A Complete Body of Divinity, Sermons · 146 (Question 38 cont.)
SERMON CXLVI.
III. WE proceed to the third and laſt Article of the conſummate Happineſs of Believers, in which we are given to underſtand how it ſhall fare with them, after the great Judgment is paſt, viz. They ſhall be perpectly bleſſed, in full Enjoying, &c. All the former ſteps of their Bleſſedneſs, though perfect in their kind, were yet leading to this, and here is the compleat and total Conſummation or all. And here are two things, in the Conſideration whereof, we may make ſome ſhallow Gueſs at their great Felicity the…; viz. their happy Return with Chriſt to the place of Glory; and their everlaſting Abode with him in that Place, in the full Fruition of the Glories of it.
1. BELIEVERS will be wonderfully happy in their Return with Chriſt to the place of Glory. This ſhall be as ſoon as the great Judgment is over, and all the Affairs of that Day, are fully determined. Chriſt after his Reſurrection aſcended to the higheſt Heavens, & took Poſſeſſion of it, as his Royal Palace. Now the Man Chriſt leaves that Place for a Seaſon, in purſuit of the great Judgment; for we are aſſured, that he will come down into this lower World, and erect a Tribunal here, for the management of that Buſineſs. How much Time will be taken up, in the tranſacting of that great Affair, is not for us to conjecture, nor is it material for us to know. But when all rational Beings are tried, and diſpoſed of according to the Rules of that Judgment, there will he no more for him to do here, he will therefore return again to Heaven, and all his Saints & Angels ſhall go in Company with him. And how glorious a Proceſs will this be? As he brought a Retinue of Angels from Heaven with him, and his Redeemed met him in the Air, and filled up his Train, ſo he will return in like State, and take them along with him, for they are to be with him, Job 17.24. Heaven is the Place of Reſt, that is the Fathers Houſe, where the many Manſions are prepared for them. And there is a a ſpecial Glory which ſhall be given to them, is this very return. Which more eſpecially appears in three Particulars.
1. THESE Redeemed of Chriſt ſhall return with him in the ſtate of his Spouſe, going Home with him to his Kingdom. This will be the Conſummation of the great Marriage of the Lamb, the Eſpouſals whereof, were plighted in this World. The Day of their Converſion, was the Day of their Eſpouſals, and they had t…tried for him, and waited for the compleating of their Communion with him, till they come to Glory, and that both of Soul and Body; and that is not till now. And for this reaſon are they here often putting up that requeſt, Cant. 8.14. Make haste, my beloved, and b… thou like a r…, or a young hart upon the mountains of ſpices. Then will it be a glorious thing to ſee the Bride, the Lambs Wiſe, in all her ſtately Ornaments, going Home with her Lord.
2. BELIEVERS will have a greater Honour put upon them in this Return, than the Angels themſelves. Tho' Man was made a little below them in his Creation, yet here will be a peculiar Dignity put upon Men, in this Solemnity. The Angels will then appear in their Glory, but they ſhall be the Friends of the Bridegroom, and Attendants on the Bride; and therefore not ſo near to the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, as his Redeemed ſhall be. Ye, it will be one part of their execution of their Office, as Miniſtring Spirits for theſe Heirs of Salvation, as they are ſaid to be, Heb. 1.14. And they will count themſelves happy in being thus honoured by Chriſt. How wonderful them will the Believers Condition be?
3. THEIR Felicity in this Return, will be ſet off by the unhappy Condition, which they ſhall love condemned Sinners in. This will be a wonderful foil to ſet that off by. Thoſe on the left Hand, are Sentenced to depart into Everlaſting Fire. The Place wherein they are to undergo the execution of the fearful Sentence, is probably ſuppoſed to be in this lower World. And the other are no ſooner entred on their way to the Paridiſe of Delight, the Palace of Glory, but they leave the lower World in Flames behind them, turned into an Hell for the Puniſhment of thoſe that are God's Enemies, and Sinners fallen into the Miſeries unto which they had been doomed, yelling out their bitter Lamentations forever. This they ſhall ſee. And what a luſtre will it put upon their aſtoniſhing Felicity, when they ſhall herein diſcern what a diſtinguiſhing favour is ſhown to them of meer Grace, from thoſe who had formerly been their fellow-Sinners?
2. BELIEVERS will be inconceivably happy, in their Everlaſting Abode with Chriſt, in the full Fruition of the Glory of that Place. And now they are come to the Top of their Felicity. This is the higheſt Pitch, that they can arrive at. And now ſhould I eſſay to give a Deſcription of the Glories of that State, I ſhould but betray mine own Ignotance, … can tell, but ſuch as have been in the … Heavens: And could any know, be we … able to utter it. We in our preſent Co… on are not capable of Conceiving or Cred…ting thereof. But we may take a Taſte of … (and no more then a Taſte, we are not … to expect) in Three Particulars, viz. The Entertainment they ſhall find there: The …phyment they ſhall there follow; And the Duration of both.
1. TOUCHING their Entertainment which they ſhall find there. The Apoſtle though it enough to ſay of it, 1 Theſ. 4.17. Then … which are alive, and remain, ſhall be cou… … together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; ſo ſhall we ever be with the Lord. And indeed, this comprehends under it all the future Bleſſedneſs of the Children of God. But there are ſome Particulars by which this is elſewhere intimated. The principal where of are ſuch as theſe.
(1.) We may ſuppoſe that their Lord Redeemer will there preſent them to his Father. And what a bleſſed Preſentation will th… …? We are told of being preſented before the … ſence of his Glory, Jude 24. Which may … at this. And Chriſt is ſaid to preſent …i… Church to himſelf, a glorious Church, Eph. 5.…. How this ſhall be is beyond our Capacity … to underſtand. But what an aſtoniſhing … view will it be, when Chriſt ſhall bring th… into the Preſence Chamber, and ſet them … fore his God and their God, and ſay, Th… they whom thou gaveſt me, and I redeemed th…. When the Father ſhall give them th… … raviſhing Teſtimonials of his infinite Lom… them, and the greateſt Welcome in than C… of God that they are capable of.
(2.) HE will make them to poſſes the … Heaven with him. They ſhall be with h…, where he is, Joh. 17.24. Not in the U…i… of his Deity, but in the Royal City, … his Reſidence is, and where his Glory is … manifeſted. Heaven is called the H…in… of God's Holineſs, his Dwelling Place, his T… the …atty of the gr… King. Theſe … …ed Citizens of this Place when they upon Converted, and had a ſure Title to it be… of on them. But now they enter in… take Poſſeſſion of it in their own Reaſon. It would be too hold a ſtroke to go about … at a Deſcription of this Place, to … Draught of all the Streets of this City, … wonderful Accommodations there are … ed in it, for all thoſe who are there to …. What the Scripture ſpeaks of it, muſt … lowed to be alluſive, expreſſed by Me… borrowed from Earthly Things, ſaited … preſent Conceptions, and for the exci… … our Affections to it. But yet there is, … thing analogous intended in them, th… … nitely tranſcending theſe faint Reſe…. Our Saviour tell us of many Manſion …. Of his going before to prepare for his People againſt their coming thither, Joh. …4. …. A …ilt muſt needs be a very Glo… … Place, being the Palace of the great … in which he will entertain all his Favourites For Amplitude it encircles the Star… Heavens with its Pavement: For Delight it is called the Paradiſe of God; and the Eden if ald was but a dark ſhadow of it; the Floor It is reſembled by Gold; and the Gates by Peatls; and the Buildings to most preci… Stones. It is a Place, upon which Infinite Wiſdom employed it ſelf, to make it fit for the bleſſed Abode of thoſe who were to be the Heirs of Glory. Here Chriſt is, and here … they be. And there is nothing wanting …, to give them the moſt perfect Satisfaction.
(3) THEY ſcall be Partners with Chriſt in the … Heavenly Glory which he enjoys. True, there will be great Diſproportion in Degrees. … ſhall be glorified as the Head, and they … the Members. He ſhall be acknowledged … the firſt born and principal Heir; but they ſhall be Joynl Heirs with him, in one … the ſame Inheritance, Rom. 8.17. They … therefore ſaid to reign with him, 2 Tim. 2.12 There is not only a Glory provided for …, but the ſame that the Man Chriſt hath, they ſhare in with him. There is a Throne provided for them to ſit upon, and it is the ſame that he himſelf ſits on, Rev. 3.21. To … that overcometh will I grant to ſit with me in … …one, even as I overcame, and am ſit down with my Father in his throne. There is a Glory, which Chriſt as God, is everlaſtingly poſ… of, which is incommunicable; but there is Glory, which Chriſt as Mediator, obtainelly Covenant, and purchaſed by his Obe…, and in this he hath intereſſed all his Children. He brought it in their Name, and …ill therefore confer it upon them There is ſ…ipation in the Glory of the Perſon of …, as the Wife is honoured by the dignity … her Huſband enjoys. And all the Ho… which Chriſt hath merited for them, … he belowed on them. And how great … it for them tell, who are able to graſp … …ion of Infiaiteneſs, and Eternity; for … …ight it is, 2 Cor. 4.17.
(4) THEY ſhall ſae and enjoy him in that glory. To be with him, doth not only intend thing in his Company, but a participation … all the Sweetneſs and Deſireableneſs of it. That is the Object as well as the Author of …lieity, ſo the Viſion and Fruition of … will be our great Bleſſedneſs. There is in …ation of this here, for there is a Com… between him and them in this World, … 1.3. That which we have ſoon and heard, … we unto you, that ye alſo may have fellow… with us; and truly our fellow ſhip is with the … with his Son Jeſus Chriſt. And this they … above all other things Pſal. 27.4, 5. But … What is this to that? I ſhall not … by only glance at the Glory of this … and Fruidon in that Place, in three or … Particulars.
[1] THEY ſhall ſee and enjoy him intimately. It is recorded concerning Moſet … …ife as a peculiar Priviledge, Exod. 35. … And the Lord ſpike unto Moſet face to face, as a man ſpeaketh with his friend. Thus it ſhall be there with every Believer. Chriſt and his ſaved ones, ſhall unboſom themſelves one to another with the moſt enlarged Freedom. There will be compleat Familiarity be tween him and them in the Kingdom. His M…jetty ſhall not there rertify them; they ſhall not fear and quake, as Moſes did here. There ſhall he that intimacy that there is between the moſt loving Husband, and the moſt beloved Wife, and tranſcendently greater. We read, in Pſal. 25.14. The ſecret of the Lord is with them that ſear him: and he will ſhew them his covenant. They ſhall then lie in his Boſom, enjoy his Embrances, know him as they are known by him according to their Capacity. There ſhall never be any eſtrangedneſs between them; but he ſhall, having reſigned the Kingdom into his Father's Hand, ſpend his Eternity in their Company. And how bleſſed will they reckon themſelves, being ſo near to their only Beloved, who was the Chief of ten Thouſands?
[2.] THIS Viſion and Fruition ſhall be inſeparable. When they were here, if they could but now and then, ſteal a Sight of him, of obtain a Kiſs from him, it was better than Wine, their Hearts were raviſhed with it, and they reckoned themſelves happy. But alaſs! theſe Interview were ſoon over: He was withdrawn, they loſt Sight of him, and knew not where to find him; then it was a drenie Day, they ſat Solatary; and pin'd away with Love-Sickneſs. Now and then a Viſit, was as much as they could enjoy of his more, ſenſible Mannifeſtations of himſelf to them. But now they ſhall be lodged in his Boſom, and his Light never be beclouded from them more. They will not be interrupted Careſſes which they ſhall have from him, but they ſhall conſtantly ſolace themſelves in him. There will be no more Coyneſs on their parts, nor Anger on his, but the Delights which they ſhall enjoy, ſhall be both full and uninterrupted.
[3] THEY ſhall have it immediately. There is a vaſt difference between mediate and immediate Communion with Chriſt. The mediate, is incomparably better than all the Delights that this World can afford. There is no ſuch raviſhing Joy in this Life, as that of a Soul under the Sealings, and ſhedding abroad of the Love of Chriſt in him: But it is a very little thing when compared with that which is to he had from him there. This difference is alluded to, in 1 Cor. 13.10. Put when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part ſhall be done away. The Glaſs of Ordinances is but dim; all in it is accommodated to Earthly Notions; there is but a little Portion known of him thereby, and that very obſcurely. We now have but Pictures, and Draughts of him, and theſe very imperfect: We now enjoy him in Promiſes, and by Faith. But it is another manner of thing to be in his Preſence, ſitting at his right Hand, gazing on him, and receiving at his own Hand, all the Good which was laid up in the Promiſes.
[4.] THEY ſhall have compleatly. It is far from being ſo in this Life, and that not only by reaſon of the imperfection of the Media by which it is enjoyed, but alſo from the impotency of our Organs to entertain it. We are not capable of ſuch Viſions and Fruitions at the preſent. We are but Children in this Life, and they are childiſh Things that we are entertained withal; and yet there is abundance of Satisfaction in them. But when once we are made compleat in Chriſt, in thoſe Degrees which we now long for, the ſhall out Sight and Enjoyment of him be made compleat too. Then ſhall we know as we are known, ſee as we are ſeen, and he filled full here withal. We ſhall then dwell at the Fountain of his Love, and the reciprocal ardours of Affection between him and us ſhall break over all Banks and Bounds, and we ſhall be entirely ſatished, both in Soul and in Body. Then ſhall we come to our Reſt.
2. TOUCHING the Employment which they ſhall there follow; it becomes us to believe that it ſhall be truly h…ppifying, rather than over-curiouſly to conjectare particulars about it. That glorified Saints in Heaven, will be … ployed there, is certain; for the formal Happineſs or a Rational Being conſiſts in Eupraxy: And as they will then be perfected in Holineſs, ſo all their Employment will there be holy. There will be no fleſhly Luſt gratified, no carnal Deſign driven. And as they are now in a State of Glory, all their Occupation will be glorious. And it is certain, that when damned Sinners are Everlaſtingly Roaring & …lowling, under the Extremity of infernal Plagues and Torments, theſe ſhall be Eternally Singing of Hallelujah's, Rejoycing & making Melody in the Preſence of God and the Lamb, cauſing Heaven to ring, from one end to another with Acclamations of Joy, tuned to an Heavenly Confort, in proſpect of thoſe things which they ſee and poſſeſs; and in the Acknowledgments of the unſpeakable Grace by which they had been ſaved: Which if Hell can be acquainted withal, and might but have a peep-hole to diſcover, how would if fill them with unſpeakable Bitterneſs, Tortures, and Blaſphemies? They are made for immediate. Communion with Chriſt, and that is a rational Communion, which will occupy their whole Powers in the maintaining of it. They there enjoy a perpetual Sabbath, and therefore the Buſineſs they ſhall be taken up withal, ſhall be Sabbatical. They will perpetually employ. Underſtanding, Will, Affections, Hearts, Hand, Tongue, in ſhouting forth the Glory of God, for which they were made. And this ſhall be without Intermiſſion, for there is no Night there. And they are adjoyned to a glorious Aſſembly of Angels and Saints, with whom they are to maintain Communion, which will alſo be full of Employment, who while they are ſolacing themſelves together, in the Memorials of the Wonders of God's Love in their Sal… they ſhall make new Anthems, and ſing … Songs to the Praiſe of their God & Red… with the moſt aſtoniſhing Raptures of Lo… and Joy, While their Spirits are …ch and astired, and not in the leaft clogged with the Heavineſs which here often diſturbed, and allayed their Fellowſhip with him.
AND if any would know more about this Affair, let them labour to make ſure of this to be their Portion, and then wait patiently in Hope till they come there; and they … be abundantly ſatisfied.
3. FOR the Duration of this Glory, which … ſhall there be inceſted withal; it ſhall be fore…. And this is the Crows and Felicity of all the reſt. Might their Happineſs have an End, … very Fore thoughts, and Expectation of … would eat out the Marrow of their pre…. Delights. There is an Eternity to which a… Reaſonable Creatures are appointed by the Law of their Creation, and this muſt be ſpent either in Happineſs or Miſery. Now as Happineſs is ſecured to all Believers, ſo the re… of it was, for Everlaſting, Joh. 3.16. And for that end, all that which will contri… to their future Happineſs in Glory, hath a ſtamp of Eternity upon it. God, who is the Supream Object of their Bleſſedneſs is from Everlaſting to Everlaſting. The Lord Jeſus Chriſt, in whoſe Embraces they ſhall be f…alfied, liveth for ever, and will endle…y Communicate himſelf to them. Heaven, where they are to reſt through their long Eternity, it is City that hath Foundations, and is not made of periſhable matter: Not only are the Joys thereof, but the Pleaſures are Everlaſting. … 16. ult. Here they had no continuing City, … now they are come to one. Here they wan… about as Pilgrims and Strangers, but now they are gotten Home, & ſhall no more be diſ… but abide there for ever, 1 Thef. 4.17. There is no Delight will wax old there, but … new continually, and all the Streams of it enjoy a perpetual Perenity. And as … greateſt Bitterneſs in that Cup which is … to Wicked Men to drink in another Wo… is, that their Worm di…th not, and their … not quenched: And could they have any … of a Jail-Delivery at laſt, it would … mitigate their Sorrows; whereas this … their Hearrs to die of Deſpair: So … the ſweetneſs of Heavens Felicities; that they ſhall abide for ever, and Millions of Ag… … not bring them one Moment nearer to a …. They ſhall die no more, but becauſe Chriſt their Saviour liveth, they ſhall live ….
USE. IF this Truth were well thought of, what abundant Conſolation would it … the Children of God, while in this Life, … they meet with many Sorrows, and Temp… It is enough to cheer up the drooping … of Relievers, when at any Time they are … conſolate, under many Changes, and Diſ… ing Trials they encounter. And Oh! that you would make more Uſe of this Co… than you do. Be often reflecting on … … in Cur…ſt, and from the ce entertain …es with the Contemplation of the … remains for the People of L…ſſes, Croſſes. Bereave…, Diſgraces; we are frowned upon in … of God. And … you will find enough to counter-ballance, … in this Life can offer it ſelf to imbit… Spirits. When the Providence of … brings us under outward things, and are i…ſ…lted … by the U…g…dly; we are aſſaulted by …, and diſq…ered in our own minds, and …re ſee nothing elſe but Clouds & Dir… …ſs ba…ging before us. Now it is good to … forward to this happy Day. Remember, … Covenant paſt between Chriſt and you is …ſting Covenant, the Mercies of it are …. He who hath paſt his Word to you, … …ver break it, not will he ſuffer you … fall out of his Favour. And now re… that if Matters be ſo, you have reaſon … …er theſe Trials, to that Joy which is … you. Think in the ſevereſt of them, though it be thus now, yet e…e long my … viour will come and fetch me home to his own Place; the Joyful Marriage Day is drawing on apace; the Bridegroom is but making ready for it, ſuiting all things for ſo ſtately a Solemnity: A little while and I ſhall ſee him come with Glory, I ſhall meet him, and go with him, and enjoy him Eternally. Then I ſhall be out of the teach of all Devils and Evils. Then Sin and Sorrow ſhall be no more. Then ſhall I be ever filled, and never glatted with his Company, be everlaſtingly ſatisfy…d with Caleftial Light and Love; and raviſhed with Joys that are full & endleſs. Live then always as ſuch, who ſlimly look for ſuch things as theſe are ere-long. And let not your Hearts be troubled at any think which intervenes, but ſwallowed up with the Extatical Hope of this Glory.
[JULY 2. 1700.]