3. What he expected and groaned for he showeth in the 8th verse. We ai-e confident and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. Therefore Paul doth not suppose that he should live in the body till Christ should come to change his body, without having need to put it off.
4. The commodiousness of the other sense, and suitableness of it to other scriptures, where nakedness and clothing is used metaphorically, and with respect to our final estate of glory, or being found of Christ in the day of our transmigration — that holiness is the true wedding garment, Mat. xxii. That the graces of the Spirit are garments of salvation, and Christ's righteousness represented by a robe, is evident by Isa. Ixi. 10, and many other scriptures. That we put on Christ, that the church is clothed with the sun, Kev. xii. 1, is a thing so evident, tliat it needeth not to be insisted on. And that in this estate we must be found of Christ at his coming to the general judgment, or to us in particular, is evident by many scriptures : Rev. xvi. 15, ' Behold I come as a thief, blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth liis garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.' A christian is clothed with Christ and his righteousness, which is a covering which is not too short. He is clothed also with the graces of the Spirit, which are both ornamentum and munimentum, owe ornament and armour of defence. It is our ornament, as leaves are a beautiful vesture to the apples, as clothes are to the body : Col. iii. 12, ' Put on, there- fore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness,
VeR. 3.] SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. 461
humbleness of miad, meekness, long-suffering,' &c. ; munimentum, armour : Eom. xiii. 12, ' The night is far spent, the day is at hand, let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.' Christ doth array us, non ad pompam, sed ad pugnam, not to set us off with a vain show, but to furnish and secure us for the spiritual warfare. Well then, the words agree. There are some peculiar difficulties in the 4th verse, but we shall handle them in their own place.
Doct. That none can groan and long for heaven but those who are not found naked, but clothed with a gospel righteousness.
The apostle limiteth it to them. In this point I shall handle three things.
1. What is a gospel righteousness?
2. That this carrieth the notion of a garment to cover our naked- ness and shame.
3. Why none but they can groan and earnestly desire to be clothed upon with the house which is from heaven.
First, What is a gospel righteousness ? It is Christ's reconciling and renewing grace, with new obedience resulting from both ; or, justification, sanctification, and new obedience.
1. Justification is requisite to eternal life, therefore called 'justi- fication unto life,' Eom. v. 18 ; Titus iii. 7. Being justified by his grace, we are made heirs according to the hope of eternal life, and this is also represented by clothing. The taking away of sin is the taking away our filthy garments, or the covering of our nakedness ; and the applying the righteousness of Christ is as the investing of us with change of raiment : Zech. iii. 4, ' Take away the filthy garments from him, and unto him he said, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.' Christ taketh away our sin by pardon, and withal adorneth the sinner with his righteousness, and with holiness in the sight of God. There is no getting the blessing but in the garment of our elder brother.
2. Sanctification is requisite in order to glory, ' for without holi- ness no man shall see God,' Heb. xii. 14. And this" is the ornament wherein the inward man of the heart is decked and adorned, that it may be comely in the sight of God, 1 Peter iii. 4. As we cover the nakedness of our bodies from the sight of men, so we must cover the nakedness of our souls in the sight of God. Now though it be hidden from man, yet it is not hidden from the Lord ; we must see that he find us not in our nakedness, neither destitute of grace, nor of the righteousness of Christ. Well then, it is not enough to look after the righteousness of justification, but of sanctification. The one is founded on the blood of Christ, the other is wrought in us by the Spirit of Christ, 1 Cor. vi. 11. And the application of Christ's blood and the gift of the Spirit are inseparably conjoined, both in the dispensation of God and the desire of a poor, anxious soul, 1 John i. 9. The one doth away the guilt of sin, as it rendereth us obnoxious to God's just wrath ; and the other the filthiness and power of sin, as it tainteth our faculties and actions, and rendereth us unacceptable and unser- viceable to God. Christ came to restore us to the favour of God, and to restore his image in our hearts, that the plaster might be as broad