29. Four degrees of the glory of a Christian

Four degrees of the glory of a Christian We say there are four degrees of the glory of a Christian.

First, initial glory, in his first conversion, and thereupon, the knowledge of his deliverance from that cursed and damnable state that he is in; the knowledge, likewise, of his title to life everlasting. He comes to have friendship with God; he comes to have his nature renewed, that he may be friends with God. There must be an assimilation by the Spirit, like God, in a holy disposition. Now, upon the favour of God we come to be friends with God, and to have our natures altered; and hereupon comes those glorious qualifications, as peace, and joy, and consolation in all conditions, and liberty, and boldness to the throne of grace. This is glory, beloved! Is it not a glory to be friends with God, and to have God deal with us as friends? to reveal his secrets to us of his love and grace in Christ? to discover the hidden mysteries of his love to us, that was hid from the beginning of the world? We never know it till our effectual calling, till our first conversion, for God to be friends with us all our lives: Abraham was the friend of God. And then to have our nature renewed, to have our shame laid aside. Indeed, sin makes us shameful. It is the dishonour and abasement of the soul. The very change of our nature to be such as God may delight in, this is glory. The image of God is glory. Therefore in Romans 3:23, et alibi, it is said we are stripped and ’deprived of the glory of God’ since the fall, that is, of the image of God, by Adam’s sin, whereby we resembled God in holiness; so grace whereby we resemble God is the image and likeness of God, and that is the glory of man. If one should ask, What is the best glory of a man? that intrinsecal glory that characteriseth a man indeed? It is the stamp of Christ upon him, the image of the second Adam, in his soul to be like him. And hereupon those glorious qualifications that follow upon it, glorious peace, and glorious joy; glorious and unspeakable comfort, above all discomforts whatsoever; as indeed the comforts of religion are comforts triumphing and prevailing above all discomforts. There are no comforts but those in religion, that are above the discomforts we meet with in this world. For what can be set against the wrath of God, against hell and damnation, but the comforts of the gospel? Now when a man is in the state of grace, and hath these glorious things following him, sweet and glorious peace that passeth understanding, that all the world, and all the devils in hell cannot shake, and joy in the Holy Ghost, and comforts above all discomforts whatsoever: and then glorious liberty he hath to come into the presence of God upon all occasions, being a friend of God—are not these things glorious, beloved? And these belong to every Christian.

Second, Now as a Christian grows in assurance of his salvation and further friendship with God, and further peace and joy and comfort, there is a further degree of glory. The growth of grace is glory. Therefore in 2 Peter 1:5, seq., he follows the point at large. When we add grace to grace, he saith it gives a further entrance into the kingdom of God: for the kingdom of God is begun in grace here; and the further we grow in grace, the more we enter into the kingdom of grace; and the further we enter into that, the nearer we are to the kingdom of glory.

Third, The next degree of glory is when the soul enjoys the presence of God in heaven.

Fourth, Then the upshot and conclusion, the closure and consummation of all, at the day of judgment, when body and soul shall be united again. Then is perfect glory. Here it is insinuated, when he saith we are changed from glory to glory, that is, from grace to grace, till all end in glory, which is the perfection of all in heaven, when body and soul shall be both glorious, ’from glory to glory.’ In this is considerable, first, that grace is glory: and then, that grace being glory, is growing in a continual course till it come to perfection. We grow ’from glory to glory,’ from one degree of grace to another.

[1.] Grace whereby we resemble Christ is glory, and indeed so it is, for the image and likeness of God is our glory. What was Adam’s glory but his likeness to God? He was created in God’s image. And what is our glory? To be like Christ. Therefore grace is our glory.

[2.] Man’s perfection is his glory. But the renewing of God’s image in grace is man’s perfection. Therefore it is his glory.

[3.] That which makes a man terrible to all opposites whatsoever is glory. But grace makes a man terrible to the devil and to wicked men. Both grace in one man, and grace in the church; for the church is ’terrible, like an army with banners,’ Song of Solomon 6:4. When the ordinances of God are set up in glory, and there is glorious obedience to them in the church, it is terrible to the enemies as an army with banners; for there is a lustre and glory in all that is God’s, both in the persons of believers, and likewise in the ordinances of God. Grace is glorious. As the wise man saith, ’Wisdom makes a man’s face to shine,’ Ecclesiastes 8:1. Is not wisdom a glorious thing: to see a wise understanding man able to guide himself and others? It puts a beauty upon a man, to be a wise and understanding man. Humility makes a man glorious; for it makes God put glory upon a man, when a man is glorious, and understands it not. As Moses when his face shined, he knew not that it shined himself. Many humble men are glorious and think not so. They are glorious, and they shine, though they see it not. Is it not a glorious thing to be taken out of ourselves, to deny ourselves, to offer a holy violence to ourselves, and to our corruptions? Is not this a glorious thing, when others lie grovelling like slaves under their corruptions, to stand unmoveable in all the changes of the world, and in all intercourse of troubles to stand as a rock in the midst of all, unmoveable, founded upon the love of God in Christ, and the hope of glory after? Not to be shaken with the wind of temptations from his standing, at least not to be shook off his standing: this is glorious, to have a constant spirit. Is it not glorious to have admittance boldly by grace; to go into the presence of God at all times; to be prevailer with God? Faith overcomes not only the world, but God himself. It binds him with his own promise. Is not faith a glorious grace, that triumphs over the great God himself, binding him with his own word and promise? Is not love a glorious grace, that melts one into the likeness of Christ? Beloved, get love. It is the only artificial worker of imitation. It melts us into the likeness of Christ. It constrains, it hath a kind of holy violence in it. No water can quench it. We shall glory in sufferings for that we love. Nothing can quench that holy fire that is kindled from heaven. It is a glorious grace.

Hope, what doth it? When it casts anchor in heaven, it keeps us in all the waves. It purgeth our natures to be like the thing hoped for. There is no grace but it is glorious. So that grace is glory. The image of God is glory. It makes a man glorious. It makes him shine.

Beloved, do but represent to your thoughts such a one as Joseph, of a sweet, wise, and loving spirit. It is an excellent state to see a man in his place in the commonwealth. What a glorious sight is it to see a Joseph, a Nehemiah, to see a man like Paul, all on fire for the glory of God and the good of the church! The care of all the churches lay upon him. The conceit* of a man shining in grace, what a glorious representation in our thoughts is it! And so in men now living. When we see wisdom and love tending to the common good; when we see a spirit of mortification, when we see a spirit of love, that is not for itself but for other men, a spirit of love above self-love, all for the good of others, as Christ ’went about doing good,’ Acts 10:38, it makes them so lovely and glorious, as that no object in the world is so glorious, as to see a man in whom the image of Christ is; it puts a glory upon him.

Besides, it puts an inward glory upon a man, when it makes him rejoice: ’The Spirit of glory rests upon him,’ Isaiah 61:1. Nay, in imprisonments and abasements, take a good man in any condition, he is glorious. His carriage is glorious. You shall not see flesh and blood, no revengeful humour. When flesh and blood is subdued, and nothing appears in a man but the image of Christ, he is a glorious creature in the greatest abasement that can be. When Paul was in the stocks, what a glorious condition was he in! When he sung at midnight, when the Spirit of glory was upon him! To see the martyrs suffer without revenge, to pray for their enemies, that they had a spirit that conquered all wrongs and fear of death, and displeasure of men; a triumphant spirit above all things below, to raise them above encouragements and discouragements, what a glorious thing was this! To see a man in his right principles, with the image of God upon him, he sees all things below, beneath him. This is glorious, to see a man that overcomes the world, that cares no more for the offers of preferment on the right hand, or for threatenings on the other hand. All is nothing to him. He breaks it as Samson did his cords. To see such a victorious spirit, is not this glorious! To see a glorious soul, that is above all earthly things whatsoever, that tramples the world under foot, as the ’woman clothed with the sun’ treads the ’moon under her foot,’ Revelation 12:1. The church clothed with Christ, who is the glory of the church, tramples all earthly things under feet. Grace is victorious and conquering, prevailing over those corruptions that prevail over ordinary men. A Christian as David, when he had Saul in the cave, overcomes himself, 1 Samuel 24:4, seq. It is an argument of a great deal of strength of grace. Christ overcame himself on the cross. He prayed for his enemies. So when the nature of man is so subject to the power of grace, that though there be rebellions in us, as there will be, while we are in this world, yet they cannot overpower the principle of grace. All this while a man is a glorious Christian, because he is not subject to the common humours and infirmities and weaknesses of men. Therefore that makes a Christian glorious, when he brings every thought and affection, and every corruption, as much as may be, to the subjection of the Spirit of glory, to the Spirit of Christ in him. Though old Adam stir in him, yet he brings him down, that he doth not discover himself to the scandal of the gospel and profession, and to the weakening of the love of good things in the hearts of others. It shall not break out. He subjects these rising thoughts. Here grace is glorious.

Another man cannot do this. He cannot love God; he cannot deny himself; he cannot resist temptations, not inwardly. He may forbear an action out of fear, but a Christian can love, and fear, and delight in good things; and he can resist, and he can enjoy the things of this life, in a subordinate manner to better things. A worldling cannot do it. There is a glory upon a Christian, a derivative glory from Christ. For we shine in his beams. We are changed according to his image ’from glory to glory.’