Chapter 7

Especial Objects of Spiritual Thoughts on the Glorious State of Heaven, and what belongs thereunto. First, of Christ himself. Thoughts of Heavenly Glory, in opposition to. Thoughts of Eternal Misery. The Use of such Thoughts. Advantage in Sufferings.

IT will be to our Advantage having stated right Notions of the Glory of the blessed State above in our minds, to fix on some particulars belonging to it, as the especial Object of our Thoughts and Meditations. As, (1.) Think much of him who to us is the Life and Center of all the Glory of Heaven that is, Christ himself. I shall be very brief in treating hereof, because I have designed a peculiar Treatise on this Subject, of beholding the Glory of Christ both here and to Eternity. At present therefore a few things only shall be mentioned, because on this occasion they are not to be omitted. The whole of the Glory of the State above is expressed by being ever with the Lord; where he is, to behold his Glory. For in and through him is the Beatifical manifestation of God and his Glory made for evermore. And through him are all Communications of inward Glory to us. The present Resplendency of Heavenly Glory, consists in his Mediatory Ministry, as I have at large elsewhere declared. And he will be the means of all glorious communications between God and the Church to Eternity. Wherefore if we are Spiritually minded, we should fix our Thoughts on Christ above, as the Center of all Heavenly Glory. To help us herein we may consider the things that follow.

(1.) Faith has continual Recourse to him on the account of what he did and suffered for us in this world. For thereon, Pardon of sin, Justification and Peace with God do depend. This ariss in the first place from a sense of our own wants. But Love of him is no less necessary to us than Faith in him. And although we have powerful Motives to Love, from what he did and was in this world, yet the formal Reason of our Adherence to him thereby is what he is in himself, as he is now exalted in Heaven. If we rejoyce not at the Remembrance of his present Glory, if the Thoughts of it be not frequent with us and refreshing to us, how dwells his Love in us?

(2.) Our Hope is that e're long we shall be ever with him. And if so, it is certainly our Wisdom and Duty to be here with him as much as we can. It is a vain thing for any to suppose that they place their chiefest happiness in being for ever in the Presence of Christ, who care not at all to be with him here as they may. And the only way of our being present with him here, is by Faith and Love, acting themselves in Spiritual Thoughts and Affections. And it is an absurd thing for men to esteem themselves Christians, who scarce think of Christ all the day long. Yet some, as one complained of old, scarce ever think or speak of him but when they swear by his Name. I have read of them who have lived and dyed in continual Contemplation on him, so far as the Imperfection of our present state will admit. I have known them, I do know them, who call themselves to a Reproof if at any time he has been many minutes out of their Thoughts. And it is strange that it should be otherwise with them who love him in sincerity; yet I wish I did not know more, who give evidences that it is a rare thing for them to be exercised in serious Thoughts and Meditations about him. Yea there are some who are not averse upon occasions to speak of God, of Mercy, of Pardon, of his Power and Goodness, who if you mention Christ to them, with any thing of Faith, Love, Trust in him, they seem to them as a strange thing. Few there are who are sensible of any Religion beyond what is natural. The things of the Wisdom and Power of God in Christ, are foolishness to them. Take some Directions for the Discharge of this Duty. (1.) In your Thoughts of Christ be very careful that they are conceived and directed according to the Rule of the Word, lest you deceive your own souls, and give up the conduct of your Affections to vain Imaginations. Spiritual Notions befalling carnal minds, did once by the means of Superstition ruine the Power of Religion. A Conviction men had that they must think much of Jesus Christ, and that this would make them conformable to him; but having no real Evangelical Faith, nor the Wisdom of Faith to exercise it in their Thoughts and Affections in a due manner, nor understanding what it was to be truely like to him, they gave up themselves to many foolish Inventions and Imaginations; by which they Thought to express their Love and conformity to him. They would have Images of him which they would embrace, adore, and bedew with their tears. They would have Crucifixes as they called them, which they would carry about them, and wear next to their hearts, as if they resolved to lodge Christ always in their bosoms. They would go in Pilgrimage to the place where he dyed and rose again, through a thousand dangers; and purchase a feigned Chip of a Tree whereon he suffered, at the price of all they had in the world. They would endeavor by long Thoughtfulness, Fastings and Watchings, to cast their Souls into Raptures and Extasies, wherein they fancied themselves in his Presence. They came at last to make themselves like him, in getting impressions of wounds, on their sides, their hands and feet. Unto all these things and sundry others of an alike Nature and Tendency, did Superstition abuse and corrupt the Minds of men, from a pretence of a Principle of Truth; For there is no more certain Gospel Truth than this, that Believers ought continually to contemplate on Christ, by the actings of Faith in their Thoughts and Affections; and that thereby they are changed and transformed into his Image, Cor. 3:18. And we are not to forego our Duty, because other men have been mistaken in theirs; nor part with practical fundamental Principles of Religion, because they have been abused by Superstition. But we may see herein, how dangerous it is to depart in any thing from the conduct of Scripture Light and Rule, when for want thereof, the best and most noble Endeavours of the minds of men, even to love Christ and to be like to him, do issue in Provocations of the highest nature.

Pray therefore that you may be kept to the Truth in all things by a diligent Attendance to the only Rule thereof, and conscientious subjection of Soul to the Authority of God in it. For we ought not to suffer our Affections to be entangled with the paint or Artificial Beauty of any way or means of giving our Love to Christ, which are not warranted by the Word of Truth. Yet I must say, that I had rather be among them who in the actings of their Love and Affections to Christ do fall into some irregularities and excesses in the manner of expressing it (provided their Worship of him be neither Superstitious nor Idolatrous) than among those who professing themselves to be Christians, do almost disavow their having any Thoughts of or Affection to the Person of Christ: But there is no need that we should foolishly run into either of these extreams. God has in the Scripture sufficiently provided against them both. He has both showed us the Necessity of our diligent acting of Faith and Love on the Person of Christ; and has limited out the way and means whereby we may so do; And let our Designs be what they will, where in any thing we depart from his Prescriptions, we are not under the conduct of his Spirit, and so are sure to lose all that we do.

Wherefore two things are required that we may thus think of Christ and Meditate on him according to the mind and will of God. (1.) That the means of bringing him to Mind, be what God has promised and appointed. (2.) That the continued Proposal of him as the Object of our Thoughts and Meditations be of the same kind. For both these ends, the superstitious minds of men invented the ways of Images and Crucifixes, with their Appurtenances before mentioned. And this rendered all their Devotion an Abomination. That which tends to these ends among Believers, is the Promise of the Spirit; and the Institutions of the Word. Would you then think of Christ as you ought; take these two directions. (1.) Pray that the Holy Spirit may abide with you continually to mind you of him, which he will do in all in whom he does abide; For it belongs to his Office. (2.) For more fixed Thoughts and Meditations; take some express place of Scripture, wherein he is set forth and proposed either in his Person, Office, or Grace to you, Gal. 3:1.

4. This Duty lyes at the Foundation of all that blessed communion and entercourse, that is between Jesus Christ and the Souls of Believers. This I confess is despised by some and the very Notion of it esteemed ridiculous. But they do therein no less than renounce Christianity, and turn the Lord Christ into an Idol, that neither knows, ses, nor hears. But I speak to them who are not utter strangers to the Life of Faith, who know not what Religion is, unless they have real spiritual entercourse and communion with the Lord Christ thereby. Consider this therefore as it is in particular exemplified in the Book of Canticles. There is not one Instance of it to be found, which does not suppose a continual Thoughtfulness of him. And in answer to them, as they are actings of Faith and Love wherein he is delighted, does he by his Spirit insinuate into our Minds and Hearts, a gracious sense of his own Love, Kindness and Relation to us. The great variety wherein these things are mutually carryed on between him and the Church, the singular endearments which ensue thereon, and blessed Estate in Rest and Complacency, do make up the substance of that Holy Discourse. No Thoughts then of Christ, proceeding from Faith, accompanyed with Love and Delight, shall be lost: They that sow this seed shall return with their sheaves; Christ will meet them with gracious Intimations of his Acceptance of them, delight in them, and return a sense of his own Love to them. He never will be, he never was behind with any poor Soul in returns of Love. Those gracious and blessed Promises which he has made of coming to them that believe in him, of making his abode with them, and of supping with them, all expressions of a Gracious Presence and intimate Communion, do all depend on this duty. Wherefore we may consider three things concerning these Thoughts of Christ. (1.) That they are exceeding acceptable to him, as the best pledges of our Cordial Affection. Cant. 2.14. O my Dove that art in the clefts of the Rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see your countenance, let me hear your voice; for sweet is your voice, and your countenance is comely. When a Soul through manifold discouragements and despondencies withdraws, and as it were hides it self from him, he calls to see a poor weeping, blubbered face, and to hear a broken voice, that scarce goes beyond sighs and groans. (2.) These Thoughts are the only Means, whereby we comply with the gracious intimations of his Love mentioned before. By them do we hear his Knocking, know his Voice, and open the door of our Hearts to give him entrance, that he may abide and sup with us. Sometimes indeed the Soul is surprized into Acts of Gracious Communion with Christ, Cant. 6.11. But they are not to be expected unless we abide in those ways and means which prepare and make our Souls meet for the Reception and entertainment of him. Wherefore, (3.) Our want of experience in the power of this Holy entercourse and communion with Christ, ariss principally from our Defect in this Duty. I have known one who after a long Profession of Faith and Holiness, fell into great Darkness and distress, meerly on this account, that he did not experience in himself, the Sweetness, Life, and Power of the Testimonies given concerning the real Communications of the Love of Christ to, and the intimation of his Presence with Believers. He knew well enough the Doctrine of it, but did not feel the Power of it; at least he understood there was more in it, than he had experience of. God carryed him by Faith through that Darkness; but taught him withal, that no sense of these things was to be let into the Soul, but by constant Thoughtfulness and Contemplations on Christ. How many blessed visits do we lose, by not being exercised to this Duty. See Cant. 5.1, 2, 3. Sometimes we are busie, sometimes careless and negligent, sometimes slothful, sometimes under the power of Temptations, so that we neither inquire after, nor are ready to receive them. This is not the way to have our Joyes abound.

Again, I speak now with especial respect to him in Heaven. The Glory of his Presence as God and Man eternally united, the Discharge of his Mediatory Office as he is at the right hand of God, the Glory of his present acting for the Church, as he is the Minister of the Sanctuary and the true Tabernacle which God has fixed and not Man, the Love, Power and Efficacy of his Intercession, whereby he takes care for the Accomplishment of the Salvation of the Church, the approach of his Glorious coming to Judgment, are to be the Objects of our daily Thoughts and Meditations.

Let us not mistake our selves. To be spiritually minded is not to have the Notions and Knowledge of spiritual things in our minds; it is not to be constant, no not to abound in the performance of Duties, both which may be where there is no Grace in the Heart at all. It is to have our Minds really exercised with delight about Heavenly things, the things that are above, especially Christ himself as at the right hand of God.

Again: So think of eternal things as continually to lay them in the Ballance against all the sufferings of this Life. This use of it I have spoken to somewhat before; and it is necessary it should be pressed upon all occasions. It is very probable that we shall yet suffer more than we have done. Those who have gone before us, have done so; it is foretold in the Scripture, that if we will live Godly in Christ Jesus we must do so; we stand in need of it, and the World is prepared to bring it on us. And as we must suffer, so it is necessary to the Glory of God, and our own Salvation, that we suffer in a due manner. Meer sufferings will neither commend us to God, nor any way advantage our own Souls. When we suffer acording to the will of God, it is an eminent Grace, Gift and Priviledge, Psal. 1:29. But many things are required hereto. It is not enough that men suppose themselves to suffer for Conscience sake, though if we do not so, all our sufferings are in vain. Nor is it enough that we suffer for this or that way of Profession in Religion, which we esteem to be true and according to the Mind of God, in opposition to what is not so. The Glory of Sufferings on these accounts solely, has been much sullied in the dayes wherein we live. It is evident that Persons out of a natural Courage, accompanied with deep radicate perswasions, and having their minds influenced with some sinister ends, may undergo things hard and difficult, in giving Testimony to what is not according to the Mind of God. Examples we have had hereof in all Ages, and in that wherein we live in an especial manner. See Pet. 4:14, 15, 16. We have had enough to take off all paint and appearance of Honor from them who in their sufferings are deceived in what they profess. But men may from the same Principles suffer for what is indeed according to the Mind of God, yea may give their bodyes to be burned therein, and yet not to his Glory nor their own eternal Advantage. Wherefore we are duely to consider all things that are requisite to make our sufferings acceptable to God and honourable to the Gospel.

I have observed in many a frame of Spirit with respect to sufferings, that I never saw good event of when it was tryed to the uttermost. Boldness, confidence, a pretended contempt of hardships, and scorning other men whom they suppose defective in these things, are the Garments or Livery they wear on this Occasion. Such Principles may carry men out in a bad Cause, they will never do so in a good. Evangelical Truth will not be honourably witnessed to, but by Evangelical Graces. Distrust of our selves, a due apprehension of the nature of the evils to be undergone, and of our own frailty, with continual Prayers to be delivered from them, or supported under them, and prudent care to avoid them without an inroad on conscience, or neglect of Duty, are much better preparations for an entrance into a state of Suffering. Many things belong to our Learning aright this first and last Lesson of the Gospel, namely, of bearing the Cross, or undergoing all sorts of sufferings for the Profession of it. But they belong not to our present Occasion. This only is that which we now press, as an evidence of our sincerity in our sufferings, and an effectual means to enable us chearfully to undergo them, which is to have such a continual prospect of the future state of Glory, so as to lay it in the Ballance against all that we may undergo. For,

(1.) To have our Minds filled and possessed with Thoughts thereof, will give us an Alacrity in our entrance into sufferings in a way of Duty. Other considerations will offer themselves to our Relief, which will quickly fade and disappear. They are like a Cordial Water which gives a little Relief for a Season, and then leaves the Spirits to sink beneath what they were before it was taken. Some relieve themselves from the consideration of the Nature of their Sufferings; they are not so great, but that they may conflict with them and come off with safety. But there is nothing of that kind so small, which will not prove too hard and strong for us, unless we have especial Assistance. Some do the same from their Duration; they are but for ten dayes or six months, and then they shall be free. Some from the Compassion and esteem of Men. These and the like considerations are apt to occur to the minds of all sorts of Persons, whether they are spiritually minded or no. But when our Minds are accustomed to Thoughts of the Glory that shall be revealed, we shall chearfully entertain every way and path that leads thereunto; as suffering for the Truth does in a peculiar manner. Through this Medium we may look chearfully and comfortably, on the loss of Name, Reputation, Goods, Liberty, Life it self; as knowing in our selves that we have better and more abiding comforts to betake our selves to. And we can no other way glorify God by our Alacrity in the entrance of sufferings, than when it ariss from a prospect into and valuation of those invisible things which he has promised, as an abundant Recompence for all we can lose in this world.

2. The great Aggravation of Sufferings is their long continuance, without any rational Appearance or hopes of Relief. Many who have entred into Sufferings with much Courage and Resolution, have been wearied and worn out with their continuance. Elijah himself was hereby reduced to pray that God would take away his Life, to put an end to his Ministry and Calamities. And not a few in all Ages have been hereby so broken in their natural Spirits, and so shaken in the exercise of Faith, as that they have lost the Glory of their Confession, in seeking deliverance by sinful compliances in the denial of the Truth. And although this may be done out of meer weariness, (as it is the Design of Sathan to wear out the Saints of the most High) with reluctance of Mind, and a Love yet remaining to the Truth in their Hearts, yet has it constantly one of these two Effects. Some by the overwhelming sorrow that befalls them on the account of their failure in Profession, and out of a deep sense of their unkindness to the Lord Jesus, are stirred up immediately to higher Acts of confession than ever they were before ingaged in, and to an higher Provocation of their Adversaries, untill their former troubles are doubled upon them, which they frequently undergo with great satisfaction. Instances of this nature occurr in all stories of great Persecutions. Others being cowed and discouraged in their Profession, and perhaps neglected by them whose Duty it was rather to restore them, have by the craft of Sathan given place to their Declensions, and become vile Apostates. To prevent these evils arising from the Duration of sufferings without a prospect of Deliverance, nothing is more prevalent than a constant Contemplation on the future Reward and Glory. So the Apostle declares it; Heb. 11:35. When the Mind is filled with the Thoughts of the unseen Glories of Eternity, it has in readiness what to lay in the Ballance against the longest continuance and Duration of sufferings, which in comparison thereunto at their utmost extent are but for a Moment.

I have insisted the longer on these things, because they are the peculiar Object of the Thoughts of them that are indeed Spiritually minded.

Directions for exercising our thoughts on things above — things future, invisible, and eternal; on God Himself — along with the difficulties and obstacles involved and the way to remove them. Right conceptions of future glory established.

We have already treated in general of the proper objects of our spiritual thoughts as they relate to our present duty. What we last took up is a special instance of this: heavenly things — things future and invisible — along with the fountain and spring of them all in Christ and God Himself. And because people are generally unskilled in this area, and great difficulties arise in the discharge of this part of the duty, I will give some specific directions for it.

First, fill your minds with right conceptions and understandings of things above and of the state of future glory. In this duty we are to look at things that are not seen, 2 Corinthians 4:18. It is by faith alone that we have a view of them, for "we walk by faith, not by sight." And faith can give us no share in them unless we have proper conceptions of them, for it merely assents to and clings to the truth of what is presented to it. The great majority of humanity both deceives itself and feeds on ashes in this matter. They imagine a future state that has no foundation except in their own imaginations. Therefore, the apostle, in directing us to seek and set our minds on things above, adds as guidance for our thoughts the consideration of the chief content of those things: "where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God," Colossians 3:1-2. He wants to lead us to clear perceptions of heavenly things — especially of the presence of Christ in His exaltation and glory. Therefore the true conception of these things, which we are to fill our minds with, may be considered here.

All those who have any conception of a future state of happiness agree on this much: it involves deliverance and freedom from all that is evil. But they do not agree on what constitutes evil. Many regard only those things that are distressing, troublesome, wearing, and destructive to nature as evil — that is, what is painful: sickness, sorrow, loss, poverty, all manner of outward troubles, and death itself. Therefore they suppose that the future state of blessedness will free them from all these things, if they can attain it. These they will place in the balance against the troubles of life — and sometimes against the pleasures of it that they must give up. Indeed, even profane and shameless people will at least in words profess that heaven will give them rest from all their troubles. But it is no place of rest for such people.

To all others as well — to believers themselves — these things are evils from which they expect deliverance in heaven and glory. There is no doubt that it is both lawful and fitting for us to contemplate heaven as a state that will deliver us from all outward troubles, from death itself and everything leading up to it. Heaven is promised as rest to those who are troubled, 2 Thessalonians 1:7. It is our duty under all our sufferings, reproaches, persecutions, troubles, and sorrows to lift our minds up to the contemplation of that state in which we will be freed from them all. It is a blessed thought about heaven that God will wipe away all tears from our eyes there, Revelation 7:17 — removing far from us all causes of sorrow. And it would be to our benefit if we accustomed our minds more to this kind of relief than we do — if when fears, dangers, and sorrows come upon us, we more readily retreated to thoughts of that state where we will be freed from them all. Even this most elementary consideration of heaven would make thoughts of it more familiar to us and more useful. It would be far better than spending such occasions in empty complaints, uncertain hopes, and futile scheming.

But there is something that to those who are truly spiritually minded has more evil in it than all these things combined — and that is sin. Heaven is a state of deliverance from sin — from all sin, in all its causes, accompaniments, and effects. He is no true believer to whom sin is not the greatest burden, sorrow, and trouble. Other things — such as the loss of dear loved ones or extraordinary physical pain — may at certain moments make a deeper impression on the mind through natural emotions than sins ever have at any one time. So a person may feel a greater sensory discomfort from a toothache that will be gone in an hour than from a wasting fever that will assuredly take his life. But taking the whole course of life into view — with all the activity of the soul in spiritual judgment as well as natural emotion — I do not understand how a person can be a sincere believer for whom sin is not the greatest burden and sorrow.

Therefore, the first and most essential part of the true understanding of heaven is this: it is a state in which we will be eternally freed from sin and all that goes with it — except for the exaltation of the glory of God's grace in Christ, through the pardon of it. The person who truly hates sin and abhors it — whose chief desire and aim in life is to be as free from it as possible, who walks in self-abasement because of his many disappointments when he hoped sin would act in him no more — cannot help, I believe, frequently retreating for refreshment to thoughts of that state where he will be freed from sin entirely and will triumph over it for eternity. This is a conception of heaven that can be easily grasped and fixed in the mind — one that we can dwell on to the great benefit and satisfaction of our souls.

Frequent thoughts and meditations about heaven under this conception are evidence that a person is spiritually minded. For it is convincing evidence that sin is a burden to him — that he longs to be delivered from it and all its consequences, and that no thoughts are more welcome than those of the state in which sin will be no more. And although people may be troubled by their sins and would willingly be freed from them insofar as those sins disturb their minds and make their consciences uneasy, yet if they rarely look to this relief and find no refreshment in it, I fear their trouble is not what it ought to be. Therefore, when people can wrestle and wrangle with their convictions of sin, yet find their best relief in the hope that things will get better at some point in this life — without any longing desire for the state in which sin will be no more — they give no evidence that they are spiritually minded.

It is quite otherwise with sincere believers as they exercise this duty. For them, what makes the remaining traces of sin most grievous and burdensome is the consideration of God's grace and love, the blood of Christ, the purity and holiness of the Holy Spirit who dwells in them, and the light, grace, and mercy they have received through the promises of the Gospel. This is what even breaks their hearts and causes some of them to go mourning all day — that anything of what God alone hates should be found or remain in them. In this condition, it is evidence that they are spiritually minded if — alongside watchful efforts to mortify sin thoroughly and cut it out completely, root and branch — they consistently add these thoughts of that blessed state in which they will be absolutely and eternally freed from all sin, with refreshment, delight, and contentment.

These things belong to our direction for fixing our thoughts and meditations on things above. Even the humblest and weakest person who has the smallest spark of sincerity and grace is capable of grasping this and able to practice it. And their sense of the evil of sin will naturally lead them to it every day — if only they do not close their eyes against the light of the refreshment that is in it. Let those who cannot rise in their minds to fixed and stable thoughts about any other aspect of these invisible things dwell on this consideration — they will find in it no small spiritual benefit and refreshment to their souls.

Second, as to the positive content of this glorious future state, people's thoughts and conceptions vary widely. So that we may know both what to avoid and what to embrace, we will briefly consider some of them.

First, many cannot form any rational conception of a future state of blessedness and glory — no understanding in which either faith or reason has any meaningful involvement. They have an imagination of something great and glorious, but what it is they do not know. It is no wonder that such people have no delight in and no use for thoughts of heaven. When their imaginations have drifted through all kinds of uncertainty for a while, they are swallowed up in nothing. They take it for granted that heaven must be glorious and therefore desirable. But nothing can be truly desirable to them except what suits their present dispositions, inclinations, and principles. And of those things, nothing is to be found in the true spiritual glory of heaven or in the eternal enjoyment of God. These things do not suit the inclinations of their minds and flesh, and therefore they cannot rise to any consistent desires for them. Hence, to please themselves, they begin to imagine what is not. But since what is truly heaven does not please them, and what does please them is not heaven and will not be found there, they rarely if ever attempt in any earnest to exercise their thoughts about it.

It would be well if darkness and ignorance about the true nature of the future state and eternal glory did not greatly hinder believers themselves from taking delight in them and meditating on them. They have nothing fixed or settled in their minds to turn to in their thoughts when they would contemplate these things. And by the way, whatever diverts people's minds from the power and life of spiritual worship — as all elaborate ceremonial performances of worship do — greatly hinders them from forming right conceptions of our future state. A promise of eternal life was given to the saints of the Old Testament, but because they were bound to a form of worship that was external and outwardly elaborate, they never had clear and distinct conceptions of the future state of glory. For it was the Gospel that brought life and immortality to light. Therefore, although no living person can see or grasp the infinite riches of eternal glory, it is still the duty of all to be acquainted with its general nature — so that they may have settled thoughts of it, love toward it, and earnest desires for it, all under its own true and proper understanding.

Second, a great part of humanity — the Muslims — who inhabit and possess many of the most prized and desirable regions of the world, conceive the future state of blessedness as consisting in the full satisfaction of their sensual desires and pleasures. This is evidence that the religion they profess has no power or effectiveness in their minds to change them from the love of sin or from placing their happiness in fulfilling the desires of the flesh. It does not at all enlighten their minds to discern beauty in spiritual things, or stir their affections to love those things, or free the soul to seek blessedness in things that are alone suited to its rational nature. For if it did, they would place their happiness and blessedness in those things. Therefore, their conception of paradise is nothing but a device of the god of this world to blind the eyes of people to their eternal destruction.

Third, some of the ancient philosophers arrived at the understanding that human blessedness in the next world consists in the soul's full satisfaction in the goodness and beauty of the divine nature. There is truth in this idea, and thoughtful people have adorned it with excellent and carefully reasoned discussions. And a number of learned Christians — both past and present — have greatly developed this truth in the light of Scripture. From reason, they draw on thoughts of the goodness, loveliness, self-sufficiency, and all-satisfying fullness of the infinite perfections of the divine nature. These things shine with such glorious light in themselves that nothing more is needed to perceive them than that people not willfully shut their eyes against that light through bestial sensuality and love of sin. From reason also they form their conceptions about the capacity of human souls for the immediate enjoyment of God, and what is suited therein to our utmost blessedness. Nothing more is required for this than a proper consideration of the nature of God and man, our relationship to Him, and our dependence on Him. By the light of Scripture they shape these ideas into what they call the beatific vision — by which they mean all the ways in which God, in the highest and most immediate forms, can and does communicate Himself to the souls of people, together with the fullest possible elevation of their intellectual capacities to receive those communications. It is an intellectual apprehension of the divine nature and perfections, accompanied by inexpressible love, that brings the soul to the utmost rest and blessedness its capacities can reach.

These things are true, and many have described them both devoutly and beautifully. Yet they are beyond the capacity of ordinary Christians — people do not know how to work with them in their minds or exercise their thoughts around them. They cannot bring them into practical present usefulness or make them serve the exercise and growth of grace. And the truth is, Scripture gives us another way of thinking about heaven and glory — not contrary to this, not inconsistent with it, but better suited to the faith and experience of believers, and alone able to convey a true and useful sense of these things to our minds. This, therefore, is to be carefully inquired into and firmly established in our thoughts and affections.

Fourth, the principal way in which Scripture presents the state of heavenly blessedness — the way the humblest believer is capable of making practical use of every day — is this: faith shall be turned into sight, and grace into glory. "We walk by faith, not by sight," says the apostle, 2 Corinthians 5:7. Therefore the difference between our present and our future state is that sight will hereafter take the place of faith, 1 John 3:2. And if sight comes in place of faith, then the object of that sight must be the same as the present object of our faith. The apostle informs us of this in 1 Corinthians 13:9-10, 12: "For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away... For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face." Those things we now see dimly as in a mirror we will then have immediate sight and full comprehension of — for the perfect must come and do away with what is partial. What then is the primary present object of faith, as it is evangelical, that sight will succeed? Is it not the manifestation of the glory of the infinite wisdom, grace, love, kindness, and power of God in Christ — the revelation of the eternal counsels of His will and the ways of their accomplishment in the eternal salvation of the church in and through Him — along with the glorious exaltation of Christ Himself? Therefore, in the full and satisfying display of these things to our souls — received by sight, by a direct and immediate vision of them — the glory of heaven principally consists. We see these things now dimly as in a mirror — that is, to the fullest extent that faith can attain to; in heaven they will be openly and fully displayed. The infinite and incomprehensible excellencies of the divine nature are not put forward in Scripture as the immediate object of our faith here, and they will not be so for sight in heaven either. The manifestation of those excellencies in Christ is the immediate object of our faith here and will be of our sight hereafter. Only through this manifestation of them are we led, even by faith, ultimately to rest in them — just as in heaven we will be led by love to adhere to them perfectly with unspeakable delight. This is our immediate objective glory in heaven — we hope for no other. And this, God willing, I will explain more fully shortly.

Whoever lives in the active exercise of faith and has any experience of the life, power, and sweetness of these heavenly things — to whom they are a spring of grace and comfort — is able to meditate on the glory of them in their full enjoyment. Think deeply about heaven as the state that will give you a perfect view and comprehension of the wisdom, love, and grace of God in Christ — along with those other things that will be described shortly.

Some perhaps will be ready to say that if this is heaven, they see no great glory in it — no beauty for which it should be desired. That may be the case, for some have no instrument to perceive invisible things except carnal imagination. Some have no light, no principle, no disposition of mind or soul to which these things are either acceptable or suited. Some will go no further in considering the divine excellencies of God and the faculties and activities of our souls than reason will guide them — which may have some value. But we look for no other heaven, and desire none, except the one that the light of the Gospel leads us to and prepares us for — the one that will perfect all the beginnings of God's grace in us, not a different kind that would destroy them. We place no value on a heaven equally suited to the desires and inclinations of the worst of people as well as the best — for we know that those who do not like grace here neither do nor can like what is glory hereafter. No person who does not have some personal, experiential acquaintance with the life, power, and evidence of faith here has any heaven in view except one constructed in his own imagination. The glory of heaven that the Gospel prepares us for — that faith leads and guides us to, that the souls of believers long for as that which will give them full rest, satisfaction, and contentment — is the full, open, and perfect manifestation of the glory of God's wisdom, goodness, and love in Christ: in His person and mediation, with the revelation of all His counsels concerning us, and the communication of their effects to us. The person who does not like this — to whom it is not desirable — may betake himself to Muhammad's paradise or the philosophers' speculations; in the Gospel's heaven he has no share. These are the things we see now dimly as in a mirror, by faith. In the vision of them our souls are gradually being transformed into God's likeness. And the full comprehension of them is what will bring us to the perfect conformity and likeness to God of which our natures are capable. In a sense and experience of their reality and goodness given us by the Holy Spirit, all our spiritual consolations and joys consist. The effects they produce in our souls are the firstfruits of glory. Our light, sense, experience, and enjoyment of these things — however weak and frequently interrupted — and our apprehensions of them — however dim and incomplete — are the only means by which we are made fit for the inheritance of the saints in light.

To have the eternal glory of God in Christ — with all the fruits of His wisdom and love — directly, openly, and divinely revealed and set before us while we ourselves are fully sharing in the effects of those things, our souls furnished with the capacity to behold and fully comprehend them: this is the heaven we look for according to God's promise. But as noted, these things will be treated more fully elsewhere.

It is true that there are other particular things that belong to this state of glory. But what we have described is the fountain and spring of them all. We can never have an immediate enjoyment of God in the immensity of His nature — no created understanding can conceive of such a thing. God's communications of Himself to us, and our enjoyment of Him, will be in and through the manifestation of His glory in Christ. The person who can see no glory — who senses no blessedness — in these things is a stranger to the heaven that Scripture reveals and that faith leads to.

It may be asked: what is the subjective glory — what change must be worked in us so that we may enjoy this glory? This consists principally, as to our souls, in the perfection of all grace that has been initially worked and subjectively dwells in us in this life. The grace we have here will not be abolished in its essence and nature, though something of it will cease as to its manner of operation. What soul could think with joy of going to heaven if in doing so it must lose all its present light, faith, and love of God — even if told it would receive something more excellent in return, something it has no experience of and cannot understand the nature of? When the saints enter into rest, their good works follow them — and how could they, if their grace did not accompany them, being the source from which those works proceed? The perfection of our present graces — which are here weak and interrupted in their operations — is one of the chief excellencies of the state of glory. Faith will be elevated to vision, as was shown earlier; this does not destroy its nature, but causes it to cease in its manner of operation toward things that are invisible. If a man has a weak, small faith in this life — with little evidence and no assurance, so that he doubts and questions everything and draws no comfort from what he does believe — and if afterward, through fresh supplies of grace, he has a mighty, prevailing conviction of the things believed and is filled with comfort and assurance, this is not a faith or grace of a different kind from what he had before. It is the same faith raised to a higher degree of perfection. When our Savior healed the blind man, He gave him sight progressively. At first the man saw everything dimly and imperfectly — he saw people, but they looked like trees walking (Mark 8:24). But after another touch, he saw everything clearly (verse 25). The sight he then received was not a sight of a different kind from what he had at first — only its imperfection was taken away. Neither will our perfect vision of things above be a grace of an entirely different kind from the light of faith we now enjoy; only what is imperfect in it will be done away, and it will be made suited for the present enjoyment of things that are here at a distance and invisible. Love also will have its perfection — and of all the graces, it will have the least alteration in its manner of operation. And there is nothing that should more stir us to pursue growth in love to God in Christ than this: that love will to all eternity remain the same in its nature and in all its operations — only both the nature and the operations will be made absolutely perfect. The soul will by it be enabled to cleave to God unchangeably, with eternal delight, satisfaction, and contentment. Hope will be perfected in enjoyment — which is all the perfection it is capable of. So it will be with the other graces as well.

This inward perfection of our natures — especially of all the faculties, powers, and affections of our souls and all their activities — belongs to our blessedness, and we cannot be blessed without it. All the objective glory in heaven would not, in our beholding and enjoying it (if that were possible), make us truly blessed and happy, if our own natures were not made perfect — freed from all disorder, irregular impulses, and weak, imperfect operations. What then must give our nature this inner perfection? It is that grace alone whose beginnings we already share in here. For this grace is nothing less than the renewal of the image of God in us. And the perfect communication of that image to us is the absolute perfection of our natures — the utmost our capacities can accommodate. This brings us to the last thing to be inquired into: by what means in ourselves will we eternally abide in that state? And this is by the unalterable adherence of our whole souls to God in perfect love and delight. This is the way by which the soul alone reaches to the essence of God and the infinite, incomprehensible perfections of His nature. As to its perfect nature, divine revelation has left it under a veil — and so must we. Nor do I address these things here in order to handle them fully, but only as a direction on how to exercise our thoughts about them.

This is the conception of heaven that those who are spiritually minded ought to be familiar with. And holding it rightly by faith is a distinguishing mark of true believers. This is not heaven to any others. Those who have no experience of the excellence of these things in their initial form in this world — and of their incomparable superiority to all other things — cannot conceive how heavenly glory and blessedness could consist in them. Unskilled people may throw away rough, uncut diamonds as useless stones, not knowing what polishing will bring out in them. So people unskilled in the mysteries of godliness cannot see that there could be any glory in rough, unfinished grace — not knowing what beauty the polishing of the heavenly hand will give it.

It is generally supposed that however people differ in and about religion here, they all agree well enough about heaven — that they would all go to the same heaven. But this is a great mistake — they differ about nothing more. They would not all go to the same heaven. How few are those who value the heavenly state we have described, or who understand how any blessedness could consist in enjoying it? But this heaven — and no other — is where we desire to go. There may be other conceptions of heaven, and there are — but these, being nothing but products of people's own imaginations, will make those who dwell in them more carnal the more they contemplate them, or at best more superstitious. But spiritual thoughts about this heaven — consisting principally in freedom from all sin, in the perfection of all grace, in the vision of the glory of God in Christ, and in all the excellencies of the divine nature as manifested in Him — are an effective means for the growth of spiritual life and the increase of all graces in us. For they cannot help producing a conformity in the mind and heart to the things being contemplated, where the principles and seeds of those things have already been implanted and begun. This is our first direction.

Second, having established right conceptions and understandings of heavenly things in our minds, it is our duty to think and meditate deeply on them and on our own personal stake in them. Without this, all our reflections about the nature of eternal things will be of no use to us. For your encouragement and direction, take these brief rules relating to this duty. First, this is where the great test lies as to whether we are spiritually minded — by virtue of this principle: "If you have been raised up with Christ," you will set your mind on things above, Colossians 3:3. Second, this is where the great means lies by which we may attain further degrees of that blessed frame of mind, if it has already been formed in us — by virtue of this principle: "We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory," 2 Corinthians 3:18. Third, this is where the great evidence lies as to whether we have a real share in things above — whether we place our portion and blessedness in them — by virtue of this principle: where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. Are they our treasure, our portion, our reward — compared to which all other things are but loss? Then we will assuredly have them as the regular occupation of our minds. Fourth, it cannot be imagined that a person should have within him a principle that is native to and suited for things above — of the same kind and nature as they are — that his soul should be under the direction of those habits of grace which strive and naturally tend toward perfection, greatly laboring here under the weight of their own weaknesses (as is true of all who are truly spiritually minded), and yet not have his thoughts greatly exercised about these things, John 3:3.

It would be well if we would test ourselves by things of such undeniable evidence. What objection can anyone raise to the truth of these things, or to the necessity of this duty? If it is otherwise with us, it is from one of two causes: either we are not convinced of their truth and reality, or we have no delight in them because we are not spiritually minded. Do we think that people may exhaust themselves in earthly thoughts all day long, and when free from their business, turn to what is vain and useless — with no regular engagement with things above — and yet enjoy life and peace? We must take a very different measure of things if we intend to live to God, to be like Him, and to come to the enjoyment of Him.

What has come over people that they are so spiritually dull? They all generally desire to go to heaven — at least when they can live here no longer. Some indeed have no other motive than simply not wanting to go to hell. But most would die the death of the righteous and have their end like his — yet few seek to form a right understanding of heaven, or try to see how it is suited to their principles and desires, but content themselves with whatever general notions please their imaginations. It is no wonder that such people rarely exercise their minds or thoughts about it, and they do not even pretend to be spiritually minded. But as for those who are instructed in these things — who profess that their chief interest lies in them — not to abound in meditation about them is evidence that, whatever they profess, they are earthly and carnal.

Also, meditate and think about the glory of heaven in such a way as to compare it with the opposite state of death and eternal misery. Few people care to think much about hell and the everlasting torments of the wicked there. Those who think about it least are the ones most in danger of falling into it. They put the evil day far from them and suppose their covenant with death and hell to be secure. Some have begun advancing the opinion that no such place exists, because it is in their interest and desire that it should not. Some out of irreverence mock it, as though a future judgment were merely a fable. Most seem to think that thinking about it is unnecessarily harsh — that it is not fitting to be too frightened by it. They will have some passing thoughts of it, but refuse to let those thoughts linger, lest they become too disturbed. Or they think it inconsistent with the goodness of Christ to leave any people in that condition — whereas more is said directly about hell, its torments, and their eternity by Christ Himself than by any other voice in all of Scripture. These thoughts mostly arise from an unwillingness to be troubled about sin, and they are useful to no one. It is the height of folly for people to try to hide from themselves for a few moments from what is unavoidably coming upon them for eternity — especially when proper consideration of it is the very means of escape from it. But I am speaking only of true believers. And the more they dwell in their thoughts on the future state of eternal misery, the greater evidence they have of the life and confidence of their faith. It is a necessary duty to consider it: as what we were by nature exposed to, being children of wrath; as what we have deserved by our personal sins, for the wages of sin is death; as what we have been delivered from through Jesus the Deliverer, who saves us from the wrath to come; and as an expression of God's indignation against sin, who has from of old prepared this place of destruction — so that we may be delivered from sin, kept in abhorrence of it, and walk in humility, self-abasement, and wonder at divine grace. This therefore is required of us: that in our thoughts and meditations we compare the state of blessedness and eternal glory — as a free and absolute effect of the grace of God in and through Christ Jesus — with the state of eternal misery that we had deserved. And if there is any spark of grace or holy thankfulness in our hearts, it will be stirred up to its proper exercise.

Some may respond that they already acknowledged before that they cannot get their minds fixed on these things. Weakness, weariness, spiritual darkness, distractions, and the demands of life powerfully obstruct their remaining in such thoughts. I will speak further to this later; for now I will only suggest two things. First, if you cannot attain, yet keep pressing on. Keep your mind in a constant effort to dwell in spiritual thoughts. Let your mind be reaching toward them every hour — indeed, a hundred times a day, on all occasions, out of a continual sense of duty. And groan within yourselves for deliverance when you find yourself disappointed or unable to continue in them. This is the sense of Romans 8:23-27. Second, take care that you do not go backward and lose what you have already gained. If you neglect these things for a season, you will quickly find that they seem to neglect you. I observe this every day in the hearing of the Word. As long as people maintain diligent attendance on the preaching of the Word where they find it edifying, they take great delight in it and will endure considerable difficulty to enjoy it. But let them be diverted from it for a season, and after a while it becomes indifferent to them — anything that has the same name will satisfy them.