Human nature in its fourfold state ... In several practical discourses

The Lord is pleased often to represent unto us the glorious state of the saints, under the notion of their being clothed in white garments. It is promised to the overcomer, that he shall be clothed in white raiment, Rev. iii. 5. The elders about the throne are clothed in white raiment, chap. iv. 4. The multitude before the throne are clothed with white robes, chap. vii. 9 arrayed in white robes, ver. 13. made white in the blood of the Lamb, ver. 14. I own the last two testimonies adduced, do respect the state of the saints on earth: but withal the terms are borrowed from the state of the church in heaven. All garments, properly so called, being badges of sin and shame, shall be laid aside by the saints, when they come to their state of glory. But if we consider on what occasions white garments were wont to be put on, we shall find much of heaven under them.

First, The Romans when they manumitted their bond-servants, gave them a white garment, as a badge of their freedom. So shall the saints that day get on their white robes; for it is the day of the glorious liberty of the children of God, (Rom. viii. 21.) the day of the redemption of their body, ver. 23. They shall no more see the house of bondage, nor lie any more among the pots. If we compare the state of the saints on earth with that of the wicked, it is indeed a state of freedom; whereas the other is a state of slavery: but in comparison with their state in heaven, it is but a servitude. A saint on earth is indeed a young prince, and heir to the crown; but his motto may be, I serve, for "•he differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all," Gal. iv. 1. What are the groans of a saint, the sordid and base work he is sometimes found employed in, the black and tattered garments he walks in, but badges of this comparative servitude? But from the day the saints come to the crown, they receive their complete freedom, and serve no •ore. They shall be fully freed from sin, which of all evils is the worst, both in itself, and in their apprehension too: how great then must that freedom be, when these Egyptians whom they see today, they shall see them again no more for ever? They shall be free from all temptation to sin: Satan can have no access to temptation, any more, by himself, nor by his agents. A full answer will then be given to that petition, they have so often repeated, Lead us not into temptation. No hissing serpent can come into the paradise above: no snare nor trap can be laid there, to catch the feet of the saints: they may walk there fearlessly, for they can be in no hazard: there are no lions dens, no mountains of the leopards, in the promised land. Nay, they shall be set beyond the possibility of sinning, for they shall be confirmed in goodness. It will be the consummate freedom of their will, to be for ever unalterably determined to good. And they shall be freed from all the effects of sin; There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, Rev.