George Swinnock (Works, vol 5, pp. 284, 285):
A carnal heart cannot savour a spiritual heaven. The vitiated nature of man cares not for the pleasures joined with the holiness of the celestial paradise . . . . The blind are as capable of seeing, and the deaf of hearing, and the dead of eating and drinking, as wicked men are of seeing God as he is, and hearing the melodious songs of saints and angels, and of feeding of the tree of life that groweth in the midst of paradise, and of drinking of the pure water that floweth from the throne of God and the Lamb.
If the tabernacle on earth, wherein are the saints of God, and holy institutions of Christ, and the divine worship, for four or five hours in a week, be a prison to earthly, carnal men, surely the temple in heaven, wherein is the Holy One of Israel in the greatest manifestation of his holiness, holy angels, perfect spirits, pure service of the blessed God, without interruption or cessation, would be a purgatory, yea, a hell to them.
Communion with God is impossible (in natura rei) without conformity to him, 2 Cor. 6:14. They tell a broad lie who say, they have fellowship with God here, and walk after their own lusts, 1 John 1:6. ‘He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also to walk even as he walked.’ Our delight in God is ever proportionable to our desires of him. Now wicked men desiring above all things the absence, yea, the dethroning of God, can never take any delight in his presence, though they should be admitted thereunto.
If the tabernacle on earth, wherein are the saints of God, and holy institutions of Christ, and the divine worship, for four or five hours in a week, be a prison to earthly, carnal men, surely the temple in heaven, wherein is the Holy One of Israel in the greatest manifestation of his holiness, holy angels, perfect spirits, pure service of the blessed God, without interruption or cessation, would be a purgatory, yea, a hell to them.
Communion with God is impossible (in natura rei) without conformity to him, 2 Cor. 6:14. They tell a broad lie who say, they have fellowship with God here, and walk after their own lusts, 1 John 1:6. ‘He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also to walk even as he walked.’ Our delight in God is ever proportionable to our desires of him. Now wicked men desiring above all things the absence, yea, the dethroning of God, can never take any delight in his presence, though they should be admitted thereunto.
