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
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
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