The Souls ellmen. F31 This is the propertyof evérygodly min having the promife of the coming, td lean uponit,and to defire the aecomplilhment ofthe promife:In the old Tcframent theyhad thepromife ofthefiat comingof.Chrift,that they earneftlydefired;asJacob Gen. 49. LordI have waitedfor thy falvation, and e. 4brahaütfew thrifts dayafar off, andrejoyced. And in the New Teftament we read ofAnna, and Zacharias and Elizabeth , and the faithful that wait for the conflation of tfrael: they waited for the accomplithment of this promife, the coming of Chrift in the fieth, his firft coming Shall they wait, and earneftly delire the first coiningof the Sonof God in humility, and hunianity and bafenefs ? and ihalI not we earneftly expe6i his fecond coming in glory, to manifeft not only his glciry, but oúr glory ? that! not we exile& that coming of his, wherein we thatl be married to himfelf, and whereby we ¡hail be tookup to himfelf ? Thus ye fee the promife ofChrift is one ground,yea,and a principal groúndofthis expe&ation of the faithful: Thefecond Reafon is drawnfrom the Unionand conjun&ion between Chrift and the faithful foul. That is inthe Text too, the Bridefaith, Come. Now there is a neer, union and cotajun&ion, in this fame conjun&ion of Marriage among men wherein the love muttneeds be imperfe&,andbut a drop of that Geean,and where- in the love of the parties mutt needs be fink!, yet notwitbftanding we fee how vehement it is, in the abfence of one another ; the one longeth andpineth after the other, and one party enjoyed] not himfelf without the other. Muchmore ought it to be fo here in this heavenly contra& between Chrift and his faithful Spoufe :' thouldnot hear the Spoufe befck oflove ? as the Spoufe profefreth ofher felf in the fecond of Canticles. This vehement delire muff needsaaife out of the neernefs and undevidednefs of that conjun&ion that is between Chrift and a Chri, ilian. There is little love,where there is little delire of the thingbeloved,when it is abfent.. Why doth themember of the Body,defire immediate conjun&ion with the head,but beçanfeitknows that thereparation from thehead,isthedeath of themom ber ? So it is in this neer conjun6tion between Chrift the head,andhis members the Church, they muff needs defire.immediate, and infeparable conjun6tion With the head, becaufe the reparation from the head,muft be the death ofthemembers. That is the fecondReafon. The third Reafon ofthePoint is this,beeaufe theSaints ofGod they.know that the accomplithment of the full happinefs of the ChurchofGod, andlikewife ofthem- (elves that aremcmbers ofthe Church,it conftfteth in this,in Chrift his fecond com- ing again to judgment, therefore they do earneftly delire it, and affeá it, and fay, Amen,evettfo,Came : becaufe (I fay) they know this is the coming that perfe&s the ChurchofGod, petfeds theirglory in the frate ofhappinefs, which the Churchand every member thereof dothetpe&:theyknow that that is the time which fhalIbe the Revelation ofibefoesofGod,who arehere obfcure,and (hall be till that daycomc.They know well that all the gracesandperfe&ions that thechildofGod canattain to in this imperfci ion;all is butthe firft fruits,allis butatafte,and thereforethey cannot pofliibly but lift up their head,,and raife up their hearts to theexpe&ation ofthat day wherein there firft fruits thanbe perfelted,withfullmeafurefhakenrogerher,andrunningover; whereas there f salt beanabfolute freedom frontalIlin,and fromall the appurtenances of it:anabfolute perfekfion not ofgrace only,but ofglory,which isthe higher. grace. TheyfhalI be onewith thehead, this isthat which makesthem look for it. Heb.9.s8. (the place I named before)it is faid,(hrifl(hall appear tofavethen that traitfor bim. He ¡half bring a full horn of falvation,he lh'allperfe& the falvation ofthe Saints; till that day there is no perfe&ion in the falvation ofthe Saints ; No; though they go to heaven,yet before that day there is no perfe& falvation, becaufe their bodies are not joyned to their fouls. This is a third Reafon,eventhe ea:pe&atioñ of thefull accom- ptilhment ofall the promifes. The Lord bathdealt with us as he dealt with his own Ifrael in their wildernefs ; he gave thema tafte of the fruit ofthe good land:hecaufed the fearchers to carry Tome clutters andbunches of the fruit to the Ifraelites in the Wildernefs, that they raftingof it might hie themfelves to that rich and goodly, and far countrey t fo the Lord giveth us flame dropsofgrace,and only giveth us a tafte of that happinefsthatwe waitfor,that we may hieour fefvestfomuch thefiber through this
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=