tioned 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 souls be blemished with Dew 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 a 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; Mat. 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 any of the angry principles that dwell in our flesh and blood, or that inflame and disturb the mind, will 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 theinselves 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" verse 6. There must be no sensual and intemperate creature' there, no covetous selfishness, no irregular passions, no narrowi ness 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 as, if ever we ourselves would live the divine life of heaven; Roms viii. 13. There is a great deal of this purifying work to be done in the souls of all of us, before we 10. Jud 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 blessedness And God is " training his people up for this purpose, all the days of their travels through this desart would. 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; 1 Cor. xv. 50. 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; Mat. vi. 19. They are all of the carthly 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 for heaven must arise to a 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. 2931. They must rejoice with such moderation 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; Col. iii. 1, 2. If you ask me, what methods the blessed God uses in order VOL. VII. L 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 this world, by permitting our earthly enjoyments to plunge us into difficulties, to seize the heart with anxieties, or to surround as with sore temptations: Then, when we feel ourselves falling into sin, and bruised or defiled thereby, we loose our former gust of pleasure in them; and when 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 attachments, 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 heavenly world, and raises our desires and tendencies of soul toward 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 thoughts 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 loadstone, 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 Ps. iv. 6. 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; Ps. lxiii. 3. Is the felicitating presence of God to be enjoyed in the future world, and shall we see his face there with unspeakable delight? Then those souls are prepared for heaven, who can say with the Psalmist, Ps. 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 maydwell in the house of God for ever, to behold the beauty of the Lord there; Ps. 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; Ps. xvii. 15. With my soul have I desired thee, O Lord, in the night, in the darkness of this desart world I have longed for the light of thy face, and with my spirit within me I will seek thee early; Is. xxvi. 9. Whom have I in heaven but thee, neither is there any on earth that I desire beside thee; Ps. lxxiii. 25. O 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 for 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. 8. 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; Rev. i. 7. He comes into our world to them that look for him, not to be made a sacrifice for sin, but to complete our salvation; Heb. ix. 28. I long to behold him, and I love the thought of his appearance; 2 Tim. iv. 8. 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 a holy groan and grief of heart, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death? Rom. vii. 24. 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. 4. 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. 5. The blessed God is pleased to work us up to a preparation for the heavenly world by forming the temper of our minds a the into a likeness to the inhabitants of heaven, that is, 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 a-new after his image, and resemble our heaven-" ly 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 -4 did in this world, that we may be prepared to dwell with him in the world to coine; 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;" 1 John i. 7. and I trust, O Father, I shall dwell for ever with thee there. I have been a follower of the Lamb through the throny and rugged passages of this wilderness, and I humbly hope I shall sit with thee, O 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. O for a heart and tongue furnished for such appeals to all the blessed inhabitants of paradise, the possessors of those mansions on high! 8. 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 honourable 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, ure 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 |