Prisoners of hope, we are called now, and we patiently abide the restraint, because we know that the Lord is near, and our deliverance is at hand. Soldiers of Christ are, we know, standing in our armor and enduring all needful hardnesses, for we know it is the time of conflict and suffering now, but the victory is sure, the enemy cannot prevail; and we can wait till the appointed hour, when he shall reign whose right it is to reign, Lord of lords, and King of kings, and our voices with "the great voices in heaven" shall swell the triumph-song, "the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." Who feels not the inspiration of such a bright hope? Who can help longing and praying, when he regards his own personal experience, or looks out upon the throes and convulsions of this disordered and unquiet world around him, for that hour, so long prophesied and waited for, when all that is incomplete shall attain its perfection, when every discord shall be resolved into harmony, every holy desire find full satisfaction; and our faith, which to the children of the world appears as an offense or a folly, shall be justified in the sight of the whole world? Who can help breathing, when he reads the glorious prophecies yet to be fulfilled, and the precious promises yet to be realized, and studies the signs of the times which seem to declare the ripening of the divine counsels, the earnest supplication that the Lord may soon come and bring his mediatorial work to its sublime consummation?
But it is sometimes feared that there is danger in the indulging of this bright expectation. Its tendency is thought to make us careless or impatient; to damp our zeal in Christian enterprise, and give us over to day dreams and idle reveries. And doubtless the danger is not wholly a fictitious one. There may be those who in their conduct and language have given too great occasion for the suspicion. But it is a danger which lies near every great truth. The grandest doctrines of our faith have close beside them the most dangerous errors. They may all be perverted to the falsest issues. But they stand as truths still, not to be gainsayed or concealed because the weak sinful heart misconstrues or distorts them. They are the good seed of the kingdom, though after it is sown, the enemy comes and sows his tares with it. So with the hope and longing for the appearance of the Lord, the danger which lies close beside it, is a quietness which falls into listlessness, or idle fancies which lead to sad delusions. The history of the doctrine abundantly proves its besetting dangers. But it is not for that reason to be abandoned or neglected. It must not be displaced from its true position in the teaching of the Christian Church. The comfort and inspiration which it breathes cannot be disregarded in the rightly dividing of the word of truth. It forms as we have seen a large element in the Apostle's doctrine. It wrought in them as a continual inspiration amid all their exhausting labors and fearful sufferings for the gospel's sake. It was in their stern admonitions against all sluggishness, and in their earnest appeals to the believer's constant zeal in proclaiming everywhere the unsearchable riches of God's grace while it is a day of salvation. It was a bright and joyful hope, as they offered it, only to the diligent laborers in the vineyard of the Lord. Wearied they might be, and saddened under the pressure of their burdens, bruised and wounded in their long strife with the adversary, and sometimes quite cast down at the apparent fruitlessness of their most faithful labors. Still they must occupy till he comes, knowing that he will surely come, though he tarry, for his promise is "—Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me to give to every man according as his work shall be." How can it be that they who are most under the power of this hope should now be the most efficient agents in the service of Christ and his Church? They can rest who see no vision beckoning them forward, to whom all things remain the same as when the fathers fell asleep, who feel no interest in the unfolding signs of the times, and make a mock of all ardent hope and earnest enthusiasm. They may perceive no occasion for zeal. They may keep aloof from all active enterprises in the cause of the gospel, and smite off all appeals to their sympathetic co-operation. They may be for no movement, no aggression, no advance or forced marches, saying, "There is no haste; the Lord delayeth his coming." But it cannot be so with those who are inspired with the vision of the things that shall be, and are "looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."
All Christian enterprises interest them. All labor in the service of their Master is dear to them. They love to see the army break up its encampments and go forward to the new conquests in the name of the Lord. It is from their lips and hearts that the prayer is breathed with deepest fervor and desire, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." And though the Lord still delay and no voice heralds his coming, they know that it is because his work is not yet finished, the number of the redeemed not yet complete, the hosts not all gathered. It is in mercy that he tarries; and they must not only watch to be themselves ready but labor unweariedly that his long-suffering mercy may swell the number of voices out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, which shall join in the hour of final triumph in the holy ascription, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing." That hour is no dream to please an idle fancy in silent reverie and private seclusion; it is a reality to inspire the heart with all energy in the active labors which Christ has appointed for his Church. It does not relax the sinews of the soul in despondency for the little already accomplished, but braces them to the utmost for the much yet to be effected. The most efficient workmen for Christ's sake and the gospel's, from the Apostle's day to our own, are those who watch and pray most earnestly for his coming again in all his glorious majesty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blessed will be those whose lamps are trimmed and burning! They shall enter with him to the supper; and then, the door will be shut. Right and true, then is the constant longing for the second advent of our Lord. Well does one write, "Nature and grace alike proclaim a glorified Messiah as indispensable to complete their appointed course. Nature, through all her regions cries aloud for him who is to rectify her unwilling disorders, to repair her shattered structures, to restore her oppressed energies, to vindicate her voice of conscience long despised, her sublime testimony to the Creator, so long questioned or overlooked. But what is even this to the demand of grace for the coming of him, who is "our Saviour?" If the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain for the manifestation of the sons of God, what shall be the desires of the Sons of God themselves? What shall be their ardor to realize that "liberty of the children of God," of which so great things are spoken; to behold their own lowliness glorified in the glory of the man of Nazareth; their humble labors recognized by the approval of God, their persevering faith vindicated, their hope consummated, their charity brightened into a reward eternal and infinite? They rejoice to think, that as a humiliated Redeemer came first to point us the path of humiliation, so must a glorified Redeemer point us to the path of glory; that the Captain of our salvation, who bore the cross in front of his army of believers, must come to teach them also how to wear the crown. It is by the recollections of the marvels of his mercy that he would attract us to see in his appearing, the advent of one, who, if mighty to avenge, is yet mightier to save; and thus in every heart and soul to move the prayer with which, as if to bind them both forever in our thoughts, the volume that records the First advent closes, anticipating, desiring, beseeching the Second: "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!"