October 28

OCTOBER 28.—“It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.”—2 Thessalonians 1:6, 7.

THERE is no difficulty in conceiving that “it is a righteous thing” with God to recompense tribulation to those who are troubled. It was their desert; and righteousness consists in rendering to all their due—But how does this apply to those who were troubled? Surely when they have done all that is commanded them they are unprofitable servants, and their defective obedience deserves condemnation rather than reward. We should not wonder therefore if the Apostle had said that it was a gracious thing with God to recompense them. But it is also an act of righteousness. Though it would be injustice to make a man suffer beyond his desert, it is not unjust to reward him beyond his desert. A man is not at liberty to punish sovereignly, but in his favours he is free, and he may do what he will with his own. God is infinitely good: in the covenant of grace he has provided for the acceptance of his people; and they are accepted in the Beloved; and God has bound himself not only to pardon, but even to honour and recompense their services and sufferings. Hence says our Saviour, “Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake: rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven.” And hence says Paul to the Hebrews, “God is not unrighteous, to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” It cannot be supposed that a cup of cold water, given to a disciple in the name of a disciple, could merit eternal life: yet, if the Lord has promised that it shall not lose its reward, it would be an unrighteous thing in him not to reward it.

But what was the blessedness to be recompensed to these Thessalonians? “Rest.” This is a representation of the heavenly state frequently given us in the Scriptures. It is sometimes spoken of in allusion to the rest of the Sabbath. Thus the Apostle says, “There remaineth a rest for the people of God:” the word is, as the margin apprizes you, a keeping of Sabbath. To those who now call the Sabbath a delight, and look forward to it with eager desire amidst the toils and cares of the week, the notion is very attractive. By- und-by the Saturday evening of life will come, and they will wipe their hands of every thing earthly, and fall asleep in Jesus, and open their eyes on a sabbath whose hallowed pleasures will know no end. At other times it seems to be spoken of under this name in reference to the destiny of the Jews. Canaan was called “the rest” which the Lord their God gave them, and where, after the bondage of Egypt, and their tedious journeyings in the wilderness, they were to enjoy a settlement abounding with every accommodation and delight. But this was only a shadow of good things to come, a type of a better, even a heavenly country, into which death gives the true Israelites an abundant entrance. Hence the word reminds us of their freedom from every thing annoying and vexatious here. They will rest from their labours; rest from their cares; rest from their troubles; rest from temptation; rest from sin; and

rest from sinners—"There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest."

But observe how they were to enjoy it—you shall have this rest, says the Apostle, "with us"—with us, "Paul, and Sylvanus, and Timotheus," who now address you, and wish you grace and peace. Does he mention this with reluctance? No, but with delight. It rejoiced him to think that the poorest in the church of Thessalonica would be fellow-possessors with themselves, residing in the same state, enjoying the same portion. He shows the same noble disposition in another place; "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."

Paul would intimate that the blessedness of the righteous will be social. This falls in with all the principles of our nature. We are formed for intercourse; and it is not good for man to be alone. Much of our pleasure is now derived from our connexions. It will also be admitted that many of our pains are derived from the same source. This however does not arise from society itself, but a particular state of it. It is easy to conceive what happiness association could yield us, if certain things were removed from our associates and from ourselves. Hereafter every moral defect, together with every cause of sorrow and alarm, will be done away; and each will be capable of giving and receiving unalloyed gratification.

It is pleasing to think that we shall enjoy this rest with the most endeared and the most dignified society. Grace here teaches our hearts to love all that love the Lord; but there are those who are peculiarly united to us by the ties of nature and friendship, and who are to us as our own souls. Who knows not the anguish of parting with such as these! And how intolerable would be the thought of losing them for ever! But the Scripture forbids the despair. We shall see and hear them again; we shall commune with them again; the intercourse will be renewed to infinite advantage, and be perpetuated for ever. We are commanded to comfort one another with such words—So fully does Revelation countenance our mutual recognitions in the heavenly world. But we shall also sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God. We shall intermix with patriarchs, prophets, apostles—you shall rest with us, says Paul—and they were the most eminent of men, men secondary in dignity to the Son of God himself, men who wielded miraculous powers, and foretold things to the end of time. There are persons pre-eminently distinguished from others, and of whom we entertain the most exalted respect. We look at the inanimate image of them in a picture. We read their lives with veneration; and when we reflect on their works we are ready to exclaim, how happy should we have been to have known them! Yet were they living and we could have access to them, we should dread as well as desire intercourse with them: we should shrink into nothing before them, at a sense of our inferiority, and feel embarrassed by delight. But nothing of this feeling will be known hereafter. Whatever distinctions may prevail, the freedom of our enjoyment will be unimpaired by them. Even angels, those glorious beings, will not confound us. The rustic will be easy at the sight and the