22 SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. [SeR. XI.
by sense as to the present world ; and tliey live by fancy and vain con- ceit as to the world to come. Live in their sins and vain pleasures, and yet hope to be saved. Here they walk by sight, but not such a sight as the apostle meaneth ; they must have something in the view of sense — lands, honours, pleasures ; and when these are out of sight, they are in darkness, and have nothing to live upon. But now a christian is never at a loss, let his condition be what it will. Suppose God should bring him so low and bare that he hath no estate to live on, no house to dwell in, yet he hath an inheritance in the promises : Ps. cxix. Ill, ' Thy testimonies I have taken for an heritage for ever ; ' and ' God is his habitation,' Ps. xc. 1. A full heap in his own keeping is not such a supply to him as God's all- sufficiency, Gen. xvii. 1. That is his storehouse. But his great happiness is in the other world ; there is all his hope and his desire, and he looketh upon other promises only in order to that.
SERMON XL
We are confident, I say, and loilling 7'ather to he ahsentfrom the body, and present luith the Lord. — 2 Cor. v. 8.
In this verse the apostle repeateth what he had said verse 6, with some amplification. Here take notice of two things —
1. His confidence of sight, or of a blessed condition to come — Oap'povfiev, We are confident, I say.
2. His preference or esteem of sight, or of that blessed condition before the present estate — evSoKov/jiev fjudWov, And iciUing rather to he ahsentfirom the hody, aiul 'present ivith the Lord. Where two things —
[1.] What he was willing to quit — 'the body.' We are willing {iKSr]fir]aai,) to travel out of the body.
[2.] What he did choose and prefer — ev8r}/j.i}aai, to be at home with the Lord, to dwell in the same house with the Lord Christ ; this he preferred before remaining in the body.
Let us a little explain these circumstances.
First, His confidence of sight to be had at length. 'We are con- fident, I say.' There is a twofold confidence — (1.) The confidence of faith ; (2.) The confidence of assurance, or of our own interest. Both are of regard here. (1.) Faith in part produceth this willingness to go out of the body, and enjoy the heavenly life, and comfortably to leave the time and means thereof to God. Faith, where it is in any vigour, begets in those that live by it a holy boldness, whereby we dare undertake anything for God, not fearing the power and greatness of any creature ; no, not death itself. (2.) assurance of our own inte- rest doth much more heighten this confidence and holy boldness when we know assuredly that our end shall be glorious, and that when we depart out of the body, we shall be present with the Lord. The hope of our salvation is not uncertain.
VeR. 8.] SERMON'S UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. 2S
Secondly, His preferring and choosing the future estate before the present ; evSoKovfiev /xaXXov, we approve it, we like it better : iiom. XV. 26, ' It hath pleased them of Macedonia ; ' and ver. 27, ' It hath pleased them, verily,' evhoKr^a-e ; the same word also, Mat. xvii. 3. iSo here we make choice rather, and are infinitely better pleased to leave this body behind us here, and to go out and die, that by this means we may come to our home and bliss in heaven. So that faith doth not only shake off the fear of death, but enkindle in us a holy desire of it ; for what we render * and willing,' is, are more pleased or better pleased.
The points are four —
1. That our happiness in the world to come lieth in being present with the Lord.
2. That we are present with the Lord as soon as the soul flitteth out of the body.
3. That this state is chosen by the saints as more pleasing to them than to dwell in the body.
4. This will, desire, and choice cometh from a confidence of the reality of a better estate, and our own interest in it.
1. That our happiness in the world to come lieth in being present with the Lord. This hath been in part touched on in ver. 6 ; I shall only add a few considerations. Surely it must needs be so ; because this is the felicity denied to wicked men, but promised and granted to the godlj'. Denied to wicked men : John vii. 34, ' Where I am, thither ye cannot come ; ' that is, so living, and so dying, they have no leave, no grant to be there where Christ is ; paradise is closed up against them, but it is opened to God's faithful servants by the promises of the gospel : John xii. 26, ' There where I am, there shall my servant be.' Christ will not be ever in heaven without us. As Joseph brought his brethren to Pharaoh, so Christ will bring us to God. Wicked men desire not Christ's company in this life, and there- fore they are justly secluded from coming where he is ; but the godly are trained up to look and long and wait for this when they shall come before God.