493 / 674
I>Isc.
vItl.1
A
SOVL
'PREPARED FOR
.iIEAVEN.
475
Is
the
sweet society
of Jesus
to
be
enjoyed
in
the hea-
venly
region,
then
those
that
are prepared
for this
hap-
piness,
who feel in
themselves
"
a
desire
to depart, and
to
be
with
Christ,
which
is
far better than
the most
plea-
surable
scenes on
earth
;"
Phil.
i.
X13.
I
am willing,
and
rejoice
in
the
thought of
it,
rather
"
to be absent
from the
body,
and to
be
present
with
the Lord
;"
Coy,
v.
8.
I
behold
in
the light
of
faith,
the dawning glory
of
that
day, when
Jesus
shall
return
from heaven,
when he
shall revisit
this
wretched
world,
and
put
an
end to these
wretched scenes
of
vanity,
"
Behold
he
cometh
in
the
clouds,
and every
eye shall
see
him
;"
Rev.
i.
7.
"
r-
He
comes into
our,
world to them
that
look for
him,
not
to
be made
a sacrifice for
sin,
but
to
complete
our salva-
tion
;"
Heb.
ix.
28.
"
I
long
to
behold
him,
and
I
love
the
thought
of
his
appearance
;"
Q
Tim.
iv. 8.
Is
there
not
only 'a freedom
from pain
and
sorrow
among
the saints on
high,
but
is
there
also
an eternal
release from
all
the bonds
of
sin and
temptation
?
Then
that
soul discovers
a
degree
of
preparation
for
it,
who
can say
with
a
holy
groan
and
grief of
heart,
"
O
wretched
man.
that
I
atn,
who
shall deliver
me from this
body
of
sin
and
death
Rom.
vii.
24.
"
In
this
taber-
nacle
we groan, indeed, being burdened, and
are desk-
bus rather
to be clothed
upon
with
our
house which
is
from heaven,
with
our
holy
state
of
immortality
;"
e
Cor.
v.
4.
That
God
who has
wrought
these divine
breath-
ings in
the
soul
will
one day
fulfil
them
all;
and he
is
working up the christian
to
a blessed
meetness for this
felicity
by
awakening these
wishes
in
the very centre
of
the
heart.
Happy heart,
which
feels
these holy
aspira-
tions, these divine
breathings.
5.
The
blessed
God
is
pleased to work us up- to
a
preparation
for the heavenly world
by
forming the
tem-
per
of our
minds into
a
likeness to the
inhabitants
of
heaven,
that
is,
to
God
himself, to
Christ Jesus,
the
Son
of
God,
to angels
and saints, to
the spirits
of the
just
made perfect. From the children
of
folly
and
sin we
must
be
transformed into
the children
of God,
we
must
be
created
a -new
after
his image,
and resemble
our hea-
venly
Father,
that
we
may
be
capable
of
enjoying
his
love,
and rejoicing
in his
presence. We must
be
con-
formable to the image
of
his
only
-
begotten
Son
Christ
Jesus,
and
walk
and
live as he
did
in
this world,
that
we