4. The conveniency of such a day.
[1.] To vindicate truth and honesty from the false judgment of the world. The best cause is often oppressed ; there needeth a review of things by a higher court, that that which is good may be restored to its public honour, and evil may receive its proper shame. Christ will convince the world of his love to the saints, when he cometh ' to be admired in them/ 2 Thes. i. 10, and when their faith is ' found to praise and glory/ 1 Peter i. 7. Thus shall it be done to the men whom Christ will honour, proclaim their pardon, adorn them with grace, introduce them into their everlasting habitations, and this in the eyes of the scorning wicked ; as that nobleman, ' Thine eyes shall see it, but not taste of it.' Then for their everlasting confusion, their crimes shall be repeated in the ears of all the world, and their false appearances shall be refuted.
[2.] That the counsels and courses of God's manifold wisdom and justice may be solemnly applauded. We now view providence by pieces ; but then the whole context and coherence of it shall be set together, and the full history of all the world produced before the saints.
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[3.] Such a coming is necessary, that God may fit us with all kind of arguments against sin, and so a restraint will be put upon the heart against it. Many times sin and wickedness is acted in secret : Eccles. xii. 14, ' God will bring every work into the judgment, with every secret thought, whether it be good or evil ; ' and 1 Cor. iv. 5, ' Christ will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the heart.5 Many make no conscience of secret sins, and if they make conscience of acts, yet not of thoughts ; yet according to Christ's theology, malice is heart-murder, lustful in- clinations heart-adultery, mind-imaginations are heart-idolatry. There may be a great deal of evil in a discontented thought against provi- dence, Ps. lxxiii. 22. He that sinneth secretly is conscious to himself that he doth evil, and therefore seeketh a veil and covering. Men are unjust in secret, unclean in secret, envious in secret, declaim against God's children in secret, neglect duty in secret, sensual in secret, afraid that men should know it, yet not afraid of the great God. Man cannot damn us, man cannot fill our consciences with everlasting burnings. Now that we may be ashamed to commit those sins before God, the day of judgment is appointed to set these sins in order before us : Ps. 1. 22, ' I will reprove thee, and set thy sins in order before thee/
Secondly, If it be doubtful to reason, it is sure to faith. Faith showeth he will come. The light of faith is more certain and more distinct. More certain, because it buildeth upon a divine testimony, which is more infallible than the guesses of reason, and yields us a more compendious way to confute atheism than our arguings, by which we are often entangled. It is so, for God hath said it. And it is more distinct. Nature could never find out the circumstances of that day ; it only apprehendeth the coming of a judge ; but by whom this judgment shall be managed, in what quality he shall come, as a bridegroom, and lord, and husband of the church, it knoweth nothing. In what manner he shall proceed, and with what company and attend- ance, all this we have from special revelation. Faith argueth —
1. From Christ's merit and purchase. Would he buy us at so dear a rate, and cast us off so lightly, as to come no more at us ? Surely he that came to redeem us will come to save us ; if he came to suffer, he will come to triumph. Faith seeing Christ upon the cross, determineth, I shall see him in the clouds. Would he be at all this cost and preparation for nothing, and purchase what he never meant to possess? It cannot be. If he came from heaven upon the one errand, will he not come upon the other ? Surely Christ will not lose all this pains he hath taken to purchase to himself a people.
2. Faith argueth from Christ's affection to us, which is very great. Christ is not gone in anger, but about business, to set all things at rights for the great espousals. He that wooeth a virgin, if he went away from her in anger, she might well suspect he would never see her again. As bridegrooms use to fetch their brides, so will Christ ; we should never come at him otherwise : his love will not let him rest satisfied till we and he meet again to enjoy one another's company. Certainly he who delighted among the sons of men before the world was, Prov. viii. 31, who delighted to converse with his people in
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human shape before his incarnation, who took pleasure to spend his time busily amongst them, and to ' dwell with them in the days of his flesh,' John ix. 45 ; in short, he that had a mind of returning before he went away, certainly he will once more leave heaven for their sakes. When he hath done his work there, he will return, and bring his people along with him to glory, and the full fruition of the pro- mises. He will stay no longer than our affairs do require, John xiv. 3.