Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/spurgeon/ps16.11

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                           EXPOSITION.

        "_Thou wilt shew me the path of life_." To Jesus first
this way was shown, for he is the first-begotten from the dead,
the first-born of every creature. He himself opened up the way
through his own flesh, and then trod it as the forerunner of his
own redeemed. The thought of being made the path of life to his
people, gladdened the soul of Jesus. "_In thy presence is fulness
of joy_." Christ being raised from the dead ascended into glory,
to dwell in constant nearness to God, where joy is at its full
for ever: the foresight of this urged him onward in his glorious
but grievous toil. To bring his chosen to eternal happiness was
the high ambition which inspired him, and made him wade through a
sea of blood. O God, when the worldling's mirth has all expired,
for ever with Jesus may we dwell "_at thy right hand_," where
"_there are pleasures for evermore_;" and meanwhile, may we have
an earnest by tasting thy love below. Trapp's note on the
heavenly verse which closes the Psalm is a sweet morsel, which
may serve for a contemplation, and yield a foretaste of our
inheritance. He writes, "Here is as much said as can be, but
words are too weak to utter it. For _quality_ there is in heaven
joy and pleasures; for _quantity_, a fulness, a torrent whereat
they drink without let or loathing; for _constancy_, it is at
God's right hand, who is stronger than all, neither can any take
us out of his hand; it is a constant happiness without
intermission: and for _perpetuity_ it is for evermore. Heaven's
joys are without measure, mixture, or end."

              EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

        Verse 11.--In this verse are four things observable:--1.
_A Guide_, THOU. 2. _A Traveller_, ME. 3. _A Way_, THE PATH. 4.
_The End_, LIFE, described after. For that which follows is but
the description of this life.

        This verse is a proper subject for a _meditation_. For,
all three are solitary. _The guide_ is but one; the _traveller_,
one; the _way_, one; and the _life_, the only one. To meditate
well on this is to bring all together; and at last make them all
but _one_. Which that we may do, let us first seek our _Guide_.

        _The Guide_. Him we find named in the first
verse--Jehovah. Here we may begin, as we ought in all holy
exercises, with _adoration_. For, "unto him all knees shall bow;"
nay, unto his _name_. For holy is his name. Glory be to thee, O
God! He is _Deus_, therefore _holy_; he is _Deus fortis_,
therefore _able_. "For the strength of the hills is his;" and if
there be a _way_ on earth, he can "_show_" it; for in his hands
are all the corners of the earth. But is he _willing_ to
"_show_"? Yes, though he be _Deus_, _holy_; (which is a word
terrible to poor flesh and blood), yet he is _Deus meus_, my
holiness. That takes away servile fear. He is _meus_, we have a
property in him; and he is willing: "_Thou wilt show_," etc. And
that you may know _he will guide_, David shows a little above how
diligently he will guide. First, he will _go before_, he will
lead the way himself: if I can but follow, I shall be sure to go
right. And he that hath a _guide_ before him, and will not
follow, is worthy to be left behind. But say, I am willing, I do
desire to go, and I do follow: what if, through faintness in the
long way, I fall often? or, for want of care step out of the way,
shall I not then be left behind? Fear not; for "He is at my right
hand, so that I shall not slip." Verse #8|. This is some comfort
indeed. But we are so soon weary in this way, and do fall and err
so often, that it would weary the patience of a good _guide_ to
lead us but one day. Will he bear with us, and continue to the
end? Yes, always; or this text deceives us; for all this is found
in the eighth verse (#8|). We must have _him_ or none; for he is
one, and the only one. So confessed Asaph: "Whom have I on earth
but thee?" Seek this _good Guide_, he is easy to be found: "Seek,
and ye shall find." You shall find that he is first _holy_;
secondly, _able_; thirdly, _willing_; fourthly, _diligent_; and
fifthly, _constant_. O my soul! to follow him, and he will make
thee both _able_ to follow to the end; and _holy_ in the end.

        _The traveller_. Having found the Guide, we shall not
long seek for one that wants him; for, see, here is a _man out of
his way_. And that will soon appear if we consider his condition.
For, he is a _stranger_ ("_Thou wilt show me_"); and what am I?
"I am a stranger, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were," says
he, in another place. But this was in the old time under the law;
what, are we, their sons, in the gospel, any other? Peter tells
us no: that we are strangers and pilgrims too; that is,
travellers. We travel, as being out of our country; and we are
strangers to those we converse with. For neither the natives be
our friends, nor anything we possess truly our own. It is time we
had _animum revertendi_; and surely so we have if we could but
pray on the _way_. _Converte nos Domine_. But it is so long since
we came hither, we have forgot the way home: _obliti sunt montis
mei_. Yet still we are travelling; and, we think, homewards. For
all hope well: _oculi omnium sperant in te_. But _right_, like
pilgrims, or rather, wanderers. For we scarce know if we go
right; and, which is worse, have little care to enquire.

        "_Me_." David still keeps the singular number. As there
is but _one_ guide, so he speaks in the person but of _one
traveller_. There is somewhat, peradventure, in that. It is to
show his _confidence_. The Lord's prayer is in the plural, but
the creed in the singular. We may pray that God would guide
_all_; but we can be confident for none but ourselves. "_Thou
wilt show_," or thou dost, or hast, as some translate: all is but
to show particular confidence. "_Thou wilt show me_;" _me_, not
_us_, a number indefinite wherein I _may be_ one; but _me_ in
particular that am out of the way; that am myself _alone_; that
must walk in "_the path_" _alone_. Either I must follow, or go
before others; I must work for myself alone; believe for myself
alone; and be saved by one alone. _The way_ in this text that I
must walk is but one; nay, it is but a "_path_" where but one can
go: this is no highway, but a _way_ of sufferance by favour: it
is none of ours. It is no _road_; you cannot hurry here, or
gallop by troops: it is but _semita_, a small _footpath_ for one
to go alone in. Nay, as it is a _way_ for _one alone_, so it is
_a lonely way_: _preparate vias ejus in solitudine_, saith John,
and he knew which way God went, who is our _Guide in solitudine_:
there is the sweetness of solitariness, the comforts of
meditation. For God is never more familiar with man than when man
is _in solitudine, alone_, in his _path_ by himself. Christ
himself came thus, all _lonely_; without troop, or noise, and
ever avoided the tumultuous multitude, though they would have
made him a king. And he never spake to them but in parables; but
to _his_ that sought him, _in solitudine_, in private, he spake
plain; and so doth he still love to do to the soul, in private
and particular. Therefore well said David, "_Thou wilt show me_,"
in particular, and in the singular number. But how shall I know
that I, in particular, shall be taught and _showed_ this _way_?
This prophet, that had experience, will tell us: _mites docebit_,
the _humble_ he will teach. #Ps 25:9|. If thou canst humble
thyself, thou mayst be sure to see thy _guide_; Christ hath
crowned this virtue with a blessing: "Blessed are the meek;" for
them he will call to him and teach. But thou must be humble then.
For heaven is built like our churches, high-roofed within, but
with a strait low gate; they then that enter there must stoop,
ere they can see God. Humility is the mark at every cross,
whereby thou shalt know if thou be in the way: if any be
otherwise minded, God also shall reveal it unto you, for, "_Thou
wilt show_."

        "_The path_." But let us now see what he will _show_ us:
"_the path_." We must know, that as men have _many paths_ out of
their highway--the world--but they all end in destruction; so God
hath _many paths_ out of his highway, the word, but they all end
in salvation. Let us oppose ours to his (as indeed they are
opposite), and see how they agree. _Ours_ are not worth
_marking_, _his marked_ with an _attendite_, to begin withal;
_ours_ bloody, _his_ unpolluted; _ours_ crooked, _his_ straight;
_ours_ lead to hell, _his_ to heaven. Have not we strayed then?
We had need to turn and take another path, and that quickly: we
may well say, _semitas nostras, a via tua_. Well, here is _the
Book_, and here are the _ways_ before you; and he will _show_
you. Here is _semita mandatorum_, in the Psalm #Ps 119:35|; here
is _semita pacifica_ (#Pr 3:17|); here is _semita aequitatis_
(#Pr 4:11|); here is _semita justitiae_ (#Ps 23:3|); here is
_semita judicii_ (#Pr 17:23|); and many others. These are, every
one of them, _God's ways_; but these are somewhat too many and
too far off: we must seek the way where all these meet, and that
will bring us into "_the path_;" these are many, but I will show
you yet "a more excellent way," saith Paul. #1Co 12:31|.

        We must begin to enter at _via mandatorum_; for till then
we are in the dark and can distinguish no _ways_, whether they be
good or bad. But there we shall meet with a _lantern_ and a
_light_ in it. Thy commandment is a lantern, and the law a light.
#Pr 6:23|. Carry this with thee (as a good man should, _lex Dei
in corde ejus_); and it will bring thee into the _way_. And see
how careful our _Guide_ is; for lest the wind should blow out
this light, he hath put it into a lantern to preserve it. For the
fear, or sanction, of the "commandments," preserves the memory of
the law in our hearts, as a lantern doth a light burning within
it. The law is the light, and the commandment the lantern. So
that neither flattering Zephyrus, nor blustering Boreas shall be
able to blow it out, so long as the fear of the sanction keeps it
in. This is _lucerna pedibus_ (#Ps 119:105|); and will not only
_show_ thee where thou shalt tread, but what pace thou shalt
keep. When thou hast this light, take Jeremy's counsel; enquire
for _semita antiqua_, before thou goest any further. "Stand
(saith he) in the ways and behold and ask for the old way; which
is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for
your souls." This will bring you some whither where you may
_rest_ awhile. And whither is that? Trace this _path_, and you
shall find this "old way" to run quite through all the Old
Testament till it end in the New, the gospel of peace, and there
is rest. And that this is so Paul affirms. For the law, which is
the "old way," is but the pedagogue to the gospel. This then is
"a more excellent way" than the law, the ceremonies whereof in
respect of this were called "beggarly rudiments." When we come
there, we shall find the way pleasant and very _light_, so that
we shall plainly see before us that _very path_, that _only
path_, "the path of life" (_semita vitae_), in which the gospel
ends, as the law ends in the gospel. Now what is _semita vitae_
that we seek for? "All the ways of God are _truth_," saith David.
#Ps 119:151|. He doth not say they are _verae_, or _veritates_,
but _veritas_; all one truth. So, all the _ways_ of God end in
one truth. _Semita vitae_, then, is _truth_. And so sure a _way_
to life is _truth_, that John says, he had "no greater joy" than
to hear that his sons "walked in truth." #3Jo 1:3|. "No greater
joy:" for it brings them certainly to a joy, than which there is
none greater. _Via veritatis_ is "the gospel of truth." but
_semita vitae_ is the truth itself. Of these; Esay prophesied,
_et erit ibi semita et via_, etc. "There shall be a path, and a
way;" and the way shall be called _holy_, the proper epithet of
the gospel: "_the holy gospel_," that is _the way_. But the
_path_ is the epitome of this _way_ (called in our text, by way
of excellence, "_the path_," in the singular); than which there
is no other. "The gospel of your salvation," saith Paul, is "the
word of truth;" and "thy word is truth," saith our Saviour to his
Father. _Truth_, then, is "_the path of life_," for it is the
epitome of the gospel, which is the _way_. This is that truth
which Pilate (unhappy man) asked after, but never stayed to be
resolved of. He himself is the word; the word is the truth; and
the truth is "_the path of life_," trodden by all the patriarchs,
prophets, apostles, martyrs and confessors, that ever went to
heaven before us. The abstract of the gospel, the gate of heaven,
_semita vitae_, "_the path of life_," even Jesus Christ the
righteous, who hath beaten the way for us, gone himself before
us, and left us the prints of his footsteps for us to follow,
where he himself sits ready to receive us. So, the law is the
light, the gospel is the way, and Christ is "_the path of
life_."--^William Austin, 1637.

        Verse 11.--It is Christ's triumphing in the consideration
of his exaltation, and taking pleasure in the fruits of his
sufferings: "_Thou wilt show me the paths of life_." God hath now
opened the way to paradise, which was stopped up by a flaming
sword, and made the path plain by admitting into heaven the head
of the believing world. This is part of the joy of the soul of
Christ; he hath now a fulness of joy, a satisfying delight
instead of an overwhelming sorrow; a "fulness of joy," not only
some sparks and drops as he had now and then in his debased
condition; and that in the presence of his Father. His soul is
fed and nourished with a perpetual vision of God, in whose face
he beholds no more frowns, no more designs of treating him as a
servant, but such smiles that shall give a perpetual succession
of joy to him, and fill his soul with fresh and pure flames.
Pleasures they are, pleasantness in comparison whereof the
greatest joys in this life are anguish and horrors. His soul hath
joys without mixture, pleasures without number, a fulness
without want, a constancy without interruption, and a perpetuity
without end.--^Stephen Charnock.

        Verse 11.--"_In thy presence_," etc. To the blessed soul
resting in Abraham's bosom, there shall be given an immortal,
impassible, resplendent, perfect, and glorious body. Oh, what a
happy meeting will this be, what a sweet greeting between the
soul and body, the nearest and dearest acquaintance that ever
were! What a welcome will that soul give to her beloved body!
Blessed be thou (will she say), for thou hast aided me to the
glory I have enjoyed since I parted with thee; blessed art thou
that sufferedst thyself to be mortified, giving "thy members as
weapons of righteousness unto God." #Ro 6:13|. Cheer up thyself,
for now the time of labour is past, and the time of rest is come.
Thou wast sown and buried in the dust of earth with ignominy, but
now raised in glory; sown in weakness, but raised in power; sown
a natural body, but raised a spiritual body; sown in corruption,
but raised in incorruption. #1Co 15:43|. O my dear companion and
familiar, we took sweet counsel together, we two have walked
together as friends in God's house (#Ps 55:14|), for when I
prayed inwardly, thou didst attend my devotions with bowed knees
and lifted-up hands outwardly. We two have been fellow labourers
in the works of the Lord, we two have suffered together, and now
we two shall ever reign together; I will enter again into thee,
and so both of us together will enter into our Master's joy,
where we shall have _pleasures at his right hand for evermore_.

        The saints, entered as it were into the chamber of God's
presence, shall have joy to their ears in hearing their own
commendating and praise, "Well done, good and faithful servant"
(#Mt 25:21|); and in hearing the divine language of heavenly
Canaan; for our bodies shall be _vera et viva_, perfect like
Christ's glorious body, who did both hear other and speak himself
after his resurrection, as it is apparent in the gospels'
history. Now, then, if the words of the wise spoken in due places
be like "apples of gold with pictures of silver" (#Pr 25:11|), if
the mellifluous speech of Origen, the silver trumpet of Hillary,
the golden mouth of Chrysostom, bewitched as it were their
auditory with exceeding great delight; if the gracious eloquence
of heathen orators, whose tongues were never touched with a coal
from God's altar, could steal away the hearts of their hearers,
and carry them up and down whither they would, what a "_fulness
of joy_" will it be to hear not only the sanctified, but also the
glorified tongues of saints and angels in the kingdom of glory?
... Bonaventure fondly reports at all adventure, that St. Francis
hearing an angel a little while playing on a harp, was so moved
with extraordinary delight, that he thought himself in another
world. Oh! what a "_fulness of joy_" will it be to hear more than
twelve legions of angels, accompanied with a number of happy
saints which no man is able to number, all at once sing together,
"Hallelujah, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and
is, and is to come." "And every creature which is in heaven, and
on earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and
all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and
glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and
unto the Lamb for ever and ever." #Re 4:8; 5:13|. If the voices
of mortal men, and the sound of cornet, trumpet, harp, sackbut,
psaltery, dulcimer, and other well-tuned instruments of music,
passing through our dull ears in this world be so powerful, that
all our affections are diversely transported according to the
divers kinds of harmony, then how shall we be ravished in God's
presence when we shall hear heavenly airs with heavenly ears!

        Concerning "_fulness of joy_" to the rest of the senses I
find a very little or nothing in holy Scriptures, and therefore
seeing God's Spirit will not have a pen to write, I may not have
a tongue to speak. Divines in general affirm, that the smelling,
and taste, and feeling, shall have joy proportionable to their
blessed estate, for this corruptible must put on incorruption,
and this mortal immortality; the body which is sown in weakness
is to be raised in power; it is sown a natural body, but it is
raised a spiritual body, buried in dishonour, raised in glory;
that is, capable of good, and, as being impassible, no way
subject to suffer evil, insomuch that it cannot be hurt if it
should be cast into hell fire, no more than Shadrach, Meshech,
and Abednego, were hurt in the burning oven. In one word, God is
not only to the souls, but also to the bodies of the saints, _all
in all things_; a glass to their sight, honey to their taste,
music to their hearing, balm to their smelling.--^John Boys.

        Verse 11.--"_In thy presence is fulness of joy_." The
saints on earth are all but _viatores_, wayfaring men, wandering
pilgrims far from home; but the saints in heaven are
_comprehensores_, safely arrived at the end of their journey. All
we here present for the present, are but mere strangers in the
midst of danger, we are losing ourselves and losing our lives in
the land of the dying. But ere long, we may find our lives and
ourselves again in heaven with the Lord of life, being found of
him in the land of the living. If when we die, we be in the Lord
of life, our souls are sure to be bound up in the bundle of life,
that so when we live again we may be sure to find them in the
life of the Lord. Now we have but a dram, but a scruple, but a
grain of happiness, to an ounce, to a pound, to a thousand weight
of heaviness; now we have but a drop of joy to an ocean of
sorrow; but a moment of ease to an age of pain; but then (as St.
Austin very sweetly in his _Soliloquies_), we shall have endless
ease without any pain, true happiness without any heaviness, the
greatest measure of felicity without the least of misery, the
fullest measure of joy that may be, without any mixture of grief.
Here therefore (as St. Gregory the divine adviseth us), let us
ease our heaviest loads of sufferings, and sweeten our bitterest
cups of sorrows with the continual meditation and constant
expectation of _the fulness of joy in the presence of God, and of
the pleasure at his right hand for evermore_.

        "_In thy presence, IS_," etc., _there it is_, not _there
it was_, nor there it may be, nor there it will be, but _there it
is_, there it _is_ without cessation or intercision, there it
always hath been, and is, and must be. It is an assertion
_aeternae veritatis_, that is always true, it may at any time be
said that there it is. "In thy presence _is_ the fulness of joy;"
and herein consists the consummation of felicity; for what does
any man here present wish for more than joy? And what measure of
joy can any man wish for more than fulness of joy? and what kind
of fulness would any man wish for rather than this fulness, the
fulness _kat' e'xochê'n_? And where would any man wish to enjoy
this fulness of joy rather than in the presence of God, which is
the ever-flowing and the over-flowing fountain of joy? And when
would any man wish for this enjoyment of the fulness of joy in
the very fountain of joy rather than presently, constantly, and
incessantly? Now all these desirables are encircled within the
compass of the first remarkable, to make up the consummation of
true felicity. "_In thy presence is fulness of joy_."--^"The
Consummation of Felicity," by Edward Willan, 1645.

        Verse 11.--The human nature of Christ in heaven hath a
double capacity of glory, happiness and delight; one on that mere
fellowship and communion with his Father and the other persons,
through his personal union with the Godhead. Which joy of his in
this fellowship, Christ himself speaks of as to be enjoyed by
him: "_In thy presence is fulness of joy, and at thy right hand
are pleasures for evermore_." And this is a constant and settled
fulness of pleasure, such as admits not any addition or
diminution, but is always one and the same, and absolute and
entire in itself; and of itself alone sufficient for the Son of
God, and heir of all things to live upon, though he should have
had no other comings in of joy and delight from any creature. And
this is his natural inheritance.--^Thomas Goodwin.

        Verse 11.--"_In thy presence is FULNESS of joy_." In
heaven they are free from want; they can want nothing there
unless it be want itself. They may find the want of evil, but
never find the evil of want. Evil is but the want of good, and
the want of evil is but the absence of want. God is good, and no
want of good can be in God. What want then can be endured in the
presence of God, where no evil is, but all good that the fulness
of joy may be enjoyed? Here some men eat their meat without any
hunger, whilst others hunger without any meat to eat, and some
men drink extremely without any thirst, whilst others thirst
extremely without any drink. But in the glorious presence of God,
not any one can be pampered with too much, nor any one be pined
with too little. They that gather much of the heavenly manna,
"have nothing over;" and "they that gather little have no lack."
They that are once possessed of that presence of God, are so
possessed with it that they can never feel the misery of thirst
or hunger.--^Edward Willan.

        Verse 11.--"_Fulness_." Every soul shall there enjoy an
infinite happiness, because it shall enjoy infinite goodness. And
it shall be for ever enjoyed, without disliking of it, or losing
of it, or lacking any of it. Every soul shall enjoy as much good
in that presence, by the presence of that good, as it shall be
able to receive, or to desire to receive. As much as shall make
it fully happy. Every one shall be filled so proportionately
full; and every desire in any soul shall be fulfilled so
perfectly in that presence of glory, with the glory of that
presence, that no one shall ever wish for any more, or ever be
weary of that it has, or be willing to change it for any
other.--^Edward Willan.

        Verse 11.--"_Fulness of joy_." When a man comes to the
sea, he doth not complain that he wants his cistern of water:
though thou didst suck comfort from thy relations; yet when thou
comest to the ocean, and art with Christ, thou shalt never
complain that thou hast left thy cistern behind. There will be
nothing to breed sorrow in heaven; there shall be _joy, and
nothing but joy_, heaven is set out by that phrase, "Enter thou
into the joy of thy Lord." Here joy enters into us, there we
enter into joy; the joys we have here are from heaven; the joys
that we shall have with Christ are without measure and without
mixture. "_In thy presence is fulness of joy_."--^Thomas Watson.

        Verse 11.--"_In thy presence is fulness of joy_." In this
life our joy is mixed with sorrow like a prick under the rose.
Jacob had joy when his sons returned home from Egypt with the
sacks full of corn, but much sorrow when he perceived the silver
in the sack's mouth. David had much joy in bringing up the ark of
God, but at the same time great sorrow for the breach made upon
Uzza. This is the Lord's great wisdom to temper and moderate our
joy. As men of a weak constitution must have their wine qualified
with water for fear of distemper, so must we in this life (such
is our weakness), have our joy mixed with sorrow, lest we turn
giddy and insolent. Here our joy is mixed with fear (#Ps 2|),
"Rejoice with trembling;" the women departed from the sepulchre
of our Lord "with fear and great joy." #Mt 28:8|. In our
regenerate estate, though we have joy from Christ that is "formed
in us," yet the impression of the terrors of God before the time
of our new birth remains in us; as in a commotion of the sea by a
great tempest after a stormy wind hath ceased, yet the impression
of the storm remains and makes an agitation. The tender mother
recovering her young child from danger of a fall hath joy from
the recovery; but with much fear with the impression of the
danger: so after we are recovered here from our dangerous falls
by the rich and tender mercies of our God, sometime preventing
us, sometime restoring us, though we rejoice in his mercy, and in
our own recovery out of the snares of Satan, yet in the midst of
our joy the remembrance of former guiltiness and danger do humble
our hearts with much sorrow, and some trepidation of heart. As
our joy here is mixed with fears, so with sorrow also. Sound
believers do look up to Christ crucified, and do rejoice in his
incomparable love, that such a person should have died such a
death for such as were enemies to God by sinful inclinations and
wicked works; they look down also upon their own sins that have
wounded and crucified the Lord of glory, and this breaketh the
heart, as a widow should mourn, who by her froward and lewd
behaviour hath burst the heart of a kind and loving husband.

        The sound believers look to their small beginnings of
grace, and they rejoice in the work of God's hands; but when they
compare it with that original and primitive righteousness, they
mourn bitterly, as the elders of Israel did at the rebuilding of
the temple (#Ezr 3:12|); "They who had seen the first house
wept." But in heaven our joy will be full, without mixture of
sorrow (#Joh 16:20|); "Your sorrow," saith our Lord, "shall be
turned into joy." Then will there be no sorrow for a present
trouble, nor present fear of future troubles. Then their eye will
deeply affect their heart: the sight and knowledge of God the
supreme and infinite good will ravish, and take up all their
heart with joy and delight. Peter in the Mount (#Mt 17|), was so
affected with that glorious sight, that he forgot both the
delights and troubles that were below; "It is good to be here,"
said he. How much more will all worldly troubles and delights be
forgot at that soul-satisfying sight in heaven, which is as far
above that of Peter in the Mount, as the third heaven is above
that Mount, and as the uncreated is above the created
glory!--^William Colvill's "Refreshing Streams," 1655.

        Verse 11.--"_In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy
right hand there are pleasures for evermore_." Mark, for quality,
there are _pleasures_; for quantity, fulness; for dignity, at
God's right hand; for eternity, for evermore. And millions of
years multiplied by millions, make not up one minute to this
eternity of joy that the saints shall have in heaven. In heaven
there shall be no sin to take away your joy, nor no devil to take
away your joy; nor no man to take away your joy. "Your joy no man
taketh from you." #Joh 16:22|. The joy of the saints in heaven is
never ebbing, but always flowing to all contentment. The joys of
heaven never fade, never wither, never die, nor never are
lessened nor interrupted. The joy of the saints in heaven is a
constant joy, an everlasting joy, in the root and in the cause,
and in the matter of it and in the objects of it. "Their joy
lasts for ever whose objects remain for ever"--^Thomas Brooks.

        Verse 11.--"_Pleasures for evermore_." The soul that is
once landed at the heavenly shore is past all storms. The
glorified soul shall be for ever bathing itself in the rivers of
pleasure. This is that which makes heaven to be heaven, "We shall
be ever with the Lord." #1Th 4:17|. Austin saith, "Lord, I am
content to suffer any pains and torments in this world, if I
might see thy face one day; but alas! were it only a day, then to
be ejected heaven, it would rather be an aggravation of misery;"
but this word, "_ever with the Lord_," is very accumulative, and
makes up the garland of glory: a state of eternity is a state of
security.--^Thomas Watson.

        Verse 11.--This then may serve for a ground of comfort to
every soul distressed with the tedious bitterness of this life;
for short sorrow here, we shall have eternal joy; for a little
hunger, an eternal banquet; for light sickness and affliction,
everlasting health and salvation; for a little imprisonment,
endless liberty; for disgrace, glory. Instead of the wicked who
oppress and afflict them, they shall have the angels and saints
to comfort and solace them, instead of Satan to torment and tempt
them, they shall have Jesus to ravish and affect them. Joseph's
prison shall be turned into a palace; Daniel's lions' den into
the presence of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah; the three
children's hot fiery furnace, into the New Jerusalem of pure
gold; David's Gath, into the tabernacle of the living God.--^John
Cragge's "Cabinet of Spiritual Jewels," 1657.

        Verse 11.--This heavenly feast will not have an end, as
Ahasuerus's feast had, though it lasted many days; but "_At thy
right hand are pleasures for evermore_." ^William Colvill.

                       HINTS TO PREACHERS.

        Verse 11.--A sweet picture of heaven. (See Exposition.)