Thirdly, His coming at midnight. He tarried somewhat beyond the season, to show that he would come unlooked for. Jerome saith it was an ancient tradition that Christ should come at midnight ; and therefore in the vigil, or watch before Easter, anciently they were not wont to be sent away till midnight : ' But of that day and hour knoweth no man.' It is put for an unexpected time ; as Zech. xiii. 9, ' At evening it shall be light.' Christ cometh when he is least ex- pected, when the world groweth secure, and his own people weary with looking. His coming is often compared in scripture to the coming of a thief in the night : 1 Thes. v. 2, ' For ye yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night ; ' by way of sur- prise ; the thief doth not make appointment, nor forewarn the good man of the house : Luke xii. 46, ' The Lord of those servants shall come in a day that he looketh not for him.' Now God hideth this day from us.
1. To show his sovereignty : Prov. xxv. 2, ' The glory of God is to conceal a thing.' There are arcana imperii : and the time and season of his coming to judgment is one of God's secrets.
2. That we might always keep ready : Eev. iii. 3, ' Eemember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief; and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee ; ' and Eev. xvi. 15, ' Behold I come as a thief; blessed is' he that watcheth.' Caesar would never let his soldiers know his resolution for battle onset, or the removal of his camp, ut paratum et intentum momentis omnibus quo vellet statim edaceret, that they might be always in a ready posture. So Christ's coming at the last clay will be by way of surprisal, that he may have us always ready. Had it been expedient for us to know, he would have told us of it. Men will say, if they knew just the hour and the day, they would be found praying. But you should always watch and be ready, because you ' know not the hour.' Would our preparation be hastened, think you ? No ; we should say as they, Isa. xxii. 13, ' And behold joy and gladness, slaying of oxen, and killing of sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine. Let us eat and drink, for to- morrow we shall die;' and 1 Cor. xv. 32, ' Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die.' Therefore Christ will choose his own time.
Fourthly, I come to speak of the cry made. The cry is the means whereby God rouseth them up out of this slumber. Christ sendeth his cry to awaken souls before his coming. This cry is twofold : —
1. The more remote cry ; which is for the rousing of particular persons in all ages ; and that is the voice of the ministry of the word. Thus Christ at his first coming had a crier went before him to alarm the world, and prepare them for his reception ; and that was John the Baptist : ' The voice of one crying in the wilderness/ So still before his second coming he hath some to raise a cry. The cry of the word
3GS SERMONS UPON MATTHEW XXV. [SeR. V.
is ofteD spoken of in scripture : Prov. i. 24, ' I cried to them, and they would not hear.' So Isa. lviii. 1, ' Cry aloud, lift up thy voice like a trumpet.' And it is the great means to awaken us out of our security. All God's faithful servants in all ages have been crying, ' The Lord is at hand.' Our work is to rouse up the hearts of men, that they may be prepared more and more for the joyful receiving of Christ at his coming. We should not keep silence, nor deal sleepily. It is a con- vincing powerful word that is a cry ; and it is your duty to be awak- ened by the cry. If this word be not entertained, he hath his rod : Ps. ii. 5, ' Then shall he speak to them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.' So Mi call vi. 9, ' The voice of the Lord crieth unto the city ; and the man of wisdom shall see thy name. Hear ye the rod, and him that hath appointed it.' We shall hear the voice of the rough teacher. The word crieth ; and if the word be not heard, the rod crieth. We need all kinds of excitations to rouse us out of our careless walking, and heartless praying, and negligent sleepy thoughts ; that we may think more seriously of the coming of the bridegroom.
2. There is a more immediate and general cry, for rousing and raising up all at once ; and that is the trump of the archangel, spoken of in many places : John v. 28, 29, ' The dead in their graves shall hear his voice, and come forth, some to the resurrection of life, and some to the resurrection of damnation.' The means employed in the resurrection is the voice of Christ Jesus, who shall ' descend with a shout,' 1 Thes. iv. 16, and with the ' sound of a trumpet ' sounded by angels: Mat. xxiv. 31, ' He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet.' So 1 Cor. xv. 52, ' The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised.' Christ, that had a forerunner at his first coming, hath also at his second. This trumpet soundeth to summon all to appear before Christ's tribunal to be judged. There was an audible trumpet at the giving of the law, Exod. xix. 20. This sound shall be heard all the world over.