HEAVEN THEIR REST. 365 place where all the family of Jesus shall see him as he is; and in his presence spend eternal ages. Think of that happy world as that which God prepares. There Jesus declares are many peaceful dwellings. He has said, "In my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you." Those happy mansions God, your gracious Father, for his family prepares. This sweet, this cheering fact, his own word declares. It is said of Abraham, "He looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and Maker is God." Of others eminent for piety it is said, They desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for he hath prepared for them a city." What must that abode be, which a God of love provides for those he condescends to own! How rich must be the inheritance which God himself prepares! How immense the love, which leads him thus to take delight in the happiness of ransomed penitents! In a passage, if possible, still more delightful, it is said, by the Lord Jesus himself, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.' Here God appears the Father of the family that is bound for heaven; and a Father so interested in their happiness, that to give them a kingdom above is pleasure even to him. Gracious God! can it be that such is thy interest in the happiness of those poor penitents thy love has ransomed from eternal death! Oh what heights, and depths, and breadths, and lengths of love are thine! O what vileness is ours, if we do not love thee with all the grateful fervour of affectionate hearts!-Ah, let us repeat the charming words once more, "It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." And will he give that kingdom as the completion of his amazing designs of love? And is he pleased to give you the kingdom? Ah, what must be that heaven, which such a God, which such a Father, gives, and delights in giving, to those he loves with an everlasting love! Surely we may exclaim, O vile ungrateful hearts, to love this heavenly friend no more! O vain deluded minds, to see one attraction in any thing beneath the sun, while such a kingdom waits our coming! (†) John xiv. 2. (u) Heb. xi. 10. (v) Heb. x1. 13-16. 366 HEAVEN THE CHRISTIAN'S HAPPY HOME. That gracious God, who thus blesses his humble friends, will bless them in the abode his love prepares with all the comforts of his presence. Of them, when fixed there, his word asserts, "Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters."x "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." "y Oh, happy, happy they, who thus rest in the presence of their God! They have done with the dark services of time; and all they love, and all they wish, all that a vast eternity requires, to make it one blest scene of unmingled joy, they find in God. Oh, happy end to life's short pilgrimage! O happy abode! Why does not every follower of the Lamb, with longing, ardent, restless desires, wait for that peaceful home? ביי § 22. There too the disciple of Immanuel shall rest with him. That gracious friend has said, "If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be if any man serve me, him will my Father honour." "I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am there ye may be also." Happy state! There the declaration of his word will be fulfilled, "So shall we ever be with the Lord." Sweet is this prospect to them that love their Lord. To be where their Redeemer is, is all the anxious heart can crave, and all the rising soul can wish. While wandering through the wilderness of time, the Christian may feel that much which is strange and solemn must open on the soul, when starting forward into vast eternity; but to be where the Saviour is, this is enough-this must be well. (2) John xii. 26. (x) Rev. vii. 15-17. (y) Rev. xxi. 3, 4. (b) 1 Thess. iv. 17. HEAVEN THE CHRISTIAN'S HAPPY HOME. "My knowledge of that state is small, "But 'tis enough that Christ knows all, 367 Cheering prospect! The Christian may say, I would not wander on earth a weary pilgrim through eternal days; nor would I find my endless home in some remote province of my heavenly Father's kingdom. This would be banishment to me. The heaven I seek, must be the heaven where my Redeemer reigns. Not all his glowing works can bound the flight of my aspiring soul. It presses beyond them all, and seeks a rest more glorious than their brilliant fires, more lasting than their short duration. When my freed spirit takes its last farewell of earth, those golden lamps that glitter in the firmament, shall not stop its rising flight. They are mean compared with the mansions to which I aspire, those mansions where I may dwell with God. They are not my Redeemer's home, but to the world that is would I ascend. There, blessed Jesus! would my aspiring spirit fix, and there alone. There it can rest for ever. There it can love for ever. There it can praise for ever.-My fellowpilgrim, is not this your hope? do you not join in saying, My Saviour, the soul thou hast redeemed presses on to thee; O receive it to thine home, when its wandering pilgrimage on earth concludes ?" It is a gladdening thought that he has promised to do this, and has, doubtless, to millions that once trod our earth, fulfilled the gracious promise, Where I am, there shall also my servant be," and he will fulfil it to myriads more. Happy they! while we mourn, they rejoice; they rest while we labour; praise when we sigh; are secure when dangers threaten us. They hear no complaints; shed no tears; utter no groans. They are in the dwelling of their Lord. Blessed change! from the gloomy chamber of pain; from the cottage of poverty; from the society of feeble friends; or the labours of the shop, or the field, or the mill. There absent from the body they are present with the Lord. § 23. Perhaps you mourn the loss of some, once the beloved associates of your days, and fellow-pilgrims in the course to heaven. Come then, let us meditate on those few sweet words, "Absent from the body and present with the Lord." These few sweet words describe their happiness; and if we follow the holy Jesus, tell us what shall soon be ours. When meditating on these words, we may confess that the weakness of our faith is in no way more apparent than by our languid desires after heavenly blessedness, and by our sorrow for those who leave time for eternity. We mourn when the blessed rejoice; and shed tears for those who will never shed them more. We lament a change, with which those on whom it has passed are infinitely satisfied. We mourn over their beloved remains, as if all we loved in them were there. But the better part has fled-the dark coffin does not receive it— the solemn grave will never confine it. The beloved spirit, which gave animation to the lifeless body, will never become an inhabitant of the tomb. "It is absent from the body, and present with the Lord." Blessed, thrice blessed, change! more worthy for ourselves to be welcomed with eagerness than beheld with dislike! more worthy for those most dear to us to be reviewed with tears of joy and gratitude than remembered with regret. "Absent from the body:" the feeble, languishing, disor dered body. Ah, happy friends, beloved fugitives from these vain scenes, mourn for us; we need not mourn for you. The gloomy scenes, which strike our imaginations with regret, disturb not yours. The dismal hearse, the narrow coffin, the gloomy grave, affect you not. Absent from the body, you are far from these. However bitterly we mourn at your funerals, you mourn not at your own. These sad scenes call from us increasing grief; from you not a single tear. By you they are not seen. Absent from the body, you are absent from them. As whatever passes in dwellings where we once abode now affects us not, so all the dark insignia of death, and all that passes round your beloved remains, disturbs not your tranquillity, nor lessens your delight. "Absent from the body." Oh! blessed conquerors! then are you absent from its pains, and absent from its cares. Sickness and languors shall no more afflict you; for that feeble dwelling of languors and of pains lies far beneath you in the unconscious dust. Care and grief will no more intrude upon you. These are all forgotten, unless remembered to heighten your heavenly bliss. "Absent from the body." In vain then, ye once dear, still dear, objects, do we sorrow over you. You are not here 1 "ABSENT FROM THE BODY." -you are departed. You are not in the dust. the forsaken dwelling; but you are not there. The tomb then does not contain our treasures. saints on high, whom we lament below. "Forgive, ye blest, the tributary tear 369 There rests You are gone. Ye are now "That mourns your exit from a world like this; Let faith then follow you now, and we will follow you ere long. Let faith trace your course to brighter worlds. It is true, you are "absent from the body;" but, O you are "present with the Lord." Though absent, you are not lost. Though removed from us, you are removed to better society and fairer scenes. "Present with the Lord." Oh, happy conquerors! why then do we mourn your removal from such society as oursinfinitely better society is yours. It is true, you are severed for a time from all the tender names of earth; but "dearer, better friends" exist beyond the grave, and those dearer, better friends are yours. "Present with the Lord." It is this that must complete our happiness, and this is yours. The heavenly mansions would not be so blest were not our God and yours, your Redeemer and ours, there. You see them without the thick veil of flesh between. You are not in a remote province of the heavenly empire. You dwell in the palace itself; for you are present with the Lord." Happy they who sojourned with the Lord of heaven when he dwelt on earth! but, O more happy, far more happy you, who see him in his heavenly temple, and see him as he is! Now can you sound his praise in strains to mortal ears unknown; and now enjoy the infinite riches of his love. "Present with the Lord." Ye dear departed friends, what blest employments, what delights, are yours! Eye hath not seen them, ear hath not heard them, heart hath not conceived them. Our imaginations trace you through the scenes of mortal converse. We see you as we saw you once, and regret the pleasing hours which you and we once enjoyed-but, oh! why regret them? far better employments engage you |