46 An Expojition of the Epiflle --~------------- ~ .,yhat Heavenly imports further then Spiritual, that comes alfo to be the quefii· Serm. IV. on. ~ I. In a further and more plain di!\indion from the tenure of the bleffings promifed iw that Old Difpenfaiiort which in the Letter, as they were 10 themfelves outward and Flelhly; fo in giving forth the promifes ofthem it is !\ill added,;, the Lmul which the Lord thy Godjha/J;;ive thee: fo before their com– ing inioCmJadll, or i11the Land which the Lord hathgivm thee; after as a Land partly lrom its own fertility, as alfo by reafon of its fcituation and neighbourhood t'lowing with all good bleffings whatfoever,more than a.ny other Land , .wluch, •God that views from Heaven all the corners and plqts.of Earth below, IS there– fore fa id to have fpy'd out for them, flowing witb Milk m!d Ho11f)'; which is the glory of all Lands, as God by the Prophet fpeaks, Ezek. 20. 6. Now.the New Te!\ament tells us, that by this in the promife was forefigmfied , and m the ex– pectation of the Patriarchs (to whom the promife was made,) under!\ood and apprehended another Country, Heb. 11. 16. they defired or expeded a better Country, that is, a Heavenly; and fuch a City or Country,fays'f'a11t there,was the import of Gods fiyliog himfelf in fo va!\ a difference from other the Sons of men, the God of A6raham, ~c. for God being fo great a God, fo full ofblelfed– nefs in himfelf would never have appropriated or be!\owed himfelf in fo near a relation and fiyle of being their God, their portion, and their inheritance,upon fo low and mean conditions fo far below himfelf, as to give them only Earthly things, and no other habitation, than that one poor·corner of the Earth,CanaaH, although never fo abounding with all good things. God,fays the Apofile, would have been alhamed to have been called their God upon fuch terms only ; as if that were all the great alfufficient God that is polfelf~ of Heaven and Earth, (as Met-. chifedec faid to A6rahrrm,) was able to give or had to bcO:ow on them, of whom he gloried to be called their God,and owed them as his eminently beloved ones, God therefore had prepared for them another manner of City or Country than Jemft>lem or Cmwmr, even an Heavenly, where his own Throne and Glory is; ~nd bath therefore appointed to take them up to himfelf, and to pay forth and give to them all good bleffings in pure Heavenlies; which the Pfatmifl clearly intimates,when he fays, Pfat. 11 )· I), 16. Ble£fed are ye of the Lord who bath made Heaven and Earth; and accordingly hath given in common to all the Chil– dren of men the Earth, and the things therein, referving Heaven, which is hi~ own peculiar habitation, to befiow upon thefe his blelfednefs, as it there follows. The Heaven of Heavens are the Lords, but the Earth hath he given to the Chil– dren of men ; and therefore the Jews Pettr wrote to,are(as was obferved) com– forted with this by that Holy Apofile, that they were begotten to an inheritance referved in the Heaven forthem, (as in diO:indion from that given their Fa– thers in Ca11am1_,) ":here the communication of God himfelf is fo worthy, fo fmtable to and hke himfelf, as the ~ofile is bold to fay of It: Wherefore G'od ;. 1101 ajhamed to 6e called their God, or he hathpreparedfor them aCit;•, namely this Hecrvmty one,as he had terme it in the words jufi afore , and fo there is an anfwerable communication of himfelf and all bleffings given forth in Heave11tirs. And unto this notion will fitly fuit,that fupplied addition, Places, in'Hea– venly places. !11 Heaven{y Ptaus,] to make this intended oppofition between thefe two,full and compleat, that look as Ca11aa11 of old was the defigned feat, thejlace, the Country, where all thofe flelhly outward bleffings were enjoyed, an many of them grew, and fo the promife thereof is made the additional unto all thofe pro– mifed bleffings (which is fo frequently done throughout the Old Tefiament, as I need ~ot quote any one te!\imony:) Now in like manner is Heaven the il't.£'"1'~. the Ctty, where both all thefe Spiritual Bleffings have their full maturity and perfection,and IS the place appointed to enjoy them in;_ where there is room and vanety enough for all Gods holy ones,Heavenly places m the plural. 7''' 14 . '· Places enough, ma11y Mmrjio11s, f§c. And in the mean time till ye arrive there, .thofc Spiritual Bleffings we here partake in the lirfl fi·uits belong to and cometorth out of that Country all of them, where or~r convrrjclliQII u Jiud to be, even m this IIfe,fo far as we are made Spiritual men; and in the type it felf; when God did g1vc forth the promife of li>leffing to Abrabam, it is (aid,G'od c,,//ed to Abr.lh.w1
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