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Heart of the Living God: Love, Free Will, Foreknowledge, Heaven
From: Jonathan
Edwards, Love and Its Fruits (edited
from the original manuscripts with an introduction by Tryon Edwards; Carlisle,
PN: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2000;
1st 1852; printed in Finland by
WS. Bookwell): 323-368. Charity is replaced with love throughout.
Modern spelling is used. Outline facilitated for internet. This is 16th lecture/sermon of 16 on 1 Corinthians 13 given
in 1738 as pastor of the Church of Northampton just prior to the Great
Awakening in 1740.
Text: “Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail;
whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it
shall vanish away. For we know in part,
and we prophesy in part. But when that
which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.”
1 Cor. 13:8-10.
Tryon Edwards said of this of love in his introduction:
The subject of these lectures is eminently practical and
important. Love is the first outgoing
of the renewed soul to God—“We love him, because he first loved
us.” It is the sure evidence of a saving
work of grace in the soul—“The first of the Spirit is love.” It lies at the very foundation of Christian
character; we are “rooted and grounded in love.” It is the path in which all the true
children of God are found; they “walk in love.” It is the path in which all the true
children of God are found; they “walk in love”—the bond of their mutual
union; their hearts are “knit together
in love”—their protection in spiritual warfare; they are to put on the “breastplate of love”—the
spirit through which they may fulfill all the Divine acquirement; for “love is the fulfilling of the
law”; that by which they may become
like their Father in heaven, and fitted for his presence; for “God is love,” and Heaven is
the world of love.[1]
I. Cause & Fountain of Love in Heaven
II. Objects of Love it Contains
1. None but
Lovely Objects in Heaven
2. They Shall
be Perfectly Lovely
3. All that
Saints have Set their Hearts Upon
III. Subjects: Hearts in which it Dwells.—
IV. Principle of Love in Heaven.—
1. Its
Nature.—
2. Its
Degree.—
V. Excellent Circumstances in which Love shall be Expressed &
Enjoyed in Heaven
1. Love in
Heaven is Always Mutual
2. Joy of
Heavenly Love Never be Interrupted Jealousy
3. Nothing
within Themselves to clog the Expressions of Love
4. Love will
be Expressed with Perfect Decency and Wisdom
5. Nothing
Keeps Inhabitants at a Distance from Each Other or hinder Enjoyment of Each
Other’s Love
6. United
Together in Very Near & Dear Relations
7. Have
Property and Ownership in Each Other
8. Enjoy Each
Other’s Love in Perfect Prosperity
9. All things
shall Conspire to Promote their Love, and Give Advantage for Mutual Enjoyment
10. Shall
Know that For Ever be Continued in the Perfect Enjoyment of Each Other’s Love
VI. Of the blessed effects and fruits of this
love, as exercised and enjoyed in these circumstances
1. Perfect
Behavior of All toward God and Each Other
2. Perfect
Tranquility and Joy in Heaven
In the application of this subject,
I remark,
1. Contention Tend to Darken our Evidence of
Fitness for Its Possession
2. Happy are Who are Entitled to Heaven
First, They have had the principle that reigns in
heaven, the work of regeneration
Second, They have freely chosen the happiness
Third, They struggle after holiness.
3. What has been said on this subject may well
awaken and alarm the impenitent
First, By putting them in mind of their misery
Secondly, By skewing them that they are in danger of
hell
4. Let the consideration of what has been said
of heaven stir up all earnestly to seek after it
First, Let not your heart go after the things of this
world
Second, You must be engaged in conversing with
heavenly persons, and objects, and enjoyments
Third, Be content to pass through all difficulties in
the way to heaven
Fourth, In all your way let your eye be fixed on
Jesus. Look to him
Fifth, See that you live a life of love—of love to
God, and love to men
FROM the first of these verses, I have already drawn the
doctrine, that that great fruit of the Spirit in which the Holy Ghost shall not
only for a season, but everlastingly, be communicated to the church of Christ,
is love or divine love. And now I would
consider the same verse in connection with the two that follow it, and upon the
three verses would make two observations.
First, That it is mentioned as one
great excellence of love, that it shall remain when all other fruits of the
Spirit have failed. And,
Second, That this will come to pass in
the perfect state of the church, when that which is in part shall be done away,
and that which is perfect is come.
There is a twofold imperfect, and so
a twofold perfect state of the Christian church. The church in its beginning, or in its first
stage, before it was strongly established in the world, and settled in its New
Testament state, and before the canon of Scripture was completed, was in an
imperfect state—a state, as it were, of childhood, in comparison with what it
was to be in its elder and later ages, when it should have reached its state of
manhood, or of comparative earthly perfection.
And so, again, this comparatively perfect church of Christ, so long as
it remains in its militant state, that is, down to the end of time, will still
be in an imperfect, and, as it were, in a childish state, in comparison with
what it will be in its heavenly state, in which latter it is comparatively in
its state of man-hood or perfection.
And so there is a twofold failing of these
miraculous gifts of the Spirit here mentioned.
One was at the end of the first or infant age of the church, when the
canon of Scripture was completed, and so there was to be no need of such gifts
for the church in its latter ages, when it should have put away childish
things, and come to a state of manhood before the end of the world, and when
the Spirit of God should most gloriously be poured out and manifested in that
love or love, which is its greatest and everlasting fruit. And the other will be, when all the common
fruits of the Spirit cease with respect to particular persons at death, and
with respect to the whole church at the end of the world, while love shall
still remain in heaven, and there the Spirit of God shall be poured forth and
manifested in perfect love in every heart to all eternity.
The apostle, in the context, seems to have respect to both
these states of the church, but especially to the latter. For though the glorious state of the church
in its latter age on earth, will be perfect in comparison with its former
state, yet its state in heaven is that state of the church to which the
expressions of the apostle seem most agreeable, when he says, “When that which
is perfect is come,” & c., and, “Now we see through a glass darkly, but
then face to face; now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am
known.” The doctrine, then, that I
would draw from the text is, that
HEAVEN IS A WORLD OF LOVE.
The apostle speaks, in the text, of a state
of the church when it is perfect in heaven, and therefore a state in which the Holy
Spirit shall be more perfectly and abundantly given to the church than it is
now on earth. But the way in which it
shall be given when it is so abundantly poured forth, will be in that great
fruit of the Spirit, holy and divine love, in the hearts of all the blessed
inhabitants of that world. So that the
heavenly state of the church is a state that is distinguished from its earthly
state, as it is that state which God has designed especially for such a
communication of his Holy Spirit, and in which it shall be given perfectly,
whereas, in the present state of the church, it is given with great
imperfection. And it is also a state in
which this holy love or love shall be, as it were, the only gift or fruit of the
Spirit, as being the most perfect and glorious of all, and which, being brought
to perfection, renders all other gifts that God was wont to bestow on his
church on earth, needless. And that we
may the better see how heaven is thus a world of holy love, I would consider, first,
the great cause and fountain of love that is in
heaven; second, the objects of love that it contains; third, the
subjects of that love; fourth, its principle, or the love itself; fifth,
the excellent circumstances in which it is there exercised and expressed
and enjoyed; and, sixth, the happy effects and fruits of all this. And,
Here I remark that the God of love himself
dwells in heaven. Heaven is the palace
or presence-chamber of the high and holy One, whose name is love, and who is
both the cause and source of all holy love.
God, considered with respect to his essence, is everywhere—he fills both
heaven and earth. But yet he is said,
in some respects, to be more especially in some places than in others. He was said of old to dwell in the land of
Israel, above all other lands; and in Jerusalem, above all other cities of that
land; and in the temple, above all other buildings in the city; and in the holy
of holies, above all other apartments of the temple; and on the mercy-seat,
over the ark of the covenant, above all other places in the holy of
holies. But heaven is his dwelling-place
above all other places in the universe; and all those places in which he was
said to dwell of old, were but types of this.
Heaven is a part of creation that God has built for this end, .to be the
place of his glorious presence, and it is his abode for ever; and here will he
dwell, and gloriously manifest himself to all eternity.
And this renders heaven a world of
love; for God is the fountain of love,
as the sun is the fountain of light.
And therefore the glorious presence of God in heaven, fills heaven with
love, as the sun, placed in the midst of the visible heavens in a clear day,
fills the world with light. The apostle
tells us that “God is love; “and
therefore, seeing he is an infinite being, it follows that he is an infinite
fountain of love. Seeing he is an
all-sufficient being, it follows that he is a full and overflowing, and
inexhaustible fountain of love. And in
that he is an unchangeable and eternal being, he is an unchangeable and eternal
fountain of love.
There, even in heaven, dwells the God from
whom every stream of holy love, yea, every drop that is, or ever was,
proceeds. There dwells God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Spirit, united as one, in infinitely dear, and
incomprehensible, and mutual, and eternal love. There dwells God the Father, who is the father of mercies, and so
the father of love, who so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son to
die for it. There dwells Christ, the
Lamb of God, the prince of peace and of love, who so loved the world that he
shed his blood, and poured out his soul unto death for men. There dwells the great Mediator, through
whom all the divine love is expressed toward men, and by whom the fruits of
that love have been purchased, and through whom they are communicated, and
through whom love is imparted to the hearts of all God’s people. There dwells Christ in both his natures, the
human and the divine, sitting on the same throne with the Father. And there dwells the Holy Spirit—the Spirit
of divine love, in whom the very essence of God, as it were, flows out,
and is breathed forth in love, and by whose immediate influence all holy love
is shed abroad in the hearts of all the saints on earth and in heaven. There, in heaven, this infinite fountain of
love—this eternal Three in One—is set open without any obstacle to hinder
access to it, as it flows for ever.
There this glorious God is manifested, and shines forth, in full
glory, in beams of love. And there this
glorious fountain for ever flows forth in streams, yea, in rivers of love and
delight, and these rivers swell, as it were, to an ocean of love, in which the
souls of the ransomed may bathe with the sweetest enjoyment, and their hearts,
as it were, be deluged with love!
Again, I would consider heaven, with regard,
And here I
would observe three things:
No odious, or unlovely, or polluted person or thing is to
be seen there. There is nothing there
that is wicked or unholy. “There shall
in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh
abomination”(Rev. xxi. 27). And there
is nothing that is deformed with any natural or moral deformity; but everything
is beauteous to behold, and amiable and excellent in itself. The God that dwells and gloriously manifests
himself there, is infinitely lovely; gloriously lovely as a heavenly Father, as
a divine Redeemer, and as a holy Sanctifier.
All the persons that belong to the blessed society of
heaven are lovely. The Father of the
family is lovely, and so are all his children; the head of the body lovely, and
so are all the members. Among the
angels there are none that are unlovely—for they are all holy; and no evil
angels are suffered to infest heaven as they do this world, but they are kept
for ever at a distance by that great gulf which is between them and the
glorious world of love. And among all
the company of the saints, there are no unlovely persons. There are no false professors or hypocrites
there; none that pretend to be saints,
and yet are of an unchristian and hateful spirit or behavior, as is often the
case in this world; none whose gold has
not been purified from its dross; none
who are not lovely in themselves and to others. There is no one object there to give offence, or at any time to
give occasion for any passion or emotion of hatred or dislike, but every object
there shall for ever draw forth love.
And not only shall all objects in heaven be lovely, but,
There are many things in this world that in the general
are lovely, but yet are not perfectly free from that which is the
contrary. There are spots on the sun;
and so there are many men that are most amiable and worthy to be loved, who yet
are not without some things that are disagreeable and unlovely. Often there is in good men some defect of
temper, or character, or conduct, that mars the excellence of what otherwise
would seem most amiable; and even the very best of men, are, on earth,
imperfect. But it is not so in
heaven. There shall be no pollution, or
deformity, or unamiable defect of any kind, seen in any person or thing; but every one shall be perfectly pure, and
perfectly lovely in heaven. That
blessed world shall be perfectly bright, without any darkness; perfectly fair,
without any spot; perfectly clear, without any cloud. No moral or natural defect shall ever enter there; and there nothing will be seen that is
sinful or weak or foolish; nothing, the
nature or aspect of which is coarse or displeasing, or that can offend the most
refined taste or the most delicate eye.
No string shall there vibrate out of tune, to cause any jar in the
harmony of the music of heaven; and no note be such as to make discord in the
anthems of saints and angels.
The great God who so fully manifests himself there, is
perfect with an absolute and infinite perfection. The Son of God, who is the brightness of the Father’s glory,
appears there in the fullness of his glory, with-out that garb of outward
meanness in which he appeared in this world.
The Holy Ghost shall there be poured forth with perfect richness and sweetness,
as a pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the
throne of God arid of the Lamb. And
every member of that holy and blessed society shall be without any stain of
sin, or imperfection, or weakness, or imprudence, or blemish of any kind. The whole church, ransomed and purified,
shall there be presented to Christ, as a bride, clothed in fine linen, clean
and white, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Wherever the inhabitants of that blessed
world shall turn their eyes, they shall see nothing but dignity, and beauty,
and glory. The most stately cities on
earth, however magnificent their buildings, yet have their foundations in the
dust, and their streets dirty and defiled, and made to be trodden under foot;
but the very streets of this heavenly city are of pure gold, like unto
transparent glass, and its foundations are of precious stones, and its gates
are pearls. And all these are but faint
emblems of the purity and perfectness of those that dwell therein. And in heaven,
There they will find those things that appeared most
lovely to them while they dwelt on earth; the things that met the approbation
of their judgments, and captivated their affections, and drew away their souls
from the most dear and pleasant of earthly objects. There they will find those things that were their delight here
below, and on which they rejoiced to meditate, and with the sweet contemplation
of which their minds were often entertained;
and there, too, the things which they chose for their portion, and which
were so dear to them that they were ready for the sake of them to undergo the
severest sufferings, and to for-sake even father, and mother, and kindred, and
friends, and wife, and children, and life itself. All the truly great and good, all the pure and holy and excellent
from this world, and it may be from every part of the universe, are constantly
tending toward heaven. As the streams
tend to the ocean, so all these are tending to the great ocean of infinite
purity and bliss. The progress of time
does but bear them on to its blessedness; and us, if we are holy, to be united
to them there. Every gem which death
rudely tears away from us here is a glorious jewel for ever shining there;
every Christian friend that goes before us from this world, is a ransomed
spirit waiting to welcome us in heaven.
There will be the infant of days that we have lost below, through grace
to be found above; there the Christian father, and mother, and wife, and child,
and friend, with whom we shall renew the holy fellowship of the saints, which
was interrupted by death here, but shall be commenced again in the upper
sanctuary, and then shall never end. There
we shall have company with the patriarchs and fathers and saints of the Old and
New Testaments, and those of whom the world was not worthy, with whom on earth
we were only conversant by faith. And
there, above all, we shall enjoy and dwell with God
the Father, whom we have loved with all our hearts on earth; and with Jesus
Christ, our beloved Savior, who has always been to us the chief among ten
thousands, and altogether lovely; and
with the Holy Ghost, our Sanctifier, and Guide, and Comforter; and shall be filled with all the fullness of
the Godhead for ever!
And such being the objects of love in
heaven, I pass,
In every heart in heaven, love dwells and reigns. The heart of God is the original seat or
subject of love. Divine love is in him,
not as in a subject that receives it from another, but as in its original seat,
where it is of itself. Love is in God,
as light is in the sun, which does not shine by a reflected light, as the moon
and planets do, but by its own light, and as the great fountain of light. And from God, love flows out toward all the
inhabitants of heaven. It flows out, in
the first place, necessarily and infinitely, toward his only-begotten Son;
being poured forth, without mixture, as to an object that is infinite, and so
fully adequate to all the fullness of a love that is infinite. And this infinite love is infinitely
exercised toward him. Not only does the
fountain send forth streams to this object, but the very fountain itself wholly
and altogether goes out toward him. And
the Son of God is not only the infinite object of love, but he is also an
infinite subject of it. He is not only
the beloved of the Father, but lie infinitely loves him. The infinite essential love of God, is, as
it were, an infinite and eternal, mutual, holy, energy between the Father and
the Son: a pure and holy act, whereby the Deity becomes, as it were, one
infinite and unchangeable emotion of love proceeding from both the Father and
the Son. This divine love has its seat
in the Deity, as it is exercised within the Deity, or in God toward himself.
But this love is not confined to such
exercises as these. It flows out in
innumerable streams toward all the created inhabitants of heaven, to all the
saints and angels there. The love of
God the Father flows out toward Christ the head, and to all the members through
him, in whom they were beloved before the foundation of the world, and in whom
the Father’s love was expressed toward them in time, by his death and
sufferings, as it now is fully manifested in heaven. And the saints and angels are secondarily the subjects of holy
love, not as those in whom it is as in an original seat, as light is in the
sun, but as it is in the planets, that shine only by reflected light. And the light of their love is reflected in
the first place, and chiefly, back to its great source. As God has given the saints and angels love,
so their love is chiefly exercised towards God its fountain, as is most reasonable. They all love God with a supreme love. There is no enemy of God in heaven; but all,
as his children, love him as their Father.
They are all united, with one mind, to breathe forth their whole souls
in love to God their eternal Father, and to Jesus Christ their common Redeemer,
and head, and friend.
Christ loves all his saints in heaven. His love flows out to his whole church
there, and to every individual member of it.
And they all, with one heart and one soul, unite in love to their common
Redeemer. Every heart is wedded to this
holy and spiritual husband, and all rejoice in him, while the angels join them in their
love. And the angels and saints all
love each other. All the members of the
glorious society of heaven are sincerely united. There is not a single secret or open enemy among them all. Not a heart is there that is not full of
love, and not a solitary in-habitant that is not beloved by all the
others. And as all are lovely, so all
see each other’s loveliness with full complacence and delight. Every soul goes out in love to every
other; and among all the blessed
inhabitants, love is mutual, and full, and eternal. I pass next to speak, as proposed,
And by this I mean, the love itself that fills and blesses
the heavenly world, and which may be noticed both as to its nature and
degree. And,
In its nature, this love is altogether holy and
divine. Most of the love that there is
in this world is of an unhallowed nature.
But the love that has place in heaven is not carnal but spiritual. It does not proceed from corrupt principles
or selfish motives, nor is it directed to mean and vile purposes and ends. As opposed to all this, it is a pure flame,
directed by holy motives, and aiming at no ends inconsistent with God’s glory
and the happiness of the universe. The
saints in heaven love God for his own sake, and each other for God’s sake, and
for the sake of the relation that they have to him, and the image of God that
is upon them. All their love is pure
and holy. We may notice this love,
also,
And in degree it is perfect. The love that dwells in the heart of God is perfect, with an
absolutely infinite and divine perfection.
The love of angels and saints to God and Christ, is perfect in its kind,
or with such a perfection as is proper to their nature. It is perfect with a sinless perfection, and
perfect in that it is commensurate to the capacities of their nature. So it is said in the text, that “when that
which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.” Their love shall be without any remains of
any contrary principle, having no pride or selfishness to interrupt it or
hinder its exercises. Their hearts shall
be full of love. That which was in the
heart on earth as but a grain of mustard-seed, shall be as a great tree in
heaven. The soul that in this world had
only a little spark of divine love in it, in heaven shall be, as it were,
turned into a bright and ardent flame, like the sun in its fullest brightness,
when it has no spot upon it.
In heaven there shall be no remaining enmity, or distaste,
or coldness, or deadness of heart towards God and Christ. Not the least remainder of any principle of
envy shall exist to be exercised toward angels or other beings who are superior
in glory; nor shall there be aught like contempt or slighting of those who are
inferiors. Those that have a lower
station in glory than others, suffer no diminution of their own happiness by
seeing others above them in glory. On
the contrary, all the members of that blessed society rejoice in each other’s
happiness, for the love of benevolence is perfect in them all. Every one has not only a sincere, but a
perfect good-will to every other.
Sincere and strong love is greatly gratified and delighted in the
prosperity of the beloved object; and if the love be perfect, the greater the
prosperity of the beloved is, the more is the lover pleased and delighted; for
the prosperity of the beloved is, as it were, the food of love, and therefore
the greater that prosperity, the more richly is love feasted. The love of benevolence is delighted in
beholding the prosperity of another, as the love of complacence is, in
beholding the beauty or perfection of another.
So that the superior prosperity of those that are higher in glory, is so
far from being a hindrance to the degree of love felt toward them, that it is
an addition to it, or a part of it.
There is undoubtedly an inconceivably pure, sweet, and
fervent love between the saints in glory;
and that love is in proportion to the perfection and amiableness of the
objects beloved, and therefore it must necessarily cause delight in them when
they see that the happiness and glory of others are in proportion to their
amiableness, and so in proportion to their love to them. Those that are highest in glory, are those
that are highest in holiness, and therefore are those that are most beloved by
all the saints; for they most love those that are most holy, and so they will
all rejoice in their being the most happy.
And it will not be a grief to any of the saints to see those that are
higher than themselves in holiness and likeness to God, more loved also than themselves,
for all shall have as much love as they desire, and as great manifestations of
love as they can bear; and so all shall be fully satisfied; and where there is
perfect satisfaction, there can be no reason for envy. And there will be no temptation for any to
envy those that are above them in glory, on account of the latter being lifted
up with pride; for there will be no
pride in heaven. We are not to conceive
that those who are more holy and happy than others in heaven, will be elated
and lifted up in their spirit above others;
for those who are above others in holiness, will be superior to them in
humility. The saints that are highest
in glory will be the lowest in humbleness of mind, for their superior humility
is part of their superior holiness.
Though all are perfectly free from pride, yet, as some will have greater
degrees of divine knowledge than others, and larger capacities to see more of
the divine perfections, so they will see more of their own comparative
littleness and nothingness, and therefore will be lowest and most abased in
humility.
And, besides, the inferior in glory will have no
temptation to envy those that are higher than themselves, for those that are
highest will not only be more loved by the lower for their higher holiness, but
they will also have more of the spirit of love to others, and so will love
those that are below them more than if their own capacity and elevation were
less. They that are highest in degree
in glory, will be of the highest capacity; and so having the greatest
knowledge, will see most of God’s loveliness, and consequently will have love
to God and love to the saints most abounding in their hearts. And on this account those that are lower in
glory will not envy those that are above them, because they will be most
beloved by those that are highest in glory.
And the superior in glory will be so far from slighting those that are
inferior, that they will have most abundant love to them—greater degrees of
love in proportion to their superior knowledge and happiness. The higher any are in glory, the more they
are like Christ in this respect, so that the love of the higher to the lower
will be greater than the love of the equals of the latter to them. And what puts it beyond all doubt that
seeing the superior happiness of others will not be a damp to the happiness of
the inferior, is this, that their superior happiness consists in their greater
humility, and in their greater love to them, and to God, and to Christ, than
the inferior will have in themselves.
Such will be the sweet and perfect harmony among the heavenly saints,
and such the perfect love reigning in every heart toward every other, without
limit or alloy, or interruption; and no envy, or malice, or revenge, or
contempt, or selfishness shall ever enter there, but all such feelings shall be
kept as far away as sin is from holiness, and as hell is from heaven! Let us next consider,
It is always met with answerable returns of love—with
returns that are proportioned to its exercise.
Such returns, love always seeks; and just in proportion as any per-son
is beloved, in the same proportion is his love desired and prized. And in heaven this desire of love, or this
fondness for being loved, will never fail of being satisfied. No inhabitants of that blessed world will
ever be grieved with the thought that they are slighted by those that they
love, or that their love is not fully and fondly returned.
As the saints will love God with an inconceivable ardency
of heart, and to the utmost of their capacity, so they will know that he has
loved them from all eternity, and still loves them, and will continue to love
them for ever. And God will then
gloriously manifest himself to them, and they shall know that all that
happiness and glory which they are possessed of, are the fruits of his
love. And with the same ardor and
fervency will the saints love the Lord Jesus Christ; and their love will be
accepted; and they shall know that he has loved them with a faithful, yea, even
with a dying love. They shall then be
more sensible than now they are, what great love it manifested in Christ that
he should lay down his life for them; and then will Christ open to their view
the great fountain of love in his heart for them, beyond all that they ever saw
before. Hereby the love of the saints
to God and Christ is seen to be reciprocated, and that declaration fulfilled,
“I love them that love me”; and though the love of God to them cannot properly
be called the return of love, because he loved them first, yet the sight of his
love will, on that very account, the more fill them with joy and admiration,
and love to him.
The love of the saints, one to another, will always be mutual
and reciprocated, though we cannot suppose that every one will, in all
respects, be equally beloved. Some of
the saints are more beloved of God than others, even on earth. The angel told Daniel that he was “a man
greatly beloved” (Dan. ix. 23); and Luke is called “the beloved physician”
(Col. iv. 14); and John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John xx. 2). And so, doubtless, those that have been most
eminent in fidelity and holiness, and that are highest in glory, are most
beloved by Christ in heaven; and doubtless those saints that are most beloved
of Christ, and that are nearest to him in glory, are most beloved by all the
other saints. Thus we may conclude that
such saints as the apostle Paul and the apostle John are more beloved by the
saints in heaven than other saints of lower rank. They are more beloved by lower saints than those of equal rank
with themselves. But then there are
answerable returns of love in these cases; for as such are more beloved by all other saints, so they are fuller of love
to other saints. The heart of Christ,
the great Head of all the saints, is more full of love than the heart of any
saint can be. He loves all the saints
far more than any of them love each other.
But the more any saint is loved of him, the more is that saint like him,
in this respect, that the fuller his heart is of love.
Heavenly lovers will have no doubt of the
love of each other. They shall have no
fear that the declarations and professions of love are hypocritical; but shall be perfectly satisfied of the
sincerity and strength of each other’s affection, as much as if there were a
window in every breast, so that everything in the heart could be seen. There shall be no such thing as flattery or
dissimulation in heaven, but there perfect sincerity shall reign through all
and in all. Every one will be just what
he seems to be, and will really have all the love that he seems to have. It will not be as in this world, where
comparatively few things are what they seem to be, and where professions are
often made lightly and without meaning; but there every expression of love
shall come from the bottom of the heart, and all that is professed shall be
really and truly felt.
The saints shall know that God loves them, and they shall
never doubt the greatness of his love, and they shall have no doubt of the love
of all their fellow-inhabitants in heaven.
And they shall not be jealous of the constancy of each other’s
love. They shall have no suspicion that
the love which others have felt toward them is abated, or in any degree
withdrawn from them-selves for the sake of some rival, or by reason of anything
in themselves which they suspect is disagreeable to others, or through any
inconstancy in their own hearts or the hearts of others. Nor will they be in the least afraid that
the love of any will ever be abated toward them. There shall be no such thing as inconstancy and unfaithfulness in
heaven, to molest and disturb the friendship of that blessed society. The saints shall have no fear that the love
of God will ever abate towards them, or that Christ will not continue always to
love them with unabated tenderness and affection. And they shall have no jealousy one of another, but shall know
that by divine grace the mutual love that exists between them shall never decay
nor change.
In this world the saints find much to hinder
them in this respect. They have a great
deal of dullness and heaviness. They
carry about with them a heavy-moulded body—a clod of earth—a mass of flesh and
blood that is not fitted to be the organ for a soul inflamed with high
exercises of divine love; but which is found a great clog and hindrance to the
spirit, so that they cannot express their love to God as they would, and cannot
be so active and lively in it as they desire.
Often they fain would fly, but they are held down as with a dead weight
upon their wings. Fain would they be
active, and mount up, as a flame of fire, but they find themselves, as it were,
hampered and chained down, so that they cannot do as their love inclines them
to do. Love disposes them to burst
forth in praise, but their tongues are not obedient; they want words to express
the ardency of their souls, and cannot order their speech by reason of darkness
(Job xxxvii. 19); and often, for want of expressions, they are forced to
content themselves with groanings that cannot be uttered (Rom. viii. 26).
But in heaven they shall have no such
hindrance. There they will have no
dullness and unwieldiness, and no corruption of heart to war against divine
love, and hinder its expressions; and there no earthly body shall clog with its
heaviness the heavenly flame. The
saints in heaven shall have no difficulty in expressing all their love. Their souls being on fire with holy love,
shall not be like a fire pent up, but like a flame uncovered and at
liberty. Their spirits, being winged
with love, shall have no weight upon them to hinder their flight. There shall be no want of strength or
activity, nor any want of words wherewith to praise the object of their
affection. Nothing shall hinder them from
communing with God, and praising and serving him just as their love inclines
them to do. Love naturally desires to
express itself; and in heaven the love of the saints shall be at full liberty
to express itself as it desires, whether it be towards God or to created
beings.
Many in this world that are sincere in their
hearts, and have indeed a principle of true love to God and their neighbor, yet
have not discretion to guide them in the manner and circumstances of
ex-pressing it. Their intentions, and
so their speeches, are good, but often not suitably timed, nor discreetly
ordered as to circumstances, but are attended with an indiscreetness that
greatly obscures the loveliness of grace in the eyes of others. But in heaven the amiableness and
excellence of their love shall not be obscured by any such means. There shall be no in-decent or unwise or
dissonant speeches or actions—no foolish and sentimental fondness—no needless
officiousness—no low or sinful propensities of passion—and no such thing as
affections clouding or deluding reason, or going before or against it. But wisdom and discretion shall be as
perfect in the saints as love is, and every expression of their love shall be
attended with the most amiable and perfect decency and discretion and wisdom.
There shall be no wall of separation in
heaven to keep the saints asunder, nor shall they be hindered from the full and
complete enjoyment of each other’s love by distance of habitation; for they
shall all be together, as one family, in their heavenly Father’s house. Nor shall there be any want of full
acquaintance to hinder the greatest possible intimacy; and much less shall
there be any misunderstanding between them, or misinterpreting things that are
said or done by each other. There shall
be no disunion through difference of temper, or manners, or circumstances, or
from various opinions, or interests, or feelings, or alliances; but all shall
be united in the same interests, and all alike allied to the same Savior, and
all employed in the same business, serving and glorifying the same God.
Love always seeks a near relation to the one
who is beloved; and in heaven they shall all be nearly allied and related to
each other. All shall be nearly related
to God the supreme object of their love, for they
shall all be his children. And all
shall be nearly related to Christ, for he shall be the head of the whole
society, and the husband of the whole Church of saints, all of whom together
shall constitute his spouse. And they
shall all be related to each other as brethren, for all will be but one
society, or rather but one family, and all members of the household of
God. And more than this,
Love seeks to have the beloved its own; and
divine love rejoices in saying, “My beloved is mine, and I am his.” And in heaven all shall not only be related
one to another, but they shall be each other’s, and belong to each other. The saints shall be God’s. He brings them home to himself in glory, as
that part of the creation that he has chosen for his peculiar treasure. And on the other hand, God shall be theirs,
made over to them in an everlasting covenant in this world, and now they shall be
for ever in full possession of him as their portion. And so the saints shall be Christ’s, for he has bought them with
a price; and he shall be theirs, for he that gave himself for them will have
given himself to them; and in the bonds of mutual and everlasting love, Christ
and the saints will have given themselves to each other. And as God and Christ shall be the saints,
so the angels shall be their angels, as is intimated in Matt. xviii. 10; and the saints shall be one another’s, for
the apostle speaks (2 Cor. viii. 5) of the saints in his days, as first giving
themselves to the Lord, and then to one another by the will of God; and if this is done on earth, it will be
more perfectly done in heaven.
What often on earth alloys the pleasure and sweetness of
worldly pleasure, is, that though persons live in love, yet they live in
poverty, or meet with great difficulties and sore afflictions, whereby they are
grieved for themselves and for one another.
For, though in such cases love and friendship in some respects lighten
the burden to be borne, yet in other respects they rather add to its weight,
because those that love each other become, by their very love, sharers in each
other’s afflictions, so that each has not only his own trials to bear, but
those also of his afflicted friends.
But there shall be no adversity in heaven, to give occasion for a
pitiful grief of spirit, or to molest or disturb those who are heavenly friends
in the enjoyment of each other’s friendship.
But they shall enjoy one another’s love in the greatest prosperity, and
in glorious riches and comfort, and in the highest honor and dignity, reigning
together in the heavenly kingdom—inheriting all things, sitting on thrones, all
wearing crowns of life, and being made kings and priests unto God for ever.
Christ and his disciples, while on earth,
were often together in affliction and trial, and they kept up and manifested
the strongest love and friendship to each other under great and sore
sufferings. And now in heaven they
enjoy each other’s love in immortal glory, all sorrow and sighing having for
ever fled away. Both Christ and his
saints were acquainted with much sorrow and grief in this world, though Christ
had the greatest share, being peculiarly a “man of sorrows.” But in heaven they shall sit together in
heavenly places, where sorrow and grief shall never more be known. And so all the saints will enjoy each
other’s love in heaven, in a glory and prosperity in comparison with which
the wealth and thrones of the greatest earthly princes are but as sordid
poverty and destitution. So that as
they love one another, they have not only their own but each other’s prosperity
to rejoice in, and are by love made partakers of each other’s blessedness and
glory. Such is the love of every saint
to every other saint, that it makes the glory which he sees other saints enjoy,
as it were, his own. He so rejoices
that they enjoy such glory, that it is in some respects to him as if he himself
enjoyed it in his own personal experience.
There shall be none there to tempt any to dislike
or hatred; no busybodies, or malicious
adversaries, to make misrepresentations, or create misunderstandings, or
spread abroad any evil reports, but every being and every thing shall conspire
to promote love, and the full enjoyment of love. Heaven itself; the place of habitation, is a garden of pleasures,
a heavenly paradise, fitted in all respects for an abode of heavenly love; a
place where they may have sweet society and perfect enjoyment of each other’s
love. None are unsocial or distant from
each other. The petty distinctions of
this world do not draw lines in the society of heaven, but all meet in the
equality of holiness and of holy love.
All things in heaven do also remarkably show forth the
beauty and loveliness of God and Christ, and have the brightness and sweetness
of divine love upon them. The very
light that shines in and fills that world, is the light of love, for it is the
shining of the glory of the Lamb of God, that most wonderful influence of
lamb-like meekness and love that fills the heavenly Jerusalem with light. “The city had no need of the sun, neither of
the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is
the light thereof “(Rev. xxi. 23). The
glory that is about him that reigns in heaven is so radiant and sweet, that it
is compared (Rev. iv. 3) to “a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like
unto an emerald”; and it is the rainbow
that is so often used in the Old Testament as the fit token of God’s love and
grace manifested in his covenant. The
light of the New Jerusalem, which is the light of God’s glory, is said to be
like a jasper stone, clear as crystal (Rev. xxi. 11), thus signifying the
greatest preciousness and beauty; and as to its continuance, it is said there
is no night there, but only an endless and glorious day. This suggests, once more, that,
They shall know that God and Christ shall be for ever with
them as their God and portion, and that his love shall be continued and fully
manifested for ever, and that all their beloved fellow-saints shall for ever
live with them in glory, and shall for ever keep up the same love in their
hearts which they now have. And they
shall know that they themselves shall ever live to love God, and love the
saints, and to enjoy their love in all its fullness and sweetness for
ever. They shall be in no fear of any
end to this happiness, or of any abatement from its fullness and blessedness,
or that they shall ever be weary of its exercises and expressions, or cloyed
with its enjoyments, or that the beloved objects shall ever grow old or
disagreeable, so that their love shall at last die away. All in heaven shall flourish in immortal
youth and freshness. Age will not there
diminish any one’s beauty or vigor; and there love shall abide in every one’s
heart, as a living spring perpetually springing up in the soul, or as a flame
that never dies away. And the holy
plea-sure of this love shall be as a river that is for ever flowing clear and
full, and increasing continually. The
heavenly paradise of love shall always be kept as in a perpetual spring,
without autumn or winter, where no frosts shall blight, or leaves decay aria
fall, but where every plant shall be in perpetual freshness, and bloom, and
fragrance, and beauty, always springing forth, and always blossoming, and
always bearing fruit. The leaf of the
righteous shall not wither (Ps. i. 3).
And in the midst of the streets of heaven, and on either side of the
river, grows the tree of life, which bears twelve manner of fruits, and yields
her fruit every month (Rev. xxii. 2).
Everything in the heavenly world shall contribute to the joy of the
saints, and every joy of heaven shall be eternal. No night shall settle down with its darkness upon the brightness
of their everlasting day.
Having thus noticed many of the blessed circumstances
with which love in heaven is exercised, and expressed, and enjoyed, I proceed,
as proposed, to speak, lastly,
And of the
many blessed fruits of it, I would at this time mention but two.
Love, or divine love, is the sum of all good principles,
and therefore the fountain whence proceed all amiable and excellent
actions. And as in heaven this love
will be perfect, to the perfect exclusion of all sin consisting in enmity against
God and fellow creatures, so the fruit of it will be a most perfect behavior
toward all. Hence life in heaven will
be without the least sinful failure or error.
None shall ever come short, or turn aside from the way of holiness in
the least degree, but every feeling and action shall be perfect in itself and
in all its circumstances. Every part of
their behavior shall be holy and divine in matter, and form, and spirit, and
end.
We know not particularly how the saints in heaven shall be
employed; but in general we know that they are employed in praising and serving
God; and this they will do perfectly, being influenced by such a love as we
have been considering. And we have
reason to think that they are so employed as in some way to be subservient, under
God, to each other’s happiness, for they are represented in the Scriptures as
united together in one society, which, it would seem, can be for no other
purpose but mutual subserviency and happiness.
And they are thus mutually subservient by a most excellent and perfectly
amiable behavior one towards another, as a fruit of their perfect love one to
another. And even if they are not
confined to this society, but if any or all of them are at times sent on errands
of duty or mercy to distant worlds, or employed, as some suppose them to be, as
ministering spirits to friends in this world, they are still led by the
influence of love, to conduct, in all their behavior, in such a manner as is
well pleasing to God, and thus conducive to their own and others’ happiness. The other fruit of love, as exercised in
such circumstances, is,
Love, or holy and humble Christian love, is
a principle of wonderful power to give ineffable quietness and tranquility to
the soul. It banishes all disturbance,
and sweetly composes and brings rest to the spirit, and makes all divinely calm
and sweet and happy. In that soul where
divine love reigns and is in lively exercise, nothing can cause a storm, or
even gather threatening clouds.
There are many principles contrary to love, that make this
world like a tempestuous sea.
Selfishness, and envy, and revenge, and jealousy, and kindred passions
keep life on earth in a constant tumult, and make it a scene of confusion and
uproar, where no quiet rest is to be enjoyed except in renouncing this world
and looking to another. But oh! what rest is there in that world which the
God of peace and love fills with his own gracious presence, and in which the
Lamb of God lives and reigns, filling it with the brightest and sweetest beams
of his love; where there is nothing to
disturb or offend, and no being or object to be seen that is not surrounded
with perfect amiableness and sweetness;
where the saints shall find and enjoy all that they love, and so be
perfectly satisfied; where there is no
enemy and no enmity, but perfect love in every heart and to every being; where there is perfect harmony among all the
inhabitants, no one envying another, but every one rejoicing in the happiness
of every other; where all their love is
humble and holy, and perfectly Christian, without the least carnality or
impurity; where love is always mutual
and reciprocated to the full; where there is no hypocrisy or dissembling, but
perfect simplicity and sincerity; where
there is no treachery, or unfaithfulness, or in constancy, or jealousy in any
form; where there is no clog or
hindrance to the exercises or expressions of love, no imprudence or indecency
in expressing it, and no influence of folly or indiscretion in any word or
deed; where there is no separation
wall, and no misunderstanding or strangeness, but full acquaintance and perfect
intimacy in all; where there is no
division through different opinions or interests, but where all in that
glorious and loving society shall be most nearly and divinely related, and each
shall belong to every other, and all shall enjoy each other in perfect
prosperity and riches, and honor, without any sickness, or grief, or
persecution, or sorrow, or any enemy to molest them, or any busybody to create
jealousy or misunderstanding, or mar the perfect, and holy, and blessed peace
that reigns in heaven! And all this in
the garden of God—in the paradise of love, where everything is filled with
love, and everything conspires to promote and kindle it, and keep up its flame,
and nothing ever interrupts it, but everything has been fitted by an all-wise
God for its full enjoyment under the greatest advantages for ever! And all, too, where the beauty of the
beloved objects shall never fade, and love shall never grow weary nor decay,
but the soul shall more and more rejoice in love for ever!
Oh!
what tranquility will there be in such a world as this! And who can express the fullness and
blessedness of this peace! What a calm
is this! How sweet, and holy, and
joyous! What a haven of rest to enter,
after having passed through the storms and tempests of this world, in which
pride, and selfishness, and envy, and malice, and scorn, and contempt, and contention,
and vice, are as waves of a restless ocean, always rolling, and often
dashed about in violence and fury! What
a Canaan of rest to come to, after going through this waste and howling
wilderness, full of snares, and pitfalls, and poisonous serpents, where no rest
could be found!
And oh! what joy
will there be, springing up in the hearts of the saints, after they have passed
through their wearisome pilgrimage, to be brought to such a paradise as
this! Here is joy unspeakable indeed,
and full of glory—joy that is humble, holy, enrapturing, and divine in its
perfection! Love is always a sweet
principle; and especially divine love.
This, even on earth, is a spring of sweetness; but in heaven it shall
become a stream, a liver, an ocean! All
shall stand about the God of glory, who is the great fountain of love, opening,
as it were, their very souls to be filled with those effusions of love that are
poured forth from his fullness, just as the flowers on the earth, in the bright
and joyous days of spring, open their bosoms to the sun, to be filled with his
light and warmth, and to flourish in beauty and fragrancy under his cheering
rays.
Every saint in heaven is as a flower in that garden of
God, and holy love) is the fragrance and sweet odor that they all
send forth, and with which they fill the bowers of that paradise above. Every soul there, is as a note in some
concert of delightful music, that sweetly harmonies with every other note, and
all together blend in the most rapturous strains in praising God and the Lamb
for ever. And so all help each other,
to their utmost, to express the love of the whole society to its glorious
Father and Head, and to pour back love into the great fountain of
love whence they are supplied and filled with love, and blessedness, and
glory. And thus they will love, and
reign in love, and in that godlike joy that is its blessed fruit, such as eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor bath ever entered into the heart of man in
this world to conceive; and thus in the
full sunlight of the throne, enraptured with joys that are for ever increasing,
and yet for ever full, they shall live and reign with God and Christ for ever
and ever!
Experience teaches that this is the effect of
contention. When principles of
malignity and ill-will prevail among God’s people, as they sometimes do through
the remaining corruption of their hearts, and they get into a contentious
spirit, or are engaged in any strife whether public or private, and their
spirits are filled with opposition to their neighbors in any matter whatever,
their former evidences for heaven seem to become dim, or die away, and they are
in darkness about their spiritual state, and do not find that comfortable and
satisfying hope that they used to enjoy.
And so, when converted persons get into ill frames in
their families, the consequence commonly, if not universally, is, that they
live without much of a comfortable sense of heavenly things, or any lively
hope of heaven. They do not enjoy much
of that spiritual calm and sweetness that those do who live in love and
peace. They have not that help from
God, and that communion with him, and that near intercourse with heaven in
prayer, that others have. The apostle
seems to speak of contention in families as having this influence. His
language is (1 Pet. iii. 7), “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them” (your
wives) “according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker
vessel; and as being heirs together of
the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered.” Here he intimates that discord in families
tends to hinder Christians in their prayers.
And what Christian that has made the sad experiment, has not done it to
his sorrow, and in his own experience does not bear witness to the truth of the
apostle’s intimation?
Why it is so, that contention has this
effect of hindering spiritual exercises and comforts and hopes, and of
destroying the sweet hope of that which is heavenly, we may learn from the
doctrine we have considered. For heaven
being a world of love, it follows that, when we have the least exercise of
love, and the most of a contrary spirit, then we have the least of heaven, and
are farthest from it in the frame of our mind.
Then we have the least of the exercise of that wherein consists a
conformity to heaven, and a preparation for it, and what tends to it; and so,
necessarily, we must have least evidence of our title to heaven, and be
farthest from the comfort which such evidence affords. We may see, again, from this subject,
There are some persons living on earth, to whom the
happiness of the heavenly world belongs as much, yea, much more than any man’s
earthly estate belongs to himself. They
have a part and interest in this world of love, and have a proper right and
title to it, for they are of the number of those of whom it is written (Rev.
xxii. 14), “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right
to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” And, doubtless, there are such persons here
amongst us. And oh! how happy are all such, entitled as they are
to an interest in such a world as heaven!
Surely they are the blessed of the earth, and the fullness of their
blessedness no language can describe, no words express. But here some may be ready to say, “With-out
doubt they are happy persons that have a title to such a blessed world, and are
soon to enter on the eternal possession of its joys. But who are these persons?
How shall they be known, and by what marks may they be
distinguished?” In answer to such an
inquiry, I would mention three things that belong to their character:
They are not those who have no other principles
in their hearts than natural principles, or such as they have by their
first birth, for “that which is born of the flesh is flesh.” But they are those who have been the
subjects of the new birth, or who have been born of the Spirit. A glorious work of the Spirit of God has
been wrought in their hearts, renewing them by bringing down from heaven, as it
were, some of the light and some of the holy, pure flame that is in that world
of love, and giving it place in them.
Their hearts are a soil in which this heavenly seed has been sown, and
in which it abides and grows. And so
they are changed, and, from being earthly, have become heavenly in their
dispositions. The love of the world is
mortified, and the love of God implanted.
Their hearts are drawn to God and Christ, and for their sakes flow out
to the saints in humble and spiritual love.
“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible”(1 Pet. i. 23); “Which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”
(John i. 13).
They see and understand so much of this as
to know that it is the best good. They
do not merely yield that it is so from rational arguments that may be offered
for it, and by which they are convinced that it is so, but they know it is so
from what little they have tasted of it.
It is the happiness of love, and the beginning of a life of such love,
holy, humble, divine, and heavenly love, Love to God, and love to Christ, and
love to saints for God and Christ’s sake, and the enjoyment of the fruits of
God’s love in holy communion with God, and Christ, and with holy persons—this
is what they have a relish for; and such is their renewed nature, that such
happiness suits their disposition and appetite and wishes above all other
things; and not only above all things that they have, but above all that they
can conceive it possible that they could have.
The world does not afford anything like it. They have chosen this before all things else, and chosen it
freely. Their souls go out after it
more than after every-thing else, and their hearts are more eager in pursuit of
it. They have chosen it not merely
because they have met with sorrow, and are in such low and afflicted
circumstances that they do not expect much from the world, but because their
hearts were so captivated by this good that they chose it for its own sake
before all worldly good, even if they could have ever so much of the latter,
and enjoy it ever so long.
Holy love makes them long for holiness. It is a principle that thirsts after
growth. It is in imperfection, and in a
state of infancy, in this world, and it desires growth. It has much to struggle with. In the heart in this world there are many
opposite principles and influences; and
it struggles after greater oneness, and more liberty, and more free exercise,
and better fruit. The great strife and
struggle of the new man is after holiness.
His heart struggles after it, for he has an interest in heaven, and
therefore he struggles with that sin that would keep him from it. He is full of ardent desires, and
breathings, and longings, and strivings to be holy. And his hands struggle as well as his heart. He strives in his practice. His life is a life of sincere and earnest
endeavor to be universally and increasingly holy. He feels that he is not holy enough, but far from it; and lie desires to be nearer perfection, and
more like those who are in heaven. And
this is one reason why he longs to be in heaven, that he may be perfectly
holy. And the great principle which
leads him thus to struggle, is love. It
is not only fear; but it is love to
God, and love to Christ, and love to holiness.
Love is a holy fire within him, and, like any other flame which is in a
degree pent up, it will and does struggle for liberty; and this its struggling is the struggle for
holiness.
And,
First, By putting them in mind of their misery, in that they have no portion
or right in this world of love.
You have heard what has been said of heaven,
what kind of glory and blessedness is there, and how happy the saints and
angels are in that world of perfect love.
But consider that none of this belongs to
you. When you hear of such things, you
hear of that in which you have no interest.
No such person as you, a wicked hater of God and Christ, and one that is
under the power of a spirit of enmity against all that is good, shall ever
enter there. Such as you are, never
belong to the faithful Israel of God, and shall never enter their heavenly
rest. It may be said to you, as Peter
said to Simon (Acts viii. 21), “Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter,
for thy heart is not right in the sight of God” ; and as Nehemiah said to Sanballat and his associates (Neh. ii.
20), “You have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.” If such a soul as yours should be admitted
into heaven, that world of love, how nauseous would it be to those blest
spirits whose souls are as a flame of love!
and how would it discompose that loving and blessed society, and put
everything in confusion! It would make
heaven no longer heaven, if such souls should be admitted there. It would change it from a world of love to a
world of hatred, and pride, and envy, and malice, and revenge, as this world
is! But this shall never be; and the
only alternative is, that such as you shall be shut out with “dogs, and
sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth
and maketh a lie” (Rev. xxii. 15); that
is, with all that is vile, and unclean, and unholy. And this subject may well awaken and alarm the impenitent,
Secondly, By skewing them that they are in danger of hell, which is a world of
hatred. There
are three worlds. One is this, which is
an intermediate world—a world in which good and evil are so mixed together as
to be a sure sign that this world is not to continue for ever. Another is heaven, a world of love, without
any hatred. And the other is hell, a
world of hatred, where there is no love, which is the world to which all of you
who are in a Christless state properly belong.
This last is the world where God manifests his displeasure and wrath, as
in heaven he manifests his love.
Everything in hell is hateful.
There is not one solitary object there that is not odious and
detestable, horrid and hateful. There
is no person or thing to be seen there, that is amiable or lovely; nothing that
is pure, or holy, or pleasant, but everything abominable and odious. There are no beings there but devils, and
damned spirits that are like devils.
Hell is, as it were, a vast den of poisonous hissing serpents; the old
serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and with him all his hateful brood.
In that dark world there are none but those
whom God hates with a perfect and everlasting hatred. He exercises no love, and extends no mercy to any one object
there, but pours out upon them horrors without mixture. All things in the wide universe that are
hateful shall be gathered together in hell, as in a vast receptacle provided on
purpose, that the universe which God has made may be cleansed of its
filthiness, by casting it all into this great sink of wickedness and woe. It is a world prepared on purpose for the expression
of God’s wrath. He has made hell for
this; and he has no other use for it but there to testify for ever his hatred
of sin and sinners, where there is no token of love or mercy. There is nothing there but what shews forth
the Divine indignation and wrath. Every
object shews forth wrath. It is a world
all overflowed with a deluge of wrath, as it were, with a deluge of liquid
fire, so as to be called a lake of fire and brimstone, and the second
death.
There are none in hell but what have been haters of God,
and so have procured his wrath and hatred on themselves; and there they shall
continue to hate him for ever. No love
to God will ever be felt in hell; but every one there perfectly hates him, and
so will continue to hate him, and without any restraint will express their
hatred to him, blaspheming and raging against him, while they gnaw their
tongues for pain. And though they all
join together in their enmity and opposition to God, yet there is no union or
friendliness among themselves—they agree in nothing but hatred, and the
expression of hatred. They hate God,
and Christ, and angels, and saints in heaven; and not only so, but they hate
one another, like a company of serpents or vipers, not only spitting out venom
against God, but at one another, biting and stinging and tormenting each other.
The devils in hell will hate damned souls. They hated them while in this world, and
therefore it was that with such subtlety and indefatigable temptations they
sought their ruin. They thirsted for
the blood of their souls, because they hated them; they longed to get them in their power to torment them; they watched them as a roaring lion does his
prey; because they hated them, therefore they flew upon their souls like
hell-hounds, as soon as ever they were parted from their bodies, full of
eagerness to torment them. And now they
have them in their power, they will spend eternity in tormenting them with the
utmost strength and cruelty that devils are capable of. They are, as it were, continually and
eternally tearing these poor damned souls that are in their hands. And these latter will not only be hated and
tormented by devils, but they will have no love or pity one towards another,
but will be like devils one to another, and will, to their utmost, torment each
other, being like brands in the fire, each of which helps to burn the others.
In hell all those principles will reign and rage that are
contrary to love, without any restraining grace to keep them within
bounds. Here will be unrestrained
pride, and malice, and envy, and revenge, and contention in all its fury and
without end, never knowing peace. The
miserable inhabitants will bite and devour one another, as well as be enemies
to God, and Christ, and holy beings.
Those who, in their wickedness on earth, were companions together, and
had a sort of carnal friendship one for another, will here have no appearance
of fellowship; but perfect and continual and undisguised hatred will exist
between them. As on earth they promoted
each other’s sins, so now in hell they will promote each other’s
punishment. On earth they were the
instruments of undoing each other’s souls—there they were occupied in blowing
up the fires of each other’s lusts, and now they will blow for ever the fires
of each other’s torments. They ruined
one another in sinning, setting bad examples to each other, poisoning each
other by wicked talk, and now they will be as much engaged in tormenting, as
once they were in tempting and corrupting each other.
And there their hatred and envy, and all evil passions,
will be a torment to themselves. God
and Christ, whom they will hate most, and toward whom their souls will be as
full of hatred as an oven is ever full of fire, will be infinitely above their
reach, dwelling in infinite blessedness and glory which they cannot
diminish. And they will but torment
themselves by their fruitless envy of the saints and angels in heaven, whom
they cannot come nigh to or injure. And
they shall have no pity from them or from any one, for hell is looked on only
with hatred, and with no pity or compassion.
And thus they will be left to spend their eternity together.
Now consider, all ye that are out of Christ, and that were
never born again, and that never had any blessed renovation of your hearts
by the Holy Spirit implanting divine love in them, and leading you to choose
the happiness that consists in holy love as your best and sweetest good, and to
spend your life in struggling after holiness,—consider your danger, and what is
before you. For this is the world to
which ye are condemned; and so the world to which you belong through the
sentence of the law; and the world that every day and hour you are in danger of
having your abode everlastingly fixed in; and the world to which, if you repent
not, you will soon go, instead of going to that blessed world of love of which
you have now heard. Consider, oh!
consider, that it is indeed thus with you.
These things are not cunningly-devised fables, but the great and
dreadful realities of God’s Word, and things that, in a little while, you will
know with everlasting certainty are true.
How, then, can you rest in such a state as you are in, and go about so
carelessly from day to day, and so heedless and negligent of your precious,
immortal souls? Consider seriously
these things, and be wise for yourself, before it is too late; before your feet
stumble on the dark mountains, and you fall into the world of wrath and hatred,
where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, with spiteful
malice and rage against God, and Christ, and one another, and with horror and
anguish of spirit for ever. Flee to the
stronghold while ye are prisoners of hope, before the door of hope is closed,
and the agonies of the second death shall begin their work, and your
eternal doom is sealed!
If heaven be such a blessed world, then let it be our
chosen country, and the inheritance that we look for and seek. Let us turn our course this way, and press
on to its possession. It is not
impossible but that this glorious world may be obtained by us. It is offered to us. Though it be so excellent and blessed a
country, yet God stands ready to give us an inheritance there, if it be but the
country that we desire, and will choose, and diligently seek. God gives us our choice. We may have our inheritance wherever we
choose it, and may obtain heaven if we will but seek it by patient continuance
in well-doing. We are all of us, as it
were, set here in this world as in a vast wilderness, with diverse countries
about it, and with several ways or paths leading to these different countries,
and we are left to our choice what course we will take. If we heartily choose heaven, and set our
hearts entirely on that blessed Canaan—that land of love, and if we choose and
love the path that leads to it, we may walk in that path; and if we continue to walk in it, it will
lead us to heaven at last.
Let what we have heard of the land of love stir us all up
to turn our faces toward it, and bend our course thitherward. Is not what we have heard of the happy state
of that country, and the many delights that are in it, enough to make us thirst
after it, and to cause us, with the greatest earnestness and steadfastness of
resolution, to press towards it, and spend our whole lives in traveling in the
way that leads thither? What joyful
news might it well be to us when we hear of such a world of perfect peace and holy
love, and to hear that it is possible, yea, that there is full opportunity, for
us to come to it, and spend an eternity in its joys! Is not what we have heard of that blessed world enough to make us
weary of this world of pride, and malice, and contention, and perpetual jarring
and jangling, a world of confusion, a wilderness of hissing serpents, a
tempestuous ocean, where there is no quite rest, where all are for themselves,
and selfishness reigns and governs, and all are striving to exalt themselves,
regardless of what becomes of others, and all are eager after worldly good,
which is the great object of desire and contention, and where men are
continually annoying, and calumniating, and reproaching, and otherwise injuring
and abusing one another—a world full of injustice, and oppression, and
cruelty—a world where there is so much treachery, and falsehood, and
fickleness, and hypocrisy, and suffering, and death—where there is so little
confidence in mankind, and every good man has so many failings, and has so much
to render him unlovely and uncomfortable, and where there is so much of sorrow,
and guilt, and sin in every form.
Truly this is an evil world, and so it is like to be. It is in vain for us to expect that it will
be any other than a world of sin, a world of pride and enmity and strife, and
so a restless world. And though the
times may hereafter be mended, yet these things will always be more or less
found in the world so long as it stands.
Who, then, would content himself with a portion in such a world? What man, acting wisely and considerately,
would concern himself much about laying up in store in such a world as this,
and would not rather neglect the world, and let it go to them that would take
it, and apply all his heart and strength to lay up treasure in heaven, and to
press on to that world of love? What
will it signify for us to hoard up great possessions in this world; and how can
the thought of having our portion here be pleasing to us, when there is an
interest offered us in such a glorious world as heaven is, and especially when,
if we have our portion here, we must, when the world has passed away, have our
eternal portion in hell, that world of hatred, and of endless wrath of God,
where only devils and damned spirits dwell?
We all naturally desire rest and quietness, and if we
would obtain it, let us seek that world of peace and love of which we have now
heard, where a sweet and blessed rest remaining for God’s people. If we get an interest in that world, then,
when we have done with this, we shall leave all our cares, and troubles, and
fatigues, and perplexities, and disturbances for ever. We shall rest from these storms that are
raging here, and from every toil and labor, in the paradise of God. You that are poor, and think yourself
despised by your neighbors and little cared for among men, do not much concern
yourselves for this. Do not care much
for the friendship of the world; but seek heaven, where there is no such thing
as contempt, and where none are despised, but all are highly esteemed and
honored, and dearly beloved by all. You
that think you have met with many abuses, and much ill-treatment from others,
care not for it. Do not hate them for
it, but set your heart on heaven, that world of love, and press toward that better
country, where all is kindness and holy affection. And here for direction how to seek heaven,
First, Let not your
heart go after the things of this world, as your chief good. Indulge not yourself in the possession of
earthly things, as though they were to satisfy your soul. This is the reverse of seeking heaven; it is
to go in a way contrary to that which leads to the world of love. If you would seek heaven, your affections
must be taken off from the pleasures of the world. You must not allow yourself in sensuality, or worldliness, or the
pursuit of the enjoyments or honors of the world, or occupy your thoughts or
time in heaping up the dust of the earth.
You must mortify the desires of vain-glory, and become poor in spirit
and lowly in heart.
Second, You must, in
your meditations and holy exercises, be much engaged in conversing with
heavenly persons, and objects, and enjoyments.
You cannot constantly be seeking heaven, without having your thoughts
much there. Turn, then, the stream of
your thoughts and affections towards that world of love, and towards the God of
love that dwells there, and toward the saints and angels that are at Christ’s
right hand. Let your thoughts, also, be
much on the objects and enjoyments of the world of love. Commune much with God and Christ in prayer,
and think often of all that is in heaven, of the friends who are there, and the
praises and worship there, and of all that will make up the blessedness of that
world of love. “Let your conversation
be in heaven.”
Third, Be content
to pass through all difficulties in the way to heaven. Though the path is before you, and you may
walk in it if you desire, yet it is a way that is ascending, and filled with
many difficulties and obstacles. That
glorious city of light and love is, as it were, on the top of a high hill or
mountain, and there is no way to it but by upward and arduous steps. But though the ascent be difficult, and the
way full of trials, still it is worth your while to meet them all for the sake
of coming and dwelling in such a glorious city at last. Be willing, then, to undergo the labor, and
meet the toil, and overcome the difficulty.
What is it all in comparison with the sweet rest that is at your
journey’s end? Be willing to cross the
natural inclination of flesh and blood, which is downward, and press onward and
upward to the prize. At every step it
will be easier and easier to ascend; and the higher your ascent, the more will
you be cheered by the glorious prospect before you, and by a nearer view of that
heavenly city where in a little while you shall for ever be at rest.
Fourth, In all your
way let your eye be fixed on Jesus, who has gone to heaven as your
forerunner. Look to him. Behold his glory in heaven, that a sight of
it may stir you up the more earnestly to desire to be there. Look to him in his example. Consider how, by patient continuance in
well-doing, and by patient endurance of great suffering, he went before you to
heaven. Look to him as your mediator,
and trust in the atonement which he has made, entering into the holiest of all
in the upper temple. Look to him as
your intercessor, who for ever pleads for you before the throne of God. Look to him as your strength, that by his
Spirit he may enable you to press on, and overcome every difficulty of the
way. Trust in his promises of heaven to
those that love and follow him, which he has confirmed by entering into heaven
as the head, and representative, and Savior of his people. And,
Fifth, If you
would be in the way to the world of love, see that you live a life of love—of
love to God, and love to men. All of us
hope to have part in the world of love hereafter, and therefore we should
cherish the spirit of love, and live a life of holy love here on earth. This is the way to be like the inhabitants
of heaven, who are now confirmed in love for ever. Only in this way can you be like them in excellence and
loveliness, and like them, too, in happiness, and rest, and joy. By living in love in this world you may be
like them, too, in sweet and holy peace, and thus have, on earth, the
foretastes of heavenly pleasures and delights.
Thus, also, you may have a sense of the glory of heavenly things, as of
God, and Christ, and holiness; and your heart be disposed and opened by holy
love to God, and by the spirit of peace and love to men, to a sense of the
excellence and sweetness of all that is to be found in heaven. Thus shall the windows of heaven be as it
were opened, so that its glorious light shall shine in upon your soul. Thus you may have the evidence of your
fitness for that blessed world, and that you are actually on the way to its
possession. And being thus made meet,
through grace, for the inheritance of the saints in light, when a few more days
shall have passed away, you shall be with them in their blessedness for
ever. Happy, thrice happy those, who
shall thus be found faithful to the end, and then shall be welcomed to the joy
of their Lord! There “they shall hunger
no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any
heat. For the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them, and lead them to living fountains of
waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”
Home: www.preciousheart.net or www.preciousheart.net/heaven
See:
Heaven: Treasures of
Our Everlasting Rest
Heart of the Living God: Love, Free Will, Foreknowledge, Heaven
[1] Tryon Edwards in the introduction to Jonathan Edwards’ Love and Its Fruits (lectures on 1 Corinthians 13; edited from the original manuscripts with an introduction by Tryon Edwards; Carlisle, PN: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2000; 1st 1852; printed in Finland by WS. Bookwell): v.