may receive a victorious crown ? O ye saints, breathe after the heavenly kingdom ! Tliough we should be Milling to stay to do service, yet we should ambitiously desire to be always sunning oursehes in tlie light of («od's countenance. Think what it will be to be ever with the Lord. Are there any sweet- er smiles or embraces than his? Is there any bed so soft as Christ's bosom ? Is there any such joy jis to have the golden banner of Christ's love displayed over us? Is there any such honour as to sit upon the throne with Christ ? Rev. iii. 21. O then long for the celestial kingdom !
6. Wait for this kingdom of glory. It is not incongruous or improper to long for heaven, yet wait for it; long for it, because it is a kingdom, yet wait your Father's good pleasure. God could presently bestow tliis kingdom, but he sees it good that we should wait a while.
(1.) Had we the kingdom of heaven pre- sently as soon as ever grace is infused, then (lod would lose much of his glory. — 1. Where would be our living by faith, which is the grace that brings in the chief reve- nues of glory to God? Rom. v. 20. — 2. Wliere would be our suffering for God, which is a way of honouring him, which the angels in heaven are not capable of. — 3. Where would be the active service we are to do for God? Would we have God give us a kingdom, and we do nothing for him before we come there ? Would we have rest befijre labour, a crown before victory ? This were disingenuous. Paul was content to stay out of heaven a while, that he might be a means to bring others thither, Phil i. 23.
(2.) While we wait for the kingdom, our grace is increasing. Every duty religiously performed adds a jewel to our crown. Do we desire to have our robes of glory shine brighter ? Let us wait and work ; the longer we stay for the principal, the greater will the interest be. The husbandman waits till the seed spring up : wait for the harvest of glory. Some hare their waiting weeks at court, — this is yijur waiting time. Christ, saith, " prav, and faint not," Luke xviii. 1., — so, wait. an<! ("aiiit not. Be not weary
to be called out ol the bloody field, where the kingdom of heaven will make amends the bullets of temptation fly so fast, that we for your waiting: " I havewaited for thy
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OF THE THIRD PETITION IN THE LORD'S PRAYER.
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salvation, O Lord," said that dying patri- arch, Gen. xlix. 18.
Use nth. Comfort to the people of God.
L In all their sufferings. The true saint is, as Luther saith, hceres crucis, — heir to the cross. Affliction is his diet-drink, but here is that may be as bezar stone to keep him from fainting, these sufferings bring a kingdom. The hope of the king- dom of heaven, saith Basil, should ind ul- cerate and sweeten all our troubles, 2 Tim. ii. 12., " If we suffer, we shall reign with him :" 'tis but a short fight, but an eternal triumph: this light suffering produceth " eternal weight of glory," 2 Cor. iv. 17. weight of glory." Things Avhich are pre- cious, the more weighty the more they are worth ; the more weiglit is in a crown of gold, the more it is worth. 'Tis a weight of glory. — 2. " An eternal weight of glory." Did tills glory last for a while, it would much abate and embitter the joys of heaven ; but the glory of that kingdom runs parallel with eternity ; God will be as a deep sea of blessedness, and the glorified saints shall for ever bathe themselves in that ocean. One day's wearing the crown, will abundantly pay for all the saints' sufferings ; how much more then, when " they shall reign for ever and ever ?" Rev. xxii. 5. O let this support under all the calamities and sufferings in this life ; what a vast difference is there be- tween a believer's sufferings and his reward, Hom. A^ii. 18., " The sufferings of this pre- sent time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." For a few tears, rivers of pleasure ; for mourning, white robes. This made the primitive Christians laugh at imprisonments, and snatch up torments as so many crowns. Though now we drink in a wormwood-cup, Jiere is sugar in the bottom to sweeten it,
" It is your Father's good pleasure to give you a kingdom."