DISCOURSE XI. 243 sed and refined by his sovereign grace, and has,qualified and adorned them for his own presence. He will sing and rejoice over them, and rest in his love ; Zep. iii. 17. He will love to see them with his Son Jesus at their head, diffusing holiness and glory through all his members. Jesus the Redeemer will love to see them round him, for he has bought them with his blood, and they are a treasure too precious to be for ever lost. He will rejoice to behold them rising at his call into a splendour like his own, and they shall be satisfied when they awake from death into his holiness: Ps. xvii. 15. and appear in the image of his own glorious body, fit heirs for the inheritance of heaven, fit com- panions for the blessed angels of light, and prepared to dwell for ever with himself. Reflection. And shall not we who are the work of his hands have a desire to him that made us ? To him that redeemed us ? To him that lias new created and moulded us into his own like mess ? Do we not long to see him ? Have we no desire to be with him, even though we should be absent franc the body for a season ? But m4h more should we delight to think of being present with the I òrd,' when our whole natures, body and soul, shall appear as the new workmanship of almighty power ; our souls new created in the image of God, and our bodies new born from the dead, into a life of immortality ; 2 Cor. v. S. VII. The last observation is of a very general nature, and spreads itself through all my text, and that is, " How much are we indebted to God for the revelation of the New Testament, which teaches us to find out the blessings which are contained in the Old, and to fetch out the glories and treasures which are concealed there ?" The writers of the gospel have not only pointed us to the rich mines where these treasures lie, but have brought forth many of the jewels and set them before us. It is this gospel that brings lie and immortality to light by Jesus Christ ; 2 Tim. i. 10. It is this gospel that scatters the gloom and darkness which was spread over the face of the grave, and illuminates all the chambers of death. Who could have found out the doctrine of the resurrection contained in that word of grace given to Abraham, I am thy God, if Jesus, the great prophet, had not taught us to explain it thus ; Mat. sxii. 31. God is net the God of the dead, but of the living. We who have the happiness to live in the days of the Mes -. sigh, know more than all the ancient Prophets were acquainted with, and understand the word of their prophecies better than they themselves ; for they searched what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in thein, did signify, when it tes- tified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory which should follow ; 1 Pet. i. 11. But we read all this fairly written in the gospel. Do you think that good David could have ex- a 2
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=