ral Bleffings of this Life, and thereby giving them an earnest of greater Bleffing to come, fo is the happy Eftate of Everlasting Life defcribed unto us by fuch earthly comparisons, as our natural capacity can conceive; that we be holding in mind and contemplation, thofe wonderful Joys which we can conceive; may grow into admiration of those Heavenly and inexpreffible excellencies which are altogether paft our apprehenfion, and far beyond our reach and understanding. For as Spiritual Bleffings do far furpafs Corporeal Bleffings, fo Heavenly Joys do far exceed all earthly Glory; yea, and thofe flately fecrets of another Life are fo much hidden from Flesh and Blood, that all the Learning of the Wife men of the World, can come nothing near them; that in this cafe they may truly fay with the Aftrologers of King Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. 2. 11. It is a rare thing that the King requireth, and there is none other that can fhew it before the King, except the Gods ubofe dwellings is not with Flesh.

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But let us a little behold what Flth and Blood hath fet down concerning thefe Joys of Heaven. In the Turkish Alcoran, thus the Joys of Heaven are fet down. Their Prophet pio. mifes them Garments of Silk, of all forts of Colours, Bracelets of Gold and Amber; ParTours and Barqueting Houfes upon Floods and Rivers, Veffels of Gold and Silver, Angels ferfving them, bringing Milk and Wine in Gold and Silver; Lodgings Furnished, Cushiors, Pil Tows, and Down Beds, moft Beautiful Women

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to accompany them; Gardens and Orchards, with delightful Arbours, Fountains, Springs, all manner of Pleafant Fruits, Rivers of Milk, Honey, and Spiced Wine; all manner of fweet Odours, Perfumes, and Fragrant Scents; and to be horr, what foever they fhall defire to eat. Thus fleshly People have a flefhly Religion, and a fleshly Paradife to inhabit; and fenfual men have imagined the Joys of Heaven according to their fenfual delights; and yet to them that have any Senfe or Reafon, it cannot chufe but feem to end all in a Fable. Thefe Joys are feen, in Princes Courts, thefe Joys are seen in the Turkish Kingdom, but the Joys of Hea ven are fuch, that no eye hath ever feen them. But to leave thefe deceived Turks to their falfe and feigned Joy, let us confider what others have imagined, not much unlike to this which is expreffed by way of Comparison; of a poor man's miferable eftate, fuddenly chang'd into most unlookt for Happiness; whereby the Joys of another life may appear by the mi fries of this: as if a poor man that was out of his way, wandring alone upon the Mountairs, in the midlt of a Dark and Tempeftuous Night, far from Company, deftitute of Mony, beaten with Rain, terrified with Thunder, itiff with Cold, almoft Famifhed with Hunger and Thirft, and near brought unto Defpair, with a multitude of Miseries, fhould in the twinkling of an Eye be Placed in a Goodly, Large and Rich Palace, Furnished with all kind of clear Lights, Warm Fire, Sweet Smell, Dainty Meats, Soft

Beds,

Beds, Pleafant Mufick, Fine Apparel, and Honourable Company, all prepared for him, and attending his coming to ferve him, to Honour him, and to Anoint and Crown him a King for ever. Beholding the Miferies of this Lite and the Joys of another; yet this is but an Imagination, and the Wit and Wifdom of Man can devife a great deal more; and yet all far inf.riour in degree to thofe true Joys that hereafter thall be found. See how the Invention of Men blind.d, with their natural conceits, run all upon outward comforts, and fntual Joys, all for the Body; ard as for the Soul, that is not once remembred. Now from the Devices, Inventions and Imaginations of men, all which come nothing near the mitter, let us come to hear the Revelation of the Scripture, and if any where this bleffed eftate is to be found, we fhall read of it in the Book of the Revelations; wherein tho' many things. be hard and intricate, and paffing Mens underftanding, yet is this matter lively described after a meafure, and in a fort, under the Name of the City of God, and the Heavenly Ferufalem. And ftrange it is that thofe matters that. neither Eye hath feen, nor Ear heard, nor ever entred into the Heart of man, fhould fo much be opened and revealed, as there we read.

First then, let us fpeak concerning the Place, then the State or Joys thereunto appertaining. The Place is Heavenly Jerufalem, the City of God, the Land of the Elect, which the Apostle defcribeth after this manner. And

1 John, faith he, faw the Holy City, New Jerufalem, come down from God out of Heaven, prepar ed as a Bride Trimmed for her Husband: Where of the Prophet Ifaiah ípeaketh in the Person of God, Chap 65.17. For lo, I will create new Heavens, and a new Earth; and he former shall not be remembred, nor come into mind But be you glad and rejoyce for ever, in the thing that Ifhull create. Fr, behold, I create Jerufalem a Joy. And I will rejoyce in Jerufalem, and Foy in my people, and the voice of Weeping fhall be no more beard in her, nor the voice if crying: and where we shall fing no more the Song of Babylon, but the Song of Sion, faying holy, holy, holy Lord God of Heaven and Earth.

Of this Heavenly Kingdom we may fay with David, Pfalm 84. 1, 2. How amiable are thy Ta. bernacles, O Lord of Hofts! my Soul longeih, yea, even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord, my Heart and my Flesh cryeth out for the Living God. Bleffed are they that dwell in thy Houfe they will be ftillpraifing thee, for a day in thy Court is better. than a thousand. I had rather be a Door keeper in the Houfe of my God, than to dwell in the Tents of the Wicked; Thefe be the Tabernacles of Health and Security :, the Lord himself faith thus, Ifaiah 32. 18. My People Shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in fure dwellings, and in quiet refting places. Of this the Lord faith, Ezek. 34. 14. I will feed them in a good Paßure, and upon the high Mountains of Ifrael fhall their Fold be; there fhall they lie in a good Fold, and in a Fat Pafture fhall they feed, upon the Moun

tains of Ifrael, and shall poffefs a Kingdom which cannot be shaken.

And this Kingdom of Heaven is fuch a Kingdom, that it is paft thought; it is very Spacious, it is a Paradice, it is a Kingdom of Grace, it is the Kingdom of Glory, it is the Kingdom of our God, the Kingdom of Chrift, a Cœleftial Kingdom, a Kingdom not made with Hands, but an immortal Kingdom, because it is establifhed by Grace. It is a Kingdom, which hath a King that never dies, nor is fubject to change, and at whofe Right Hand are Pleafures, World without end. It is all glorious within, the Gates are of Pearl, and the Coverings are all of fire Gold, and the Pavements are of Precious Stones; our Meat fhall be Manna, which is the Angels Food, our drink (h.ll be Wine, our Mufick Quires of Angels; and if we defire Voices, there fhall be the Seraphims & Cherubims, with the Twenty Four Elders talling down, and faying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hofts.

And if we are loth to go to this place, it is because we do not know how to come thither, even as a Child that will cry to go from the Mother to the Nurfe. This Kingdom is that of which David faith, Pf. 27. 13. 1had fainted un lefs I had believed to fee the Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living. In which we believe we fhall fee fo many, and fo great good things of the Lord, prepared for them that love and expect him. For finco the beginning of the World,men have not heard, neither baib the eye feen, O God, befides thee, what be hath prepared for him that