An Expifttion of the Epiflle &r :-':X'V[L Houfe of Peers, aKingdom there, a~d the places are made ready for them ; and . ~ thou that art a Behever, and art qmckned tc>gether wuh Chrifr, all the while thou live!l: here, .thou art ?ut of thy- place_; e':'en as ifa Star lhould be fixed here m the Earth, it Is out of Its place.. As It IS f:nd of 'jHdM, that when he died he went to his own place; Hell was h1S place, tho he lived and walked here, he ~vas a Stranger upon Earth : Wtcked Men are fo, they !hall not live here in this World, tho they carry theWorld before them, their place is Hell. So our place , , , . is Heaven, and there our places are all prepared for us. Saith the Apo!l:le, in £\'dt•Vft~" 2 Cor. 5· 6. Whrlft we are at hon1e w the Body, we are abfmt from the Lord. It is a ;i!> .,..;0!"71, 'great Eleg;ancy in the Greek; the Ba<!y he calls our home, and yet we are Stran– '." <f"i<•~ gers: It IS true mdeed, the Body, fatth he, IS your natural home, according to ~0 n e.v- the Language of Nature, and ofthe fir!l: Creation ; but yet you are not at home •· for you are abfent from the Lord, and Strangers from him, who bath enfranchi: fed, and preferred, and made you Denizens of another Country: We are ab– fent, we are out of home from the Lord ; where he is, that is our home. Now i:ho, I fay, he calls the Body our home, becaufe the natural condition for the Soul and Body was to be united together; yet notwith!l:anding in that our E!l:ate by Chri!l:, the Lord is our home: Therefore our Body, it is called but the Ta– bernacle, in 2 Cor. 5· I. The Soul is at home in the Body, but it is at home but as in a Tabernacle; it is Heaven that is called the Houfe, and we !l:ay here but as the Apol11e fpeaks, v. 5· TiD we are wrought for the felfflllle thing, till we are made meet for that place which is made fit for us. And then, Thirdly; That we are faid to be fet in HeavenlieJ now with Chrifr it argues the Number of the Eletl: is let; they are all before God, he bath ap: pointed all the places that are there. As he knows the Number of the Stars that are in the Heavens, fo he knows the Number of all thofe Stars that !hall fill up that Heaven above. I will not !l:and to enlarge upon thefe things. There are yet two other Phrafcs to be open~d, that is, In Chrift 'jeflll, andTo– getf.-er. I !hall fpeak fomething to each of thefe, and fo end. In Chrift ]efw.J When the Old Te!l:amentdid exprefs Heaven to us, or the New in the Language of the Old, when the Old was in force, it cloth exprefs it thus, To fit down with Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob; or elfe you !hall have Walks with them that frand by, you !hall have the Happinefs that the Angels have ; AbrahaiJI, lfoac, and 'jacob, thefe were the chief Gue!l:s. But now when the New Teframent comes to be opened, then it is, Sit in heavenly Placu in Chrif1 ]eflf!. Sit down with .Abraham, lfaac, and 'jacob, why? becaufe God made the clearefr Promife unto Abraham, that ever he made afterwards to any Man in the Old Teframent : I will be thy great Reward, faith he; that is, I will be thy Hea– ven :.and you know that God is All in All, that's the highefr exprellion. And Gen. I 5· I 5· Tho1< fhalt go iiJ (or into). Teace, and be gathered to thy Fathers; exprelling the State of Soul and Body after this Life till the Refurrefrion. And Chri!l:, he ufed the Phrafe of fitting down with Abraham, lfaac, and 'jacob, be– caufe the Tews would not fo much as eat with the Gentiles : Why, faith he, the Gentiles fhall come from the Eafr and Wefr, and lit down with your Fathers, feeing you will not come in to me. Now we are faid to lit in Chri!l:; they in the Old Teframent were never faid to fit down with Abraha"'• for Abrahamdid not reprefent them in Heaven ; but now we, till we !hall enjoy Heaven perfonally, and fit down there with Chris1, we are in the mean time let down in Chrift. · InCh>·ift, (I may run over all that I faid afore,) as the efficient Caufe of our coming thither. It is the Law of Nations, _that Forreigners cannot. inheril till they are naturalized ; no more could we, ttll he that was of our Kmdred and Nature was naturalized to Heaven, as indeed he is, for it is his natural place, he is the Lord fi'o 111 Heaven. He is the Cau'le, I fay, of our coming thither; Mankind, I think, had never come there elfe. ·· . . . In Chrif1, fecondly, as the exemplary Caufe. ,We ·.lhall have the fame Glory that he bath : As if the heavwly, filCh are they alfo that are heavenly, I Cor. rs. " My
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