Reason 3. In rer/ani of Christ himself: Christ is in some sort imperfect till the latter day, till his ' second coming.' For the mystical body of Christ is his fulness. Christ is our fulness, and we are his fulness. Now Christ's fulness is made up, when all the members of his mystical body are gathered and united together; the head and the members make bnt one natural body. So Christ and the church are but one mystical : 1 Cor. xii. 12, ' As the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many, are one body, so also is Christ.' Hence it is that the saints are called ' the glory of Christ,' 2 Cor. viii. 23. Christ in this sense is not fully glorious therefore till that time. The church desires therefore that Christ may be glorious in himself, and glorious in them, that he may come to be ' glorious in his saints,' 2 Thes. i. 10.
Reason 4. Because, ichere the treasure is, there idll the heart he also, Mat. vi. 21. Now where is the church's treasure but in Christ? Our spirits are supernatural, and carried to the best of spirits ; and who is the best of spirits but Christ himself ?
Reason 5. Because the members are carried to union with the head. The happiness of the soul is in union with the fountain of happiness, and the nearer the fountain of happiness the more happy. What is it that makes the blessed body of Christ more happy than all the angels and men, but because it is hypostatically united to the second person of the Trinity, and so to the fountain of the Godhead ? The nearer to God the happier, the fuller of grace and glory, because he is the God of all grace and glory. Therefore the nearer to Christ the more happy. Now after the resurrection we shall be nearer both in soul and body. We may see this by the con- trary. What is it that makes hell so horrible ? Because there is an utter and eternal separation from the chiefest and choicest good, God himself. Here the wicked men of the world have the presence of God in the creatures. They taste the sweetness of God's goodness in them. But in hell they shall have none to all eternity. There shall be an utter separation between Christ and them. But now the joining to God, the fountain of all good in heaven, makes heaven to be heaven indeed. If Christ was not there, heaven would be no heaven. Therefore Paul saith, ' I desire to be dis- solved and to be with Christ,' Philip, i. 23 ; and so the church here, * Come, Lord Jesus.' Then we shall be near, not in soul only, but also in body and soul ; and in both we shall be for ever joined to the fountain of all good. It is that which the church desires here ; and in the Canticles, what is it that the church prays for in the beginning ? • Let him kiss me with the kisses of his lips,' &c.. Cant. i. 2. There she desires the first coming of Christ. But you have it afterwards in the conclusion of the book : * Make
548 THE bride's longing.
haste, my beloved, and be Ibou like to the 3'oung hart or roe upon the mountain of spices,' Cant. viii. 14. Such is the disposition of the church, that before Christ was come, good people were known by the desire of his coming. And therefore it was the description of holy men, that ' they waited for the consolation of Israel,' Luke ii. 25. 0 Lord, come quickly, come in the flesh ! But now the first coming is past, they desire as much his ' second coming,' and therefore they are described in the epistle of St Paul to be such as ' love and long for the appearing of Christ ; a crown of righteousness is laid up for all those that love his appearance,' 2 Tim. iv. 8. Therefore if we had the spirit of the church, we would echo to Christ \\^en he saith, ' I come quickly,' and say, ' Make haste, my beloved,' &c., as the church saith in the latter end of the Canticles.
lieason C. Beloved, do but compare the glory of that time with the glory •which we have here, and that will shew another reason, I will shew it by way of comparison a little, why the church should be desirous of the ' second coming' of Christ.
If the good things that we have by grace here are such ' as eye hath not seen, or ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man to con- sider of,' 1 Cor. ii. 9 (for the place is meant of grace especially, that is the natural and immediate meaning), how transcendently then unutterable and unconceivable are those things that are reserved against that time ! If the ' first fruits' are so sweet, what is the full harvest ! Rom. viii. 23. If the * earnest' be so comfortable, what is the whole bargain ! 2 Cor. v. 5 ; Eph. i. 14. If this 'joy be unspeakable and full of glory,' 1 Peter i. 8, and this ' peace pass all understanding,' Philip, iv. 7, what will the fulness of joy, peace, and pleasures which are at God's right hand for evermore,' Ps. xvi. 11, and which shall be then, do !