3. Their future destinies —
[For them is prepared a throne of glory, on which they shall reign for ever and ever in the presence of their God : and the very angels in heaven are waiting, as it were, with eager expectation, to instal them there : nor do they ever execute a commission with sublimer joy than when sent down from heaven to receive a departing spirit, and to bear him on their wings into the realms of bliss. Let a minister view his people in this light, and contemplate what they shall shortly be — the very angels not so exalted, or so near their God, as they1; and must he not rejoice? The very stones would cry out against him, if his heart did not leap for joy at such a
h ver. 6 — 8.
1 Rev. v. 1 1 . The angels are round about the elders.
thought as this. To expatiate upon the glory of that state is needless: suffice it to say, that every glorified saint will be filled with bliss according to the utmost extent of his capacity, and that without alloy, or intermission, or end : and for this it is, that the minister is preparing them with tender assiduity and incessant care : and well may he water these plants with joy, when he recollects whose planting they are, and where they shall grow to all eternity.]
His joy, however, is mixed with affectionate soli- citude ; as will be seen, whilst we consider,
II. The great object which he aims at in all his inter- course with them — In his absence from them will he pray to God in their behalf; yea, " very exceedingly k" will he pray for them : (for this is the best test and evidence of love :) and, when he shall have again the happiness of ministering unto them, he will labour to advance their every grace, but chiefly " their faith." This (their faith), I say, he will particularly endeavour to increase1, and to extend to the uttermost,
1. Its realizing views —
[Men imagine, that an assent to the truth of the Gospel is faith : but such a faith as that may be no better than the faith of devils ; of whom it is said, that they " believe and tremble." But true " faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen :" it gives a reality to things invisible and future, as if they were actually before our eyes. It does not merely acknowledge our fall, and our recovery by Christ ; but it brings them home with power to the mind, so as to produce a suitable feeling of those truths in our souls. Let us suppose a sepulchre opened before us, and all its nauseous and offensive contents exhibited to our view : we may easily conceive what disgust we should feel : yet is it no other feeling than what a believing apprehension of our own inward corruptions will create in our souls ; insomuch, that we shall "lothe ourselves," yea, and "abhor ourselves, even as holy Job did, in dust and ashes." We may form some idea, too, what our feelings would be, if we were shipwrecked, and saw the boat, to which we were about to commit ourselves, stored with such necessary articles as the impending danger
k This seems to be the force of the word vTrepeKTvepiaaov. See also Phil. iv. 12.
J See Phil. i. 25. and 2 Thess. i. 11, 12.
2199.] a minister's joy in his people. 815
would admit of, and by the help of which we hoped to reach a place of safety. Such is the light in which faith will present the Lord Jesus Christ to our view. Our lost state by nature and practice we shall feel, together with the absolute impossi- bility of preserving ourselves by any thing that we can do. We shall see the Saviour offering himself to us as the means afforded us by God for our deliverance ; and we shall with eager solicitude commit ourselves to him, if peradventure we may escape the perils of the sea, and reach in safety our destined port. The whole work of salvation will become a reality, in which all the emotions of hope and fear will be roused, and the utmost efforts of our souls be called into activity. Nay, it is not merely the alternative of life or death that will press upon us, but the infinitely more fearful alternative of heaven or hell ; of heaven, with all it glory ; or hell, with all its terrors. I need not say how the sight of such things operates in relation to the body : and surely a realizing view of them by faith will not operate less powerfully in rela- tion to the soul. To this state, then, a minister will labour to bring his people, that they may have the most vivid apprehen- sions of divine truths, and live under an impression of them as strong as if they were actually made visible before their eyes.]