I verily believe the saints here are like a stranger come
from the skirts of the kingdom to the chief city, who never saw anything
grand or noble all his life until he came there. When he comes to the palace
of the king, he is astonished to see the stately buildings, royal guards,
grand attendance, delightful walks, fragrant arbors, the palace garden, and
the noble personages who are admitted in. While gazing with wonder at the
external appearance, he is filled with surprise to think what must be
within. Rooms hung with fine tapestries, furniture gilt with gold, the
throne, the crown, the scepter, and the robes of state, and all the royal
inhabitants.
Even so the saints, who are charmed with the beauties of
the church below, which is the house of the living God, wonder what the
palace of the great King must be. For if the ordinances of his grace be
pleasant beyond comparison, what must the eternal overflowings of his love
be, in the land of his glory? If the exceeding great and precious promises,
and the scriptures of truth, be better than thousands of gold and silver,
what must the fulfilment of the one, and the subject of the other, be in the
world above? How may we, when we see the outwalks of our God, the goings of
our King in the sanctuary, wonder what the chamber of presence must be
above!
Happy, you who stand before him, and see him on his
throne, even face to face, not as we do, who only get a window-glimpse, and
through the dimming glass. What must the glory of the highest heaven be,
when such beauty beams in the created skies! What must that glory be that
supplies the absence of the sun! What must that beatific vision be which
changes the soul at its first entrance into it! What must those pleasures be
which ravish every moment! and those delights which surfeit not, even while
eternally enjoyed!
Surely that divine bliss is too sublime for nature's
light to know about, or see into; and revelation can tell but a little of
it, because of our carnality, and shallow knowledge of sacred things. Yes,
should the happiness of the blessed be described in the language used before
the throne, it would be too sublime to enter into a mortal ear. So that it
still holds true, that ear has not heard, eye has not seen, neither has it
entered into the heart of man to conceive—what God has laid up for his
saints. But such a portion is it, that faith in them makes them endure
hardships, patient under trouble, silent in affliction, joyful in
tribulation; to trample on worldly greatness, riches, honor, and renown; and
to endure all things, as seeing him who is invisible, and thus to wait for
his son from heaven!