The Nature and Blessedness of Sonship with God 2
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1. It does not yet appear what they shall be—with respect to the enlargement of the faculties of their SOULS.
That the human soul is capable of vast enlargements, that its faculties may expand to great dimensions, is evident. And we find by experience, its improvements from childhood to youth, and thence to the close of life, especially in men of a studious turn. And we may be sure that when, like a bird out of a cage, it gets loose among its kindred spirits, and flies at large in its proper element—its faculties will be vastly improved! Otherwise it would be over-borne and crushed with the weight of glory; it would be dazzled with the intolerable blaze of heavenly brightness, like a mole that has wrought itself into daylight. As a child is utterly incapable of manly exercises; so, without a proportion-able enlargement of its powers, the soul would be incapable of exercising them about the infinite objects then before it, and of joining in the exalted services of that mature heavenly world. You may therefore rest confident in this, O sons of God—that your little souls will then be vastly improved. But as the infant cannot know beforehand the improvement of riper years—so it is with you.
Compare your present selves with your infant selves—and you will see a vast difference even in the present state. And how vast the difference between what you now are—and what you will be, when you enter into a world entirely new, the spiritual heavenly region!
Beloved, you are now the sons of God; and he will make you such beings as befits so near a relation to such a Father; and what prodigies can he make of you! He who could make you what you are out of nothing, in the course of a few years; what then, can he make you out of what you now are, through the series of everlasting ages! How can he mature and enlarge your souls from one degree of perfection to another! So that, in some future period, you will no more resemble what you are now, than you now resemble what you were in the womb! Your understandings, through an endless duration, may be still brightening, without ever coming to their meridian splendour; and your views be still enlarging, though still infinitely beneath the object of your contemplation. It is fit that souls so improved, should be united to bodies suited to them. Which leads me to observe,
2. It does not yet appear to you what kind of glorious BODIES you will have after the resurrection.
We are sure they will still be material bodies, otherwise they would not be bodies at all. But matter, we know, is capable of prodigious refinements. Yonder globe of light, the sun, is of the same original matter with a clod of earth, and differs only in modifications. How vast the difference between this animal flesh on our bodies, and earth and water! and yet they are originally the same. Earth and water are the materials of which grain and other vegetables, that animals feed upon, are formed; and our bodies consist of grain formed into bread, and of the flesh of animals; so true is it, not only with respect to Adam—but all his posterity, that they are but dust.
In short, there is a transmutation of matter into a surprising variety of forms, wherever we cast our eyes! The clothes we wear—were once earth, which was first refined into flax, then formed into thread, then woven into what we now see it. Thus our bodies may be changed in a most amazing manner, and yet continue substantially the same.
Paul tells us, that they will be spiritual bodies, 1 Corinthians 15:44; that is, so exquisitely refined, that they will resemble proper spirits, as near as it is possible, while they retain their materiality. And elsewhere he says, that "the Lord Jesus will change our vile body, that it may be formed like unto his glorious body." Philippians 3:21. Such is the glory of Christ's body in its now exalted state, that the splendours breaking from it struck Paul and his fellow travellers to the ground, and deprived him of sight for three days! How illustrious, then, must those bodies be that resemble his, though we allow his a suitable superiority! This the apostle intimates by representing the change of the bodies of saints at the resurrection as a mighty exploit of God's all-subduing power. Philippians 3:21. We are sure the body will not then be a clog to the active spirit—but a proper instrument for the employments of heaven. It may be free from the law of gravitation, and capable of moving every way with equal speed; it may be as nimble and quick as a glance of lightning; it may be adorned with a visible glory more bright than the sun in its meridian lustre, like the body of Christ on the mount of transfiguration, Matthew 17:2; Daniel 7:3; and Matt 13:53. It will then be incapable of pain, sickness, and death, Isaiah 33:24; 1 Corinthians 15:33, and will no more feel hunger and thirst, nor any of the appetites of animal nature, Revelation 7:16. It will be capable of the most excellent sensations of pleasure through every organ; and a suitable companion to an improved and glorified soul. Such bodies will the saints have! But what it is to have such bodies—we have now no experience; and shall never know until the glorious morning of the resurrection!
3. It does not yet appear to us what it is to be perfect in HOLINESS.
However enlarged and glorious our souls and bodies will become, we would be still miserable without a proportion-able perfection in holiness. Now this, alas! we do not as yet know. We humbly hope some of us know what it is to feel the spark of divine love in our breasts. We hope we have tasted some small drops of bliss, though intermingled with gall and wormwood. We know what it is to exert our feeble powers in the service of the blessed God, and in contemplating and admiring his excellencies. But, alas! sin still cleaves to us, and deadens our powers! Numberless imperfections attend our best moments. But oh! to have all the powers of soul and body enlarged; to exert them to the full stretch in the exercises of heaven; to find them animated and directed by the most consummate holiness, and free from every the least taint of sin—what an inconceivable state is this! Oh how unlike the present! Surely, in such a state we would hardly know ourselves! It would astonish us to find that we, who had been so long accustomed to be assaulted and perplexed with some guilty thought or sinful inclination, should at once commence perfectly free from it! It will amaze us that we, who have so long made such languid attempts, should find all our powers full of unwearied, immortal vigour! What a happy surprise will this be!
4. It does not yet appear what will be the employments and services of the heavenly world.
We know, from the plain declarations of sacred writ, that the contemplation of the divine perfections, and their displays in the works of nature and grace, celebrating the praises of God, and prostrate adorations before him—will be a great part of the happiness of a future state. But we have no reason to suppose that it will consist entirely in contemplation and adoration. A state of activity will be a proper heaven for vigorous immortals. Will separate spirits be employed with their fellow-angels as guardians to their brethren while in these mortal regions? A very pleasant employ to loving and benevolent minds! Will they be ambassadors of their Sovereign to the most remote parts of his empire, to bear his messages, and discharge his orders? Will they be engaged in important services to the present and future creations, and the instruments of divine beneficence to worlds now unknown? A philosophic curiosity would pry into these things, and even a pious thirst for knowledge would be satisfied: but, alas! we know not what answer to give to these inquiries—until the light of eternity shall break upon us! But,
5. The sons of God, in consequence of their improvements, natural and moral, and of their exalted services and employments, will be made so exquisitely happy, as they can have now no ideas of the felicity.
We know not what it is, in the present state, to have every need supplied, every desire satisfied, and all our vast capacity of happiness filled to the utmost; and therefore we can form no just conceptions of our future selves—when we shall be thus perfectly happy!
Behold, O sons of God; behold the wonders that open before you! See to what vast things you are born! Can you survey this mystery, and not be lost in pleasing wonder, and cry out, "Behold! what manner of love is bestowed upon us!"
Alas! can you forget your own eternal happiness; and let your thoughts and affections run out upon the things of this world, as if they trifles were your portion? Shall the King's sons thus degrade their dignity, and depreciate their eternal inheritance?
And you, unhappy sinners; you who are not the sons of God by regeneration; what do you think of your case, when it is the veryreverse of all this! Your souls, indeed, will be enlarged—but enlarged only that they may be more capacious vessels for torment! And your bodies shall be made strong and immortal; but it will be to bear strong, immortal misery! Instead of becoming perfect in holiness—you will arrive to a horrid perfection in sin. As all sin will be rooted out from the hearts of the children of God—so all the virtuous and amiable qualities you might retain in this world, will be rooted out from you! And as the children of God will be transformed into pure unmingled holiness—so you will degenerate into pure unmingled wickedness! And consequently you must be as exquisitely miserable—as they will be exquisitely happy! And all your enlarged capacities will be as full of torment—as theirs of bliss.
I may therefore adapt the text to you, sinners: "Now you are the children of the devil; but it does not appear what you shall be; you know not what prodigies of vengeance, what miracles of misery you shall be made!" Therefore awake from your carelessness and neglect, and seek earnestly to become the children of God.
III. And lastly, I proceed to show in what respects the sons of God are unknown to the world, and mistaken by them.
The impious world may see a considerable difference between those that are, in the judgement of charity, the children of God, and themselves; but this they rather look upon as an odious singularity, than as a peculiar glory and excellency. They may see their life is not according to the course of this world; and, if they were witnesses to their secret devotions, or could penetrate their hearts, they would see a vastly greater difference; but by how much the greater difference—by so much the more they hate them. And though they still profess a mighty veneration for religion—yet, wherever it truly appears, they hate, oppose, and asperse it; not indeed under that honourable name—but under some odious character that will cloak their wickedness, and the more effectually expose it. They love religion, they say, and God forbid they should speak a word against it; but wherever a person appears remarkably pious, they will be sure to brand him with some of their odious names. Thus living Christians have always met with more contempt and hatred in the world—than easy and pliable, or even the most profligate and abandoned sinners.
Now this is owing to the ignorance of the world as to what the sons of God shall be before long. They do not look upon them as such favourites of heaven; otherwise they would not dare to despise them at such a rate. The sons of God are princes in disguise; and therefore they are not known by a blind world; who, as they are ignorant of their Father—cannot discern his features in them.
O sinners! could you but see in all his future glory—the lowest saint whom you now despise and ridicule—how would it astonish you! It would tempt you rather to the extreme of adoration, rather than contempt; how willingly would you change conditions with him!
Well, stay a little, and there will be a full manifestation of the sons of God. Romans 8:19. You will then see those whom you now account stupid, mopish creatures, who have no taste for the pleasures of life—then shining more glorious than the sun; happy as their natures can admit, and, in their humble sphere, resembling God himself.
It is, however, all things considered, an instance of divine wisdom, that it does not yet appear to themselves or to others what the sons of God shall be. Such a manifestation would quite stun and confound the world, and strike it into a torpid consternation. It would render the children of God utterly impatient of the present life and its enjoyments, and even of the low devotion of the church on earth; it would put an end to the necessary activity about temporal concerns, break off the designs of Providence, and quite alter the form of administration in this world. Therefore the manifestation is wisely put off—to the most proper season.
I shall now conclude with a few PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS:
First. What a state of darkness and imperfection is this present world! We slipped into being we know not how, and remember nothing of our own formation: and we shall be, before long, we know not what. Alas! how short are our views! all before us is impenetrable darkness, and we can see but a very little way behind us. What small cause, then, have the wisest of us to be elated with our own knowledge! In comparison of angelic beings, and even of our future selves—we see no more than the mole grovelling in the earth, compared with the keen-eyed aerial eagle mounting aloft.
Secondly. But what surprising discoveries of things will flash upon us when we enter the eternal world! O my brethren! when we ascend the heavenly mount, and take large surveys all around of the immensity of the works of God; when the unveiled perfections of the Deity suddenly shine upon our eyes in all their naked glory, upon our waking from the sleep of death—how shall we be lost in wonders! What scenes of contemplation will then open upon our gazing minds! How shall we be astonished at ourselves, and ready to vent our surprise in some such strains as these! "Is this I—who so lately was grovelling in yonder world? how changed! how ennobled! how glorified! Is this the soul that was once so overrun with the leprosy of sin! once so blind and dark! once so perverse and depraved! so feeble and weak! so tormented with vain anxieties and trifling cares, or transported with empty joys and delusive prospects! Is this the soul that had so many hard conflicts with temptations, that felt such shocks of jealousy, and so often languished under desponding fears of seeing this glorious place! Oh how changed! how free from every anxious care! unmolested by so much as a guilty thought! nobly triumphant over sin and sorrow, and all that is feared in its mortal state! And is this my once frail, mortal body? my encumbrance in yonder world? how amazingly transformed! how gloriously fashioned! Oh to what a pitch of excellency and bliss—can almighty grace raise the lowest worm! and oh! in what raptures of praise should I celebrate this grace through all eternity!" Thus may we think the glorified saint would express his wonder. But alas! we know just nothing about it. The sensations and language of immortals are beyond our comprehension. But,
Thirdly. We are just on the brink of this surprising state. A few years, perhaps a few moments, may open to our eyes these amazing scenes! The next day, or the next hour—they may flash upon us; and oh! where are we then? In what a strange world! among what new beings! And what shall we then be? Oh! how amazingly transformed! Should you see a clod from beneath your feet, rising and brightening into a star, or shining like the noon-day sun—the transformation would not be half so astonishing! Then we will be done with all beneath the sun; all the little things of this trifling world will vanish at once like a vapour; and all before us will be the most important and majestic realities! Therefore,
Fourthly, how astonishing is it that we should think so little of what is before us! that we should still stumble on in the dark, thoughtless of these approaching wonders! You sons of God, what are you doing—that you think no more of your relation to God, and your heavenly inheritance? If a large estate, or the government of the kingdom should fall to you tomorrow, and you were told of it beforehand, would it not always dwell upon your thoughts, and keep you awake this night with the eager prospect? What! would these comparatively worthless things fix your attention? and can you be thoughtless of a glory and bliss that infinitely surpass all your present conceptions? And you, unregenerate sinners, though I cannot say you are near to glory—yet I may assure you, you are near to the eternal world, and all its solemn wonders: this night perhaps you may be there; and if you land there in your present condition, you are undone, you are ruined, you are inconceivably miserable forever! Therefore,
Fifthly, O sinners, why do you not labour to become the sons of God now while you may? Consider what prodigies of misery, whatmonuments of vengeance you will soon be—if you continue unregenerate! Alas! sirs, it does not yet appear what you shall soon be, otherwise you could no more rest in your present case, than upon the top of a mast, or upon burning coals. And, poor creatures, have you a mind to be initiated into those horrid mysteries of woe, and be taught them by experience? Will not you believe the repeated declarations of eternal truth, that they are intolerably dreadful, and that, until you are the sons of God, until you are born again, and have the dispositions of children towards him—you cannot have a moment's security for escaping them? Alas! I must pity you; and I call upon all the children of God to pour out the tears of their compassion over you!
Sixthly. Let me call upon all the sons of God in this assembly to admire his love in conferring this dignity upon them. "Behold! what manner of love is this—that we shall be called the sons of God!" Consider what you were—guilty, rebellious creatures, condemned to everlasting tortures; and you will own, that to be just delivered from hell, though it had been by annihilation, would be an inconceivable favour for you! But for you to be the sons of God, to be made glorious beyond the reach of thought, to be transformed into blissful beings, that you can now form no ideas of—and this, too, at the expense of the blood of God; what love is this! Go home, and forget it—if you can. I may as well bid you live without breathing—if you can!
Seventhly. Let me conclude with this reflection: how honourable, how happy, how glorious, are the sons of God! how immense their privileges! how rich their inheritance! Why then are they so backward to enter upon it? How unaccountable, how absurd is their eager attachment to this world, and their unwillingness to die! Why so much afraid of ascending to their Father's house? Why so shy of glory and bliss? Why so fond of slavery and imprisonment? Oh, my brethren, be always on the wing, ready for flight, and be always looking out and crying, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly! Amen.
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