heaven and Heaven is Holiness Holiness is Heaven begun and Heaven is Holiness consummated they are but one and the same thing though greatly differing in degrees Holiness in a Saint here is mixed with Sin and Corruption and so is imperfect in this Life But now in Heaven Holiness shall be without Imperfection there is nothing to oppose or hinder the Holiness of a Saint Holiness is there come to its full Growth and highest Perfection for there is Holiness and nothing but Holiness Now Grace and Holiness in a Saint here being the same with that Glory that is the expected Consummation of a Saint's Happiness hereafter it shews the great necessity that there is that all that desire to be happy hereafter should endeavour to be holy here Now how Holiness qualifies for Heaven and why it is so necessary to the obtaining of Heaven will appear in two Particulars One is because Holiness and Heaven are one and the same thing And the other is because of the great unsuitableness between Heaven and an unholy Soul First There is an agreeableness yea a sameness between Holiness and Heaven The Glory of Heaven lies not in this that a Saint shall there out-shine the brightness of the Sun that there he shall not be exposed to Heat to Cold to Nakedness or Want that there he shall be free from Diseases Sickness and Death it self that he shall not stand in need of Meat Drink and Clothing no nor that he shall always be in the hearing of melodious Songs and Hallilujahs of Saints and Angels These Things indeed are in Heaven
Men or Angels Who hath given unto God and it shall be recompensed unto him again The Apostle speaks it by way of challenge unto all the Creatures from the highest Angel in Heaven to the meanest Creature on Earth Rom. 11.25 The Notion of a God and Creatures cuts off all Obligation that can be thought of by any Service that Creatures can tender unto him God is infinite in Happiness by and from himself and therefore stands not in need of our Services nor can we merit any thing of him much more not eternal Life because we cannot do any thing that may profit or advantage him Fourthly Works that are meritorious must bear some proportion to the Reward or Recompence that is bestowed upon the doing of them Now in this respect also nothing that the people of God do in this World can be Meritorious of Heaven and Eternal Happiness because there is no comparison between the best of their Services and the Happiness-of Heaven which God bestows upon them after the performance of them I reckon says the Apostle Rom. 8.18 That the Sufferings of this present Life and truly the Sufferings of a Christian as they are his most painful and laborious Works so are they the most deserving Works or part of a Christian's Life and yet says the Apostle I reckon that the Sufferings of this present Life are not worthy to be compared to the Glory that shall be revealed And if the Apostle had put in all the Duties and Services yea and all the Graces of the People of God into the Account his Reckoning had been true for all of them put together are not worthy to be compared to nor Meritorious of the Glory that shall be Revealed Remarkable is that Expression of the Apostle Rom. 6.23 The wages of Sin is Death but the Gift of God is Eternal Life Sin merits and deserves Death but Eternal Life is the Gift of God yea such a Gift as excludes all pretence of Merit for says the Apostle it is the Free Gift of God and not only so but it is the Free Gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. By Voluntary Constitution and Designation of God Eternal Life is the Reward of Holiness Death is the Reward of Sin as it merits and deserves it but Eternal Life is the Reward of Holiness meerly by the bountiful Liberality of God Hence we read in the 21. Verse of the Epistle of Jude that the People of God are said to look for the Mercy of God unto Eternal Life Heaven and Glory shall be dispensed to the Saints at the last day by the Mercy of God It was free Grace and Mercy that implanted Grace in the Hearts of the People of God at the first and it shall be Free Grace that shall put the Crown of Glory upon their heads at the last Without the Mercy of God there is no expectation of the least Degree of Happiness in Heaven Hence therefore we read that the Apostle St Paul 2 Tim. 1.17 18. when under restraints and straits and Onesiphorus finding him out and relieving him to testifie his Gratitude for his Kindness he prays for Onesiphorus that he may find mercy with God at the last day And surely this Prayer of the Apostle was not in vain but will be answered to the Honour and Advantage of Onesiphorus another day That which I quote this Scripture for is those words in the Prayer of the Apostle for Onesiphorus that God would grant he might find Mercy of the Lord in that day Some would have thought this Prayer of the Apostle had been more proper for Onesiphorus if he had been some notorious Malefactor or Persecutor of the People of God as himself once was some common Drunkard or Vnclean Person if then he had Prayed that he might have found Mercy of the Lord at the last day this had been a Prayer suitable both to his Sin and Misery But the Apostle knew very well that even a good man a Diligent Worker a Liberal Benefactor to the Servants of God as Onesiphorus was stands in need of Mercy from God as well as others And that it is the Free-Grace and Mercy of God and not the Duties the Prayers the Alms of any that must save them and therefore says the Apostle The Lord grant unto Onesiphorus that he may find Mercy of the Lord at that day Mercy must save the Holiest man to all Eternity as well as Convert the greatest Sinner There is considerable in Heaven not only the Glory of it in opposition to our Misery but the Mercy of God in bestowing of it in opposition to our unworthiness and without the Mercy of God there is no Expectation of Heaven and evermore where Mercy is there is an Exclusion of all Merit Now from all these Considerations put together it is clear that God's bestowing of Eternal Life and Glory upon the Saints in Heaven is not the rewarding of their Good Works by way of Merit and Desert Secondly Heaven and Eternal Life is called a Reward because it is given to the People of God as a Sequel or Consequence upon or rather after their performance of the Works of Holy Obedience And this is plain and evident because Good Works are the antecedent dispositions and preparations wrought in us for the fitting and qualifying of us to partake of the Reward of Eternal Life and Glory for it is inconsistent with the Holiness and Justice of God to give Heaven unto any that are not Holy Should God take an unholy Creature and Reward him at the last day with Eternal Life this would pollute Heaven it self But God hath provided another place for such a Hell where they shall for ever receive the Reward and Wages of their Works in Eternal Pain and Misery In the destribution of Rewards among Men usually respect is had either to some past Merit or to some present previous Qualifications in those on whom such Rewards are bestowed The former of these cannot be applied unto God because there can be no such thing as Merit or Desert in the Creature that can oblige the Great God to bestow the Heavenly Reward upon any But yet in the latter sence there are always previous qualifications of Grace and Holiness in all those on whom God bestows the Reward of the Heavenly Inheritance H nce therefore the Apostle tells us Heb. 12.14 That without Holiness no man shall see the Lord. Grace and Holiness in a Saint is his preparation or qualification for Heaven and all that are so qualified need not fear but the Reward of Heaven shall be bestowed upon them for Heaven is prepared for such and it shall certainly be given to those for whom it is prepared And indeed Glory in Heaven is the same with Grace here upon Earth and as Grace here is the Reward of Grace that is to whom soever God hath given some Grace upon the improving of that Grace he gives more So Glory hereafter shall be the Reward of a longer and
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
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