THE CHRISTIAN REJOICING IN THE VIEWS OF DEATH AND JUDGMENT.
1. Death and judgment are near: but the Christian has reason to welcome both.--2. Yet nature recoils from the solemnity of them.--3. An attempt to reconcile the mind to the prospect of death.--4. From the considerations of the many evils that surround us in this mortal life.--5. Of the remainder of sin which we feel within us.--6, 7. And of the happiness which is immediately to succeed death.--8. All which might make the Christian willing to die in the most agreeable circumstances of human life.--9. The Christian has reason to rejoice in the prospect of judgment.--10. Since, however awful it may be, Christ will then come to vindicate his honor, to display his glory, and to triumph over his enemies.--11. As also to complete the happiness of every believer.--12, 13. And of the whole church.--The mediation of a Christian whose heart is warm with these prospects.
1. WHEN the visions of the Lord were closing upon John, the beloved
disciple, in the island of Patmos, it is observable that he who gave him that
revelation, even Jesus, the faithful and true witness, concludes with these
lively and important words: "He who testifieth these things saith, Surely I
come quickly:" and John answered with the greatest readiness and
pleasure--"Amen, even so come, Lord Jesus!" Come, as thou hast said, surely and
quickly. And remember, O Christian! whoever you are that are now reading these
words, your divine Lord speaks in the same language to you--"Behold, I come
quickly." Yes, very quickly will become by death, to turn the key, to open the
door of the grave for thine admittance thither, and to lead thee through it
into the now unknown regions of the invisible world. Nor is it long before "the
Judge who standeth at the door," (Jam. 5:9) will appear also for universal
judgment; and though, perhaps, not only scores, but hundreds of years will lie
between that period and the present moment, yet it is but a very small point of
time to him who views at once all the unmeasurable ages or a past and future
eternity. "A thousand years are with him but as one day, and one day as a
thousand years." (2 Pet. 3:8) In both these senses, then, does he come quickly.
And I trust you can answer, with a glad Amen, that the warning is not terrible
or unpleasant to your ears; but rather that his coming, his certain, his speedy
coming, is the object of your delightful hope, and of your longing expectation.
2. I am sure it is reasonable it should be
so; and yet perhaps nature, fond of life, and unwilling to part with along
known abode, to enter on a state to which it is entirely a stranger, may recoil
from the thoughts of dying; or, struck with the awful pomp or an expiring and
dissolving world, may look on the judgement-day with some mixture of terror.
And therefore, my dear brother in the Lord, (for such I can now esteem you) I
would reason with you a little on this head, and would entreat you to look more
attentively on this solemn subject; which will, I trust, grow less disagreeable
to you, as it is more familiarly viewed. Nay, I hope that, instead of starting
back from it, you wilt rather spring forward toward it with joy and delight.
3. Think, O Christian! when Christ comes to call
you away by death, he comes--to set you at liberty from your present
sorrows--to deliver you from your struggles with remaining corruption--and to
receive you to dwell with himself in complete holiness and joy. You shall "be
absent from the body, and be present with the Lord." (2 Cor. 5: 8)
4. He will indeed call you away from this world;
but oh! what is this world, that you should be fond of it, and cling to it with
so much eagerness? How low are all those enjoyments that are peculiar to it,
and how many its vexations, its snares, and its sorrows! Review your pilgrimage
thus far; and though you must acknowledge that "goodness and mercy have
followed you all the days of your life," (Psa. 23:6) yet has not that very
mercy itself planted some thorns in your path, and given you some wise and
necessary, yet painful intimations, that "this is not your rest?" (Mic. 2:10)
Review the monuments of your withered joys, of your blasted hopes, if there be
yet any monuments of them remaining more than a mournful remembrance they have
left behind in your afflicted heart. Look upon the graves that have swallowed
up many of your dearest and most amiable friends, perhaps in the very bloom of
life, and in the greatest intimacy of your converse with them, and reflect,
that if you continue a few years more, death will renew his conquests at your
expense, and devour the most precious of those that yet survive. View the
living as well as the dead: behold the state of human nature under the many
grievous marks of its apostacy from God, and say, whether a wise and good man
would wish to continue always here. Methinks, were I myself secure from being
reached by any of the arrows that fly around me, I could not but mourn to see
the wounds that are given by them, and to hear the groans of those that are
continually falling under them. The diseases and calamities of mankind are so
many, and (which is most grievous of all) the distempers of their minds are so
various, and so threatening, that the world appears like a hospital; and a man
whose heart is tender, is ready to feel his spirits broken as he walks through
it and surveys the sad scene; especially when he sees how little he can do for
the recovery of those whom he pities. Are you a Christian? and does it not
pierce your heart to see how human nature is sunk in vice and in shame? To see
with what amazing insolence some are making themselves openly vile, and how the
name of Christ is dishonored by too many that call themselves his people? To
see the unlawful deeds and filthy practices of them that live ungodly; and to
behold, at the same time, the infirmities, at least, and irregularities of
those, concerning whom we have better hopes? And do you not wish to escape from
such a world, where a righteous and compassionate soul must be vexed from day
to day by so many spectacles of sin and misery? (2 Pet. 2:8)
5. Yea, to come nearer home, do you not feel
something within you, which you long to quit, and which would embitter even
Paradise itself? Something which, were it to continue, would grieve and
distress you even in the society of the blessed? Do you not feel a remainder of
indwelling sin, the sad consequence of the original revolt of our nature from
God? Are you not struggling every day with some residue of corruption, or at
least mourning on account of the weakness of your graces? Do you not often find
your spirits dull and languid, when you would desire to raise them to the
greatest fervor in the service of God ? Do you not find your heart too often
insensible of the richest instances of his love, and your hands feeble in his
service, even when "to will is present with you?" (Rom. 7:18) Does not your
life, in its best days and hours, appear a low, unprofitable thing, when
compared with what you are sensible it ought to be, and with what you wish that
it were ? Are you not frequently, as it were, "stretching the pinions of the
mind," and saying, "O that I had wings like a dove, that I might fly away and
be at rest!" (Psa. 55:6)
6. Should you not then rejoice in the thought,
that Jesus comes to deliver you from these complaints? That he comes to answer
your wishes, and to fulfill the largest desires of your hearts, those desires
that he himself has inspired? That he comes to open upon you a world of purity
and joy; of active, exalted, and unwearied services?
7. O Christian! how often have you cast a longing
eye toward those happy shores, and wished to pass the sea, the boisterous,
unpleasant, dangerous sea, that separates you from them! When your Lord has
condescended to make you a short visit in his ordinances on earth, how have you
blessed the time and the place, and pronounced it, amidst many other
disadvantages of situation, to be "the very gate of heaven!" (Gen. 28:17) And
is it so delightful to behold this gate? and will it not be much more so to
enter into it ? Is it so delightful to receive the visits of Jesus for an hour?
and will it not be infinitely more so to dwell with him for ever ? "Lord," may
you well say, "when I dwell with thee, I shall dwell in holiness, for thou
thyself art holiness; in love, for thou thyself art love:I shall dwell in joy,
for thou art the fountain of joy, as thou art in the Father, and the Father in
thee." (John 17:21) Bid welcome to his approach, therefore, to take you at your
word, and to fulfill to you that saying of his, on which your soul has so often
rested with heavenly peace and pleasure: "Father, I will that they whom thou
hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou
hast given me." (John 17:24)
8. Surely you may say in this view, "The sooner
Christ comes the better." What though the residue of your days be cut off in
the midst ? What though you leave many expected pleasures in life untasted, and
many schemes unaccomplished ? Is it not enough, that what is taken from a
mortal life, shall be added to a glorious eternity; and that you shall spend
those days and years in the presence and service of Christ in heaven, which you
might otherwise have spent with him and for him, in the imperfect enjoyment and
labors of earth?
9. But your prospects reach, not only beyond
death, but beyond the separate state. For with regard to his final appearance
to judgment, our Lord says, "Surely I come quickly," in the sense illustrated
before; and so it will appear to us, if we compare this interval of time with
the blissful eternity which is to succeed it; and probably, if we compare it
with those ages which have already passed since the sun began to measure out to
earth its days and its years. And will you not here also sing your part in the
joyful anthem, "Amen; even so come, Lord Jesus!"
10. It is true, Christian, it is an awful day; a
day in which nature shall be thrown into a confusion as yet unknown. No
earthquake, no eruption of burning mountains, no desolation of cities by
devouring flames, or of countries by overflowing rivers or seas, can give any
just emblem of that dreadful day, when "the heavens, being on fire, shall be
dissolved; the earth also, and all that is therein, shall be burnt up;" (2 Pet.
3:10-12) when all nature shall flee away in amazement "before the face of the
universal Judge," (Rev. 20:11) and there shall be a great cry, far beyond what
was known "in the land of Egypt, when there was not a house in which there was
not one dead." (Exod. 12: 30) Your flesh may be ready to tremble at the view;
yet your spirit must surely "rejoice in God your Savior." (Luke 1:47) You may
justly say, "Let this illustrious day come, even with all its horrors!" Yea,
like the Christians described by the apostle, (2 Pet. 3:12) you may be looking
for, and hastening to that day of terrible brightness and universal doom. For
your Lord will then come, to vindicate the justice of those proceedings which
have been in many instances so much obscured, and because they have been
obscured, have been also blasphemed. He will come to display his magnificence,
descending from heaven "with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and the
trump of God," (1 Thess. 4:16) taking his seat upon a throne infinitely
exceeding that of earthly, or even of celestial princes, clothed with "his
Father's glory and his own," (Luke 9:26) surrounded with a numberless host of
"shining attendants, when coming to be glorified in his saints, and admired in
all them that believe." (2 Thess. 1:10) His enemies shall also be produced to
grace his triumph. The serpent shalt be seen there rolling in the dust, and
trodden under foot by him and by all his servants; those who once condemned him
shall tremble at his presence; and those who bowed the knee before him in
profane mockery, shall, in wild despair, "call to the mountains to fall upon
them, and to the rocks to hide them from the face of that Lamb of God," (Rev.
6:16) whom they once led away to the most inhuman slaughter.
11. O Christian! does not your loyal heart bound
at the thought? And are you not ready, even while reading these lines, to begin
the victorious shout in which you are then to join ? He justly expects that
your thoughts should be greatly elevated and impressed with the views of his
triumph; but at the same time he permits you to remember your own personal
share in the joy and glory of that blessed day; and even now he has the view
before him, of what his power and love shall then accomplish for your
salvation. And what shall it not accomplish? He shall come to break the bars of
the grave, and to re-animate your sleeping clay. Your bodies must indeed be
laid in dust, and be lodged there as a testimony of God's displeasure against
sin, against the first sin that ever was committed, from the sad consequences
of which the dearest of his children cannot be exempted. But you shall then
have an ear to hear the voice of the Son of God, and an eye to behold the
lustre of his appearance; and shall "shine forth like the sun" arising in the
clear heaven, "which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber." (Psa. 19:5)
Your soul shall be new dressed to grace this high solemnity, and be clothed,
not with rags of mortality, but with the robes of glory; for he "shall change
this vile body, to fashion it like his own glorious body." (Phil. 3:21) And
when you are thus royally arrayed, he shall confer public honors on you, and on
all his people, before the assembled world. You may now perhaps be loaded with
infamy, called by reproachful names, and charged with crimes, or with views
which your very soul abhors; but he will "then bring forth your righteousness
as the light," (Psa. 37:6) "and your salvation as a lamp that burneth." (Isa.
62:1) Though you have been dishonored by men, you shall be acknowledged, by
God; and though treated "as the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all
things," (1 Cor. 4:13) he will show that he regards you "as his treasure, in
the day that he makes up his jewels." (Matt. 3:17) When he shall "put away all
the wicked of the earth like dross, (Psa. 119:119) you shall be pronounced
righteous in that full assembly; and though indeed you have broken the divine
law, and might in strict justice have been condemned, yet, being clothed with
the righteousness of the great Redeemer, even "that righteousness which is of
the great God by faith," (Phil. 3:9) justice itself shall acquit you, and join
with mercy in "bestowing upon you a crown of life." (2 Tim. 4:8) Christ will
"confess you before men and angels," (Luke 12:8) will pronounce you good and
faithful servants, and call you to "enter into the joy of your Lord:" (Matt.
25:21) he will speak of you with endearment as his brethren, and will
acknowledge the kindnesses which have been shown to you, as if he had "received
them in his own person." (Matt. 25:40) Yea, then shall you, O Christians! who
may perhaps have sat in some of the lowest places in our assemblies, to whom,
it may be, none of the rich and great of the earth would condescend to speak;
then shall you be called to be assessors with Christ on his judgment-seat, and
to join with him in the sentence he shall pass on wicked men and rebellious
angels.
12. Nor is it merely one day of glory and
triumph. But when the Judge arises, and ascends to his Father's court, all the
blessed shall ascend with him, and you among the rest: you shall ascend
together with your Savior, "to his Father and your Father, to his God and your
God." (John 20:17) You shall go to make your appearance in the new Jerusalem,
in those new shining forms that you have received, which will no doubt be
attended with a correspondent improvement of mind; and take up your perpetual
abode in that fullness of joy, with which you shall be filled and satisfied "in
the presence of God," (Psa. 16:11.) upon the consummation of that happiness
which the saints, in the intermediate state, have been wishing and waiting for.
You shall go from the ruins of a dissolving world, to "the new heavens and new
earth, wherein righteousness for ever dwells." (2 Pet. 3:13) There all the
number of God's elect shall be accomplished, and the happiness of each shall be
completed. The whole society shall be "presented before God, as the bride, the
Lamb's wife," (Rev. 21:9) whom the eye of its celestial bridegroom shall survey
with unutterable delight, and confess to be "without spot or wrinkle, or any
such thing," (Eph. 5:27) its character and state being just what he originally
designed it to be, when he first engaged to "give himself for it, to redeem it
to God by his blood." (Rev. 5:9) "So shall you ever be" with each other, and
"with the Lord," (1 Thess. 4:17) and immortal ages shall roll away and find you
still unchanged: your happiness always the same, and your relish for it the
same; or rather ever growing, as your souls are approaching nearer and nearer
to him who is the source of happiness, and the centre of infinite
perfection.
13. And now look round about upon earth, and
single out, if you can, the enjoyments or the hopes, for the sake of which you
would say, Lord, delay thy coming; or for the sake of which you any more should
hesitate to express your longing for it, and to cry, "Even so, come, Lord
Jesus, come quickly!"
The Meditation or Prayer of a Christian whose Heart is warmed with these Prospects.