A fourth volume containing one hundred and fifty sermons on several texts of Scripture…

(2.) It is a Day of Perfection. Every thing tends to its perfect State, and so doth Grace. We see the little Seed that lies under Ground, breaks through the Clods, and works its way farther, because it is not come to the Flower and Perfection: So Grace still tends and longs for Perfection; then we shall have perfect Holiness and perfect Freedom, Christ to the glorified Saints will be a perfect Saviour. Death which is a Fruit of Sin, is still continued upon the Body, therefore Christ is but a Saviour in part to the Spirits of just Men made perfect; but then the Body and Soul shall be united and perfectly glorified, that we might praise God in the Heavens. Christ's Coming is to make an End of his Redemption, of what he hath begun: At first he came to redeem our Souls, and break the Power of Sin, but then he comes to redeem our Bodies from the Hand of the Grave, and from the Power of Corruption; the one is done by Humiliation and Abasement, the other by Power. The Scripture speaks, as if all our Privileges in Christ were imperfect till that Day; Regeneration, Adoption, Union with Christ, they suffer a kind of Imperfection till then. Regeneration, the Day of Judgment is called by that Name; Matth. 19.28. ⟨p. 134⟩In the Regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the Throne of his Glory. Then all things are made new; Heaven and Earth is new, Bodies new, Souls new. Then Adoption is perfect; Rom. 8.23. Waiting for the Adoption, to wit, the Redemption of our Bodies. What is the meaning of the Apostle's Expression? As soon as we are planted into Christ, are we not the Sons of God? Yes, now we are Sons, but the Heir is handled as a Servant during his Non-age; 1 John 3.2. Beloved, now we are the Sons of God, but it doth not yet appear what we shall be; we wait for the Adoption. Justification that is perfect then; Acts 3.19. Repent therefore and be converted, that your Sins may be blotted out, when the times of Refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord: Then our Pardon shall be proclaimed in the Ears of all the World; and we shall have Absolution out of Christ's own Mouth; then shall we come to understand what it is that the Lord saith, I will remember your Sins no more, and your Iniquity shall be blotted out. Then for Redemption;