a joint interest with them in that glory. They shall see, and yet wail and weep, and gnash their teeth : But an interest sealed, gives joy unspeakable. Now, as to the excellency of this joy, it will be found to be the pleasant light of the soul. Light and joy are siffiwiymous terms in scripture, Psal. xcvii. 11. It is as the cheer- ful light of the morning after a sad and dismal night. You that have sat in darkness and the shadow of death, you that have sat mourning in the dark, without one glimpse of a promise, you that have conversed with nothing but dismal thoughts of hell and wrath ; Oh ! I shall be cast away for ever ! What will you say, when after all this darkness, the day-star shall arise in your hearts, the joy of heaven shall beam upon your souls .? Will not this be a glorious reward for all your sefedenial for Christ, and fully recompense for the frowns of carnal relations for giving entertainment to Christ "^ This joy of the Lord, if there were no other heaven, is an abundant recomper^ce. This joy of the Lord shall be your strength, Neh. viii. 10, Let God but give a person a little of this joy into his heart, and he shall presently feel himself strengthened by it, either to do or to suflPer the will of God. Now he can pray with enlarge- ment, hear with comfort, meditate with delight : and if God call him to suffer, this joy shall strengthen him to bear it. This was it that made the martyrs go singing to the stake. This therefore transcends all the joys of this lower world. There are sinful plea- sures men find in fulfilling their lusts. There are sensitive joys that men find in the good creatures of God, filling their hearts with food and gladness : There are also delusive joys, false comforts that hypocrites find in their ungrounded hopes of heaven. The joys of the sensualist are brutish, the joys of the hypocrite are ensnaring and vanishing ; but the joys of the Holy Ghost are sohd, sweet, and leading to the fulness of everlasting joy. This is the third heavenly dainty you may expect to feed on, if you open your hearts to receive Christ by faith, else you have all the consolation that ever you must expect.
4. We read in scripture of \hQsealings of the Spirit, a choice and blessed privilege of believers, consequent upon believing ; Eph. i. 13. '* In whom after that ye believed, ye were sealed,'"* &c. This then may be expected by every soul that opens to Christ, how rich soever the comforts of it be. The Spirit indeed seals not before faith, for then should he set his seal to a blank : but he usually seals after believing, and that as the Spirit of promise. Note here, the agent or person sealing, the Spirit, he knows the counsels and purposes of God, 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11. He also is authorized to. this work ; and being die Spirit of truth, he cannot deceive us. There is a two-fokl seal spoken of in scripture; one referring to God's eternal foreknowledge and choice of men, 2 Tim. ii. 19. " Never-
" theless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, " the Lord knoweth who are his ;*" i. e. The Lord perfectly knows every soul that belongs to him through the world. But now what comfort is this to a poor believer, that God knows who are his ? Therefore there is another sealing referring to the Spirit, as his act upon believers, to make them know that they are his. The first is general. The Lord knoweth "who are his. But this is particular, The Lord knoweth thee to be his. This is joyful news indeed. The former makes it sure in itself, the latter makes it sure to us. Now this is a most glorious privilege, a work of the Spirit, which hath a most ravishing, delicious sweetness in it ; and that which makes it so, is,
(1.) The weigh tiness of the matter sealed to, which is no less than Christ, and the eternal inheritance purchased by his blood. This seal secures our title to Christ, and to the eternal glory : We are sealed to the day of redemption. The sealed believer can say, Clirist, how great, how glorious soever he be, is my Christ; the covenant of grace, and all the invaluable promises contained in it are mine,
(2.) The rest and quietness which follow it, make it an invalu- able mercy. This brings the anxious solicitous mind and conscience to rest and peace. O what a mercy is it to have all those knots untied, those objections answered, those fears banished, under which the doubting soul so long laboured, and which kept it so many nights waking and restless ! God only knows at what rate some poor creatures live under the scai'ings of their own con- sciences, and frequent fears of hell : And what an unconceivable mercy would it be to them to be delivered at once from their dangers and fears, which hold them under a spirit of bondage ? Open to Christ, and thou art in the w^ay to such a deliverance : *' Come unto me and I will give you rest,'' saith Christ, Mat. xi.
(3.) This sealing of the Spirit, which follows upon believing, will establish the soul m Christy confirm it and settle it in the ways of God, which is an unspeakable privilege ; 2 Cor. i. 22. " Now he " which establisheth us with you in Christ is God, who also hath ** sealed us." Mark how establishment follow^s sealing. Now temptations may come, great persecutions and sore afflictions may come ; but how well is that soul provided for them all, that hath the sealings of the Spirit unto the day of redemption ? Yea, though the soul that was sealed should for the present be under new dark- ness, new temptations and fears, yet the former sealing will give estabhshment and relief, when the thoughts run back to the sealing day, and a man remembers how clear God once made his title to Chriist. Well then, open to Clirist, if ever you expect to be sealed
to salvation. If you continue to despise and reject the tenders of Christ in the gospel, whilst others that embrace him are sealed to the day of redemption ; your unbelief and final rejection of Christ, will seal you up to the day of damnation.