Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

1

PIOUS FRIENDS REUNITED IN HEAVEN.

375

much and mutually beloved on earth, and helpers of each other in the way to glory, shall not renew their friendship with each other there? Important as is the connexion between the pastor and the flock, these connexions, when sanctified by grace, are often much more important. Here religious intercourse takes place more dear and more continued; prayers as fervent, and more frequent, are offered in union. Surely therefore we may believe that when the minister meets the people of his charge, the flock he has been instrumental in leading on to heaven, Christian relatives and friends, united in bands as sacred and as strong, will renew their friendship, and find in the society of each other new delight, infused into the bliss even of eternity.

It may further be observed, that the comfort which the gospel administers to those who mourn friends that sleep in Jesus, appears to be drawn in a great measure from the hope of their happy reunion, and their eternal dwelling in the presence of their Lord. The inspired writer says, "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."n The heathen sorrowed without hope, for they had no well founded hope that their departed friends had entered a happy immortality; and their friends once lost seemed lost for ever: but if pious friends did not meet and recognize each other in heaven, the Christian would be as much without hope of beholding his loved and lost companions, as even the heathens themselves; and if not lost to happiness they would be lost to him: the moment of death would be the moment of an eternal separation; and what had become of them would be to him unknown. Surely the language of the divine word leads to ideas very different from this! It speaks of these friends being happy, of (n) 1 Thess. iv. 13, 14, 16-18.

376

HEAVEN AN ENDLESS HOME.

their coming with their Lord, and then of them and those 1 they left behind, being with him for ever. Can this imply s any thing less than a happy reunion in his presence?

Have you kindred in the skies? beloved kindred! they bless the hour that set them free from earth and time. Follow their Lord, and you will soon bless that, which lands you on the happy shore, where death-divided friends, that meet in Christ, shall never part again. There" Adieus and farewells are a sound unknown." Happy they who meet in bliss! Their union is not the union of a day: it is a meeting that will never be followed by a painful parting. How should the hope of it animate those, whom piety unites in deathdefying bands, to walk with God, to pray and praise together here, as they hope, through everlasting days, to praise their God together there! O happy meeting! when they meet, no more to share each other's griefs, no more to mourn each other's woes, no more to grieve for each other's defects; but to share in each other's joys, to triumph in each other's happiness, and mutually to behold friends esteemed so dear and amiable below, infinitely more amiable, as well as eternally glorious and happy.

The

§ 27. Think too, that all these blessings are for ever. happiness of that world is everlasting. Tears and sorrows, sickness and pain, temptation and danger, sin and death, are excluded for ever. There, where all is peace and praise, all is peace and praise for ever. O, blissful day! may the Christian think, when I shall see my Saviour! when I shall be with him and be like him. Then shall I see, and know, and love, and praise my Lord, more and better through eternal days! Eternal days! who shall unfold the meaning of those transporting words-Eternal days? O look forward beyond the end of time. Let faith assist you to discern the state of the just when time shall be no more. Think that you see the scenes of eternal judgment finishing. The archangel's trumpet has sounded, and is hushed in silence, never to sound again; the ransomed myriads of the blest have heard the gracious sentence of their Lord, and received the crown of glory that fadeth not away. All the eventful scenes of life, of death, of judgment are concluded; and now behold them-where are they--in heaven-around them all is happy. Their views, joys, praises, friends, and home eternally the same; their sor

T

HEAVEN AN ENDLESS HOME.

377

rows, cares, and sighings for ever fled away. "Violence shall no more be heard in their land, wasting nor destruction within their borders; but they shall call their walls Salvation, and their gates Praise. The sun shall be no more their light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto them but the Lord shall be unto them an everlasting light, and their God their glory. Their sun shall no more go down; neither shall their moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be their everlasting light, and the days of their mourning shall be ended." Before them all is glorious. Before them stretches one immense eternal day of bliss. They see no end, they fear no ill. How brightly shines the sun of their happiness! how happily glide on the infinite ages of their felicity! -Go forward in thought myriads of numberless ages. Imagine years as countless as the blades of grass that cover the ground, or as the drops that fill the ocean, to have passed away. Then look again at the inhabitants of heaven; their day is still bright. No cloud has darkened its glory in the immense duration that has passed. Their happiness is still undiminished. No transient pain has brought a momentary interruption of their felicity, in all the mighty periods that are gone. For no moment, during all those countless ages, has the stain of imperfection polluted them. No ruffling passion has ever been felt within their peaceful breasts. The light of God's countenance has never been withdrawn. No foes without, no fears or corruptions within, have disturbed the sweet composure of their happy spirits. Through periods so long, that, compared with them, time and all its ages is the twinkling of an eye, the unruffled day of heaven has glided blissfully along. Nor do they mourn its departure; eternal day is not shortened; eternal felicity is not lessened. The immense and amazing prospect of everlasting life still stretches before their view, as bright, as fair, as gladdening, and as long as ever. Happy conquerors! Imagination fails, and cannot reach their blessedness, nor comprehend what it is to be enjoying heaven.

The eternal God is their Father, and they are for ever with the Lord. But, O! what no heart can conceive, no imagination comprehend, you, my brother, or my sister, may enjoy. Be thou faithful unto death, and that eternal day

(0) Isa. lx. 18-20.

378

HEAVEN NOT DISTANT.

will cheer your soul with infinite delight; and raise your raptures to heights of infinite felicity; while you look back to the stormy scenes of time, to the day of danger and conflict, to the solemnities of death and judgment, and exult that these are for ever finished; that redeeming love has fixed you safe in heaven; and that now vast, boundless, joyful eternity, will be to you one long, immense, infinite scene of unmingled tranquillity, praise, and pleasure, in the presence of God and of the Lamb. O what is life in the view of this happiness! What its cares, pleasures, pains, but shadows lighter than vanity! O what is redeeming love, that opens to your soul these triumphant prospects!

§ 28. Soon will all the glories of these bright scenes dawn upon the faithful soul. Though eternal day will never end, eternal day will soon begin. When the husbandman commits his seed to the ground, a few wintry days revolve, a few bright suns shine, a few moons wax and wane, and the harvest comes, and the ripened crop is gathered into the garner. So fast comes the harvest of eternity. The Christian's happiest days are hastening him forward to its solemn scenes, and the sad and gloomy days of darkness are carrying him as fast to the world where gloomy seasons and distressing days are unknown for ever. The Christian's state in this world is like that of a mariner pursuing a long voyage, yet tending to his native land. Month after month, all he beholds is the ocean and the sky. When within a day's sail of home, he still sees nothing but sea and sky: the unvarying prospect is the same as it was months before; yet his situation is very different; then he was far from harbour, now a few hours will bring him there. So the Christian hastening to heaven, sees no more of that happy home than he did when entering his course, yet he is nearer every hour. He is drawing apace to the harbour, though he sees it not, and in a little while will enter there.

$29. If grace has made you a partaker of the hope of that felicity, draw comfort from that hope; anticipate that heaven. When meditation leads your contemplations beyond the narrow bounds of time, then think, Am I to walk those heavenly fields? Am I to dwell in those regions of light? Then what is this world to me? Am I, born as it were but yesterday, and hastening to a grave, to live in glory when sun and stars,

HEAVEN TO BE KEPT IN VIEW.

379 with all their glory, shall expire? Am I, unmoved, to behold "the wreck of nature and the crush of worlds," to see, without regret, the bright lights of heaven sink into eternal darkness; and then shall I, amid the blest inhabitants of heaven, rejoice that my day of glory and happiness will never, never end? Then shall I, with all the blood-bought nations of the saved, walk in the light of the heavenly city, and dwell before the throne of God? Rise then, my soul, rise to thy blissful home. There place thy treasures; there lay up thy store; there fix thy love; there hope to praise thy Saviour and thy Lord; and wait and watch, till he shall call thee home.

Daily cherish the thoughts of that felicity, and strive, and pray, by meditation, to check unreasonable attachment to this dying world; to sit loose to all below; and to live as one who hopes ere long to live in heaven. Why are not the followers of the Lamb more eager for their rest? Does the sailor, tost by storms, long once more to reach his home? the child desire manhood? the sick man, health? the tradesman pant for riches? the prisoner for liberty? the condemned for pardon? and should not you desire the blessedness you seek? Is heaven indeed the object of your choice, and your wished-for home, why not more eager for it? How unreasonable to love a dangerous journey more than a peaceful rest! a boisterous ocean more than the safe and pleasant harbour! Who loves the ship that wafts him over raging waters, more than the country where all who are dearest to him dwell? Who loves the horse on which he rides, or the carriage in which he travels, more than the dear home, where he rests in peace? Alas, such is their attachment to this world, who are the heirs of a better. We profess to take heaven for our home; we know that all, and more than all, that recommends our earthly dwellings, is found in the eternal mansions ;— friends that should be the dearest, and to whom we are most dear; the surest refuge; the securest rest;—and yet how often have we little familiarity with that better country! How much ado has God to get us home! Ah, stupified hearts! to love a journey, a toilsome, a dangerous journey, more than an everlasting home, whence toils and dangers are banished for ever. Watch against this dangerous, this guilty fondness for the present state. Think much of heaven. If your home

« FöregåendeFortsätt »