§ 16. (5.) The last affection to be exercised in heavenly contemplation is joy. Love, desire, hope, and courage, all tend to raise our joy. This is so desirable to every man by nature, and so essentially necessary to constitute our happiness, that I hope, I need not say much to persuade you to any thing that would make your life delightful. Supposing you therefore already convinced, that the pleasures of the flesh are brutish and perishing, and that your solid and lasting joy must be from heaven, instead of persuading, I will proceed in directing. Reader, if thou hast managed well the former work, thou art got within sight of thy rest; thou believest the truth of it; thou art convinced of its excellency, thou art fallen in love with it; thou longest after it; thou hopest for it; and thou art resolved to venture courageously for obtaining it. But is here any work for joy in this? We delight in the good we possess; it is present good that is the object of joy; and thou wilt say, "Alas! I am yet without it." But think a little farther with thyself. Is it nothing to have a deed of gift from God? Are his infallible promises no ground of joy? Is it nothing to live in daily expectation of entering into the kingdom? Is not my assurance of being hereafter glorified, a sufficient ground for inexpressible joy? Is it not a delight to the heir of a kingdom, to think of what he must soon possess, though at present he little differ from a servant? Have we not both command, and example, for _rejoicing in hope of the glory of God_.[378]
§ 17. Here, then, Reader, take thy heart once more, and carry it to the top of the highest mount; _shew it the kingdom of Christ, and the glory of it_, and say to it, "_All this will thy Lord give thee_ who hast _believed in him_, and been a _worshipper of him. It is the Father's good pleasure to give thee this kingdom._[379] Seest thou this astonishing glory which is above thee? All this is thy own inheritance. This crown is thine, these pleasures are thine; this company, this beautiful place, all are thine; because thou art Christ's, and Christ is thine; when thou wast united to him, thou hadst all these with him." Thus take thy heart into the _land of promise_; shew it the pleasant hills and fruitful vallies; shew it the clusters of grapes which thou hast gathered, to convince it that it is a blessed land, _flowing with_ better than _milk and honey_; Enter the gates of the _Holy City_, walk through the streets of the _new Jerusalem; walk about Sion, and go round about her; tell the towers thereof; mark well her bulwarks; consider her palaces; that thou mayest tell it to_ thy soul.[380] _Hath_ it not _the glory of God, and_ is not _her light like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal_? See the _twelve foundations of her walls, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And the building of the walls of it are of jasper; and the city is pure gold, like unto clear glass; and the foundations are garnished with all manner of precious stones. And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, every several gate is of one pearl; and the street of the city is pure gold, as it were transparent glass. There is no temple in it; for the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb are the temple of it. It hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon in it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof; and the nations of them which are saved, shall walk in the light of it. These sayings are faithful and true: And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angels_ and his own Son, _to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done_.[381] Say now to all this, "This is thy rest, O my soul! And this must be the place of thy everlasting habitation. Let all the sons of _Sion rejoice, let the daughters of Jerusalem be glad_; for _great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Sion. God is known in her palaces for a refuge._"[382]