Pity and Wonderment

Let us comfort ourselves in all the slightings of the world. A man that has great hopes in his own country, if he be slighted abroad, he thinks to himself, I will have a different manner of respect when I come home. Should not we be content as unknown men here, when God the Father and Christ our Saviour are unknown? There are better things reserved at home for us. Let us not envy them their condition, for use it as they will, there is a date when all will be done. All their happiness it is but a measured happiness; their eyes can see it and their ears can hear it, and when they can neither see nor conceive more in this world, then there will be an end of all their sense-derived happiness. Will we envy, when they will shortly be turned out of this world to the place of torment? They should be objects of pity, even the greatest men in the world, if we see by their lives they be void of grace.
But what affection is due and suitable to the state of a Christian? If we would have the right affection, it is wonderment. What is wonderment? It is the state and disposition of the soul toward things that are new and rare and strange. A Christian cannot but wonder because the things prepared are beyond his reach. Yea, when he is in heaven, he will not be able to conceive the glory of it. He will enter into it; it will be beyond him; he will have more joy and peace than he can comprehend. It will be a matter of wonder even in heaven itself, much more should it be here below. The holy apostles, when they spoke in the Scriptures of these things, it was with terms of wonderment, 'joy unspeakable and glorious' (1 Pet. 1:8), and 'peace that passes understanding' (Phil. 4:7); and 'marvellous light’ (1 Pet. 2:9). 'Behold what love the Father showed us, that we should be called the sons of God' (1 John 3:1). To be called, and to be, one with God; both are beyond expression.

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Richard Sibbes 'Refreshment for the Soul.'
A Glance of Heaven, Works, vol. 4, pp. 171-72
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