PART III. SERMON XVII. 243 4. Thus the gospel prepares the saint for heaven, and fits every power of his soul for the business and blessedness of those happy regions. " Once, says he, I had no delight in spiritual things ; I hadno relish of spiritual pleasures ; but now I taste themwith delight, and I rejoicein the hopes of a sweeter and more complete taste of themon high. Once Ihadno love toGod : it is true, I feared him as some unknown and extraordinary ter- ror ; but I hadno delight in him, nodesire after him. Now the is the object of my warmest love, and of mysweetest meditations. Heaven itself, as it is described in the word of God, was not pleasant to me. What ! The everlastingcontinuance of aSab- bath ? Perpetual employments of worship and service to bedone for God everlastingly ? These are thingsthat were not agreeable to carnal nature ; but by the influence of this gospel ofChrist my heart is new-moulded, and I delight in the fore-thoughts of such a heaven as the gospel describes." Such instances as these of the sweet efficacyof thegospel upon the soul of man, turning it into a divine temper, and fitting it for the enjoyment of God, are so many proofs of the power of this gopel unto salvation, and so many grounds and reasons why the believercannot be ashamed of it. But I must add, in the fifth place, it is the gospeLof Christ that brings believers to the final possession of heaven. Then, and nottill then, is the salvation perfect, it isthe gospel that has givenus an unchangeable promise of heaven, when our state of trial is ended here on earth, and Christ isbound to fulfil it. The gospel assures us, that when we are absent from the body, we shall be present with the Lord. When we see the heavens open at the death of Stephen the firstmartyr, and Jesus Christ, stand- ing there to receive hisdeparting spirit ; we believethat the same Jesus will fulfil the same kind office to us also, and receive our spirits, if wehave been found faithful tothe death.. The same gospel also gives us a more distant hope and glo- rious assurance of the resurrection of our bodies from the prison of the grave. When we behold thebody of our blessed Saviour rising from the tomb, and ascendingto glory, and when we are told, that his resurrection is a pledge and pattern of ours ; then with a joyful expectation we wait for the same blessedness. The gospel lays an obligation upon Christ himself to raise his saints from the dead ; for he himself tells us, that it is the will of his Father, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believethonhim, should have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day ; John vi. 40. Hence it comes to pass, that the believer triumphs over death under the influence of these hopes. " Now, saith the saint, a3
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