A26807:53
A short description of the blessed place and state of the saints above in…
A short description of the blessed place and state of the saints above in a discourse upon the words of Our Blessed Saviour, John XIV, 2, in my father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you / by William Bates.
London: printed by J.D. for J. Robinson, 1687
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.
The Application.
1. LET us adore the unconceivable Love of God, who hath prepared such a Place of Joy, and Glory for his Children when they leave the World. The Father prepared it in his Decree from Eternity, and by his creating Power from the Foundation of the World: and we are assured 'tis such a Place and State, as fully answers the Design of God's Love, that is, to make a reasonable Creature as happy as 'tis capable to be. When Man was turned Rebel against his Creator, when so changed from the Divine Resemblance imprest at first upon him, into the disgraceful likeness of the Beasts that perish, as the Psalmist justly reproaches him; then to pardon us, and prefer us; to restore us to his ⟨p. 65⟩Favour, and Image, and the nearest communion with himself in his Palace above, is such an astonishing Mercy as is only proper to God who is Love. And the Love of our Redeemer is equally admirable; when we were expelled Paradise, he makes a reentry for us, and intercepts the stroke of the flaming Sword that had destroyed us. We neither know the depth of our Misery from whence we are freed, nor the height of Glory to which we are raised by our Redeemer. In what Heart but that of the Son of God, could ever such compassion and charity be conceived? He took our Flesh to Heaven to prepare it for us, and interchangeably left his Spirit on Earth to prepare us for Heaven. How just is the solemn and terrible denunciation of the Apostle, He that loves not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema, Maranatha. ⟨p. 66⟩And how are we obliged to God for the blessed and glorious Gospel, that infinitely excels all humane Books in the matter it contains, the everlasting Happiness of Man, and the certain way to obtain it, and in the manner of conveying those great and Sacred Truths by Divine Revelation? And what an Argument of thankfulness is it to consider the distinguishing Grace of God; that when the most are so blind in the clear Light of the Gospel, as not to discover the lustre of the Pearl of Price, and so immersed in Vanities as to disrelish Heavenly Joys, that he is pleased to enlighten the Eyes of our Mind, that we may know what is the Hope of his Calling, and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints.