Chapter 35

Paul was as great a maintainer of the doctrine of God's free grace, and of justification from sin by the righteousness of Christ imputed by grace, as any one that ever lived in Christ's service from the world's beginning till now; and yet he was for this doctrine: he expected himself, and encouraged others also to look for such a reward for doing and suffering for Christ, which he calls "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Surely, as Christ says in a case not distant from this in hand, "If it were not so, he would have told us."

Wherefore a reward I find, and that laid up in heaven; but what it is I know not, neither is it possible for any here to know it any further than by certain general words of God, such as these: "Praise, honor, glory, a crown of righteousness, a crown of glory, thrones, judging of angels, a kingdom, with a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

Wherefore, though in the day of judgment thou shouldst there slight all thou didst on earth for thy Lord, saying, "When, Lord, when did we do it?" he will answer, "Then, even then when ye did it to the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me."

SINNERS JUDGED.

"There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." For as the just go before the unjust in name and dignity and honor, so they shall, in the last day, go before them in the resurrection.

Now then, when the saints have risen out of their graves, given up their accounts, received their glory, and are set upon their thrones--when they are all of them in their royal apparel, with crowns of glory, every one presenting the person of a king, then come the unjust out of their graves, to receive their judgment for what they have done in the body. "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one," both saints and sinners, "may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."

"And the windows," or floodgates, "of heaven were opened." This opening of the floodgates of heaven was a type of the way that shall be made for the justice of God upon ungodly men, when Christ has laid aside his mediatorship; for he indeed is the sluice that stops this justice of God from its dealing according to its infinite power and severity with men. He stands like Moses, and as it were holdeth the hands of God. Oh, but when he shall be taken away, when he shall have finished his mediatorial work, then will the floodgates of heaven be opened, and then will the justice and holiness of God deal with men without stint or diminution, even till it has filled the vessels of wrath with vengeance till they run over. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,"

The Judge is the almighty and eternal God: the law broken is the holy and perfect rule of God, in itself a consuming fire: sin is so odious, and a thing so abominable, that it is enough to make all the angels blush to hear it but so much as once mentioned in so holy a place as that is, where the great God doth sit to judge. This sin now hangs about the neck of him that has committed it, yea, it covers him as doth a mantle.

Doubtless before the flood had carried off the ark, others besides would with gladness have had there a lodgingroom though no better than a dog-kennel; but now it was too late, "The Lord had shut the door."

As the just shall rise in power, so the wicked and unjust in weakness and astonishment. Sin and guilt bring weakness and faintness in this life; how much more when both, with all their force and power, like a giant fasten on them? As God saith, "Can thy hands be strong, and can thy heart endure in the day that I shall deal with thee?" Now will the ghastly jaws of despair gape upon thee, and now will condemnings of conscience, like thunderclaps, continually batter against thy weary spirit. It is the godly that have boldness in the day of judgment; but the wicked will be like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Now when the wicked are thus raised out of their graves,'they shall, together with all the angels of darkness, their fellow-prisoners, be brought up, being shackled in their sins, to the place of judgment; where there shall sit upon them Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Lord Chief-judge of things in heaven, and earth, and things under the earth. On whose right hand and left shall sit all the princes and heavenly nobles, the saints and prophets, the apostles and witnesses of Jesus; every one in his kingly attire upon the throne of his glory. Then shall be fulfilled that which is written, "But those my enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me."

When every one is thus set in his proper place, the Judge on his throne with his attendants, and the prisoners coming up to judgment, forthwith there shall issue forth a mighty fire and tempest from before the throne, which shall compass it round about. Which fire shall be as bars and bounds to the wicked, to keep them at a certain distance from the heavenly Majesty. "Our God will come and not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him." "His throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels like burning fire. A fiery stream issued, and came forth from before him."

This preparation being made--to wit, the Judge with his attendants on the throne, the bar for the prisoners, and the rebels all standing with ghastly faces to look for what comes after--presently the books are brought forth, the books both of death and life, and every one of them opened before the sinners now to be judged and condemned; for after that he had said, "A fiery stream issued, and came forth from before him," he adds, "Thousands, thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment was set, and the book was opened." And again, "I saw a great white throne and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no more place for them', and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of the things that were written in the books, according to their works."

"For many will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." They will put on all the confidence they can; they will trick and trim up their profession, and adorn it with what bravery they can. Thus the foolish virgins sought to enter in; they did trim up their lamps, and made themselves as fine as they could. They made shift to make their lamps to shine a while; but the Son of God discovering himself, their confidence failed, their lamps went out, the door was shut upon them, and they were kept out.

They will make a stop at this gate, this beautiful gate of heaven; they will begin to stand without at the gate, as being loath to go any further. Never did malefactor so unwillingly turn off the ladder when the rope was about his neck, as these will turn away in that day from the gates of heaven to hell.

It may be that when thou hearest that the dust of the street, that cleaveth to a minister of the gospel while thou rejectest his word of salvation, shall be a witness against thee at the day of judgment, thou wilt be apt to laugh, and say, The dust a witness! witnesses will be scarce when dust is forced to come in to plead against a man.

Well, sinner, mock not; God doth use to confound the great and mighty by things that are not, and that are despised.

When once the master of the house is risen up, that is, when Christ hath laid aside his mediation for sinners, and hath taken upon him only to judge and condemn, then will the wicked begin to stand without, and to knock and contend for a portion among them that are blessed. Ah, how will their hearts twitter while they look upon the kingdom of glory! And how will they ache and throb at every view of hell, their proper place; still crying, O that we might inherit life, and O that we might escape eternal death!

Thus you see how loath the sinner is now to take a hay of life everlasting. He that once would not be persuaded to close with the Lord Jesus, though one should have persuaded him with tears of blood, behold how fast he now hangs about the Lord: what arguments he frames with mournful groans; how with shifts and words he seeks to gain time, and to defer the execution. "Lord, open unto us! Lord, Lord, open unto us! Lord, thou hast taught in our streets, and we have both taught in thy name, and in thy name have we cast out devils. We have eat and drank in thy presence. And when did we see thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to thee?" O, poor hearts; how loath, how unwillingly do they turn away from Christ; how loath are they to partake of their ungodly doings! Christ must say, "Depart," once, and "Depart," twice, before they will depart. When he hath shut the door upon them, yet they knock, and cry, "Lord, open unto us:" when he hath given them their answer, that he knows them not, yet they plead and mourn. Wherefore, he is fain to answer again, "I tell you, I know you not whence you are; depart."

O this word, depart, how dreadful is it; with what weight will it fall on the head of every condemned sinner! For you must note, that while the ungodly stand thus before the Judge, they cannot choose but have a most distinct view both of the kingdom of heaven, and of the damned spirits in hell. Now they see the God of glory, the King of glory, the saints of glory, and the angels of glory; and the kingdom in which they have their eternal abode. Now they also begin to see the worth of Christ and what it is to be smiled upon by him, from all which they must depart; and as I say they shall have the view of this, so they will most clearly behold the pit, the bottomless pit, the fire, the brimstone, and the flaming beds that justice hath prepared for them of old.

At the day of judgment, will be tried whether thou art within that part of the book of life wherein all the elect are recorded; for all the elect are written here, as Christ saith, "Rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

Now then, if thy name be not found either among the prophets or apostles or the rest of saints, thou must be put by as one that is cast away, as one polluted, and as an abominable branch. Thy name is wanting in the genealogies and rolls of heaven; thou art not marked for everlasting life; therefore thou must not be delivered from that soul-amazing misery: for there are no souls can, though they would give a thousand worlds, be delivered at the day of God, but such that are found written in this book. Every one of those that are written, though never a one of those that are not written, shall in that day be delivered from the wrath to come.

But O methinks, with what careful hearts will the damned now begin to look for their names in this book. Those that, when once the long-suffering of God waited on them, made light of all admonition, and slighted the counsel of making their calling and election sure, would now give thousands of treasures, that they could but spy their names, though last and least among the sons of God. But, I say, how will they fail; how will they faint; how will they die and languish in their souls, when they shall still, as they look, see their names wanting! What a pinch will it be to Cain, to see his brother there recorded, and he himself left out. Absalom will now swoon and be as one that giveth up the ghost, when he shall see David his father, and Solomon his brother written here, while he withal is written in the earth, among the damned. Thus, I say, will sadness be added to sadness in the soul of the perishing world, when they fail of finding their names in this part of the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

SINNERS WITHOUT EXCUSE AT THE JUDGMENT.

Observe, that among all the objections and cavils that are made and will be made by the ungodly in the day of the Lord Jesus, they have not one about election, and reprobation: they murmur not at all that they were not predestinated to eternal life; and the reason is, because then they shall see, though now they are blind, that God could in his prerogative royal, without prejudice to them that are damned, choose and refuse at pleasure; and besides, they at this day shall be convinced that there was so much reality, and downright willingness in God, in every tender of grace and mercy to the worst of men, and also so much goodness, justness, and reasonableness in every command of the gospel of grace, which they were so often entreated and beseeched to embrace, that they will be drowned in the conviction of this, that they did refuse love, grace, and reason--love, I say, for hatred, grace for sin, and things reasonable for things unreasonable and vain. Now they shall see they left glory for shame, God for the devil, heaven for hell, light for darkness. Now they shall see, that though they made themselves beasts, yet God made them reasonable creatures; and that he did with reason expect that they should have adhered to, and have delighted in, things that are good and according to God. Yea, now they shall see and be convinced, that though God did not determine to bring them to heaven against their hearts and wills, and the love that they had to their sins, yet that God was far from infusing any thing into their souls, that should in the least hinder, weaken, obstruct, or let them in seeking the welfare of their souls. Now, men will tattle and prattle at a mad rate about election and reprobation, and conclude that because all are not elected, therefore God is to blame that any are damned. But then they will see that they are not damned because they were not elected, but because they sinned; and also, that they sinned, not because God put any weakness into their souls, but because they gave way, and that wilfully, knowingly, and desperately, to Satan and his suggestions; and so turned away from the holy commandment delivered unto them. Yea, then they will see, that though God at some times did fasten his cords about their heads and heels and hands, both by godly education and smarting convictions, yet they rushed away with violence from all, saying, "Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their cords from us." God will be justified in his sayings, and clear when he judgeth; though men's proud ignorance thinks to have and to multjply cavils against him.

Now shall be brought before thee and all men, how many strugglings God had with thy heart, on the sick-bed, to do thee good; yea, and at such times, how many vows, promises, engagements, and resolutions thou madest before God to turn, if he would release thee from thy affliction and turn off his rod from thy back; and yet how thou didst, like the man possessed, break and snap in twain all these chains of iron with which thou hadst bound thy soul; and that for a very lust or sin. Here also will be opened before thee how often thou hast sinned against thy light and knowledge; how often thou hast laid violent hands on thy own conscience; how often thou hast labored to put out that light that hath stood in thy way to hinder thee from sinning against thy soul. Ah, Lord, what a condition will the Christless soul be in at that day; how will every one of these things afflict the damned soul they will pierce like arrows, and bite like serpents, and sting like an adder. With what shame will that man stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, who must have all things he hath done against God to provoke the eyes of his glory to jealousy, laid open before the whole host of the heavenly train. It would make a man blush to have his pockets searched for things that are stolen, in the midst of a market, especially if he stand upon his reputation and honor. But thou must have thy heart searched, the bottom of thy heart searched; and that, I say, before thy neighbor whom thou hast wronged, and before the devils whom thou hast served; yea, before God whom thou hast despised, and before the angels, those holy and delicate creatures, whose holy and chaste faces will scarce forbear blushing.

"IGNORANCE" CONDEMNED AT THE JUDGMENT.

While I was gazing at all these things, I turned my head to look back, and saw Ignorance come up to the riverside; but he soon got over, and that without half the difficulty which the other two men met with. For it happened that there was then in that place one Vain-hope, a ferryman, that with his boat helped him over. So he, as the others I saw, did ascend the hill to come up to the gate; only he came alone, neither did meet with any the least encouragement. When he was come up to the gate, he looked up to the writing that was above, and then began to knock, supposing that entrance should have been quickly administered to him; but he was asked by the men that looked over the top of the gate, "Whence come you? and what would you have?" He answered, "I have eat and drank in the presence of the King, and he has taught in our streets." Then they asked him for his certificate, that they might go in and show it to the King. So he fumbled in his bosom for one, and found none. Then said they, "Have you none?" But the man answered never a word. So they told the king; but he would not come down to see him, but commanded the two shining ones that conducted Christian and Hopeful to the city, to go out and take Ignorance, and bind him hand and foot, and have him away. Then they took him up and carried him through the air to the door that I saw in the side of the hill, and put him in there. Then I saw that there was a way to hell even from the gates of heaven, as well as from the city of Destruction.

XXVII. HEAVEN.

HAPPINESS AND GLORY OF HEAVEN.

HEAVEN! It is called the paradise of God--a paradise, to show how quiet, harmless, sweet, and beautiful heaven shall be to them that possess it.

"The street of the city was pure gold." All the visions were rich, but this the richest, that the floor of the house should be covered with gold. The floor and street are walking-places, and how rich will our steps be then! Alas, here we sometimes step into the mire, and then again stumble upon blocks and stones. Here we sometimes fall into the holes, and have our heel often catched in a snare; but there will be none of these. Gold! gold! all will be gold, and golden perfections, when we come into the holy place.

If a sight of sin and the love of God will make such work in that soul where yet there is unbelief, blindness, mistrust, and forgetfulness; what will a sight of sin do in that soul which is swallowed up of love, which is sinless and temptationless, which hath all faculties of soul and body strained by love and grace to the highest pin of perfection that is possible to be in glory enjoyed and possessed?

O the wisdom and goodness of God, that he at the day of judgment should so cast about the worst of our things, even those that naturally tend to sink us and damn us, for our great advantage. All things shall work together for good, indeed, to them that love God. Those sins that brought a curse upon the whole world, that spilt the heart-blood of our dearest Saviour, and that laid his tender soul under the flaming wrath of God, shall, by his wisdom and love, tend to the exaltation of his grace, and the inflaming of our affections to him for ever and ever.

These visions, that the saved in heaven shall have of the love of Christ, will far transcend our utmost knowledge here; even as far as the light of the sun at noon goes beyond the light of a blinking candle at midnight.

As there are great saints and small ones in the church on earth, so there are angels of divers degrees in heaven; some greater than some; but the smallest saint, when he gets to heaven, shall have an angel's dignity, an angel's place.

What goodly mansions He for them provides, Though here they meet rough winds and swelling tides; How brave a calm they will enjoy at last, Who to the Lord and to his ways hold fast.

EMPLOYMENTS OF HEAVEN.

This love of Christ, if I may so say, will keep the saints in an employ, even when they are in heaven; though not an employ, that is laborsome, tiresome, burdensome, yet an employ that is dutiful, delightful, and profitable; for although the work and worship of saints in heaven is not particularly revealed as yet, and so it doth not yet appear what we shall be, yet in the general we may say, there will be that for them to do that has not yet by them been done; and by that work which they shall do there, their delight will be unto them. Nor will this at all derogate from their glory. The angels now wait upon God, and serve him; the Son of God is now a minister, and waiteth upon his service in heaven. Some saints have been employed about service for God after they have been in heaven; and why we should be idle spectators when we come thither, I see not reason to believe. It may be said, They there rest from their labors. True, but not from their delights. All things then that once were burdensome, whether in suffering or service, shall be done away, and that which is delightful and pleasurable shall remain.

Now, just as the gates were opened to let in the men, I looked in after them, and behold, the city shone like the sun; the streets also were paved with gold, and in them walked many men with crowns on their heads, palms in their hands, and golden harps to sing praises withal. There were also of them that had wings; and they answered one another without intermission, saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord." And after that they shut up the gates; which when I had seen, I wished myself among them.

"Strive to enter in." "Enter in"--into heaven, that is the meaning, where the saved are and shall be--into heaven, that place, that glorious place where God and Christ and angels are, and the souls of just men made perfect. "Enter in:" that thing included though not expressed in the words, is called in another place the "mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven." And therefore the words signify unto us that there is a state most glorious, and that when this world is ended; and that this place and state is likewise to be enjoyed by a generation of men forever. Besides, this word "enter in" signifies that salvation to the full is to be enjoyed only there, and that there only is eternal safety; all other places and conditions are hazardous, full of snares, imperfections, temptations, and afflictions. But there all is well; there is no devil to tempt, no desperately wicked heart to deliver us up, no deceitful lust to entangle, nor any enchanting world to bewitch us; there all shall be well to all eternity. Further, all the parts of and circumstances that attend salvation, are only there to be enjoyed: there only is immortality and eternal life; there is the glory and fulness of joy and the everlasting pleasures; there is God and Christ to be enjoyed by open vision; and more, there are the angels and the saints; there is no death nor sickness, no sorrow nor sighing for ever; there is no pain, nor persecution, nor darkness to eclipse our glory. O this mount Zion! O this heavenly Jerusalem!

SOUL AND BODY GLORIFIED IN HEAVEN.

"When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass that saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."