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not. But he shall be known and adored when he comes in the glory of his Father, with legions of angels; and we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him. The life of the saints is hidden with Christ in God: but when Christ, who is their life, shall appear, they also shall appear with him in glory. 1 John iii. 1. 2. Col. iii. 3. 4. In that day they shall stand forth before the whole creation in fair evidence, they shall shine in distinguished light, and appear vested in their own undoubted honours. But here it seems proper there should be something of a cloud upon them, both upon the account of the men of this world, and upon their own account too, as well as in conformity to Christ Jesus their Lord.

grace

First, Upon their own account, because the present state of a Christian is a state of trial. We are not to walk by sight, as the saints above and angels do; they know they are possessed of life and blessedness, for they see God himself near them; Christ in the midst of them, and glory.all around them. Our work is to live by faith; and therefore God has not made either his love to us, or his in us, so obvious and apparent to ourselves, as that every Christian, even the weak and the unwatchful, should be fully assured of his salvation. He has not appointed the principle of life within us to sparkle in so divine a manner, as to be always self-evident to the best of Christians, much less to the lukewarm and the backslider. It is fit that it should not be too sensibly manifest, because it is so sensibly imperfect, that we might examine ourselves whether we are in the faith, and prove ourselves, whether Christ, as a principle of life, dwell in us or not. 2 Cor. xiii. 5. While so many snares, and sins, and dangers attend us, and mingle with our spiritual life, there will be something of darkness ready to rise and obscure it, that so we may maintain a holy jealousy and solicitude about our own state, that we may search with diligence to find whether we have divine life or not, and be called and urged often to look inwards.

This degree of remaining darkness, and the doubtful state

of

him

of a slothful Christian, is sometimes of great use to spur onward in his race of holiness, and quicken him to aspire after the highest measures of the spiritual life; that when its acts are more vigorous, it may shine with the brightest evidence, and give the soul of the believer full satisfaction and joy. It serves also to awaken the drowsy Christian to keep a holy watch over his heart and practice, lest sin and temptation make a foul inroad upon his divine life, spread still a thicker cloud over his best hopes, and break the peace of his conscience. Though the principle of grace be not always self-evident, yet we are required to give diligence, to make and to keep it sure, 2 Pet. i. 10t

And as it was proper that every little seed of grace should not shine with self-sufficient and constant evidence, on the account of the Christian himself, so, secondly, it was fit that their state and dignity should not be too obvious to the men of the world, that they might neither adore nor destroy the saints. A principle of superstition might tempt 'some weaker souls to pay extravagant honours to the Christian, if he carried heaven in his face, and it were visible in his countenance that he was a son of God. On the other hand, the malicious and perverse part of mankind might imitate the rage of Satan, and attempt the sooner to destroy the saint.

This was the case of the blessed Paul. When he had wrought a miracle at Lystra, and appeared with something divine about him, when he had healed the cripple by a mere word of command, the people cried out with exalted voices, the gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. Immediately they made a Mercury of St Paul, they turned Barnabas into Jupiter, and the priest brought oxen and garlands to the gates to have done sacrifice to them: This was the humour of the superstitious Gentiles. But in several of the Jews, their malice and envy wrought a very different effect; for they persuaded the people into fury, so that they stoned the blessed apostle, and drew him out of the city for dead, Acts xiv.

Thus

Thus it fared with our Lord Jesus Christ himself in the days of his flesh. For the most part he lived unknown among men, he did not cry nor make his voice to be heard in the streets; but when he discovered himself to them ont any special occasion, the people ran into different extremes. When the characters of the Messiah appeared with evidence upon him, they would have raised him to a throne, and made an earthly king of him, John vi. 15. At another time, when his holy conduct did not suit their humour, they were filled with wrath, and led him to the brow of a hill to cast him down headlong, Luke iv. 29. Therefore our blessed Lord did not walk through the streets, and tell the world he was the Messiah; but by degrees he let the character of his mission appear upon him, and discovered himself in wisdom, as his disciples and the world could bear it, and as the Father had appointed.

Let us imitate our blessed Lord, and copy after so divine a pattern; let our works bear a bright and growing witness to our inward and real Christianity. This is such a gentle sort of evidence, that though it may work conviction in the hearts of spectators, yet it does not strike the sense with so glaring a light as to dazzle the weaker sort who behold it into superstitious folly; nor does it give such provocation to the envy of the malicious, as if the saints had borne the sign of their high dignity in some more surprising manner in their figure or countenance.

I might add also, There is something in this sort of evidence in their saintship that carries more true honour in it, than if some heavenly name had been written in their forehead, or their skin had shone like the face of Moses when he came down from the mount. It is a more sublime glory fof a prince to be found amongst the vulgar in undistinguished raiment, and by his superior conduct and shining virtues to force the world to confess that he is the son of a king, than to walk through the rabble with ensigns of royalty, and demand honour from them by the mere blaze of his ornaments.

XVII. Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion,

Psalm lxv. 1.

AND does praise wait for God in the congregation of his

saints? Surely it doth not use to be so. Mercy uses to be beforehand with us, and the Lord waiteth to be gracious. Mercy is wont to be ready in the hands of God, before praise is ready on the tongues of men; and we are sure he waited on us to shew his grace, long before we had any songs ready for him, or any thought of praising him.

Yet sometimes it is so in this lower world. Holy souls may be waiting at the throne of grace, with their praises ready to ascend as soon as mercy appears: mercy may be silent for a season, and then praise for a season is silent too. This is the original language of the psalm, and this the state of things, when the psalmist wrote; Praise is silent for thee in Zion. When the church of God under trouble has been long seeking any particular blessing or deliverance, and God's appointed hour of salvation is not yet come, then the songs of the church are silent: Yet she stands watching and waiting for the desired moment, that she may meet the salvation with praise.

But why should God suffer praise to be silent at all in Zion? Is not the church the habitation of his praises? Yes, but it is the house of prayer too: prayer and patience must have their proper exercise. If praise were never silent on earth, where would there be any room for prayer to speak? when would there be any season for the grace of patience to shew itself? God loves prayer as well as praise: his sovereignty is honoured by humble waiting, as well as his goodness by holy gratitude and joy. If praise be silent then, let prayer be more fervent. The absent Saviour loves to hear the voice of his beloved; the lips of the church must never be quite silent, though they are not always employed in hallelujahs.

Praise is the sweetest part of divine worship; it is a short heaven here on earth. God lets our praises be silent sometimes,

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sometimes, to teach us that this is not a state of complete blessedness. After the great day of decision, praise shall be continual and unceasing, when there shall be no more sighing for the saints, no more death, no more pain. Then churches shall want ordinances no more, nor saints abstain from the bread of life. Jesus, their everlasting Pastor, shall feed them in pastures ever green, and from the tree of life, and lead them to the fountains of joy, and the streams where eternal pleasures run. O may our souls wait with joyful hope for that day! and our praises shall not be silent.

Yet it is not with the church as it is with the world when praise is silent in both. It is ever silent among the wicked, because they are forgetful of God their Maker; it is only silent among the saints' for a season, when their God seems to frown and hide himself, and, as it were, to forget his people.

Besides, Let us consider that all praise is not silent there. Daily incense arises before God in the temple, though particular thank-offerings wait till particular mercies are received. Praise for all the greatest mercies, (viz.) for redeeming grace, for electing love, for the sanctifying Spirit, is never silent in Zion. Psal. lxxxiv. 4. "Blessed are they that dwell in thine house; they will be still praising thee." But praise for some special favours may be silent for a season, as well as that large revenue of praise that shall grow due at the accomplishment of all the promises and the consummation of blessedness.

Again, The praises of God are silent in the world without any design of breaking forth; but the silence of the church longs to be lost in joyful songs of thanksgiving. It is like an engine charged with praise, that wants only the warm touch of mercy to make it shine with the glories of heavenly worship, and sound aloud the name of the God of Zion.

Sometimes God is as well pleased that praise should wait with humble silence, as that it should speak. It shews a well-disposed frame and temper of soul, that longs to ho

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