Chapter 8

Let us consider the joy which God has provided for our _intellects_ during our immortal life in heaven.

There are many dear saints of God who have little sympathy with those who associate happiness with the pursuit or possession of intellectual truth. These persons, perhaps, have had themselves such weak intellectual capacities, as made the acquisition of knowledge impossible for them beyond its simplest elements; or their minds have been stunted in early years from want of education; or in the providence of God they have been made "hewers of wood and drawers of water," rather than intellectual princes among the people. Yet let none of us who are so ignorant, and who as yet think and speak like children, be discouraged by a conscious sense of our weak intellectual grasp and scanty information; but rather rejoice with Christ in the dispensation by which God reveals Himself not to talent but to goodness; not to the giant intellect but to the babe-like spirit: "I thank thee, O Father, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes!"

God has, nevertheless, made the acquisition of truth by the intellect a source of supreme delight. You well know how every field in nature has been searched, and every quarter of the globe ransacked, and many days and nights of patient intellectual toil consumed by men who have endured incredible labour, supported by no other motive than their love of knowledge. The immediate joy which is experienced by a great discoverer when a new fact or truth flashes on his mind is to others almost inconceivable. We read that when Newton, after years of difficulty, was just about to step on the summit of that mountain from which he knew he was to hear such intellectual music as never before had sounded in the mind of man, and to catch a glimpse of the hitherto unseen glory of that new ocean of truth which he alone had reached,--for

"He was the first that ever burst Into that silent sea!"--

his joy was so great that he was overcome by his emotions, and wept! This passion of acquiring knowledge is not the least remarkable fact recorded of Solomon. We are told that "he spake of trees, and of beasts, and of creeping things." He himself says of God, "He hath made things beautiful in time: also He hath put it into man's heart to survey the world, and to find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end." "When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:) then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun; because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea, though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it." There was in all this no doubt "vanity and vexation of spirit," for the attempt was vain to find satisfaction for the soul in the knowledge of things themselves apart from the knowledge of a personal God, or in any truth rather than in Him who is true. And therefore many, perceiving how intellect is often allied to ungodliness, and fails of itself to insure either goodness or happiness, are disposed to refuse to it the high place which God has assigned to it in the soul, and to suspect the reality of the exalted delight which He has designed His saints and angels to enjoy in its exercise. But while the deifiers of mere intellect are ever reminded that it alone cannot deify, but may be abused so as to demonise man, yet let those who slight it remember also that it is the head without whose inventive genius or directing skill the strong arms of labour would be idle. Let the man of material wealth or material power recollect that it is the wealth of science and the power of mind, possessed perhaps by unknown and lonely students who have all their lifetime been struggling to obtain their daily bread, and to snatch "the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table," which have created our manufactures, filled our warehouses, crossed our oceans, healed our diseases, and reared the fabric of law and government.

And God, who has made the intellect the source of delight to the individual, and of good to society here, will surely perfect it hereafter. Whatever its capacity may be, it shall then be filled to its utmost limit; and be characterised by a clearness, vigour, and precision, unknown here to the greatest thinkers. All barriers to its progress shall be removed, which were occasioned here by the mortal body, the poor culture, the little time, the few opportunities, the weak or sinful prejudices; so that the poorest saint will shine there as the sun in its strength! And with this increased power of knowing, how inconceivably increased must be our sources of knowledge; how boundless is the field which supplies them; how inexhaustible the treasures it contains; how unlimited the time for gathering them; how helpful the society that will sympathise with and join in our pursuits! No one surely imagines that on entering heaven we can at once obtain perfect knowledge--perfect, I mean, not in the sense of accuracy, but of fully possessing all that can be known. This is possible for Deity only. For it may be asserted with confidence that Gabriel knows more to-day than he knew yesterday. Nor is it difficult for us to conceive how, throughout eternity, and revelling with freedom throughout God's universe, we may be occupied by the contemplation of new and endless displays of the inexhaustible wisdom and power of God in His works; and see more and more into the life of all things; and continually read new volumes of that great book of nature and of truth, whose first letters we are now learning with difficulty to spell. And could we ever succeed in gathering together the present treasures of all worlds, why may not new and varied creations for ever renew the universe, and grander displays be made of the glory and majesty of the Creator? Besides all this, must not the _ways_ of God, as well as His works, and the wonders of His moral government, extending over all His creatures, and over all worlds, and throughout all ages, afford inexhaustible subjects wherewith to exercise the intellect of man? Is not every truth, too, with which we are already acquainted linked to another and a higher truth? And if so, when shall we reach the end of that awful chain which is in the hand of God? But though for ever we shall thus dive deeper and deeper into the divine mind, never, never can we sound its unfathomable depths. Though we shall ascend for ever from one intellectual height to another in the eternal range of thought, we shall approach, yet never reach, that unseen throne on which is seated the _I Am_, the Comprehender of all truth, the Solver of all mysteries, but who Himself, though known, because revealed to us in His eternal Son and loved as our Father, must ever, as the absolute One, be the mystery incomprehensible!

From the few glimpses which we obtain in Scripture of angelic life, we may infer that the understanding of the works and ways of God forms no small part of its joy. We read of the sons of God crowding round the earth, and we hear those morning stars singing for joy, as they behold the commencement of this new theatre of wonders added to those with which they were already acquainted. I doubt not that these high intelligences watched with intensest interest the progress of the world's formation, and beheld order and beauty growing out of chaotic darkness and confusion, and during the incalculable ages of the past, before man himself appeared upon the scene, gazed with wonder on the successive creations of animal and vegetable life, whose remains we now see buried in their rocky sepulchres. We know, too, the deeper interest which the angelic host have taken in this world since it became the abode of man. They are acquainted with all its inhabitants, and have seen the mystery of God's providence here unfolding itself from age to age. A great multitude of them hovered over the hills of Bethlehem at that great era when "unto us a Child was born, and unto us a Saviour was given, who was Christ the Lord;" and in sympathy with God and man they ascribed "glory to God in the highest," because of the "peace" which was proclaimed to earth, and of the "good-will" which was expressed towards man. We know also how they have taken an active share under Jesus the King, in advancing the affairs of His kingdom, both by punishing the wicked, and ministering to the heirs of salvation. And to put it beyond a doubt that scope is given even here for the exercise of the intellect of the angels, we are distinctly informed that all the marvellous history now proceeding in this world had a direct reference in its original design to their progressive education: "For God created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now _unto principalities and powers_ might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." There are indeed things even here "which angels desire to look into!"

And though the redeemed from earth are not yet revealed to us as being engaged in intellectual pursuits, nevertheless two of them have revisited the earth and appeared in the old land of their sojourning in visible form, and bearing the names of Moses and Elias, so familiar to the Church of God, and have spoken in language intelligible to the children of men, and upon a subject of all the most absorbing in its interest to the Church above and below--the decease which Christ was to accomplish at Jerusalem!

But I dare not enlarge on this part of my subject, however inviting it may be. Let me only implore of you to consecrate your intellects to God's service; and glorify Him in "soul and spirit" as well as in "body." Reverence _Truth_ in every department, as it is the expression of the mind and will of God, and seek it in humility, and with a deep sense of your responsibility as to _how_ you search and _what_ you believe. And surely it is an elevating and comforting thing to know, with reference to those who on earth were adorned by God with high intellects, cultivated with care, and sanctified for their Master's service; who thirsted for truth, and relished its acquisition with peculiar delight, and the more so when it led them directly to Him who is Truth itself, and enabled them the better to behold His glory, that their powers are now finding ample field for their exercise, and can orb themselves around without a limit. Not therefore with sadness but with joy we can turn from beholding the dead unmeaning eye of the lifeless body, through which the noble mind once shone with mild intellectual lustre, and contemplate the same mind rising over the everlasting hills, amidst the fresh unsullied brightness of a new-born day, and advancing for ever without a cloud amidst the endless glories of the upper sky.

One other suggestion as to duty in connexion with this part of our subject: take a peculiarly tender, sympathising, and thoughtful care of those who are deprived of the noble gift of intellect, and who in God's providence may be cast on your mercy. Walk by faith towards them. See them not as they are, but as they shall be. Act as you would wish to have done when you meet them in that world of light where we shall no longer see through a glass darkly, and where even he who seems exceeding fierce shall sit at the feet of Jesus, meek as a child, and in his right mind. Thank God, "there shall be no night _there!_"

III.

OUR DEVOTIONAL LIFE.

Our joy in heaven will, above all, be derived from the perfection of our moral being. We shall be "without fault before the throne of God." "He shall present us to Himself without spot, or blemish, or wrinkle, or any such thing."

Truly and beautifully has Sir Thomas Browne said,--"There is no felicity in what the world adores: that wherein God himself is happy, the holy angels are happy, and in whose defect the devils are unhappy--that dare I call happiness; whatsoever else the world terms happiness, is to me an apparition or neat delusion, wherein there is no more of happiness than the name." Following out this thought, let us reverently inquire in what chiefly consists the joy of God, or what especially constitutes His glory. Now, He is glorious in that creative mind by which things are made so wisely with reference to the end which each has to serve; and made so beautiful and grand in their sculptured forms and harmonious colours. He surveys all His works, and rejoices in them as "very good." He is glorious also in that miracle of a wondrous providence by which without a miracle the wants of all the endless worlds of His creatures are supplied; and by which responsible persons also are created and trained to glorify and enjoy Himself for ever. But while perfection beams in every feature of the Divine mind, His glory, His joy, is in His _character_. Not His power, but the character which wields the power; not His wisdom, but that which His character accomplishes by it; not His majestic sovereignty, but that majestic character which stamps His reign as one of right and therefore of might, commanding, irresistible. This is the glory which He made to pass before the eyes of Moses when upon the mount; which shone in the face of Jesus Christ the Holy One of God; and which fills the souls of the rapt seraphim when they cry, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory!" Thus God is happy and most blessed because He is "glorious in holiness," or, in one word, because "His name is _Love_."

And in what, moreover, does the happiness of the angels consist, but in sharing this life of God? These bright ones, indeed, experience joy in contemplating His works of creation and redemption, and have been glad in acquiring truth throughout many ages; but the atmosphere which they breathe, the light in which they dwell, is love. They are happy not merely in what they hear, or see, or know of the things of God, but chiefly in what they are towards God himself. They know Him, and this is life eternal.

And, finally, it is in the defect of this in which devils are unhappy. For Satan, as he "goes to and fro in the earth, and in walking up and down in it," may hear those sounds of loveliness which delight our ears, but they are no music to his jarring and discordant spirit; and he may behold those sights of loveliness which delight our eye, but he does so as the prowling lion who perceives no grandeur in the glorious mountains which echo to his savage roar. Nor does the exercise of his subtle intellect afford him joy, because it is not in harmony with truth, nor with the God of truth; but is as a "wandering star, to which is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever." And therefore, though he is a king, he is king of darkness, and carries hell in his own bosom, whether he moves among the beauteous bowers of Eden, or dwells for days upon earth, in the wilderness, in the holy temple, or on the high mountain, with even God manifest in the flesh beside him. He has no holiness, no love, and therefore no peace or joy.

And thus does our joy depend on our fellowship with God in character. Other things _may_ be, this _must_ be, if we are to be happy. Other things are required to give our joy fulness; this is essential to give it existence. For the body may be deprived of all pleasurable sensation, and the intellect unable to grapple with the simplest problem, "in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and those that look out at the windows are darkened, and the daughters of music are brought low,"--yet the light of joy may still shine in the soul, so long as the mind can discern that "God is," and the heart feel that "God is love." Not, therefore, in the gratification of his sentient tastes; nor in the certainties of pure intellect; nor in science, which "can put forth its hand and feel from star to star;" nor even in the exercise of that genius--so like His own creative power!--whose contrivances change the aspect of the world, and whose glorious flights can speed to airy regions "which no fowl knoweth nor the vulture's eye hath seen:" not in those outer courts of God's great temple has the Father willed that His immortal children shall find their true life, but in the holy of holies only of His own immediate presence, and in the possession of the spirit of life and of love which is in His first-born Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. And this was the glory and joy which Jesus himself manifested on earth, when "He had no place to lay his head;" and was "despised and rejected of men;" and His "countenance was marred like no man's;" when He carried His cross; and revealed to us that true life which He died to obtain, and rose from the dead to impart to us by His Spirit. He did not come to teach us to become artists, orators, or men of mere intellectual cultivation, capable of creating a hero-worship. The race who built Nineveh and Thebes, or produced the artists, orators, poets, historians, or the world--conquerors of Greece and Rome, needed no such teaching as this. But He came to reveal to men--who, whatever else they knew, did not know their Maker, but "changed the truth of God into a lie"--that eternal life of love which was with the Father, so that in its possession they might have fellowship with the Father, with the Son, and with one another, and in this way only have His own joy fulfilled in themselves. He taught us to follow Him, "with all lowliness and meekness," and thus "to walk worthy of God who hath called us to His kingdom and glory!"

I have dwelt, perhaps, at unnecessary length upon this part of my subject, yet I am anxious to quicken in you the conviction of what you cannot doubt, that our moral nature can be satisfied only with God's likeness. So is it now; so will it be for ever. The sweet peace which the believer enjoys in God here; the elevating delight he experiences from contemplating His character, and saying, "My Father, let Thy name be hallowed! let Thy kingdom come! let Thy will be done!"--his joy in the possession of the graces of the Christian life, are not foretastes only, but earnests also, and pledges of the coming fulness, the first-fruits of the approaching harvest. "We shall be like Him!" Oh blessed consummation, before which everything else vanishes in comparison! Our souls cleansed from every stain of guilt, and made white in the blood of the Lamb; and washed, too, from all the pollution of sin with the waters of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, shall be "faultless," "not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." The pure and holy God resting on us as His own work through His Son and Spirit, shall rejoice in that work as _perfect_; and every redeemed soul will be as a mirror in whose transparent depths the Divine glory is seen reflected. Oh comforting and exalting thought! that the weakest and most imperfect, yet true child of God, who possessed any real faith or real love, is thus at last "glorified together with Christ"--their confessions of sin for ever over; their sense of their own emptiness lost in a sense of Christ's fulness; their ardent longings for unsullied holiness gratified as no faith or foretaste here realised, even feebly, in their hours of most pious fervour! Should it not delight us to think of even one whom we have known and loved really possessing such joy as this; and ought we not to give united thanks to God for their happiness with God, even while we sorrow for their loss to ourselves during our earthly pilgrimage?

IV.

OUR SOCIAL LIFE.

Man is a _social_ as well as a sentient, intellectual, and moral being; and as such he will have joy in the presence of God in heaven. We are made for brotherhood. It was in reference to this original craving of the heart for society that God said of man when he came perfect from His hands, "It is not good for him to be alone." The fact of solitariness is, indeed, unknown in God's intelligent and moral universe. With reverence, I remark, that God has existed as Father, Son, and Spirit, three Persons in the unity of the Godhead. We cannot, indeed, conceive of God, whose name is love, existing from eternity without a person like Himself as an object of His love. Certain it is, however, that for the creature to have joy in himself alone, is impossible. Isolation would, in time, produce insanity. The heart will lavish its affection upon the lowest forms of animal creation, or upon ideal beings, rather than feed upon itself. But there can be no solitude to him who knows there is a God, nor who possesses any religion; for religion is love to God. And even where the society of men is shunned, and solitude fled to by the weary, this is often, after all, but an unconscious protest in favour of brotherhood; the bitterness of one who, having sought it from men in vain, feels as if robbed of his brother's affections, which he had a right to possess as a portion of his inheritance.