reaganmarsh
Puritan Board Senior
All eternal good things are the purchase of his blood. Heaven, and all the glory thereof, is purchased for you that are believers, with this price. Hence that glory, whatever it may be, is called "an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you :" To the lively hope whereof you are begotten again, "by the resurrection of Christ from the dead," 1 Pet. i.3, 4. Not only present mercies are purchased for us, but things to come also, as it is, 1 Cor. iii.22. Man is a prudent and prospecting creature, and is not satisfied that it is well with him for the present, unless he have some assurance it shall be well with him for time to come. His mind is taken up about what shall be hereafter ; and from the good or evil things to come, he raiseth up to himself vast hopes or fears.
Therefore to complete our happiness, and fill up the uttermost capacity of our souls, all the good of eternity is put into the account and inventory of the saint's estate and inheritance. This happiness is ineffable...
The objective happiness [of heaven] is God himself, Psal. lxxiii.25. "Whom have I in heaven but thee?" If it could be supposed (saith one) that God should withdraw from the saints in heaven, and say, Take heaven, and divide it among you ; but as for me, I will withdraw from you ; the saints would fall a weeping in heaven, and say, Lord, take heaven, and give it to whom thou wilt ; it is no heaven to us, except thou be there : Heaven would be a very Bochim to the saints without God. In this, our glory in heaven consists, to be ever with the Lord, 1 Thess. iv.17. God himself is the chief part of a saint's inheritance ; in which sense, as some will understand, Rom. viii.1. they are called heirs of God.
The Works of John Flavel, I:193.
Therefore to complete our happiness, and fill up the uttermost capacity of our souls, all the good of eternity is put into the account and inventory of the saint's estate and inheritance. This happiness is ineffable...
The objective happiness [of heaven] is God himself, Psal. lxxiii.25. "Whom have I in heaven but thee?" If it could be supposed (saith one) that God should withdraw from the saints in heaven, and say, Take heaven, and divide it among you ; but as for me, I will withdraw from you ; the saints would fall a weeping in heaven, and say, Lord, take heaven, and give it to whom thou wilt ; it is no heaven to us, except thou be there : Heaven would be a very Bochim to the saints without God. In this, our glory in heaven consists, to be ever with the Lord, 1 Thess. iv.17. God himself is the chief part of a saint's inheritance ; in which sense, as some will understand, Rom. viii.1. they are called heirs of God.
The Works of John Flavel, I:193.
