Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/194

 less. He intends that the faithful shall be the inheritors of His glory. The regenerate love what God loves, and as both love the beatitudes of heaven, it is plain that its population is derived from the faithful among mankind. It is the obvious consequence of a good man's life, that he should find a place in heaven; to bring about this result, there is a connection from first principles to last—from the Lord as the first, with every good that can be found in man as the last—wherefore it is written, "If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come and make our abode with him." In such a case there is a uniting together, nor can the connection be broken, for it is as a cause and its effect. Hence the angelic heaven is closely associated with regenerated men: the angels communicating their influences, and men receiving them. The one subsists from the other: men without heaven, would be as a foundation without a superstructure; and heaven without mankind, would be like a house without a foundation. Thus heaven is connected with man, and man with heaven; if, therefore, a separation were to be effected, the end would be destroyed for which the connection is made, and God would depart from the purposes of His order and the designs of His mercy. This, however, is impossible; for addressing mankind He has said, "I have loved you with an everlasting love:" "I have created man for my glory." The connection subsisting between heaven and the world is clearly pointed out by the Lord's declaration, "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool." As mankind furnish the inhabitants of heaven, they are the bases upon which that kingdom rests; and, therefore, if their existence were to be brought to an end, it would be like removing the Divine footstool,