(3.) Thirdly, It is a permanent, a lasting, inheritance :2 ' To an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.' The Greek word apagavTog is the proper name of a flower, which is still fresh and green after it hath a long time hung up in the house. It is an in- heritance that shall continue as long as God himself continues. Of this inheritance there shall be no end. Though other inheritances may be lasting, yet they are not everlasting ; though sometimes it be long- before they have an end, yet they have an end. Where is the glory of the Chaldean, Persian, Grecian, and Roman kingdoms ? Sic transit gloria mundi ; but the glory of believers shall never fade nor wither ; it shall never grow old nor rusty : J Pet. v. 4, ' And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory, which fadeth not away.' A believer's inheritance, his glory, his happiness, his bless- edness, shall be as fresh and flourishing after he hath been many thou- sand thousands of years in heaven as it was at his first entrance into it. Earthly inheritances are like tennis-balls, which are bandied up and down from one to another, and in time wore out, 1 Tim. vi. 17. The creature is all shadow and vanity ; it is filia noctis, like Jonah's gourd. Man can sit under its shadow but a little, little while ; it soon decays and dies ; it quickly fades and withers. There is a worm at the root of all earthly inheritances, that will consume them in time. All earthly comforts and contents are but like a fair picture that is drawn upon the ice, which continueth not ; or like the morning cloud, that soon passeth away ; but a believer's inheritance endureth for ever. When
1 Heb. vi. 12-20 ; Rom. viii. 33, 39 ; Eph. ii. 6 ; John xiv. 1-3, x. 27-30. If this in- heritance were not kept for us, it might haply go the same way paradise did.
2 Daniel ii. 44, vii. 27 ; Heb. xii. 27, 28 ; 2 Peter i. 11.
412 A STRING OF PEARLS. [1 PETER I. 4.
this world shall be no more, when time shall be no more, the inherit- ance of the saints shall be fresh, flourishing, and continuing. Nescio quid erit, quod, ista vita non erit, ubi lucet, quod non capiat locus, ubi sonat, quod non rapit tempus, ubi olet, quod non spargit flatus, ubi sap>it, quod non minuit edacitas, ubi hceret, quod non divellit ceternitas, said Augustine ; what will that life be, or rather what will not that life be, since all good either is not at all, or is in such a life ? Light, which place cannot comprehend; voices and music, which time cannot ravish away; odours, which are never dissipated; a feast, which is never consumed; a blessing, which eternity bestoweth, but eternity si i all never see at an end. So this, all this, is the heritage of all God's Jacobs.
(4.) Fourthly, It is the freest inheritance. It is an inheritance that is free from all vexation and molestation. There shall be no sin to molest the soul, nor no devil to vex the soul. ' There shall be no pricking brier nor grieving thorn unto the house of Israel/ Ezek. xxviii. 24 ; there shall be no Jebusites to be ' as pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides,' Num. xxxiii. 55. There shall be no crying, Oh my bones ! oh my bowels ! oh the deceit of this man ! oh the oppression of that man ! &c. No ; they shall have a crown without thorns, a rose without prickles, and an inheritance without the least encumbrance. This inheritance flows from free love, and is freely offered, though the soul hath neither money nor money-worth. There is nothing, there is not the least thing about this inheritance that is purchased or paid for by us, Isa. lv. 1, 2. It is all frank, it is all free, it is all of grace. Here is such an inheritance that no eye ever saw, that no mortal ever pos- sessed ; and that for nothing.1 It is freely offered, and it is freely given : Acts xx. 32, ' And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.' All is mercy, all is of free mercy, that God alone may have the glory. Other inheritances they have their encumbrances. Oh the vexations, the molestations that do attend them ! Oh the debates, the disputes, the law-suits that are about earthly inheritances, such as have made many a man to go with a heavy heart, an empty purse, and a thread-bare coat ; which made Themistocles profess, that if two ways were shewed him, one to hell, and the other to the bar, he would decline that which did lead to the bar, and choose that which went to hell.2
(5.) Fifthly, It is an inheritance that is universally communicable ;3 to Jews, to Gentiles ; to bond, to free ; to rich, to poor ; to high, to low ; to male, to female : Gal. iii. 28, 29, ' There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus ;' ' And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abra- ham's seed, and heirs according to the promise,' Rom. viii. 17. Among men, all sons and daughters be not heirs, yet all God's children, be they sons, be they daughters, be they bond or free, &c, they are all heirs, without exception. Jehoshaphat gave his younger sons ' great gifts of
1 Rom. vii. 25; Isa. lxiv. 4 ; 1 Cor. ii. 9. * Plutarch, Themislocks.—G.
3 Acts x. 36; 1 Cor. xii. 13. Oh that excellent inheritance, saith Bernard, Non anys- tior mvltitudine kceredum, whose portions are not scanted by reason of the number and multitude of co-heirs.
I Peter I. 4.] a string of pearls. 413
silver and gold, and of precious things, with fenced cities, but the king- doms gave he to Jehoram, because he was the first-born,' 2 Chron. xxi. 3. And Abraham gave gifts to the rest of his sons, but Isaac only had the inheritance, Gen. xxv. 5, 6. In some countries all children be not heirs, but sons only; and in other countries not all sons, but the eldest son alone. Usually men divide their earthly inheritances. If all the sons be heirs, some inherit one place, others others; but here the whole inheritance is enjoyed by every child; here every child is an heir to all, and hath right to all. In earthly inheritances, the more you divide, the less is every one's part; but this inheritance is not diminished by the multitude of possessors, nor impaired by the number of co-heirs; it is as much to many as to a few, and as great to one as to all. Not a room, not a mansion, not a walk, not a flower, not a jewel, not a box of myrrh, but what is common to all; not a smile, not a good word, not a sweet look, not a robe, not a dish, not a delicate, not a pleasure, not a delight, but is universally communicable, and universally fit for all the thousands millions of thousands that are heirs of this inheritance. If there be a thousand together, every one sees as much of the sun, hears as much of the sound, smells as much of the sweet, as he should do if there were no more than himself alone ; so here.