Dise. IN HIS SAINTS. 4O could turn such sinners into saints. O surprising scene of rich salvation, when these Corinthian converts, wash- ed in the blood of Christ, and renewed by his Spirit, shall appear in their white garments of holiness and glo- ry! There is not one sinful creature to be found in all the vast retinue of the holy Jesus, but there are thou- sands, who have been once great criminals, notorious sinners, and have been snatched, by the arms of divine love, as brands out of the burning. What an affecting sightwill it be, when we shall behold all the members of Christ united to their head, and complete in glory, and see, at the same time, a world of vile sinners doomed to destruction'. With what adoration and wonder shall we cry out, " And such were some of these happy ones, but they are sanctified, but they are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God," 1 Cor. vi. 11. " Not unto us, O Lord, not untous, but to God, our Saviour, be eternal honour," Ps. cxv. 1. In the seventh place, there is another glory and won- der added to this illustrious scene, and gives honour to our blessed Saviour, and that is, "That so many vigor- ous, beautiful, and immortal bodies should be raised at once out of the dust, with all their old infirmities left be- hind them :" Not one ache or pain, not one weakness or disease among all the glorified millions : As the Israel- ites came out of their bondage in Egypt, so shall the army of the saints from the prison of the grave, and " not one feeble among them," Ps. cv. 37., This is the work of Christ the Creator and the healer. Here I might run many sorrowful divisions, and travel over the large and thorny fields of sickness' and pains that attend human nature, those inborn mischiefs that vex:poor christians in this state of trial and suffering. But these were all buried when the body went to the grave, and they are buried for ever; he that has the keys of death, shall let the bodies of his saints but of prison ; but no gout, nor stone, no infirmity nor clis,- temper, no head-ache nor heart-ache shall ever attend them. The body was " sown, in weakness, but it is raised in power; it was sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory, through the power of the second Adam, and his quickening Spirit," 1 Cor. xv. 43, 45. Rom. viii. 1 i. Then shall Christ appear to be sovereign and Lord of .62.D3
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=