Beasons. — (1.) Because then we shall have sight and immediate communion with him, and our happiness floweth from him without the intervention of any means : Acts iii. 19, ' Days of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord ; ' compare it with 2 Thes. i. 9, ' The wicked shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.' Eternal happiness is granted to the elect by the full revelation of Christ's face, Kev. xxii. 4. ' They shall see his face,' And the very look and fice of Christ is the cause of vengeance on the wicked : Kev. vi. 16, ' They shall say unto the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and the wrath of the Lamb.' Christ's face produceth powerful effects, either in a way of grace or punishment. In the days of his flesh we had a proof of it both ways. The Lord looked upon Peter, and that melted his heart, Luke xxii. 61. And when the high priest's servants came to attack him : John xviii. 6, ' He looked upon him, and said, I am he. And they went backward, and fell to the ground.' But surely in heaven
24 SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. [SeR. XL
we shall need no more to naake us happy than once to see the face of Christ — ' In thy presence' (or in thy face) ' is fulness of joy, and pleasure for evermore,' Ps. xvi. 11. The fruition of God's immediate presence is not like the joys of the world, which can neither feed nor fill a man; but in seeing him we shall have full content and comjilete felicity. The children of God long to see God in his ordinances : Ps. xxvii. 4, ' One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and inquire in his temple.' There is but one thing David was solicitous about, and importunate fur in his prayers ; what was this one thing ? Not that he might be settled in his regal throne, which he seemeth not yet to be when that psalm was penned (for the Septuagint in title add to what appeareth in our Bibles Trpb rov y^piadrjvai, before he was annointed), but that he might enjoy the sweet pleasures of daily and frequent converse witli God, that he might behold tlie beauty of the Lord ; so Ps, xlii. 2, 'My soul thirst- eth for God, for the living God ; when sliall I come and appear before God ? ' David was impatient of being debarred from the presence of God. Now, if there be so great and so longing a desire to see God in these glasses, wherein so little of his glory is seen with any comfort and satisfaction, how much more to see him immediately, and face to face ? If that glimpse which God now vouchsafeth be so glorious, what will it be when he shall fully show himself to his people face to face.
(2.) Because then we shall converse with him without impediment and distraction. Here bodily necessities take up the far greatest part of our time: Luke x. 41, 'Thou art cumbered about many things, but one thing is necessary.' The present life requireth many ministries and services at our hands. Besides sinful distractions, there are many worldly occasions to divert us ; but then it is our work and our wages to see God, our business and blessedness to study divinity in the Lamb's face : John xvii. 24, ' That they may be where I am, and behold my glory.' It is our constant work in heaven to admire and adore God in Christ. The difficulties and distractions are removed, and tliat mass of flesh which we now carry about us will be then no clog to us : 1 Cor. vi. 13, ' Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats, but God shall destroy both it and them.' Nature calleth for them, and in this life there is an absolute necessity of them, but the necessity and use shall cease ; the spiritual body will need no other supplies, and put us upon no other employments, than the loving, pleasing, and serving of God. All the things which we shall see will leave more sweet, enlivening, and powerful impressions on us than possibly now they can, because we shall understand them better, and have more leisure to attend upon them.
(.3.) Our presence with him shall be perpetual. We shall meet never to part more : 1 Thes. iv. 17, ' We shall be for ever present with the Lord.' Wicked men shall see Christ, for they must appear before his tribunal ; but they shall see him to their confusion : Kev. i. 7, ' Every eye shall see him, and they that have pierced him shall wail because of him.' But the godly shall see him to their consolation : Job xix. 2(J, ' I know that my Piedeemer liveth, and with these eyes
VeR. 8.] SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. 25