Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

have no rest, day nor night." Rev. 14: 11. The rich man in hell asked but a momentary alleviation of his torture, when he desired that Lazarus might be sent "to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool his tongue;" but even this was denied him. It is the immutability of the future state that bespeaks it eternal. They can no more flee from the bitter reflections of an enraged conscience, than flee from themselves; and no more interrupt the misery that springs from them, than extinguish their life itself.

10. As their misery is without intermission, so also it is without end. This ingredient will inconceivably increase their anguish. If, when a duration equal to many millions of ages were past, condemned sinners might have any assurance of redemption from their misery, even that slender hope would be some, though a small mitigation of the horror of their state. It were some relief to their torments to foresee any possible end of them, at however remote a distance.

But oh! what an amazing and insupportable thought, that all the vast space of time that arithmetic can compute or their thoughts measure, is but as a moment in comparison to eternity; and when that is passed, their misery will be as far from ending as ever! Oh! that solemn and awful sound, Eternity! eternity! It is related by several authors, of a lady who was fond of gayety, that after spending the afternoon and evening with a party at cards and other vain amusements, she returned home late at night, and found her waiting-maid diligently reading a religious book; happening to look over her shoulder, she saw what it was, and said, "Poor, melancholy soul, why do you sit so long poring upon your book ?" After this she retired to bed, but 'could not sleep; she lay sighing and weeping for several hours. Being repeatedly asked by her servant what was the matter, she burst into a flood of tears, and said, “Oh! Mary, it was one word that I saw in your book which

troubles me; there I saw the word Eternity." The Lord grant, my dear Benjamin, that we may so consider the word Eternity, that it may not be a trouble, but a pleasure unto us. May we flee for refuge to Jesus, as the man-slayer to. the city of refuge, and the great High Priest of our profession will receive and defend us from the sword of the avenger; "for there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," Rom. 8: 1; and on that day, when the good Shepherd shall "divide his sheep from the goats," he will say unto us, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Then, with all the “righteous, we shall enter into life eternal." Matt. 25: 46. The nature of that felicity will be the subject of the next letter.

Letter IV.

Farewell.

THE FUTURE HAPPINESS OF THE RIGHTEOUS.

Beloved Brother,

Agreeably to promise, I now invite your attention to the happiness of the righteous, or the felicity of heaven. Heaven is considered as a place in which the Omnipotent Deity is said to afford a nearer and more immediate view of himself, and a more sensible manifestation of his glory than in the other parts of the universe.

§ 1. I freely acknowledge, my dear Benjamin, that the felicity of the righteous, as well as the misery of the wicked, far exceeds our comprehension. We are, at present, at

a great distance from those superior regions of eternal light, and there is a thick veil of flesh that hides the glory of them from our eyes. We have, indeed, a clear and satisfying assurance of an endless felicity, and some notices in general of its nature; but as to the particulars of it, it is a glory yet to be revealed, and we cannot expect a clear and distinct view of it till we enter within the veil, and are admitted into the heavenly sanctuary. Should the external glory of the heavenly state be laid open to our naked view, it would be too dazzling a sight for weak mortality to bear. If the Israelites could not endure to behold the face of Moses when it shone, upon his descent from the mount; and if the disciples of our Lord could not bear the sight of his transfigured body without great confusion and fear; how much more should we be confounded at the view of that celestial brightness, of which this was but an emblem or glimpse.

Yet, though we cannot here expect any adequate conception of the heavenly state, we are not left wholly in the dark. The Holy Spirit has, in condescension to our weakness, described it to us in expressions which allude to present and sensible things. Thus the future blessedness of the righteous is often represented under the notion of a kingdom, a throne, a crown, a house and city; sometimes it is represented as a great treasure, a pearl of great price, and a glorious inheritance; sometimes it is represented under the emblem of white robes, palms, or under the similitude of a great supper or marriage-feast; it is called the heavenly paradise, full of light, life and glory. By these, and other affecting, sensible allusions, does the Spirit of God insinuate to our minds some sensible thought of the transcendent honor and dignity, the complete perfection and excellency, the ravishing and truly satisfying pleasure and joy of that happy state. For method's sake, I will, however give you a brief description of the character of the righ

teous, and then consider their happiness both in the negative and positive.

2. With respect to the righteous, the Scriptures declare "there is none righteous" on earth, "no not one," i. e. in himself. To be righteous, in the proper and strict sense of the word, is to keep the law perfectly, which no mere man ever did, and no fallen man ever can; for "all have sinned;" sin being "the transgression of the law." The righteous, therefore, who shall enter into life eternal, are not such in themselves, but are dealt with by God as such, through the righteousness of Christ put to their account. This righteousness Christ wrought out by his perfect obedience, even unto death; and it is revealed in the Gospel; and when the sinner is convinced that he wants it, and must perish without it, he comes to God for it, and God gives it to him; he receives it by faith, puts it on and wears it, lives and dies in it; and being "found in Christ," he is admitted in this wedding garment to the marriagesupper of the Lamb.

3. I proceed to consider the negative part of the happiness of the righteous, which consists in an entire exemption and freedom from all evils, both moral and natural, both those of sin and misery; they will be freed from all inward and spiritual evils, such as the guilt of sin, Isaiah, 33 24; the depravity of their nature, the temptations of Satan, from divine desertion, Isaiah, 57: 8; from fear of the wrath of God and the punishment of sin; from all dis. tresses arising from connection with others, such as from the sufferings of friends, country, or the church, or from the sins of others. Here the relics of indwelling sin make our life a tedious warfare, the violent struggles of this body of death often extort such bitter complaints of our wretched condition as that of the apostle, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" Rom. 7 24. These spiritual enemies within us are like those in

the Israelites' bodies, "as thorns in our sides and pricks in our eyes;" they wound a gracious soul in its most quick. and sensible part; but in the heavenly Canaan all these cursed remains of sin are entirely extinguished. There the spirits of the just made perfect" have no more occasion to lament the sinful darkness and distraction of their minds, the rebellion of their unruly passions, the irregula rity of their desires, the carnality and dullness of their affections, the weakness of their graces, and the woful defects and failures of their best obedience: happy they whose wearisome warfare is ended in perfect victory and eternal triumph.

§ 4. And as the saints in glory are freed from indwelling sin, the temptations of the world, and the assaults of Satan; so also they are freed from all the evil consequences of sin. All the spiritual doubts, fears and sorrows will be buried in the grave of sin, to rise no more. In those regions of perfect light and purity there are no clouds to intercept the ravishing beams of divine love; no spiritual storms of desertion to disturb the serenity and calm of an innocent soul; no frowns on the face of our Heavenly Father to awaken our jealous fears; no anguish of an accusing conscience to alloy our spiritual joy. There we shall hear no more such grievous complaints as now sometimes drop from the lips of a desponding Asaph: "Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favorable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? Does his promise fail for evermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his tender mercies?" Psa. 77: 7-9. Or as those of Heman, Why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me? I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted." Psa. 88: 14, 15. The perfect love of heaven will entirely cast out all relics of such disquieting fear. 1 John, 4: 18.

[ocr errors]
« ÎnapoiContinuă »