Use. O ye that are citizens ! put in for an interest in this great city ; that you may go to a better city when you are called away from this ; that you may go to the citizens above, and enjoy the freedom of that happy place. You who are countrymen, take heed you be not shut out of this city of God.
Ohs. 3. This city is a city prepared. But how is it prepared?
1. It is prepared for us by God the Father in his decree : Mat. xxv. 34, ' Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;' so 1 Cor. ii. 9, 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him ; ' that is, intended for the heirs of promise. God hath designed the persons, the particular portion, and degree of glory which the saints shall enjoy, long before the world was.
2. It is prepared for us by Christ ; for we hold heaven not only by gift, but by purchase. Christ hath been at great cost to prepare heaven, and furnish this city for us ; he came from heaven to prepare it for us ; lie laid the foundation of it in his own merit, from whence our title groweth, and therefore it is called ' the purchased possession,' Eph. i. 14. Christ opened the door for us, that was before shut. And as he came from heaven to prepare the way, so he is gone to heaven to set all things to rights, from whence he will come, and fetch home his bride with triumph : John xiv. 23, 'I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.' He is gone to heaven as our legal head, to seize upon it in our right, and to possess it in our name ; and there he maketh intercession for us, that our sins may be no impediment to us. And as our mystical head, or author of grace, so he sendeth abroad the Spirit.
3. It is prepared by the Spirit. This concerneth the inhabitants. Heaven is not only prepared for us, but we are said to be prepared for heaven : Eom. ix. 23, ' And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he hath afore prepared unto glory.' So as heaven is said to be kept for us, we are kept for it : 1 Peter i. 4, 5, ' To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that t'adeth not away, reserved in heaven for us, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.' Christians ! God is ready, if we are ready ; there it stoppeth : old bottles will not hold the new wine of glory. We should soon be translated if once we were fit. As corn is gathered into the garner as soon as it is ripe, so if we were ripe for heaven, our translation would not be long deferred.
But I shall come to the main point.
Ohs. 4. The top of all happiness is to have God for our God.
Tliat was the ground of the patriarch's blessedness, that ' God is not
342 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. [»SeR. L.
ashamed to be called their God ; ' Ps. cxliv. 15, ' Happ}- is that people that is in such a case ; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord.' The judgment of the flesh is, Happy are those who have no complaining in their streets, no want in their families; but the judg- ment of the flesh is corrected and retracted by the judgment of faitli — ' Yea, rather, happy is the peo[)le whose God is the Lord,' So dotli grace determine that this is the top of our happiness, to have God for our God. Here I shall inquire into three things — (1.) AVhat it is to have God for our God. (2.) Who are they that have God for their God. (.3.) How it may be improved.
First. What it is to have God for our God ? I will be a God to thee, is more than to say, I will l>e thy friend, I will be thy father, I will be thy benefactor. There is a greater weight and emphasis in this expression than if he should say, I will give thee heaven and everlast- ing life. ' Do this and live,' was the covenant made with Adam ; in the covenant of grace it is, ' I will be thy God,' and I will infallibly work whatever shall conduce to thy salvation. Here are three questions to be answered. (1.) Who is engaged ? (2.) To what he is engaged. (3.) How he will perform this engagement.
1. Who is engaged ? Ans. The infinite God, quanius, quantus est, as great and glorious as he is ; he is our portion. God loves to speak magnificently in the covenant ; therefore he doth not only say, I will give heaven, grace, and glory to thee, but I will be a God to thee : ■Gen. xvii. 7, ' I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after tliee.' Whatever he is, or hath, or can do. that is tliine. We do not believe it, but we have God's word for it often in scripture — ' I will be thy God/ All things in God are thine, the essence of God, and the subsistences in the godhead.