A Prospect of Heaven, Treatise · Chapter 11
CHAP. XI.
Ʋſe. THis may inform us, what cauſe Chriſtians have to rejoyce, according to the Apoſtle's exhortation, when they ſuffer, and fall into affliction after affliction; James 1.2. My Brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations: Do not only count it joy, but count it all joy; joy in nothing more then in this, joy only in this, when ye fall into temptations] that is, afflictions. A ſtrange exhortation to a carnal heart! what! is it all joy to be mocked, reviled, perſecuted, hated, impriſoned, tortured, to have our Bodies bound at ſtakes? ſhould it not rather be ſaid, Count this a cauſe of weeping, ſighing, wringing of hands? No, ſaith the Apoſtle, count it all joy, when trouble cometh upon trouble, wave upon wave, ſtorm upon ſtorm; when the winds blow, and the rain falls, and the waves beat upon you, then count it all joy; call upon your ſouls to rejoyce, call upon your hearts to Magnifie God, clap your hands, leap for joy.
2. It informs us that they are the happy ones of the Earth, who are the greateſt ſufferers for Righteouſneſs ſake: thus St. James Chap. 1.2. Bleſſed is the man that endureth temptation, or tribulation. James 5.11. Behold, we count them happy which endure, ſaith the ſame Apoſtle. What a paradox is this to a man that mindeth earthly things! Call you him bleſſed that is impriſoned, in fetters, in a dungeon, reviled, mocked, tortured, perſecuted, hated of all? count you him an happy man that is ſpoiled of his goods, deſtitute of friends, who is ready to periſh through famine? count you a man in miſery an happy man? Yes, ſaith the Apoſtle, he is a bleſſed man: we count him happy whom all men hate, who ſuffer hunger, cold, nakedneſs, impriſonment, death, baniſhment for the name of Chriſt; we count him happy who endures moſt miſery with and for Chriſt; we count him, and him only a miſerable man, that can laugh and ſing away care and ſorrow, who ſits like a Queen and ſees no ſorrow, who fares deliciouſly every day, who can eat, drink, and play, and ſo paſs his time of life away, he is a miſerable man: For 'tis not what a man is for the preſent, which makes him happy or miſerable, but what a man ſhall be to eternity; he that is miſerable for the preſent, but ſhall be happy to eternity, we count him happy; and he that is happy for the preſent time, but ſhall be miſerable to eternity, we count him a curſed man. Lazarus in the depth of his miſery was an happy man, becauſe he is glorious to all eternity; the rich Glutton was a miſerable wretch in the height of his jollity, becauſe he is miſerable to eternity.
Hence I conclude, that the glory that ſhall be revealed in us, will make us perfectly bleſſed; but our preſent ſufferings cannot make us miſerable, for the Saints are happy in the thickeſt of them, Math. 5.11, 12. Then doth the Spirit of God and of glory reſt upon them, 1 Pet. 4.14. Our preſent miſeries at the uttermoſt can but rob us of a temporal life, which will (come they or come they not) fail us at length; but glory beſtows upon us, and crowns us with an everlaſting bliſsful life. He that hath an intereſt in Chriſt, may cry out with that great Apoſtle, What ſhall ſeparate us from the love of Chriſt? and may ſay, I am perſwaded, that neither Death with its terrours, nor life with its charmes, neither Angels with their beauties, nor Devils with their deformities, things preſent with their allurements, things future with their promiſes or threatnings, nor Hell with its torments, can ever ſeparate me from the love of God in Chriſt: and indeed how ſhould they, ſaith St. Auguſtine; becauſe death (though never ſo hideous) leads us to him; life is found in his poſſeſſion; Angels and Devils are the Miniſters of his juſtice or his mercy; things preſent are falſe, things to come uncertain: Hell with God would be our happineſs, and Heaven without him would be our torment: or we may ſay again with the ſame Father: that nothing can ſeparate a Chriſtian from Jeſus Chriſt, and make him miſerable: Not death, becauſe there is no Chriſtian can be brought into ſo diſmal an eſtate as to be deprived of his love: not the Angels, becauſe being united to Chriſt, we are ſtronger then all Spirits combined together againſt us: not the vexations of life, becauſe they are ſweet, when undergone for his honour, and ſerve only to give us a nearer conjunction to his perſon: Not things to come, becauſe nothing can be beſtowed, nor promiſed which can countervail him: Not Heaven, becauſe it is the recompence of them that ſerve him: Not Hell, becauſe it is made for none but thoſe that forſake him: by all which we ſee, that a man firmly united to Chriſt, cannot by theſe outward things be removed from him.
Oh the ſolidity, perſpicuity, and ſelf-ſufficiency of that Paradiſe and place of delights, of that Celeſtial company, and Crowned ſociety! who is able to expreſs the comfort and contentment of that eſtate and condition, where we ſhall have all bleſſedneſs Internal, External, and Eternal? what can be done or ſuffered to anſwer ſo great a reward? the diſeaſed will endure the cutting and ſearing of their Members for the enjoyment of a ſhort tedious life: Heathens have ſuffered great things for a little vain glory: if they prize the ſhadow ſo much, at what rate ſhould we value the ſubſtance? what are a few drops of blood for the Kingdom of Heaven? how may this comfort us under afflictions, conſidering that the afflictions of this life are but ſmall ſhowers, at the moſt but ſome ſhort ſtorms, which are followed with an Eternal calm, Iſa. 54.8.