A Soul Prepared for Heaven

2 Cos. v 5. Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing, is God.

When this apostle designs to entertain our hope in the noblest manner, and raise our faith to its highest joys, he generally calls our thoughts far away from all present and visible things, and sends them forward to the great and glorious day of the resurrection. He points our meditations to take a distant prospect of the final and complete happiness of the saints in Heaven, when their bodies shall be raised shining and immortal; whereas it is but seldom that he takes notice of the Heaven of separate souls, or that part of our future happiness which commences at the hour of death. But in this chapter the holy writer seems to keep both these heavens in his eye, and speaks of that blessedness which the spirits of the just shall enjoy in the i presence of the Lord,’ as soon as ‘they are absent from the body;’ and yet leads our souls onwards also to our last and most perfect state of happiness, which is delayed till our corruptible bodies shall be raised from the dust, and mortality shall be swallowed up in life. ‘We know,’ saith he in the first verse of this chapter, f we know that as soon as our mortal tabernacle,’ in which we now dwell, ’ is dissolved, we have a building,’ ready for us ’ in the heavens;’ i. e. an investiture in a glorious state of holiness and immortality, which waits to receive our spirits when we drop this dying flesh. Yet the felicities of this paradise, or first heaven, shall receive an unspeakable addition and advancement, when ‘Christ shall come the second time,’ with all his saints, to complete our salvation.

But which heaven soever we arrive at, whether it be this of the separate state, or that when our bodies shall be restored, still we must be ( wrought up’ to a proper fitness for it by God himself; and as the end of this verse tells us, he ’ gives us his own Spirit as an earnest’ of these future blessings.

The observation which shall be the subject of my discourse, is this: ‘Those who shall enjoy the heavenly blessedness hereafter, must be prepared for it here in this world, by the operation of the blessed God.’

Here we must take notice in the first place, that since we are sinful and guilty creatures in ourselves, and have forfeited all our pretences to the favour of God and happiness, we must be restored to his favour, we must have our sins forgiven, we must be justified in his sight with an everlasting righteousness, we must be adopted as the children of God, and have a right and title given us to the heavenly inheritance, before we can enter into it, or possess it; and this blessing is procured for us by the obedience and death of the Son of God. It is in his blood that we find an atonement for our iniquities, and we must be made heirs of glory by becoming the adopted children of God, and so * we are joint-heirs’ with his Son Jesus, and shall be glorified with him, Rom. viii. 17.

And it is by a true and living faith in the Son of God, that we become partakers of this blessing. God has set forth his Son Jesus as a propitiation for sinners through faith in his blood, Rom. iii. 24. “We are justified by faith” in his blood, and “have hope of eternal life through him,” Rom v. We also receive our adoption, and “become the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus,” Gal. iii. 26, and thereby we obtain a title to some mansion in our Father’s house in heaven, since Jesus our elder brother, and our forerunner, is admitted into it to take a place there in our name. This is a very considerable part of our necessary preparation for the heavenly world, that we should be believers in the Son of God, and united to him by a living faith; and this faith also is ‘the gift of God,’ Eph. ii. 8. We are wrought up to it by his grace.

But as this does not seem to be the chief thing designed in the words of my text, I shall pass it over thus briefly, and apply myself to consider what that further fitness or preparation for heaven intends, for which we are said here ’ to be wrought up by God’ himself. The former preparation for heaven, may rather be said to be a ‘relative change,’ which is included in our pardon or justification, and alters our state from the condemnation of hell, to the favour and love of God: but this latter preparation implies a real change of our nature by sanctifying grace, and gives us a temper of soul suited to the business and blessedness of the heavenly world. This is the ‘preparation’ which my text speaks of.

The great enquiry therefore at present is, ‘What are those steps, or gradual operations, by which the blessed God works us up to this fitness for heaven?’

And here I shall not run over all the parts and lineaments of the new creature, which is formed by regeneration, nor the particular operations of converting grace, whereby we are convinced of sin, and led to faith and repentance, and new obedience, though these are all necessary to this end; but I shall confine myself only to those things which have a more immediate reference to the heavenly blessedness; and they are such as follow:

1. ‘God works us up to a preparation for the heavenly felicity, by establishing and confirming our belief, that there is a heaven provided for the saints, and by giving us some clearer acquaintance with the nature, the business, and the blessedness of this heaven.’ All this is done by the gospel of Christ, and by the secret operation of the blessed God, teaching us to understand his gospel.

Alas! how ignorant were the heathen sages about any future state for the righteous? how bewildered were the best of them in all their imaginations? how vain were all their reasonings upon this subject, and how little satisfaction could they give to an honest enquirer, whether there was any reward provided for good men beyond this life? The light of nature was their guide; and those in whom this feeble taper burnt with the fairest lustre, were still left in great darkness about futurity. As the Gentile philosophers were left in great uncertainties whether there was any heaven or not, so were their conceptions of heavenly things very absurd and ridiculous; and their various fancies about the nature and enjoyments of it, were all impertinence.

And how little knowledge had the Patriarchs themselves, if we may judge of their knowledge by the five books of Moses, which give no plain and express promise

n2 of future happiness in another world, neither to Abel nor Noah, to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or to Moses himself? And were it not for some expressions in the New Testament, and by the xith chapter to the Hebrews, where we are told, that these good men ‘sought a heavenly country, and hoped for happiness in a future and invisible state, we should sometimes be ready to doubt whether they knew almost any thing of the future resurrection and glory.

That great and excellent man Job had one or two lucid intervals of peculiar brightness, which shone upon him from heaven, in the midst of his distresses, and raised him above and beyond the common level of the dispensation he lived in; yet, in the main, when he describes the state of the dead, how desolate and dolesome is his language, and what heavy darkness hangs upon his hope! See his expression, Job x. 21, 22, “Let me alone that I may take comfort a little, before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness, and the shadow of death, a land of darkness as darkness itself, and of the shadow of death without any order, and where the light is as darkness.” Mark how this good man heaps one darkness upon another, and makes so formidable a gloom as was hardly to be dispelled by the common notices given to men in that age.

And if we look into the Jewish writings in and after the days of Moses, we find the men of righteousness frequently entertained with promises of corn, and wine, and oil, and other blessings of sense; and few there were amongst them who saw clearly, and firmly believed the heavenly inheritance through the types, and shadows, and figures of Canaan, the promised land, which flowed with milk and honey.*

* There is no difficulty in believing, that the views of the Old Testament saints were limited and obscure, concerning many things upon which the gospel has shed a more powerful and consoling light. But we cannot agree hi thinking that they were altogether so much in the dark, as some good men have imagined them. Job’s ideas of a resurrection seem to have been as clear and as comfortable as any which we possess; although some circumstances connected with that event, and which have been since revealed, were most probably unknown to him. He could say, nevertheless,” I know that my Redeemer livcth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold,

It is granted there are some hints and discoveries of a blessedness beyond the grave in the writings of David, Isaiah, Daniel, and some of the Prophets: but the brightest of these notices fall for short of what the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ has set before us. The Son of God who came down from heaven, where he had lived from before the creation of this world, has revealed to us infinitely more of the invisible state than all that went before him. He tells us of the ‘pure in heart enjoying the sight of God,’ and conversing with ‘Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,’ the ancient saints. He assures us there ‘are many mansions in his Father’s house,’ and that he ’ went to prepare a place’ there for his followers. “I tell you” says he, John viii. 38, “I tell you the things which I have seen with my Father.” And when he came again from the dead, he made it appear to his disciples that he had “brought life and immortality to light by his gospel,” 2 Tim. i. 10.

It is only the New Testament that gives us so bright and satisfactory an account what our future heaven is. The ‘righteous shall be with God,’ shall behold him, shall dwell with Christ, and see his glory; they shall worship day and night in his temple, and sing the jiraises of him that sits upon the throne, and of the Lamb that has redeemed them by his blood; there shall be no sin, no sorrow,

and not another.” Job xix. 25 — 27.f Even Balaam, at a later age, although a “stranger to the covenants of promise,” could say, in view of the hopes which support the godly man in death, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!” Num. xxiii. 10. We have not sufficient ground to infer from the silence of scripture, that the ancient Jews were ignorant of the spiritual things, which were typified by their rites, observances, and peculiar privileges. We find from various passages of the New Testament, that they were acquainted with particulars, and actuated by views, which are not expressly attributed to them in the Old Testament records. See, for example, John viii. 56. Heb. xi. Jude 14, 15. In Heb. xi. 9, 10, it is intimated that Abraham had some view of the typical reference of the promised land, as the pledge of a better inheritance: and if this was known to him, we should not rashly impute ignorance of it to his pious descendants. — Ed.

f Annexed are two translations of this remarkable passage.

* I am sure that my redeemer liveth;” I know that my Redeemer (is) living,

And that I shal ryse out of the And that at the last {day)

earth in the latter daye; He will arise (in judgment) upon That I shal he clothed againc dust (mankind).

with this skynne: And after my skin he mangled thus,

And se God in my flesh. Yet ever from my flesh shall I see God;

Yee, I myself shal beholde him, Whom I shall see for me (on my side)

Not with other, but with these And mine eyes shall heboid him

same eyes.” coverdalk. not estranged.” hales.

no death, nor any more pain; they shall have such satisfactions and employments as are worthy of a rational nature, and a soul refined from sense and sin. St. Paul, one of his disciples, was transported into the third heaven before he died, and there learnt “unspeakable things,” 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4; and he, together with the other Apostles, have published the glories of that future world which they learnt from Jesus their Lord, and confirmed these things to our faith by prophecies and miracles without number.

Now the blessed God himself prepares his own people for this heaven of happiness by giving them a full conviction and assurance of the truth of all these divine discoveries; he impresses them upon their heart with power, and makes them attend to those divine impressions. Every true Christian has learnt to say within himself, ‘This celestial blessedness is no dream, is no painted vision, no gay scene of flattering fancy, nor is it a matter of doubtful dispute, or of uncertain opinion. I am assured of it from the words of Christ the Son of God, and from his blessed followers, whom he authorised to teach me the things of a future world.’ He that is taught of God beholds these glories in the light of a divine faith, which is to him the “substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not yet seen,” Heb. xi. 1.

2. God works up the souls of his people to a preparation for the heavenly state, by ‘purifying them from every defilement that might unfit them for the blessedness of heaven.’ The removal of the guilt of sin by his pardoning mercy I have mentioned before, as necessary to our entrance into the heavenly state; and we must walk through this world, this defiling world with all holy watchfulness, lest our soul be blemished with new pollutions, lest new guilt come upon our consciences, and the thoughts of appearance before God be terrible to us. That soul is very much unfit for an entrance into the presence of a holy God, who is ever plunging itself into new circumstances of guilt, by a careless and unholy conversation. To stand upon the borders of life, and the very edge of eternity, will be dreadful to those who have given themselves loose to criminal pleasures, and indulged their irregular appetites and passions.

But it is not only a conscience purged from the guilt of sin by the blood of Christ, but a soul washed also from the defiling power and taint of sin, by the sanctifying Spirit that is necessary to make us meet for the heavenly inheritance. This is that purification which I now chiefly intend ;,Matth. v. 8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Nothing that defileth must enter into the city of God on high, nor whosoever maketh a lie or loveth it, Rev. xxi. 27. No injustice, no falsehood, no guile or deceit can be admitted within those gates. They must be without guile both in their heart and tongue, if they will “stand before the throne of God,” Rev. xiv. 5: sincerity and truth of soul, with all the beauties of an upright heart and character, are necessary to prepare an inhabitant for that blessed state. There must be no envy, no wrath or malice, no revenge; nor will any of the angry principles that dwell in our flesh and blood, or that inflame and disturb the mind, be found in those regions of peace and love. There must be no pride or ambition, no self-exaltation and vanity that can dwell in heaven, for it cast out the angels of glorious degree, when they would exalt themselves above their own station. ‘Pride was the condemnation of the devil,’ and it must not dwell in a human heart that ever hopes for a heavenly dwelling-place, 1 Tim. iii. 6, and Jude ver. 6. There must be no sensual and intemperate creature there, no covetous selfishness, no irregular passions, no narrowness of soul, no uncharitable and party spirit will ever be found in that country of diffusive love and joy.

And since the best of Christians have had the seeds of many of these iniquities in their hearts, and they have made a painful complaint of these rising corruptions of nature upon many occasions, these iniquities must be mortified and slain by the work of the Spirit of God within us, if ever we ourselves would live the divine life of heaven, Rom. viii. 33. There is a great deal of this purifying work to be done in the souls of all of us, before we can be prepared for the heavenly world, and though we cannot arrive at perfection here, yet we must be wrought up to a temper in some measure fit to enter into that blessednes:: and God is training his people up for this purpose all the days of their travels through this desert world. Happy souls, who feel themselves more and more released from the bonds of these iniquities, day by day, and thereby feel within themselves the growing evidences of a joyful hope!

3. God does not only purify us from every sin in order to prepare us for heaven, but ’ he is ever loosening and weaning our hearts from all those lawful things in this life, which are not to be enjoyed in heaven.’ Our sensual appetites, and our carnal desires, so far as they are natural, though not sinful, must die before we can enter into eternal life. ‘Flesh and blood cannot inherit’ that divine, incorruptible, and refined happiness. Riches and treasures of gold and silver which the ’ rust can corrupt, and which thieves can break through and steal,’ are not provided for the heavenly state: they are all of the earthly kind, and too mean for the relish of a heavenly spirit. Although a Christian may possess many of these things in the present life, yet his affections must be divested of them, and his soul divided from them, if he would be a saint indeed, and ever ready for the purer blessings of paradise. The businesses, the cares and the concerns of this secular life, are ready to drink up our spirits too much while we are here; we are too prone to mingle our very souls with them, and thereby grow unfit for heavenly felicities: and therefore it is that our Saviour has warned us, Luke xxi. 34, “Let not your hearts be overcharged with the cares of this world,” any more than “with surfeiting and drunkenness,” if you would be always ready for your flight to a better state, and meet the summons of your Lord to paradise.

There are also many curious speculations and delightful amusements which may lawfully entertain us while we are here; there are sports and recreations which may divert the flesh or the mind in a lawful manner, whilst we dwell in tabernacles of flesh and blood, and are encompassed with mortal things. But the soul that is wrought up for heaven must arise to an holy indifference to all the entertainments of flesh and sense, and time, if it would put on the appearance of an heavenly inhabitant. Christians, that would be ever ready for the glories of a better world, must be such in some measure as the Apostle describes, 1 Cor. vii. 30. &c. They must ’ rejoice’ with such moderrtion in their dearest comforts of life ’ as though they rejoiced not;’ they must weep and mourn for the loss of them with such a divine self-government ’ as though they wept not;’ they must ’ buy as though they possessed not;’ they must * use this world as not abusing it’ in any instance, but must look upon the fashions and the scenes of it as vanishing things, and have their hearts “set on the things that are above, where Christ Jesus is at the Father’s right hand,” Colos. iii. 1,2.

If you ask me, what methods the blessed God uses in order to attain these ends, and to purify and refine the soul for heaven? I answer, he sometimes does it by sharp strokes of affliction, making our interests in the creature bitter to us, that we may be weaned from the relish of them, and the power of divine grace must accompany all his weaning providences, or the work will not be done.

Sometimes again he weans the soul from the lawful things of the world, by permitting our earthly enjoyments to plunge us into difficulties, to seize the heart with anxieties, or to surround us with sore temptations. Then, when we feel ourselves falling into sin, and bruised or defiled thereby, we lose our former gust of pleasure in them; and wThen we are recovered by divine grace, we are more effectually weaned from such kind of temptations for the future; but it is impossible in the compass of a few lines to describe the various methods which the blessed God uses to wean the spirit from all its earthly attachment?, and to work it up to a meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light. Blessed souls, who are thus loosened and weaned from sensible things, though it be done by painful sufferings!

4. The great God not only weans our hearts from those things that are not to be enjoyed in heaven, but he * gives us a holy appetite and relish suited to the provisions of the heaver.V wTorld, and raises our desires and tendencies of soul towards them.’ By nature our minds are estranged from God, and from all that is divine and holy; we have no desires after his love, nor delight in the thought of dwelling with God: but when divine grace has effectually touched the heart, it ever tends upwards to that world of. holiness and peace. So the needle, when it is touched by the load-stone, ever points to the beloved pole-star, and seems uneasy when it is diverted from it, nor will it rest till it return thither again.

Do the sweet sensations of divine love make up a great part of the heavenly blessedness? The soul is in some measure fitted for it, who can say with David in Psal. iv. 7, “Lord lift thou up upon me the light of thy countenance, and it shall rejoice” my heart “more than if corn and wine, and oil abounded,” and all earthly blessings were multiplied upon me; for in thy love is the life of my soul, and thy “loving-kindness is better than life,” Psal. lxiii.

Is the felicitating presence of God to be enjoyed in the future world, and shall we see his lace there with unspeakable delight? Then those souls are prepared for heaven, who can say with the Psalmist, Psal. xlii. 2, “When shall I come and appear before God?” When shall I have finished my travels through this wilderness, that I may arrive at my Father’s house? “This one thing have I desired, that I may dwell in the house of God for ever to behold the beauty of the Lord there,” Psal. xxvii. 4. It is enough for me that I shall “behold thy face in righteousness, and I shall be satisfied when I awake” out of the dust “with thy likeness. With my soul have I desired thee, 0 Lord, in the night,” in the darkness of this desert world I have longed for the light of thy face, “and with my spirit within me I will seek thee early. Whom have I in heaven but thee, neither is there any on earth that I desire beside thee,” Psal. xvii. Isa. xxvi. Psal. lxxiii. 0 when shall the day come when there shall be no more distance and estrangement of my heart from God, but I shall feel all my powers for ever near him?

Is the sweet society of Jesus to be enjoyed in the heavenly region? Then those are prepared for this happiness who feel in themselves “a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better” than the most pleasurable scenes on earth, Phil. i. 23. “I am willing” and rejoice in the thought of it “rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord,” 2 Cor. v. S. I behold in the light of faith the dawning glory of that day, when Jesus shall return from heaven, when he shall revisit this wretched world, and put an end to these wretched scenes of vanity. “Behold he cometh in the clouds, and every eye shall see him.” He comes into our world “to them that look for him,” not to be made a sacrifice for sin, but to complete our salvation. I long to behold him, and I love the thought of his appearance, Rev. i. Heb. ix. 2 Tim. iv. &c.

Is there not only a freedom from pain and sorrow among the saints on high, but is there also an eternal release from all the bonds of sin and temptation? Then

that soul discovers a degree of preparation for it, who can say with an holy groan and grief of heart, “0 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death?” Rom. vii. “In this tabernacle we groan indeed being burdened, and are desirous rather to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven,” with our holy state of immortality, 2 Cor. v.

5. That God who has wrought these divine breathings in the soul will one day fulfil them all, and he is working up the Christian to a blessed meetness for this felicity, by awakening these wishes in the very centre of the heart. Happy heart, which feels these holy aspirations, these divine breathings!

6. The blessed God is pleased to work us up to a preparation for the heavenly world ‘by forming the temper of our minds into a likeness to the inhabitants of heaven,’ i. e. to God himself, to Christ Jesus the Son of God, to angels and saints, to the spirits of the just made perfect. From the children of folly and sin we must be transformed into the children of God, we must be created anew after his image, and resemble our heavenly Father, that we may be capable of enjoying his love, and rejoicing in his presence. We must be conformable to the image of his only begotten Son Christ Jesus, and walk and live as he did in this world, that we may be prepared to dwell with him in the world to come, Rom. viii. 29; 1 John iv. 17. We must have the same temper and spirit of holiness wrought in us, that we may be imitators of all the holy ones that dwell in heaven, and that we may be followers of the saints who have been strangers and travellers in this world in all former ages.

How can we hope to have free conversation with glorious beings, which are so unlike to ourselves, as God, and Christ, and angels are unlike to the sinful children of men? How can we imagine ourselves to be fit company for such pure and perfect beings, beauteous, and shining in holiness, while we are defiled with the iniquities of our natures, and ever falling into new guilt and pollution? Happy souls, who can say through grace, ‘I have walked in the light as God is in the light,’ and I trust, 0 Father, I shall dwell for ever with thee there. I have been a follower of the Lamb through the thorny and rugged passages of this wilderness, and I humbly hope I shall sit with thee, 0 Jesus, upon a throne glorious and holy. I have been a companion of them who have finished the Christian race, who have fought the good fight, and obtained the victory, and I trust I shall have a name and a place amongst all you holy ones who have fought and overcome. 0 for a heart and tongue furnished for such appeals to all the blessed inhabitants of paradise, the possessors of those mansions on high!

7. The grace of God works us up to a preparation for heaven ‘by carrying us through those trials and sufferings, those labours and conflicts here in this life, which will not only make heaven the sweeter to us, but will make it more honorable for God himself to bestow this heaven upon us. ’

When the spirits of a creature are almost worn out with the toilsome labours of the day, what an additional sweetness does he find in rest and repose? What an inward relish and satisfaction to the soul, that has been fatigued under a long and tedious war with sins and temptations, to be transported to such a place where sin cannot follow them, and temptation can never reach them? How will it enhance all the felicities of the heavenly world when we enter into it, to feel ourselves released from all the trials and distresses and sufferings which we have sustained in our travels thitherwards? The review of the waves and the storms wherein we had been tossed for a long season, and had been almost shipwrecked there, will make the peaceful haven of eternity, to which we shall arrive, much more agreeable to every one of the sufferers, 2 Cor. iv. 17. “Our light afflictions, which are but for a moment, are” in this way “working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,” and preparing us for the possession of it.

But it should be added also, that the prize of life, and the crown of glory, is much more honourably bestowed on those who have been long fighting, running, and labouring to obtain it. Heaven will appear as a condecent* reward of all the faithful servants of God upon earth, and a divine recompence of their labours and sufferings, 2 Thes. i. 6. ‘As it is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you, so to give to those who are troubled rest’ and salvation.

* Fit, becoming, appropriate. — Er.

This is that equitable or condecent fitness that God, as governor of the world, has wisely appointed and made necessary before our entrance into heaven. Christ himself our forerunner, and the ‘captain of our salvation, was made perfect through his sufferings,’ and was trained up for his throne on high by enduring the contradiction of sinners, and the variety of agonies which attended his life and death in this lower world, this stage of conflict and sufferings. See Heb. ii. 10. and xii. 1.

Though we cannot pretend by our labours in the race to have merited the prize, yet we must labour through the race before we receive it. Our conflicts cannot pretend to have deserved the crown which is promised, but we must fight the battles of the Lord before we obtain it. This was St. Paul’s encouragement and hope, 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge will give me, and not to me only, but to all those who love his appearance.” There is a great deal of divine wisdom in this appointment, that the children of God may be “counted in this sense, worthy of his kingdom for which they also suffer,” 2 Thes. i. 5, and that the relish of those satisfactions may be doubled to all the sufferers.

8. God yet further prepares and works up his people for heaven, by ‘teaching them some of the employments of the heavenly world, and initiating and inuring them to the practice thereof.’ Is the ‘contemplation of the blessed God’ in his nature and his various perfections the business of glorified souls? God teaches his children, whom he is training up for glory, to practice this holy contemplation. He fixes their thoughts upon the wonders of his nature and his grace, his works of creation and providence, the blessings of his redeeming love by his Son Jesus, and the terrors of his justice which shall be executed by the same hand, while the soul at the same time can appeal to God with holy delight, ‘My meditation of thee shall be sweet indeed;’ 0 may I dwell for ever in the midst of thy light, and see all thy wondrous glories diffused around me, and make my joys everlasting!

Are we told that heaven consists also in “beholding the glory of Christ?” John xvii. 24. And how happily does

God prepare his saints for this part of heaven, by filling their thoughts with the various graces and honours of Jesus the Saviour? And when they are in their lonely retirements, they trace the footsteps of their Beloved through all his labours and sorrows in this mortal state, even from his cradle to his cross; they follow him in theii holy meditations to his agonies in the garden, to his anguish of soul there; through all his sufferings in death, through the grave his bed of darkness, and trace him on still to his glorious resurrection, and to his ascent to his Father’s house, when a bright cloud like a chariot bore him up to heaven with attending angels. ‘This is my beloved,’ says the soul, and * this is my friend,’ whom I shall see with joy in the upper world. He is altogether lovely, and he demands my highest love.

Is it part of the happiness of heaven to ’ converse with the blessed God by holy addresses of acknowledgements and praise,’ as it is described in Rev. iv. and v. and vii.? “They are before the throne of God day and night, and serve him in his temple;” and join with holy joy to pronounce that divine song, “Blessing and honour, and glory and power, be to him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever: worthy art thou, 0 Lord, to receive glory and honour, for thou hast created all things for thy pleasure: worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and strength, glory and blessing; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us unto God by thy blood out of every kindred and nation.” Now it is evident that those whose hearts and lips are joyfully fitted to pronounce this holy song, and to join in this harmony, are fitted also for these blessed employments of the heavenly state. And yet at the same time they abase themselves in the dust of humility, and with the living creatures or angels they fall down before the throne, and with the elders they cast down their crowns at his foot, they confess themselves the sons of earth and dust, and would appear as nothing while God is all, Rev. iv. 9, 10. and v. 8.

Are all the powers of glorified nature in heaven active in the unknown services of God and Christ there? So the saints are trained up for this service and this activity here on earth, by diligence and delight in their less noble employments, the inferior labors and duties that providence demands of them here, whereby they are prepared for more glorious employment on high; for heaven is no idle or unactive state.

Do some of the satisfactions of the heavenly world arise from the ‘sweet society of the blessed above, their fervent love to each other, their mutual delight in holy converse, the joy that arises in the heart of each upon a survey of the happiness of all the holy and blessed inhabitants? Does benevolence and goodness of every kind overflow in the heavenly world?’ It is plain that God is training up his own children for this blessedness, by employing them in this manner while they are here below. He is in some measure fitted for this heaven, who can say, the ’ saints are the excellent of the earth, in whom is all my delight:’ I love them from my soul, because they love my God and my Saviour. I see the image of the Father, and of Jesus his Son in them, and I cannot but love that image wheresoever I behold it. I feel myself ready to rejoice when my fellow christians partake of joy, and I long for that temper of mind when I shall delight myself in the felicity of all my fellow saints in perfection, and shall make their heaven a part of my own. But I proceed not here, because this would anticipate what I design hereafter.

9. God is pleased to work up his people to a preparation for the heavenly state, by ‘giving them a pledge and e’arnest of the blessedness of heaven,’ that is, by sending his own Spirit into their hearts under this very character, both as the spring of divine life, and as the evidence of our hope, and sometimes bestowing upon them such ‘foretastes of the heavenly world,’ by the operations of his holy Sr irit, which are too joyful and glorious to be fully expressed in mortal language; but we shall attempt something of it in another discourse.

I proceed now to seek what inferences or edifying remarks may be made upon our meditations thus far.

Rem. 1. We learn from my text ‘what are the brightest, the plainest, and the surest evidences of our interest in the heavenly blessedness. Are we trained up to it, and prepared for it?’ Has the blessed God wrought up our souls to any hopeful degrees of this preparation? Has he in any measure made us meet for this inheritance of the saints in light?

I grant the scripture teaches us, that it is by a true and 21 o2 living faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, that we ohtain a title to eternal life, according to the proposals of the covenant of grace in the gospel; but our preparation for heaven by a holy and heavenly temper of mind and conduct of life, is the fairest and most uncontested evidence of the truth and life of our faith, and such a proof of it as will stand the test both in life and death, in this world, and in the world to come. If we would manifest our faith in Christ to be sincere and genuine and effectual for our salvation, we must make it appear that we are growing up into the image of Christ in all things, we must be formed after the likeness of the Son of God, who is our great example, and our fore-runner into heaven; and where this evidence is found the soul cannot fail of salvation. Wheresoever there is this fitness for the joys on high, God will assuredly bestow these divine pleasures. It is for such souls that he has prepared a heaven, and when he has prepared such souls for the heavenly world, he will surely bring them to the possession of it.

Of how great moment and importance is it then for each of us to examine ourselves with watchful diligence and sincerity, whether we are in any measure fitted for the blessedness above: and to this end we may run over in our enquiries all the former steps of preparation.

Let us enquire of our souls then, Am I so fully persuaded of this state of future happiness, as to resolve this shall be my aim, this my everlasting pursuit? Have we seen this blessedness in the various representations of it in the word of God, as the most amiable and desirable thing, and have we set our faces to travel thither with an holy purpose and determination, through grace, never to tire, or grow weary till we arrive at the enjoyment of it? Have we fixed our hope and expectation upon the blessed promises in the word, and are we by these promises endeavouring daily to cleanse ourselves from all defilements of flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God? Do we obtain any victories over our spiritual enemies, and maintain our pious conflicts against all the oppositions which we meet with in our way? Do we labour to suppress every rising ferment of envy, pride, wrath, sensuality, and those corrupt appetites and passions which render us unfit for that holy and heavenly world? Are our hearts daily more mortified to the things of this world, the enjoyments of flesh and sense, which are not to be found in heaven? Are our hearts more weaned from the sensual satisfactions and intemperate delights of the animal life? Are we dead to the temptations of gold and silver, the grandeurs and the gaieties, and splendors of this present low life of flesh and blood, which are no part nor portion of the heavenly felicity? Do we view the tempting things of this world with an holy indifference, and possess and use them with affections so calm and so cool, as becomes a rank of beings that have a nobler, a richer, and a more exalted hope? Have we found the labours and burdens, the sorrows and afflictions of the present state, happy instruments to prepare us for the blessedness above, by curing all our vain and carnal desires? Are we in any measure imitators of those who have gone before us through faith and patience, and are made possessors of the promised joy? Are we “followers of God as dear children?” Have we the image of our heavenly Father created anew in us, and do we walk as our Lord JesuS Christ also walked, while he was in this wilderness travelling to his Father’s house? Are our earnest desires towards this sort of felicity excited and raised high? Have we a strong tendency of soul to the holy enjoyments of the upper world? Do we sigh and groan after a complete freedom from sin, and a deliverance from every temptation? Do we employ ourselves with pleasure in the work and business of heaven, in the holy contemplation of God, in a delightful survey of the person and offices of his Son Jesus, his wondrous condescension, and his amazing compassion? Do we take pleasure in conversing with God our Father by holy addresses of praise and thankfulness? Do we love all the saints, and delight in their society, and do we rejoice to spend our time with them in heavenly conversation, though they may be among the lower ranks of life here on earth? And do we diffuse our love through all who wear the image of God, and take a pleasing satisfaction of soul in their increase in holiness, and rejoice in their joys?

If God has thus fitted thee, 0 Christian, in this manner for the mansions of the happy world, then surely he has set thee apart for himself, he has begun eternal life in thee the dawn of eternal glory is risen upon thee, and he will bring thee into the complete noon of blessedness, into the overflowing light of divine beatitudes. “Arise and shine/7 0 Christian, for thy light is come, “the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee;” thou hast no need to ascend into heaven to search for thy evidences among the decrees of God, and to pry into the rolls of electing grace; for if thou hast been transformed into an heavenly temper, thy name is surely written in the Lamb’s book of life; heaven is begun within thee, and God will fulfil his own work.

Rem. 2. ‘What a solid comfort is it to poor mourning, troubled, afflicted souls under all their sorrows, their frailties, their temptations, and infirmities here on earth, that they have a clear evidence of heaven within them.’ This is such a peace as Jesus Christ left to his disciples by legacy, John xiv. 27. “Such as the world cannot give,” and such as the world cannot take away.

This is a spring of constant and divine consolation to those who seem to be worn out with old age or infirmities of nature, and who complain they are fit for no service in this world; but if they can feel in themselves this holy fitness for the enjoyments of heaven, they have a rich and living fountain of pleasure in their own breasts, ever springing, ever flowing, and such as will follow them with daily supplies of pleasure, if they are not wanting to themselves, through all this wilderness, till they arrive at that land were all the rivers of blessing meet and join in a full stream, to make the inhabitants for ever happy.

It may be, 0 Christian, thou art afraid that thou hast felt but little of this divine preparation; thou seest so many defects in thyself daily, so much unlikeness to God, so much working of iniquity, such restless efforts of the body of sin, so much prevalence of temptation, so much coldness in duty, such deadness in acts of devotion, such frequent returns of guilt and pain in a tender conscience, and so many enemies to struggle with every step of thy way to heaven, that thou art greatly discouraged and afraid this divine preparation is not wrought in thee. Enquire then yet further, are all these melancholy scenes both within and without, the matter of thy sincere grief and burden? Canst thou say in this tabernacle, I groan, being burdened with the body of sin, as well as with the frailties and pains of nature? Canst thou say sincerely, that thy inmost desires are towards God and his glory in the present life, and towards his enjoyment in the life to come?

Dost thou maintain a constant converse with heaven as well as thou canst, though it be so much broken, and so often painfully interrupted? Hast thou a continual and settled aversion and hatred to sin, and a holy jealousy and fear of its defilements? Hast thou a restless breathing of soul after greater likeness to God, and greater communion with him? Dost thou delight in spiritual and holy conversation; and does thy zeal for the honour of God and his Son Jesus, carry thee forth to those actions which are suitable to thy station, for the advancement of religion in the world? Be assured then that God is training thee up for this heavenly state, and has in some measure prepared thee for it. God has begun in thee the business and blessedness of the upper world. In the midst of all thy sorrows and complaints here below, peace be with thee, and joy in the Lord, for thy salvation and thy felicity shall be completed.

Rem. 3. ‘How vain, and idle, and unreasonable are all the hopes of sinners, that they shall ever arrive at heaven without any preparation for it here?’ There is nothing divine and holy begun in them in this world, and yet they hope to be made happy in the world that is to come; there is nothing of true grace in their hearts here, and yet they vainly expect to be made perfect in pleasure and glory hereafter.

Think with thyself, 0 carnal creature, that heaven will be a burden to thee; the powers, the appetites, and passions of thy sinful nature, will not suffer thee to relish the joys of the heavenly state. Dost thou imagine that a worm or serpent of the earth, or a swine which is ever tumbling in the mire, can be entertained with the golden ornaments and splendors of a palace? Or will the stupid ass be delighted with the harmony of a harp or viol? No more can a soul of a carnal and sensual taste, and which is ever seeking and groveling after earthly gratifications, be pleased or gratified with the refined enjoyments of the heavenly world. Thou must have a new nature, new appetites and affections, ere thou canst partake of divine joys, or reish them if thou wert placed in the midst of them. Holy adoration of God, and humble converse with him in worship, converse with the saints about divine things, perfect’ purity and devotion, with the meditation of the excellencies of Christ, and the sight of him in his ordinances, have never yet been the object of thy delight or joy; nay they have rather been thine aversion; and shouldst thou have the gates of heaven open before thee, and see what business the holy souls there are employed in, thou wouldst find no desire to such sort of satisfactions; the place and the company would be thy burden, if thou couldst be let at once into the midst of them.

Think again, 0 sinful wretch, thy carnality of soul, thy supreme love of sensual and brutal joys, the secret malice or envy, the pride and impiety of thy heart, have prepared thee for another sort of company; thou art fitted for hell by the very temper of thy spirit, for such are the inhabitants of that miserable world, and in thy present state there can be no admission for thee into heaven. Thou hast treasured up food for the worm that never dies, for the eternal anguish of conscience; thou hast made thyself fit fuel by indulgence of thy sinful and rebellious appetites and passions, for the fiery indignation of God; and every day thou persistest in this state, thy preparation for the dark regions of sin and sorrow is increased. But this leads me to the last remark.

Rem. 4. ‘How dangerous a thing it is for a sinner to continue a day longer in a state so unprepared for the heavenly world.’ Dost thou not know, whilst we are inhabitants in these regions of mortality, we are borderers upon death; and if we are unprepared for heaven, we are borderers upon damnation and hell? Our life is but a vapour, and the next puff may blow us away into the regions of everlasting darkness, misery, and despair.

Alas! how much of this divine preparation do the best of saints stand in need of for an immediate entrance into heaven? What care do they take, how constant are their labours, and how fervent their prayers to increase in this divine fitness, in these holy and heavenly qualifications? And dost thou vainly imagine to exchange earth for heaven at once, and to be received into the pure and holy mansions of paradise without any conformity to God or Christ, or the rest of the inhabitants of that world.

Objection. But some idle and slothful creatures will be ready to object and say, If it be God who creates his people anew, according to his own image, and fits them for heaven: if we must be wrought up by his power and grace for the participation of this glory, what can we do towards it ourselves? Or why are we charged and exhorted to prepare ourselves for heaven? Since then it is God that must do this work, why may we not lie still, and wait till his grace shall prepare us?

I answer, no, by no means; for God is wont to exert nis grace only while creatures are in the use of his appointments, and fulfil their duty. This language therefore, and these excuses, seem to be the mere cavils of a carnal mind, or the voice of sloth and indolence. Those who have no inclination to prepare themselves for the joys of the heavenly state, may wait and expect divine influences in vain, if they will never stir up themselves to practise what is in their power, and to attempt what the gospel of grace demands.

In almost all the transactions of God with men, it is the way of his wisdom to join our diligence and his grace together; and there are many Scriptures that give us sufficient notice of this. See how St. Paul argues with the Philippians, and stirs them up to zeal and activity in securing their own salvation by the hope of divine assistances, Phil. ii. 12, 13. “Work out your own salvation, for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do.” So said David to his son Solomon, when he appointed him to build the temple of the Lord, 1 Chron. xxviii. 20, u Be strong and of good courage, and do it, — for the Lord God, even my God, will be with thee, and will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work.” This was the charge also that God gave to his people Israel, Lev. xx. 7, S, “Sanctify yourselves and be ye holy, keep my statutes; I am the Lord who sanctifieth you.” So the Psalmist tells us, Psal. iv. 3, “The Lord hath set apart, or separated him who is godly for himself;” and yet, 2 Cor. vi. 17, The Lord commands his people to “separate themselves” unto him, to “come out from among” the sinners of this world; and “be you separate,” saith the Lord, “and I will receive you.” So in other places of Scripture, divine wisdom commands sinners to fulfil their duty, Prov. i. 23, “Turn ye at my reproof;” and yet in the 80th Psalm, the church prays, “Turn us, 0 Lord, and we shall be saved.” The case is very much the same even in the things that relate to this life, wherein divine assistance and blessing are connected with our diligence in duty. Solomon tells us, Prov. x. 4, “The hand of the diligent maketh rich;” and yet ver. 22, it is “the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich also.” We can never expect the favours of heaven, unless we are zealous to obey the commands of heaven.

When the sinful children of men are found waiting on God in his own appointed ordinances, then they are in the fairest way to receive divine communications, and be transformed into saints. If the blind man had not obeyed the voice of Christ, John ix. 7, and washed himself ‘in the pool of Siloam,’ he could not expect to have received his eye-sight. If the man with the withered hand, Matth. xii. 10, 13, had not used his own endeavours to ‘stretch forth his hand’ at the command of Christ, I can hardly believe it would have been restored to its ancient vigour and usefulness. If the poor impotent creature had not been waiting at the side of the ‘pool in Bethesda,’ John v. he had not met with the blessed Jesus, nor been healed by his miraculous power. You will say, perhaps, that our blessed Saviour could have visited him in his own house, could have directed his journey towards his habitation, or have sent for him into the public, and healed him there. No, our Lord did not choose either of these ways; but while the man was waiting at the pool, where he had encouragement to hope for a cure, there the Lord found him, and healed him.

Let not any presuming sinner therefore, who is sensible of his own unfitness for heaven, dare to continue in a careless indifference about so important a concern. Let him not put off his own conscience with this foolish excuse, ‘It is God that must do all in us and for us, and therefore I will do nothing myself.’ Dost thou think, 0 soul, that this will be a sufficient answer to him that shall judge thee in the great and solemn day? May you not expect to hear the Judge reply terribly to such an excuse, ‘You never sought after this preparation for heaven, and you must be plunged into hell, for which your own rebellion and slothfulness have prepared you.’

But perhaps you will object again, what can so feeble, so sinful a creature as I am, do towards this divine work?

I answer, Canst thou not separate one quarter of an hour daily to think of thy dreadful circumstances, and thine eternal danger in a sinful and defiled state of soul? Think of the uncertainty of life, and how sudden thy summons may be into the eternal and unchangeable state. Survey thyself in thy sinful condition both of heart and life, and see how unfit thou art for the company of all the holy ones above. Meditate on these thy perilous circumstances, till thy heart be deeply affected therewith; fall down before God in humble acknowledgment of thy former guilt and pollutions; give up thyself to him with holy solemnity, to have thy heart turned away from every sin, and strongly inclined to holiness and heaven. Commit thy soul, guilty and defiled as it is, into the hands of Jesus the Mediator; entrust thy case with him as an all-sufficient Saviour; entreat that he would cleanse thee from all thy guilt and pollution, by the blood of his sacrifice, and the grace of his Spirit; that blood of atonement which has procured for sinners pardon and peace with God, and those operations of his grace which may sanctify thy sinful nature. Address thyself to the exalted Saviour for healing influences from his hand, to cure all the maladies of thy soul, to form thee after his image, and to make thee a son of God. Pray with holy importunity for this necessary and divine blessing; wait on God in secret and in public; give him no rest night nor day till he has renewed thy soul, and transformed thee into a new creature, and given thee a relish of the heavenly enjoyments. Dwell at the throne of grace till thou feelest thy heart drawn upward and heavenward, and watch against every thing that would defile thy soul anew, or make thee unfit to enter into the company of the blessed.

Permit me here to dwell a little upon those motives that should awaken thee to bethink thyself ere it be too late, before the grave has shut its mouth upon thee, and thou art consigned to the place of eternal misery. Awake, awake, 0 impenitent sinners, who are as yet unprepared for the business and blessedness of the heavenly state; awake and exert your souls in warmest reflections on matters of infinite importance.

(1.) Think with yourselves how much the great God has done towards the preparation of sinful men for this heaven; think seriously of his long-suffering goodness, and his sparing mercy, which should have led you long ago to a melting sense of your own folly, and brought you back unto him by humble repentance. For what reason were his patience and his long-suffering exercised towards 22 P you, if not for this very purpose? Rom. ii. 4. Think of the blessings of nature with which he has surrounded you, and the comforts of this life wherewith he has furnished you, in order to allure your thoughts towards him, who is the spring of all goodness; and to raise your desires towards him. It is he that invites you, who will be the everlasting portion and happiness of his people, and in whose favour consists life and felicity; and dare not any longer neglect your preparation for this happiness, which consists in the enjoyment of God, lest you should be cut off before you are prepared.

(2.) Consider again what Jesus the Son of God has done and suffered, and consider what he is yet doing towards the preparation of souls for heaven. He came down to our world to undertake the glorious and dreadful work of the redemption of sinners from the curse of the law and the terrors of hell, and to procure a heaven for every rebellious creature that would return to God his Father. Think of the agonies of his death with which he purchased mansions of glory for those that receive his grace in his own appointed methods, those that are willing to have their hearts and minds formed into a suitable frame to receive this felicity. Remember that he is risen from the dead, he is ascended to prepare a place in glory for those that are willing to follow him through the paths of holiness. Hearken to the many kind invitations and allurements of his gospel, which calls to the worst of sinners to return and live, and entreats and exhorts those who are in the ends of the earth, and upon the borders of hell, “to look unto him that they may be saved,” Isa. xlv. 22. Take heed that you suffer not these seasons of his inviting love to slide away and vanish unimproved; take heed how you rebel against the language of the grace of his gospel, and thereby prepare yourselves for double and everlasting destruction.

(3.) Think again, what blessed assistances he has proposed to those who are desirous to be trained up for heaven; how many thousand souls, as carnal, as sensual, and as criminal as yours are, have been recovered by the word of his gospel, and the influences of his Spirit, to a new nature and life of holiness? How many are there who from children of wrath, have become the sons and daughters of the most high God, heirs of this blessedness, and prepared for the enjoyment of it? 0 take heed that you resist not this grace, nor rebel against the kind and sacred motions of the blessed Spirit within you, when his very office and business is to change your sinful natures, and to prepare you for the regions of eternal holiness and peace.

(4.) Think yet further what advantages you have had from the weekly ministrations of the word of grace, from reading the book of God in your own language, and from the pious education many of you have enjoyed in the families from whence you sprung. Think what awakening hints you have received by the inward conviction of your own consciences, and by the christian friends you may have conversed with. Have you not been told plainly enough by the voice of conscience, that you are now utterly unprepared for heaven? Have not public and private admonitions given you sufficient warning of the danger of your present state? And after all this will you proceed in your own sinful course till you arrive at the very gates of hell and destruction, till you have prepared yourselves, and made your souls ripe for the vengeance of God, and are plunged into it by death without remedy or relief?

(5.) Consider how dreadful will your state be if death meet you in all your guilt and defilements, unwashed, unpardoned, and unsanctified, without any garment of righteousness, without any robe of salvation. What a terrible sentence is that which death will pronounce upon every such sinner the moment that he strikes their heart? Hear it and tremble, 0 miserable creature, hear the formidable and eternal sentence, “Let him that is unholy be unholy still :•” let him that is unprepared for heaven go down to the regions of death and hell, for which his iniquities have best prepared him.

(6.) Think with yourselves, if you have any thing of importance to do in this world, or have any momentous scene of life to pass through, how diligent are you in preparation for it. If you are but to visit the court of a prince, or to go to make your addresses to any great man of honour and power, or to be admitted into any numerous society of a superior character, how diligently do you endeavour to furnish yourselves with such knowledge of the common ceremonies of life, and such ornaments about your body as may render you acceptable among those whom you are going to converse with. And does not an entrance into the court of heaven, into the presence of a God of holiness, and into the society of pure and blessed spirits, require some solicitude and care about those ornaments and qualifications which are necessary for so solemn and glorious an appearance? If you are designing in this life to commence any trade or business for your employment and your support, you are willing to serve an apprenticeship of seven years in order to a preparation for the exercise of this public business; and can you not afford one day in a week to learn the business of heaven, and to prepare for the blessedness of it?

And let parents also consider with themselves what pains they have taken that their children may be fit for the trades and employments of life to which they design them, and then let each enquire of their own consciences, have I ever done so much to train up my son for the heavenly world, to fit him for the appearance before God, and saints and angels, and for all the unknown services of that celestial country?

(7.) Go on yet further, 0 impenitent sinners, and consider with yourselves what a blessedness it is to be prepared for heaven; for then you are prepared for death, and at once you take away all the terrors of it. 0 what an unspeakable happiness is it to pass through this world daily without the fear of dying! What is it that makes life so bitter to multitudes of souls, and every malady or accident so frightful to them, but the perpetual terrors of death? Think what a divine satisfaction it is to walk up and down in this desert land, ready prepared for an entrance into the land of promise, the inheritance of the saints in light. Think of the solid joy and inward consolation of those souls who feel in themselves an habitual readiness for a departure hence, and who are wrought up by divine grace to a preparation for the business and the joys above. Think of the victory over death, which is obtained by such a readiness for heaven, and how glorious a thing it is to meet that last enemy the king of terrors, and encounter him without fear, and to triumph over him with divine language, “0 death, where is thy sting?” How joyful a scene would it be to take leave of all our friends in this land of mortality, with an assured hope that we are entering into a happier climate and a better country, ready prepared for all the more glorious scenes that shall meet us in the invisible world?

It is an amazing thing to me, how the children of men, who are dying daily off from this stage of life, who must all shortly die, and enter into a world of eternal futurity, should be no more concerned about a preparation for their departure hence: that they should be so stupidly thoughtless of a world to come, while they are on the very borders of it, and eternal joy or eternal sorrow depends upon this one question, ‘Am I prepared for heaven or not V 0 these two awful regions of the unseen world; where the love of God shines with its brightest glories, or where the vengeance of God is discovered in all its anguish and horror I One of these will be the certain and eternal dwelling place of the souls that are prepared for them, and there must they pass their long immortality, either in joy or in sorrow, without a change; and yet the foolish and besotted tribes of mankind seem to have abandoned all thought and concern about them. A dangerous lethargy, or distraction!

What shall we do to cure sinners of this madness? Shall I try to rouse these indolent unthinking wretches out of their dangerous and mortal slumbers with the loudest voice of thunder and divine terror? But the lethargy of sin is proof against all these terrors and thunders. Shall I call for a fountain of tears into my eyes, and weep over them with the tenderest sympathy and compassion? But they feel not any meltings of pity for themselves, nor are their hearts to be softened by all our tears and wailings. Shall I beseech them in the name of Christ by the bowels of his dying love, and the blood and anguish of his sufferings for our salvation? But even these divine and astonishing instances of tenderness and mercy make no impression on their souls. While Satan holds them in his chains, they are sleeping the sleep of death. 0 for a word of sovereign and almighty Grace to reach the centre of their spirits! to shake all the powers of their nature! to awaken them to behold their eternal interest, and to prepare for heavenly felicity. Awake, 0 sleepers, ere the angel of death seize you, and the grave shut its mouth upon you; then all your seasons and hopes of mercy are cut off for ever, and you will awake hopeless immortals.

I shall conclude this discourse with one word of exhortation to those who are in any measure wrought up to a preparation for the heavenly blessedness. 0 happy creature! whatsoever pains you have taken, whatever conflicts you have endured in the matter of your own salvation, yet let God and his grace have all the honour of this work. It is to God you owe your sacrifices of praise. ‘He that hath wrought you up for this felicity is God.’ It was he who awakened you first, and set you a thinking of your most important concerns: it was he that led you first into the way of salvation by Jesus Christ his Son, and hath thus far crowned your labours and your prayers with success and blessing. Every stumblingblock in your way might have thrown you down to perdition: every temptation might have turned you back from this glorious pursuit: every enemy of your souls might have discouraged or overcome you, if God and his grace had not been engaged on your side.

It is he that hath upheld you when you were falling; he hath taken you by the hand and led you right onward when you were wandering, and he hath supported you by his divine cordials of promise when you were fainting. It is God who hath enabled you to maintain your conflict with all the mighty obstacles of your faith and hope; it is his grace that hath renewed your nature, hath weaned you from this vain flattering world, and given you a sacred relish of divine blessedness. It is he who hath formed you again after his own image, and hath trained you up, and made you meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. Call up all your powers to praise his goodness, and say, “Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name: bless the Lord for ever, and forget not all his benefits.” ‘It is God who hath called me out of darkness into his marvellous light, and given me to see the things that belong to my everlasting peace. It is God, who washed away my iniquities in the blood of his own Son, and hath renewed me unto holiness by his blessed Spirit. It is God who hath taken me out of the family of sin and Satan, and given me a place among his children; who hath begun to prepare me for the joys and blessings of heaven, and in his own time he will fulfil all my hopes, and complete my felicity.’ Walk before him with all holy care and watchfulness, and ‘take heed that you lose not the things which you have wrought,’ nor the things which God hath wrought in you, but that, persevering to the end, ‘you may receive the full reward,’ and obtain the crown of everlasting life. Amen.