[2.] Solemn and special, in holy ordinances. Our souls should run upon this, how we may find Christ there ; as the spouse sought her beloved throughout the whole city : Cant. iii. 2, 3, ' I will arise now, and go about the city, in the streets, and in the broad ways ; I will seek him whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found him not. The watchmen that go about the city found me, to whom I said. Saw ye him whom my soul loveth ? ' So doth the believing soul long to see Christ. If he longeth for our presence, we should desire his pre- sence, and to enjoy as much as we can of it here in the world. It is heaven begun : ' As for me, I shall behold his face in righteousness,* Ps. xvii. 15. Not only to have bare ordinances, but to meet with God there, that we may never go from him without him. This is to begin heaven, to give Christ a visit, to be familiar with Christ in prayer, to seek after him in the Lord's supper, and never go from God without God : Ps. Ixiii. 1, 2, ' 0 God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee : my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee, in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is. . To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.' That glimpse he had once found made him long for more : Ps. Ixxxiv. 1, 2, ' How amiable are thy tiibernacles, 0 Lord of hosts ! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord ; my heart and my flesh crieth out for the liv- ing God.' Spiritual communion will at last end in glory. You may change place, but not company.
2. Long to be with him, and to have immediate communion with him in heaven : Phil. i. 23, ' I desire to depart, and to be with Christ ;' not to wish for death in a pet, to put an end to your troubles. Men look upon heaven as a retreat. Nay, do not merely look upon heaven as it freeth you from the torments of hell or the curse and vengeance of God, but as it giveth you communion with Christ : 2 Cor. v. 8, ' We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.' Therefore upon this account be more willing to depart. You that are old, and within sight of shore, wait for the happy hour. You tliat are sick, be forward to prepare for home. You that are young, you may live long, but you cannot live better than with Christ ; be ready when God shall call you.
(1.) There is far more reason why we should long for Chri.st than Christ for us. lie desireth your presence for your own sakes, that you may be happy ; lie is not solitary without you. You have all the rea- son in the world to be willing to go to Christ ; the sooner the better.
(2.) If you have the hearts of christians, you will do so: Kev. xxii. 17, ' The Spiiit and the bride say, Come.' If you have heartily con-
102 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeR. XLII.
sented to Christ, you will do so : Gen. xxiv. 58, * They called Eebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man ? and she said, I will go.' Christ saith, ' I will that they shall be where I am ; ' and the soul saith, I will be ever in a posture longing, waiting for this happy time. The children of Israel eat the passover with staves in their hands.
(3.) Experience puts us to this ; such as have any communion with Cln'ist here will long after the completing of it in heaven : Rom. viii. 23, ' And not only they, but ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit ; even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.'
(4.) If we desire it not, it is a sign of some corruption, too great an inclination to the pleasures and contentments of the world. Lotlingered in Sodom, Gen. xix. 16. Or that you have lost your evidences, and so think to appear before him as malefactors before a judge.
SERMON XLII.
Father, I loill that they also ivhom iliou hast given me he ivith me lohere I am ; that they may behold my glory, lohich thou hast given me : for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the luorld. —John XVII. 24.
Secondly, Now I come to our work and employment in heaven, ' That we may behold his glory.'
Observe, our work, or rather our happiness in heaven, mainly con- sists in the sight of Christ's glory : 1 John iii. 2, ' Beloved, now are we the sons of God, but it doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but this we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.' We see him now under a veil, then in person : 1 Cor. xiii. 12, ' Now we see but through a glass darkly, then face to face.'