hut u, SER,IHON X. 147 when hesatdown at the right-handofGod inthe heavenly places, it was as the great exemplar of our future advancement, and thereby gaveus assurance, that we should sit down there too : and therefore the apostle, in the language offaith, anticipates these divine honours, and applies them to the Ephesians beforehand : God hath raisedus up together, sayshe, with Christ, and hathmade us sit together inheavenlyplaces in Christ Jesus. Ìt was through the bloodof the everlasting covenant, that Jesus the great Shepherd of the sheep, was brought againfrom the dead; and it was the God ofpeace who raised him ; Heb. xiii. 20. And it is by virtue of his own blood, and righteousness, that he, who once took our sins upon him, is now discharged : It is throughhis own sufferings that he appears with acceptance before the throne, andenjoys a divine life in the unchangeablefavour of God ; andall this as our head, surety, and representative, giving us assurance hereby, that we, through the blood of the same covenant, shall be brought again from the dead too : that we through the virtue ofthe same righteousness, and all-sufficiency of the same sacrifice, shall appear hereafter before God in glory, and stand in his eternal favour; and as an earnest of it, we enjoy a life of holy peace and acceptance with God in this world, through thesame all-sufficient blood and righteous- ness : for he appears in the holy of holies, in heaven itself, in the presence of Godfor us ; Heb. ix. 24. He secures all the glories and blessings ofspiritual and eternal life for us, as he has taken possession of them in our name. 2. Our life of grace, and especially our life ofglory, may be said to be hidden with Christ, because he dwells in heaven, whereGod resides in glory ; God, in whom is our life. He is set down on the right-hand of the Majesty on high ; Heb. xii. 2. There our eternal life is The things which are above, are the objectsof ourjoyful hope, 'wltere Christ is at the right-handof God; Col. iii. 1. It is the short, but sublime description ofour heaven, that we shall be present with. the Lord, we shall be where Christ is, to behold his glory; 2 Cor. v.-8. and John xvii. 24. And shall possess all that unknown and rich variety of blessings which are reserved for us in heavenly places, whither Christ our Lord is ascended. Thus I llave endeavoured to explain, in the largest and most comprehensive sense, what we are to understand by the life of a christiañ hidden with Christ in God : It is reserved in the all-sufficiency, the purposes, and the engage- ments of God, under the care of the Mediator, and in the pre- sane of Christ. [This sermon mày be divided here.] The use I, shall make of this doctrine, is, to Araw four L 2
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