thing befides God, is to be esteemed as one not in his right mind; whom all that see should pity, but none should imitate. True happiness was banished from this world by fin, Adam enjoyed it in his perfect state, for God made Adam upright and pure, Eccl. vii. 29. but the baneful fruit of the interdicted tree, vitiated his palate, robbed him of his comfort, entailed a curse on the ground and all that should come from it. The peace that Jesus brings unto his people, is the same pleasant plant that grew in Adam's nature, in his priftine state, and there and then 'till blasted by fin, was like a tree planted by rivers of water; he lived under the bedewing unction of the gracious spirit, and was refreshed by the beams of beatific rays which shone upon his foul from cloudless skies; but now 'tis an exotic, it is a foreign plant, a plant that grows in heaven, and when transplanted hither, is fubject to a thousand blasts and nipping frosts. But in that land of bliss, that land of pure delight, where our all conquering captain fills the radiant throne; what may we not expect? What evil may we fear? Our blessed Lord in order as it were to lessen our esteem for earth and earthly things, and enkindle in our hearts an infatiable thirst for nobler joys, has told us in his blessed word, what we may expect as the least part of that happiness he has purchased with his blood, and is gone to take possession of, for all the chofen feed; that ist. There shall be no night, nor darkness, Rev. xxii. 5, 21, 23, 25. In this world we have the incefsant viciffitudes of day and night, light and darkness in perpetual round succeed each other, an emblem of the mutable state to which all things here here are subjected; but there the fun shall rife with uneclipsing splendor, and with never setting rays shall shine upon the just. Or rather they shall need no fun, for the uncreated brightness of the refulgent Jehovah, shall for ever give them light; so saith the blessed word, "And there "shall be no night there, and they need no candle " neither light of the fun, for the Lord God 66 giveth them light." Rev. xxii. 5. Here, our moft neceffary and delightful employment fuffers frequent interruptions by the returns of night and darkness; but there, the faints of God in the fullest sense of that prediction, "Run without "weariness, and walk without fainting," in the delightful way the Lord has prepared for them to walk in; they delight themselves in the Lord, and have an uninterrupted joy in the God of their salvation. 2dly, The accufer of the brethren is now cast down for ever, he that was wont to accuse them day and night before God. Rev. xii. 10. In this state the most eminent of God's servants have been, and are opposed by fatan; if Job and his friends assemble themselves before God, fatin the grand adversary appears in the midst of them. Job i. 6. 2. 1. For what end? No doubt to accuse and hinder their devotion. If Joshua the high-priest come before the Lord, satan appears at his right-hand to refift him. Zech. iii. I. When the woman travailed in birth, and pained to be delivered the great red dragon, the devil, stood before her to devour the child; but in the blessed kingdom of the Lamb, this accufer and true disturber of Ifrael shall have place no more; no more accufations shall be preferred, for there shall be none to accuse, nor aught to accufe of; 1 of; for "the people that shall dwell there shall 66 66 66 66 1 Cor. glorious body." 4thly, All the trials of God's dear children shall then be over; no more shall the prince of darkness disturb their tranquil breasts by evil and blafphemous suggestions; no more shall the vain allurements and bewitching wiles of a delufive world ensnare their minds, captivate their affections, or intrude with its perplexing cares to hinder their devotions; for the wicked world, the wicked devil, and the wicked heart, shall shall then cease from troubling, and their weary fouls, fouls weary of the world, the devil, and of fin, shall be at rest. Job iii. 17. Lo! this is part of that salvation, part of that happiness our blessed Lord intended for his people; but 66 eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, nor has "it entered into the heart of man to conceive what " God has prepared for those that love him. The bliss of the righteous will be inconceivably rapturous and compleat, inasmuch as 5thly, They shall be with Christ, what heart defires more? It What more can be defired or wished for? This would be heaven in the hottest place of hell, and heaven itself would be no place of happiness if Chrift the Lord was not there. I am ready to go with thee, faid Peter, to prison and to death. was well spoken honest Peter, doubtless there was a willingness of spirit, though a weakness in the flesh, as upon trial it appeared, but with God the will, (when his children can no more than will) is accepted for the deed, and Peter was afterwards comforted by the gracious promife of the Lord, that his defire should be accomplished. "Let not your heart be troubled," said the dear Redeemer, " ye believe in God, believe also in ८८ me, in my father's house are many manfions, " I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go. " and prepare a place for you, I will come again " and receive you to myself, that were I am there ८५ ye may be alfo. John xiv. 1, 2, 3. Nothing gives a greater wound to love than absence, but the prefence of the beloved object creates new and fensible delight; we love him" (is the language of every believer,) "because he first loved us." 1. John iv. 19. But this love makes the true be liever so as to defire Jesus, that while absent from him in the body, he is as one in a strange country, and far from home; and his defire is to depart and be with Christ, which faith he is better. Our blessed Saviour knew that this was so essential a part of the happiness of his people, that he particularly prays for it in their behalf, John xvii. 24. " Father I will that they also whom thou " hast given me be with me where I am." God's people in this world are like ships at sea in a violent storm, but Jesus stands upon the shore, or walks to their afsistance on the waves, and brings them to the peaceful port, the quiet harbour of his breast, where storms and blasts shall disturb them no more. The comfortable contemplation of this happy state, accompanied with a lively hope of the enjoyment thereof, was thought more than enough by the apostle Paul, to allay the disquietudes and counter-ballance all the trials and afflictions the people at Thessalonica should be exercised with; and therefore reminds them particularly of this part of the felicity that awaited them, that they should be with Jesus ; for faith he; 66 The Lord himself shall defcend 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 66 and remain shall be caught up together with "them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and fo shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Theff. iv. 16, 17. Again, 6thly, This happiness will be heightened by an open and full vision of our adorable Saviour; the clearest views the believer has of Christ here are obicure and clouded, for 66 we now fee through a glass," and therefore with lefs |