But quitting these notes, I shall mainly insist upon this point, viz. :
Doct. That the church, and all the faithful members of it, do really and heartily desire Christ's second coming.
They look for it, they long for it, they wait for it. They look for it: Phil. iii. 20, ' Our conversation is in heaven ; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.' They reckon upon it, as Kebekah espied Isiiac afar off. He is gone within the veil, he is appearing before God, but he will come out again. When they see the clouds, upon these one day will our Saviour come. Then they long for it. It is their description : 2 Tim. iv. 8, ' They love his appearing.' Wicked men and guilty sinners hate and abhor it, he being to come to them as a terrible judge. Malefactors do not long for the assizes. But now the saints, who are absolved and washed in the blood of Christ, it doth them good to the heart to think of it, that one day Clirist will appear in all his glory. And then they wait for it : 1 Thes. i. 10, ' They wait
Mat. VI. 10.] the lord's trayer. 113
for his Son from heaven, even Jesus, who liath delivered us from wrath to come.' It is ' wrath to come,' something behind the coming of Christ, which makes it so terrible. Hell makes the day of judg- ment terrible. The devil could not endure to hear of Christ's coming, Mat. viii. 29, 'Art thou come to torment us?' &c. So wicked men have the spirit of the devil ; it is a torment and bondage to them to think of the Judge's coming. But those which have their discharge, they wait for it. It supports and bears up their hearts in the midst of their present afflictions, and they go on cheerfully in their work, notwithstanding lets and troubles.
To give some reasons why the faithful members of Christ so really and heartily desire Christ's second coming. They are of three sorts : —
1 . Some in respect of the person who is to come.
2. Some in respect of the persons which desire his coming.
3. Some in respect of the coming itself. I. In respect of him who is to come.
1. His person, that we may see him. The children of God have delighted to look upon him through a veil, and have had a kind of heaven upon earth from beholding his face in the glass of an ordinance. Looking upon him in the veil of ordinances hath been a mighty com- fort and refreshing to them ; now they would desire to see his person face to face. They know by hearsay this great Kedeemer and Saviour of theirs ; he wooeth them by proxy. As Eliezer, Abraham's servant, was to go abroad and seek for a match for his master's son, so the great business of the ministers of God is to set forth our Master's Son. Now the saints would fain see him. Nay, they have not only heard of him, but believed in him, and received him into their hearts. Nay, not only believed in him, but they have loved him greatly : 1 Pet. i. 8, ' Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.' It hath been a ravishing thought to them to think of Christ. And they have tasted : 1 Pet. ii. 3, ' If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.' And they have felt him in the drawings of the Spirit ; they live by his life, they have found a virtue going out from him. Now all that they desire is, that they may see this great person, who hath been their Kedeemer and Saviour.
2. Consider him as in his person, so in his relations to them. Here are two titles : ' Even so. Lord Jesus.' He is Lord, and he is Jesus. He is Lord, as a master and husband ; as Sarah called Abraham, Lord. As a Master: good servants will look for their master's coming: Mat. xxiv. 46. And surely such a Master should be longed for and looked for, for when he comes, he will not come empty-handed : ' Be- hold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me,' Eev. xxii. 12. Here Christ's servants have their vales, but not their wages. Here they have present maintenance, that is all they have now, but then they shall have their reward and wages. Here they have their earnest, but then they shall have the full sum. Under the law masters were charged severely not to defraud their servants of their hire — why ? He hath lift up his soul to him ; that is, in the middle of his hard labours this was his comfort : when the work of the day was over, he should have
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114 AN EXPOSITION OF [Mat. VI. 10.
his wages and his hire at night. So you have lift up your souls to him ; the great pay-day will come, and this hath borne you up in all your labours and travail of your soul. Therefore, as he is our Lord, so we should look for him. And then as our Husband ; this is a sweeter relation : ' The bride saith, Come,' Eev. xxii. 17. We are here con- tracted and betrothed to Christ : ' I will betroth thee to me,' Hosea ii. 19. But the day of solemn espousals is hereafter. Here we are betrothed to Christ in the covenant of grace ; Christ hath taken a token from us, and left a token with us. He hath taken human flesh, carried our nature to heaven, that he might be mindful of us, and hath left the Spirit with us. Now there will be a longing, looking, and waiting for this day of solemn espousals. And as he is Lord, so he is Jesus, a Saviour. With what melting wishes doth the captive long for a Saviour and Kedeemer ! Now ' we look for a Saviour from heaven.' Chi'ist is a Saviour now, but not a perfect Saviour to the uttermost ; never till then. Therefore the day of judgment is called ' the day of redemption:' Eph. iv. 30. There is something left, that every coming of Christ might bring some benefit ; something of misery left upon us to the last day. Here we have enemies within and without. Within, mighty lusts ; and therefore his coming is ' like a refiner's fire,' Mai. iii, 2, ' and fullers' soap.' His first and second coming we find oft in the Old Testament put together. His coming is ' to present us holy, without spot and blemish:' Eph. v. 27. Our present state is but a convalescency, a recovery out of sickness by degrees. There is some fruit of sin left upon the body, until the day of the general resurrec- tion, that we may have new matter of glorifying Grod just as Ave are entering into heaven. Therefore that every coming of Christ might bring us a new benefit, the body is to die. The old Adam is not quite abolished until God be all in all. And so for enemies without us. Here we dwell among wicked men, whose sins are a grievance to us, and whose inj uries are a very great molestation and trouble. We live here, like Lot in Sodom : ' His righteous soul was vexed with their ungodly deeds,' their filthy conversation. But then there will be a perfect separation between the sheep and the goats. Here we are exposed to many persecutions ; here Antichrist is but consuming ; there he shall totally and utterly be abolished.