IsA. XXV. 8.j BETWEEN CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH. 485
We are subject to wrong ourselves, both good and bad : for the good think, if they be iu misery, they shall be ever so ; the bad, if they be in pros- perity, they shall always be so, and they bless themselves in it. Now the joy of the hypocrites is as the ' crackling of thorns,' Eccl. vii. 6, and the grief of the godly is but short. And therefore let not the wicked fool them- selves with gi-oundless hopes, nor the godly vex themselves with needless fears ; but put off conceitedness of the long continuance of troubles. Time is but short, and ere long God ' will wipe away all tears from om- eyes.' No mists, no clouds, shall be extended to heaven. The state in heaven shall be like the state of heaven, and there is no cloud there, but all pure, all serene. Therefore in Christianity consider not their beginning but their ends. ' Mark the end of the upright, for the end of the upright is peace,' Ps. xxxvii. 37. Ways have their commendation from the term in which they end. ' If by any means I may attain the resm-rection of the dead,' saith Paul, Philip, iii. 11. Through thick and thin, fair and foul, rugged winds, dry or bloody death ; if by any means I may come to the resurrec- tion of the dead, the first degi'ee of glory, all is well. It is a good way that ends well, Non qua, sed quo. Consider not what way he brings us to heaven, but whither he brings us. If he bring us to heaven through a valley of tears, it is no matter ; for in heaven ' all tears shall be wiped from our eyes.' And therefore Christianity is called wisdom. ' And this wisdom is justified of her children,' Mat. xi. 19. What is the chiefest point of wisdom ? To look home to the end, and to direct all means to that end. He is wise that is wise for eternit3^ The wicked will have their payment here. ' But woe to them that laugh, for they shall mourn,' saith Christ, Luke vi. 25. They will not stay for ground of joy hereafter, but will have present pajnnent. But though the ways of Christians be foul, and wet with tears, yet blessed are they ; for God ' will wipe away all tears from their eyes.' ' Comfort one another with these words,' 1 Thess. iv. 18.
THE SIXTH SERMON.
And he shall swallow up death in victory; and God icill wipe away tears from all faces; that the rebukes of his people may be taken away from off the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. — Isa. XXV. 8.
You have heard heretofore of ^ feast provided for God's people, the founder of it being God himself, who only can indeed comfort (that which is spe- cially to be comforted) the soul and the conscience, he being above the conscience. The |)/ac^ where the feast is kept is 'mount Zion,' the church of God. The delicacies are described by ' fat things, wine refined on the lees,' &c. The best of the best that can be thought of, which is Christ with all his benefits ; who is bread indeed, and drink indeed, that cherisheth and nourisheth the soul to life everlasting. And because there should be nothing to disturb the solemnity of the feast, he promises to ' destroy the face of covering,' 'to take away the veil spread over all nations,' the veil of ignorance and infidelity, to shine upon the soul, and fill it full of know- ledge and heavenly comfort. And because there can be no comfort where death is feared, being the greatest enemy in this life, therefore he will ' swallow up death in victory,' and all that makes way for death, or attends death. And when this is taken away, all the attendants vanish with it, * God will wipe away all tears from all faces.' Because the best things
488 THE MARRIAGE FEAST [SeRMON VI.
have not the best entertainment in the world, nor the best persons, God promiscth that the rebukes of his people shall be taken away from off the earth ; what they are they shall be known to be. These be very great matters, and therefore there is a great confirmation, they have a seal, and what is that ? ' The Lord hath spoken it.'
The last day I shewed that God's children shall shed tears, and that they have cause to do it. I will now enlarge it a little.
It is the condition of men since the fall. In paradise before there was no cause of tears, nothing was out of joint, all in frame. There was no sin, therefore no sorrow, therefore no apprehension of sorrow. And so in heaven there shall be no tears, because no cause of it ; they shall be as far from heaven as the cause. This life is a valley of tears, a life of misery, and therefore we shed tears here. And we want no cause of it as long as sin is in the world, and sorrow, and misery that followeth sin ; our own sins and the sins of others, our own miseries and the miseries of others. And surely a child of God finds this the greatest cause of mourning in this world, that he hath a principle in him always molesting him in the service of God. He cannot serve God with that cheerfulness. His unfcelingness, that he cannot be so sensible of God, dishonoured by himself and others, is his burden. He is grieved that he cannot grieve enough. He can find tears for other things, matter of this enough, as the heathen man could say (/). A man loseth his estate, and hath tears for them ; but forceth tears for other things which are the true ground of gi'ief. A child of God hath a remainder of corruptions, which puts him on to offend against God, and hinders him in his ser\ace, in the liberty and cheerfulness of it. And this he complains of with Paul and others, ' Miserable man that I am,' not for his affliction, though that was much, but ' who shall deliver me from this body of death ? ' Kom. vii. 24.