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Our Lord shall cast into this lake of fire and brimstone, and shut up in this bottomless pit, not only the devil and his angels, the beast and the false prophet, and in general all wicked souls and unbelievers, but he shall cast therein also death and the grave, or rather, he shall abolish them for ever. As Joshua, when he conquered the kings of the Amorites, put them not to death until he had overcome all his enemies; likewise our Lord Jesus Christ, our true Joshua, has encountered with Death upon the cross, and overcome it by his resurrection; but he will not destroy it altogether until the last day, when he shall come to judge the world. Then, to perfect all his glorious victories, he shall destroy this last enemy, this destroyer of his brethren, and of his members; so that "death shall be no more." It shall be no more for the wicked, they shall seek it in vain to be freed from their torments. It shall fly away from them as a shadow that departs, and is no more to be found. Death shall be no more for God's children; for it shall never disturb their rest and happiness.

If the old serpent could enter into paradise, we should fear his temptations and inflamed darts; and if death continued in his empire, we should dread its approaches. But then it shall not have the least power, it shall be totally abolished; and all the living shall become immortal. And although God will not destroy the being, nor take away the malice, of the devil, yet to us he shall be as if he were not; for he shall never be able to break his chains, or to escape out of his prison; and between him and us there shall be depths that can never be filled. So that as Moses, when he cast his eye upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who pursued the frighted Israelites, he told them, "Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew you to-day; for the Egyptians, whom you have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever :" likewise when ye think upon Satan, and all his infernal armies that pursue you, you may say with confidence

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Settle your minds, Christian souls, and with the eye of faith behold the salvation of the Lord; for these hellish furies, that have persecuted you so long, shall be reduced to that condition, that they shall not be able to do you the least displeasure, or to give you any apprehension. God is going to drown them in the Red Sea of his wrath, and to shut them up for ever in the bottomless pit of his just revenge. So that, as in the heavenly paradise, there shall be neither pain, nor sorrow, nor grief, nor crying, nor sighs, heard; likewise there shall never be any fear or fright, or the least alarm; but we shall live there in a settled peace and quiet for ever.

It is reported of the Macedonians, that they wept for joy when they beheld their king, Alexander the Great, seated on the throne of Darius, and trampling under feet the pride and empire of Persia. But how exceeding great shall our joy be, when we shall behold Jesus Christ, our great Monarch, sitting upon the throne of God, and trampling under feet the pomp of the world, crushing the red dragon and all the tyrannical powers of hell! The glory of Alexander vanished away with his breath; death destroyed all his trophies: but our Lord shall triumph over death itself; it shall be the last act of his eternal justice, to destroy the great murderer from the beginning.

At that time there shall be no more enemies to encounter with, no evils to be feared, neither shall there be any advantage to be desired, nor honours to be expected; for God will admit us to the bottomless ocean of the most divine pleasures, and raise us up to the highest glory that nature shall be capable of. This happiness, and this glory, shall be infinite in regard of its durance. It shall not be like the pomp and magnificence of the kings and princes of this world, which vanished away in an instant; nor like to the brightness of Moses's face, which departed with his life; nor like the

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transfiguration of Christ upon Mount Tabor, which soon dis appeared. For when it shall have continued as many hundred ages as there are stars in the firmament, it shall then but begin and appear in its rising; so that there we may have just cause, and more reason than St. Peter, to say, "Lord, it is good for us to be here." There is no place in the world so pleasant and delightful, but at last one shall be weary to continue in it; nor company so amiable and sweet, but becomes tedious in time; nor pleasure so ravishing, but gives a distaste. The greatest persons on earth sigh under the burden of their greatness; the brightness of their glory dazzles them: when nothing troubles them, they are troubled of their own accord, and their most magnificent triumphs disturb and weary them. Oft-times their heart groans in the midst of the greatest acclamations and public applause; they' think themselves more unhappy than those who envy their apparent happiness. For all that shines is not gold; the most beautiful roses are not without their prickles, and many times they hide dangerous serpents.

As the glory and happiness of paradise is infinite in regard of its durance, so in respect of its dignity and excellency. For God will not only satisfy all our desires, and answer all our expectations, but he will also give to us above all that we can ask or think.

Shall I undertake to paint out unto you this glory and per fect happiness?-When St. Paul speaks of these evangelical mysteries he assures us, that they are things that the eye of man hath never seen, that his ear hath never heard, and that -never entered into his heart, 1 Cor. ii. If this hath been spoken of the doctrine that reveals this glory and eternal hap-piness, how are we able to comprehend the glory and happiness itself? Therefore the same apostle tells us in another .place," That God worketh in us abundantly, above that we

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are able to ask or think," Eph. iii. spoken with God face to face, as Moses, Numb. xi. of having been ravished, as St. Paul, into the third heaven, 1 Cor. xii. God hath not carried me up, as St. John, into the celestial Jerusalem; neither hath he delivered to me, as to his holy angel, a reed to measure the holy city. But when I should have enjoyed these glorious privileges, this divine entertainment, these supernatural elevations, when I should have walked about and taken a full view of the celestial Jerusalem, when I should have been in the company of the seraphims that fly about God's throne, when I should have beheld God face to face, although I were the most eloquent of all men, and spoke with the tongues of angels, and had in my hand the pencil of an archangel, I should not dare to undertake to represent this exceeding great glory, nor paint out to you the brightness of that heavenly light, whereof the beam is able to dazzle me. St. Paul had been near the body of this great light, he had beheld the riches and glory of paradise, yet he confesseth that they be things not to be expressed by any tongue.

But as those who cannot cast their eyes directly to look upon the sun, because it blinds them with its exceeding great light, behold its body with more ease and leisure in the water, or in a looking-glass; thus we shall consider and look upon the images which God himself hath expressed for us in his holy word, of this divine brightness of heaven, which we are not able otherwise to comprehend. For God hath dealt with us as a father doth with his young babes, who babbles with them, sand represents to them the light of the sun with a black coal; or as the astrologers, who represent the heavenly constella tions by the figure of birds, or four-footed beasts, and of creeping things. For nothing can enter into our understanding, but by the door of our senses; therefore spiritual and celestial things are represented under the notion of corporeal

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and earthly enjoyments, which we passionately love. And because there is not one thing here below, that can express to us the glory and happiness of paradise, so many perfections are not to be found in any one enjoyment; therefore the Holy Ghost gathers together all the excellencies, riches, and beauty, scattered about in the inferior creatures, and borrows the ideas and notions of those things that are rarest and most glorious, and that give us the greatest pleasure and satisfaction, to represent to us the glory of heaven.

To begin, in the first place, with the word Paradise; it signifies a delightful and a pleasant garden; it is often made use of to express to us the joys and happiness of the life to come, and to make us sensible, that what we have lost by Adam is restored to us by Jesus Christ. Our Lord and Saviour, who is goodness itself, shall bestow upon us another Eden, another garden of pleasure, watered with living water. In the midst of it is the tree of life, that brings forth its fruits every month. Instead of an earthly paradise, subject to change, we shall find an heavenly and an unchangeable paradise. The earthly paradise is no more to be seen; it is thought that it was swallowed up and destroyed by the waters of the deluge; but the heavenly paradise can never be destroyed by the fiercest fire, nor by the most swelling waves. It is above all winds, storms, and tempests. Therefore St. Peter assures us," that it is an incorruptible inheritance, that fadeth not away." It hath no need of an elemental water; for it is watered every where with the river of living water that proceeds from the throne of God and the Lamb. And whereas cherubims, armed with a flaming sword, stood at the entrance of the earthly paradise, to hinder Adam from approaching pear to the tree of life, and from gathering of its fruits; now whole legions of cherubims are to carry us upon their wings to the true tree of life which stands in the midst of the hea venly paradise; and Jesus Christ himself, the Prince of all

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