Thomas Manton · 25 of 60

A Practical Commentary, or an Exposition with Notes on the Epistle of James. · Chapter II. · Part 2

And you have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing.—Ἐπιβλέπειν; is to gaze and observe with some admiration and special reverence.

Sit thou here in a good place, καλῶς, `in an honourable or worthy place;, and so it noteth, either the rash disposal of the honours of the church into their hands, or the favouring of them in their cause, as before.

Stand thou there, or sit under my footstool.—Expressions of contempt and disrespect. Standing or sitting at the feet was the posture of the younger disciples. Sometimes standing is put for those that stood upon their defence; as Ps. cxxx. 3, `If thou shouldst mark what is done, who can stand?, that is, in curia, in court, as those that make a bold defence. So Eph. vi. 13, `Take the armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and when you have done all, to stand;, that is, before God's tribunal: it is an allusion to the posture of men in courts. This different respect of poor and rich bringeth to my mind a passage of Bernard, who, when he chanced to espy a poor man meanly apparelled, he would say to himself, Truly, Bernard, this man with more patience beareth his cross than thou: but if he saw a rich man delicately clothed, then he would say, It may be that this man, under his delicate clothing, hath a better soul than thou hast under thy religious habit. An excellent charity, and a far better practice than theirs in the text, who said to him in the goodly raiment, `sit, to the poor, `stand., To the rich they assigned `a good place, but to the poor the room `under the footstool.,

Are ye not partial in yourselves?—This clause is severally rendered, because of the different significations of the word διακριθῆτε. Some turn it without an interrogation, thus, `Ye were not judged in yourselves, but, &c.; as if the sense were—Though they were not judged themselves, yet they judged others by these inevident signs. But it is better with an interrogation; and yet then there are different readings. Some thus, `Are ye not condemned in yourselves?, that is, do not your own consciences fall upon you? Certainly the apostle applieth the fact to their consciences by this vehement and rousing question; but I think διακριθῆτε must not be here rendered condemned. Others thus, `Have ye not doubted or questioned the matter in yourselves?, for that is another sense of the word in the text. But here it seemeth most harsh and incongruous. Another sense of the word is, to make a difference; so it is often taken: διακρινόμενοι, `making a difference, Jude 22; οὐδὲν διεκρίνε, `He put no difference, Acts xv. 9; and so it may be fitly rendered here, `Have ye not made a difference?, that is, an unjust difference, out of carnal affection, rather than any true judgment. And therefore, for more perspicuity, we explain, rather than interpret, when we render, Are ye not partial? It is an appeal to their consciences in making such a difference: Are ye not counterpoised with perverse respects? Many times we may know the quality of an action by the verdict of conscience. Is not this partiality? Doth not conscience tell you it is making a difference which God never made? Sins directly disproportionate to our profession are against conscience, and in such practices the heart is divided. There are some disallowing thoughts which men strive to smother.

And become judges of evil thoughts.—From the running of the words in our translation, I should have guessed the sense to be this, That by these outward appearances of meanness and greatness in the world, they judged of men's hearts; which is here expressed by what is most transient and inward in the heart, the thoughts. But this κριταὶ διαλογισμῶν πονηρῶν, is to be taken in quite another sense. The meaning is, you altogether judge perversely, according to the rule of your own corrupt thoughts and intentions. Their esteem and their ends were not right, but perverted by carnal affections. They esteemed outward pomp above spiritual graces, which was contrary to reason and religion; and they proposed to themselves other ends than men should do in acts of choice and judicature. They had men's persons in admiration, because of advantage; and did not weigh so much the merits of the cause, as the condition of the persons contending.

From these verses, besides the things touched in the explication, you may observe:—

Obs. 1. That men are marvellous apt to honour worldly greatness. To a carnal eye nothing else is glorious. A corrupt judgment tainteth the practice. A child of God may be guilty of much worldliness, but he hath not a worldly judgment. David's heart went astray; but his judgment being right, that brought him about again, Ps. lxxiii.: compare the whole psalm with the last verse, `It is good for me to draw nigh to God., Moses, uprightness and love to the people of God was from his esteem: Heb. xi. 26, `Esteeming the reproach of Christ, &c. When men have a right esteem, that will make them prize religion, though shrouded under poor sorry weeds; but when their judgments and conceits are prepossessed and occupied with carnal principles, nothing seemeth lovely but greatness, and exalted wickedness hath more of their respect than oppressed grace. But you will say—May we not show honour and respect to men great in the world if they are wicked?

I answer—There is a respect due to the rich, though wicked; but if it be accompanied with a contempt of the mean servants of God, it is such a partiality as doth not become grace. More particularly, that you may not mistake in your respects to wicked men, take a direction or two:—(1.) Great men in the world must have respect due to their places, but the godly must have your converse and familiarity: `My delight is in the excellent of the earth, Ps. xvi. 3. A Christian can not delight in the converse of a wicked man so as he can in the children of God; besides that the object in the eye of grace hath more loveliness, there is the advantage of sweet counsels and spiritual communion: `Comforted by the mutual faith of you and me., Rom. i. 12. (2.) You must be sure not to be ashamed of the meanest Christians, to vouchsafe all due respects to them. Onesimus was a mean servant, yet, when converted, Paul counted him `above a servant, as a brother, Philem. 16. So the messengers of the churches are called `the glory of Christ, 2 Cor. viii. 23, such as Christ will boast of. Christ is ashamed of none but those that are ashamed of him: it is glory enough in the eye of Christ and grace that they are holy. (3.) You must own them for brethren in their greatest abasures and afflictions, as Moses did the people of God, Heb. xi. 25. (4.) Be sure to drive on no self-design in your respects; be not swayed by a corrupt aim at advantage: this will make us take Egyptians for Israelites, and perversely carry out our esteem. It chiefly concerneth ministers to mind this, that they may not gild a potsherd, and comply with wicked men for their own gain and advantage: it is a description of false teachers, 2 Peter ii. 3, `Through covetousness they shall, with feigned words, make merchandise of you: `they apply themselves to those among whom they may drive on the trade best; not to the saints, but to the rich, and soothe up them; where there is most gain, not where most grace: Hosea vii. 3, `They made the rulers glad with their lies.,

Obs. 2. From that are ye not partial? He urgeth them with a question. To bring us to a sense of things, it is good to put questions to our consciences, because then we do directly return upon our own souls. Soliloquies and discourses with yourselves are of excellent advantage: Ps. iv. 4, `Commune with your own hearts, and be still., It is a hard matter to bring a man and himself together, to get him to speak a word to himself. There are many that live in the world for a long time—some forty or fifty years—and all this while they cannot be brought to converse with their own hearts. This questioning of conscience will be of use to you in humiliation, faith, and obedience. (1.) In your humbling work. There are several questions proper to that business, as in the examination of your estate, when you bring your ways and the commandment together, which is the first rise of humiliation: you will find the soul most awakened by asking of questions. Oh!, what have I done?, Jer. viii. 6. Do I walk according to the tenor of this holy law? Can I say, `My heart is clean?, Prov. xx. 9. Then there is a second question: When guilt is found out concerning the rigour of the law, and the sureness of wrath, every violation is death: will God be partial for thy sake?, His jealousy shall smoke against that man that saith, I shall have peace, though I walk in the way of mine own heart, Deut. xxix. 19. Then there are other questions about the dreadfulness of wrath: Ezek. xxii. 14, `Can my heart endure, and my hands be made strong, in the days that God shall deal with me?, Shall I be able to bear up under torments without measure and without end? Can I dwell with those devouring burnings? Then there is a fourth question, after a way of escape: `What shall I do to inherit eternal life?, Acts xvi. 30; or, as it is in the prophet, `Wherewith shall I come before God?, Micah vi. 8. With what recompense shall I appease his angry justice? Thus you see the whole business of humiliation is carried on in these interrogative forms. (2.) For the work of faith, these questions are serviceable, partly to quicken the soul to the consideration of the offer of God; as when the apostle had disputed of free justification, he enforceth all by a question, `What shall we then say to these things?, Rom. viii. 31. Soul, what canst thou object and urge against so rich mercies? Paul, all the while before, had been but drawing the bow,^ now he letteth fly the arrow. `What shall we say?, Partly because it maketh us more sensible of the danger of not believing: Heb. ii. 3, `How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?, If I neglect God's second offer, what will become of me? Thus it is an help to the work of faith. (3.) In the work of obedience these questions are serviceable; as when a temptation is like to carry it in the soul, it is good to come in with a smart question: Gen. xxxix. 9, `How can I do this wickedness, and sin against God?, So if the heart drive on heavily in duties of worship, `Offer it now to the governor; would he accept it at my hands?, Mal. i. 8. Would I do thus to an earthly prince in an earthly matter? Thus you see questions are of singular use in every part of the holy life. Be more frequent in them; and in every matter take occasion to discourse with your own souls.

Obs. 3. From that judges of evil thoughts. Evils begin first in the thoughts: Mat. xv. 19, `Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts;, that is in the front of that black roll. Affections pervert the thoughts, and thoughts stain the judgment. Therefore, when God would express the wickedness of the old world, he saith, `The imagination of their thoughts were evil, Gen. vi. 5. The reason of atheism is blasphemy in the thoughts: Ps. x. 4, `All their thoughts are that there is no God., The reason of worldliness is some wretched thought that is hidden in the bosom: Ps. xlix. 11, `Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever., You see, then, there is reason why you should go to God to cleanse your spirits from evil thoughts, why you should be humbled under them, why you should watch against them: Isa. lv. 7, `Let the wicked man forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and return unto the Lord., Mark, not only his way, but his thoughts. Trace every corrupt desire, every inordinate practice, till you come up to some inward and hidden thought. There are implicit thoughts, and thoughts explicit: explicit are those that are impressed upon the conscience, and are more sensible; implicit are those which the scripture calleth `hidden thoughts, and the `sayings of the heart., Though the desires, purposes, actions, are according to them, yet we do not so sensibly discern them; for they are so odious, that they come least in sight. Many such there are; as this was the hidden thought implied in the text, that wealth is to be preferred before grace; and that made them judge so perversely. It is good therefore to wait upon the word, which `discovereth the thoughts and intents of the heart, Heb. iv. 12, that upon every experience you may refer things to their proper head and cause: sure there hath been a vile thought in me, that there is no God; that the world is for ever; that riches are better than grace; that the pleasures of sin are better than the hopes of life, &c. It is good to interpret every action, and to observe the language that is couched in it; your lives do but speak out these thoughts.

Obs. 4. That this is an evil thought, that men are to be valued by their outward excellency. It is against the dispensation of God, who putteth the greatest glory upon those that are of least account and esteem in the world. It is against the nature of grace, whose glory is not sensible, obvious to the senses, but inward and hidden:^ Ps. xlv. 13, `The king's daughter is all glorious within., A Christian's inside is best; all the world's glory is in show, fancy, and appearance: Agrippa and Bernice `came with great pomp, Acts xxv. 23, μετὰ πολλῆς φαντασίας, with much show and fancy. Painted things have a greater show with them than real. Nazianzen saith, the world is Helena without, and Hecuba within: there is nothing answerable to the appearance; but now grace is under a veil, `it doth not appear what we shall be, 1 John iii. 2. Thus Cant. i. 6, the church is said to be `black, but comely;, full of spiritual beauty, though outwardly wretched, and deformed with afflictions; which is there expressed by two similitudes, like `the tents of Kedar, and the curtains of Solomon., The tents of Kedar: the Arabians lived in tents, which were but homely and slender in comparison of city buildings, obscure huts, sullied and blacked with the weather, but rich within, and full of costly utensils; therefore we hear of `the glory of Kedar, Isa. xxi. 16. And Solomon's curtains may possibly signify the same thing. Josephus saith, Solomon had Babylonian curtains, of a baser stuff and work, to hide the curious imagery that was carved on the marble walls. The greatest glory is within the veil: `The hidden man of the heart, is an ornament `of great price, 1 Peter iii. 4. And as it is against the nature of grace, so it is against all right reason: we do not use to judge so in other cases: we do not prize a horse for the gaudry of his saddle and trappings, but for his strength and swiftness. That painter was laughed at who, because he could not draw Helena fair, drew her rich. We do not therefore judge it a good sword because it hath a golden belt. Well, then, if it be against providence, and grace, and reason, go by a wiser rule in valuing things and persons than outward excellency: do not think that faith best which the ruler professeth, John vii. 48, nor those persons best that glitter most with worldly lustre. Christ cometh often in a disguise to us, as well as the Jews—to us in his poor members.

Ver. 5. Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he ha*h promised to them that love him?

In this verse the apostle urgeth another argument against respect of persons: you will despise those whom God, out of his wise ordination, hath called to the greatest honour. He instanceth in a threefold dignity which the Lord putteth upon the godly poor: they are elected of God, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom.

Hearken, my beloved brethren.—He exciteth their attention, and still giveth them the loving compellation which he had formerly used. In all grave and weighty matters, it is usual in the scripture to preface and premise some craving of attention: `He that hath an ear to hear let him hear, Mat. xiii. 9; so James in the council of Jerusalem: Acts xv. 13, `Men and brethren, hearken unto me., Here the apostle useth this preface, partly to stir them up to consider the dispensation proper to that age. So 1 Cor. i. 26, `Behold your calling, brethren, not many wise, not many mighty, &c.; that is, seriously consider the matter of God's calling in these times. Partly because he is about to urge a warm argument against the perverseness of their respects, and when the matter concerneth our case, it calleth for our best attention.

Hath not God chosen? that is, by the special designment of grace he hath singled out the poor to be heirs of life. You will find it so always, for the most part, but in those times especially. Partly to confute the pride of great persons, as if God should respect them for their outward dignity. The first choice that God made in the world was of poor men; and therefore do we so often read that the poor received the gospel; not only the poor in spirit, but the poor in purse. God chose fishermen to preach the gospel, and poor persons to receive it: few were won that were of any rank and quality in the world; and partly that we might not think that wonderful increase and spreading of the gospel to come to pass by the advantage of human power, fleshly aids and props, but by the virtue of divine grace.

The poor of the world; that is, in regard of outward enjoyments: 1 Tim. vi. 17, there he speaketh of `the rich of this world., There is another world that hath its riches, but they that have estate there are usually poor and despicable. The saints are described to be those that have not their hopes in this world, 1 Cor. xv. 19, or poor in this world; that is, in the opinion of the present world they are vile and abject.

Rich in faith.—So they may be said to be two ways: Either in regard of high measures and raised degrees of faith; as Abraham was said to be `strong in faith., Rom. iv. 20, or that woman, Mat. xv. 28, `O woman! great is thy faith., So when the apostle presseth them to a spiritual abundance in gifts and graces, he saith, Col. iii. 16, `Let the word of God dwell in you, πλουσίως, richly., Or rich, in opposition to worldly poverty, as noting the recompense that is made up to them for their outward poverty in their hopes and privileges. And mark, God is said to `choose rich in faith;, that is, `to be rich in faith., It is such am expression as is used Rom. viii. 29, `He hath chosen us like his Son;, that is, `to be like his Son;, which is plainly averred by the apostle, Eph. i. 4, `He hath chosen us in him that we might be holy:, not because we are good, but that we might be good. This place cannot be urged for the foresight of faith; for as he chose us rich in faith, so he chose us heirs of glory: and therefore it doth not note the reason of God's choice, but the end; not that they were so, but that they might be so.

Heirs of the kingdom.—Glory is often set out by a kingdom, and the faithful as princes under years.

Which he hath promised.—Promises of this nature are everywhere: Prov. viii. 17, `I love them that love me;, so Exod. xx. 6, `Showing mercy to thousands of them that love me.,

To them that love him.—Why this grace is specified, see the reasons alleged in the explication and notes of the 12th verse of the first chapter. Only observe the order used by the apostle; first he placeth election, then faith, then love.

The notes are these:—

Obs. 1. That oftentimes God chooseth the poor of this world. The lion and the eagle are passed by, and the lamb and the dove chosen for sacrifice. The gospel, that was `hidden from the wise and prudent, was revealed to babes, Mat. xi. 25. This God doth, partly to show the glory of his power in preserving them, and truth amongst them,that were not upheld by worldly props. The church is called `the congregation of the poor, Ps. lxxiv. 19; a miserable sort of men, that were destitute of all worldly advantages. Usually he showeth his power by using weak means. Moses, hand was made leprous before it wrought miracles, Exod. iv. Jericho was blown down with rams, horns, and Goliah slain with a sling and a stone. Partly because God would show the riches of his goodness in choosing the poor. All must now be ascribed to mercy. At the first God chose the worst and the poorest, which was an argument that he was not moved with outward respects; the most sinful and the most obscure, `that all flesh might glory in the Lord, 1 Cor. i. 28. A thief was made the delight of paradise, and Lazarus taken into Abraham's bosom. Those that had not the least pretence of glorying in themselves are invited to grace. Partly because God would discover his wisdom by making up their outward defects by this inward glory. Levi, that had no portion among his brethren, had the Lord for his portion. God is wanting to no creature; the rich have somewhat, and the poor have `the favour of his people, Ps. cvi. 4, special mercies. The buyers, and sellers, and money-changers were whipped out of the temple; the rich have least interest there. Partly that the members might be conformed to the head, the saints to Christ, in meanness and suffering: Zech. ix. 9, `Thy king cometh unto thee poor., Partly because poverty is a means to keep them upright; riches are a great snare. The moon is never eclipsed but when it is at the full. Certainly God's people are then in most danger. They say the sun never moveth slower than when it is highest in the zodiac. Usually men are never more flat in duty and dead in service than when mounted high in worldly advantages. A pirate never setteth upon an empty vessel: the devil is most busy in the fulness of our sufficiency. Those that were taken up with the pleasantness of the country, and saw it fit for sheep, would not go into Canaan. The disciples pleaded, `Lord, we have left all things, and followed thee;, as if the keeping of an estate, and the keeping of Christ were hardly compatible. Well, then—(1.) You that are poor, bless God; it is all from mercy that God should look upon you. It is a comfort in your meanness; rejected by the world, chosen by God. He that is happy in his own conscience cannot be miserable by the judgment of others: Isa. lvi. 3, 4, `Let not the eunuch say, I am a dry tree; for I will give him an everlasting name., Be not discouraged, though outwardly mean. The poor man is known to God by name: Luke xvi., he hath a proper name, Lazarus; whereas the rich man is called by an appellative name. Among men it is^ otherwise. Divitum nomina sciuntur, pauperum nesciuntur, saith Cajetan. However we forget the poor, we will be sure to remember the rich man's name and title. (2.) You that are rich, consider this is not the favour of God's people; be not contented with common bounty. You may have an estate, and others may have higher privileges. As Luther, profess that you will not be contented so; you will not be quiet till you have the tokens of his special mercy.

Obs. 2. There are poor in this world, and poor in the world to come. Dives, that fared deliciously every day, and was clothed in fine linen, yet wanted a drop to cool his tongue. Desideravit guttam, saith Austin, qui non dedit micam; he wanted a drop, that would not give a crumb: Isa. lxv. 13, 14, `Behold my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; behold my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: they shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed., Ye are left to your choice, to be rich in this world, but poor in the world to come; though here you swim and wallow in a sea of pleasures, yet there you may want a drop to cool your tongue.

Obs. 3. The poor of this world may be spiritually rich. The apostle's riddle is made good, 2 Cor. vi. 10, `As having nothing, yet possessing all things;, nothing in the world, and all in faith.

Obs. 4. Faith maketh us truly rich; it is the open hand of the soul, to receive all the bounteous supplies of God. If we be empty and poor, it is not because God's hand is straitened, but ours is not opened. A man may be poor notwithstanding the abundance of wealth: it putteth a difference between you and others for a while, but in the grave `the poor and the rich meet together, Job iii. 19; that is, are all in the same estate without difference. In the charnel-house all skulls are in the same case, not to be distinguished by the ornaments or abasures of temporal life. It is grace alone that will make you to excel for ever. Nay, riches cannot make you always to differ in this world: `They take to themselves wings, and fly away, Prov. xxiii. 5. Well, then, you that are poor, do not envy others, plenty; you that are rich, do not please yourselves in these enjoyments. Istae divitiae nec verae sunt, nec vestrae—they are neither true riches, neither can you always call them your own.

Obs. 5. The Lord loveth only the godly poor. There are a wicked poor whose hearts are ignorantly stubborn, whose lives are viciously profane. Christ saith, `Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God, Luke vi. 20. In the evangelist Matthew it is explained, 1 Blessed are the poor in spirit, Mat. v. 3. David saith, `The abjects gathered themselves against me, Ps. xxxv. 15. Many times men of that quality are malignant opposites to the children and cause of God, saucy dust, that will be flying in the faces of God's people; and their rage is the more fierce because there is nothing of knowledge, politic restraints, and civil or ingenuous education, to break the force of it.

Obs. 6. All God's people are heirs; they are heirs, they are but heirs. They are heirs; that cometh to them by virtue of their sonship: Rom. viii. 17, `If children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, Jesus Christ was the natural son and the natural heir; and we, being adopted sons, are adopted heirs. He is called, Heb. i. 2, `the heir of all things;, and he hath invested us with his own privileges. Do but consider what an heir a child of God is, one that is received into the same privileges with Christ; and therefore the apostle saith, he is a `joint-heir., In a spiritual manner, and as we are capable, we shall possess the same glory that Christ doth. Again, they are heirs whose right is indefeasible. Men may appoint heirs, and alter their purpose, especially concerning adopted heirs; but God never changeth. In assurance of it we have earnest, 2 Cor. i. 22, and we have first-fruits, Rom. viii. 23. We have earnest to show how sure, we have first-fruits to show how good, our inheritance is; a taste how good, and a pledge how sure. Well, then, you that have tasted of the grapes of Eshcol, have had any sense of your adoption, you may be confident God will never alter his purposes of love. Again, they are heirs that not only look to inherit the goods of their heavenly Father, but his person. God doth not only make over heaven to you, but himself: `I will be your God;, quantus quantus est, God is yours. So Ps. xvi. 5, `The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance., Again, they are heirs that possess by their father's lifetime. Men give their estates to us when they can possess them no longer. But this is our happiness, that God and we possess it together; and therefore it is said, `glorified with him., Again, they are heirs to an estate that will not be diminished by the multitude of co-heirs. Many a fair stream is drawn dry by being dispersed into several channels; but here, the more the greater the privilege. What a happiness is it to enjoy God among all the saints! They `shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob., We may jointly inherit without envy. The company is a part of the blessing: it is one of the apostle's motives, `Ye are come to an innumerable company of saints and angels, Heb. xii. 22, 23. It was a foolish question, that, `Who shall be greatest in the kingdom of heaven?, Mat. xviii.; for when God is all in all, he will fill up every vessel. Such a question suiteth with our present state; but in glory, as there is no sin to provoke such curiosity, so there is no want to occasion it. They are but heirs: alas! now they groan and wait for the adoption, Rom. viii. 23, that is, for the full enjoyment of the privileges of it. So 1 John iii. 2, `We are the sons of God, but it doth not appear what we shall be;, we have a right, but not full possession. Hope cannot conceive what the estate will be when it cometh in hand. There is much goodness laid out, but more laid up, Ps. xxxi. 19. It is observable that all Christian privileges are spoken of in scripture as if they did not receive their accomplishment till the day of judgment. I have spoken already of adoption, that the saints wait for it. For justification, then, we shall know the comfort of it; when Christ, in his solemn and most imperial day, in the midst of the triumph of his justice, shall remember only the services, and pass by the sins, of the faithful. Then shall we know the meaning of that promise, `I am he that forgiveth your iniquities, and will remember your sins no more., Our comfort now is mixed, and we are often harassed with doubts and fears; but when our pardon is solemnly proclaimed before all the world, then shall we indeed know what it is to be absolved. Therefore the scripture speaketh as if an act for our justification were only passed then: Acts iii. 19, `Repent, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord., And possibly that may be the reason of that expression that intimateth forgiveness of sins in the world to come: Mat. xii. 32, `It shall never be forgiven, in this world, or in the world to come;, i.e., an act of pardon can neither now be really passed, or then solemnly declared. So for redemption: we shall not understand that privilege till we are redeemed from death and the grave, and have a full and final deliverance from all evils; therefore we are said to `wait for the redemption of our bodies., Rom. viii. 23, and `lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh, Luke xxi. 28. And that possibly may be the reason why the apostle, when he numbereth up the fruits of our union with Christ, he putteth redemption last, 1 Cor. i. 30. Here we have righteousness, wisdom, grace, but in the world to come we have redemption; therefore, the day of the Lord is called `the day of redemption, Eph. iv. 30. So also for union with Christ; it is begun here, but so often interrupted, that it is rather an absence than a union: 2 Cor. v. 6, `Whiles we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord., The apostle speaketh so, because we do not so freely enjoy the comforts of his presence. So Phil. i. 23, `I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ;, a Christian is with Christ here, but rather without him. Then shall we know what it is to be with him, when we shall in body and soul be translated into heaven, and be always in his eye and presence. So for sanctification: there is so much of the old nature remaining, that there is scarce anything of the new; and therefore the day of judgment is called παλιγγενεσία, the regeneration, Mat. xix. 28; that is, the time when all things are made new, when we come to be settled in our everlasting state; and that may be the occasion of the apostle's expression, 1 Thes. iii. 13, `Sanctified at Christ's coming., Thus you see, in all points of Christian privilege, we are, though heirs, yet but heirs. Well, then, you that `have the first-fruits of the Spirit, come and rejoice in your hopes: `Behold what manner of love the Father hath showed you!, 1 John iii. 1. We were strangers, yet we are made sons—nay, heirs; we were of low degree—it may be poor, beggarly in the world—yet have we this ἐξουσίαν, this dignity put upon us, to be chosen to the fairest kingdom that ever was and will be, John i. 12. We were enemies, rebellious as well as despicable, yet still heirs: from `children of wrath, made `heirs of glory., God needed not such an adoption; he had a Son who is called his delight and rejoicing before all worlds, Prov. viii. 31, and yet he would make thee, that wast a stranger to his family, a rebel to his crown, so base in the world, a joint-heir with his only Son. Oh! what love and thankfulness should this beget in us! Every person of the Godhead showeth his love to us; the Father he adopteth us: `Behold what manner of love the Father, &c.; the Son for a while resigneth and layeth aside his honour—nay, dieth, to purchase our right, Gal. iv. 6; and `the Spirit witnesseth that we are the sons of God., Rom. viii. 15. Oh! adore the love of the Trinity with high and raised thoughts. Consider what a comfort here is against all the discouragements and abasures that we meet with in the world; princes in disguise are often slighted, and the heirs of heaven are made the world's reproach. But why should you be dejected? 2 Sam. xiii. 4, `Why art thou so lean from day to day? art not thou the king's son?, Are not you heirs of the kingdom of glory? And, by the way, here is some advice to the world: Do not contemn the meanest that are godly—they are heirs; every one worshippeth the rising sun, and observeth the heir. Oh! make you friends of them, they will stead you another day: Luke xvi. 9, `Make you friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations;, that is, with that wealth, which is usually abused to sin, make you friends of the poor godly saints; they with Christ shall judge the world, 1 Cor. vi. 2. Make them friends, that they may give their suffrage to you, and receive you into heavenly joys. A main thing that Christ taketh notice of at the day of judgment, is this: `Thus have ye done to one of my naked brethren, Mat. xxv. 40.