ISA. XXV. 9.J BETWEEN CHBIST AND HXS CHURCH. 515
him. And then maintain daily acquaintance with him, by seeing him with the eye of faith, by speaking to him, and hearing him speak to us by his Spirit, joining in his ordinances, and then he will own us, and be acquainted with us. In heaven we shall say, ' Lo, this is our God.' We have had Bweet acquaintance one with another : he by his Spu'it with me, and I by my prayers with him. Our Saviour Christ will not be without us in heaven. We are part of his mystical body, and heaven were not heaven to Christ without us. With reverence be it spoken, we are the fulness of Christ, as he is the fulness of his chm'ch. And if he should want us, in some sort he were miserable, he having fixed upon us as objects of his eter- nal love. In what case were he if he should lose that object ? And there- fore, as we glory in him, he glorieth in us. ' Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness ?' Who ? ' His beloved,' Cant. iii. 6. And, ' Woman, is this thy faith ? ' Mat. xv. 28. He adndres the graces of the church, as the church admires him. ' This is the Lord.' The church cannot be with- out him, nor he without the church. These words are spoken with a kind of admiration. ' Lo, this is the Lord, we will rejoice in him.' So I say, as there is thanks and joy, so there is admu'ation, ' Lo, behold ! ' This is a God worthy beholding, and so he wonders at the gi'aces of his children. Beloved, there is nothing in the world worthy admiration. Sajnentis non est admirari. It was a speech of the proud philosopher, a wise man will not admire, for he knoweth the ground (/i). But in heaven the parts are hfted up so high that there is nothing but matter of admiration, things ' that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man to conceive of,' 1 Cor. ii. 9. They be things beyond expression, and nothing is fit for them but admii'ation at the gi'eat thmgs vouchsafed to the church.
And as with admu-ation, so with in\itation. That is the nature of true thankfulness. There is no envy in spiritual things. No man envieth an- other the Ught of the Scriptures, but lo, behold with admiration and invita- tion of aU others, ' This is the Lord.'
Let us therefore rejoice beforehand, at the glorious times to come, both to ourselves and to others ; be stirring and exciting one another to glory, and rejoice in God our salvation.
1. And, therefore, learn all to be stirred up from hence, not to he offended with Christ, or with religion. Be not oflended, saith Austin, with the par- vity* of rehgion. Every thing to the eyes of the world is httle in religion. A Christian is a despised person, and the church, the meanest part of the world, in regard to outward glory. But,
2. Consider with the httleness, and baseness, and despisedness of the church, the rjlory to come. Time will come when we shall rejoice, and not only see, but boast with admiration, to the stirring up of others, ' Lo, this is the Lord.' And, therefore, say with our Saviour Christ, ' happy is he that is not oifended with me,' Mat. xi. 6, nor with religion. There is a time coming, that will make amends for all. Who in the world can say at the hour of death, and day of judgment, Lo, this is my riches, this my honours ! Alas ! the greatest persons must stand naked to give account ; all must stand on even ground to hold up theu* hands at the great bar. We may say to the carnal presumptuous man, Lo, this is the man that put his confidence in his riches. And none but reconciled Christians can say, ' Lo, this is our God.' Therefore take heed of being oflended with anything in rehgion.
3. Again, if time to come be so transcendently glorious, let us not be afraid to die, let us not be overmuch cast down, for it shall end in glory. And
* That is, ' insignificance, smallness.' — G.
516 THE MAERIAGE FEAST [SeKMON IX.
let US be in expectation still of good times, wait for this blessed time to come, and never be content with any condition, so as to set up our rest here. We may write upon every thing, hie non est requies vestra. Our rest is behind ; these things are in passage. And therefore rest content with no- thing here. Heaven is our centre, our element, our happiness ; and every thing is contentedly happy, and thriveth in its element. The birds in the air, the fish in the sea, beasts on the earth, they rest there as in their centre. And that that is our place for ever, it is heaven, it is God. The immediate enjoying of God in heaven, that is our rest, our element, and we shall never rest till we be there. And therefore he is befooled for it, in the gospel, that setteth up his rest here. "N^Tiosoever saith I have enough, and will now take contentment in them, he is a fool. ' There is a rest for God's people,' Heb. iv. 9, but it is not here.