A26786:336
The four last things viz. death, judgment, heaven, hell, practically considered and applied in…
The four last things viz. death, judgment, heaven, hell, practically considered and applied in several discourses / by William Bates.
London: printed for Brabazon Aylmer, 1691
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Heaven for stability is called a City that has Foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God. The present World is like a Tent or Tabernacle set up for a time, whilst the Church is passing ⟨p. 275⟩through the Wilderness: but Heaven is the City of the Living God, the Place of his happy Residence, the Seat of his eternal Empire. The visible World, with all its perishing Idols, shall shortly fall, this Beautiful Scene shall be abolished: but the supreme Heaven is above this Sphere of mutability, wherein all Bodies compounded of the jarring Elements are continually changing and dissolving: 'tis truly called a Kingdom that cannot be shaken. Briefly, the wise Maker has framed it correspondently to the end for which it was designed: 'tis the Seat of his Majesty, his Sacred Temple, wherein he diffuses the richest Beams of his Goodness and Glory, and his chosen Servants see and praise his adorable Excellencies for ever.
Heaven for stability is called a City that has Foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God. The present World is like a Tent or Tabernacle set up for a time, whilst the Church is passing ⟨p. 275⟩through the Wilderness: but Heaven is the City of the Living God, the Place of his happy Residence, the Seat of his eternal Empire. The visible World, with all its perishing Idols, shall shortly fall, this Beautiful Scene shall be abolish'd: but the supreme Heaven is above this Sphere of mutability, wherein all Bodies compounded of the jarring Elements are continually changing and dissolving: 'tis truly call'd a Kingdom that cannot be shaken. Briefly, the wise Maker has fram'd it correspondently to the end for which it was designed: 'tis the Seat of his Majesty, his Sacred Temple, wherein he diffuses the richest Beams of his Goodness and Glory, and his chosen Servants see and praise his adorable Excellencies for ever.
Secondly, I will endeavour to show, that the enjoyment of the Divine Presence in Heaven, is the supreme Felicity of the Saints.