The four last things viz. death, judgment, heaven, hell, practically considered and applied in…

1. An exemption from all Evils is the first condition of perfect Blessedness. The Sentence of the wise Solon is true, Dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet. ⟨p. 278⟩No Man can be called happy whilst in this Valley of Tears. There are so many natural Calamities, so many casual, which no humane Mind can foresee or prevent, that one may be less miserable than another, but none perfectly happy here. But upon the entrance into Heaven, all those Evils, that by their number, variety or weight, disquiet and oppress us here, are at an end.

1. An exemption from all Evils is the first condition of perfect Blessedness. The Sentence of the wise Solon is true, Dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet. ⟨p. 278⟩No Man can be call'd happy whilst in this Valley of Tears. There are so many natural Calamities, so many casual, which no humane Mind can foresee or prevent, that one may be less miserable than another, but none perfectly happy here. But upon the entrance into Heaven, all those Evils, that by their number, variety or weight, disquiet and oppress us here, are at an end.

Sin, of all Evils, the worst and most hateful, shall be abolished, and all Temptations that surround us and endanger our Innocence shall cease. Here the best Men lament the Weakness of the Flesh, and sometimes the violent Assaults of Spiritual Enemies. St. Paul himself breaks forth into a mournful Complaint, O wretched Man that I am, who shall deliver me from this Body of Death? And when harassed by the buffets of Satan, renews his most earnest Addresses to God to be freed from them. Here our Purity is not absolute, we must be always cleansing our selves from the Relics of that deep Defilement that cleaves to our Nature. Here our Peace is preserved with the Sword in our Hand, ⟨p. 279⟩by a continual warfare against Satan and the World. But in Heaven no Ignorance darkens the Mind, no Passions rebel against the sanctified Will, no Inherent Pollution remains. The Church is without Spot or Wrinkle, or any such thing. And all Temptations shall then cease. The Temper was cast out of Heaven, and none of his poisoned Arrows can reach that purified Company. Glorious Liberty! here ardently desired, but fully enjoyed by the Saints above. And as Sin, so all the penal Consequences of it are quite taken away. The present Life is a continual disease, and sometimes attended with that sharp sense, that Death is desired as a remedy, and accepted as a Benefit. And though the Saints have reviving Cordials, yet their Joys are mixed with Sorrows, nay caused […] Sorrows. The tears of Repentance are their sweetest refreshment. Here the living Stones are cut and wounded, and made fit by sufferings for a Temple unto God in the new Jerusalem. But as in building of Solomon's Temple, the noise of a Hammer was not heard, for all the parts were framed before with that exact