2. Because he cometh from thence to bring us thither. His business at his second coming is to translate us into that heavenly city : John xiv. 3, ' I will come again, and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.' Therefore now we should behave ourselves as candidates of eternity. His whole design is to bring us to that place where he is. Mortification is thence inferred : Col. iii. 1,5, ' If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Mortify your members which are upon earth.' All holiness and godliness of conversation : 2 Peter iii. 11, 12, ' Seeing all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness ? looking for and hasting to the coming of the day of God; ; Titus ii. 12, 13,
Veil 20.] sermons upon philippians hi. 165
' Teaching us, that, denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, look- ing for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ/
3. That he cometh as a saviour ; as one —
[1.] That hath done enough to save us from sin and misery, and the flames of hell. Despair crippleth our endeavours. If we could not comfortably hope for heaven, we should never labour for it. But now, ' Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto everlasting life,' Jude 21. Though we be sinners that need a great deal of mercy, we may expect it, and so be encouraged to labour for it. We are engaged by our relation to him.
[2.] He cometh then as a saviour to us ; we are his people. There are two relations with respect to the day of judgment — master and husband.
(1.) Master. Good servants wait for their master's coming : Mat. xxiv. 46, ' Blessed is that servant whom, when his lord cometh, he shall find so doing.' Here we have our vales, but then our wages : 1 Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me.' Christ doth not come empty-handed to his faithful servants. Well, then, the servant that doth expect his master's coming, will ply his work : 2 Tim. iv. 1, 'I charge thee before God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his coming and kingdom.'
(2.) As our husband ; that is a sweeter relation : ' The bride saith, Come,' Rev. xxii. 17. We are contracted to Christ now, but then is the day of espousals. A wife that looketh for her husband's coming puts all things in readiness.
4. The looking inferreth a heavenly conversation.
[1.] There is faith in it. Faith, resting upon the promises of God, is assured and fully persuaded of the fruition of glory in God's time. If it be so, whither should our thoughts, words, and actions tend, but to this blessed estate ? otherwise our practice will be a manifest contra- diction to our faith. You believe there is a God and a life to come, and thereupon promise to renounce the devil, world, and the flesh ; but you live as if you were in league with the devil, world, and the flesh, and at defiance with God and heaven; and so have 'a form of godliness,' 2 Tim. iii. 5 ? Do ye believe in Christ to bring you to God and everlasting glory, when your heart is another way, and you live as strangers to the heavenly mind, and have truly an unheavenly conversation. Either you must renounce the faith or your carnal con- versation. If you take on the profession of the one to countenance the other, you wrong God and your own souls, and double your sin.
[2.] As there is love in it. If you love Christ, and do not desire to be with him, you go about to reconcile contradictions. As she said to Sampson, Judges xvi. 15, ' How canst thou say, I love thee, when thy heart is not with me ? ' That is a strange love to be content to be still away from the party loved, and to sit down satisfied with the present happiness.
[3.] Hope. We do place our blessedness in heaven, and yet fly from it as a misery ; long and look for that which we have no mind to enjoy. Surely hope withdraweth our minds from, and moderateth our
166 SERMONS UPON PHILIPPIANS III. [SER. XVI.
fears and cares about them. Looking, as it noteth a desire or a patient expectation, deadeneth our hearts to the world.
(1.) As a desirous expectation. These vehement desires and groans after an estate of happiness breed sincerity, and endeavours to make it our main scope that we may be approved and accepted of Christ at his coming.
(2.) Patient expectation. This engageth to perseverance, or bringeth forth ' fruit with patience,' Luke viii. 15. The reward is yet to come, in the meantime we are pressed with a multitude of temptations, per- secutions, remainders of sin. There will a time come when we shall be freed from sin and sorrow for ever. We have God's word to assure us of it ; therefore we must content ourselves in God's will. It is his will and pleasure we shall stay a little while longer and suffer more. He might require a far longer time of trial to give us so great a reward, but it is but a short time between our regeneration and full possession.