A. 9. This kingdom of heaven excels all earthly kingdoms in self-perfection. Other kingdoms are defective, they have not all provision within themselves, but are fain to traffic abroad to sup|)ly their wants at home ; king Solomon did send to Ophir for gold, 2 Chron. viii. 18. ; but there is no de- fect in the kingdom of heaven ; it hath all commodities of its own growth, Rev. xxi. 7. There is the ])earl of price, the morning-star, the mountains of spices, the bed of love ; there are those sacred rarities, wherewith God and angels are delighted.
yl. 10. This kingdom of heaven excels all others in honour and nobility. It doth not only equal them in the ensigns of roy- alty,— the throne and white robes, but it doth far transcend them ; other kings are of the blood-royal, but they in this heaven- ly kingdom are born of God ; other kings converse with nobles, the saints glorified are fellow-commoners with angels; they have a more noble crown ; 'tis made of the flow- ers of paradise, and is a crown that fadeth not away, 1 Pet. v. 4. They sit on a better throne. King Solomon, 1 Kings, x. 18., sat on a throne of ivory overlaid with g<»ld, but the saints are in heaven higher advanced, they sit with Christ upon his throne. Rev. iii. 21. They shall judge the princes and great ones of the earth, 1 Cor. xvi. 2. This honour have all the saints glorified.
A. 11. This kingdom of heaven excels all others in healtlifulness. Death is a worm that is ever feeding at the root of our gourd ; kingdoms are oft hospitals of sick
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persons ; but tlic king-dom of heaven is a most licaltlif'ul climate; pliysicians there are out of date ; no distemper there, no j)as- BiujX hell, or bill of mortality, Luke xx. 36., " Neither can they die any more." In the heavenly climate are no ill vapours to breed diseases, but a sweet aromatical smell com- ing from Christ ; all his garments smell of myrrh, aloes and cassia.
A. 12. This kingdom of heaven excels in duration ; it abides for ever. Suppose earth- ly kingdoms to be more glorious than they are, — their foundations of gold, their walls of pcai'l, their windows of sapphire, — yet they are corruptible and fading, IIos. i. 4.,
1 will cause the kingdom to cease. Troy and Athens now lie buried in their ruins. Jain seges est ubi Troja fuit. Mortality is the disgrace of all earthly kingdoms : but the kingdom of heaven hath eternity writ- ten upon it ; it is an everlasting kingdom,
2 Pet. i. 11. It is founded upon a strong basis, God's omnipotency : this kingdom the saints shall never be turned out of, or be deposed from their throne, as some kings liave been, viz. Henry VI. he. but shall reign for ever and ever, Rev. xxii. 5.
How should all this affect our hearts ! What should we mind but this kingdom of heaven, which doth more outshine all the kingdoms of the earth than the sun out- shines the light of a taper !
Quest. 4. When shall this kingdom he he- stowed ?
Ans. This glory in the kingdom of heaven shall be begun at death, but not perfected till the resurrection.
L The saints shall enter upon the king- dom of gh)ry immediately after death ; be- fore their bodies are buried, their souls shall be crowned, Phil. i. 23., " Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ." From this connexion, departing, and being with Christ, we see clearly that there is 'ASiihitiis transitus, — speedy passage from death to glory; no sooner is the soul of a believer divorced from the body, but it jn-esently goes to Christ, 2 Cor. v. 8., " Absent from the body, present with the Lord." It were better for believers to stay here, if immedi- ately after death they were not with Christ in glory ; for here the saints are daily in- creasing their grace ; here they may have
many pralihamitia, sweet tastes of God's love ; so that it were better to stay here, if their soul should sleep in their body, and they should not have a speedy sight of God in glory. But this is the consolation of be- lievers, they shall not stay long from their kingdom ; it is but winking and they shall see God. It will be a blessed cliange to a believer, from a desert to a paradise, from a bloody battle to a victorious crown ; and a sudden change : no sooner did Lazarus die, but he had a convoy of angels to con- duct his soul to the kingdom of glory. You who now are full of bodily diseases, scarce a day well, Ps. xxxi. 10., " My life is spent with grief;" be of good comfort, you may be happy before you are aware ; before an other week or month be over, you may be in the kingdom of glory, and then all tears shall be wiped away.