"There, are those everlasting gardens
Where angels walk and seraphs are the wardens,
Where every flower, brought safe through death's dark portal,
Becomes immortal.
Each blooming bright,
Though some reflecting more of Heaven's all-glorious light."
"One star differs from another star in glory."—1 Cor.
15:41.
In that world of light, and love, and glory, all will
be supremely blessed. But it is a thoroughly scriptural view of the
happiness of the Redeemed in glory, to represent it, though the same in
kind, as differing in degree. The saints will be
classified—"enrolled in moral genealogies."
DIVERSITY is a law of God's universe. It extends to great
things as well as to little things. Some flowers are more beautiful than
others. Some intellects are more lofty than others. One planet in the skies
is of greater magnitude than another. There are gradations too in the
heavenly hierarchy. Angels and archangels—principalities and powers—"the
greatest and the least" in the kingdom of heaven.
And have we not reason also to believe that it will be so
with glorified saints? All, indeed, will have reached their thrones and
their crowns through "the only one way." We cannot speak of any of
that white-robed multitude as being more justified than others; for they
equally point, as the ground of their justification, to the finished work
and righteousness of their adorable Surety. They all equally feel that in
being saved they were "saved by grace"—that nothing but the blood of
that precious Lamb of God was between them and everlasting ruin! And just as
one law binds the planets and the atoms which compose them; so the one great
principle of love to Him who died for them, will bind together the vast
family of the ransomed, from the soaring Paul to the weeping Magdalene.
But the degree of the saints' happiness will be
regulated according to their advances in holiness. Our blessed Lord Himself
very emphatically enunciates this same truth, more especially in His parable
of the Talents, where the amount of the reward is in exact proportion to
diligence and fidelity in trading—a parable the lesson of which the great
Apostle has thus translated into one of his weighty aphorisms: "Whatever
a man sows, that shall he also reap," (Gal. 6:7.)
Works will form no plea or ground whatever for
acceptance before the throne. But while it is not said of the "blessed
dead" that their works "go before them," (as a passport to
their crowns;) it is said "their works do follow them," (Rev. 14:13.)
There will be a vast difference between the happiness of the man who had
done much for Christ on earth—who had long stood "a pillar in the temple of
God"—and that of the monument of grace who had just been plucked at the
eleventh hour "a brand from the burning."
As memory, we have reason to know, will form a fearful
element in the misery of the lost (Luke 16:25;) so, we may conclude, will
the exercise of the same ennobled faculty form an element of exalted bliss
in the case of the righteous and the saved. The recollection of all that we
have done out of love to the Savior, and to promote His cause on earth—the
sacrifices, little though they be, we have made for Him—the denial of self
for the furtherance of His glory—the affection we have borne to His
people—the pleasures we have forsworn and forgone for His sake—all such will
be matter of hallowed joy. Jesus will love to recount them—His words will
carry their approving echo through all eternity—"Inasmuch as you did it
to the least of these, you did it unto me." "You have been faithful over a
few things, I will make you ruler over many things," (Matt. 25:23, 40.)
But yet, with all this diversity in bliss and glory,
there will be no strife among the heavenly, as once among the earthly
disciples, as to "who should be the greatest." In this present world, the
race for distinction is limited and restricted; only a favored few can
attain pre-eminence. "They which run" (on earth) "a race, all run,
but only one receives the prize," (1 Cor. 9:24.) In Heaven, each will
receive his reward. The runner may be distanced in the earthly course by his
competitor—not so in the heavenly. "In the race for most worldly objects,
one who has prepared himself, however well, runs uncertainly, since,
after all his exertions, another may outstrip him; whereas he who aids a
brother in striving for the incorruptible crown, is ever benefitting
Himself," (Whately.) There will be crowns with varying luster, and harps of
varying tone; but, like the blending of different colors to the eye, or
different notes to the ear, all will be pervaded by one beautiful harmony.
The saint on the loftiest pinnacle of glory, and the saint on the outskirts
of the spiritual horizon, will have the same confession—"We are all one in
Christ Jesus."
There will, moreover, be a felt and acknowledged
equity in this future retribution. The grace or virtue most assiduously
cultivated by the believer on earth, will, (in subordination to God's
glory,) be the main channel of his happiness in heaven. In the words of
Richard Baxter, "we shall join with Moses in his song—with David in his
psalm of praise. We shall see Enoch walking with God—Noah enjoying the end
of his singularity—Joseph of his integrity—Job of his patience—Hezekiah of
his uprightness, and all the saints the end of their faith."
On earth, the cultivation of particular branches of
knowledge brings a pleasure to their possessors which is denied to those
ignorant of them. The man, for example, who has cultivated the science of
music, is capable of enjoying the elaborate composition and exquisite
harmonies of some great master, in a way which another cannot do who has
neglected this study. So likewise in Heaven; we believe that whatever may
have been the tree of righteousness—the Christian grace or virtue or
labor—you have most assiduously nurtured and cultivated here, you will
through eternity encamp under its shadow and partake of its fruits. Whatever
were the desires to which your lips and your heart were most frequently
attuned below, you will resume with most intense pleasure amid the sublime
harmonies of "the new heavens and the new earth." Whatever kindled your
luster as an earthly star, that radiance will be perpetuated in the
celestial skies. Heaven will not extinguish your earthly tastes and
longings—your earthly energies and activities. As a luminous orb you will
still shine for God—not absorbing your light, but delighting to be a holy
medium in giving forth radiations to others. Not a volume bound up and put
under lock and key in the library of Heaven, but continued as a living
epistle to be read by other orders of intelligent beings. Not a life of
dreamy inaction—all its moral activities arrested on entering the
spirit-world, but occupied in true angel-work—endless ministries of love.
Jesus, knowing the tastes and capacities of His ransomed,
will delight to lead from fountain to fountain—from scene to scene—from
eminence to eminence, as He knows they will be severally able to appreciate
them.
Oh, what an incentive is this to be "up and doing"—to be
adding to your faith the bright catalogue of Christian graces! Seek an
"abundant entrance." It will be joy indeed, happiness far transcending
earth's happiest hours, to bask as a star on the outskirts of glory.
But why not be fired by the noble ambition to be near the all-glorious
Center? Your crown, given by grace and sprinkled with blood, can never
be dim, but why not strive now, that when the Lord the righteous judge shall
reward you, you may be "found unto praise, and honor, and
glory," at His second appearing?