be taken from the grave, where I was rotting, and from the dust and darkness, where I seemed forgotten, and be here set before his throne! That I should be taken, with Mordecai, from captivity, and be set next unto the king; and, with Daniel, from the den, to be made ruler of princes and provinces! Who can fathom unmeasurable love?" If worthiness were our condition for admittance, we might sit down and weep with St. John, Because no man was found worthy. But the Lion of the tribe of Judah is worthy, and hath prevailed;* and by that title we must hold the inheritance. shall offer there the offering that David refused, even praise for that which cost us nothing. Here our commission runs, freely ye have received, freely give; butChrist has dearly bought, yet freely gives. We § 4. If it were only for nothing, and without our merit, the wonder were great; but it is moreover against our merit, against our long endeavouring our own ruin. What an astonishing thought it will be, to think of the unmeasurable difference between our deservings and receivings! Between the state we should have been in, and the state we are in! To look down upon hell, and see the vast difference that grace hath made betwixt us and them! To see the inheritance there, which we were born to, so different from that which we are adopted to! What pangs of love will it cause within us, to think, "yonder was the place that sin would have brought me to, but this is it that Christ hath brought me to! Yonder death was the wages of my sin, but this eternal life is the gift of God, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Who made me to differ?|| Had I not now been in those flames, if I *Rev. v. 4; 5. + 2 Sam. xxiv. 24. Matt. x. 8. Rom vi. 23. 1 Cor. iv. 7. had had my own way, and been let alone to my own will? Should I not have lingered in Sodom, till the flames had seized on me, if God had not in mercy brought me out?*" Doubtless this will be our everlasting admiration, that so rich a crown should fit the head of so vile a sinner! That such high advancement, and such long unfruitfulness and unkindness, can be the state of the same person! And that such vile rebellions can conclude in such most precious joys! But, no thanks to us, nor to any of our duties and labours, much less to our neglects and laziness: We know to whom the praise is due, and must be given forever. Indeed to this very end it was that infinite wisdom cast the whole design of man's salvation into this mould of purchase and freeness, that the love and joy of man might be perfected, and the honour of grace most highly advanced; that the thought of merit might neither cloud the one, nor obstruct the other; and that on these two hinges the gate of heaven might turn. So then let DESERVED be written on the door of hell, but on the door of heaven and life, THE FREE GIFT. 5. (3) This rest is peculiar to saints, belongs to no other of all the sons of men. If all Egypt had been light, the Israelites would not have had the less; but to enjoy that light alone, while their neighbours lived in thick darkness, must make them more sensible of their privilege. Distinguishing mercy affects more than any mercy. If Pharaoh had passed as safely as Israel, the Red Sea would have been less remembered. If the rest of the world had not been drowned, and the rest of Sodom and Gomorrah not burned, the saving of Noah had been no wonder, nor Lot's deliv Gen. xix. 16. erance so much talked of. When one is enlightened, and another left in darkness; one reformed, and another by his lust enslaved; it makes the saints cry out, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?* When the prophet is sent to one widow only of all that were in Israel, and to cleanse one Naaman of all the lepers, the mercy is more observable. That will sure be a day of passionate sense on both sides, when there shall be two in one bed, and two in the field, the one taken, and the other left. The saints shall look down upon the burning lake, and in the sense of their own happiness, and in the approbation of God's proceedings, they shall rejoice and sing, Thou art righteous, O Lord, who wast, art, and shall be, because thou hast judged thus.§ § 6. (4) But though this rest be proper to the saints, yet it is common to all the saints; for it is an association of blessed spirits, both saints and angels; a corporation of perfected saints, whereof Christ is the head; the communion of saints completed. As.we have been together in the labour, duty, danger, and distress; so shall we be in the great recompense and deliverance. As we have been scorned and despised, so shall we be owned and honoured together. We, who have gone through the day of sadness, shall enjoy together that day of gladness. Those, who have been with us in persecution and prison, shall be with us also in that palace of consolation. How oft have our groans made, as it were, one sound; our tears one stream; and our desires one prayer! But now all our praises shall make up one melody; all our churches, one church, and all ourselves, one body; *John xiv. 22. + Luke iv. 26-27. Luke xvii. 34, 36. § Rev. xvi. 5. for we shall be all one in Christ, even as he and the Father are one.* 'Tis true, we must be careful, not to look for that in the saints, which is alone in Christ. But if the forethought of sitting down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven,† may be our lawful joy; how much more the real sight and actual possession! It cannot choose but be comfortable to think of that day, when we shall join with Moses in his song, with David in his psalms of praise, and with all the redeemed in the song of the Lamb forever; when we shall see Enoch walking with God; Noah enjoying the end of his singularity; Joseph of his integrity; Job of his patience; Hezekiah of his uprightness; and all the saints the end of their faith.|| Not only our old acquaintance, but all the saints, of all ages, whose faces in the flesh we never saw, we shall there both know, and comfortably enjoy. Yea, angels as well as saints, will be our blessed acquaintance. Those, who now are willingly our ministering spirits, I will willingly then be our companions in joy. They, who had such joy in heaven for our conversion,** will gladly rejoice with us in our glorification. Then we shall truly say, as David, I am a companion of all them that fear thee; when we are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels; to the general assembly, and church of the first-born, who are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant.‡‡ 'Tis a singular excellence of heavenly rest, that we are + Rev. xv. 3. *John xvii. 21. Gen. v. 24. ** Luke xv. 7, 10. Matt. viii. 51. Heb. i. 14. fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.* § 7. (5) As another property of our rest, we shall derive its joys immediately from God. Now we have nothing at all immediately, but at the second or third hand, or how many, who knows? From the earth, from man, from the sun and moon, from the ministration of angels, and from the Spirit, and Christ. Though in the hand of angels the stream favours not of the imperfection of sinners, yet it does of the imperfection of creatures; and as it comes from man, it favours of both. How quick and piercing is the word in itself! Yet many times it never enters, being managed by a feeble arm. What weight and worth is there in every passage of the blessed gospel! Enough, one would think, to enter and force the dullest soul, and wholly possess its thoughts and affections; and yet how oft does it fall as water upon a stone! The things of God, which we handle, are divine; but our manner of handling is human. There is little we touch, but we leave the print of our fingers behind. If God speak the word himself, it will be a piercing, melting word indeed. The Christian now knows by experience, that his most immediate joys are his sweetest joys; which have least of man, and are most directly from the Spirit. Christians, who are much in secret prayer and contemplation, are men of greatest life and joy; because they have all more immediately from God himself. Not that we should cast off hearing, reading, and conference, or neg lect any ordinance of God: but to live above them, while we use them, is the way of a Christian. There is joy in these remote receivings; but the fulness of joy is in God's immediate presence. * Eph. ii. 19. + Heb. iv. 12. Psalm xvi. 11. |