And how pure and clean they are, without Spot or Wrinkle, the Apostle's Words, that he might present it, imply, as if Christ did glory and rejoice in their Purity, as the Fruits of his Purchase. There you are freed from all Sins. With much ado we mortify one Lust, but Nature recoileth: as Ivy in the Wall, if you cut it down, it breaketh out again. It is much here if the Dominion of Sin be taken away: there the being of it is abolished, in Heaven it is not at all; you will displease God no more, and are freed from all the immediate and inseparable Consequences of Original Sin, detraction in Duty, and the like. Here is no perfect Love, and therefore the Soul cannot be fixed in the Contemplation of God; that's the Reason of wandering Thoughts: but there the Heart cleaves to God without straggling. In Heaven we shall be freed from Pride, which lasts as long as Life, therefore called Pride of Life, 1 John 2.16. We cannot have a Revelation now, but we grow proud of it; 2 Cor. 12.7. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the Revelations, there was given to me a Thorn in the Flesh, the Messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. Nor can there be an Influence of Grace, but we are apt to be proud of it. There is a Worm in Manna, but then we are most high and most humble, because most holy. O Christians! is not this a blessed Hope, that telleth you of a sinless State, of being like Christ in Purity and Holiness? 1 John 3.2. Beloved, now are we the Sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. What is it that you have struggled with, and groaned under all your Lives, but Sin? Now that is blotted out, when the Days of Refreshing shall come. And as there is no Sin, so there are no Temptations: in Paradise there was a Tempter, but none in Heaven: Satan was long since cast out thence, and the Saints fill up the vacant Rooms of the Apostate Angels. The World is a Place of Snares, a Valley of Temptations; it is the Devil's Circuit, where did he walk but to and fro in the Earth? but in Heaven nothing entereth that defileth, Rev. 21.27. No Serpent can creep in there, though he could into Paradise. O Christians! lift up your Heads, you will get rid of Sin, and displease God no more.
And how pure and clean they are, without Spot or Wrinkle, the Apostle's Words, that he might present it, imply, as if Christ did glory and rejoice in their Purity, as the Fruits of his Purchase. There you are freed from all Sins. With much ado we mortify one Lust, but Nature recoileth: as Ivy in the Wall, if you cut it down, it breaketh out again. It is much here if the Dominion of Sin be taken away: there the being of it is abolished, in Heaven it is not at all; you will displease God no more, and are freed from all the immediate and inseparable Consequences of Original Sin, detraction in Duty, and the like. Here is no perfect Love, and therefore the Soul cannot be fixed in the Contemplation of God; that's the Reason of wandring Thoughts: but there the Heart cleaves to God without stragling. In Heaven we shall be freed from Pride, which lasts as long as Life, therefore called Pride of Life, 1 John 2.16. We cannot have a Revelation now, but we grow proud of it; 2 Cor. 12.7. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the Revelations, there was given to me a Thorn in the Flesh, the Messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. Nor can there be an Influence of Grace, but we are apt to be proud of it. There is a Worm in Manna, but then we are most high and most humble, because most holy. O Christians! is not this a blessed Hope, that telleth you of a sinless State, of being like Christ in Purity and Holiness? 1 Iohn 3.2. Beloved, now are we the Sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. What is it that you have struggled with, and groaned under all your Lives, but Sin? Now that is blotted out, when the Days of Refreshing shall come. And as there is no Sin, so there are no Temptations: in Paradise there was a Tempter, but none in Heaven: Satan was long since cast out thence, and the Saints fill up the vacant Rooms of the Apostate Angels. The World is a Place of Snares, a Valley of Temptations; it is the Devil's Circuit, where did he walk but to and fro in the Earth? but in Heaven nothing entreth that defileth, Rev. 21.27. No Serpent can creep in there, though he could into Paradise. O Christians! lift up your Heads, you will get rid of Sin, and displease God no more.
