would have told you; I go to prepare a place for you. -Words which I need take no pains to prove to you may with truth be confidered as addreffed to all his .faithful difciples in every age and country, as well as the apostles. Heaven be compares to a house, to convey an idea of its beauty, convenience, and ftability. The house he tells them was bis Father's, that great. Being to whom he stood related after a manner infinitely more glorious than any other, as he was his own, bis only begotten, and well-beloved Son. A houfe built by his Father, in which he conftantly refides, and where he difplays his glories in the moft perfect manner. In this houfe, there are manfions, abiding places *, apartments for every one of the family, fuited to their fe voral capacities and conditions. Of these manfions he tells them there are many, to intimate that the members of this family are numerous, and that provifion is made for them all. And to prepare this hap. py place for them, and for all who food related to him, was his object in going thither, as well as to receive himself the just reward of his fufferings. To all which he kindly adds, that if it were not fo be would have told them. They had ere this heard of heaven, framed fome idea of it, and been firmly per fuaded of its reality. And they might rest affured, fuch was his affection for them, and fuch the convin cing proofs he had given them of it, that if they had been impofed upon in this matter, he would not have failed to undeceive them. Now, upon all thefe expreffive circumstances in our Saviour's figurative defcription of heaven, affifted by a variety of other paffages of fcripture; we might Μοναι ground ground many positions refpecting the nature, perfection, extent, and continuance of the heavenly bleffednefs. And from thence we might proceed to a particular examination of the evidence of a future ftate of happiness, to which that peculiar mode of language our Lord ufes naturally leads us-a mode of language admirably expreffive of his native fimplicity and ingenuouinefs, and of the affectionate regards he bore to thofe with whom he was thus familiarly difcourfing. On these things we might, I fay, with great profit and pleasure infift. But, waving the particular and accurate investigation of these important points, we will content ourselves with a general illustration of the metaphor before us, and the rather as this treatment of our text best comports with our intention in the choice of it. And fo we will proceed to improve the subject. Let us then confider the ftate of the bleffed under the idea of a family. To this figure there is an allufion in other paffages of scripture besides our text. The people of God, you need not be told, are often described as his children and fervants; and "of him, the father of our "Lord Jefus Christ, the whole family in heaven and "in earth is named *." Now the ideas which this pleasing emblem fuggefts, we fhall clafs under the following particulars-the house in which this family dwells the members of which it is compofed-their employment and pleafures-and the continuation of their existence and happiness. I. Heaven is the house in which this family re fides. U 5 Beauty Beauty, convenience, and stability, as we intimated before, are the ideas which first strike our minds when we fpeak of a houfe. And when we attentively confider the fair mansions of the great, while we are pleased and delighted with the proportion, elegance, and grandeur of these noble structures, we fail not to admire the skill of the architect. The effect leads us back to the cause, and we prefume that a builder who had so happily fucceeded, were he to exert his powers on a larger scale, a plan of ftill wider extent, he would give further proofs of his ability. So palaces the moft fuperb, like thofe of which we read in ancient history, rife to our view, and we are struck with wonder and veneration. In fuch manner we may proceed in our attempts to frame fome idea of that auguft edifice, which the great Parent of the univerfe has erected, at an infinite expence, for the entertainment of his family above. A fample he has given of his power and skill in the creation of this world, the manfion he has built for the refidence of mankind during their abode on earth. What a pleafing employment to a contemplative mind to furvey the wonderful building in all its parts, and the feveral parts in the relation they bear to the whole! When we go down to the foundations of this houfe, confider the fuperftructure raised thereon, examine the materials of which it is framed, and the man ner they are arranged, enter into its several apartments, meafure its prodigious extent, dwell on the innumerable beauties with which it is adorned, and then gaze on the magnificent covering caft over it: when we thus contemplate, I fay, this houfe built for the refidence of man, how are our minds overwhelmed the most ftupendous ideas of the power and skill of the great Architect! Hence then we may conclude with unquestionable truth, that the house he has erected for the everlasting reception and entertainment of his own proper family -the family he most tenderly loves--the family he has redeemed with the blood of his own Son; muft be commodious, beautiful and fplendid beyond imagi nation. It is the boufe of God-the greatest of all beings! It is the boufe of our father-the best of all beings! When infinite greatnefs and goodnefs unite to prepare a manfion for the refidence of favourites, that manfion can want nothing to make it glorious in the highest degree-Let us now enquire, II. Who are the members that compofe this family? The head of the family is the ever-bleffed God, the fountain, centre and effence of excellence, perfection and happinefs. What tongue can defcribe, what mind conceive, his peerless glories? the moft exalted feraph cannot comprehend them. When our imagination has wandered through the univerfe, collected every poffible excellence, and attributed them to one immenfe, omnipotent, and eternal Being; we fhall even then have acquired but a faint idea of God. Such, however, is the character of him who deigus to be the mafter of this auguft houfe, the Father of this illuftrious family! To a mortal eye he is invifible, but not fo to the happy fpirits who compofe his houfehold above. Their intellectual fight is fo' refined, ftrengthened, and enlarged, as not to be hurt or dazzled by the full blaze of glories poured upon it from the Sun of righteoufnefs. They fee God: they know him, they converfe with him after a manner the most pleafing, delightful, and rapturous. As Mafter of this great family he prefides over their affairs with confummate wifdom and prudence, takes. effectual care of their interefts, prepares their table for them, and caufes their cup to run over: affigns to every one his proper fervice, accepts their offices of duty and love, and rewards their obedience with infinite liberality and goodness. And as a Father, he is ever among them in all the habits of the most endearing familiarity, unbosoms his foul to them, affures them of his favour, enriches them with his bounty, and makes them happy beyond expreffion and imagination. The most perfect picture that can be drawn of an earthly parent, exhibits but a fhadowy refemblance of his paternal wifdom, faithfulnefs and love. Thefe. qualities, in whatever degree they may be fuppofed to exist among any of his intelligent creatures, originate from him: when he, therefore, in the character of a father, affembles his children about him, they will no doubt be difplayed in all their tranfcendent perfection. Chrift is "the Son of the living God*, his own, "his only begotten Son †, the brightness of the Fa 99 ther's glory, aud the exprefs image of his perfon ‡.” But it is in the relation he bears to the children of this family as their elder brother, that we here confider him. Such was his compaffion for them, such his love to them, that he voluntarily became a man, and wept and bled and died, to restore them to their original innocence, and entitle them to the joys of heaven. "As the children were partakers of flesh "and *Matth. xvi. 16. Rom. viii. 32. John i. 14. Heb. 1.3. |