SERMON XXXVIII.

SAINTS WITH CHRIST IN HEAVEN.

FEBRUARY 25, 1827. DEATH OF MRS. MARY METCALF.

FATHER, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am. JOHN, xvii. 24.

AS CHRIST knew the precise time when he should leave the world, so he made a wise preparation for that great and solemn event. The evening before his crucifixion he celebrated the Passover, and instituted the memorials of his own death. He washed and wiped his disciples' feet, for an example of mutual love and condescension to all his followers in time to come. He entered into a free and familiar conversation with his disciples, in which he forewarned them of their dangers, inculcated their duty, and suggested the best sources of consolation. He then lifted up his eyes to heaven, and addressed his Father in a very solemn, affectionate and appropriate prayer for all his present and future friends, which he closed with this comprehensive petition: "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am." By those whom his Father had given him, he meant all those who were chosen from eternity to be heirs of salvation. These persons the

Father had promised to give him as the proper reward for his incarnation, sufferings, and death on the cross, to make atonement for the sins of the world, and open the way for the free and consistent exercise of pardoning mercy to all returning, penitent, believing sinners. Upon this ground he could with propriety address his Father in the language of the text: "Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me," &c. He makes a claim of his promised reward, and in a manner which strongly expresses his ardent desire of having what he

claims, both as an expression of his Father's love to him, and of his love to the elect. "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me for thou lovedst me. before the foundation of the world." The text in this connection suggests a proper subject for our present meditation. It is this:

That Christ desires to have all the heirs of salvation to be with him where he is. I shall consider,

I. Where he is.

II. When he desires that the heirs of salvation should be with him.

III. Why he desires to have them where he is.

I. We are to consider where Christ is. Though this may seem to be a point which needs no illustration or proof, yet it is really worthy of particular consideration, because there is a diversity of opinions about the place where Christ now is, and always will be. The information which he has given us, ought to remove all ground of doubt or conjecture upon this point. He says himself, "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." And again he says, "I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." He uniformly made such declarations as these concerning the place from whence he came, which the Jews understood to mean the place where God has fixed his own throne, surrounded by all holy beings. And he as plainly declared that he should return to heaven, as that he came down from thence. This declaration his disciples saw verified with their own eyes. For after he had risen from the dead and repeatedly appeared to them, "he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven." There is therefore no room to doubt whether heaven be not the place where Christ now is. But we are told that he will return again to this world. This the angels told the spectators of his ascension to heaven. "While they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” And the apostle tells us, "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first." But though it appears that Christ was in heaven before

he came into this world, that he has since gone to heaven, and that he will return to this world once more at the last day, yet some may still ask, how does it appear that he will, after the day of judgment, go back to heaven and there reside for ever? I answer, this clearly appears from what Christ and the apostles have said upon the subject. Christ assured his disciples, that "in my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." We know that his Father's house is in heaven. There he says he will prepare a place for his followers, and there they shall be with him. Heaven, therefore, is the only place where Christ and his friends will for ever reside. He intimated the same thing in his representation of the process at the last day, as well as in the parable of the tares. In that parable the wicked are represented as destroyed, but the righteous as shining forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. And in respect to the last day it is said: "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say to them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." This is the kingdom of the Father, where Christ says there are many mansions prepared and preparing for the everlasting abode of his friends. We have as much reason to believe that Christ is now in heaven, and always will be there, as that he ever came down from heaven and returned thither. Let us consider,

II. When Christ desires to have the heirs of salvation with him where he is. Here it must be premised, that he does not desire the heirs of salvation to be with him before they exist. There is ground to believe, that much the largest number of those who shall be heirs of salvation have not yet come into existence. These cannot be where Christ is, in his Father's kingdom. Nor does Christ desire that any of the heirs of salvation should be with him, who are yet in their native state of total depravity. Nor does he desire that any of his chosen ones, who are now on the stage of life, fulfilling his commands, and promoting his glory, should be with him, until they have finished their course, and done all which he has for them to do before they leave the world. But he does desire that every subject of grace and heir of glory should be with him as soon

as he closes his eyes in death. This he has given all his followers sufficient reason to believe, for their consolation and support in their dying hour. He has brought life and immortality to light. He declared that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were in the full enjoyment of God. He taught his disciples not to fear them that kill the body, because their souls would survive their body in a state of activity and felicity. He taught that all who believed in him should never die, or cease to exist and be happy beyond the grave. He assured the dying, penitent, believing malefactor, "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise." He made all his sincere followers believe that they should, at death, immediately pass into glory. Accordingly Stephen in his last moments professed this belief, and told his persecutors, while steadfastly looking into heaven, "I see the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God." It is added, "And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus receive my spirit." His prayer was undoubtedly heard, and his precious and immortal spirit was immediately admitted into one of those mansions in heaven, which Christ had gone before to prepare for him. Paul repeatedly expressed his belief and hope, that death would translate real christians from earth to heaven. Once he said in respect to himself, that he was in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to live, and a desire to depart and be with Christ, which was far better. Once he says, in the name of christians in general, "We are confident, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." He exhorts christians "to be followers of them, who through faith and patience inherit the promises, and compose the general assembly and church of the first-born in heaven." Christ has been,

and still is receiving the heirs of salvation into his kingdom of glory, as soon as they have left these clayey tabernacles, and have been made meet to be partakers of their heavenly inheritThis leads me to consider,

ance.

III. Why Christ desires that all those should be with him, whom he has redeemed from among men, and made heirs of salvation. Here I would observe,

1. Christ desires this for his own sake. His redeemed ones will promote both his glory and felicity. They will be the most excellent and amiable characters among all the intelligent creation. Being washed and purified from all moral pollution, they will shine in all the beauties of holiness. To the principalities above they will appear astonishing monuments of the redeeming love of Christ. They had seen them in this world, in all their wretchedness, deformity and guilt, hateful and hating one another, destitute of every amiable quality, and full

of every vile affection, which rendered them deserving of the severest marks of the divine displeasure. But now their hearts are changed, and their condition reversed. They are no longer enemies, but friends of God. They are no longer children of wrath, but heirs of glory. And all this is owing to the grace and condescension of Christ, who suffered and died, that they might live. What a glorious appearance will millions and millions of our fallen race exhibit in heaven, when they shall all come out of great tribulation, and wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb! What glory and honor will they reflect upon Christ, who loved them, and died for them, and made them kings and priests to God! But they will glorify Christ actively as well as passively. They will feel and express their gratitude and praise to Christ for all he has done and suffered for them, in a new song, which none of the rest of the heavenly world can ever learn. "And I looked," says John in vision, "and lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts and the elders: and no man could learn that song, but the hundred forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth." And they said with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessings; for thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests.' Christ will be for ever glorified in and by his saints, and admired by all that believe. For his own glory, therefore, he desires that all whom his Father has given him should be with him where he is, and be employed in celebrating the riches of his grace to all eternity. For by thus promoting his glory, they will equally promote his perfect felicity. He will for ever delight in the sincere homage and praise of his redeemed ones, whom he will for ever love infinitely more than they can love him. It is said, "When Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of the world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end." Those whom he has redeemed, sanctified and glorified, will have a deeper interest in his affections than any other of his intelligent creatures. They were the joy set before him from eternity; they always lay nearest to his heart; and, while he sees them prostrating themselves before his throne, and with one voice paying him the everlasting debt of grati

Thus