Human nature in its fourfold state ... In several practical discourses

Lastly, Regeneration is absolutely necessary to your being admitted into heaven, John iii. 3. No heaven without it Tho' carnal men could digest all these things, which make heaven so unsuitable for them; yet God will never suffer them to come thither Therefore born again ye must be: else ye shall never see heaven, ye shall perish eternally. For, (1.) There is a bill of exclusion against you in the court of heaven, and against all your sort: Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, John iii. 3. Here is a bar before you, that men and angels cannot remove. And to hope for heaven, over the belly of this peremptory sentence, is to hope that God will recall his word, and sacrifice his truth and faithfulness to your safety; which is infinitely more than to hope the earth shall be forsaken for you, and the rock removed out of his place (2) There is no holiness without regeneration. It is the new man, which is created in true holiness, Eph. iv. 24. And no heaven without holiness; for without holiness no man shall see the Lord, Heb. xii. 14 Will the gates of pearl be opened, to let in dogs and swine? No; their place is without, Rev. xxii. 15. God will not admit such into the holy place of communion with him here; and will he admit them into the holiest of all hereafter? Will he take the children of the devil, and give them to sit with him in his throne? Or will he bring the unclean into the city, whose street is pure gold? Be not deceived, grace and glory are but two links of one chain, which God has joined, and no man shall put asunder. None are transplanted into the paradise above, but out of the nursery of grace below. If ye be unholy while in this world, ye will be for ever miserable in the world to come. (3.) All the ⟨p. 162⟩unregenerate are without Christ, and therefore having no hope while in that case, Eph. ii. 12. Will Christ prepare mansions of glory for them, that refuse to receive him into their hearts? Nay; rather, will he not laugh at their calamity, who now et at nought all his counsel?