without to solicit them to sin; nor Satan, for he is cast out of heaven, and has not, nor never will have, place there any more, nor wicked men, whose evil communications now are very ensnaring and corrupting; but these will have no standing in the congregation of the righteous. 2. From the dominion of sin;

it has not an entire dominion over the saints now, much less will it have any in heaven; nor will any attempts be made to bring them into captivity to it; nor will they be in any danger of it. 3. From the commission of it, aud so from guilt through it: now none live without it, and daily need to have their garments washed in the blood of the Lamb; fresh guilt arises in their consciences, which must be removed the same way: but the saints will now be impeccable, not capable of sinning, as Adam was in innocence, and the angels before their confirmation; since the former sinned, and so did many of the latter. Yea, —— 4. The saints in heaven will be free from the very being of sin; now it has a place, and dwells and operates in them; but then the Canaanite will be no more in the land. 5. They will be rid of an evil heart of unbelief, and be no more distressed with doubts and fears: now unbelief is a sin that easily besets them; and without are fightings, and within are fears; but then, as there will be no occasion to say to themselves, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? so neither will they hear such a rebuke, Wherefore didst thou doubt, O thou of little faith! From the evil one, Satan, and his temptations. Adam was not free from him in the garden of Eden; but saints will be in the paradise above: now he goes about like a roaring lion, terrifying and distressing; but then they will be out of the reach of his hideous noise, and where his fiery darts will never penetrate he will be bound, and cast into the bottomless pit, during the saints reign with Christ a thousand years; and though when they are ended he will be let loose for a little while, yet he will be taken up again, and cast into the lake. of fire and brimstone, where he will remain for ever, and never more be able to give the least molestation and disturbance. From evil men; whether prophane sinners, with whose ungodly conversation they shall be no more vexed; as Lot, David, Isaiah, and other saints have been here: or violent persecutors, who here oppress them, and distress them, in person, in name, in body and estate; but now will cease from troubling them, not being able to do them the least hurt nor give them the least uneasiness: or hypocrites in Zion; there will be no more tares among the wheat, nor goats among the sheep, nor foolish virgins among the wise; they that offend, and do iniquity, will be gathered out of the kingdom of Christ.

This happiness will consist in a freedom from all bodily evils; or which af fect the outward circumstances. No more penury, nor straitness, as to external things; no more want of food, of drink, and of clothing, which is sometimes now the lot of saints; they will hunger and thirst no more! there will be no more racking pains, nor loathsome diseases, no more sickness; no more death: nor will they be any more subject to disappointments from friends or

others; nor to losses in the business of life; nor to loss of friends and relations by death; nor to any thing that may mar their joy and pleasure.

11. This happy state will consist in the enjoyment of all that is good. 1. In the enjoyment of God himself, who is the chief good, who is the portion of his people now, and will be their portion for evermore; in enjoying communion with him, Father, Son, and Spirit, in the highest perfection, and without any interruption, and to all eternity; in the beatific vision of him, in beholding him as he is; not his nature and essence, so as to comprehend it; but they shall see him so as to have clearer, fuller, and more distinct apprehensions of his perfections and glory; especially as shining in and through Christ, the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person. 2. In being with Christ, and beholding his glory, the glory of his divine Person, with the eyes of their understanding, being more opened and enlarged; and the glory of his human nature with the eyes of their body, they shall see him in the flesh crowned with glory and honour, who was crowned with thorns, spit upon, buffeted, crucified, pierced, and wounded for them. 3. In having the company and society of angels, and of one another. They will now be come, in the fullest sense, to an innumerable company of angels; and will converse with them, and join them in adoring the divine perfections, and blessing and praising God and the Lamb; they will then sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and other patriarchs, with the prophets, apostles, and all the saints in the kingdom of heaven; they will have communion with each other, though not in the same way and manner as now, in the use of ordinances, of which there will be then no need; yet there will be a social worship, in which they will be jointly concerned; in sirging hallelujahs, and in ascriptions of blessings, glory, and praise, to the sacred and eternal Three. They will converse and discourse with each other about divine, spiritual, and heavenly things; in what language it is not easy to say; though tongues will cease, the multiplicity of languages now used, that jargon introduced at Babel or since; though some think every one will speak in his own language the wonderful things of God; but this is not probable, since then mutual converse would not be general; yet it is reasonable to suppose, some one language will be used to employ the tongue; some have thought of the Hebrew language spoke in paradise, and by patriarchs, prophets, &c. but perhaps it may be a language more pure, more perfect, more elegant, and more refined, than ever was spoken by men on earth. It is also highly probable the saints will know one another personally; which seems necessary to their perfect happiness, though they will know no man after the flesh: all natural relations, and civil connections will now cease; and whether it will give any peculiar and superior pleasure, to see a relation or friend in this happy state, more than to see another saint, is a question not now to be resolved; as it will give no uneasiness that any relation or friend is missing there, which would mar their happiness." To all which may be added, the communion of the saints will be with the

utmost peace and concord; they will dwell together in unity, in the highest perfection; there will be no jars nor discord among them; no envy and vexation among brethren; love will be arrived at its greatest pitch of vigour and glory, and continue so for ever. 4. This happiness will consist in perfect holiness. Sanctification will now be completed in soul and body: the soul as before observed, will be entirely free from the very being of sin, as well as from any act of it; and from guilt and pollution, arising from it: and the body, though vile when laid in the grave, will, being raised, be like to the glorious body of Christ; and saints, both in soul and body, will be without fault before the throne, without any spot or stain of sin, or wrinkle or deformity, or any such thing; and so be perfectly fit for communion with God, with angels, and one another. 5. It will consist in the enjoyment of the greatest glory, both in soul and body, beyond all present conception and expression. There will be a glory revealed in the saints, which is beyond all comparison; and a glory put upon them that is inconceivable; a glory upon their souls, which will lie in perfect purity in them, in having the righteousness of Christ upon them, and the shining robes of light and bliss: a glory upon their bodies, which will be raised glorious, powerful, spiritual, and incorruptible, and ever continue; as Christ will appear in glory, they will appear in glory with him, and be inade like unto him. 6. From all which will arise the greatest joy and felicity; fulness of joy, joy unspeakable and full of glory! the redeemed of the Lord shall now be come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, Isai, xxxv. 10.

IV. It may be considered, whether there will be any degrees in the final happiness of the saints; or whether one saint will have a greater share of happiness than another. It appears, there will be degrees in the punishment of the wicked

hell; and some think there will be degrees in the happiness of the saints in heaven; and others not: and there are some things advanced on both sides not to be despised. Those who are for degrees of glory, do not think there will be any want of happiness in any, nor any uneasy desires after more; nor any envyings of others; nor do they suppose, with the papists, that the distribution will be made according to the proper merit of men; but that the reward will be a reward of grace, and not of debt: yet, as it seems to incline to the popish notion, and to have a look that way, it is not so agreeable; and besides, those passages of scripture which are usually brought to support it, as Dan. xii. 2. Matt. xxv. 14. &c. 1 Cor. xv. 40.-42. belong to the kingdom-state, as we have seen, and not to the ultimate glory. The arguments against degrees in glory are,

1. That all the people of God are loved by him with the same love; they are not loved one sooner than another, for they are all loved with an everlasting love; nor one more than another: there are no degrees in the love of God, as himself, though the manifestations of it may be more or less; yet the favour he bears to his own peculiar people is the same, and so always continues to the end, and to all eternity.

11. They are all chosen together in Christ, as not one before another, their election being together in Christ, before the foundation of the world; so not one more than another: the clection of one may be manifested before another, and be more clearly manifested to one than to another; but the act is the same; so is the glory they are chosen to.

11. They are equally interested in the same covenant of grace, which is an everlasting one; and the one were as early in it as the others; and are all alike blessed with the same spiritual blessings of it; and have the same grace given them in Christ before the world began, one as another; and have all the same right to the exceeding great and precious promises of it.

iv. They are all equally redeemed with the same price, which is the precious blood of Christ! 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. and though they are redeemed out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation, yet it is by the same blood, Rev. v. 9. as the half-shekel for the ransom of the souls of the Israelites, was the same for one as another, the rich did not give more, nor the poor less, Exod. xxx. 12--15. so the ransom price for Christ's people is the same, which is himself.

v. They are all justified by the same righteousness; it is unto all, and upon all them that believe; there is no difference between greater and lesser believers; though one may have more faith than another, that is, as to exercise; yet no man has more righteousness than another and in every one it is the same precious faith as to its nature and object; it is by one and the same righteousness that all the seed of Israel, the spiritual seed of Christ, are justified; Christ's righteousness is a garment that reaches down to the feet, and covers the meanest member of his body, as well as the greatest.

vi. All are equally the sons of God, are predestinated to the same adoption of children; and which they receive through the redemption thet is by Christ; and from whom they receive the same power, authority, and privilege to become the children of God, one as another; they are all the children of God by faith in Christ, and are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the houshold of God; and being children, they are heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Chriss, all alike so, they are all first-born ones, Heb. xii. 23.

VI. They are all kings and priests unto God, made so by Christ; their of fe and dignity are alike; they are alike taised by his grace and favour, froin a low esate, to sit among princes, and to inherit the same throne of glory.

v. The future glory and happiness of the saints, is frequently expressed by words of the singular number; shewing, that though it belongs to more, it is the same to all, or that all have an equal right to, and share in it; thus it is called, the inheritance of the saints in light; the inheritance reserved in heaven; kingdom it is their Father's good pleasure to give them; a crown of righte ourness laid up for them; and is signified by a penny given to the labourers difle, who came into the vineyard at different parts of the day.

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1 is a question moved by some, whether there will not be an increase of the quess of the saints in a future state, or some addition made unto it, and im

provement of it, by fresh discoveries of the mysteries of grace and of providence, that may be gradually made, which may afford new pleasure and delight. This is not easy to determine; some are inclined to think there will be an increase, as in the angels, who desire to look more into the mysteries of grace, 1 Pet. i. 12. and have a greater knowledge of them, which may be an addition to their happiness. But it is not so certain, that angels by nature are meant in the text referred to; but angels by office, ministers of the gospel: besides, the happiness of the good angels may not be as yet complete, until all the elect men are gathered in; as the punishment of the evil angels will not be full until the day of judgment: and if any addition is gradually made to the happiness of the saints in heaven, it must be imperfect until that addition is made, and must continue so till the last is made; which does not seem consistent with the perfection of their state. However, much may be said for the growing happiness of the saints onward in eternity; but the determination of this question, must be left till we come into that state, when we shall know even also as we are known.

The eternity of this happiness is the next and the last thing to be considered, and which is essential to it; for let the happiness of men be what it may, yet if it is to have an end, though at a great distance, the thought of that will greatly spoil the pleasure of it; but this happiness will never have an end; as appears by its names. 1. By its being frequently called eternal life, everlasting life, a life that will never end: the present life has an end; let a mar. live ever so long he dies at last; it is said of Methuselah, the oldest man, that he lived så many years, and he died; but he that lives and believes in Christ, shall neve die; though he may die corporally, he shall not die spiritually and eternally and therefore must be everlastingly happy.-2. It is a glory, and it is call.d eternal glory, an eternal weight of glory, a crown of glory that fadeth not away: the glory of kings and kingdoms, continues not long, but passes away and so their happiness is temporal and transitory; but that of the saints endures for ever, 1 Pet. v. 10. 3. It is an house eternal in the heavens; it consists of many rooms; there are many mansions, dwelling, abiding places for the saint, in it; and those habitations are everlasting habitations, Luke xvi. 8. houses on earth may be consumed by fire, or be pulled down by violence, or decay through length of time; or a man may be turned out of house and home; but nothing of this kind can befal the dwelling-place of the saints in heaven, and them in that. — 4. It is an inheritance, and an eternal one; an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, 1 Pet. v. 4. An inheritance on carth a man may be dispossessed of by force or fraud; but an inheritance in heaven is reserved there, and so safe and secure; and is out of the reach of any to disturb the saints in their possession of it. 5. It is a city, and a continued one, here the saints have none; but they seek one to come; a city which has foundations firm and sure, and can never be subverted, Heb. xi. 10. here cities of great antiquity and fame, of great strength and glory, are destroyed, and come to nothing, and their memorial perishes with them; but this is a city that will