V£R.»23.] . SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 71
ately from God, and ' in all ; ' all are made perfect in one. We can- not possess any thing in the world except we encroach upon one another's happiness.- Worldly things cannot be divided i, without lessening ; and we take that from others which we possess ourselves. Envy showeth the narrowness of our comforts. But there the happi- ness of one is no hindrance to another, all are gratified, and none miserable ; as the sun is a common privilege, none have less because others have more. All possess God as their happiness without want and jealousy.
Use. If to be drawn into unity and oneness with God be our hap- piness and perfection, then take heed of two things — (1.) Of sin, which divides God from you ; (2.) Of doting upon the creatures, which withdraweth you from God.
1. Of sin, which maketh God stand at a distance from you : Isa. lix. 2, ' Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you.' As long as sin remaineth in full power, there cannot be any union at all. * What communion hath light with darkness ? ' And the more it is allowed, the more it hin- dereth the perfection of the union. What is the reason we do not fully grow up to be one with God in this life, that our communion with him is so small ? Sin is in the way ; the less holy you are, the less you have of this happiness, such unspeakable joys, lively influ- ences of grace, and immediate supplies from heaven. In bitter afflic- tions, we have most communion with God many times ; that is nothing so evil as sin ; as afflictions abound, so do our comforts.
2. Of doting upon the creatures, which withdraweth your heart from God. The more the heart is withdrawn from God, the more miserable. Let the object be never so pleasing, it is an act of spiritual whoredom. Sin is poison, creatures are not bread : Isa. Iv. 2, ' Why do you spend your money upon that which is not bread ? and your labour for that which satisfieth not ? ' It cannot yield any solid cor>- tentment to the soul. These things are short uncertain things, beneath the dignity of the soul. There is a restlessness within ourselves, and envy towards others ; they are not enough for us and them too. Not for us ; if enough for the heart, not for the conscience. If God do but arm our own thoughts against us, as usually he doth when the affections are satisfied with the world, he will show you that the whole soul is not satisfied ; therefore he awakeneth conscience ; as children catch at butterflies, the gawdy wings melt away in their fingers, and there remaineth nothing but an ugly worm. Desertion is occasioned by nothing so much as carnal complacency. Many times the object of our desires is blasted ; but if not, God awakeneth conscience, and all the world will not allay one pang.
You may understand this oneness with respect to our fellow-mem- bers ; and so you may understand it jointly of the completeness of the whole mystical body, or singly of the strength of that brotherly affection each member hath to another. There is a double imperfection for the present in the church; every member is not gathered, and those that are gathered are not come to their perfect growth. So that * let them be perfect in one,' is that the whole body may attain to the integrity of parts and degrees.
72 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeR, XXXIX.
First, Let us take it collectively ; that they may all be gathered into a perfect body, and no joints lacking.
Observe, that all the saints of all places and all ages make but one perfect body. In this sense the glorified saints are not perfect without us : Heb. xi. 40, ' God having promised some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.' It is no derogation, for Christ is not perfect without us. The church is called ' The fulness of him that fiUeth all in all,' Eph. i. 23. They are, as to their persons, perfect, free from sin and misery, made perfect in holiness and glory ; but not as to their church relation. So Eph. iv. 13, ' Till we all come to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.' All the body must be made up that Christ mystical may be complete. Now there are some joints lacking ; all the elect are not gathered.
Use 1. See the honour that is put upon the saints ; the saints on earth, and the saints in heaven make but one family : Eph. iii. 15, ' Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.' In a great house there are many rooms and lodgings, some above, some below, but they make but one house ; so of saints, some are militant, some trium- phant, and yet all make but one assembly and congregation : Heb. xii. 23, ' We are come to the general assembly, and church of the first- born, which are written in heaven ; ' we upon earth are come to them. Our Christ is the same, we are acted by the same Spirit, governed by the same head, and shall be conducted to the same glory. As in the state of grace some are before us in Christ, so some are in heaven before us, their faces once as black as yours. We have the same ground to expect heaven, only they are already entered.