2. The other thing which is implied in SERM. having our converfation in heaven is, that we XXV. raife our minds to a full affurance and lively hope of this furprifing change into the likenefs of the glorious body of Chrift; having our heart and our affections fet upon that great day, and looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jefus Chrift. Till this becomes the great prevailing motive with us; the strongest bent of our minds; and able to influence our whole life and actions to fuch a degree of virtue and holiness, that we fhall long for his coming with impatience: nay, till it becomes the joy of our hearts, and that we can breathe out from the humility and faith of a pious foul, Even fo come, Lord Jefus, and Be it unto us according to thy holy word. The Apoftle, in 1 Thef. iii. 18. giving a particular account of that great day, and how the dead in Chrift should rise first; he advises them to comfort one another with these words. -Accordingly let us do fo. Nothing but want of faith, or of a true repentance, can deprive us of this unspeakable comfort. Now are we the fons of God, and joynt heirs with Chrift. The glory that thou gavest me, fays he, I give unto them; and that, we read, was the glory he had with God before the world was. How then shall we be filled with tranfport, to behold our Saviour's body in the glory of God; and our own in the glory of Chrift? The change will be fo furprifing, SERM. that we fhall then wonder at the low and narXXV. row thoughts we have of it now. ~ Our imaginations cannot paint out to us any creature fo rare and beautiful, fo lovely and admirable, as the body of a faint will be at the refurrection. The fineft perfonage upon earth, is but a dark and gloomy shade to it. Imagine a human creature in the most exact fymmetry and proportion of all its parts: with a fairness beyond the light, and a complexion exceeding the gayeft pride of art and nature; clothe it with the brightest beams of the fun; then add to all this whatever the most extravagant imagination can fancy; after all, this creature of our brain comes as fhort of that workmanship of God, as a lump of earth doth of the Sun. And if we were in this life capable of the leaft glympfe or idea of it, we fhould be ashamed of our ignorance, and blush at the comparison; one fuch glorious appearance would now confound us; and we fhould be apt to worship our fellow-creature. It will be a being of that unconceivable fweetness, and marvellous afpect, that God himself fhall be pleased with it. He will fee fo much of himself in us, that he cannot but love us; and it must please him, to fee the work of his hands fo much improved beyond the first defign: For then, like the original standard, we fhall be difpofed for glory and happiness in ourselves, fo as not to be beholden to any outward ornament: No, our perfections will be all internal and effential to us; this glory will iffue from within, and we fhall SER M. be an everlasting fountain of rays: We Shall XXV. fhine as the ftars in the firmament; only with r this difference, that they are now obscured by the greater light of the fun; but we shall shine forth in the kingdom of the Father, and appear glorious even in the prefence of God. Let us therefore wait all the days of our appointed time, till our change comes. Though it doth not yet appear what we shall be; let us poffefs our fouls in patience; and ftay but a little while, and we shall fee him, him whom we look for. He is only gone before to prepare a place for us; where all the rays of that ftupendous being fhall not only be vifible; but fhall be fo far diffused through our whole nature, that we shall become intellectual light all within, and radiant brightness all without. Yes, we fhall; and therefore in a full affurance of this change, let us blefs the holy name of God, who hath begotten us to this lively hope through Jefus Chrift: Let it be the fubject of our meditation, of our wishes and defires; and let it make fuch a deep impreffion upon our hearts, that it may be a motive powerful enough to draw us off from the finful pleafures of this life; and fpur us on to the attainment of thofe virtues and graces, which are the feeds of Glory. And fince it is never to be attained to, without the habitual practice of virtue and holiness, I fhall end with these words of the Apoftle, 1 Tim. vi. 13. I charge SERM. I charge you all in the fight of God, who quickXXV. ens all things; that you keep his commandments without spot, until the appearing of our Lord Jefus Chrift. Which in his time he shall fhew; who is the blessed and only potentate; the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Who only bath immortality; dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man bath feen, nor can fee. To whom be honour and power everlafting. Amen. SERMON SERMON XXVI. On the Day of Judgment. REVEL. XX. 12. And And I faw the dead, fmall and great, ftand be- T HESE words are part of a vifion seen by St. John, wherein was reprefented to him the folemnity of the laft great day of accounts. They are a lively prophecy, and very particular defcription of a general judgment, which in Scripture is ufually represented by the formality of courts of judicature among ourfelves; as being the most lively emblem of it, and the apteft to make impreffions on our minds. And therefore it is faid, in the verse before this text, That he faw a great white throne, and him that fat on it; from whofe face SERM. XXVI. the |