“The diamond in the ring” by Thomas Watson

“Here is the comfort: God is eternal, and He hath appointed eternal recompenses for the saints,—in heaven are fresh delights, sweetness without surfeit, and that which is the crown and zenith of heaven’s happiness, is, it is ‘eternal,’ 1 John 2:25.

Were there but the least suspicion that this glory must cease, it would much eclipse, yea embitter it; but it is eternal. What angel can span eternity? 2 Cor. 4:17, “An eternal weight of glory.”

The saints shall bathe themselves in the rivers of divine pleasure; and these rivers can never be dried up, Ps. 16:11, “At thy right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

This is the Elah, the highest strain in the apostle’s rhetoric, 1 Thess. 4:17, “Ever with the Lord.”

There is peace without trouble,—ease without pain,—glory without end,—“ever with the Lord.”

Let this comfort the saints in all their troubles; their sufferings are but short, but their reward is eternal.

Eternity makes heaven to be heaven: ’tis the diamond in the ring.

O blessed day that shall have no night! The sunlight of glory shall rise upon the soul, and never set!

O blessed spring, that shall have no autumn, or fall of the leaf!

The Roman emperors have three crowns set upon their heads, the first of iron, the second of silver, the third of gold: so the Lord sets three crowns on his children,—grace,—comfort,—and glory.

And this crown is eternal, 1 Pet. 5:4, “Ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”

The wicked have a never-dying worm, and the godly a never-fading crown.

O how should this be a spur to virtue! How willing should we be to work for God!

Though we had nothing here, God hath time enough to reward his people; the crown of eternity shall be set upon their head.”

–Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity Contained in Sermons Upon the Westminster Assembly’s Catechism (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1692/1970), 63-64.