this was the faith of Noah and Moses, and many other heroes, whose names
shine with honour in St. Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews; and great and
blessed God received daily honours from this their faith. In heaven all
these invisibles are seen, all these futurities become present, and they
are no longer matters of faith. O that this faith might overspread the
earth, as sight is found all over heaven!
II. Hope and expectation of future blessings, either here or hereafter,
under all present darknesses and discouragements, is another grace which
may be exercised by the living saints; but among the saints that are
dead there is no room nor place for it; for in heaven our hope is turned
into enjoyment; _hope that is seen or enjoyed, is not hope; what a man
seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that which we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it_, Rom. viii. 24. And this
patient and chearful expectation under discouraging difficulties, is a
glorious homage paid to God, such as the saints in heaven cannot pay
him.
The living christian knows not what honour he brings to his God, when
his hope for promised mercies bears itself up, while there are no
appearing prospects to the eye of sense, and in opposition to a thousand
rising dangers; when he can live upon the naked promise, and be assured
of the full performance, merely because his God hath spoken it. Then we
give honour to God, such as the souls in heaven cannot give him, when
under the renewed exercise of faith and repentance we maintain a humble
hope of the pardon of sin through the promises of his gospel, even
though our iniquities have been exceeding great, and though sin is every
day working and striving against our best purposes, and too often
bringing us under fresh guilt.
Then we glorify our blessed Redeemer so as the saints in heaven cannot
glorify him, when we feel our consciences burdened with sin, and yet
maintain faith and hope of acceptance with a great and holy God, through
the death, righteousness, and intercession of a person whom we never
saw. This is an illustrious honour done to the name, and sacrifice, and
mediation of the Son of God.
Then we give glory to the blessed Spirit our enlightener, and our
sanctifier, when in the midst of our own errors and darknesses, and in
the midst of difficulties and cavils raised by men, we trust in his
promised guidance into all necessary truth; when we walk on in the midst
of temptations waiting and hoping for fresh sanctifying influences,
while we feel and groan over the deceitfulness and the weakness of our
own hearts, that are too ready to start aside from God like a broken
bow.
Then we honour God and his gospel indeed, when we hope for our own final
salvation through the blood of the everlasting covenant, having fled for
refuge to the hope that is set before us, though by the wiles of the
devil, we have been under strong temptations to despair, and sometimes
have seemed to be forsaken of God, as Christ Jesus was when hanging on
the cross: It was then that he glorified his Father and his God, by the
constancy and courage of his hope, in such a manner as he was never
capable of doing after that great and dreadful day; and herein his poor
tempted followers have been noble imitators of their Saviour and their
Lord, and have held fast their confidence in divine mercy in the midst
of sore temptations, and given great glory to their God and Father.
Nor is this hope a vain presuming confidence, or a bold fit of
enthusiasm, for it evidences its own heavenly and divine original, by
keeping the soul pure, and holy, and humble, in the midst of all this
darkness, and this disconsolate state: _He that has this hope will
purify himself, even as Christ is pure_; 1 John iii. 3. A presuming hope
that carries no spring of holiness in it, can neither honour God nor
profit men.
But there are other occasions also in this life, for the exercise of the
grace of hope, _viz._ amidst huge and threatening difficulties, that
relate to the public interests of religion. When the feeble and doubting
christian sees the affairs of the church of Christ sinking daily, he is
almost ready to sink and die too, and to despair for Zion; and it is the
language of his unbelief, _by whom shall Jacob arise, for he is small?_
But the stronger christian, who knows how to live upon a promise, can
reply, that the God of Jacob is almighty, the king of Israel is the true
God and everlasting king, and the interest of the church shall rise
again, even though it were drowning; for not all the floods on earth,
nor even the gates of hell shall prevail against the church that is
built upon Jesus the rock of ages: And Jesus himself receives his
special tribute of glory from his saints on earth, while they triumph in
this hope.
There are also some seasons wherein a living saint honours God in this
world, by maintaining his hope in the midst of various trials that
attend him in his private affairs, and especially when poverty and
distress overtake him like an armed man, and he hath no other help nor
hope left, but in some gracious words of promise, and some unknown
appearances of providence in his behalf. Blessed are the poor who can
live by faith! A christian honours God also greatly in the days of
sickness, and the hour of death, when he feels nature sinking, and flesh
dissolving; yet he can look upon his withering limbs without dismay, in
the hope of the resurrection, and speak in the language of holy Job,
“Though after my skin worms devour this body, yet in my flesh shall I
see God;” Job xix. 26.
I grant that the saints who are in heaven, the spirits of the just made
perfect, wait also, and hope for the resurrection of the body, and all
the promised blessings of that day; but they have a bright and sure
prospect of it by the light of glory, in which they read all the
promises; and they have a pledge and pattern of it in the body of Jesus
Christ raised from the dead, and glorified in the midst of them. Their
hope lies under no darkness, no discouragement. The saints on earth
therefore, in the exercise of this their hope, give a greater glory to
God than those in heaven; for it struggles with mighty difficulties, and
overcomes them all. It is such a hope as Abraham built on the mere
promise of God, that he should have a son when he was a hundred years
old, and his wife Sarah was ninety. “He hoped in God who quickened the
dead, and called those things which be not as though they were; who
against hope believed in hope, that he might become the Father of many
nations, according to that which was spoken; so shall thy seed be. He
staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in
faith, giving glory to God;” Rom. iv. 17, 18-20.
III. Liberality and compassion to the poor is another exercise of grace,
for which this life only gives opportunity. The objects of our bounty on
earth are both saints and sinners; for we are charged to imitate our
heavenly Father, _who commands his sun to rise on the evil and the good,
and his rain to fall and refresh the just and the unjust_; Mat. v. 45.
But in the world to come, the saints are raised far above the want of
our compassion, and condemned sinners in their long everlasting misery
are forbid all refreshment.
It is in this life only, that we can shew our love to Christ himself, by
refreshing the bowels of his saints. It is here that we may treasure up
matter for divine approbation and solemn applause, in the great
judgment-day, when the alms that have been given in a private corner,
where _the left-hand has not known what the right-hand did_, shall be
published with honour before that innumerable assembly. “I remember,”
says our blessed Lord, “I well remember, when in yonder world ye fed my
hungry saints, then ye fed and nourished me; when ye gave drink to them,
ye gave drink to me, and relieved my thirst; when ye bestowed garments
on them, it was I that was naked, and ye clothed and covered me; and
when ye visited them in sickness or in prison, I was the prisoner, I was
sick, and I take it as kindly as though ye had visited and comforted
me.” Astonishing condescension of the Son of God! Surprizing honour put
on the liberal christian! But here is the only place for acquiring these
honours, though they are published hereafter.
There is no poor christian to be supplied in heaven out of the stores of
your bounty, no naked saints to be clothed there. All the regions of
heaven cannot afford any such object of your compassion and love. Many a
saint on earth is hungry, and thirsty, and naked, and exposed to sore
hardships and necessities, but necessities and hardships are unknown in
heaven. Many a widow, and orphan, and poor destitute christian, lies
sick and groaning as it were at the gates of glory: Let us seize the
opportunity to feed, to support, and to comfort them; for there is no
destitute creature, no sick, or poor, no needy widow or orphan, within
the gates.
Life is given to some persons for this very end! Good Dorcas was even
raised from the dead, and had her life lengthened out to make more coats
and garments for the poor. Ministering to the saints is a delightful
labour, and a business worth living for. In this world the rich
christian has the honour of being a steward for God to feed his
children; but in the world above, there are no earthly treasures to
receive such a sort of consecration as this is, no alms to be offered up
as an acceptable sacrifice to God the Father, or to his Son Jesus. See
then that ye practise this virtue as often as providence gives a proper
occasion, and thus consecrate your substance to the Lord of the whole
earth. Lend a little to the Lord in this manner, and it shall be paid
with large interest: “He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord,
and he will repay him;” Prov. xix. 17.
Perhaps another week, or another day shall divide you from all your
earthly riches; no more of them can be laid out for God: Perhaps death
may send you into the invisible world, and ye shall have no more objects
of your pity for ever; _whatsoever thy hand then finds thee to do, do it
with all thy might_; Eccl. ix. 10. _You that are rich in this world, be
rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying
up in store a good foundation against the time to come, that ye may lay
hold on eternal life_; 1 Tim. vi. 18, 19. And remember that _he that
sows sparingly, shall reap sparingly; but he that soweth bountifully in
his distributions to the poor, for the sake of Christ, shall also reap
bountifully of the riches of glory, in the great day of reward_; 2 Cor.
ix. 6.
IV. Another grace which only the living can exercise, is, charity to our
fellow-creatures under their mistakes, or infirmities, and a charitable
and loving frame of spirit to our fellow-christians who differ from us
either in principle or practice.
Infirmities and mistakes belong only to the present state: This life is
the only time when a fellow-saint can be overtaken in a fault, and when
we are capable of restoring such a one in the spirit of meekness. It is
here only that the proposed motive has any room or place; _consider
thyself lest thou also be tempted_; Gal. vi. 1. And though we are bound
to maintain an everlasting aversion to every sin, yet we should imitate
and honour the forgiving mercy of our God, by speaking peace and
consolation to a returning sinner.
Be not too severe in your censures, you who have been kept from
temptation, but pity others who are fallen, and mourn over their fall.
Do not think or say the worst things you can of those who have been
taken in the snare of Satan, and been betrayed into some grosser
iniquities. When you see them grieved and ashamed of their own follies,
and bowed down under much heaviness, take occasion then to speak a
softening and a healing word. Speak for them kindly, and speak to them
tenderly. “Have compassion of them, lest they be swallowed up of over
much sorrow;” 2 Cor. ii. 7. And remember too, O censorious christian,
that thou art also in the body, it is rich grace that has kept thee
hitherto, and the same God, who for wise ends has suffered thy brother
to fall, may punish thy severity and reproachful language, by
withholding his grace from thee in the next hour of temptation: and then
thy own fall and guilt shall upbraid thee with inward and bitter
reflections, for thy sharp censures of thy weak and tempted brother.
This life is the only time wherein we can pity the infirmities of our
brethren and bear their burdens. This law of Christ must be fulfilled in
this world, for there is no room for it in the next; _wherefore bear ye
one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ_; Gal. vi. 2.
This world is the only place where different opinions and doctrines are
found amongst the saints; Disagreeing forms of devotion, and sects, and
parties, have no place on high: None of these things can interrupt the
worship or the peace of heaven. See to it then, that you practise this
grace of charity here, and love thy brother, and receive him into thy
heart in holy fellowship, though he may be weak in faith, though he may
observe days and times, and may feed upon herbs, and indulge some
superstitious follies while thou art strong in faith, and well
acquainted with the liberty of the gospel. Let not little things provoke
you to divide communions on earth; but by this sort of charity, and a
catholic spirit, honour the Saviour and his church here in this world;
for since there are no parties, nor sects, nor contrary sentiments among
the church in heaven, this christian virtue can never find any room for
exercise there. This kind of charity ends at death.
V. Sympathy with mourners, and pity and relief to those that are
oppressed with many sorrows, is a virtue that belongs only to the saints
on earth. There are no sorrowful christians in heaven, and the various
methods of comfort, which we practise toward our suffering brethren here
below, are therefore impracticable in the upper world. “The God of all
comfort is he who comforteth us in our tribulations, for this reason,
that we may be able to comfort those that are oppressed with their heavy
afflictions;” 2 Cor. i. 4. “This is pure religion and undefiled; to
visit the fatherless and the widows in their afflictions, as well as to
keep yourselves unspotted from the world;” James i. 27. But it is the
religion of the church on earth, not the religion of heaven.
Go, then and visit thy brother in distress, visit poor afflicted and
suffering christians: Go mention the promises of divine grace that
belong to them in a suffering state, and lead them to rest upon some
happy promise: Go teach them the benefit of afflictive circumstances:
Let the twelfth chapter to the Hebrews be your text, and raise many a
sweet inference for the support of sufferers. Tell them of the fruits of
holiness that grow upon the bitter tree of earthly sorrows; and that the
wood of the cross blossoms with grace and glory. Put them in mind of the
examples of divine deliverance, when there has been no outward prospect
of help and hope. Lead them to a meditation of the heavenly state: Point
their thoughts upward: Direct their faith and their hope thither: teach
them to look at the things that are unseen and eternal, that they may be
able in the language of faith to say, “These light afflictions which are
but for a moment, are working for us an eternal weight of glory;” 2 Cor.
iv. 17.
There are no sorrows among the inhabitants of heaven, no sufferings
there, no pain, no complaint; nor is there any need of your
consolations: This is a work you cannot do in paradise, but God delights
to see his children here comfort one another in their travels through
this valley of tears, this tiresome wilderness; 1 Thess. iv. 18. Then
let us give our fellow-christians their due of consolation, and offer to
our God the sacrifice of his delight.
VI. Forbearance and forgiveness of real or supposed injuries, is a grace
to be practised only by the living christian.—Christ Jesus our Lord
demands it, and lays a bar upon your hopes of the forgiveness of God, if
ye refuse it to your fellow-creatures; Mat. vi. 14, 15. And the great
apostle entreats you to practise it. _Put on therefore, as the elect of
God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one
another, if any man hath a quarrel against any: Even as Christ forgave
you, so also do ye_; Col. iii. 12, 13. Charity, or love, as it should be
translated, suffers long, beareth all things, and hopeth all things; and
though considered in the general notion of love to the saints, it lives
for ever in heaven; yet these special exercises of it belong to this
world. Charity or love is not easily provoked, it thinketh no evil,
gives every thing the best turn that it will bear, and puts the best
sense upon all things that are spoken. O that every living christian
might adorn his profession with the exercise of this virtue; 1 Cor.
xiii. 4-8.
Meekness is a grace which has no place in the upper world, in this
respect, that it has no trials there. Glorify God your Saviour therefore
in the days of your trial here below, and be ye meek and lowly as he
was; be ye slow to anger, and swift to forgive, as God your Father is.
When you hear a word of offence or reproach spoken, and feel the rising
ferment of the blood, watch against it, subdue it: This is the hour of
battle, see that ye come off conquerors. When there is a word of
bitterness upon your tongue, stifle it, and keep silence, subdue the
temptation, and prevent that sin; give glory to God in this manner,
which the saints in heaven cannot do. “Dearly beloved, avenge not
yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: Be not overcome with evil;
but overcome evil with good;” Rom. xii. 19-21.
Love is a virtue that flourishes in heaven, it grows high, it spreads
wide, and it shines bright in the upper world. Love is a grace that
out-lives faith and hope, and endures for ever. There is no such union
of hearts, no such sacred bonds of affection, as are found among the
saints on high. Heaven is the very element and region of love; but it is
all love to God, love to Christ, and to our fellow-saints: For love to
enemies is not known in that country, because there is no enemy there.
To love them that hate us, to bless them that curse us; to pity, and
forgive, and pray for those that injure us; these are not only noble
singularities of the christian religion, which are not known amongst all
the catalogues of heathen virtues, but neither are they practised in the
heavenly world. As glorious and sublime as they are, yet they are never
found among _the spirits of the just made perfect_: Those holy souls,
are all far above the reach of malice, hatred, and enmity; there are no
objects there for them to exercise these divine virtues upon. Love to
enemies therefore dwells only amongst the living saints: To forgive
injuries, is the glory that is peculiar to christians in this mortal
state, and our blessed Saviour has a most peculiar revenue of honour
from it.
But besides the honour that Christ and his gospel receive from such a
kind and charitable conduct, there is a pleasure in this victory over
resentment, that far exceeds the pleasure of revenge which is the
delight of the wicked: And it is a pleasure also, which the saints above
cannot partake of; for there are no offences, no injuries, no
provocations there: This life alone is the time to forgive, and to be
forgiven. Now who is there among us, that would not seize the
opportunity of every injury and offence to practise a glorious duty, and
enjoy a pleasure which the blessed in heaven cannot taste?
VII. Self-denial and mortification of sin, belongs also to this life
alone. It is the first lesson in the school of Christ, _to deny
ourselves daily, if we will be his disciples_; Luke ix. 23. but it is
the lesson of the school and not of the palace; a lesson for earth and
not for heaven; for in the world above, our duty is all delight, and
there is no need of contradicting our own pleasure, or our interest, in
order to please or serve our God, or our brother. In those holy regions
every part of our work is congenial to our sanctified natures, and with
resistless appetite and inclination we shall pursue all the duties that
belong to that happy state.
Nor are there any sins to be mortified there: The body of death is
buried with the body of flesh in the grave, and earth is the place where
the members of it must be put to death. _Mortify your members which are
upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil
concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry_; Col. iii. 5. Let us
be daily engaged in the zealous practice of this duty, and subdue all
the unruly appetites that make an assault upon our virtue, that defile
our conscience, and subdue our peace. Now, now is the time to set
ourselves at work to fight against our vicious inclinations and our
irregular desires: Now let us multiply our victories over sin and self.
Earth is the field of battle with sin: In heaven our desires shall all
be pure and holy, there is no sinful wandering appetite, no perverse
affection; no irregular thought or wish amongst all the saints above:
There is no contest with indwelling corruptions, no such conquests are
to be gained in all that holy and happy world. There are no new honours
of this kind to be given to Jesus, the Captain of our Salvation, nor any
new triumphs to be obtained over sin, to the glory of divine grace. Come
then, let us bestir ourselves, and awake to the battle, let us bravely
resist the workings of flesh and blood, by the aids of the blessed
Spirit; let us _be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus_, and
maintain the glorious warfare, like soldiers who fight for the honour of
their general, and who hope for a crown of immortality.
[If this Sermon be too long, it may be divided here.]
VIII. Repentance and godly sorrow for our past offences, belong only to
this life. Converting grace works only on earth; we are called to repent
in order to be forgiven: _Repent and be converted, that your sins may be
blotted out_; Acts iii. 19. And the exercise of this grace is not only
necessary at first conversion, (though it most eminently appears at that
season) but it must run like a thread through the whole course of this
mortal life, till death shall put an utter end to sin. Let every known
sin therefore which we are guilty of be attended with some new and
sensible exercise of shame, and sorrow, and holy indignation against
ourselves. Let us live in a daily, constant, penitent frame, for we are
daily sinners. This painful sense of sin, this holy mourning, is an
honour done to the law of our God. It is the living, the living who are
called to this work; for _there is no repentance in the grave_: Shew
your hatred of sin therefore continually, and your sincere love to the
law of holiness by such an humiliation as becomes an imperfect saint.
You will ask me, “Do no saints in heaven repent that they have ever
sinned here on earth?”
I answer, that whatsoever regret they feel in the memory of their past
transgressions, it is not attended with such sensible shame and inward
pain at the heart, as are necessary to that duty of repentance that is
required here on earth; for there is nothing must break in upon their
perfect peace or joy in heaven. As God is said not to remember their
iniquities, because he does not remember them in order to punish, so the
saints above are not said to repent of sin, because they have no such
shame and grief accompanying it as whilst they dwelt upon earth, and
which are some of the most remarkable ingredients in our repentance.
But we may suppose there is among them some sort of holy
self-displicency, and something of a sacred regret, that ever they
offended such a God, and such a Saviour? There will be surely an inward
and hearty disapprobation of their former sinful ways whenever they
think upon them: And, indeed, without some reflection on their former
guilt and misery, they can never give due glory to Christ their
Redeemer, who rescued them from their sorrows and their sins. But all
the painful and shameful attendants of this grace of repentance must be
banished from heaven, because it is a state of perfect joy and peace.