Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you,
from the foundation of the world [Matt. xxv.34.]. The holy angels will
then conduct them to the mansions of eternal bliss. Happy souls! They will
then have no more cause to weep and mourn, to fight and wrestle. They will
no more be exercised with darkness or temptation; for sin, which is the
cause of all their conflicts and sorrows, shall be done away; and God
their gracious Father, and everlasting Friend, shall wipe all tears from
their eyes [Rev. vii. 17.].

The righteous, however obscured and reproached upon earth, shall then
shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. They
are represented to us, as standing before the throne, clothed in white
robes, with palm-branches (the emblems of victory) in their hands, and
singing to their harps their Redeemer's praise [Matt. xiii.43.;
Rev vii. 9,10.]. There they will join in company with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, with the apostles, prophets, and martyrs, with their dear friends
and relatives, who died in the faith before them, and with the glorious
angels; and above all, (without which heaven itself would be no heaven
to them) they will enjoy the unclouded presence of their Lord and
Saviour, who once suffered pain, and shame, and death for them. They
will see him seated upon a throne of glory, and unite with all the
heavenly host, in ascribing salvation, glory, and honour, and praise
to him who loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own
blood; and has made them kings and priests to God, and to the Lamb, for
ever and ever [Rev. v. 9.].

For the joys of heaven, and the pains of hell will be eternal.
Otherwise, indeed, neither the happiness nor the misery of a future
state could be complete. It would damp the joys of the blessed, to
apprehend that they must at length terminate. And the horrors of the