Ver. 2 2. the Y 7th Chapter df St. JO H N: 3 25 2. Often Ihame thy felf, that thou comeft fo much [hart : Phil. 3. I2. I follow after, if I may apprehend that for which alfa I am apprehended of ,"fefas Chrfi. Alas ! we do but lag behind, Chrift is a great way before. We have fo excellent a Patern, that we may never want Matter for Humiliation and Imitation. It isa good fign, to define to cóìhé nearer the Copy every day. 2. Obferve. Our Glory for' Suhfiance i.r the Ilene that Chriffs is. in the Degree there is a Difference, according to the Difference that is between Head and Members. The Head weareth the Crown and Badg of Honour, and the Fidel} Son had a double Por- tion : So doth Chrift, vrprerot'ov, excel in degrees of Everlafting Glory but the Sub- fiance is the fame. Therefore We are laid to be Coheirs With Chr f, and to be glorified with Chrift, Rom. 8. 17. Chrift and we hold the fame Heaven. 2 Tim. 2. I I, I2. If we be dead with him, we Iliad alp live with him. If we firffer, we foal! a f reign with him. More particularly ; Our Bodies are like his Glorious Body. Phil. 3. 21. Who ¡hall change our Vile Body, that it,niay be fafrioned like unto his Glorioxs Body, according to the working whereby he is able to fubdue all things to himfelf. When the Sun arifeth, the Stars vanish, theirGlory is obfcured ; but it is not fo here, Chrift's coming doth not eclipfe, but perfebt our Glory; the more neat Chrift is, the more we thine. And fo for our Souls, they fee God and enjoy him; tho not in that fame Latitude and Degree which Chrift doth, yet in the fame manner they folace themfelves in God : We fhad be like him, for roe [ball fee hint 'as be is, r John 3. 2. When we behold him in the Glafs of the Gofpel, we are transforined, much more when we fee him as he is. As the Iron held in the Fire is all Fite; fo we being in God, and with God, are more like him,, have higher Meafutes of the Divine Nature. So our Privileges are the fame with Chrift's. Rev. 3. 21. To him that overcomet!, will I grant to ft with me in my Throne, even as I alfa overcame, and am fit down with niy Father in his Throne. We fit upon his Throne, as he doth upon his Father's; there are two Throhes mentioned for our diffin& conceiving of the Matter 5 as God is over all, fo is Chrift, and then we next. Ufe s. It is a great Comfort, 1. Againft Abafement. Will any one believe that thefe poor Creatures that are fo flighted, and fo little efteemed in the World, that' have the fame Glor i that Chrift hath ? r John 3. 2. Beloved, now are we the Soni of God, and it Both note( t appear what we flsall be. The World thinketh meanly and contemptibly of the Condi- tion of Chriltians; in theWorld we are like him in Afi &ions, by that means we hold forth the Life of Chrift; 2 Cor.4.1o. Always bearing about in the Body, the dying of the Lord Jefns, that the Life alfa of lefus might be mademanifefl in our mortal Flefh. a. Againft Weakneffes and Infirmities of the Flefh; thofe Saints that have now fo many Infirmities, shall be made like Chrift, and crowned with Perfe&ion. There is nothing lets than Grace at the beginning, it is as a grain of Muftard -feed, a little Lea- ven : But it groweth [till, as a Child groweth in favour more and more, and as the Light inereafeth to the perfeft Day. This fhould comfort us againit all our Weak- neffes and Infirmities. Pfal. r 7. 15. 4: ffor the, I will behold thy Fate in Righteaufnef I fhall be fatisfred, when I awake with thy Likenefi. 21fe 2. It informeth us, r. That our Condition in Chrift, is in this regard better than out Condition would have been, if Adam had flood in Innocency. Adam could only convey to us what he had received ; but Chrift is a better Root, we have in Chrift what -ever we loft in 'Adam the firft Root, and more, more than we loft. Chrift being God-Man, mutt needs have the Image of God in greater Perfe&ion ; now we are not renewed to the Image of the Firft Adam, but of the Second. Oh the depth of the Divine Mercy and Wifdom, that hash made our Fall to be a Means of our Preferment 2. It informeth us what we may look for, even for what Chrift is in Glory, we have a glimps of it in his Transfiguration, in his giving the Law : Let our Thoughts be more explicite about this Matter. 21fe 3. It is an Engagement to Holinefs. We exile& to-be as Chrift is, therefore let us not carry our (elves fordidly, like Swine, wallowing in the Mire. e John 3.3. And he that bath this Hope in him, pnr f eth. himfelf, etten as he is pure. We expe& a Sinlefs State, not a Turkith Paradife: That Body that is made an Inft'rument of Whóredotn and
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=