3. There are certain experiences that we have here which set us a-longing and groaning for this time : Eom. viii. 23, ' We which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.' When they have tasted of the clusters of Canaan, oh, they long to see the land ; they long that Jesus, the captain of their salvation, the spiritual Joshua, may lead them into the good land. The church hath here enjoyed Christ in her house : ' I brought him into my mother's house,' Cant, iii. 4. Now they would enjoy him in his own house, have a more plentiful enjoyment of him. Wherefore have we a taste, but to long for a fuller banquet ? AVhy doth God give out such a pittance, but to awaken our desires to look for more ? Indeed these beginnings are sweet, and are a wonderful mercy ; to hear Christ say in a promise, ' Come to me, that you may have life.' But when once they have em- braced this, they will be longing for another call, for the great voice to say, ' Come, ye blessed of my Father,' &c. When Christ biddeth them welcome into the kingdom of heaven, to the crown of glory ; when we can get any joy in the Holy Ghost, a little peace of con- science, any sweet experience of our being cleansed from sin, this is reviving and comfortable. But why is this given, but to set us a-long- ing for the whole harvest ? for this is but the first-fruits. It is sweet now to find pardon of sin, and any comfortable feeling of God's love in the conscience ; to have any doubt resolved, any fear silenced and sup- pressed ; to have a glimpse of the light of God's countenance, a little elevation of the heart in duty. Now this draws on the soul to long
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for more ; for we begin then to think, What a sweet reviving will it be when we enjoy the full of all these things ! If there be but one promise now set home upon our hearts, though here we have only the right, not enjoyment ; if we have but our right cleared up to a pro- mise, it is very reviving. God gives us this experience, that we may long to enjoy the thing promised, the full possession of it. When you have gone away feasted Avith loves at tlie Lord's table, thou hast said, One hour's communion with God is better than all the world. If thy heart was melted a little in duty, if it was affected with godly sorrow for sin, it hath yielded thee more comfort than all the mirth and music which fond worldlings cheer themselves withal, than all their jollity. Now this is but given as a foretaste, as a prelibation, and to awaken our desires after more. In the Lord's Supper many times we come and drink of that cup which God hath tempered for us ; this is but a dark presignification of the ' new wine we shall drink in our Father's kingdom,' Mat. xxvi. 29, and of those eternal comforts we shall have there, and those unmixed joys in the presence of Christ. Therefore, because of the tastes they have had, and those beginnings of glory, their hearts will be more enlarged and drawn out to look for more, and long for that happy time when all this shall be accomplished. III. There may be arguments taken and drawn from the coming itself, that they long for his coming. Wherefore doth Christ come ? what are the ends of it ? It is to manifest his love to the saints mainly, as to punish his enemies and glorify his justice.
1. I will mention the first ; to gather the saints together, to draw all his scattered people into one holy body and communion: Ps. 1. 5, * Gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.' Now they are scattered up and down, as God hath service for them to do ; one here, another there : they are spread in several places, where they are like two or three berries in the upper- most top of the bough. That psalm is generally acknowledged to be spoken of the day of judgment ; then they are gathered to meet in one great assembly. The psalmist speaks of ' the great congregation of the righteous,' where the ' sinners shall not stand : ' Ps. i. 5. At that great day when Christ comes, all the saints shall make but one assembly and one congregation. As the wicked shall be bundled together, and the tares cast into unquenchable fire, so all the saints shall be gathered together into one great assembly, and this glads their hearts. Therefore we are not feasted to the full, because we have not all our company ; all the guests do not meet together until the day the Son of God comes to bless the elect.
2. He comes to proclaim our pardon, and to pronounce the sen- tence of our acquittance juridically in court, as judge upon the throne. Our pardon is passed and sealed as to conscience, then he will blot out all our sins ; therefore it is said. Acts iii. 19, ' That your iniquities may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.' He comes then to comfort and refresh the souls of the saints, by proclaiming their pardon in the ears of all the world. To whomsoever the throne of Christ is terrible, it should not be terrible to the saints : if he comes as a judge to them, he comes to acquit them upon the throne ; he means no trouble to them.