Will you say that that man hath a heart to go to heaven, that hath not so much as a hand to lay hold on the opportunities of grace that might bring him to heaven ? Luke xiii. 33, 34. 4. Will you say that that man hath a heart to go to heaven, that daily hardens his heart against him who is the way to heaven ? John xiv. 6 ; Isa. Ixiii. 10. 5. WiU you say that that man hath a heart to go to heaven, who is still a-grieving, vexing, and quenching that Spirit of holiness, that can only fit,i frame, and form him for heaven ? 6. Will you say that that man hath a heart to go to heaven, that rarely spends a serious thought of heaven, and that lives in this world as if there were no heaven ? 7. Will you say that that man hath a heart to go to heaven, whose sinful courses speak him out to be one of those who have made a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell ? Isa. xxviii. 15, 18. 8. Do you think that that man hath a heart to go to heaven, that detests those most that are the best wooers for heaven ? 9. Do you think that that man hath any heart to go to heaven, who can take no pleasure nor delight in those that are travelling towards heaven ? Kom. iii. 8 ; 1 Cor. iv. 9, 10. 10. Will you say that that man hath a heart to go to heaven, that will do nothing affectionately for heaven ; that will not hear for heaven, nor pray for heaven, nor trade for heaven, nor look for heaven, nor long for heaven, nor strive for heaven, nor wait for heaven ? 2 The heart commands aU, it carries all ; if the heart were bent for heaven, the head would contrive for heaven, the eye would look out for heaven, and the ear would hear for heaven, and the tongue would speak for heaven, and the foot would walk towards heaven, and the hand would do for heaven. By all which it is most evident that unholy persons are not cordially willing to go to heaven. It is most certain that unholy persons have no such great mind to go to heaven as some imagine. When Dives was in hell, his desire was not to be with Abraham in heaven, but that Lazarus might come and give him a little ease in hell : he preferred a little ease in hell before his being with Abraham in heaven, Luke xvi. 24, 27-29. Neither did he desire that his five brethren might go to heaven, but that they might be kept out of heU ; and that not out oi love to them, but out of love to himself, he knowing that their company would be no small increase of his own torments. Heaven would be a very hell to an unholy heart. If now the presence of God in his servants, and the presence of God in his ordinances, be such a hell to unholy souls, ah, what a hell would the presence of God in heaven be to unholy hearts ! It is true an unholy heart may desire heaven, as it is a place of freedom from troubles, afflictions, oppressions, vexations, &c., and as it is a place of peace, rest, ease, safety, &c., but this is the least and lowest part of heaven ; but to desire it as it is, a place of purity, of grace, of holiness, of enjoying of God, &c., is above the reach of an unholy heart. The company of heaven are all holy, the employments of heaven are all holy, and the enjoyments of heaven are all holy ; and therefore heaven cannot but be an undesirable thing to unholy hearts. An un- holy heart is no ways desirous nor ambitious of such a heaven as will rid him of his darling sins, as will make him conformable to a holy God, as will everlastingly divorce him from his old companions, and ^ = That only can fit.— G. * No man ever went to heaven sleeping.
80 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [Heb. XII. 14.
link him for ever to those gracious souls that he hath scorned, despised, and persecuted in this world. Ergo, &c.
Reason 5. Fifthly and lastly, Because loithout real holmess men are good for nothing, they are fit for nothing. Without holiness men are neither good for church nor state, they are neither fit to rule nor to be ruled ; to command, nor to be commanded ; to guide, nor to be guided, &c. Men void of holiness are in the Scripture resembled to chaff, to dust, to dirt, to briars and thorns, which are things that are good for nothing, that are fit for nothing.l And what should such men do in heaven, who are good for nothing on earth ? The horse is good to carry, the ox is good to draw, the sheep is good for cloth, the cow is good to give milk, the ass is good to bear, and the dog is good to keep the house ; but what is a man void of holiness good for ? An unholy person is good for nothing but to be destroyed, and to make some room for a better person to stand up in that place which he takes up in the world. As the hog in the Arabic fable tells us that a butcher, carrying three creatures upon his horse, a sheep, a goat, and a hog, the two former lay very quiet and still, but the hog kicked, and cried, and would never be quiet. Thereupon the butcher said, Why art thou so impatient when the other two are so quiet? The hog answered. Every one knows himself; the sheep knows that he is brought into the city for his wool's sake, and the goat knows that he is brought into the city for his milk's sake, and so they need not fear nor care ; but, alas, I know very well that I have neither wool nor milk, but that as soon as I am come into the city I must be kiUed, for that is all I am good for. An unholy soul is like a hog, good for nothing but to be killed. Mat. vii. 6. Certainly heaven-happiness is too great and too glorious a thing to be possessed by them that are good for nothing. We look upon such as are fit for nothing, to be worthy of banishment from the society of men. But oh, how much more worthy are they to be banished from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power, and to be shut out for ever from the society of angels and the spirits of just men made perfect, who are fit for nothing but to dishonour the Lord, undo their own souls, and to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath !^ 2 Thes. i. 8, 9 ; Heb. xii. 22, 23 ; Rom. ii. 5. And thus I have given you an account of the reasons of the point.
IV. Use 1. We shall now come to make some improvement of this great truth to our own souls. Is it so, that real holiness is the only way to happiness, and that without holiness here, no man shall ever come to a blessed vision or fruition of God hereafter ? Then the first use shall be a use of conviction. This, then, may serve to con- vince the world of several things : As,
1. First, That the number of those that shaU be eternally happy, the number of those that shall attain to a blessed vision and glorious fruition of God in heaven, are very few ; for there are but a few that reach to this holiness without which there is no happiness : Rev, iii. 4, * Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments ; and they shall walk with me in white : for they are worthy.' Among the many in Sardis there were but a few that had holy insides
' ^ Ps. i. 4 ; Isa. xli. 2 ; Zeph. i. 17 ; Ezek. ii. 6 ; Isa. ii. 18, x. 6, 17, and Ivii. 27.