Chapter 16. The Eleventh Royal Privilege is—the sentence of Absolution.
of a saint is precious in God's esteem—it is like a statue of gold which the polluted breath of men cannot stain. And though the wicked may throw dust upon it—yet as God will wipe away all tears from the eyes of his people—so he will wipe off the dust from their name! The time is shortly coming when God will say to us, as once to Joshua, "I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you." Even as it was with Christ, the Jews rolled a great stone upon him, and as they thought, it was impossible he should rise again; but an angel came and rolled away the stone, and he arose in a glorious triumphant manner. So it shall be with the godly, their good names or titles are buried, a stone of calumny and reproach is rolled upon them; but at the day of judgment, not an angel—but God himself will roll away the stone, and they shall come forth from among the pots, where they have been blackened and sullied, "as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold." O what a blessed day will that be, when God himself shall be the saints' vindicator.
Chapter 16.
The Eleventh Royal Privilege is—the Sentence of Absolution.
Here take notice of two things.
1. The process in law. "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books."
Revelation 20:12. This is a metaphor taken from the manner of our courts of judicature, where there is the whole process, every circumstance considered, and the witnesses examined. So here—the books are opened, the book of God's accounting, and the book of conscience! Now observe, "another book was opened, which is the book of life"; that is, the book of God's decree, the book of free grace,