True Happiness

Revelation 22:14. Blessed are they that do his Commandments, that they may have right to the Tree of Life, and may enter through the gates into the City.

These words which I have now read, consist of these two parts:

First, A proposition. And,

Secondly, A proof of this proposition.

First, A proposition, in these words, that they that do God's Commandments, are blessed.

Secondly, Here is the proof of this proposition, in these words, that they have a right to the Tree of Life, and shall enter through the gates into the City.

It is the connection of both these together, that I intend chiefly to speak to. Only give me leave, as a preliminary to the ensuing discourse, to show you what is contained in the first and great word in my text; and that is, the word Blessed.

There is therefore, a twofold beatitude, or blessedness: The one is perfect and consummate; the other initial and incomplete. The former is the completion of all good perfective of our natures, and our entire and satisfying enjoyment of it. This blessedness now is only attainable in Heaven; for God alone is the center of all good, and all the good that is desirable in this world, are but so many lines drawn from the center, to the utmost circumference of the creation. There is nothing that can supply the wants, perform the hopes, fulfill the desires, without confinement circumscribe, without cloying satisfy the most enlarged capacities of a rational soul, but only that God who is infinitely, universally, and indefectively good; and therefore he alone is our objective happiness: and our formal happiness is our relation to, and union with this all-comprehensive and incomprehensible good. Our assimilation to him, and participation from him, of all those perfections which our natures are capable of enjoying, but our understandings not now capable of knowing. But this consummate blessedness, is reserved for our unknown reward hereafter, and is not that which my text here speaks of.

There is therefore an imperfect and initial blessedness, which consists in a preparation for, and a tendency to the other: As those are [illegible] be accursed, whose sins [illegible] prepare them for eterna[illegible] so those likewise are [illegible] blessed, whose grace and holiness prepare them for eternal bliss and happiness.

Now such as these are blessed in a fourfold respect.

First, They are blessed, in Semine, in the seed: They go forth bearing precious seed, and shall doubtless rejoice in a plentiful harvest: So the Psalmist tells us, (Psalm 97:11) Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. And though they often appear clods of earth ploughed up, harrowed, and broken with affliction; yet is there that blessed seed cast into them, that will certainly sprout up to immortality, and eternal life, as all the beauties of a flower lie couched in a small unsightly seed: And so truly grace is glory in the seed; and glory is but grace full blown.

Secondly, They are blessed in primitiis, in the First-Fruits. They have already received some part of their eternal felicity, in the graces and consolations of the Holy Ghost; which are therefore called the First-Fruits of the Spirit, by the apostle, (Romans 8:23) and the earnest of the Spirit, (2 Corinthians 1:22) and the earnest of our inheritance, (Ephesians 1:14). Now, as the earnest is always part of the bargain, and the First-Fruits are always of the same kind with the whole harvest, so is it here; the graces and comforts of the Holy Ghost, are the very same now, that they shall be in Heaven itself: And therefore the apostle blesses God, who has blessed us with spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ. Better indeed they shall be in Heaven, but not other. Here our graces often languish under the load and pressure of corruption, but in Heaven they shall be for ever vigorous and triumphant: Here our waters of comfort often fail us, our cistern is often dried up, and our bottle spent; but in Heaven we shall for ever lie at the fountain of living waters, and take in divine communications, as they immediately flow from the divine essence, without having them deadened or flattened in the conveyance. But yet, both by these imperfect graces and comforts, we do truly and properly enjoy God; the enjoyment of whom in any measure is happiness, but in the highest measure is Heaven itself. If therefore the mass and lump be blessedness, the First-Fruits must be blessed also.

Thirdly, They are blessed in Spe, in hope; from which it is called by the apostle, That blessed hope. A blessed hope it is, because that which we hope for is eternal blessedness. The hope of worldly things is commonly more tormenting, than the enjoyment of them can be satisfying. It is a hope that vitiates and deflowers its object, and so mightily over-rates them in the fancy, that when they come to pass, our hope is rather frustrated than accomplished: And were it not for that impatience, which is the constant attendant of this hope, it would be a problem hard to be resolved, whether expectation or fruition were the more eligible estate. Vain therefore and wretched must needs be the hopes of those things, which cannot answer what is expected from them; like a golden dream to a beggar, or the dream of a furnished table to one that is hunger-starved. But now the hopes of Heaven can never impoverish the glories of it, for they are infinite and inexhaustible; and God has laid up for his, that which the heart of man cannot conceive.

A Christian's hope has two prerogatives above any worldly hope.

One is, That it may attain to a full and final assurance, as the apostle speaks to the Hebrews; where he calls it, The full assurance of hope to the end. A hope it is, because the object of it is a future good desired and expected. But yet it is a hope that is joined with a full assurance of the event; a hope that may flower up into such a certainty, as to have no mixture of fear or doubting in its composition; but may be as sure of the heavenly inheritance, as if our reversion were already in actual possession: Whereas worldly hope can never be secure, but some providence or other may interpose, to disappoint it.

The other prerogative of a Christian's hope, is, that though it be thus fully assured, yet the accomplishment of it shall always have the sweet relish of surprise and wonder; for the happiness will be far greater than the hope, and the inheritance larger than the expectation; whereas earthly hopes, if they grow to any degree of confidence of success, upon frustration they turn into impatience and rage: or if perhaps they do succeed, the sweetness of the accomplishment was long before sucked out and devoured by our greedy expectation; the game is torn and eaten, before the huntsman can come in. And upon both these accounts, the pious and obedient Christian is blessed in hope: it is a blessed hope that shall certainly be accomplished; and a blessed hope, the accomplishing of which shall infinitely exceed our expectations, and fill us, not with shame, but eternal admiration and wonder.

Fourthly, they are blessed in right and title: and upon this very account especially my text pronounces those blessed that do God's commandments, because they have a right to the tree of life, and to enter in through the gates into the city.

Now these expressions, according to the genius and style of this whole book, are mystical and allusive; and for the explaining of them I must show,

First, what the tree of life is.

Secondly, what is this city, into which they have a right to enter.

Thirdly, what it is to enter through the gates into the city.

Fourthly, what right it is which obedience to God's commandments gives us to the tree of life, and to enter into the city.

For the first of these, what this tree of life is?

I answer, we find mention made of this tree of life in two other places of this dark prophecy; the one is in verse 2 of this chapter: on either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bore twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. But this, very probably, may be only an enigmatical representation of the doctrine of the gospel; let us then consult the other place, where mention is made of this tree of life, and that is in (Revelation 2:7): To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life, that is in the midst of the paradise of God. Now this carries a plain allusion to that description of the earthly paradise of which we read, (Genesis 2:9), where it is said, God planted the tree of life in the midst of the garden. Now this tree of life was so called, not that it had any natural virtue to perpetuate man's life to immortality, but only from its typical and sacramental use; God having appointed the eating thereof as a sign and pledge of our immortality, had we continued in our innocence and obedience. And therefore we find, that upon the fall, God set a guard upon this tree, and as it were excommunicates sinful Adam from partaking of this sacrament of the covenant of works, which was both a sign and seal of immortality; signifying thereby, that sinners have no right to eternal life, according to the terms of the first covenant: but this right being again restored to us by Jesus Christ, therefore they are pronounced blessed that do God's commandments, because they have a right to the tree of life; that is, to that eternal life and immortality which is brought to light by the gospel, and to which the tree of life in paradise was a sacrament and emblem.

Secondly, let us inquire what is this city, into which those that do God's commandments shall enter? And we have a most large and glorious description made of it in chapter 21 of this book, from verse 10 to the end of the chapter, and, in brief, it is nothing else but heaven — the new Jerusalem, that holy city, the city of the living God, into which no unclean thing shall enter. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and idolaters, and whoever loves and makes a lie.

Thirdly, what is it to enter through the gates into this city?

I answer, though in the foregoing chapter this city is described to have twelve gates, and in them the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, to signify to us, that through the grace of the gospel, there is a passage and an inlet into heaven for all those that are true Israelites; yet, in true propriety of speech, there is but one way, and but one gate to heaven: indeed, and our Savior tells us, that way is narrow, and that gate is strait; for so we find his words — strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leads to life, and few there be that find it (Matthew 7:14). The commandments of God are this gate to the heavenly city, and the two tables of the law are the two leaves of this gate, through which every one must pass, that hopes to be admitted into the new Jerusalem. And although David seems to make this gate very large, when he tells us, your commandments are exceeding broad (Psalm 119:96); yet that is only to be understood concerning the authority of its injunctions, not of the liberty of its indulgence. It is exceeding broad in the extent of its preceptive power, for it prescribes rules to all our thoughts, words, and actions, and to every circumstance of each; but it is exceeding narrow and strait in the scope and allowance that it gives us; that as soon may a camel go through the eye of a needle, as we pass through this gate with the burden of one unmortified lust, or one unrepented sin.

But why is it said that those that do God's commandments may enter through the gates into the city? Can any enter in as a thief, or a robber, over the wall? Or can any, as an enemy, scale those eternal ramparts, and take it by invasion?

I answer: this is so expressed, to denote the free access and admission of those into heaven, who are careful to obey the commandments of God on earth: such as these are freeborn citizens of heaven; their whole estate, their whole traffic, all their treasure and livelihood is laid up there; they are free denizens by the charter of the new covenant, they may challenge ingress as their right and due; and he who has the keys of David, who opens and no man shuts, and shuts and no man opens, opens the door to these, and lets them into those eternal mansions, which he has purchased and prepared for them (Revelation 3:7).

The fourth and last query to be inquired into, is concerning that right which obedience to God's commands gives us to this tree of life, and to this heavenly city; that is, to eternal life and glory. Now here I shall branch out this query into two; and so I shall show you,

1. What that obedience is, which gives us a right to heaven.

2. What that right is, that this obedience does confirm.

1. What that obedience is, which gives us a right to Heaven.

I answer: It is not a legal obedience, or a perfect personal righteousness, that now gives us this right to Heaven; this is very plain, because to constitute this, it is necessary that there be both original purity in our natures, which since the Fall is miserably vitiated and corrupted; and also a sinless perfection in our lives, in the constant observation of every iota of the law, both as to its extension, and intention; that we obey it in every part and tittle of it, and that our obedience to every part be raised to the highest degree of love, zeal, and charity. This title was once good, but it is now lost, by the Fall, in the common ruin and rubbish of mankind; and he who has not another title, upon better and easier terms, will find Cherubim, and the flaming sword of divine justice, set to guard the tree of life from his approaches; as once they did from guilty Adam.

2. There is therefore another obedience which gives a right to the tree of life; and that is an evangelical obedience; which, according to the grace, condescension, and equity of the Gospel, shall be accepted to, and rewarded with everlasting happiness. Now this evangelical obedience consists not indeed in innocency and perfection, but in sincere desires, and proportionable endeavors after it; when we strive to the utmost to live holily, and to walk more strictly with God, according to the rules that he has prescribed us in his holy Word: And it consists of two parts; mortification of our corrupt and sinful affections, whereby we die daily to sin: And the spiritual [reconstructed: renovation], and quickening of our graces, whereby we increase daily in spiritual strength, and make further progress in holiness and true piety. And as it consists of these two parts, so has it also these two adjuncts.

1. The one is, true repentance for our past sins, reflecting upon them with shame and hatred, confessing and bewailing them with sorrow and contrition, and endeavoring, with all earnestness and sincerity, to abstain from the commission of the like for the future.

2. The other is, a true and lively faith, whereby we rely on the blood and satisfaction of Jesus Christ, for the remission of our sins; and upon his perfect righteousness, and prevalent intercession for the acceptation and reward of our imperfect obedience.

Whoever does thus sincerely do the commandments of God, universally and constantly, with his whole strength and mind, as though he expected to be saved by the merits of his own works; and yet, after all, does so entirely rely on the merits of Jesus Christ for salvation, as though he had never done any thing: He it is, and he alone, who has this right to the tree of [reconstructed: Life], and shall enter through the gates into the heavenly city. For he does his commandments out of a sincere love; and God, who is love, will own his sincerity.

Secondly, I come now to consider what that right is, which this evangelical obedience, or doing the commands of the [reconstructed: Law], according to the favor and mercy of the Gospel, does confer upon us, by virtue of which we may assuredly expect eternal life. And here,

1. It cannot be a right of purchase, or merit. It is a foolish presumption, and intolerable arrogance, to think we can deserve any thing at the hands of God, unless it be his wrath by our sins. For,

1. In all proper merit there must be an equivalence, or at least a proportion of worth between the work, and the reward: Which to imagine between our obedience, and the heavenly glory, is to exalt the one infinitely too high, and to abase the other infinitely too low. What proportion is there between a cup of cold water given to a disciple of Christ, and that ocean of everlasting joy and pleasure, which shall be the reward of it? A man might more reasonably expect to buy stars with counters, or to purchase a kingdom with two mites, than think to purchase the heavenly kingdom by paying down his duties, and good works, which are no way profitable to God, (For is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous; or is it any gain to him, that you make your way perfect?) and bear no more proportion to the infinite glory of Heaven, than a single cipher does to the numberless sands of the sea (Job 22:3).

2. The very grace that enables us to do the commandments of God, is freely bestowed upon us by himself; and therefore the obedience we perform to him, merely by his own assistance, cannot be said (without a grand impropriety) to merit any reward from him. Such kind of merit is but an idle and frivolous pretense: For certainly, he who gives me money to buy an estate of him, does as freely give me that estate, as if I had never bought it of him, but he had immediately bestowed the land upon me, and not the sum of [reconstructed: money].

3. All our obedience is imperfect, and therefore, if it deserve any thing, it is only punishment for the defects and failures of it. This coin is not current, this metal is base and adulterated, the King's stamp defaced and obliterated, the edges clipped, and the superscription, which should be on both sides Holiness to the Lord, is on the reverse at least, A sacrifice to hypocrisy, formality, and vain-glory; and therefore this counterfeit and base alloy will not pass for purchase-money; and had it what it deserves, it would be melted down in the furnace of Hell.

4. Suppose it were perfect, which it is not, yet is it no more than our bounden duty; and duty can never be meritorious. We are bound by the law of nature, and, as we are creatures who have received our beings, and the continuance and preservation of them from God, to employ ourselves faithfully and assiduously in his service; and if, for our greater encouragement therein, he has promised, and will bestow upon us a vast and inconceivable reward, we must attribute it wholly to the supererogation of his free bounty; for without this, all our services were due to him before. Thus our Savior tells us, Does the master thank the servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you; when you shall have done all those things that are commanded you, say, (not in a complimentary way, but with truth and sincerity) we are unprofitable servants, we have but done that which was our duty to do. And therefore certainly, if we cannot deserve thanks, much less can we deserve so ample a reward as eternal life: and therefore those that think to purchase heaven and eternal life by doing that which is not commanded, nor their duty, will find a fearful disappointment of their presumptuous hopes, when they shall hear that sad greeting, Who has required these things at your hands?

This right then of merit and purchase is excluded, and no man can have a right to heaven upon the account of the worth and value of his works.

There is therefore a threefold right which they that do the commandments of God have to heaven, and eternal happiness.

1. They have a right of evidence.

2. They have a right of inheritance.

3. They have a right of promise.

1. Obedience to God's commandments gives us a right of evidence to eternal life. He is judged to have the best right to an estate, who can produce the best evidence for it. Now the best evidence that can be shown for heaven, is our unfeigned obedience: all other things that men may rely upon to justify their title, will prove but forged deeds, to which only the spirit of presumption or enthusiasm has set his seal, and not the Spirit of God; and therefore we find how miserably the confidence of those wretches were dismounted, and their hopes frustrated, who came with Lord, Lord, Have we not prophesied in your name, and in your name cast out devils, and in your name have done many wonderful works? All this may be, and yet be no good title, no good evidence for heaven; for if those who cast out devils have not cast out their lusts; if those who prophesy in his name, by their sins dishonor and blaspheme that name; if those who are workers of miracles are yet workers of iniquity, he declares against them, that he knows them not; and commands them to depart from him for ever, as workers of iniquity; whereas on the contrary, we find a joyful and blessed sentence pronounced upon others, according to the evidence brought in for them by their good works; so our Lord himself tells us, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you: for I was hungry, and you gave me food; for I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you clothed me; sick and in prison, and you visited me. This particle [For] is not a note of causality or merit, but only of evidence; for as evidences prove our right to our possessions, so likewise our obedience and good works do effectually prove the right which we have to eternal life, through Christ's purchase, and God's free donation; and therefore the evidence being clear, the sentence must in equity proceed accordingly. God, as a just and righteous judge, instates them in the possession of the kingdom of heaven, because they visited, and relieved, and cherished his Son in his members: not that their love to him, or their charity to them purchased any such right; but only proves and evinces it: it is not the cause of their justification, but a reason why God declares them justified; as the deeds which I produce are the reason why an estate is adjudged mine, though the cause of my title to it be either my own purchase, or another's gift. As therefore those are said to have no right nor title to what they pretend, who can show no evidence for it; so those who obey not the holy will and commands of God, have no right to the tree of life, because they have no evidence to show, nor any plea to urge for it, but will certainly be cast in their suit.

2. Those that do God's commandments have a right of heirship, and inheritance to eternal life; for they are born of God, and therefore heaven is their patrimony, their paternal estate; for so are the words of the Apostle, Every one that does righteousness, is born of God: and if they are born of God, then, according to the Apostle's argumentation, If children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, who is the heir of all things. The trial of your legitimation, whether you are a true and genuine son of God, will lie upon your obedience to his commands; for in this, says the Apostle, the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whoever is born of God, does not commit sin; and whoever does not righteousness, is not of God. Now if by our obedience and dutifulness it appears that we are indeed the children of God, our Father will certainly give us a child's portion, and that is no less than a kingdom. So says our Savior, Fear not, little flock; it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

3. Those that do God's commandments have a right to eternal life, by promise and stipulation; and therefore it is called eternal life, which God that cannot lie has promised. Indeed, the whole tenor of the gospel is nothing else but the exhibition of this promise, and a comment upon it. This is the sum of the gospel, the terms of the covenant, the indenture made between God and man; If you will enter into life, says our Savior, keep the commandments. And in another place our Lord tells us, Not every one that says to me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven.

And thus you see what right it is, that obedience to the commands of God gives us to eternal life: a right of evidence, a right of heirship, and a right of promise.

But, Objection: may some say, Is not this again to establish the antiquated covenant of works; Do this, and live? And does not this abolish the law of faith, He that believes shall be saved? Is it not the office of faith alone to convey to us a right and title to eternal life?

I answer, no, it does no prejudice to faith; for we still affirm, that our original and fundamental right to heaven is grounded, not upon our obedience, but Christ's; not upon our works, but upon his; his merits and purchase, which, through faith, are imparted and imputed to us. Yet give me leave to say, that I think the notion of justifying and saving faith is very much, if not generally mistaken by us: and as the soul is the most noble, and most vital principle of man, and yet is most unknown to him what it is, and how it operates; so faith, which is the vital principle of Christians, and by which the just are said to live, is yet most unknown, both as to its nature and operations, to the generality of them. Some place it in assurance, some in affiance and recumbence; some in one act of faith, and some in another; which are either the effects of faith as true, or the degrees of it as strong, rather than the proper and adequate nature and essence of it; and then they mightily puzzle themselves how to accord and reconcile faith and obedience in carrying on the great work of our salvation, which yet were never at a variance about it, but only in their mistaken hypothesis. For what is faith, but an assent to a testimony? The very force and import of the word can carry no other sense: and he that says he believes, must needs mean he believes some record or testimony; or else he speaks that which neither himself, nor any other can understand. Consequently therefore a divine faith must be an assent to a divine testimony; that is, to the Word of God contained in the Holy Scriptures. But now if this faith rest only in a bare and naked assent to the truth of divine revelation, it is but historical and dogmatical; which, though it be a divine faith in respect of the objects believed, yet is it but human and natural in respect of its principle and motives. But when this assent to the truths of the Scripture is joined with proportionable affections to those truths, and does excite us to actions conformable to the discoveries of the divine will, there this faith is justifying and saving. And certainly this is not so very distant from obedience, as to be thought hardly reconcilable with it. As for instance, a man may give a bare assent to this great gospel truth, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, and yet this faith may not save him, because it may be inoperative, and pass no farther than the act of the understanding: this is a dead faith, which can never bring any man to heaven; indeed, such a faith as the very devils, and damned spirits in hell have, who believe and tremble. Another man believes the same truth, and assents to the same proposition; but this his assent influences his affections, and governs his actions, in conformity to the nature and consequences of such a belief: and because he is assured that Jesus Christ came into the world to be the Savior of it, therefore he loves him, trusts in him, relies upon him, hopes in his promises, and obeys his commands. And this, indeed, is a true saving, justifying faith; for saving faith is a firm assent to the truths of God revealed in the Holy Scriptures, working in us proportionable affections and actions. He who so believes the glory of heaven, as to have his endeavors thereby quickened to use his utmost diligence for the obtaining of it: he who so believes the torments of hell, as thereby to be terrified from doing anything that might expose him to so great and fearful a condemnation: he who so believes the attributes of God, as thereby to be excited to fear him for his greatness, to love him for his goodness, to imitate him in his bounty, purity, and holiness: he who so believes the all-sufficiency, merits, and mediatory office of Jesus Christ, as thereby to be engaged with all his soul to love him, to trust in him, to rely upon him alone for salvation, and to yield to him all sincere obedience, as the law requires; such a one's faith is saving and justifying. So that you see there is no such discord between faith and works, as some would imagine; for that faith that saves us, must work by love; and those works which capacitate us for salvation, must be the obedience of faith, as it is called (Romans 16:26).

Now, what is the end of all this, but to press you to true practical holiness, and a strict obedience to the commandments of God? If I should go from one person to another, and ask you one by one, do you hope to be saved? Where is the man that would not testify the confidence of his hopes, by his disdain at the question? Indeed, but remember that salvation is a litigious claim, and you have a powerful adversary that puts in a strong plea against you, even the justice of God, and his eternal wrath and vengeance; whose title to us, were it but better weighed and considered, would woefully stagger the hopes of most men, and make their faces gather blackness, and smite their hearts with amazement, and their knees with trembling. In a matter of such infinite importance, it highly concerns us to examine our right and title, and to peruse and try our evidences, lest at the day of trial we be cast in our suit, and pay dreadful damages to the justice of God.

Only those who do God's commandments have this right to the tree of life. Christ has indeed purchased salvation for all, but he is the author of salvation only to those who obey him, as the author to the Hebrews speaks: and, without holiness no man shall ever see the Lord. The inheritance is indeed purchased, but where are your evidences of your heirship? Sirs, flatter not yourselves with any vain conceits of the mercy of the gospel, in prejudice to the authority of the law: the commandments are the statute-law of God's kingdom, the gospel is his court of chancery; but neither justice nor equity will relieve those who have not done their utmost to observe his statute-law; and therefore those who indulge themselves in their sloth, and willful neglect, both of what they ought, and might have done, do but deceive their souls with vain hopes; they have no right to the eternal inheritance, but their portion must forever be with dogs and swine, without the holy city into which no unclean thing shall ever enter. And if any think this legal preaching, let mine ever be so.