Thy children shall all be holy or righteous, and “great shall be the peace of thy children; and the nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it.”  Surely the Holy Ghost would never have spoken such a word as this if he had not intended to show us that at the day of the setting up of this Jerusalem, a great harvest of sinners shall be gathered by the grace of the gospel.  But the truth is, the Scriptures go with open arms towards the latter end of the world, even as if they would grasp and compass about almost all people then upon the face of the whole earth with the grace and mercy of God:  “The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”

Never was fair weather after foul, nor warm weather after cold, nor a sweet and beautiful spring after a heavy and nipping and terrible winter, so comfortable, sweet, and desirable and welcome to the poor birds and beasts of the field, as this day will be to the church of God.  Darkness! it was the plague of Egypt; it is an empty, forlorn, desolate, solitary, and discomforting state.  Wherefore light, even the illuminating grace of God, especially in the measure that it shall be communicated unto us at that day, it must needs be precious.  In light there is warmth and pleasure.  It is by the light of the sun that the whole universe appears unto us distinctly, and it is by the heat thereof that every thing groweth and flourisheth; all which will now be gloriously and spiritually answered in this holy and new Jerusalem.  O how clearly will all the spiders and dragons and owls and foul spirits of antichrist, at that day, be discovered by the light hereof.  Now also will all the pretty and little birds in the Lord’s field, most sweetly send forth their pleasant notes, and all the flowers and herbs in his garden spring.  Then will it be said to the church by her husband and Saviour, “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away; for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; the fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vine with her tender grapes give a good smell.”  You know how pleasant this is, even to be fulfilled in the letter of it, not only to birds and beasts, but to men; especially it is pleasant to such men as have for several years been held in the chains of affliction.  It must needs therefore be most pleasant and desirable to the afflicted church of Christ, who hath lain now in the dungeon of antichrist for. above a thousand years.  But, Lord, how will this lady, when she gets her liberty and when she is returned to her own city, how will she then take pleasure in the warmth and spangling beams of thy shining grace, and solace herself with thee in the garden, among the nuts and pomegranates, among the lilies and flowers, and all the chief spices!

“And in the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”