(5.) Another fuperior excellency of this heavenly country, and which makes it better than any other, is the safety of it; there is nothing hurts nor destroys in all this holy mountain, this holy land; there is no danger from any quarter, not from thieves and robbers, nor from beasts of prey; there is no infidious ferpent, nor roaring lion here; there was a ferpent in Eden's garden, and a subtil one, which feduced our first parents to their ruin; and by whom the faints in this life are in danger of being beguiled, when permitted; and by whom the nations of the world are deceived; but he has no place in the better country; the Old Serpent the devil is caft out of heaven, and fell like lightening from thence; and his place will be found no more there; on the earth he goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour; he is permitted to take his walks to and fro, in the world below, but he is not admitted to take any in that above; no lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon; it shall not be found there, but the redeemed fhall walk there, Ifai. xxxv. 9. that is, fhall walk in the greatest fafety, having nothing to fear from any quarter whatever. (6.) What infinitely adds to the preference of this country to all others is, the better company in it; here are not only the Spirits of just men made perfect, who converfe with each other in the most heavenly and spiritual manner, and join in fongs of praise, and hallelujahs to the Lamb, and an innumerable company of angels, thofe fhining forms, attending and waiting on them, and joining with them, in focial acts of worship; but what is ten thousand times more than all the reft, there is had an uninterrupted communion with God, Father, Son and Spirit; here God is all and in all; here faints behold God in Christ as he is; behold his glory, appear in glory with him, fee him as he is, become like him, and are for ever with him. 3. The faints future ftate of happiness, is defcribed by its being a country, which is explained an heavenly one, a country which lies in heaven; as we say of fuch a country, it is in Europe; of another, that it is in Afia; and of a third, that it is in Africa; and fo of a fourth, that it is in America; but of this country, it must be faid, that it is in heaven; when it is fpoken of as an house, it is an boufe not made with bands, eternal in the heavens, 2 Cor. v. 11. when as a city, a city in heaven; our citizenship is in heaven, Phil. iii. 20. and fo of course the city we are citizens of must be there; when faid to be an inheritance, it is an inberitance referved in heaven, 1 Peter i. 4. when it goes by the name of a country, or a kingdom, it is called the kingdom of heaven, Matt. v. 20. and indeed this country is no other than heaven itself, and in which all desirable persons and things are; here is our covenant-God and Father, whom we are directed to address, faying, Our father which art in heaven; and of whom it may be truly faid, with the Pfalmift, whom bave I in heaven but thee? and there is none on earth that I defire sefire befines thee, Pfal. Izmui. 25. aere alla Ţarus is at the right hand of his diThe Father, our head, and sutband, brother, friend, redeemer and faviour: Here's our reafure, portion and inheritance, and where our hearts fhould be; and no wonder it is, that this better cunt hould be defired, and especially, Jnce it is of in heavenly nature, and a linted to heaven-born fouls; as is the heaverly. to are they that are heavenly; and they are fuch, that are born again, or porn from abote, as the phrate may be rendered in Joba iii. 3. they are partakers of the divine nature, that is, or an aeavenly one, that bears fome refemblance to the nature of God in heaven; they are partakers of the heavenly calling, and are called to enjoy an beaseny country, which is agreeable to their nature, as fpiritsal, an earthly country is not, they cannot breath in it, at least not freely. 4. The happinets of the lain's in another world, is defcribed by a city, both in this perfe and in verte 10. where it is laid to be a city which bath foundations; rs expreffed in the plural number, for it feems it has more foundations than ore, there is the everlasting love of God, the fource and fpring both of grace and glory, and the electing grace of God in Christ, the foundation of God, which stands fure, lealed with this feal, The Lord knows them that are bis; and the covenant of grace, which is ordered in all things, and jure; and there is Chrift, the fure foundation of God's laying, and who is allo the foundation of the apostles and prophets; of their laying ministerially; wherefore the new Jerufalem is said to have twelve foundations, becaufe Chrift, the one and only foundation, is laid by his twelve apofties. The plural expreffed in the text referred to, is opposed to tents and tabernacles, which had no foundations, but were easily taken down, and moved from place to place; and denotes the firmness and stability of this continuing city, Heb. xiii. 14. And let it not be thought that this is a diminutive and lowering expreffion; that after the apostle had called the future ftate of the faints happiness a country, a better, and an keavenly one, that he calls it a city; for as in every kingdom and country there is a chief city, the metropolis of the country, the refidence of the king of it, where he has his palace, keeps his court, and his nobles dwell: fuch is this city, not only whose builder and maker is God, who built all things; and is made, not with the hands of men, but of God himself; but alfo the city of the great King, and is fit for kings and princes to dwell in, as all the faints are. What the Affyrian monarch boastingly said, Are not my princes altogether kings? Ifai. x. 8. is true of all Jehovah's princes, his faints, they are all made kings, as well as priests unto God, by Chrift; and to have a city prepared for them to dwell in, according to their high birth, quality and dignity, and what a city that is, may be learnt, in fome measure, from the grand defcription given of the new Jerufalem, by its being, even the freets of it, of pure gold; and by its walls and gates of pearl; and yet these brilliant views fall abundantly fhort of fetting forth the real grandeur of it, Rev. xxi. 10. Thus I have gone through the defcription of the faints future happiness; I fhall only fay a few things to the other two remaining obfervations, as I proposed. II. The regard the faints in their prefent ftate have to their future happiness; they now defire it, feek after it, and look for it. 1. They defire it, which fuppofes they have fome knowledge of it, for there is no defire after what is unknown; and a person may have some knowledge of a country he has never been in, by the relations of perfons that have been there, by feeing it defcribed in a map, and by having fome of the produce and fruits of it brought unto him; by which he can in fome measure form a judgment of it; fo the Ifraelites knew before they entered into the land of Canaan, what fort of a country it was, partly by the defcription God had given of it, as a land flowing with milk and honey; and partly, by the report of the spies that went to view it, as well as by the clufter of grapes, figs and pomegranates, they brought with them from thence; thus the people of God know somewhat of the heavenly country, not only by the miniftry of the word, and by the defcription of it in the map of the fcriptures, but by their own experience, by the foretastes they have of the fruit of that land, and by the profpects, though diftant ones, they have of it; their hope entering within the vail, and their faith looking to and being the evidence of things not feen. Hence they have ardent defires after it; the word here ufed, fignifies a very vehement defire, fuch an one as that they are willing to be abfent from the body, that they may be present with the Lord in this country; they choose rather to depart out of this world, the country they now dwell in, that they may be with Chrift in the better country. 2. They feek after this country, fo it is expreffed in ver. 14. they that fay fuch things, declare planly, that they feek a country; and fo in chap. xiii. 14. we feek one to come, a continuing city; they feek for it, in the first place, as foon as ever they are called and converted; and they feek it earneftly, diligently, and with all their hearts and they feek it in a right way; not to obtain it by works of righteoufnefs done by them; fuch as feek it in this way find it not. The Jews fought, but did not obtain, because they fought not by faith, but, as it were, by the works of the law: for except a man's righteousness exceeds that of the fcribes and pharifees, he shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven, or that better country, the heavenly one: thofe that feek right, feek not only the kingdom of God in the first place, but his righteousness alfo; or feek for the kingdom of God, the heavenly glory, in and by the righteoufnefs of Chrift, which only entitles to it. Such as are juftified freely through the grace of God, by the righteousnefs of Chrift, become heirs, according to the hope of eternal life, Matt. v. 20. Titus iii. 7. 3. The 3. The faints look for this better country and heavenly city, as Abraham, Ifaac and Jacob did, ver. 10. they looked for it by faith. Faith is often expreffed by looking, not only when it has Chrift for its object, but also eternal happiness, then it is called, looking for a city which bath foundations, looking for the blessed hope, and looking for the mercy of our Lord Jefus Chrift, unto eternal life. Saints not only believe there is fuch a state of happiness, but that it is for them; and therefore they expect it, and wait for it: we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith, Gal. v. 5. III. The notice God takes of fuch perfons, that defire, feek, and look for a future ftate of happiness, He is not ashamed to be called their God: For God to be called the God of his people, is the great bleffing of the covenant; which runs thus, I will be their God, and they shall be my people, Jer. xxxii. 38. and happy are the people that are in fuch a relation to God, their happiness is not to be expreffed; other perfons may be happy in a temporal fenfe, who enjoy much of the things of this world, but thrice happy, infinitely fo, are they whofe God is the Lord. I fhall not enter into the confideration of this wonderful bleffing of grace, this would open a large field of difcourfe. I fhall only take notice of the phrase used of God, that he is not ashamed to be called the God of his people; it is a very remarkable and unusual one; it stands between two clauses in the text, and has an afpect upon, and is in connection with them both, with the words that go before, but now they defire a better country, that is, an heavenly; wherefore God, &c. because the patriarchs spoken of were so very defirous of, fo earnestly seeking after, and so wishfully looking for a state of happiness in another world; therefore God was not afhamed to own them, even in so near a relation to him as they to be his people, and he to be their God: had they 'been the grovelings of this world, had they minded only earth, and earthly things, and fought for and defired nothing else but the land of Canaan, and the temporal bleffings of it; God, speaking after the manner of men, would have been afhamed to be called the God of fuch perfons; he would not have owned, but have difclaimed the relation; but now, fince their heaven-born fouls were breathing after a future state of immortality and blifs, and aspiring to the heavenly regions, where they hoped to enjoy God to all eternity; therefore he was not afhamed to be called their God; but calls himself fo, as to Mofes, at the bush; I am the God of Abraham, the God of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob, Exod. iii. 6. A like phrase is used of Chrift in this epistle, chap. ii. 11. for both he that fanctifieth, and they that are fanctified, are all of one: of one nature, in one covenant, partakers of the fame grace, though not to the fame degree; and particularly, the one being the fanctifier, and the other the fanctified, and though both, holy: For which caufe he is not ashamed to call them bre thren, thren, as it is intimated he would be, had they not been one with him, and fanctified by him. In like manner, though God is the high and lofty One, whofe throne is in the heaven, and the earth his footstool, yet he disdains not to look unto, and to dwell with, the holy, humble, and contrite foul, Ifai. Ivii. 15. and chap. lxvi. 1, 2. moreover these words ftand in connection with the following; for be bath prepared for them a city; which is a reafon proving, that he is not afhamed to be called their God; and it is fuggefted, had he not done this, humanly speaking, he should have been afhamed of being called, and accounted their God; as particularly, the God of Abraham. This good man God called out of his native country, and his father's house, to go and dwell in a strange land, and as a pilgrim and a traveller in it: it is true, indeed, he promised to give it to him, and his pofterity, for an inheritance; but to him, perfonally, he did not give fo much as a foot of ground in it, as Stephen says, Acts vii. 5. Now if God had made no better provifion for Abraham than this, he would have been ashamed to have been called his God; but he prepared a city, and provided a better country than Canaan for him: and this Abraham knew, believed, looked for, and expected, and died in the faith of; and therefore God was not afhamed to be called his God; and how many poor faints are there, whom God has called effectually by his grace from among the men of the world, who have fcarce clothes to cover their naked bodies, fcanty provifions of food, and that mean and coarse, to fatisfy their craving appetites, and mean habitations to dwell in now if God made no better provifion for these perfons, whom he thus calls, he would, fpeaking after the manner of men, be ashamed to be called their God but lo! though they are the poor of this world, yet they are rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom: for these poor ragged faints, that fare hard, and dwell in lowly cottages here, he has prepared a city, fit for kings and princes to dwell in, with plenty of all things, grand and pleasing, fuitable thereunto: He takes these beggars from the dunghil, and fets them among princes, and causes them to inherit the throne of glory; and therefore he is not ashamed to be called their God: but on the contrary exults, rejoices, glories in it, that he is their God; and shows himself to be glorious as their covenant-God, by making such a munificent preparation and provision for his covenant-people: for the words are what Rhetoricians call a Mimefis, by which lefs is expreffed than is defigned. The city prepared, is the fame with the better country, as before explained, even the future happiness of the faints in heaven; and this is of God's preparing, and of his only, and is given to none but thofe, for whom, fays Chrift, it is prepared of my Father. And it is a kingdom prepared by him in his eternal purposes and decrees, from the foundation of the world; see Matt. xx. 23. and chap. xxv. 34. And the chosen veffels of mercy are afore prepared for this glory; and in time are made meet and ready for it, through the righteousness of Christ VOL. I. put 4 E |
