Inference 1. Is this so great an honour to Christ, to sit enthroned at God's right hand ? What honour then is reserved in heaven for those that are faithful to Christ, now on the earth ? Christ prayed, and his prayer was heard, John xvii. 24. " That we may be with " him to behold the glory that God hath given him ;" and what heart can conceive the felicity of such a sight ? It made Stephen's face shine as the face of an angel, when he had but a glimpse of Christ at his Father's right hand. " Thine eyes shall see the king " in his beauty," Isa. xxxiii. 17. which respected Hezekiah in the type, Christ in the truth. But this is not all, though this be much, to be spectators of Christ in his throne of glory ; we shall not only see him in his throne, but also sit with him enthroned in glory. To behold him is much, but to sit with him is more. I remember it was the saying of a heavenly Christian, now with Christ, / would far rather look but through the hole qfChrisfs door, to see but one half of his fairest and most comely face, [for he looks like heaven] sup- pose I should never win to see his excellency and glory to the full ; than to enjoy the flower, the bloom, and chiefest excellency of the glory and riches often worlds. And you know how the Queen of the South fainted at the sight of Solomon in his glory. But this sight you shall have of Christ, will change you into his likeness. " We " shall be like him (saith the apostle) for we shall see him as he is," 1 John iii. 2. He will place us as it were in his own throne with him. So runs the promise, Rev. iii, 21. " To him that overcometh, I will " grant to sit with me in my throne ; even as I also overcame, and " am set down with my Father in his throne :" and so 2 Tim. ii. 12. " If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him." The Father set Christ on his right-hand, and Christ will set the saints on his right hand. So you know the sheep are placed by the an-
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gels at the great day, Mat. xxv. and so the church, under the figure of the daughter of Egypt, whom Solomon married, is placed " on the king's right hand, in gold of OphirJ" Psal. xlv. This honour have all the saints. O amazing love ! What, we set on thrones, while as good as we by nature howl in flames ! O what manner of love is this ! These expressions indeed do not intend that the saints shall be set in higher glory than Christ ; or that they shall have a parity of glory with Christ, for in all things he must have the pre-eminence : But they note the great honour that Christ will put upon the saints ; as also, that his glory shall be their glory in heaven. " As the glory of the husband re- " dounds to the wife ; * and again, their glory will be his glory, 2 Thess. i. 10. and so it will be a social glory. O, it is admirable to think, whither free grace hath already mounted up poor dust and ashes !
To think how nearly related now to this royal, princely Jesus ! But how much higher are the designs of grace, that are not yet come to their parturient fulness, they look beyond all this that we now know ! " Now are we the sons of God, but it doth not yet " appear what we shall be," 1 John iii. 2. Ah what reason have you to honour Christ on earth, who is preparing such honours for you in heaven.
Inf. 2 Is Christ Jesus thus enthroned in heaven, then how im- possible is it, that ever his interest should miscarry or sink on earth ? The church hath many subtle and potent enemies. True, but as Haman could not prevail against the Jews, whilst Esther their friend spake for them to the king, no more can they whilst our Jesus sits at his, and our Father's right hand. Will he suffer his enemies that are under his feet, to rise up and pull out his eyes, think you ? Surely they that touch his people touch the very apple " of his eye," Zech. ii. 8. " He must reign till his enemies are " put under his feet," 1 Cor. xv. 25. The enemy under his feet, shall not destroy the children in his arms. He sits in hea- ven on purpose to manage all to the advantage of his church, Eph. i. 22. Are our enemies powerful ; lo our King sits on the right- hand of power. Are they subtle and deep in their contrivance ; He that sits on the throne, overlooks all they do. Heaven overlooks hell. " He that sits in heaven beholds," and derides their at- tempts, Psal. ii. 4. He may permit his enemies to straiten them in one place, but it shall be for their enlargement in another. Por it is with the church, as it is with the sea : what it loses in one place, it gets it another; and so really loses nothing. He
* Uxor sjilcndescit in radiis mariii,
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may suffer them also to distress us in outwards, but shall be re- compensed with inward and better mercies ; and so we shall lose nothing by that. A footstool you know is useful to him that treads on it, and serves to lift him up higher ; so shall Christ's enemies be to him and his, albeit they think not so. What singular be- nefits the oppositions of his enemies, occasion to his people; I have * elsewhere discovered, to which I may refer my reader; and pass to
Inf. 3. Is Christ set down on the right-hand of the Majesty in heaven ? 0 with what awful reverence sliould we approach him in the duties of his worship ! Away with light and low thoughts of Christ. Away with formal, irreverent, and careless frames in praying, hearing, receiving, yea, in conferring and speaking of Cnrist. Away with all deadness, and drowsiness in duties ; for he is a great Xing' with whom you have to do. A king, to whom the kings of the earth are but as little bits of clay. Lo, the angels cover their faces in his presence. He is an adorable Majesty.
When John had a vision of this enthroned King, about sixty rears after his ascension ; such was the over-powering glory of Christ, as the sun when it shineth in its strength, that when he saw him, he fell at his feet as dead, and died it is like he had, if Christ had not laid his hand on him, and said, " Fear not, I am " the first and the last; I am he that liveth, and was dead, and <; behold I am alive for evermore," Rev. i. 17, 18. When he appeared to Saul in the way to Damascus, it was in glory above the glory of the sun, which overpowered him also, and laid him as one dead upon the ground.