462 SEKMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. [SfiR. V
as tlie sore. If Christ sliould free us onlj' from the guilt of sin, he would perform but half our cures, he would provide for our inipvmitj, but not for our holiness and serviceableness to God. Our misery, lay in our sinfulness as well as our liableness to wrath. Therefore Christ came to change our natures, as well as to reconcile our persons to God. _ _ ^
3. New obedience or sanctification, acted as well as infused, is a part of those garments of salvation wherewith we are clothed. For the gospel saith, 1 John iii. 7, ' He that doth righteousness is right- eous;' that is, declareth that he is righteous in Christ's righteous- ness, and sanctified by his Spirit. And that this godly and righteous life is necessary to the expectation of glory and blessedness appeareth by that : 2 Peter iii. 11, ' What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness.' Let conscience speak when it reflecteth upon this, how meet it is that we should glorify God in the duties of holiness, if we would be glorified with him, and that we should glorify him in all the points of obedience, and not in one only. For he saith, in all holy conversation and godliness, in the outward carriage and secret practice, in common aflairs and duties of immediate worship, in adversity, prosperity ; grace exercised and discovered in the lives of God's people is a part of these garments wherewith our nakedness is covered : Ps. cxxxii. 9, ' Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness.* Secondly, This carrieth the notion of a garment to cover our naked- ness and shame.
1. Sin and shame came in together, and there is no man born clothed, but stark naked, and hath nothing wherewith to cover his shame before God. Adam's nakedness was an emblem of it : Gen. iii. 11, ' I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself We must not only look to the outward nakedness, but the inward. Adam was naked before, and knew that he was so ; but till they had sinned, they were not ashamed. Gen. ii. 25. Our bodies were God's own handy- work, and apparel in innocency was but as a cloud to the sun. There- fore while our first parents were appareled with the robe of innocency, they felt no shame ; all things were honest and comely and glorious enough without a covering, both in the sight of God and themselves ; no cause of shame, either before God or betwixt themselves. But when divested and stripped of this spiritual apparel, then Adam was ashamed, hid himself from God ; and till they be clothed, neither he nor his posterity can come into his presence with any comfort. Another emblem of this we have in Aaron's stripping the Israelites of their jewels and ornaments: Exod. xxxii. 2.5, ' When Moses saw that the people were naked, for Aaron had made them naked to their shame among their enemies.' It is not meant barely of Aaron's stripping them of their jewels and ornaments ; that was but a type of their nakedness and deformity, which was uncovered before God. What ! should Moses kill the Israelites, because Aaron had taken away their jewels ? And what great matter of disgrace was it among the enemies, "that the sons and daughters of Israel should want ear-rings ? But the meaning is, Aaron had cast them out of God's protection, who was offended and provoked by their sin. Another suitable expression is, Hos. ii. 3, ' I will set thee naked, as in the day wherein thou wast
VeU. 3.] SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. 4G3
born.' It is not meant tliat God would take away their apparel, but deprive them of his spiritual favours, leave them as he found them at their first birth, and then how miserable were they ? Well then , in itself it is shameful, and maketh us odious and abominable to God, to fly from him, to slum his presence ; as Adam, when he sinned, found himself naked, and ran away from God to the bushes, Gen. iii. 7. So all naturally lie before God, as deformed sinners, have naked and loathsome souls, though the body should be clad with gorgeous robes.
2. We being naked, our great business is to get a garment where- with to cover our nakednes.s, that our shame may not appear : Kev. ii. 17, 18, ' Thou art poor and blind, and miserable, and naked ; I counsel thee to buy of me white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed.' Our business is to be tracking i with Christ about garments of salvation,
■ how to get our sins covered with such a covering as will hide them from the sight of God. This is our business, if we would not have God dreadful, but amiable. Adam, when he found himself naked, was looking out for a covering ; but he could find out nothing but a few fig-leaves, till the Lord made him coats of skins (possibly of those beasts which were offered in sacrifice) ; for the news of the seed of the woman, or tlie first tidings of the Messiaii who should come to redeem the world, was then immediately made known to him, and sacrifice appointed to signify and prefigure it.