Doct. That those that have received the first fruits of the Spirit, do groan and wait for a better estate than they now enjoy. I shall speak of this point. First, By way of explication ; Secondly, By way of con- firmation.
First, For explication.
1. The description of the persons, — 'We that have the first fruits of the Spirit.' The expression alludeth to the customs of the law, where the offering of the first fruits sanctified the whole heap : Rom. xi. 16, 'For if the first fruits be holy, the lump also is holy.' Thence it is applied to any such beginnings as are a pledge of more to ensue ; as here, the finst fruits of the Spirit are the pledges and beginnings of eternal life. What are they ? The graces and comforts of the Spirit :
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First, the graces. Salvation is begun in our new birtli : Titus iii. 5, ' But according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regenera- tion, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost ; ' and sanctifying grace is called an immortal and incorruptible seed, 1 Pet. i. 23 ; and they that are made partakers of it are implied to have eternal life abiding in them, 1 John iii. 13, because the life is now begun, which shall be per- fected in heaven. For the present there is an eternal principle in them which carries them to eternal ends. Secondly, The comforts which are consequent upon the graces. For the Spirit is first a sauctifier, and then a comforter ; he worketh holiness ; and by holiness, peace, joy, and comfort, which are some foretastes of that sweetness which is in heaven. This peace and joy is raised in us, partly, by the life and exercise of faith and love ; 1 Pet. i. 8, ' Whom having not seen ye love ; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeak- able, and full of glory ;' and Eom. xv. 13, 'Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.' And partly, by the apprehen- sion of God's love and favour to us : Ps. iv. 6, 7, ' Lord, lift up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness into my heart, more than in the time when their corn and wine increased.' And also, by our approaches to him in the word and prayer, where God doth most familiarly manifest himself to his people : Isa. Ivi. 7, ' I will bring them into my holy mountain, and make them joyful iu the house of prayer.' These comforts of the Spirit they meet witli in God's sacred ordinances : Ps. Ixxxiv. 10, ' For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.' Thus I have shown you what they are ; now for to what use they serve ? Ans2vei\ They are an earnest and a foretaste ; an earnest, to show how sure: Eph i. 13, 14, 'In whom also, after ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased posses- sion ; ' 2 Cor. v. 5, ' Now he that hath wrought us to the self-same thing is God, who also hath given us the earnest of the Spirit,' — a begun, possession. Secondly, a foretaste, to show how good : 1 Pet ii. 3, ' If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.' As the clusters of Canaan grapes were carried before them to animate the Israelites, and the Italian grapes the Gauls ; so the graces are pledges of our future perfection ; and the comforts, tastes of our future happiness.
2. The acts mentioned are two, — groan, and wait ; the one doth more directly respect our present, the other our future estate. We groan because of present miseries ; we wait because of our future happiness. Or rather both acts respect both estates compounded; as groaning, our present and future happiness ; for there are groans that come from sorrows ; and groans which come from hope and desire : 2 Cor. v. 2, 'In this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven ; ' and ver 4, ' We groan being burdened." Grief at our present state, the bui'den of sin and misery, and desire of future deliverance : Prov. xiii. 12, ' Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but when the desire cometh, it is as a tree of life.' On the other side, waiting importeth two things, an earnest and desirous expectation of what is to come, and a patient submission to God for the present.
[1.] An earnest and desirous expectation of what is to come ; there- fore said to look and long for it : Tit. ii. 13, ' Looking for the blessed
188 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. [SeR. XXX.
hope;' and Heb. ix. 28,'' To them that look for him;' 2 Tim. iv. 8, ' And to them also that love his appearing.'
[2.] A jiatient suhmis.sion to God for what is present. ' Patience of hope,' 1 Thes. i. 3 ; and Ps. xxxvii. 7, ' Rest on the Lord, and wait patiently for him.' Our happiness is delayed, aud in the meantime we have many trials ; our estate to come is excellent and glorious, and our present estate is miserable and despicable. It is offered to us upon sure and gracious terms, therefore we wait ; but in the meantime we conflict with difficulties, and therefore we groan. So that as these two duties respect our different estate, so they chiefly express our apprehen- sion and resj^ct to our sinful estate : it is earnest, it is patient and submissive. First, It is earnest ; for we groan, as a woman with child doth exactly count her time ; or the Israelites in bondage did wait for the year of jubilee; or the hireling when his covenanted time will expire. Secondly, With patience and submission to God's pleasure and leisure, possessing their souls in meekness. And observe the motive; this waiting is earnest and desirous; for the godly have not only a sense and feeling of the miseries and calamities of this life, but a fervent desire of the joys of heaven. The miseries and troubles of the present world are matters of sense ; we need not scripture to tell us that we are burdened, and pained, and conflict with diverse evils ; our flesh feeleth it ; and we kuow it to our grief, that here is little else but disquiet and vexation. Sense can discover what should drive us from the world ; but sense cannot discover what should draw our desires after a better estate ; that we learn by faith ; the joy is set before us in the promises of the gospel: Heb. vi. 18, ' That we might liave strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope that is set before us ;' and Heb. xii. 2, ' Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who endured the cross, despised the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.' The promises set it in our view, that we may eye it much, that we may often look ujion it, press earnestly towards it. Groaning is stirred up by sense, waiting by faith.