soul is only a qualification of the desire which I am supposed to have for the Saviour's appearance. It is a different, but not an opposite grace. It modifies, and, in this manner it improves and perfects, instead of impairing or destroying what it seems to counteract. And it effects this by preventing an emotion, which in certain instances needs to be restrained, from going to excess, and still permitting it to operate, as far as it can do so in consistency with Christian principles. The desire for Christ's coming might be carried to such a length as to interfere with moral obligation, to mar spiritual progress, to produce inquietude and discomfort of spirit. But when patience is allowed to have its perfect work, these injurious consequences are hindered, and the mind is brought into such a state, that the longing in which it indulges for the coming of Christ is made subservient at once to its consolation and improvement, and the character in which both are comprehended, is rendered more conformable to the character prescribed in the Gospel. It was somewhat on this principle that there was no contradiction in our Lord's prayer of agony in the garden. His prayer contained a petition, and an earnest one it was, that his cup of affliction might pass from him; and yet that earnest petition was accompanied with a declaration of the most simple and entire macquiescence in the trial of drinking that cup to its very dregs, until it pleased his heavenly Father that the trial should be fully endured. And when we ask with fervour, and even importunity, the removal of any personal or outward calamity with which we are visited, we do what is alike dictated by nature, and sanctioned by religion ; but we are conscious of no contradiction, and of no insincerity, when we conjoin with these supplications the feeling and the expression of resignation to the prospect of those evils being continued, whose removal we had so eagerly implored. In like manner the believer, in waiting for the coming of Christ, while he nourishes the most cordial and vehement desire for the arrival of that event, cannot but feel that he is required to do nothing incompatible with this sentiment, when he is required to let it be always accompanied and mingled with such patience and resignation as are due to the management of God, and as constitute a portion of his meetness for heaven. Let no one, however, deceive himself with the idea that he is right and safe, merely because he cannot be charged with impatience for Christ's second coming. Your not being guilty of the sin of impatience, does not imply that you have the grace of patience with respect to that event. What you deem patience may be neither more nor less than indifference. You may have no belief that Christ will come again, and no love for his appearing, because no fitness for it. In that case, you cannot feel the desire of which we have been speaking. And not feeling the desire, there is no room and no call for the exercise of patience. You either deprecate the event or you are careless about it; and therefore the idea of resignation when it is delayed, is inapplicable to you. So far from there being the least danger of your encouraging yourselves to any thing like inordinate desire for Christ's coming, the danger results from your not having the sentiment in your breasts at all, and consequently your being destitute of those principles and that character without which Christ must appear for your everlasting destruction. Be careful, therefore, to guard against the delusion arising from mere passiveness of mind on this subject. That is not patience. And it may consist with a state of mind in which neither desire nor patience has obtained any footing. Before you rest satisfied with the supposition that you have the latter, be first satisfied that you have the former, and that in your case it is dictated by that faith in Christ, that attachment to him, and that preparation for his coming, which alone can warrant and justify its indulgence. To you who are truly waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the description of that character which has been already given, I would recommend the exercise of patience and resignation, however long the event may be deferred, and whatever may be your difficulties and sufferings till it arrives. You have good reasons for cultivating this virtue in such circumstances. And if you only consider these, and yield to their influence, while it will not render your hope of Christ's coming less lively or less solacing, it will have the effect of increasing your fitness for it, by increasing the correspondence between what you are and what you expect to be. 1. In the first place, you should wait for Christ's second coming with patience, because, the period of that coming is fixed by God's appointment. It is one of your great and permanent consolations that God orders every thing concerning you, both as it relates to your condition in this world, and to your condition in the world to come. This is a consolation, because you know Him to be both able and willing to do for you all that is best for your real and eternal welfare. And even when your lot is most discouraging and distressful, you are sure that all is well-that your interests are secure under his protectionand that the very disappointments and calamities which befal you will be so overruled by him, as not only to leave you uninjured, but even to promote your highest good. On this account, you are comforted, and you resign yourselves impli citly and cheerfully to his disposal. Now extend these views to the case of your waiting for Christ's second coming. That event is determined by him as to all its circumstances. It is a part of the plan which he has formed for your salvation. It originates in the same mercy which prompted him to give up his Son to suffering and to death for you. And does not every view of the Divine perfections which you have been privileged to take, constrain you to acquiesce in all that has been fixed as to the second coming, as well as in all that took place with regard to the first coming of Christ? Very true, you are perplexedyou are harassed-you are tempted-you have little to attach you to a present scene-you would be happier by far, if you were away from it. But don't you recognise the hand of that God who bids you wait for the coming of his Son from heaven, in all that you now are, and in all that you now suffer? You cannot doubt his power to translate you immediately where you desire to be. But you can as little doubt the wisdom and the goodness which keeps you here. Since you are kept here, you may be assured that the delay is dictated by love, and that it is calculated to subserve your highest interests. He who has been so gracious as to make you heirs of future glory, cannot fail to bring you to that inheritance as soon as all things are ready-as soon as it is best for you, and most consistent with his own |