--this Answer of those, who are not wil

SERM. "ling to ferve many Lords; who there. "fore are content with the Lord Jefus

VII, VIII

Christ, who traineth up under himself "those who serve him; that being train"ed up he may deliver them, being "become a Kingdom worthy of God, "to God even the Father; who also

feperate and break off themfelves from "those who are Aliens from the Com"monwealth of God, and Strangers from "his Covenants, that they may be Citi"zens of the Heavenly State, coming "unto the Living God, and to the City

of God, to the Heavenly Jerufalem, "and to Myriads of Angels, and to the "General Affembly and Church of the "Fift-born who are enrolled in Heaven.' Here we fee Origen plainly speaks of Delivering a Kingdom to the Father; by which Kingdom it is evident he means thofe Perfons, who withdrawing themfelves from the Service of Satan, become the Subjects of God, and Members of the Heavenly Commonwealth; those who will not ferve two Mafters, but are con

tent

tent with one Lord Jefus Chrift, and are
trained up
under him; or, to ufe St. Paul's
own Language immediately before my
Text, thofe that are Chrift's; for, faith
he, Every Man fhall be made Alive in
his own Order, Chrift the First-Fruits,
afterwards they that are Chrift's at his
Coming. Then cometh the End, when
he fhall deliver the Kingdom to the God
and Father.

ACCORDING to the ufual Language of Scripture, Heaven is the Habitation of God, and there too is the City to which his Subjects do belong. And this World and its Inhabitants are frequently reprefented as under the Dominion of the Devil. For he is called the God of this World, The Prince of this World, The Prince of the Power of the Air, * The Prince of the Time of Unrighteousness, The Spirit that Worketh in the Children of Difobedience, And the whole World, faith St. John, is fubject unto the evil One. Those who are gained over from the Power of Satan unto God, are not imme

P 3

SERM.

VII, VIII

Barn. Epift. 18.

SERM.

VII, VIII

immediately removed unto the City of God; but for a Time fojourn here far off from their own City, in the Dominions of the Ufurper, who is an Enemy to their King, and a Perfecutor of all who own themselves to be his Subjects. And here they are trained up by the Son of God to all Virtue and Purity, that they may be qualified at length to enRev. xxi. ter into that City, into which nothing that defileth can enter, When they de

27.

part this Life they are under the Dominion of Death; their Bodies are detain'd in the Grave, and their Spirits in the invifible Habitation of feperate Souls, until the Time of the Refurrection. When Jefus Chrift fhall open the Graves, and burft afùnder the Gates of Hades, and fet at Liberty the Prifoners of Hope; and having clothed them with Immortality, fhall tranflate them entire to Heaven the Place of God's Refidence, and prefent them unto his Father holy and undefiled, glorious and incorruptible, a Kingdom worthy of God; and fhall lodge

* Hermes Sim. 1.

lodge them in the Manfions prepared for them, where they fhall live in the Prefence of their King to all Eternity.

SERM.

VII, VIII

BUT from hence it cannot be argued that Jefus Chrift fhall then ceafe to rule over them; they may continue to be fubject to him, notwithstanding their Tranflation to the Place where the moft High God dwelleth. As when God brought the Children of Ifrael out of Egypt to himself, that is to Mount Sinai the Hill in which he dwelt, that they might be to him a Kingdom of Priefts, and an holy Nation; they were deliver'd indeed from Pharaoh and his Officers, but were fubject to the Authority of Mofes and Aaron, and of the Heads of their Tribes and Families.

THERE fhall indeed be this great Difference between the future State and this, That whereas in this World God hath been wont to manifest himself by his Son and his Spirit, (for God himself no Man hath feen at any time) In the other World God fhall make an immediate Manifestation of himself to his Saints, who

PA

SERM.

VII, VIII

who fhall fee him as he is, and behold him Face to Face; and fo the chief Happiness of that State confifting in the Vifion of God, fhall be derived immediately from God himself. But this does not prove, as fome have imagined, that Jefus Chrift fhall no longer rule in Subordination to his Father. It hath been an antient Opinion, for which there is Ground in the façred Writings, That the Martyrs are foon after Death admitted into the Prefence of God and of Jesus Chrift. But none ever from hence inferr'd, that they are lefs fubject to the Autho rity of Chrift, than they were before they were admitted thither. Even the Angels who Day and Night encompass the Throne of the Almighty, those who stand in the Prefence and continually behold the Face of our Heavenly Father, do at the fame time bow the Knee to Jefus, and confefs him to be their Lord. Wherein lies the Abfurdity of fuppofing, that those who fhall be introduc'd into Heaven, there to enjoy the Vision of God, fhall continue to be subject to Him,

who