In the prospect of this he longs for the period of his dissolution —
[In his present tabernacle he is laden with grievous cor- ruptions, and beset with manifold temptations, and exposed to injuries on every side : and, from " his fightings without, and fears within," his time is often spent in sighs and groans. Many, many times does he exclaim with St. Paul, " O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me ?" Notwithstanding " he has within himself the first-fruits of the Spirit, he groans within himself, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemp- tion of the body ^." Twice is this mentioned in our text, to certify us the more fully, that groans are the common lan- guage of the heaven-born soul ; and that it is in that language more especially that " the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us\"
" To be delivered from the bondage of corruption," is cer- tainly one great object which the Christian panteth after : but he also longs, and " earnestly desires," to be brought " into the glorious liberty of the children of God'," He knows
a Heb. xi. 9. b 1 Pet. i. 3—5. = Heb. xi. 10.
•J John xiv. 2, .3. ^ Job xix. 25—27. ' 1 John iii. 2.
« Rom. viii. 23. ^ Rom. viii. 26. ' Rom. viii. 21.
that " when unclothed, as it respects his present tabernacle, he shall not be found naked" and destitute, seeing that a better habitation is ready for him ; and it is his desire after this better habitation, that chiefly actuates him in his longings for the dissolution of his earthly tabernacle. It is " not merely to be unclothed," and to get rid of his present troubles, but " to be clothed upon with his house from heaven," and have " mortality swallowed up of life." It is no disparagement to a godly soul to say, " O that I had wings like a dove*^ ! for then would I flee away and be at rest :" but it is a higher attainment to say, " I long to be dissolved, that I may he with ChristK"
We are ready to imagine that there is a confusion of meta- phor in this place, and that " to be clothed upon with a house," is an absurd expression : but, if we advert to the circumstance, that that house is " a tabernacle," and that a tabernacle is constructed with an awning or covering cast over it, the pro- priety, and indeed the beauty, of the expression will appear at once. And when it is considered that even the tabernacle of the Most High was not so far superior to the accommoda- tion of the meanest Israelite, as the mansions prepared for us are above the tabernacle in which we now live, we shall not wonder, that the soul of the believer sighs and groans for his blest abode ; his abode, the residence of angels, the habitation of his God. It was this consideration that made Paul so satisfied in the near prospect of martyrdom : "I am now ready to be oflfered, and the time of my departure is at hand : but there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me™." It was the same, that rendered Peter also equally composed in the near approach of crucifixion. He designates even that cruel death by the gentle term of " putting off this tabernacle ;" to which he was reconciled by the thought that an infinitely better mansion awaited him at his departure hence ^. But is it for Apostles only to enjoy this sweet assurance? Are they alone authorized to look forward with dehght to the eternal world ? No : this is the privilege of every saint. Heaven is the believer's home : whilst he is here, he is a sojourner, in a state of exile from his Lord : and when he goes hence, he ceases from his pilgrimage, and goes ho7ne to the bosom of his God". If we are " walking by faith and not by sight," that is, if we are true believers, that is our present portion, and " our eternal great reward."]