462 THE BLESSED ESTATE OF THEM [ReV. XIY. 13.
our ear hath received a little thereof, let me endeavour to lay it before you. In blessedness there must be : — (1.) A removal of all evils ; (2.) A coacervation, and complete presence of all goods.
(1.) A removal of evil. As long as the least evil continues, a man is not blessed, only less miserable. Haman had all things that a carnal heart could wish for ; he guided the affairs of one hundred and twenty })rovinces ; only he wanted Mordecai's knee : therefore he saith, all this avails me nothing. Ahab had the kingdom of Israel, and yet falls sick for want of Naboth's vineyard. In engines of war, if one peg be missing, or out of order, all stops. In the body of man, if one humour be out of order, or joint broken, it is enough to make us ill at ease, though all the rest be sound and whole ; so if there be the least evil, a man cannot be a completely happy man. Well, then, from this blessed estate of the dead in the Lord, all evil is removed. Now evil is two- fold— either of sin or punishment : in heaven there is neither.
(1st.) To begin with sin, that is the worst evil ; affliction is evil, but it is not evil in itself, but only in our sense and feeling ; but sin is evil whether we feel it or no ; it is worst when we feel it not. That is evil which separates from the chiefest good. Affliction doth not separate from God ; it is a means and occasion to make us draw near to him. Many had never been acquainted with God but for their afflictions; but sin sejmrates from God : Isa. lix. 2, ' Your iniquities have separated,' &c. Let a man be never so loathsome, yet if he be in a state of grace he is dear to God, the Lord takes pleasure in him ; though he should be rough-cast with ulcers and sores, in a prison, yet God will kiss him with the kisses of his mouth : there is nothing loath- some and odious to God but sin. This grieves the saints most : Rom. vii. 23, ' 0 wretched man that I am,' &c. If any man had cause to complain of afflictions, Paul had ; in perils often, in perils by land, in perils by sea, in perils by enemies, in perils by false brethren, whipped, imprisoned, stoned ; but he doth not ciy out, When shall I be delivered from these afflictions ? but this body of death I Lust troubled him more than scourges, and his captivity to the law of sin more than chains and prisons. This is the disposition of the saints : they are weary of the world, because they are sinning here whilst others are glorifying God ; not only that they are suii'ering here, whilst others are enjoying God. A beast will forsake the place where he hath neither meat nor rest ; carnal men, when they are beaten out of the world, have a fancy to heaven as a place of retreat ; but that which troubles godly men is their sin. Well, now, in heaven there is no sin, there is neither spot nor wrinkle upon the face of glorified saints, Eph. v. 27. They were once as black as you, but now Christ presents them to God as a proof of the cleansing virtue of his blood. There they are freed from all sin ; here with much ado we mortify our lust, and yet nature will be ever recoiling ; as the ivy in the wall, cut it never so much, it will be break- ing out again. It is much here if the dominion of sin be taken away ; there the being of it is abolished ; the glorified saints displease God no more, and are freed from all the immediate and in.separable conse- quences of original sin, from distractions in duty. Here love is not per- fect, and therefore the soul cannot be fixed in the contemplation of God, and that is the reason of wandering thoughts ; but there the heart
Rev. XIV. 13.] that die in the lord. 463
cleaves to him without stra<]:gling ; from pride, which lasts as long as life, and therefore called ' pride of life,' 1 John ii. 16. We cannot have a revelation now, but we grow proud of it : nor an influence of grace, but it lifts us up, 2 Cor. xii. 2. There is a worm in manna: but there, when we are most high, we are most humble. Christians, is not this a blessed hope, that tells you of a sinless state, of being like Christ for purity and holiness? 1 John iii. 2, ' We shall see him as he is, for we shall be like unto him.' What is it that you have struggled with and groaned under all your lives but sin ? Now that is blotted out when the days of refreshing come ; and as there is no sin, so there are no temptations. In paradise there was a tempter, but not in heaven; Satan was long since cast out thence, and the saints fill up the vacant rooms of the apostate angels. The world is a place of snares, a valley of temptations ; it is the devil's circuit. Where did he walk to and fro but in the earth ? But into heaven nothing enters that defiles, Rev. xxi. 27: no serpent can creep in there. Christians, lift up your heads ; you will get rid of sin and displease God no more : here we cry, ' Lord, deliver us from evil ;' and there our cries are heard at the full. Grace weakeneth sin, but glory abolisheth it, and old Adam is left in the grave never to rise more.