But, whilst we assert that this is the Christian's experience, it will be proper to shew,
^ Ps. Iv. 6. ' Phil. i. 21—23. "" 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8.
" 2 Pet. i. 1.3, 14. " ver. G, 8. See the Greek.
2017.1 I'H*^ christian's prospect of glory. • 505 II. How he attains to it —
It is wrought in him by his God —
[Man cannot work it in himself. Man may desire to get rid of his present trials, and in a fit of impatience may " choose strangling rather than life:" indeed it is but too common for those who are bowed down with a load of worldly troubles, to seek relief in suicide. But this is very diiFerent from the expe- rience in our text, a principal ingredient in which is a desire after the glory and felicity of heaven. This no man can pro- duce in his own soul. Man, of himself, has no conception of that blessedness, nor any taste for the enjoyment of it : much less has he such a view of it as will incline him to brave the most cruel death for the attainment of it. He who alone can work this in the soul of man, is God. He alone, who opened the .eyes of Stephen to behold God, and Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of God, can give to any man a just apprehen- sion of the heavenly glory, together with an assurance of his title to it, and his interest in it. He alone, who raised up the Lord Jesus from the dead, can so deliver us from the fear of death, that it shall appear to us a desirable acquisition. He alone, who has enabled us to say, " To me to live is Christ," can enable us to add, " To me also it is gain to die."
How God works this in the soul, it is not easy to state. We are but little acquainted with the workings of our own spirit, and still less with the operations of the Spirit of God. We know little of wind, but by its effects : as to the mode of its operation, we have but very indistinct notions about it : it is no wonder therefore that there should be many things relative to the operation of the Holy Spirit on our souls which we are not able clearly to define. But from the effects produced by him, we do assuredly collect his agency : and where we see an ardent desire after the heavenly glory, we do not hesitate to affirm, that the author of it is God ; since none but He, who created the universe out of nothing, can create so blessed a disposition in the soul. This disposition is called " the earnest of the Spirit," which God gives to his believing people. Now an earnest is, not merely a pledge of any thing, but a part of the thing itself, given as a pledge that the remainder shall be imparted in due time : and hence that which is called in our text " the earnest of the Spirit," is in another place called **an earnest of our inheritance p ;" which being given to the soul by God, is to that soul a ground of the strongest assur- ance that the promised blessing shall in due time be communi- cated in all its fulness.]
1' Eph. i. 14.