But I must not enlarge myself in this. In a word, therefore, to conclude this point : As there is a sweet harmony in God's truth, so let there be a harmony in our hearts thereunto. God's truth always agrees with itself. Oh let our hearts agree with it. When we hear a threatening, a precept, or a promise, Oh let us say, ' Amen.' It is the sweetest harmony in the world when we can bring our hearts to close with God and his^word, with his Spirit and truth, when we ca^i be delivered ' into that form of doc- trine which is delivered unto us,' Rom. vi. 17.
But now I go on. * Even so, come. Lord Jesus.' We come from the assent unto the consent, yielding unto that which Christ said as true and good. We come unto the desire and prayer of the church : ' Even so, come, Lord Jesus.'
Note. ' Amen' is an Hebrew word, and it is still retained, to shew the consent of the Christian church with the Jewish, both with that which was before, and with that which shall be afterward. f And it is expressed and opened here, by a word following, * yea,' or ' even so,' come, Lord Jesus. You see the church desires, and out of her desire prays, ' Come, Lord Jesus.'
Now, this desire of the church shews the gracious disposition of the church. These desires are the breathings and motions of the Spirit in the soul, tending to further union. Even as motion tends to rest, so desires tend to the uniting unto the thing desired. The church's desires here are the immediate issue of the soul, and therefore undissembled, and thej- shew the true character of a Christian soul. We may dissemble words and actions, but we cannot dissemble our desires and affections ; we may paint fire, but we cannot paint heat. Therefore God judgeth us more by our desires and affections than by our words and actions.
Now you may know that our desires are holy, and good, if so be that they be heavenly ; for then it is a sign that they come down from heaven, even as a spring will arise and ascend as high as the spring-head whence it comes. If our desires rise to heaven, as the church's here do, then it is a sign they come down from heaven.
Our desires are as a stream, which I will shew you, by prosecuting that metaphor and allusion in sundry particulars.
1. A good stream hath a good spring ; so must our desires. The spring of the church's desires here is love : she loves Christ, and therefore desires him to * come quickly.'
2. A stream, you know, carries all before it ; so our desires are an holy * That is, ' naughty,' = wicked. — Q. f Cf. Kobinson's Lexicon, sub voce. — G.
541 THE bride's longing.
strctim issuing from a good spring and carrying all before them. They are efficacious, not a mere velleity,* as they say, a bare wishing and woulding.
3. A stream, ;/ it be stopped, will swell till it break down tdl opposition and carri/ all be/ore it ; so let a good desire be stopped, and it will swell more and more, and grow bigger and bigger, till it makes way for itself.
4. A stream is restless and incessant till it meet icitlt, the ocean and empty itself into the sea ; so, true and holy desires be restless and always in motion. They are not like a standing pool that rests, but they are in motion still, till they have emptied themselves into the boundless and bottomless ocean of endless pleasure.
5. As true streams that arise from a fountain do wax bir/r/er and bigger the nearer they come to the ocean, because other rivers join with them, and so they take advantage and augmentation by other streams that run into them, so, if our desires be true, they are growing desires; they increase bigger and bigger still till they come to heaven.
G. At length, we see the streams empty themselves into the sea. They are swallowed up there, where they have a more constant being than in them- selves, namely, of the ocean, the true element and proper place of all waters ; and so our desires, if they be holy, as they are restless and grow- ing, so at last they empty themselves into Christ, and join with God and happiness for the time to come ; for there is greater happiness for the souls of men, in God, in Christ, and in heaven, than there is in themselves, and there they are swallowed up.
7. Lastly, We viay try our desires by this. Vapours in a low place do shew that there is a spring there. You know that the springs are there where there are most vapours constantly. So where there be breathings of the soul upward, as there is here of the church, surely there is a spring of love that yields these vapours, and whence these desires flow.
But I come more particularly unto this particular desire of the church, * Come, Lord Jesus.' I shall make way by some propositions which I shall premise, before I come to the main thing which I shall stand upon at this time.