And in our whole man the image of God and Christ shall be perfectl}' restored. We shall be like Christ, reserving the difference between the head and the members ; reserving the difference of a natural Son and of sons adopted. He shall be more glorious than we. , We shall be glorious as much as we are capable of. In all fulness of joy, and grace, and dominion over the creature, in freedom from ill and readiness to good, we shall be glorious sons of God. I need not to be long in unfolding these things.
Quest. When shall this be ?
Ans. ' When he shall appear,' saith the apostle, ' we shall also appear with him in glory.' It is carried indefinitely, to stop curiosity. There is no time set down; but ^ ichen he shall appear,' &c. In a word, when all the elect shall be gathered together. It is not meet that our bodies and souls should be glorified till all God's people be gathered together. As in a family they do not sit down till all the servants be come in, and then they sit down together, so in this gi'eat family of God, the saints in heaven and earth, there shall not be perfect glory till all be gathered and saved. And then what a blessed time will that be, when every one shall be glorious
214 THE ninnEN life.
liimself, and shall put down the sun in glory in his body and sonl, and when there shall be such a world of them so glorious.
If every star bo beautiful, how beautiful arc all in their lustre ! When so many saints shall be gathered together, they shall be far more glorious than the/sun in his majesty ; and this glory is reserved till all be gathered together. God said of the creatures severally they were good, but when he looked on them together they were exceeding good. So the several souls of Christians are glorious, but at the day of judgment, when all shall be gathered together, there shall be an exceeding glory. It is reserved, I say, for the gathering together of the saints ; when Christ, who is the head, shall have gathered all by his word and ministry out of this sinful world — which are scattered here and there — ^thcn they shall come to perfect glory. Then there shall be perfect union between the body and soul ; then there shall be a perfect union between us and all that are dead together ; then there shall be a perfect union between us and Christ ; then we shall have the perfect fruition of God, of angels, of all the blessed company in heaven. Oh what a blessed time will this be ! and this shall be at the glorious appearing of Christ.
Christ shall appear in glory himself, as verily as he appeared in his first coming ; and we shall appear with him in glory.
Why should we doubt of it ? Is not that which is greater done already ? Hath not God himself become man ? Hath not God died, and God been abased in his first coming ? Is not that more wonder than that a man should become like God in his second coming ? Whether is greater, for God to become man, or for men to be raised out of their graves and become glorious ? Certainly this is the lesser. Why should we doubt of it ? Let us raise our hearts with this, that as verily as he came in abasement to work our salvation, so verily he shall come and raise us to glory ; and this is a lesser work than the former.
But to come nearer, to make some further use of this, surely these are main points, and should be oft thought on. Oh that the hearts of Chris- tians M'ere exercised with them ! Could we be dead either for grace or comfort, if we did oft think of this with application ? Let us oft warm our- selves with these things ; let us bring ourselves to the light ; let us think of the blessed times to come : could we be unfruitful ? This made Saint Paul adjure Timothy and the Thessalonians : ' I beseech you, by the com- ing of our Lord Jesus Christ,' &c., 2 Tim. iv. 1, 2 Thes. ii. 1. I shall need no greater argument to press you, than as verily as Christ shall come in glory, and as yovi shall be gathered to him, so hear what I say. So Saint Paul chargeth Timothy : 1 Tim. vi. 13, ' I charge thee before Christ, who at his coming, &c., keep this commandment.' This will move a man's conscience, and carry him to duty, if nothing else will. Let us think seriously, Christ will come with thousands of his angels in glory and ma- jesty, and all shall be glory then, there shall be nothing but gloiy : glorious in his company, glorious in himself, glorious in his enemies ; he shall trample them under his feet by a glorious confusion ; there shall be nothing but glory in heaven and earth then. And w-e shall come to the same glory. The spouse shall partake of the glory o-f her husband. Let us think of this, it will quicken and inspire all our courses with a spiritual kind of light to all actions ; it will enliven and quicken them.