464
A
SOUL
PREPARED FOR
ilEAVEN.
CDISC.
yirr.
sures
us
there
are
many mansions
in his
Father's
house,
and
that
he
went
to
prepare
a
place
there
for
his
followers,
"
I
tell you,"
says he,
John
viii. 38.
" I
tell you the
things
which
I
have
seen
with
my
Father."
And when
he came again from
the
dead,
he
made
it appear
to his
disciples,
that
he had
"
brought
life
and immortality
to
light
by
his gospel
;"
2
Tint.
i.
10.
It
is
only
the New
Testament
that
gives us
so
bright
and satisfactory an
account
what
our future heaven
is
:
"
The righteous
shall
be
with
God,
shall
behold
him,
shall
dwell with
Christ, and
see his
glory
;
"
they shall
worship day
and night
in his
temple, and
sing
the
praises
of
him
that
sits
upon
the
throne, and
of
the Lamb
that
'has
redeemed
them
by
his
blood
;
there
shall
be
no
sin,
no
sorrow,
no
death, nor
any more
pain
;"
Rev.
xxi.
4.
they
shall bave such
satisfactions and employments
as
are
worthy
of
a rational nature,
and
a
soul
refined from
sense
and
sig. St.
Paul,
one
of
his
disciples,
was
trans-
ported
into the third heaven before
he
died, and
there
learned
"
unspeakable
things
;" 2
Cor. xii.
2, 4.
and
he,
together
with the
other
apostles, have published the
glo-
ries
of that future
world, which they
learned
from
Jesus,
their
Lord, and confirmed these things
to
our
faith,
by
prophecies
and miracles
without
number.
Now the
blessed
God himself prepares
his
own people
for this heaven of happiness,
by giving
them
a
full
con-
viction
and assurance
of
the
truth of
all
these divine dis-
coveries;
he
impresses them upon
their
heart
with pow-
er, and
makes them
attend
to those divine impressions.
Every true christian
has
learned
to
say
within
himself,
"
This celestial blessedness
is
no
dream,
is
no
painted
vision, no gay scene
of
flattering
fancy,
nor
is
it
a
matter
of
doubtful dispute, or
of
uncertain
opinion.
I
am
assured
of it
from the words
of
Christ, the
Son
of God,
and
from
his
blessed followers, whom he
authorized to
teach
me
the things
of
a
future
world;"
He
that
is
taught
of God,
behold
these
glories. in
the
light of
a divine
faith,
which
is to
him;
"
the substance
of
things hoped for,
and
the
evidente
of
things
not
yet
seen
;"
lIeb.
xi.
1.
2.
God
works
up the souls
of
his
people
to
a
prepa-
ration
for the heavenly
estate,
by.
"
purifying
them
from
every defilement,
that
might unfit them for the blessed-
ness
of
heaven."
The
removal
of
the
-guilt
of
sin,
-by
his
pardoning
mercy,
I
have mentioned
before,
as
necessary