To enter indeed on a minute and particular description of heaven, would be vain and presumptuous, since we are told that “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, the things that are there prepared” for the sincere followers of the holy JESUS, even in this life, much less in that which is to come. However, this we may venture to affirm in general, that as GOD is a Spirit, so the happiness he has laid up for his people is spiritual likewise; and consequently, unless our carnal minds are changed, and spiritualized, we can never be made meet to partake of that inheritance with the saints in light.
It is true, we may flatter ourselves, that, supposing we continue in our natural corrupt estate, and carry all our lusts along with us, we should, notwithstanding, relish heaven, was GOD to admit us therein. And so we might, was it a _Mahometan_ paradise, wherein we were to take our full swing in sensual delights. But since its joys are only spiritual, and no unclean thing can possibly enter those blessed mansions, there is an absolute necessity of our being changed, and undergoing a total renovation of our depraved natures, before we can have any taste or relish of those heavenly pleasures.
It is, doubtless, for this reason, that the apostle declares it to be the irrevocable ♦decree of the Almighty, that “without holiness, (without being made pure by regeneration, and having the image of GOD thereby reinstamped upon the soul) no man shall see the LORD.” And it is very observable, that our divine Master, in the famous passage before referred to, concerning the absolute necessity of regeneration, does not say, Unless a man be born again, he _shall not_, but “unless a man be born again, he _cannot_ enter into the kingdom of GOD.” It is founded in the very nature of things, that unless we have dispositions wrought in us suitable to the objects that are to entertain us, we can take no manner of complacency or satisfaction in them. For instance; what delight can the most harmonious music afford to a deaf, or what pleasure can the most excellent picture give to a blind man? Can a tasteless palate relish the richest dainties, or a filthy swine be pleased with the finest garden of flowers? No: and what reason can be assigned for it? An answer is ready; because they have neither of them any tempers of mind correspondent or agreeable to what they are to be diverted with. And thus it is with the soul hereafter: for death makes no more alteration in the soul, than as it inlarges its faculties, and makes it capable of receiving deeper impressions either of pleasure or pain. If it delighted to converse with GOD here, it will be transported with the sight of his glorious Majesty hereafter. If it was pleased with the communion of saints on earth, it will be infinitely more so with the communion and society of holy angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect in heaven. But if the opposite of all this be true, we may assure ourselves the soul could not be happy, was GOD himself to admit it (which he never will do) into the regions of the blessed. But it is time for me to hasten to the
♦ “decreee” replaced with “decree”
_Fourth_ argument, because CHRIST’s redemption will not be complete in us, unless we are new creatures.
If we reflect indeed on the first and chief end of our blessed LORD’s coming, we shall find it was to be a propitiation for our sins, to give his life a ransom for many. But then, if the benefits of our dear Redeemer’s death were to extend no farther than barely to procure forgiveness of our sins, we should have as little reason to rejoice in it, as a poor condemned criminal that is ready to perish by some fatal disease, would have in receiving a pardon from his judge. For christians would do well to consider, that there is not only a legal hinderance to our happiness, as we are breakers of GOD’s law, but also a moral impurity in our natures, which renders us incapable of enjoying heaven (as hath been already proved) till some mighty change have been wrought in us. It is necessary therefore, in order to make CHRIST’s redemption compleat, that we should have a grant of GOD’s holy Spirit to change our natures, and so prepare us for the enjoyment of that happiness our Saviour has purchased by his precious blood.
Accordingly the holy scriptures inform us, that whom CHRIST justifies, or whose sins he forgives, and to whom he imputes his perfect obedience, those he also sanctifies, purifies and cleanses, and totally changeth their corrupted natures. As the scripture also speaketh in another place, “CHRIST is to us justification, sanctification, and then redemption.” But,
_Fourthly_, Proceed we now to the next general thing proposed, to draw some inferences from what has been delivered. And,