Such too are the delightful prospects of all his
saints —
[They see, in the death and resurrection of Christ, the way to heaven opened : and, if they look to him as the resur- rection and the life'^, a fulness and perpetuity of joy awaits them also at their departure hence. Who can conceive what happiness they will feel in the vision and fruition of their God*^? Well may they long "to depart, that they may be with Christ ;" and account all their afflictions light and mo- mentary, in the view of that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, with which they will be crowned in the day of the Lord Jesus'^.]
Infer,
1. What rich sources of consolation does faith open to believers under all their troubles !
[Faith beholds God always present, always active, to suc- cour his people : it looks forward also to the future state both of body and soul, enabling us to weigh the concerns of time and eternity in the scale together, and thereby to see the vanity of
X Phil. iii. 21. y 1 Cor. xv. 53, 54. ^ Heb, xi. 35.
a2Cor. v. 1,2, 13 Heb. xii. 2. ^ '^ John xi. 25, 26.
d Rev. xxi. 3, 4, 21, 22. e 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. VOL. V. G
the one in comparison of the other. To be happy, therefore, we must live by faith.]
2. How certain is the salvation of those who beheve in Christ !
[If Jesus be the Messiah, and have in himself a sufficiency for the salvation of his people, then have we nothing to do but to believe in him. But St. Peter, quoting the entire text, infers from it the certainty of his Messiahship^; and St. Paul, referring to the same, infers his sufficiency to save his people^. Let us then make him our refuge, our founda- tion, and our all.]
f Acts ii. 25—28, and 36. s Acts xiii. 35 — 37, and 38, 39.