Ah ! your portion is below, and you are already adjudged to those tor- ments that are endless, easeless, and remediless, where the worm never dies, and the fire never goes out, Rev. xiv. 11. The day is coming upon you, sinners, when all your sweet shall be turned into bitter; all your glory into shame ; all your plenty into scarcity ; all your joys into sot rows; all your recreations into vexations ; and all your momentany comforts into everlasting torments.
Now you reign as kings, you look big, you speak proudly, you carry it highly, you walk contemptuously ; but there is an after-reckoning a-coming that will appal you, and torture you for ever.
The time of this life is your summer; but there is a winter a-coming upon you that shall never have end. God could not be just if your w< >rst were not yet to come; neither could he be just if the saints' best were not vet tocome. The timeof this lifeis thesaints'liell.and the sinners' heaven ; but the next life will be the saints' heaven, and the sinners' hell. But,
(2.) Secondly, Then patiently wait for the enjoyment of those great things that ore reserved for yon- in heaven. Men will wait, and wait long, for some outward good ; and will not vou for the best and greatest good ? Are there not many things that speak out the greatness of that glory that is reserved for you ? as the price that Christ hath paid for it, and the great and glorious things by which it is shadowed out to us ? as I a man, Jerusalem, paradise ; and the dignity of the inhabitants, there being none admitted underthedegreeof a king ;aud thegreatand glorious earnest of the Spirit; and the great care, cost, and charge that God hath 1 Chrysologus, Serm. 121.
1 Peter I. 4.] a string of pearls. 441
been at to prepare and fit souls for the enjoyment of it.1 What do all these things speak out, but that the glory that is reserved for believers is great glory; and is it not then worth a waiting for ? Let not Satan's slaves wait more patiently for a few ounces of gold, than you do for the kingdom of heaven.
Again, as the things reserved for you in heaven are great, and there- fore wait, so they are certain and sure ; and therefore wait, oh patiently wait for the enjoyment of them ! Heb. vi. 16-19. When the beggar at the door is sure of speeding, he will wait patiently, he will wait unweariedly. The glorious things reserved in heaven for you, they are made sure and certain to you by word, by covenant, by oath, by blood, by the earnest, by the first-fruits, and by Christ's taking possession of them in your rooms, in your steads, Eph. ii. 6, John xiv. 1-4 ; therefore patiently wait for the enjoyment of them. O Christians ! it is but a very short time that God hath proposed to be between grace and glory, between our title to the crown and our wearing the crown ; between our right to the heavenly inheritance, and our possession of the heavenly inheritance. Ah, Christians ! bear up bravely, bear up sweetly, bear up patiently, for it will be but a little, little, little while, before he that shall come will come, and will not tarry, Heb. x. 35-37, ^' 7«f iii%(ov oeov 6gov; and when he doth come, he will not come vacuis manibus, empty- handed ; no, when he comes, he brings his reward with him; Rev. xxii. 1 2 ; when he comes, he will reward thee for every prayer that thou hast made, and for every sermon that thou hast heard, and for every tear that thou hast shed, and for every hour that thou hast patiently waited ; and therefore wait patiently till the promised crown be set upon thy head. But,
(3.) Thirdly, If the best things are reserved for believers till they come to heaven, oh then, let no believer envy nor be troubled at the outward prosperity and felicity of the men of the world. What is darkness to light, chaff to wheat, dross to gold, gall to honey, pebbles to pearls, earth to heaven ? No more is all the glory and felicity that wicked men have in possession to those great and glorious things that saints have in reversion ; and therefore, O believer, let not wicked men's prosperity be thy calamity !2
There is a truth in that saying of Chrysostom,3 prwstat serpentem provolutum in visceribus habere, quam invidiam, a man were better have a serpent tumbling in his bowels than envy ; for if a serpent have food given it, it will not feed upon a man ; but the more food is given to envy, the more it gnaweth him in whose bowels it is. It is the jus- tice of envy to kill and torment the envious. Envy, it tortures the affections, it vexes the mind, it inflames the blood, it corrupts the heart, it wastes the spirits ; and so it becomes man's tormentor and man's executioner at once. Take heed, Christians, take heed of an envious eye, for that usually looks upon other men's enjoyments through a multiplying glass, and so makes them appear greater and bigger than they are; and this increases torment, this often makes a hell.
It is reported of Panormitanus, that a question being asked before
1 Rev. xxi. ; i. 5, 6 ; Eph. i. 13. 14 ; Col. i. 12.
2 Ps. xxxvii. 1 ; lxxiii. 3-7 ; Job xxi. 7-13 ; Jer. xii. 1, 2. 8 Chrys. in ii. ad Corin. Homil. xix.
442 A STRING OF TEARLS. [1 PETER I. 4.
king Frederick, what was good for the eye-sight, and the physicians answering some one thing, some another, Sannizarius answered, that envy was very good ; at which the company smiling, he gave this reason for it, because that envy makes all things appear bigger than they are. Ah, Christians! envy is a serpent, a devil, that should be abhorred and shunned more than hell itself. O Christian! with what heart canst thou envy wicked men's prosperity and worldly felicity, if thou dost but look up to thine own glory, and seriously consider of their Bad reckoning and future calamity? Dives was one day rustling in his purple robes, riches, and worldly glory, and the next day he was rolling and roaring in the flames of hellish misery ; and how soon this may be the portion of those thou enviest, who can tell? and therefore rather pity them than envy them. None need more prayer and pity than those that want hearts, than those that have neither skill nor will to pity themselves, to pray for themselves ; and such are wicked men under their outward prosperity and worldly glory, Job xxi. 7-20. But,