7. The necessities of this life enforce a great deal of trouble ; the sup- plying the necessities of nature and of the condition that God hath set us in, which all shall have an end then.
8. Then again, the relation hetiveen Christ and this contracted spouse, and every faithful soul, enforceth a desire of his coming. It is the time of the church's contract ; she is a bride now, she is contracted. Now all the time between the contract and the marriage, it is a time of longing and desire ; therefore the church cannot but desire the second coming of Christ. It is the nature of imperfection, where there is truth in imperfection, to desire perfection. You see the little seed that is sown in the ground, it breaks through the thick clods, because it is not in its perfection till it be in the ear. Nature hath given it an instinct to break out. So where the seed of gi-ace is, it will break out and shoot forward to desire still and still, till it comes to perfection. Grace being an imperfect state here, it puts forward in desiring that perfection that it cannot attain in this world, but in the world to come. Therefore the Spirit and the spouse say, ' Come.'
9. And then, from the nature of the a,ffection of love itself, ivhere it is planted. It is an affection of perfect union. Contract will not serve, but marriage must come after. Love will not satisfy itself in imperfect union, but it cries, ' Come, come,' still. It is carried in a restless desire till it come to perfection. Therefore put the case the Jews 'were called and con- verted, and antichrist subdued, hath the church an accomphshment of the period of her desires, to say no more, ' Come ? ' Oh no ! Yet Christ is not come as he will. There is not a perfect consummation of all ; until
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that of time itself, there will be a desu-e of the bride and spouse to say, ' Come,' Thus we see what grounds there are of this desire.
Quest. But is this only true of the church militant here below ? Doth not the church in heaven say, ' Come,' too ?
Ans. Yes, the church in heaven saith, ' Come,' too. The church in heaven and earth are but one family. They are, as it were, but one par- liament. There is the higher house in heaven, and the lower on earth, and both say ' Come.' What is the reason that the church in heaven saith, ' Come ? ' Because the church in heaven have bodies that be rotting in earth ; which bodies helped them to serve God on earth, fasted with them and prayed with them, and endured pains and toil with them. The soul accounts itself imperfect till it be joined to its old companion the body again. Therefore it desires, ' Come, Lord,' that my body may be united to me again ; that so we may both perfectly praise thee in heaven.
Then again, they have not all their company ; all the saints are not gathered; and they will not be merry indeed till they all meet in heaven. Therefore that all may meet, even the church in heaven hath a desire, ' Come, Lord.' So both heaven and earth agree in this, they meet in this desire.
Use 1. This may be a ground of trial, whether u-e be trnJy the bride of Christ or no. The ground of the trial may be gathered hence. Whither is the bent of our desire carried ? Is our condition so here, as that we de- sire to be as we are still ? Then all is naught with us. The church, we see, saith ' Come.' Nothing will content her in this world. So those hearts that are wrought upon by the Spirit of God, nothing here will con- tent them, but still they say, ' Come.' The disposition in carnal persons is clean contrary. They say, as it is in Job, ' Depart from us, we will none of thy ways,' Job xxi. 14 ; they are of the mind of the devil in the Gospel, ' Why dost thou come to torment us before our time ? Mat. viii. 29. Do not come. If it were in the power of most men in the church, whether Christ should come to judge the world or no, do you think they would give their voice that way, that Christ should come ? They would never do it : for they know how unfit a condition they are in for the second coming of Christ. If thieves and malefactors might have liberty to choose whether there should be assizes or no, surely they would never have any. So it is with the men of the world, that live in sinful, wretched courses ; that abuse their tongues and their bodies ; are they of the disposition of the bride, to say, * Come ' ? Oh no ! They know they have not done their duty. Therefore let us enter deeply into our own souls, and try whether cordially we can yield this desire of our hearts to say, ' Come ' ?
(1). Therefore, to spend a little time in further search, if we can truly say ' Come,' we xoill desire Christ to come into our souls now, to rule our souls now, to come and make way for himself in om- hearts. Is it possible for the soul to desire to go to Christ, that wiU not suffer him to come to it ? If Christ rule not in us, we shall never reign with Christ : if Christ's kingdom come not to us, w^e shall never enter into Christ's kingdom. Therefore the soul that hath this desire truly, to say, ' Come,' it will give Christ entrance into it and let him ' come ' by his ordinances, ' Come,' Lord, by thy word ! come by thy Spirit into my heart ! close with my heart ! drive out whatsoever is there that will not give thee liberty to reign as thou wilt ! These desires will be in a true heart. It will not cherish wilfully those desires that are contrary to this.