Ohj. But you shall have many a good soul cry out, Oh, I am not so desirous of the coming of Christ as I ought.
Ans. True. It may be so because of thy wants, because thou hast not prepared thyself, because thou art not spiritual, because thou art not mortified. This ariseth further, as from other causes, so from this. Thou art ignorant of the covenant of grace, that God is thy Father, and that he hath bound himself as a father to pardon the sins of his children. There- fore, if thy sins be but infirmities, that thou strivest against, thou mayest be comforted. Mark what the apostle saith, ' We ourselves, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves do groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, even the redemption of our bodies,' Kom. viii. 23. If we labour against our corruptions, it should be so far from hindering our desire of Christ's coming, that we should desire it the rather, because we labour under them ; for then we shall be fully rid of them. Labour to understand the covenant of grace more fully. Christ is a mediator and intercessor. For whom ? For perfect men ? No. But for them that unwillingly run into debt with God every day. Therefore we say in the Lord's pra3-er, ' Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts,' &c.. Mat. vi. 11, 12. The ignorance of evangelical points makes us so cold, so dead and dull, as we are oftentimes.
Ohj. But you will say, I desire to live still. Those that desire the ' second coming ' of Christ, desire that he would come and fetch them out of the world when they have done their work. May not I do so ?
Ans. Yes you may, but it must be with a reservation that you may bi'ing to heaven as many as you can, that you may get further evidence of your salvation ; and so in other respects you may desire to live, so it may be that God may honour himself by our lives. But simply, and as the thing is in itself, we ought to be of St Paul's mind, ' to desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ,' which is far better, Philip, i. 23.
Therefore when the time of our dissolution comes, we are to be willing to resign up our souls unto God, not only patiently, but cheerfully. For why ? The day of death is a day of jubilee, a day of coronation, a day of marriage, a day of harvest, a day of triumph. We are to be ashamed of the dispro- portion of our desires to earthly things and to heavenly. Is the labourer loath to think of a sabbath or a day of rest ? Is a soldier loath to think of a day of victory and triumph ? Is a contracted person loath to think of the
THE bride's longing. 555
day of marriage ? or a king of the day of his coronation ? They are all desirous of these things, and why should not we be of that time, when all these things shall indeed and really be performed ? All those things are but shadows, and scarce that, of things to come, and yet how earnestly desirous are men of them ? Have not we then just cause to take occasion to shame and blame ourselves, for the disproportion of our desires to earthly and heavenly things ?
But now, when we have finished our work, when God hath been served by us in our generations — as it was said of David, ' that he served God in his own generation, by the will of God, and after that fell on sleep,' Acts xiii. 36 — then God will take off our desire of living any longer, then he will make us even willing to die. As &t Paul, in the last epistle that ever he made, when he had run his race and fought his fight, and finished his course, then nothing but a crown. ' Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,' &c., 2 Tim, iv. 8. And in the same chapter after- ward : ' The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom,' ver. 18. So saith Christ, ' I have glorified thee on the earth : I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, 0 Father, glorify thou me with thine own self,' John xvii. 4, 5. So when the children of God have an item from the Spirit of God, that they have done all that God would have them for to do, then they will be most willing to go hence. In the mean time, they ' must run with patience the race that is set before them,' Heb. xii. 1 ; they must fight the fight that God hath pitched for them, and keep the faith ; they must be willing to do all that God would have them, in an humble submission to his will. But when they have done all, then their hearts will be enlarged to desire the coming of Christ, that he would come and call them home.
So, then, this doubt is sufficiently answered. In a word, I will end with this.