[2.] Given vs the earnest of his Spirit. This better life is sealed and confirmed to us by earnest. Dona, gifts, — that is one thing ; as we give a shilling to a beggar : pignus, a pawn or pledge, is another ; as when a poor man layeth his tools at pledge, with an intent, when he can
YeU. 5.] SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. 477
make up the money borrowed, to fetch it away again : but arrhu, earnest, is a part of the bargain till the whole be performed. God will not deal with us by bare covenant, but give earnest, to assure us the more of that life which he hath promised in his covenant ; we have a taste and experience of it in the present work of his Spirit,
2. How these are grounds of this desire. There are two things considerable in that glorious estate which we expect according to promise — the certainty and the excellency. Both are confirmed by God's working us, et? auTo tuvto, and giving us the earnest, &c.
[1.] The certainty of it is confirmed by both these things, the frame of the new creature and earnest of the Spirit. (1.) By the frame of the new creature. If a vessel be formed, it is for some end ; and what doth not attain its end is vain and lost. A man may make a thing useless and short of its end, but God cannot ; for he cannot mistake in the forming, nor change his mind ; and therefore if God had made us ek ainb tovto, the end is sure to be obtained; there is everlasting glory, and we shall have it. Now God hath made and framed believers to this happiness. (2.) So the second argument, by giving us the earnest of the Spirit. That is also an argument of the certainty of the glory to come ; for if he hath given us earnest, he will also give us the whole sum. An earnest is lost when either the bargain is repented of, or it is beyond the power of the party to make good the bargain, or else when it is not much regarded, being of small value ; but none of these things can take place here, for God repenteth not of his covenant, Rom. xi. 19. God is able to give what he hath promised : Eom. iv. 21, ' Being fully persuaded, that what he had promised he was able to perform.' And the Spirit is no mean gift ; next to Christ, the greatest gift that can be bestowed upon mortal men. God, that giveth the creatures by mere gift to carnal men, loseth nothing but the creatures : corn and wine and oil, it may be lost, &c. ; but God, that giveth his Spirit to his people, will not lose his earnest ; where this is given, he will give more.
[2.] The excellency and worth of these blessed things, which are also a ground of this earnest desire. Now this is represented both by God's forming, and also by the earnest of the Spirit. (1.) By God's forming. If we must be formed, wrought for this self-same thing ; surely this estate is an excellent, blessed, and glorious estate. A natural man is counted fit for anything this world hath, but he must have a new fitness for what God will confer upon him in the other world ; there- fore the preparation showeth what the blessedness is. God hath framed us with curious and costly artifice, and therefore for a noble end and purpose. Ordinary utensils are thrown about the house without any care, the meanest place will serve for them ; but this ■workmanshijD is too good to be left in this world ; therefore God hath designed it to a better place. Surely so much ado would not be made about a thing of nought. (2.) The earnest showeth the greatness as well as the certainty. The things of the Spirit are very precious, compared to light, life, a pearl, joy. One drachm of grace is more precious than all the world. Yet these are but an earnest, which is a small part of the whole sum. The argument runneth thus : if joy unspeakable and glorious, if peace that passeth all understanding, be
478 SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. [SeR. VII.
but the earnest, then surely the wliole purchase and possession is beyond all that can be thought of and imagined. You would judge that to be no ordinary bargain, where a thousand-pound earnest is given. The scripture compareth all that we enjoy of God here but to a taste, to an earnest, to the first-fruits ; little in comparison of the full glory and happiness that shall ensue. The points are two —
1. That God frameth his people unto that happy estate which he hath appointed them.
2. Tliat they may look and long for it with greater affection, he giveth them the earnest of the Spirit.
Dod. 1. That God frameth and suiteth his people unto that happi- ness which he hath provided for them. That truth you have in other scriptures : Eom. ix. 23, ' Vessels of mercy aforehand prepared unto glory.' Sometimes we read that heaven is prepared for us, at other times that we are prepared for heaven. Heaven for us : Mat. xxv. 34, ' Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world ' — in the decree of God. By the mediation of Christ : John xiv. 2, ' I go to prepare a place for you.' But that is not enough ; we must also be prepared for heaven, fitted and suited to that estate. So again : Col. i. 12, ' He hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.' God puts into his people an agreeableness unto that happiness which he hath appointed to them. Heaven is a clean and holy place, and none but the jiurified and cleansed are meet to go thither. A place of spiritual delights, not fit for the sensual, but the moi-tificd ; so Rev. iii. 4, ' They shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.' There is a twofold worthiness — the worth of exact equality and the worth of suitableness, conveniency and proportion. (1.) The worth of condignity, or exact equality. As a workman is said to be worthy of his wages, so we are not worthy ; for there is such a distance between God and his creatures, that no creature can make him his debtor. (2.) But there is also the worth of meetness, suitableness, &c. Thus they that kept themselves clean when others were defiled, these were worthy to walk with Christ in white ; when others are stained with the blot of everlasting shame, they possess everlasting glory. For in the days of i\\^y solemn festivals they appeared in white garments. So we are bidden, 1 Thes. ii. 12, ' to walk worthy of God, who hath called us to his kingdom, and his glory ; ' meaning suitably, and becom- ing the God whom we serve, and the glory and blessedness which we expect. But —