Jonathan Edwards · 165 of 409

PART II. Motives to Compliance with what is proposed · SECT. II.

The latter-day glory unspeakably great,

The future promised advancement of the kingdom of Christ is an event unspeakably happy and glorious. The Scriptures speak of it as a time wherein God and his Son Jesus Christ will be most eminently glorified on earth; a time, wherein God, who till then had dwelt between the cherubims and concealed himself in the holy of holies, in the secret of his tabernacle, behind the veil, in the thick darkness should openly shine forth, and all flesh should see his glory, and God’s people in general have as great a privilege as the High Priest alone had once a year, or as Moses had in the mount. A time this, wherein the “temple of God in heaven should be opened, and there should be seen the ark of his testament;” (Rev. xi. 19.) a time, wherein both God will be greatly glorified, and his saints made unspeakably happy in the view of his glory; a time, wherein God’s people should not only once see the light of God’s glory, as Moses, or see it once a year with the high priest, but should dwell and walk continually in it, and it should be their constant daily light, instead of the light of the sun; (Isa. ii. 5. Psal. lxxxix. 15. Isa. lx. 19.) which light should be so much more glorious than the light of the sun or moon, that “the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts should reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, before his ancients gloriously;” (Isa. xxiv. 23.)

It is represented as a time of vast increase of knowledge and understanding, especially in divine things; a time wherein God would “destroy the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil spread over all nations;” (Isa. xxv. 7.) wherein “the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun seven-fold,” (Isa. xxx. 26.) “And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the heart of the rash shall understand knowledge,” (Isa. xxxii. 3, 4.) “And they shall no more teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, because they shall all know him from the least to the greatest, (Jer. xxxi. 34.) It is declared to be a time of general holiness, (Isa. lx. 30.) “Thy people shall be all righteous.” A time of prevailing eminent holiness, when little children shall, in spiritual attainments, be as though they were a hundred years old, (Isa. lxv. 20.) wherein “he that is feeble among God’s people shall be as David,” (Zech. xii. 8.) A time wherein holiness should be as it were inscribed on every thing, on all men’s common business and employments, and the common utensils of life, all shall be dedicated to God, and improved to holy purposes. (Isa. xxiii. 18.) “Her merchandise and hire shall be holiness to the Lord.” (Zech. xiv. 20, 21.) “In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, holiness unto the Lord; and the pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar; yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts.”

A time shall come wherein religion and true Christianity shall in every respect be uppermost in the world; wherein God will cause his church to “arise and shake herself from the dust, and put on her beautiful garments, and sit down on a throne; and the poor shall be raised from the dust, and the beggar from the dunghill, and shall be set among princes, and made to inherit the throne of God’s glory;” a time wherein vital piety shall take possession of thrones and palaces, and those that are in most exalted stations shall be eminent in holiness, (Isa. xlix. 23.) “And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers.”(Chap. lx. 16.) “Thou shalt suck the breasts of kings.” (Isa. xiv. 12.) “The daughter of Tyre shall lie there with a gift, the rich among the people shall entreat thy favour.” A time of wonderful union, and the most universal peace, love, and sweet harmony; wherein the nations shall “beat their swords into plow-shares,” &c. and God will ” cause wars to cease to the ends of the earth, and break the bow, and cut the spear in sunder, and burn the chariot in the fire; and the mountains shall bring forth peace to God’s people, and the little hills by righteousness; wherein the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, &c. and wherein God’s people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and quiet resting places;” (Isa. xxxii. 17, 18. and Isa. xxxiii. 20, 21.)

A time shall come wherein all heresies and false doctrine shall be exploded, and the church of God shall not be rent with a variety of jarring opinions, (Zech. xiv. 9.) “The Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day there shall be one Lord, and his name one.” All superstitious ways of worship shall be abolished, and all agree in worshipping God in his own appointed way, and agreeably to the purity of his institutions; (Jer. xxxii. 39.) “I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them and their children after them.” A time wherein the whole earth shall be united as one holy city, one heavenly family, men of all nations shall as it were dwell together, and sweetly correspond one with another, as brethren and children of the same father; as the prophecies often speak of God’s people at that time as the children of God, and brethren one to another, all “appointing over them one head,” gathered to one “house of God, to worship the King, the Lord of hosts.”

A time approaches wherein this whole great society shall appear in glorious beauty, in genuine amiable Christianity and excellent order, as “a city compact together, the perfection of beauty, an eternal excellency,” shining with a reflection of the glory of Jehovah risen upon it, which shall be attractive and ravishing to all kings and nations, and it shall appear “as a bride adorned for her husband.” A time of great temporal prosperity; of great health; (Isa. xxxiii. 24.) “The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick” of long life; (Isa. Iv. 22.) “As the days of a tree, are the days of my people.” A time wherein the earth shall be abundantly fruitful; (Psal. lxvii. Isa. vi. 23, 24. Amos ix. 16. and many other places.) A time wherein the world shall be delivered from that multitude of sore calamities which before had prevailed, (Ezek. xlvii. 20.) and there shall be an universal blessing of God upon mankind, in soul and body, and in all their concerns, and all manner of tokens of God’s presence and favour, and “God shall rejoice over them, as the bridegroom rejoiceth over his bride, and the mountains shall as it were drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk;” (Joel iii. 18.)

A time of great and universal joy, we are taught to expect, will take place through all the earth, when “from the utmost ends of the earth shall be heard songs, even glory to the righteous,” and God’s people “shall with joy draw water out of the wells of salvation.” God shall “prepare in his holy mountain a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined,” which feast is represented, Rev. xix. as the. marriage supper of the Lamb. Yea, the Scriptures represent it not only as a time of universal joy on earth, but extraordinary joy in heaven, among the angels and saints, the holy apostles and prophets there; (Rev. xviii. 20. and Rev. xix. 1-9.) Yea, the Scriptures represent it as a time of extraordinary rejoicing with Christ himself, the glorious head, in whom all things in heaven and earth shall then be gathered together in one; (Zech. iii. 17.) “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save; he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing.” And the very fields, trees, and mountains shall then as it were rejoice, and break forth into singing; (Isa. Iv. 12.) “Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” (Isa. xliv. 23.) “Sing, O heavens, for the Lord hath done it; shout, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains; O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.”

Such being the state of things in this future promised glorious day of the church’s prosperity, surely it is worth praying for. Nor is there any one thing whatsoever, if we viewed things aright, for which a regard to the glory of God, a concern for the kingdom and honour of our Redeemer, a love to his people, pity to perishing sinners love to our fellow-creatures in general, compassion to mankind under their various and sore calamities and miseries, a desire of their temporal and spiritual prosperity, love to our country, our neighbours, and friends, yea, and to our own souls would dispose us to be so much in prayer, as for the dawning of this happy day, and the accomplishment of this glorious event.