And to encourage us here, grace begun hath the same name as grace perfect. Both are glory. Why doth God call them by one name ? To encourage Christians. He tells them that if it be begun it is glory, not that it is so properly, but if it be begun it shall never end till it come in heaven. Therefore God styles grace in all the latitude, from the highest to the very beginnings, by the same name, to encourage Christians. If they be within the door of the temple, though they be not so far as those that are in high and glorious places, yet they are going thither. To encourage Christians
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to know that unavoidably and indefeasibly they shall come to perfection of glory if it be begun. And God looks not on Christians as they are in their imperfections and beginnings, but that that in time he means to bring them to. He intends to bring them to glory. Therefore he gives gi-ace the style of glory. As in the creatures God looked not on the seeds of trees as such, but he looked on them as seeds that he meant to make trees of; and when God looks upon his children, he looks not on them as they are children, but as they shall be perfect men. Doth the wisdom of God look on the seeds of trees as he intends to make them trees ? and doth he not look upon Christians, that are babes in grace, as he intends to make them men, to come to the perfect stature of Christ ? He views us at once in our begin- nings and perfections. All is presented at once to him. Therefore he gives one name to the whole state of grace, grace and glory, all is glory. I beseech you therefore, if there be any goodness, an}' blessed change in us, let us he comforted ; for he that hath brought us to the beginnings of glory will never fail till he hath brought us to perfect glory in heaven, and there our change shall rest. There is no further change there, when we are once in our element.
For even as God, when he made man, he rested from all his work upon the Sabbath ; man was his excellent piece. So the Spirit of God will rest, sanctifying and altering of us, WHien we are once in heaven, in that eternal Sabbath, then we shall need no changes from glory to glory. We shall for ever be filled with the fulness of God, till which time there is no creature in the world so changeable as a Christian.
For, first, you see he was made in God's image and likeness in his state of standing.
After he fell there was a change, to his second state of sin.
After the state of fall, there is a change to the state of grace.
After that from one degree of grace to another in this world till he die.
And then the soul is more perfect and glorious. But at the last, when body and soul shall be united, there shall be no more change ; there shall be an end of all alteration.
So we see that God intends by his Spirit to bring us to perfection, though by little and little, to perfection of glory as far as our nature is capable, and this shall be at the latter day.
Quest. Why not before ? why not in this world ?
Ans. Beloved, we are not capable here of that fulness of glory. Saint Peter on the mount had but a glimpse of the glory of heaven, and he was spiritually drunk as it were, he knew not what he said, Mark ix. 6. We are not capable. Therefore we must grow here from glory to glory, till we come to that perfection of glory. God that gives us the earnest could make up the bargain here if we were capable of it, but we are not.
God will have a difference between the militant and the triumphant church, and will train us up here to live the life of faith, till we come to live the life of sight, the life of vision for ever in heaven.
Doth God by his Spirit change us by his Spirit to the likeness of Christ, ' from glory to glory,' till he have brought us to perfection of glory in heaven ? Oh let us comfort ourselves in our imperfections here. We are here lame Mephibosheths. He was a king's son, but he was lame. We are spiritually lame and defective, though we be kings' sons (m). Oh, but we shall grow from glory to glory, till all end in perfection in heaven. What a comfort is this in our imperfections, that as every day we live in this world cuts off a day of our life, for we live so much the shorter, so eveiy
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day we live brings us nearer to heaven ; that as we decay in the life of nature every day, so we grow up another way, ' from glory to glory,' till we come to perfect glory in heaven ; is not this a sweet comfort ? Let us comfort ourselves with these things.
Use 3. Again, if the state of God's people be thus sweet and comfortable, and full of well-grounded hopes, that glory shall go further on to glory, and end in glory, tJwii, n-lti/ should we be afraid of death'/ For grace will but end in glory. A mean glorious estate will but even be swallowed up of a truly glorious estate. Indeed grace is swallowed up of glory, even as the rivers are swallowed up of the ocean. Glory takes away nothing, but perfects all better by death. Why should we be afraid of death ? We are afraid of our glory, and of the perfection of our glory.