The Speedy Appearance of Christ Desired by the Church / Being the Substance of a Sermon, Preached on the Death of a Friend, August 27, 1815

Transcribed from the 1815 R. Thomas edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF A
Sermon ,
PREACHED ON THE DEATH OF A FRIEND,
August 27, 1815.
BY J. CHURCH, MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL, SURREY TABERNACLE.
It shall be said in that day, lo, we have waited for him, he will save us.— Isaiah xxv, 9. Even so come, Lord Jesus—Rev. xxii, 20.
Southwark : PRINTED BY R. THOMAS, RED LION STREET, BOROUGH.
Sol. Song, 8th Chap. last Verse. Make haste , my Beloved , and be thou like to a Roe , or a young Hart upon the Mountains of Spices .
This divine Poem, is designed by the Holy Spirit, to exhibit the love of God our dear Saviour, to his chosen people, with all the happy consequences of that eternal affection. The whole book is full of Christ, as the all in all of the Church, which he has purchased with his blood—the union subsisting between the elect head and chosen body. What Christ is to them, and they are to him, is strikingly set forth by many well-known metaphors. Perhaps there is nothing of greater importance in the Bible than the Union subsisting between Jesus and his Church, the whole Scriptures are full of it; all our salvation depends upon it. The highest idea of Union is that glorious oneness in the three Persons the adorable Trinity; that though they are distinct in Persons, Names and Offices, yet they are one in the divine incomprehensible Essence.
The next idea of Union is the hypostatical Union of God in our Nature: the Word made Flesh and dwelling among us. This is the mystery of Godliness. The Union between the head and members is the principal subject of this Song. That Christ and his People are one, is an everlasting truth, the date of it is eternal, it is indissolvable, it is mysterious, it is perfect, and will endure to all eternity. Hence it is compared to the Union that subsists between the foundation of a building and its superstructure. Christ is the foundation stone, the corner stone, the tried stone, and will be the top stone.