THE apostle makes it his chief scope in this chapter to convince the Hebrews of the nature, and worth, and efficacy of saving faith. To that purpose he layeth down the acts of sanctifying faith, ver. 1, and throughout the chapter he treats of the effects, fruits, and consequences of faith. Here we meet with a consequent or fruit of faith in the instance and example of Enoch, who, among the rest of those glorious lights wherewith this chapter is adorned, shineth forth like a star of the first magnitude. Let me inquire why the apostle mentioned Enoch next to Abel, Seth and other holy patriarchs of the blessed line and race being passed by? I answer, Though the Spirit of God is not bound to give an account of his method, and therefore is not to be vexed with the bold and daring inquiries of human reason, yet because all things in the scripture are ordered with good advice, a few humble inquiries are lawful and profitable.
1. Enoch was the next solemn type of Christ; Abel was a type of Christ's death, and Enoch next proposed as a type of his ascension. Chenok from chnk dedicavit, the dedicated, or the dedicator, (Christ), 'hath consecrated for us a new and living way through the veil, that is to say, his flesh,' Heb. x. 20; therefore he is called archègos zooès 'the prince of life,' Acts iii. 15, and he said, John xiv. 3, 'I go to prepare a place for you.' Tertullian calleth Enoch, Candidatum æternitatis; and others have called him Obsidem et testem vitæ æternæ, the pledge and witness of eternal life; so was Christ dedicated to this purpose, that he might be the captain of life and salvation to the church, and he is gone to heaven as a pledge of our eternal glory.
2. Because between these two instances there is a fit proportion: Abel was an instance of the efficacy of faith, and Enoch of the consequent and reward of faith; Abel, he suffered for righteousness, and the instance of Enoch shows what is the fruits of suffering faith - that faith which doth engage us in suffering doth interest us in the reward. In Abel's death the holy patriarchs saw what they might expect in the world; and in Enoch's translation they saw what they should receive from God. The Lord would give them this perfect document both of the present operation of faith and the future reward of faith.
3. Because he was an eminent saint, the next that is taken notice of in the history of Moses. The apostle mentions not all the saints in the blessed line, but only the choicest. Now Enoch is many ways eminent and notable; for his birth we find, Jude 14, 'He was the seventh from Adam;' usually that is the number of perfection. Some that would turn all things into an allegory descant thus: That as there were six from the creation that died, and the seventh was translated alive from earth into heaven; so for six thousand years death shall reign, but in the seventh millenary it shall cease, and eternal life shall succeed. But this is but a fond conjecture; they are more pious that observe that the seventh man was dedicated to God, and God takes him for his special servant, as he takes the seventh day for his special day; but, chiefly, he is notable for his life and conversation: Gen. v. 24, 'Enoch walked with God ;' that is, wholly dedicated himself to the service of the Lord - a phrase given to those that by express profession were set apart for the Lord, either as prophets, priests, or kings, for special service by office and ministration. But usually it is applied to persons employed in the exercises of piety and holiness: walking with God in the old testament; and well pleasing to God in the new, are synonymous terms. Another thing is notable in his life, that he lived as many years just as there are days in the year - three hundred and sixty-five years, Gen. v. 21, 22. Enoch was translated next after Adam's death, as will easily appear by chronology; as soon as Adam died Enoch was translated. God in Adam would give the world a pledge of the fruit of sin, which was death; in Enoch, a pledge of the fruit of holiness, which is immortality and eternal life.
In the words there is a proposition, and the confirmation of it.
1. The proposition or assertion of the apostle is, that by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death. The proposition implies two things - the blessing, and the means of obtaining it: the blessing - 'He was translated;' the means - 'By faith.'
2. The confirmation, which respecteth both the blessing and the means. He proves that Enoch was translated, out of that phrase of Moses; for saith he, He was not found, because God had translated him. And then he proves that it was by faith in the latter part of the text - For before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. In which reasoning there is a perfect syllogism: whosoever is translated on or after his pleasing God is translated by faith. Enoch was translated on or after his pleasing God, therefore he was translated by faith. The major is proved by the sixth verse - 'Without faith it is impossible to please God;' the minor by the history of Moses - 'For before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.'
Let me illustrate the words.
'By faith;' that is, by faith in the being of God, and in the promise of the Messiah and of the world to come. Now the reason why his translation is attributed to faith is given by the apostle - 'For before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.' His faith was the fountain of his godliness, and his godliness was the pledge of glory; his faith respected his pleasing God, and his pleasing God was an evidence of his interest in eternal life.
'Enoch.' We read of two Enochs - one of the race of Cain, another of the line of Seth; the hypocritical church imitating the true church, as in outward rites, so in having the same names: the Enoch here meant was of the family of Seth.
'Was translated,' transplanted - metetethè: the apostle useth this word to note his transportation to heaven.
There are many questions for the opening of this translation; as (1) Whether he were translated in soul and body? (2) Whether he died in the translation? (3) To what place he was translated, whether to heaven or some earthly paradise?
1 Whether he were translated in soul and body? Some think he was translated in soul only, and not in body, as if there were nothing extraordinary in the history of Enoch, and his body was left on the earth. This is altogether improbable. The phrases imply something more than ordinary: Gen. v. 24, 'And Enoch walked with God, and was not; for God took him.' Why should there be such special phrases, 'he was not,' and 'God took him,' if an ordinary thing were intended? So the apostle here - 'That he should not see death.' It might have been enough to have said he died, as of all the rest; therefore there was somewhat of miracle in it, for he was gathered by God into glory, both in soul and body.
2. Whether he died in the translation or no? I answer, No, but was only changed; for the apostle saith 'that he should not see death.' The Chaldee paraphrase renders it, and 'he was not,' Quia non mori eum fecit Deus - Onkelos, Non occidit eum Deus. Probably, as those that live at the last day, the apostle saith, 'We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed,' 1 Cor. xv. 51. He was transported to heaven in a moment, without the pains and horrors of a natural death; and being purified in soul, and purged from corruption in his body, was presently clothed with a glorified body. As Elijah was carried alive soul and body into heaven, 2 Kings ii. 11; so those that live at the Lord's coming 'shall be caught up alive into the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air,' 1 Thes. iv. 7. And when the apostle himself would express his own desires, that he might go to heaven in this manner (for the first believers thought the day of judgment was at hand), he saith, 2 Cor. v. 2, 'In this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven;' and ver. 4, 'Not that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life;' that is, he desired that glory might come on him without dissolution, without the trouble and pain of sickness and diseases -. 'Not that I might be unclothed,' and put off the body, but 'clothed upon,' invested with the qualities of a glorified body.
3. Whither he was translated, to what place? Some say to the earthly paradise, others to the heavenly paradise.
[1.] Some say to the earthly paradise; so Haimo and others, there to stand in a happy condition until the last act of the world shall be brought on the stage, and then to fight with their imaginary antichrist. But that was defaced by the universal deluge and flood in Noah's time - 'The highest hills that were under the whole heaven were covered,' Gen. vii. 19, and the custody of the seraphims and flaming-sword was removed when the beauty and pleasure of it was gone; and the most probable opinion is, that paradise was in Armenia. Now Armenia was covered, and Noah's ark rested on the mountains of Ararat, or Armenia, Gen. viii. 4.
[2.] Some say to a heavenly paradise, by which they understand not the heaven of heavens, but some third place, which is called in scripture paradise, and Abraham's bosom, in which the souls of some rest until the last day, not fully perfected and blessed. Tertullian, Austin, and many of the fathers, were of opinion that the souls of martyrs did straightways flit hence into the presence of God, but the souls of common christians went to paradise, by which they understood secreta animarum receptacula, sedesque in quibus requiescunt - some unknown place, where they did enjoy happiness, congruous and convenient to their condition: and in such a place they would place Enoch. But all these things being devised without warrant and leave from the scriptures, little heed is to be given to them. Briefly, an earthly paradise it cannot be, that is defaced; a third place it cannot be, that being devised without warrant from the scriptures. Heaven only remaineth, whither God translated him both in body and soul, there to enjoy the comforts of his presence; it would have been an infringement of his happiness to separate him from his God, with whom he had walked here in spiritual communion. So the Targums, or expositions of the Jews, Jonathan, Translatus fuit, et ascendit in cælum, &c; Josephus calls it anachoorèsis pros ton theon; the Arabic version, Translatus est in paradisum.
That 'he should not see death;' that is, that he might not die a natural death by a dissolution of the body, but undergo a sudden change of qualities.
But you will say, How can this stand with the general curse of God pronounced upon all mankind in Gen. ii. 17, 'In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die,' thou and all thine? and Gen. iii. 19, 'Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return;' or that eternal decree, Heb. ix. 27, 'It is appointed for all men once to die.'
I answer, This was an extraordinary instance, that doth not cross the rule; it was a special dispensation that the Lord might give the patriarchs a document and instance of eternal life, and the sudden change of qualities was something analogical to death; and were it not for this special dispensation of God, he was under that obligation, but the Lord was pleased to privilege him for the great purposes of his glory.
'And he was not found.' The words relate to what is said, Gen. v. 24, 'And he was not.' The phrase is used, Jer. xxxi. 15, 'Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.' This phrase is often put for those that are dead: Gen. xlii. 36,' Joseph is not, and Simeon is not;' he supposed them dead, or knew not what was become of them, but it is taken for any disappearance.
'For before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.' Some make it to be an inward testimony in his conscience; others, some visible and public honour that was done to him before the world, the story of which is not now extant. Most probable, it is the testimony that is given him in scripture: Gen. v. 24, 'And Enoch walked with God,' which the Septuagint renders - euèrestèse tooi theooi, in that and other places, which we shall hereafter explain.
But you will say, How can this be said to be before his translation, for the testimony of Moses was long after the translation of Enoch?
I answer, The apostle is to be understood thus: Enoch had this testimony in scripture, so that before his translation the scripture witnessed he pleased God; not before his translation he received this testimony; and that is the order of Moses: Gen. v. 24, 'Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.'
A few hints from what hath been spoken before I begin the two main and principal points.
Obs. 1. There is a life everlasting prepared for God's children. The instance God would give the fathers was in the translation of Enoch; the instance God would give believers in the times of the gospel was in the ascension of Christ. As soon as Adam died Enoch was translated. In Adam God would give the world a pledge of the fruit of sin, which is death; and in Enoch God would give a pledge of the fruit of holiness; and that is immortality and eternal life. Enoch was not merely translated for his own benefit and comfort, but for the comfort of other patriarchs against the fear of daily crosses in this life, and against the terrors of death; they saw there was now like to be violence in the world. There was one martyr - Abel was slain. Now that they might have. comfort against this, God translated Enoch. The great instance God gives in the times of the gospel was the ascension of Jesus Christ; when the human nature was carried into heaven, that was a pledge of our glorification. He carried our flesh into heaven, and he left his Spirit with us; he took our flesh into heaven that he might prepare a place for us, to receive heaven in our right, and he left his Spirit with us, that we might be prepared for heaven. Heaven is not only prepared for believers by Christ's ascension - 'I go to prepare a place for you,' John xiv. 2, but believers are prepared for heaven - 'vessels of mercy prepared unto glory,' Rom. ix. 23. Look, as in all contracts pledges are mutually taken and given, so Christ would take a pledge from us, even our nature, and give a pledge to us - his Spirit; therefore we are as sure as ever Enoch was to be translated to bliss if we have an interest in Christ: John viii. 51, 'Verily, verily I say unto you, If any man keep my saying, he shall not see death.' Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and Christ, under a deep asseveration, makes the same privilege to every believer. Death, since the death of Christ, will not be deadly to them; in death itself they see life. It is true, Enoch was translated in body and soul; yet, however, we are presently with the Lord in soul as soon as we are dissolved.
Use 1. Is to reprove believers for minding the present life as much as they do. We busy ourselves too much in the world, and toil in gathering sticks to our nests, when to-morrow we must be gone and flit away. Here we 'dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth,' Job iv. 19, and we are consumed by the blast of his nostrils. Man is but a little enlivened dust, and we are, like potsherds, soon broken. Hereafter we live, now we are dying every day, saith Austin, Nescio an vita mortalis, an vitalis mors nominanda est; I do not know whether I should call this life a living death or a dying life.
Use 2. Is comfort to believers in the hour of death: John xi. 25, 'He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet he shall live.' When you go down to the grave, you may go down with this assurance, that you shall live; though you look upon your flesh as morsels for the worms, yet you may look upon it also as parcels of the resurrection. God is in covenant with a believer's dust; the body, that seems most to suffer, shall be raised up again.
Obs. 2. That life everlasting cannot be obtained but by some change, by flitting and removing out of this present life. Enoch died not, yet, however, he was changed; God took him: 1 Cor. xv. 50, 51, 'We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;' that is, as now invested with these qualities.
Use. This may comfort believers against the terrors of death. The only use of death is to put off the old earthly qualities, that we may put on the new and heavenly; death doth only pluck off the rotten garment. Christ will call the grave to an account: Rev. xx. 13, 'The grave gave up her dead;' as Joseph left his coat in his mistress's hand and fled away, so we leave the upper garment of the flesh in death's hands, but we fly away; and Christ, at last, will say, Grave! where is my Abraham, my Isaac, and my Jacob's dust?
Obs. 3. That the body is a partaker with the soul in life eternal; Enoch was translated both body and soul. It is a comfort we can say with Job, 'With these eyes we shall see God,' Job xix. 26, though our body be eaten up with worms. This body, as if he did knock upon his breast, 'This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality,' 1 Cor. xv. 53; so Phil. iii. 21, 'Who shall change our vile body,' &c. Look, as the world, when consumed with fire, it is the same world for substance, it shall be only a purging fire; so this corruptible body is the same body for substance, though God doth away the corruptible properties of it.
Use. This is a great comfort against the difficulties and inconveniences of the holy life. The same eyes that have been lifted up to God in prayer, those eyes shall see Christ upon his white throne, and those spirits that are now spent and wasted in holy exercises shall be recruited. A body wasted in sin is a sad prognostic of the devouring burning, but a body wasted in duty shall be restored and repaired again; so it is comfort against the inconveniences of the common life. Many indeed have a vile body, because subject to diseases, humbled with pains and aches, racked with the stone and the gout; this vile diseased body shall be a glorious body. Christ's body was first vile, then glorious; first scourged, mangled with whips, then crowned with honour and glory; and he sat down with God. Oh! let us bear all these; they will be full of nimbleness, vigour, beauty, and glory, like Christ's glorious body.
Obs. 4. Heaven is but a translation to a better place. When you die, you are but translated. Enoch walked with God here; but when he was translated, he lived with God in an uninterrupted glory. Many times Christ comes into his garden to gather lilies; and they are cropped here, that they may be transplanted from the winter to the summer gardens, from the church and lower dispensation of the ordinances to paradise, that we may read divinity in the face of the Lamb for evermore, as scholars that are sent from the grammar-school to the university.
Use. Let it not be irksome to us to be loosed from the body that we may be present with the Lord and joined to Jesus Christ; it is but a removal and preferment, therefore it teacheth christians to grow weary of the world. The world is the place of your pilgrimage, the place of sorrow and sin: certainly we have little reason to love the world (1) It is Satan's circuit, when God calls Satan to an account Job i. 7, 'Whence comest thou?' Satan answered, 'From walking to and fro in the earth.' (2.) It is sin's house of office, a place of defilement Isa. xxiv 5, 'The earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof (3) It is a common inn for all sorts of men for bastards as well as sons: Ps. cxv. 16, 'The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.' Wicked men have a creature-right, it is given to them, they have a right by providence; nay, here we are not only fellow-commoners with wicked men, but fellow-commoners with beasts; they have a creature-right too, as well as we. (4.) It is the shambles of the saints : Rev. xviii. 24, 'In her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that were slain upon earth;' there they are grieved, vexed, and slain. Now, who would grieve to be transplanted to a higher and happier region, where nothing that defiles grows, nothing troubleth in those holy, blessed, and quiet mansions? Death is a preferment.
Obs. 5. That some are carried to heaven by a special and privileged dispensation. The entrance into glory is very different. God is not bound to the ordinary course of nature. Enoch and Elijah were both transported in soul and body; Elijah was sent to heaven in a fiery chariot. And so shall those that live at the last day 'be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air,' I Thes. iv. 17. Look, as God took away Enoch without the pain of sickness and trouble, so he carries many more joyful and singing to heaven. And therefore, in giving grace and glory, God will use a liberty and the prerogative of free grace. Some seem to be rapt up into heaven by a fiery chariot, by strong elevation of comfort and joy in the Holy Ghost, but others are carried in the lower and darker way of sorrow, trouble, and soul-sickness.
Use. It is the duty of believers to be doing what is required, and to refer mere dispensations to God's good pleasure. Free grace is dispensed in a different way.
Obs. 6. That the persons which are honoured in this extraordinary way were Enoch and Elijah; and what were they? They were two that shined like stars in a corrupt age, those that contested with the corruptions of their own times. The note is this - viz., God's heart is especially set to honour them that are zealous for his glory in corrupt times. In the days of Enoch men were very corrupt, therefore the flood was threatened. Now Enoch kept a constant counter-motion to the times; he did not only walk with God, but reproved the vices of others: Gen. v. 24, 'He walked with God,' and he reproved the ungodly men of his age, Jude 14, 15. It is a standing rule, God will honour those that honour him. Public and zealous instruments are carried on by a mighty hand of providence, and sent to heaven in a glorious way.
Use. Oh then, learn first 'to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,' and then 'to reprove them,' Eph. v. 11; contest zealously for God. God will put honour upon them in the eyes of the world; not only give them glory in heaven, but public and visible honour here, that all might take notice of them.
I come to the points, which are two -
1. The right and, interest of believers in the happiness of the eternal state.
2. The necessity of pleasing God, or walking with God, before we come to the full enjoyment of him. Which two points afford two doctrines.
Doct. 1. That the end and the great privilege of faith is to be translated out of the world into the happiness of the eternal state.
1. I shall prove the point by scripture: 1 Peter i. 9, 'Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.' Heaven is there proposed as the chief end and reward of faith; all that we do, all that we suffer, all that we believe, it is with an aim at the hope of the salvation of our souls. The last article of our creed is everlasting life. We begin with belief in God, and we end with life everlasting; there is the sum and result of faith, eternal life and glory: John xx. 31, 'These things are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you might have life through his name.' The end of the word is faith, and the end of faith is eternal life; all the duty part of the word may be reduced to faith, and all the promissory part to life. It is also the great privilege of faith: Eph. ii. 8, 'By grace ye are saved, through faith.' The foundation of glory is laid in mercy on God's part, and it is received by faith on our part: it is given of grace, not sold for works; and received by faith, not purchased by desert.
2. I shall by a few reasons prove the interest of believers in eternal life, and why faith gives a title to glory.
[1.] Because by faith we are made sons; all our right and title is by adoption. Children may expect a child's portion, as in natural things: the title follows the birth, natural or legal. We hold heaven as co-heirs with Christ: 1 John iii. 2, 'Now we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be;' that gives us a right. Now faith in a juridical sense makes us sons: John i. 12, 'To as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God;' he gave them exousian, as a right to the inheritance and sonship. So also in a real, though spiritual sense: 1 Peter i. 3, 'He hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled,' &c. The new birth is by the infusion of faith; all relations to God are built on that change: our hope depends upon our new birth.
[2.] These are the terms of the eternal covenant between God and Christ, that believers should have a right to heaven by Christ's death; therefore, whenever the Father's love, and Christ's purchase are mentioned, faith is the solemn condition. The Father hath meant to dispose of heaven to a sort of men, but upon what condition: John iii. 16, 'God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten son,' - what to do? and upon what terms? - 'that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life;' so again, John vi. 40, 'This is the will of my Father that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day;' upon that condition Christ bargained with God, and God with Christ. So for the purchase of Christ: Heb. ix. 15, 'He is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.' When Christ died, as the mediator and testator, he made believers his heirs. There is no other name expressed in his will and testament, but they that believe, and they that are called, which are all one; therefore they are called, Heb. vi. 17, 'heirs of promise.' Our inheritance was dearly purchased, Christ was to be a mediator by means of death, but it is made over to believers by will and testament.
[3.] Because faith is the mother of obedience, which is the way to eternal life; faith gives a title, and works give an evidence. This is the drift of the apostle here - Enoch pleased God before he was translated, therefore by faith he was translated; for 'without faith it is impossible to please God.' God hath no respect to works without faith; the way to be made happy is first to be made holy, and all the influences of grace are received and improved by faith. Faith is the mother of grace, and grace the pledge of glory. All your works are not evidences of eternal life, but as they come from faith. It is faith that kindles love and inflames zeal, and quickens obedience.
[4.] By faith that life is begun which shall only be consummated and perfected in glory. The life of glory and the life of grace are the same in substance, but not in degree. Here faith takes Christ, and then life is begun, though in glory it is perfected: 1 John v. 12, 'He that hath the Son, hath life;' it is begun in him already. When the soul is changed by grace, there is a foundation laid for the changing of body and soul by glory: the Spirit will not leave his mansion and dwelling-place. When Christ hath once taken up his residence in the heart, and begun life there, he will not depart. Believers are said to be raised up at the last day by the spirit of holiness dwelling in them, Rom. viii. 11; and Rom. v. 2, 'By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.' Faith anticipates heaven, and begins the life of glory by hope and the joys of the Holy Ghost.
Use 1. To press you to get faith upon this ground and motive, it will give you an interest in heaven. Heaven is the portion of believers. Dogs, and they that are without, cannot have the children's portion. Unbelievers are strangers to the comforts of religion for the present, therefore much more hereafter, when the definitive sentence is passed upon them. Oh, who would not labour for faith upon this ground? Faith must needs be an excellent grace, that bringeth such a salvation; it giveth you an interest in Christ and heaven. Faith ennobles the blood; no birth like it; it entitles us to the highest inheritance that is in the world. No dignity like that to he a son of the king of heaven, to be of kindred with all the saints, to be of the royal and noble blood. See how the apostle compares one birth with another: John i. 12, 13, 'Who are born, not of flesh, nor of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God;' that is, not in that unclean lustful way that the children of the highest nobles and potentates of the earth are begotten. Faith can make the poorest beggar to be richer than the greatest monarch: James ii. 5, 'Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom?' the sons of the potentates of the world cannot show the like; to be an heir-apparent of heaven is better than to be possessor of the whole world. Oh, do but consider the inheritance! the birth is noble, but the estate exceeding large. If you would have me express it to you, I must tell you the best commendation of heaven is silence, when the great voice saith, Come up and see, then we shall know what heaven is; but now our ear hath received a little thereof in the promises; therefore I shall speak something of it.
[1.] Consider the evil we are delivered from. We are freed from hell - 'They shall not perish,' John iii. 16, and 'shall not come into condemnation,' John v. 24. Consider wicked men, their change is terrible. Wicked men grow upon the bank of hell, and when they are cut down they slip in, and there is their portion. When the inhabitants of hell are described, those that hold hell by tenure, Rev. xxi. 8, 'The fearful and unbelievers,' are in the front. Hell is the portion of unbelievers that never would own the faith, and the portion of apostates that have renounced the faith, and the portion of hypocrites that do but counterfeit faith.
[2.] Consider the good that is prepared for us, the excellency of the reward that God hath prepared for believers; it is life, and a crown of life; there is more in the accomplishment than in the promise. The word doth but speak of it in part, prophecy is but in part; the word is suited to our present estate; we have not affections and apprehensions large enough for such an excellent glory; God is ever better to his people than his word. The incomparable privileges a believer hath in this life, those pledges and first-fruits they here enjoy, do show the heavenly life must needs be glorious and excellent. The joy of the Holy Ghost is 'unspeakable and glorious,' 2 Peter i. 8; heaven therefore must needs be more excellent and glorious. Let me instance in two things. (1.) The perfection of your nature. In heaven there is no want and no weakness; the body remains in an eternal spring of youth, the blossoms of paradise are always green and the soul is filled up with God; every faculty finds a satisfaction. We see what we now believe, and possess what we now love. Alas! here, though we know indeed that God is, yet we do not know what he is completely. The knowledge of God and the love of God shall be our sole employment, and we shall have constant communion with God, without weakness, weariness, and diversion, and God will be always fresh to us; as the angels that have beheld his face for these thousand years, yet still delight in God; we shall never be cloyed, because satisfied. And the perfection of heaven shall be so great, that, besides the personal glory of Christ there shall be a great deal of happiness redound by the glory of his saints; Christ will so set forth the riches of his goodness that he will be 'admired in all them that believe,' 2 Thes. i. 10; that is, in the glory that he puts upon the saints. (2.) The communion and company you shall there have. As soon as the soul departs out of the body you shall be carried by angels in triumph to Christ. Believers have the same entertainment which Christ had. Christ was welcomed to heaven with acclamations: Dan. vii. 13, it is said, 'One like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.' He was 'brought,' that is, by a train of angels, and there conducted and welcomed to heaven with a well done, and well suffered for the souls of men! So shall your souls be carried by angels into Abraham's bosom, Luke xvi. 22. Why into Abraham's bosom? Christ himself was not ascended, therefore it is said into Abraham's bosom; but you shall be carried into Christ's bosom. Look, as God did as it were take Christ by the hand when he ascended, therefore it is said, Acts ii. 33, 'Being by the right hand of God exalted.' It principally notes the power of the divine majesty; but it is an allusion to the entertainment we give to a friend or guest we would welcome, we take them by the hand; so will Christ entertain you. How sweet will it be when Christ shall give us the right hand of fellowship? The eye that cannot now endure to look upon the sun shall see the clarity and brightness of the divine essence beaming forth in Christ; we shall see Christ himself upon his white throne, and see all the holy ones of God: Mat. viii. 11, 'We shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven,' and remain ever in his presence. It is sweet now to meet with the servants of God in an ordinance to praise God; what will it then be when we shall praise God for ever in the great assemblies of the spirits of just men made perfect? Consider, all this is made over by faith; we have the right and title in this world, but the inheritance is in our Father's keeping, it is reserved in the heavens, therefore get and keep faith.
Use 2. It serves to direct you how to exercise and act faith in order to the everlasting state. Five duties believers must perform.
[1.] The first work and foundation of all is to accept of Christ in the offers of the gospel; there is the foundation of a glorious estate. God excludes none from heaven that receive Christ into their heart. The first gospel commission that Christ signed and sent into the world contained this article - 'He that believeth shall be saved,' Mark xvi. 16. And when the jailer said in his trouble, 'What shall I do to be saved?' it is answered, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved,' Acts xvi. 31; receive Christ into your heart, and he will receive you into heaven. Let us bring our beloved into our beloved's house, into our hearts, and he will then bring you into those mansions that are in his father's house. The primary office of faith is to close with Christ. There the foundation is laid rightly to receive Christ; and when the union is begun there is a pledge of glory: Col. i. 21, 'Christ in you the hope of glory.' The great work of a christian should be to get Christ in him; there is the beginning of heaven.
[2.] It directs you to exercise your faith, to believe the promise of heaven which God hath made. Certainly faith is very weak in this particular, else we should have more ravishment and enlargement of affection. And the reason of this weakness of faith is, partly because it is wholly future, and the promise seems to be checked and defeated by death, and partly, because of our great unworthiness compared with the largeness of the recompense. Guilty sinners have low thoughts of the grace of God; therefore it is a mistake of christians to think they only doubt of their own interest, they doubt of the main promise: Heb. xi. 6, 'He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder,' &c; it is one of the fundamental truths never closely and surely enough laid up in your souls. A guilty creature is apt to straiten the divine mercy; and we cannot believe God will do all this. Consider the riches of God's mercy, and the sufficiency of Christ's merit. God's mercy is one relief; it is rich enough and full, enough to give us heaven and glory. When God gives, he will give like himself. The two great perfections of the godhead are immensity and eternity; he will give, with reference to his immensity, 'an exceeding weight of glory;' and, with reference to his eternity, 'an eternal weight of glory;' the apostle mentions both in 2 Cor. iv. 17, &c. This is a benefit fit for God to give. Then ruminate in your thoughts upon the abundant merit of Christ Jesus; it is a high dignity, but remember it is purchased with a great price. Consider the humiliation of Jesus Christ, that you may believe your own exaltation. Certainly if God can abase himself, we may expect that the creature may be advanced and glorified; and if Christ is clothed with our flesh, we may the better wait to be appareled with his glory. Consider, if Christ's glory could not hinder him from dying for us, certainly our misery cannot hinder us from reigning with Christ; the giving of Christ makes all more credible: Rom. viii. 32, 'He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?' These things will facilitate the belief of heaven.
[3.] Get your own title confirmed; lay claim to your inheritance; seize upon heaven as your right and your portion, so as not only to believe heaven is possible and credible, but that it is your right, and made over to you in the testament of Jesus Christ: 1 Tim. vi. 19, 'That you may lay hold of eternal life.' A christian should possess and enter upon it as his own inheritance - This is mine. It was sweet when God said to Abraham, Gen. xv. 1, 'I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.' Consider the grace that is wrought in you; it is the earnest and the pledge of glory, it is the bud of glory; therefore let us 'rejoice in hope of the glory of God,' when we have 'access to his grace by faith,' Rom. v. 2. A christian should look upon his present standing as a pledge of glory. Heaven, the apostle calls it 'the prize of our high calling,' Phil. iii. 14; he that hath given me Christ, and called me, can glorify rue. God hath called me to grace that I may wait upon him for glory; therefore rest upon the promise till you come to enjoy it, and until God measures the performance into your bosoms.
[4.] Let us often renew our hopes by serious and distinct thoughts. This is the way to anticipate heaven, by musing upon it: Heb. xi. 1, 'Faith is the substance of things hoped for,' &c. Wherever there is faith it will send out some spies to look within the veil, and see the glory that is there. We should always be thinking and ruminating upon it. If a man were adopted to the succession of a crown, he would always be pleasing himself with the supposition of the glory; so when poor creatures are called to such hopes, they should be creating suppositions and images. Worldly men feast their spirits with worldly hopes; they are thinking of the increase of their trade and promoting their gain: James iv. 13, 'To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain;' so a believer will be sending out spies, and feasting himself with his glorious hopes. A child of God doth translate himself by degrees, and weans himself from the world more and more, and is putting his heart into heaven before his person is there; he is 'seeking things that are above,' Col. iii. 1, and seriously musing upon them; his heart is in heaven before his body - 'Our conversation is in heaven,' saith the apostle, Phil. iii. 20: all the business of their lives is laid so that they may look heavenward. As a man beyond the seas, when he hath gotten an estate there, will be forming his business so that he may draw it home; so a christian is compassing this in the whole course of his life, that he may get home, and return to his country. It is a hard matter to get the heart to the study of heavenly things; the children of God should do so. The sabbath-day is the image of heaven, and the communion we have with God in the ordinances is the pledge of that communion we shall have with God in heaven: God hath appointed that day on purpose for our help.
[5.] Another work of faith is earnestly to desire and long after the full accomplishment of glory. Faith bewrayeth itself by desires, as well as thoughts. All things hasten to their centre. Heaven is our home, and we should be hastening thither, not only in thoughts but desires. The world to a christian is but libera custodia, a larger prison, where his soul is kept under a restraint, and from the full enjoyment of Christ; therefore a christian's life is spent in desires and groans Rom. viii. 23, 'We that have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.' Mark, 'we that have.' A man that once hath tasted of the clusters of Canaan, he is weary of the wilderness; so a christian is groaning for home, and for heaven, and for the full enjoyment of Christ, as the apostle saith, 2 Tim. iv. 8, 'They love his appearing.' - Their hearts are always drawing towards Christ; if Christ doth but say, I come, he echoes again, 'Come, Lord Jesus Christ, Come quickly,' Rev. xxii. 20.
Use 3. To exalt the mercy of God to believers; once sinners, and by grace made believers. Observe the wonderful love and grace of God in three steps - [1.] That he hath provided such an estate for believers. What a miracle of mercy is this that God should think of taking poor despicable dust and ashes, and planting them in the upper paradise, that they should be carried into heaven and made companions of the angels. How would we wonder if God should take a clod of earth and place it among the stars, that it may shine there I And how much more may we wonder when the Lord is pleased to take us out of the grave, and out of the earth, and lift us up above all heavens! when a man that is made of the dust of the earth is isangelos, equal to the angels.
[2.] That this state is provided freely, and upon such gracious terms. The terms are faith, and not merit; that is the tenor of the new covenant. Believe and live, not do and live; but works serve to evidence that interest. The Lord hath said, John iii. 36, 'He that believes in the Son of God hath everlasting life;' he hath it, as sure as if he were possessed of it. God will exclude none that will but accept of the offer; therefore if thou dost but rely upon Christ by a true and proper faith, thou art in a safe condition: John v. 24, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.' Amen, amen. Will you believe Christ upon a double oath, when he plighteth his truth? Let us not straiten the promises; all that believe shall partake of that marvellous glory - all the difficult work was done by Christ - 'He was taken from prison and judgment,' Isa. liii. 10, that we might not come into condemnation.
[3.] That God should send up and down the world to offer this salvation to men. The prophet saith, 'The salvation of the Lord is gone forth,' Isa. li. 5; and 'Wisdom hath sent forth her maidens,' Prov. ix. 3. And God hath sent forth his ministers, given us commission to open the grace of the gospel; and yet how is it scorned by men as if heaven were not worth the taking. If we did believe that there were such a glory, and that our eyes should behold it, how would it raise our hearts in thankfulness to God.
Use 4. Comfort to God's children against wants, and against troubles and persecutions, and against death itself.
[1.] Against wants. Let us be content with any condition in the world, since we are so well provided for in a better. Alas! after a short time we shall have no need of these things: Luke xii. 32, 'Fear not, little flock, it is your father's good pleasure to give you a kingdom.' Oh, you need not distract yourselves with worldly cares, there is a kingdom provided! It is grievous, I confess, to see wicked men abound with ease and plenty, and the children of God humbled with wants; but consider, if you have not so much money and means as others have, yet you have a better portion in Christ. God hath given you faith, and you are rich enough in Christ: James ii. 5, 'Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom, which he hath promised to them that love him?' Alas! wicked men that have large possessions, yet they may perish, notwithstanding their outward enjoyments.
[2.] It is great comfort against troubles and persecutions. Let us continue in the faith. There is comfort enough provided for us in the reward of faith: 1 Thes. iv. 18, 'Comfort one another with these words.' What words? why, that Jesus Christ will come in the clouds and meet believers, and they shall be for ever with the Lord. We pitch too much upon a carnal hope, and we think that this way and that way deliverance will come from something we fancy in the world, but we do not look after the glory of the everlasting state. There is an eye of flesh, when there is no arm of flesh - suppositions of worldly help. God will whip us for this vain confidence. We should comfort ourselves that there is an everlasting portion. When the Lord would comfort the patriarchs concerning the murder of Abel, there was the translation of Enoch; so when the apostle St Peter writes to the distressed Hebrews (he had much ado to wean those godly Hebrews from carnal thoughts of a temporal salvation and a temporal Messiah, from the pomp and splendour of an outward deliverer), he proposes this to keep up their joy: 1 Peter i. 9, 'Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.' The encouragements of the world run in another strain, looking for supplies in this and that corner of the world. St. Paul continued in steadfastness, not only under the difficulties but dangers of christianity: 2 Tim. iv. 8, 'I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.' Why? - ' For henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,' &c; that is, that he was thinking of what comfort it would be when he should sit in heaven, among the glorified saints with his crown of righteousness upon his head. The christian's life is not only a race but a warfare. We must not only run, but fight; therefore the apostle saith, Heb. xii. 1, 'Run with patience the race that is set before you.' Now that which should keep us up is a garland of immortality and glory which Christ hath wreathed for us. The primitive christians, when they were under deep and dreadful persecutions, how did they comfort themselves with the kingdom that is above? The heathens suspected them as if they intended to change the government. When you hear us talking of a kingdom, you vainly and without reason suppose it is a human and earthly kingdom; no, we profess to hope not for an earthly but heavenly kingdom.
[3.] It is a comfort against death itself. There is a glorious state provided for believers. It is the end and privilege of faith to be translated out of the animal and corruptible life into that which is heavenly and immortal. Death to the godly is but a sleep, and the grave but a chamber of rest. Indeed the grave to wicked men is a prison, where their bodies are kept, that they may not infect and corrupt the church; but to the godly their life is not extinguished, but hidden, Col. iii. 3; and when Christ, who is their life, appears, then the veil is taken off, and they shall appear with him in glory. Death to them is a translation; life is not taken away, but changed - changed from a miserable and corruptible life to that which is blessed and eternal. It is true, death takes away the life of the body, which consists in the union of the body and the soul, and this it doth but for a while; but it doth not take away the life of the soul, for that is immortal: it feedeth on your dust, but the soul is in paradise - in Abraham's bosom, and it - hath nothing to do with the spiritual life; still it is united to Christ. Look, as when Jesus Christ died (and Christ and a believer run parallel), the personal union did not cease; so when we die, the union with Christ doth not cease; we die as creatures, as members of the first Adam, but we are sure to live as members of Christ; Jesus Christ is our head in the grave. The death of the wicked is an execution; it is indeed an act of vengeance. God orders death to be a trap-door to let them into hell; but death to a godly man is an act of your Redeemer to translate you, and bestow upon you the happiness of eternal glory.
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