Secondly, Reasons.
1. Negatively ; there is not any want in himself, nor any worth in us. We are worthless and wretched ; Ps. xiv. 3, ' They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy, there is none that doeth good, no not one ; ' Titus iii, 3, * For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and j)leasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.' Christ hath no need of us, he was happy without us ; he lieth in the bosom of his Father, and hath been his delight from all eternity, and hath ten thou- sand times ten thousand angels to attend him. What want hath he of poor worms ?
2. Positively ; his affection and relation to them. Affection and self-inclination; they are the members of his body: John xiii. 1,
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* Jesus having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them to the end/ There are both motives ; he hath loved them, and they are his own.
[1.] He hath loved them, and love is all for union and near com- munion : Deut. vii. 7, 8, ' The Lord did not set his love on you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people, but because the Lord loved you.' He hath no other reason but his own love ; and therefore he will not leave till he hath brought them to their final happiness.
[2.] They are his own by election, purchase, resignation. They resign themsdves to hirii, and so he hath a peculiar interest in them. He provide th for his own, they are members of his mystical body ; ' The fulness of him that filleth all in all,' Eph. i. 23. Mystical Christ is not complete and full without them, though Christ personal be every way full and complete.
Use 1. Eeproof. You see how Christ standeth affected to the society of his people, and so are all that have Christ's Spirit ; as Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,' Heb. xi. 25. It is better to be afflicted for a season with God's people, than to live with the wicked in pleasure for a season ; both are for a season. But there are a sort of men whose spirit and practice is very contrary to this of Christ ; who cannot abide the presence, much less the company and com- munion, of the saints. Christ cannot rest in heaven without the saints ; and these men count themselves in a prison when they are in good company ; it is their burden and trouble to have a restraint upon their lusts, to be confined to gracious discourse about heaven and heavenly things. Nay, their very presence is an eyesore. As in some of the commonwealths of Greece, they had their petalism and ostra- cism for men when they grew eminent and worthy, the baseness of popular government not consisting with conspicuous virtue ; so these cannot endure holy strictness, or a size of grace above their dead- hearted profession.
Use 2. Comfort against the scorn and contempt of the world. Though you are cast forth as the sweepings of the streets, yet you are dear and precious with Christ. That company which is so disdained and rejected in the world is longed for by Christ ; therefore ' let us go forth to him without the camp, bearing his reproach,' Heb. xiii. 13. The world casts us out, but Christ takes us to himself
Use 3. Let us prize the communion and fellowship of Christ. It is but reason that we should prize' that company that is so necessary for us, such a blessing to us. If he value ours, he is worthy of love, and he is our head ; let us long to be with him. But wherein ?
1. By looking after communion with him for the present. Cer- tainly there is such a thing ; the world looketh upon communion with Christ but as a fancy, as many among the heathens pretended to a secrecy with their gods ; but the saints know the reality of it : 1 John i. 3, ' And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.' Certainly there is such a thing as this. Now, this is either constant and habitual, or solemn and special.
[1.] Constant and habitual, as he dwelleth in our hearts by faith;
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•where Christ doth take up his abode and dwelling in the heart, renew- ing them by his Spirit, as the fountain of life: Gal. ii. 20, 'Neverthe- less I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' And the seed and hope of glory : Col. i. 27, ' Christ in you the hope of glory ; ' maintaining and defending them against all temptations : 1 John iv. 4, ' Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.' There is no necessity, in order to the spiritual use, that his body be in the sacrament, received into the mouth and stomach ; his human nature is locally present in heaven, but his Spirit is in us as a well of life. This is our constant communion with him.