Glory will be revealed in us then which is hid Rom. 8. 18. from us now How much more of God will be communicated hereafter without means than is or can be by them in this present state We sit under Shadows now then we shall sit down by the Fountain of Light. 5. Believers wait for the transforming of their Bodies into the likeness of Christ's at the Resurrection The raising and quickening and new beautifying of our Dust which when we dye is scattered in the Grave is a work which requires an exceeding greatness of Power but yet it is a work which we expect to be done We groan within our selves waiting for the adoption to Rom. 8. 23. wit the redemption of our body The Redemption of our Bodies from the power of Death into a condition of endless Life is called the Adoption because it is the manifestation of the sons of God ver 19. as the Apostle speaks a little before as Christ himself was declared to be the Son of God by his chap. 1. 4. rising from the dead The same Apostle speaking upon this Subject elsewhere says We groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house 2 Cor. 5. 2. which is from heaven A Glorified Body may be stiled our house which is from heaven in opposition to the earthly house mentioned in the foregoing ver 1. verse because it will be of a more spiritual and lasting frame Distempers shall make no Breaches in it and Death shall not pull it down Infinite Goodness observes a method herein which is suitable to Infinite Wisdom first God advances the Inhabitant and then after a time he repairs the habitation first he unites the Soul more closely to himself and afterwards the Body to the Soul This is that admirable Change which Job says that he would wait all the days of his appointed Job 14. 14. time for that is of his continuance in the state of the dead as an Excellent Author How 's Bless of the Right p. 210 211 212. hath largely cleared Thus when we lay down our Mortal flesh in the bosom of the Earth we leave it to rest in hope of a certain Immortality I proceed now to the Second Thing which was proposed and that is to shew How this Work of waiting for God's Salvation is to be done by Believers while they live Three Things seem to be included in it 1. It includes Fervent Desires Waiting for Christ from Heaven and loving his appearing in 1 Thes 1. 10. 2 Tim. 4. 8. Scripture are the same thing some things are unwillingly expected by wicked men they foresee that death will come and they are afraid of it so there is a fearful looking for of Judgment Heb. 10. 27. which follows after death This is an Expectation accompanied with fear which hath a great deal of uneasiness and torment in it they that have it could wish to be disappointed and mistaken Hope is somewhat more than bare Expectation because it implies Desire and that we have an Affection to the same thing which we have a Prospect of Sisera's Mother was eagerly desirous to see her Son marching home in Triumph and therefore she lookt out at a window and cried out through the lattice Why is his chariot so long Judg. 5. 28. in coming The Creature which groans under the Curse for our sin is very desirous of ease and restitution and therefore we read of its earnest Rom. 8. 19. expectation waiting for such a time When the Church was waiting for God they tell him The desire of our soul is to thy name c. Do we then Isa 26. 8. wait for the Salvation of the Lord from a Principle of Love to him and to the Spiritual good things which we expect from him Can we say as David did That we wait for God more than Psal 130. 6. they that watch for the morning Some think that the Psalmist alludes in that place to Centinels in an Army or City who many times being wearied with their tedious Service in the night long till the day breaks that they may be reliev'd and discharg'd by others It is a necessary Question Are our hearts directed into such a passionate waiting for Christ 2. It includes stedfast Hopes It is a Fruit that springs from Faith for if that be shipwrack'd nothing will fix the soul in a waiting posture To hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lam. 3. 26. Lord are things which always go together so the great Apostle speaks If we hope for that which Rom. 8. 25. we see not then do we with patience wait for it The Inference is grounded upon the preceding Supposition we wait if we hope but else we do not Infidelity overthrows every thing of this kind as is manifest from that woful Instance of the King of Israel when the Famine was so great in the Land This evil is of the Lord wherefore 2 Kings 6. 33. should I wait for him any longer q. d. I have no such confidence either in God's Power or Goodness as to think that he can or will remove this Calamity though he hath inflicted it I never look for a return of plenty any more than the opening of windows in Heaven as one of his Courtiers exprest chap. 7. 2. himself afterwards Do we therefore heartily believe the record which God hath given us of his Son Are we firmly perswaded of Christ's Ability and Willingness to save Are we deeply convinc'd how securely we may trust in him how freely we may rowl our burdens on him how boldly we may make our applications to him when we are most terrified with the sense of sin and wrath As he that comes to God must believe that he is so he that waits for God's Salvation must believe that there is such a thing and rest satisfied in its reality A steady assurance of that which we expect will bear up our expectation but otherwise it will sink 3. It includes diligent endeavours of preparation for the thing that we desire and hope The Salvation of God is not to be hoped for out of the road of duty In the way of thy Judgments so the Commands Isa 26. 8. of God are sometimes called have we waited for thee Such as walk irregularly in their usual and ordinary course are not persons in a salvable state To him that ordereth his conversation Psal 50. arigbt will I shew the salvation of God that is to him and him only They cannot rejoice in the hope of glory who do not live in the exercise of grace A man that is dead in sin while he lives may flatter himself with an imagination of dying the death of the righteous at the last but the miserable event will undeceive him when the time of Reformation shall be no more I charge thee therefore oh sinner before God and the Lord Jesus Christ that thou expect nothing but vengeance
from him till thou yieldest up thy self in a way of dutiful subjection to him If you pretend to wait for God's Salvation you must shew that it is more than a pretence by taking care to work it out your selves Consider those words of our Saviour Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning and you your selves like Luke 12. 35 36. to men that wait for their Lord c. Are they that give Indulgence to Spiritual sloth that live in the customary neglect of unquestionable Duties that let themselves loose in their Conversations to the same vanities with the children of this world and perhaps to some of the same vices that suffer their lamps to go out having not Grace in their hearts to supply and feed them and behave themselves as if Eternity like the morrow would take thought Matt. 6. 34. for the things of it self are they indeed like to such men Do these sluggards and licentious persons deserve the name of Waiters No surely Salvation will never câ—me home to any but such as diligently seek it and labour after it Heaven will not drop into our Mouths though we open them never so wide as long as our hands lye folded together Our Duties must prove our hopes legitimate and our Obedience must justifie our Expectation He that would sleep in Jesus at Death must watch with him in his life and whosoever thinks of dying to the Lord must resolve against living to himself I come now to the Third Thing which is to open briefly How this waiting for the Salvation of the Lord will yield comfort to Believers when they come to dye This may appear in two Respects 1. A Reflection on our own Act of waiting will be comfortable to us at that time Hezekiah when he was sick unto death refreshes himself with the view of his past Conversation and appeals to God Remember now oh Lord how I have walked before Isa 38. 3. thee c. When Death finds a man in his proper place and work in that station and employment which belongs to him the Terror and Force of it is very much broken but when it surprizes him in his sin and comes upon him while he is fighting against God no wonder if his Flesh tremble and his Heart fail he cannot look back without sad confusion nor look forward without dreadful amazement A Believer that hath liv'd long in the expectations of a Summons to remove and made suitable provision may calmly shoot the gulph the exercising of himself to Godliness beforehand is a means to prevent all trouble or affrightment in his passage to Blessedness Not that any of our Services are our Saviours or that we can build a Tower of our own works whereby to reach to Heaven for multitudes in attempting this have tumbled into Hell but the Fruits of Sanctification Rom. 8. 23. are a kind of First-fruits with respect to Glorification and our living unto God here is a certain token of our being ordain'd to live with him hereafter If we have kept the Precepts we may know that we are Heirs of Promise it yields comfort as a sign though not as a cause The Lord is good says the Lam. 3. 25. Prophet to them that wait for him we do not by our waiting merit to partake of the Goodness of God any more than a beggar would deserve an Alms by standing at our doors but God hath ordered that we shall be thus qualified and disposed for it 2. The consideration of the Object God's Salvation is very comfortable to a Believer when he is at the point to dye How sweet is it to think of being with Christ when the Soul is standing like Abraham in the door of its tent ready to depart out of Gen. 18. 1. the body What a vigorous Impression must the Powers of the World to come make upon the Soul when it is stepping out of this How strong a Cordial must the prospect of Heaven be to a Saint that 's just leaving of the Earth What Comfort so great as to know that our Redeemer lives when these vile Carkasses are dying and the Worms ready to destroy Job 19. 25. them How little satisfaction is the having of goods laid up for many years to one that must leave them all behind him in a few moments What miserable Comforters in a mans last distress are bags which wax old and treasures which fail Therefore when holy David had been meditating on our common frailty and folly Psal 39. 6. how we walk in a vain shew and yet disquiet our selves in vain c. he adds And now oh Lord what ver 7. wait I for my hope is in thee q. d. I cannot hope to be delivered from death nor supported in death nor made happy after death by such perishing and corruptible things as silver and gold but my eye is towards thee as my Everlasting Portion and upon the durable riches which thou hast to bestow the sense whereof is sufficiently reviving though I were now drawing my last breath and falling into the hand of the Grave Dying Believers are mightily supported when they consider how much nearer their Salvation now is than when they were first united Rom. 13. 11. unto Christ The Fourth and last thing propounded was the Application of this Doctrine Several Inferences might be gather'd from it agreeable enough to the Text and the occasion I shall only hint a few First We may learn hence that it is a mercy to be taken notice of both by living and dying Believers that Christ did not consult the saving of himself for if he had he could not have been the Salvation of God to us If our Lord had followed his Disciples counsel and spared his own life we must have liv'd and died in remediless despair A little of that self-love in him which reigns so much in us would have ruin'd all our confidences subverted our hopes and left us to lye down in sorrow without recovery To what mountains or hills should we have lookt for salvation if he had declin'd the drinking of the bitter cup Secondly This teaches us that the present world was not design'd for the place of our abode or ultimate felicity It is our travelling way but not our Country and our Home Expectation ceases in a state of perfect fruition why should we wait if our hope were in this life and not beyond it We must put a stop to all our desires and thoughts of a future happiness if the state which we now are in were the state of full enjoyment Take your measures of this world from the nature and quality of that work which God hath given you to do in it We walk by faith 2 Cor. 5. 7. and not by sight therefore here is not our continuing City or the Center of our rest Thirdly What a wretched case are the neglecters of this Salvation in What will they do in their own last moments and how
deliver'd up to the Father This is what remains to be done by Christ Secondly The Benefits which flow from Christ may be included in this term of the Lords Salvation and there are some such which believers while alive are not possest of but waiting for I grant that they receive several of Christs benefits when they are made believers yea even those which are the earnest and pledg of all the rest They have eternal life abiding in them assoon as their spiritual life is begun if they become the children of God by faith at their new birth then they are at that time the rightful Heirs Rom. 8. 17. of Heaven and of all that Heaven contains but still the Inheritance is reserved for them They have not 1 Pet. 1. 4. the perfect enjoyment of all that God hath promis'd and that Christ hath purchas'd though they have the title and the first fruits The following particulars will shew what they wait for as the effects of their Saviour's sufferings First to begin with the least and lowest of their Expectations A full deliverance from temporal and external evils such as pain and sickness Providential disappointments and losses unjust and violent Persecutions c. which they are more or less at one time or another subject to in this life Though these burdens are comparatively light yet many times they make a Believer to groan under them while he is in this Tabernacle They lye so heavy sometimes 2 Cor. 5. 4. especially when several kinds of them meet together like various Rivers which run into one Sea of trouble that they make a man bitter in soul and put him upon longing for death which otherwise Job 3. 20 21. he would be most desirous to shun Though these are lesser evils yet they are real and so long as we labour under them we cannot but look upon our selves as miserable in part Who can doubt that our blessedness is imperfect while our bones are vexed while Gods arrows stick in our flesh when so many Diseases are ready to assault us and unseen Casualties to fall upon us where our riches and all other worldly glory like birds upon the wing are prepar'd to fly away from us where our finest Hos 9. 11. garments are so quickly moth-eaten and our most valuable Goods corrupted where our whole inheritance is liable to the spoiler's hands and the Sons of blood if God at any time let them loose may arise and take possession How uncertainly is our health or ease or plenty or tranquility prolong'd while we are here in how small a moment may all the contrary mischiefs overtake us But we wait the time when God will finally save us out of all Secondly Deliverance from the remainders of Indwelling Corruption and the Temptations of Satan Here a Believer is often crying out with Paul Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from Rom. 7. 24. the body of this death He hath not yet actually obtain'd such a deliverance but he waits for it I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. We many Ver. 25. times feel the tyranny and force of sin though it hath lost its constant and allowed Dominion we are led into an unwilling Captivity though we have renounc'd the voluntary service Satan though he cannot command us does frequently overcome us though we do not yield our selves to him we are prevail'd upon by him He entangles us though we do not run into the snare he pursues and overtakes us when we shun him and fly from him How troublesome and tedious is this to a child of God! that he cannot go from the evil spirit nor stifle the lusts of his own heart What a sad exercise is this to a Saint that he should not only have Principalities and Powers to wrestle with but be divided against himself Indeed the sincerity of all those is to be suspected who can bear this with any quietness or satisfaction But the Heavenly state admits of no such disturbances we wait for an absolute freedom both from sin and temptation in the next world Thirdly A Declared Justification from the Guilt of every sin This was the motive to Repentance and Conversion which Peter laid before the Jews whose hands were stained with the blood of Christ That your sins may be blotted out wben the times of Act. 3. 19. refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. It is true that every sin is now blotted out to every true Believer but in the day of Christ he will shew that it is so The Books when they are open'd shall be visibly crost and we pronounc'd before Angels and men as Righteous by the sinless Obedience of the second Adam as if we never had offended There is a private act of Oblivion as it were already past but then it shall be publickly read in the hearing of the World. Our pardon is now certain upon the supposition of repentance and faith then it shall be as evident as certain and universally known both to others and our selves We are indeed Justified by Faith at present and abundantly Rom. 5. 1. John 5. 24. secur'd from future Condemnation but there will be a Judicial Declaration of our Righteousness at the appearing of our Lord Jesus which will tend more to the Honour of God's Grace and to the Increase of our Everlasting Joy All that we have done amiss shall be so absolutely forgiven that Christ will then audibly say in the General Assembly of Mankind Well done and will Matt. 25. 21 23. not that be a joyful sound We cannot conceive what Glory will redound hence to God and what Triumph of Spirit it will cause in us 4. A nearer view of God and Converse with him While we are sojourning here we are at a Distance and so see but darkly and enjoy but little We are nigh to God in comparison of the Unregenerate part of this World but we are afar off from God in comparison of the glorified Inhabitants of the next What signifies our sight of God in the Sanctuary compared with that sight which they have in Heaven How far short does our beholding in a Glass come of seeing God face to face What Communion have we in Ordinances worthy to be named with the immediate Fruition of the Divine Presence We wait for more open vision and more intimate fellowship for such a state wherein God himself Rev. 21. 3. shall be with us not the Word of God and other Instituted Means of Grace but God himself We cannot yet know by speculation how great such an happiness is but we expect to know by experience we are like persons standing at the door who cannot see what is within the house Death is the pulling of this door aside and then all things will be nakedly exposed to our perfected Understandings To what good purpose shall we lift up our Eyes above after our Friends have closed them for us here below What a
The Duty and Support of Believers in Life and Death A Funeral Sermon ON THE DEATH OF Mrs. MARY SMITH Who Deceased Feb. 29. 1687 / 8. Preached on the Lords Day following March 4. to the Auditory whereof she was a constant Member Published at the Earnest Desire of her Nearest Relation and Others Isaiah XLVI 4. Even to your Old Age I am he and even to hoary hairs will I carry you LONDON Printed for Tho. Cockerill in the Poultrey and John Smith upon London-Bridg MDCLXXXVIII To His much Valued and Respected Friend Mr. Anthony Smith SIR AS You were pleased to assign that Province to Me of Preaching a Sermon on the sad Occasion of Her sudden Death who not many Weeks ago lay in your Bosom but is now in Abraham's so you with some others are to bear the blame whatsoever happens of its being Printed I must appeal to you and them as my Witnesses that my Inclinations were contrary to your Requests and that these Papers which now see the light should have been buried in darkness like Her whose loss we bewail if your Importunity had not pluckt them out of that Grave which I intended for them among their fellows My time is not yet come I Joh. 7. 4 6. know not whether ever it may or no to shew my self to the world in such a manner for in like cases heretofore there are some who can testifie that I am not of their number whose time is always ready because they seek to be known openly I will not trouble my self here to publish my own Infirmities the following Discourse will do that sufficiently only to prevent any from thinking that I have done something extraordinary upon this subject it will be but justice to acquaint them that fewer hours were left me wherein to prepare for this than what I commonly have for my constant work It might have been thought perhaps more proper by some for Days to speak when such Gray hairs were dropt into the place of silence because they are less obnoxious to publick censure and more able to encounter it But I must now quietly take that Lot which every Reader is dispos'd to cast upon me not expecting the same kindness and clemency from all which it is possible that I may obtain with a few For it is easie to observe that the most do pass a severe or favourable Verdict upon Discourses according as they have mens persons in contempt or admiration and too many oftentimes are kept from receiving the love of the Truth by their rooted prejudices against him that does deliver it The main thing about which I am concern'd next to the occasion it self is that so mean a Performance should follow after such a mournful Solemnity but I hope that none will measure her real worth by the very short and imperfect representation which I have given of it she hath a Record on high which Job 16. 19. speaks more fully in her praise than our poor Testimonies here below Her honoured Name did indeed deserve a more costly Embalming than I was able to bestow others may say only of me as Christ did of the Affectionate Mark 14. 8. Woman that I have done what I could I have the will to do more and therefore sincerely add that wheresoever I may be call'd at any time hereafter to preach this Gospel I shall be ready to publish the same Memorial of her as I have done in this Sermon for the glory of that Grace which was given to her Let not this revive your sorrow which is design'd as an Antidote against it Remember that the Thread was spun almost to LXIX before it broke and many thousands come not so near the ordinary limited age of man as Psal 90. 10. she did Remember also that there was the comfortable conjunction of 45 Years before the hand of God's wise and holy Providence made this afflicting separation You have cause to sing of mercy as well as judgment do not overlook the one by poring on the other I shall not forget to lift up an Hearty Prayer for you That the breach which God hath made may be abundantly repair'd and fill'd up by himself and that Jesus Christ the glorious Bridegroom to whom your late Consort is now more intimately join'd would not leave you Joh. 14. 18. comfortless but come to you That your Hoary Hairs may be yet long continued in the way of Righteousness as an Example and Encouragement to others and that God would not at last cast you off nor forsake you when Psal 71. 9. your strength totally fails but in a good old age translate you to a more happy Eternity And while I am thus praying for you I doubt not your concurrence with me in beging of God that this small Discourse may go and bring forth fruit and that its fruit may remain which will be great satisfaction to March 20. 1687 / 8. Your Friend and Servant in the Concerns of your Soul T. C. The Duty and Support of Believers c. Genesis XLIX 18. I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord. THIS Chapter contains the Prophecy which was uttered by Jacob on his Death-Bed with respect to those things which were to befall his Posterity in the latter Days It hath been observed of many of God's Servants that God hath revealed more of the Counsel of his Will to them at the close of their Lives than at any time before but that which was spoken by the Holy Patriarch here he was moved to speak in an extraordinary manner by the direction of an Infallible Spirit He mentions particular Events relating to several of his Sons and the Tribes which should come from them distinctly and in the midst of those predictions he breaks out into this Pathetical passage I have waited c. The Words seem to be a sudden Ejaculation having no strict or necessary Coherence with what goes before or follows after only as a Learned Man conjectures Charnock vol. 2. p. 1169. Jacob having compared Dan to a Serpent upon the account of its subtilty ver 17. this might mind him of that trick which the Old Serpent put upon our First Parents which laid the foundation of their fall and so he takes occasion from tâ—â—â—…e to express his Faith in that Seed of the Woâ—â—… who was promised to break the Serpent's Head. However this be we may reasonably suppose That so eminent a Saint when he found himself almost tired with speaking to his Children and the pains of Death taking hold of him was willing like Simeon with open Arms to receive the expected Messiah and desirous to be received by God for the Messiah's sake This Patriarch is noted to have been exercised with more troubles than any of his Progenitors and therefore he tells Pharaoh that his days had been few and evil chap. 47. 9. and besides this he had now the prospect of many Calamities which his Seed would undergo after his Decease which might
it is the same Christ who will put us into actual and compleat possession of it at the last 2. I am to open Why Jesus Christ is stiled the Salvation of the Lord Upon what grounds might holy Jacob give him this peculiar discriminating mark when he was making his last Address to God Thy Salvation The same note of Distinction and Propriety is frequently set upon Christ by God himself in the Prophetical Books which any one that diligently examines may easily discover Among other Reasons of this these two may be insisted on First Because Christ came with God's Commission John 6. 38 39. 40. how many times does he make mention of the Father's will that sent him Thrice together in one Discourse The whole transaction of the Recovery of sinful man was by Divine appointment the Father and the Son had from Eternity agreed together with the Blessed Spirit about what the Son was to undertake and perform in time I will give thee says God pointing at Isa 49. 6. Christ for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the earth which Paul repeating to his Hearers at Antioch renders thus I have Acts 13. 47. set thee c. The comparing of both places together shews that Christ was constituted and ordain'd by God to be what he is and to do what he did The work which he was engaged in is therefore sometimes called the Work of God and he God's Servant in the carrying of it on Indeed if Christ had not been authorized by the Father all his Mediatorial Acts had been invalid we should have been still in our sins and under the curse we should have been yet detain'd in the hands of Justice and obnoxious to implacable Wrath. Secondly Because he succeded with God's acceptance Our Lord hath finished his Reconciling-work by finishing the Transgression which caus'd the Enmity He blotted out the hand-writing which was against us Coloss 2. 14. and took it out of the way which implies the consent and approbation of God the Soveraign Judg. He had a trust reposed in him which he faithfully discharged a burden laid upon him which he patiently bore whereupon he was justified in the spirit and 1 Tim. 3. 16. Heb. 2. 9. Isa 42. 4. crowned with glory and honour He fulfilled what the Prophet had foretold concerning him That he should not fail or be discouraged till he had establisht judgment in the earth this implies that there would be a great deal of difficulty and opposition for him to meet with but he should conquer it all by his Omnipotence and answer the ends of Gods Grace in sending him All our Enemies were his Earth and Hell and in some sense Heaven too were against him but he came off victorious and God declared him so by giving him a Throne to sit on after his Death and Resurrection God gave him his name Jesus at the first Rev. 3. 21. Matt. 1. 21. and God's advancing of him to his own Right-hand a place of the highest honour when all was done is an evidence that he deserves to wear that Name for he hath saved his people from their sins God would not have so dignified his Person if he had rejected his Performance Jesus Christ therefore is God's Jesus or God's Salvation as he is both Commismissioned and Accepted by God on our behalf 3. I am to shew What Christ is yet to do which living Believers wait for This may be summ'd up in Two Things First He is to receive our Spirits at the end of our lives the Prayer of Stephen is a pattern for us all When they stoned him as his last breath was going forth he called upon God and said Lord Jesus receive Acts 7. 59. my Spirit It is true he was mightily encouraged to this by the extraordinary Vision which he had a little before He saw the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God in a v. 55 56. ready posture as it were to grant his request and to receive his Soul as soon as parted from his body Here was indeed a Glorious Discovery made even to the Senses of that dying Martyr but the discoveries which are made to our Faith are as real as this tho perhaps not altogether so ravishing though now we see not Christ yet believing we may commend our departing Spirits to him without the fear or hazard of being refused by him David in the midst of great straits and dangers does confidently put up this sort of Petition Into thy hand I commit my Spirit Psal 31. 5. and he urgâ—… this Argument to back it Thou hast redeemed me c. Who so fit or so forward to do this for us when we dye as he that hath already died to obtain our Redemption from the Second Death He who pour'd out his soul for us when he was upon the Cross does thereby encourage us now he is in Heaven to pour out our souls into his hand as the poor starved children are said to pour out theirs into the Lament 2. 12. bosoms of their mothers Secondly He is to come again at the End of the World this is as much the expectation of Believers now as his first coming was heretofore To them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin Heb. 9. 28. unto salvation This is the appearing which the Church says Amen to both at the beginning and the close of the Revelation We expect to see that Jesus who was Revel 1. 7. 22. 20. once veil'd in flesh coming in the Clouds of heaven we expect to see him who had only the poor retinue of twelve Disciples coming with ten thousands of his Saints He that lived upon Alms for the maintenance of his temporal life shall actually distribute eternal life he that once stood before Pilate's Bar shall sit down upon a Tribunal himself And he that was Crucified through weakness shall be armed with Irresistible power All this Believers can expect with joy because the Day of Judgment is their Day of Redemption Luk. 21. 28. Ephes 4. 30. Who among the Children of God would not be glad to see his Saviour again when he shall bring his final rewards with him Who would not rejoyce to look upon him as a Judg that 's interested in him as an Advocate We look for a very glorious revolution before that day with respect to the prosperity and flourishing of the Church but at that day there shall be such a change and renovation of the whole world as will exceed in glory It is not our belief that Christ will suffer things always to continue as they are but we believe that this decaying frame of Nature shall be dissolved a new Heaven and Earth spring out of the ashes of the old every creature be subdued to God the publick sentence of life or death pronounc'd upon all mankind and then the Kingdom