"For the glory of G.o.d did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." Mark, though now there shall be no need of temple, sun, or moon, yet Christ the Lamb, or the man who was offered in sacrifice for our redemption, shall be of use and benefit; "for the glory of G.o.d did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." Wherefore, all that we who are the saved shall enjoy of glory and sweetness in another world, though we shall not enjoy it from G.o.d through Christ by and in the ordinances, yet we shall enjoy it through Christ the Lamb without them; for "the Lamb is the light of it."
By this word Lamb he would have us understand, that when we are in glory, the blood, death, and b.l.o.o.d.y conquest that the man Christ did get over our infernal enemies, will be of eternal use to us; because that benefit of Christ shall not only for ever be the foundation of our eternal felicity, but the burden of our song of glory in all our raptures among the angels. It will he the blood, the blood, the redeeming blood of the Lamb. "Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto him that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever." It is he in whom will be found the seven eyes, the seven Spirits of G.o.d; in whose light we shall see the heights and depths of those springs and everlasting fountains and depths of glory for ever. And indeed the conceit of the contrary is foolish.
Is not Christ the head, and we the members? And do not the members receive their whole light, guidance, and wisdom from it? Is not he also the price, the ground, and bottom of our happiness, both in this world and that which is to come? And is it possible it should be forgotten, or that by it our joy, light, and heaven should not be made the sweeter to all eternity? Our soul is now bound up in him as in a bundle of life; and when we come thither he is still the Christ, our life; and it is by our being where he is that we shall behold his glory and our glory, because he is glorified: "For the glory of G.o.d did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." As he said, "Ye now therefore have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice and your joy no man taketh from you."
THE GLORY OF SALVATION.
What a surprise will it be to them that now have come to G.o.d by Christ, to see themselves in heaven indeed, saved indeed, and possessed of everlasting life indeed. For alas, what is faith to possession?--faith that is mixed with many tears, that is opposed with many a.s.saults, and that seems sometimes to be quite extinguished--I say, what is that to a seeing myself in heaven?
Hence it is said that "he shall then come to be admired in them that now believe;" then they shall admire that it was their lot to believe when they were in the world. They shall also admire to think, to see, and behold what believing has brought them to; while the rest, for refusing to come to G.o.d by Christ, drink their tears mixed with burning brimstone.
What a joy will it be to the truly G.o.dly to think now that they are come to G.o.d by Christ. It was their mercy to begin to come; it was their happiness that they continued coming; but it is their glory that they are come, that they are come to G.o.d by Christ.
To G.o.d! why, he is all in all; all that is good, essentially good, and eternally good. To G.o.d, the infinite ocean of good. Oh that I could imagine, Oh that I could think, that I might write more effectually to thee of the happy estate of them that come to G.o.d by Christ.
HEAVEN.
What gladness shall possess our heart, When we shall see these things; What light and life in every part Rise like eternal springs!
O, blessed face; O, holy grace, When shall we see this day?
Lord, fetch us to this goodly place, We humbly to thee pray.
Thus when in heavenly harmony These blessed saints appear, Adorned with grace and majesty, What gladness will be there!
Thus shall we see, thus shall we be, O, would the day were come: Lord Jesus, take us up to thee, To this desired home.
Angels we also shall behold, When we on high ascend, Each shining like to men of gold, And on the Lord attend.
These goodly creatures, full of grace, Shall stand about the throne, Each one with lightning in his face, And shall to us be known.
There cherubim, with one accord, Continually do cry, "Ah, holy, holy, holy Lord, And heavenly majesty!"
These will us in their arms embrace, And welcome us to rest, And joy to see us clad with grace And of the heavens possest.
XXVIII. h.e.l.l.
h.e.l.l is a place and state utterly unknown to any in this visible world, excepting the souls of men; nor shall any for ever be capable of understanding the miseries thereof, save souls and fallen angels.
Now I think as the joys of heaven stand not only in speculation or in beholding of glory, but in a sensible enjoyment and unspeakable pleasure which these glories will yield to the soul; so the torments of h.e.l.l will not stand in the present lashes and strokes which by the flames of eternal fire G.o.d will scourge the unG.o.dly with; but the torments of h.e.l.l stand much, if not in the greatest part of them, in those deep thoughts and apprehensions which souls in the next world will have of the nature and occasion of sin, of G.o.d, and of separation from him--of the eternity of those miseries, and of the utter impossibility of their help, ease, or deliverance for ever. Oh, d.a.m.ned souls will have thoughts that will clash with glory, clash with justice, clash with law, clash with themselves, clash with h.e.l.l, and with the everlastingness of misery.
Miseries as well as mercies sharpen and make quick the apprehensions of the soul. Behold Spira in his book, Cain in his guilt, and Saul with the witch of Endor, and you shall see men ripened, men enlarged and greatened in their fancies, imaginations, and apprehensions, though not about G.o.d and heaven and glory, yet about their loss, their misery, their woe, and their h.e.l.l.
A man may endure to touch the fire with a short touch, and away; but to dwell with everlasting burnings, that is fearful. Oh then, what is dwelling with them and in them for ever and ever? We use to say, "Light burdens carried far are heavy:" what then will it be to bear that burden, that guilt, that the law and the justice and the wrath of G.o.d will lay upon the lost soul for ever? Now tell the stars, now tell the drops of the sea, and now tell the blades of gra.s.s that are spread upon the face of all the earth, if thou canst; and yet sooner mayest thou do this than count the thousands of millions of thousands of years that a d.a.m.ned soul shall lie in h.e.l.l! Suppose every star that is now in the firmament was to burn by himself one by one, a thousand years apiece, would it not be a long while before the last of them was burnt out? and yet sooner might that be done than the d.a.m.ned soul be at the end of punishment.
He that has lost his soul has lost himself. He is, as I may say, now out of his own hands; he has lost himself, his soul self, his own self, his whole self, by sin and wrath; and h.e.l.l hath found him. He is now no more at his own dispose, but at the dispose of justice, of wrath and h.e.l.l. He is committed to prison, to h.e.l.l prison, there to abide, not at pleasure, not as long and as little time as he will, but the term appointed by his Judge; nor may he there choose his own affliction, neither for manner, measure, or continuance. It is G.o.d that will spread the fire and brimstone under him, and it is G.o.d himself that will blow the fire. Isa. 30:33.
There will be no such grace as patience in h.e.l.l with him who has lost himself: here will also be wanting a bottom for patience, to wit, the providence of G.o.d; for a providence of G.o.d, though never so dismal, is a bottom for patience to the afflicted; but men go not to h.e.l.l by providence, but by sin.
"Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." This curse is the chief and highest of all kinds of curses. It lieth in a deprivation of all good, and in a being swallowed up of all the most fearful miseries, that a holy and just and eternal G.o.d can righteously inflict, or lay upon the soul of a sinful man.
Now let reason here come in and exercise itself in the most exquisite manner, yea, let it now count up all and all manner of curses and torments that a reasonable and immortal soul is or can be made capable of, and able to suffer under; and when it has done, it shall come infinitely short of this great anathema, this master-curse, which G.o.d has reserved amongst his treasures, and intends to bring out in that day of battle and war which he purposeth to make upon d.a.m.ned souls in that day.
"The sting of death is sin." Sin in the general of it is the sting of h.e.l.l, for there would be no such thing as torment even there, were it not that sin is there with sinners; for the fire of h.e.l.l, the indignation and wrath of G.o.d can fasten and kindle upon nothing but for or because of sin. Sin then, as sin, is the sting and the h.e.l.l of h.e.l.ls, of the lowest and upmost h.e.l.ls--sin, I say, in the nature of it, simply as it is concluded both by G.o.d and the d.a.m.ned to be a breach of his holy law, so it is the sting of the second death, which is the worm of h.e.l.l.
But then, as sin is such a sting in itself, so it is heightened, sharpened, made more keen and sharp, by those circ.u.mstances that attend it in every act; for there is not a sin at any time committed by man, but there is some circ.u.mstance or other attends it that makes it, when charged home by G.o.d"s law, bigger and sharper and more venomous and poisonous to the soul, than if it could be committed without them; and this is the sting of the hornet, the great sting. I sinned without a cause, to please a base l.u.s.t, to gratify the devil: here is the sting. Again, I preferred sin before holiness, death before life, h.e.l.l before heaven, the devil before G.o.d, and d.a.m.nation before a Saviour: here is the sting. Again, I preferred moments before everlastings, temporals before eternals, to be racked and always slaying before the life that is blessed and endless: here is the sting. Also, this I did against light, against convictions, against conscience, against persuasions of friends and ministers, and the G.o.dly lives which I beheld in others: here is the sting. Also, this I did against warnings; yea, though I saw others fall before my face by the mighty hand of G.o.d for committing the same: here is the sting.
Sinners, would I could persuade you to hear me out: a man cannot commit a sin, but by the commission of it he doth by some circ.u.mstance or other sharpen the sting of h.e.l.l, and that to pierce himself through and through and through with many sorrows.
Also, the sting of h.e.l.l to some will be, that the d.a.m.nation of others stands upon their score; for that by imitating them, by being deluded by them, persuaded by them, drawn in by them, others perish in h.e.l.l for ever.
Ah, this will be the sting of those that are princ.i.p.al, chief, and as I may call them, the captain and ringleading sinners. Vipers will come out of other men"s fire and flames, and settle upon, seize upon, and for ever abide upon their consciences; and this will be the sting of h.e.l.l, the great sting of h.e.l.l to them.
I will yet add to this, how will the fairness of some for heaven, even the thoughts of that, sting them when they come to h.e.l.l. It will not be so much their fall into the pit, as from whence they fell into it, that will be to them the buzzing noise and sharpened sting of the great and terrible hornet. "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer!"--there is the sting. Thou that art exalted up to heaven, shalt be thrust down to h.e.l.l; though thou hast made thy nest among the stars, from thence will I fetch thee down: there is a sting. To be pulled, for and through love to some vain l.u.s.t, from the everlasting gates of glory, and caused to be swallowed up for it in the belly of h.e.l.l, and made to lodge for ever in the darksome chambers of death: there is the piercing sting.
But again, as there is the sting of h.e.l.l, so there is the strength of that sting; for a sting, though never so sharp or venomous, yet if it wanteth strength to force it to the designed execution, it doth but little hurt. But this sting hath strength to cause it to pierce into the soul: "The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law." I Cor. 15:56; Rom. 7:8; 4:15.
Here then is the strength of the sting of h.e.l.l: it is the law in the perfect penalty of it; for without the law, sin is dead; yea, where no law is, there is no transgression. The law then followeth, in the executive part of it, the soul into h.e.l.l; and there strengthened sin, that sting in h.e.l.l, to pierce the soul for ever and ever by its unutterable charging of sin on the conscience. Nor can the soul justly murmur or repine at G.o.d or his law; for that then the sharply apprehensive soul will well discern the justness, righteousness, reasonableness, and goodness of the law, and that nothing is done by the law unto it, but that which is just and equal.
This, therefore, will put great strength and force into sin to sting the soul, and to strike it with the lashes of a scorpion.
And besides these, the abiding life of G.o.d, the Judge and G.o.d of this law, will never die. When princes die, the law may be altered by which at present transgressors are bound in chains; but Oh, here is also that which will make this sting so sharp and keen: the G.o.d that executes it will never die. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living G.o.d." Heb. 10: 30, 31.
"This shall they have of my hand, they shall lie down in sorrow;"
they shall lie down in it, they shall make their bed there, there they shall lie. And this is the bitter pill that they must swallow down at last; for after all their tears, their sorrows, their repentings, their wishings and wouldings, and all their inventings and desires to change their state for a better, they must lie down in sorrow.
The poor condemned man that is upon the ladder or scaffold, has, if one knew them, many a long wish and long desire that he might come down again alive, or that his condition was as one of the spectators, that are not condemned and brought thither to be executed as he. How carefully also does he look with his failing eyes, to see if some one comes not from the king with a pardon for him, all the while endeavoring to fumble away, as well as he can, and to prolong the minute of his execution. But at last, when he has looked, when he has wished, when he has desired and done whatever he can, the blow with the axe, or the turn with the ladder, is his lot: so he goes off the scaffold; so he goes from among men.
And thus will it be with those we have under consideration: when all comes to all, and they have said and wished and done what they could, the judgment must not be reversed; they must lie down in sorrow.
XXIX. MISCELLANEOUS.
THE SABBATH.
THIS day is called the Lord"s day, the day in which he rose from the dead. The Lord"s day: every day, say some, is the Lord"s day. Indeed this, for discourse" sake, may he granted; but strictly, no day can so properly be called the Lord"s day, as this first day of the week; for that no day of the week, or of the year, has those hadges of the Lord"s glory upon it, nor such divine grace put upon it, as his first day of the week.
There is nothing, as I know of, that bears this t.i.tle but the Lord"s supper, and this day. And since Christians count it an abuse to allegorize the first, let them also be ashamed to fantasticalize the last.