SEEMON III.
For we htoiv thai if our earthly house of this tabeniade were dis- solved, tve have a building of God, an house not made ivith hands, eternal in the heavens. — 2 Cor. v. 1.
Use 1. Is an exhortation to press you to several duties : as —
First, To believe the promised glory.
Here I shall first show the necessity of this ; secondly, how faith worketh as to the other world ; thirdly, how we shall rouse up our foith to a more firm belief of the promised glory.
] . The necessity. We had need press this much.
[1.] Because eternal life is one of the principal objects of faith, and the first motive to invite us to hearken after the things of God. The apostle telleth us, Heb. xi. 6, ' That without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.' He that would have anything to do with God must be persuaded of his being and bounty. In the choosing of a religion, we first look after a right object, whom to worship, and a fit reward, what we may expect from him. For that is the great inducement to make up the match between our hearts and that object. Now God, that knoweth the heart of man, and what wards will fit the lock, doth accordingly deal with us. He propoundeth himself as the first cause and highest being, to be reverenced, worshipped, and obeyed by us, so also as the chiefest good, to be enjoyed by us in an everlasting state of blessedness. All the doctrines of the christian faith tend to establish this hope in us : John xx. 31, ' These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, ye might have eternal life in his name.' All that is written in the gospel is to establish firith in Christ as the Messiah, and that in order to eternal life. The whole sum of the christian religion is, that ' God hath chosen us to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereuuto lie hath called you by our gospel, to the obtain- ing of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ,' 2 Thes. ii. 13, 14. All the parts of religion harmoniously concur to establish this hope. The whole covenant of God implieth it. A covenant is a transaction of God as the sovereign with his subjects, and consists of precepts and laws, invested with the sanction of promises and threatenings. His commands all of them imply such an estate. Some express it; all imply it ; for they are work propounded to us in order to wages, or a reward to be given, and it is not fit we should have wages before our work be over. Some express it : as John vi. 27, ' Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlast- ing life,' &c. ; and Mat. vi. 19, 20, we are commanded not to lay up treasures upon earth, but in heaven, &c. ; and Luke xiii. 24, 'Strive to enter in,' &c. And if there were no such estate, all these laws were in vain. And would the wise and faithful God give us laws in vain ? His threatenings would be but a vain scarecrow if there were not a world to come ; his promises but flatter us with a lie. All the doc-
VeR. l-l SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. 443
trines concerning Christ point out such an eternal condition to us, whether they concern his person or estates ; his coming from heaven, the place of souls; his going thither again, or sitting down on the right hand of God, and then his coming to judgment. Wherefore was Christ apparelled with our flesh, but that we might he clothed with his glory ? If Christ were in the womb, why not we in heaven ? It is more credible to believe a creature in heaven than a god in the grave. Therefore he came into the world to purchase a right for us, and he went to heaven again to plead, prosecute, and apply that right, Kom. v. 10. He is gone thither with tlie names of the tribes on his breagt and shoulders, Heb. ix. 12. All the benefits of Christ tend to this : justification, our release from the curse, that we may be capable of life, Eom. v. 18 ; sanctification, to prepare, fit us for it, and to begin this life in us, ' for he that hath the Son hath life,' 1 John V. 12; all ordinances; the word, Isa. Iv. 3, 'Hear, and your souls shall live ;' the supper, Luke xxii. 20 ; all graces ; faith to see it, 1 Peter i. 9, ' Eeceiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls ;' love to desire it, hope to wait for it ; the comforts of the Spirit to give us a taste of it. So that this is the great object of faith, and to which all the rest tend.
[2.] The believing of this constituteth a main difference between the animal and spiritual life ; by which the world of mankind are distin- guished. The animal life is that which is supported by the comforts and delights of the present world, such as lands, honours, pleasures, riches, and when these are out of sight, they are at loss, and utterly dismayed. But the spiritual and divine life is supported by the comforts and delights of the world to come, by reflecting upon everlasting happi- ness, and the glory and blessedness we shall enjoy there ; as in the verses before the text, in the close of the former chapter. When we believe these things, another kind of spuit cometh upon a man, and hath such a life and strength derived into his heart, that he can bear up with joy and courage, when the outward and animal life is exposed to the greatest difficulties and decays, because he is a man of another world. And therefore we are said to live by faith, because we apprehend those great and glorious things which are kept for us in heaven : 2 Cor. iv. 13, 14, ' We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken : we also believe, and therefore speak, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.' Oh ! it is a mighty thing to have a spirit of faith ; in the lowest condition such an one can hold up his head and avouch his hopes. He can own Christ, how dear soever it cost him. None are of such a noble and divine spirit as they. Without it a man that wholly loveth the animal life is but a wiser sort of beast. Not only the sensualist or the covetous, but even the ambitious, who aspire after crowns and kingdoms and great fame by their gallantry and noble exploits, are but poor, base spirits in comparison of tliose in whose breasts the sparks of this heavenly fire do ever burn, and carry them out in the zealous pursuit of the world to come.