Heaven

I do think the first day in heaven will be a day of surprise; when we shall have no devil to tempt us, and no sin to pain us, and no trouble to grieve us; when we find ourselves all pure. I think we shall scarcely know what to do, we shall be so surprised.

Oh, what songs must those be which the Eternal ever hears upon his throne! What seraphic sonnets those which are trilled from the lips of pure immortals; where they warble ever hymns of joy and gladness, never intermingled with one sigh, or groan, or worldly care! Happy songsters! when shall I your chorus join?

In heaven they do not sing —

11 Glory, honour, praise, and power,
Be unto ourselves for ever;
We have been our own Redeemers; — Hallelujah!”

They never sing praise to themselves; they glorify not their own strength; but they ascribe their salvation, from beginning to end, to God.

Ask them how they were saved, and they reply, “The Lamb hath made us what we are.” Ask them whence their glories came, and they tell you, “They were bequeathed to us by the dying Lamb.” Ask whence they obtained the gold of their harps, and they say, “It was dug in mines of agony and bitterness by Jesus.” Inquire who strung their harps, and they will tell you that Jesus took each sinew of his body to make them.

No heaven will be so sweet as a heaven which has been preceded by torments and pains. Methinks the deeper draughts of woe we drink here below the sweeter will be those draughts of eternal glory which we shall receive from the golden bowls of bliss; the more we are battered and scarred here below the more glorious will be our victory above, when the shouts of a thousand times ten thousand angels welcome us to our Father’s palace.

Our friend John, the highly-favoured apostle of the Apocalypse, has given us just one note from heaven’s song; we shall strike that note, and sound it again and again. I shall strike the tuning-fork of heaven and let you hear one of the key-notes: — “And hath made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”

Some persons on earth do not know where to put the crown: but those in heaven do. They place the diadem on the right head.

We shall be as pure as Adam in the garden, with this addition, that our purity shall be not merely spotless, but shall be so white that it shall be white beyond the possibility of ever being spotted.

If you cannot embrace all who love the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter to what denomination they may belong, and cannot regard them as your brethren in the Lord, and as belonging to the universal church, you have not hearts large enough to go to heaven.

The Lord will have in heaven some very big sinners that have gone further astray than anybody that ever lived, the most extraordinary extravaganzas of vice, just to make the melody complete by singing some of those soprano notes which you and I, because we have not gone so far astray, will never be able to utter.

God has selected some to take those alto notes in the scale of of praise. Oh! how will such sing, if grace — free grace — shall have mercy upon them.