## The Glory of the Redeemer in His People "I am glorified in them." John 17:10 Upborne on the pinion of faith, we have been soaring to the third heaven, contemplating for awhile the glory of our Emmanuel within the veil. Sweet and ravishing sight! Soon, oh! so soon to be seen without a glass; and seen but to be transformed into the same glory! The further consideration of our subject recalls us again to earth, to behold yet another manifestation of the glory of the Redeemer- even His glory in His saints. The unfolding of this truth will be found to confirm and illustrate another equally important one; namely, the perfect oneness of Christ and His Church, and the consequent reciprocity of interest and affection which exists: thus showing, that while Christ represents the Church above, the Church represents Christ below; while she is glorified with Him in heaven, He is glorified in her on earth. Holy, blessed, and indissoluble unity! The manifested glory of Christ in His Church is clearly and emphatically stated in the sublime prayer of our dear Lord, to which we have already had occasion more than once to allude. Addressing His Father, He claims with Him- what no mere creature could do- a conjunction of interest in the Church, based upon an essential unity of nature. "All mine are Yours, and Your are mine, and I am glorified in them." What angel in heaven could adopt this language, what creature on earth could present this claim- "All Yours are mine!" It would be an act of the most daring presumption; it would be the very inspissation of blasphemy: but when our Lord asserts it- asserts it, too, in a solemn prayer, addressed on the eve of His death to His Father- what does it prove, but that a unity of property in the Church involves a unity of essence in being? There could be no perfect oneness of the Father and the Son in any single object, but as it sprang from a oneness of nature. We think this demonstratively true. Two things equal to a given thing, must be equal to each other. The axiom will apply with equal force to the truth before us. Convincing evidence of His Deity! Oh reject it not! He that lives and dies in the disbelief of the absolute Godhead of Jesus is lost forever. I assume not the office of his judge: I pronounce not the sentence of his condemnation. He who shall judge him in the last day has already foredoomed him- "If you believe not that I AM He, you shall die in your sins." The mutual interest, then, which Christ thus claims with His Father, refers, in this instance, specifically to the Church of God. And it is delightful here to trace the perfect equality of love towards the Church as of perfect identity of interest in the Church. We are sometimes tempted to doubt the perfect sameness, as to degree, of the Father's love with the Son's love; that, because Jesus died and intercedes, the mind thus wont to familiarize itself with Him more especially, associating Him with all its comforting, soothing, hallowing views and enjoyments, we are liable to be beguiled into the belief that His love must transcend in its strength and intensity the love of the Father. But not so. The Father's love is of perfect equality in degree, as it is in nature, with the Son's love; and this may with equal truth be affirmed of the "love of the Spirit." "He that has seen me," says Jesus, "has seen the Father." Then he that has seen the melting, overpowering expressions of the Redeemer's love- he that has seen Him pouring out His deep compassion over the miseries of a suffering world; he that has seen His affectionate gentleness towards His disciples; he that has seen Him weep at the grave of Lazarus; he that has followed Him to the garden of Gethsemane, to the judgment-hall of Pilate, and from thence to the cross of Calvary, has seen in every step which He trod, and in every act which He performed, a type of the deep, deep love which the Father bears towards His people. He that has thus seen the Son's love has seen the Father's love. Oh, sweet to think, the love that travailed- the love that toiled- the love that wept- the love that bled- the love that died, is the same love, in its nature and intensity, which is deep-welled in the heart of the triune God, and is pledged to secure the everlasting salvation of the Church. "All mine are Yours, and Yours are mine, and I am glorified in them." We are now to show IN WHAT PARTICULARS THE REDEEMER IS GLORIFIED IN HIS CHURCH. He is glorified in being the covenant Head of all blessing to His people. How distinctly has the Holy Spirit declared this precious truth- "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (things) in Christ." Here is our true Joseph with all the treasures which a Father's love can bestow, or which the covenant of grace provides, placed in His hands and at His disposal. It has "pleased the Father" to constitute Him the Head of the Church, and that in Him, as such, "all fulness should dwell." Here, too, is our true spiritual Eliakim, of whom it is sweetly prophesied, "And they shall hang upon Him all the glory of His Father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups even to all the vessels of flagons." Isa. xxii. 24. Who sustains, as 'a nail fastened in a sure place,' all the glory of the Church, but Jesus? In Christ the Church is chosen. In Christ it is preserved. In Christ it lives. In Christ it is pardoned. In Christ it is justified. In Christ it is sanctified. In Christ it will be glorified. Thus does all the glory of the spiritual house hang on Christ- He is its foundation, He is its corner-stone; in Him; "fitly framed together, it grows up a holy temple in the Lord;" and He will be the top-stone, which shall be brought forth on the day of its completion, amid the shoutings of "Grace, grace unto it!" On Him, too, hang all the 'vessels' of the house, the 'vessels of cups and the vessels of flagons;' the small and the great, the young and the old, the feeble and the strong, all the saints hang on Jesus, and Jesus supports and supplies all. See, how the 'vessels of cups, the vessels of small quantity,' hang upon Him, and how He supplies them. "And, behold, there came a leper, and worshiped Him, saying, Lord, if You will, You can make me clean. And Jesus put forth His hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed." "And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto You my son, who has a dumb spirit . . . . and ofttimes it has cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if You can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, You dumb and deaf spirit, I charge you come out of him, and enter no more into him." "And, behold, a woman, who was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind Him, and touched the hem of His garment: for she said within herself, If I may but touch His garment I shall be whole. But Jesus turned Him about; and when He saw her, He said, Daughter, be of good comfort; your faith has made you whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour." "And He said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto you, Today shall you be with me in Paradise." "And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto Him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But He answered her not a word. . . . . Then came she and worshiped Him, saying, Lord, help me. But He answered and said, It is not fit to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is your faith: be it unto you even as you will." Behold, how these 'vessels of small quantity' hang on Jesus; and behold, how He sustains and fills them. They are but as 'vessels of cups'- their knowledge is defective, their grace is limited, their experience but shallow, their faith but small, and they themselves but little- oh! how little, who can tell?- in their own eyes; yet, coming thus to Jesus' grace, exclaiming- "Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on You," He receives them, He welcomes them, He bears them up, He supplies them, He fills them; He rejoices in their feeble grace, He despises not their little strength, He crowns their weak faith, He grants them the utmost desires of their hearts. Oh, what a Jesus is our Jesus! Were ever such gentleness, tenderness, and skill manifested towards the "bruised reed and the smoking flax? " Dear reader, are you a 'vessel of small quantity?' It may be that, through the infirmities that encompass you, the trials that oppress you, the temptations that assail you, the clouds that surround you, you can receive Christ's fulness but in a limited degree; truth is understood but partially, there being doctrines, perhaps, hard to be understood, and precepts still harder to be obeyed. Light beams in upon the mind but faintly, the Scripture statement of the heart's deep subtlety and desperate wickedness is but slowly, cautiously, doubtingly received; the daily cross imposed by Christian discipleship, sometimes taken up, as often laid down; the rough way wounding the feet, the strait way causing them to stumble. Christ's grand atonement, His one, perfect obedience, His great and finished work, the sprinkling of His blood upon the conscience, the completeness of a believing soul in His righteousness, and the consequent "peace and joy in the Holy Spirit," but little known. These, it may be, are some of the features that mark your case. Yet, feeling your own vileness, and Christ's sufficiency and preciousness, and constrained to hang on Him solely and exclusively, as all your salvation and all your desire; though you can receive but a 'small quantity' of knowledge, of grace, and of love, you are yet a 'vessel of gold' in His house, and Jesus bears you on His heart, sets you as a seal upon His arm, and presents you each moment before God complete in Himself. But there are also in this house "vessels of flagons," the larger vessels- saints of a deep grace, of gigantic faith, of profound knowledge. Hear one of them exclaim, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Oh how abundantly did this beloved apostle drink of "the river of God!" How deeply did he sink into the ocean of Christ's fulness! How high did he soar into the beatific presence of God, until sweeping the heavens with his expanded pinions, all the treasures that sparkle there seemed gathered into his soul. Yet, a large vessel though it was, in himself he was poor, vile, and empty; counting himself as the "chief of sinners," esteeming himself "less than the least of all saints," and ascribing all that he was as a renewed man to "the grace of God." In this his poverty, vileness, and emptiness, he hung with the small vessel, solely, entirely on Christ. The thief saved at the last moment, and Paul, the great apostle of the Gentiles, side by side hung on Jesus. "Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." Both were pardoned with the same blood, both were justified by the same righteousness, both were filled from the same source, and both are now in glory, chanting the same song, and together casting their crowns before the throne. Thus is Jesus made the "Head over all things to His Church;" and His Church becomes in all its members, be they small or great, "the fulness of Him that fills all in all." Thus is Christ glorified in them. And oh, what infinite mind can compute the revenue of glory thus accruing to the Redeemer through His saints? In the conversion of His people- their translation from nature to grace, the Redeemer is glorified. This is the first step to a manifest glorifying of Christ in His called saints. Conversion is the commencement of an endless revenue of glory to Christ. To behold a poor sinner living a life of practical enmity to God, hatred to Jesus, rebellion against the Divine government, and wilful and determined hostiliy to the one glorious plan of salvation; perhaps a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious; now changed, now conquered, now sitting at the feet of Jesus, "clothed and in his right mind," oh, is there no glory thus brought to the grace of Christ Jesus? To see him translated out of darkness into God's marvellous light; emancipated from the power of sin and Satan, and made the Lord's free man; the rebellious will conquered, the hard heart subdued, the proud spirit humbled, the hatred turned into love, and the long roving mind now finding its center of rest and fountain of happiness in the reconciled God, oh! is there no crown of glory placed on the head of Jesus in all this? Say, you angelic spirits, bending over the mercy-seat in deep contemplation of its awful mysteries of incarnate grace and dying love- whose eyes glisten and whose bosoms expand with new effulgence and joy over one sinner that repents, do you see no glory deepening around the Son of God, as each vessel of mercy is called in, emptied of self, and filled with Jesus? Yet not to angels, but to saints themselves, we appeal. Hear the testimony of one- "Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; and was unknown by face unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ: but they had heard only, that he who persecuted us in times past, now preached the faith which one he destroyed. And they glorified God in me." Oh, how are the power, the wisdom, the grace, the love of the Redeemer glorified, and God through Him, by every new accession thus made to the number of the redeemed! Aim to be instrumental in bringing one soul to receive the Lord Jesus as all its salvation, and you bring more glory to His name than were a thousand worlds like this to start into being at your fiat. "Those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever." But how is He glorified in God's acceptance of His people through Him! Who can entertain a doubt of this, that has any experimental knowledge of the great work of the Lord Jesus? Look at this for one moment. God's justification of the believing sinner through the righteousness of His Son, is His seal to the perfection, and efficacy, and worth of Christ's obedience and death. What glory, suppose you, would encircle the form of Gabriel, were it possible for Jehovah to accept a poor sinner in his righteousness! How high would this act advance him in dignity, and honor, and praise above all celestial intelligences! But oh! we stand, beloved, in a better and a diviner righteousness than that of angel or archangel; we stand in the righteousness of the incarnate God! and that God, the holy Lord God, should accept a poor sinner in the righteousness of His Son, places that Son in the ascendant of all creatures, "dwelling in light," the full effulgence of which "no man has seen, nor can see." This truth, unfolded to his soul by the Holy Spirit, constrained an eminent saint of God to exclaim, "Had I all the faith of the patriarchs, all the zeal of the prophets, all the good works of the apostles, all the holy suffering of the martyrs, and all the glowing devotion of the seraphs; I would disclaim the whole, in point of dependence, and count all but dross and dung when compared with the infinitely precious death and the infinitely meritorious righteousness of Jesus Christ my Lord." But one yet more eminent for his deep experience of this truth, has thus recorded his testimony: "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yes, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Who can compute the glory brought to Jesus by God's full justification of the poor believing sinner through the righteousness of His beloved Son? He is glorified in the progressive holiness of His people. "The kingdom of God is within you," says Christ. The increase of this kingdom is just the measure and extent of the believer's advance in sanctification. This is that internal righteousness, the work of God the Holy Spirit, which consists in the subjugation of the mind, the will, the affections, the desires, yes, the whole soul, to the government and supremacy of Jesus, "bringing into captivity," says the apostle, "every thought to the obedience of Christ." Oh, you who are "striving against sin," longing to be "conformed to the image of God's Son," panting to be more "pure in heart," "hungering and thirsting for righteousness," think that in every step which you take in the path of holiness, in every corruption subdued, in every besetting sin laid aside, in every holy desire begotten, Christ is glorified in you! But you perhaps reply, "the more I strive for the mastery, the more I seem to be conquered. The more strongly I oppose my sins, the stronger my sins seem to be." But what does this prove? it proves that "God is working in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure," -that the kingdom of God is invading the kingdom of Satan- that the Spirit dwelling in the heart is warring with the flesh. It is truly remarked by Owen, that "if a believer lets his sins alone, his sins will let him alone." But let him search them as with candles, let him bring them to the light, oppose, mortify, and crucify them, they will to the last, struggle for the victory. And this inward warfare, so graphically and touchingly described in the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, undeniably marks the inhabitation of God the Holy Spirit in the soul. But to see one advancing in holiness, thirsting for God, the heart fixed in its solemn purpose of entire surrender; cultivating higher views, and aiming for a loftier standard; to behold him, perhaps, carving his way to the throne through mighty opposition, "fightings without; fears within; "striving for the mastery of some besetting sin, sometimes foiling, and sometimes foiled, sometimes with the shout of victory on the lip, and sometimes with painful consciousness of defeat bowing the heart; yet still onward- the needle of the soul, with slow and tremulous, but true and certain, movement, still pointing to its glorious attraction, God- faith that can never fail, and hope that can never die, and love that can never be quenched; hanging amid their warfare and in all their weakness upon the "nail fastened in a sure place." How is Christ, our sanctification, glorified in such a saint! Oh to be like Jesus! meek, and lowly, and gentle, and kind, and forgiving; without craftiness, without deceit, without malice, without revenge; without one temper, or thought, or feeling, or look, that is unlike Him! Beloved, mistake not the nature and the evidence of growth in sanctification. In all your self-denial in this great work, be cautious of grace-denial. You will need much holy wisdom here, lest you overlook the work of the Spirit within you. You have thought, it may be, of the glory that Christ receives from brilliant genius, and profound talent, and splendid gifts, and glowing zeal, and costly sacrifices, and even extensive usefulness. But have you ever thought of the glory, the far greater, richer glory, that flows to Him from the contrite spirit, the broken heart, the lowly mind, the humble walk; from the tear of godly repentance that falls when seen by no human eye, and the sigh of godly sorrow that is breathed when heard by no human ear; and the sin abhorrence, and self loathing, and deep sense of vileness, and poverty, and infirmity that takes you to Jesus with the prayer- "Lord, here I am; I have brought to You my rebellious will, my wandering heart, my worldly affections, my peculiar infirmity, my besetting and constantly overpowering sin. Receive ,me graciously, put forth the mighty power of Your grace in my soul, and subdue all, and rule all, and subjugate all to Yourself! Will it not be for Your glory, the glory of Your great name, if this strong corruption were subdued by Your grace, if this powerful sin were nailed to Your cross, if this temper so sensitive, and this heart so impure, and these affections so truant, and this mind so dark, and these desires so earthly, and these pursuits so carnal, and these aims so selfish, were all entirely renewed by Your Spirit, sanctified by Your grace, and made each to reflect Your image? Yes, Lord, it would be for Your glory, through time and through eternity." Especially is the Lord Jesus glorified in the life of faith which His saints live upon Him. The experience of every believer is, in a limited degree, the experience of the great apostle of the Gentiles, the tip of whose soaring wing, we, who so much skim the earth's surface, can scarcely touch- "The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God." "Like precious faith" with his, dwells in the hearts of all the regenerate. Along this royal highway it is ordained by God that all His people should travel. It is the way their Lord traveled before them; it is the way they are to follow after Him. The first step they take out of the path of 'sense', is into the path of 'faith'. And what a mighty grace do they find it, as they journey on! Do they live? it is by faith. Do they stand? it is by faith. Do they walk? it is by faith. Do they fight? it is by faith. Do they overcome? it is by faith. Do they see what is invisible? it is by faith. Do they receive what is incredible? it is by faith. Do they achieve what is impossible? it is by faith. Glorious achievements of faith! And, oh, how eminently is Jesus thus glorified in His saints! Was it no glory to Joseph that, having the riches of Egypt in His hands, all the people were made, as it were, to live daily and hourly upon Him? Was no fresh accession of dignity brought to His exaltation, by every fresh acknowledgment of His authority, and every renewed application to His wealth? And is not Jesus glorified in His exaltation, and in His fulness, and in His love, and in His grace, by that faith, in the exercise of which, "a poor and an afflicted people," the needy and the tried Church, are made to travel to, and live upon, Him each moment? Ah, yes! every corruption taken to His sanctifying grace; every burden taken to His omnipotent arm; every sorrow taken to His sympathizing heart; every need taken to His overflowing fulness; every wound taken to His healing hand; every sin taken to His cleansing blood; and every deformity taken to His all-covering righteousness, swells the revenue of glory, which each second of time ascends to our adorable Redeemer from His Church. You may have imagined- for I will now suppose myself as addressing the seeking soul- that Christ has been more glorified by your hanging back from Him- doubting the efficacy of His blood to cancel your guilt, and the power of His grace to mortify your corruption, and the sufficiency of His fulness to supply your need, and the sympathy of His nature to soothe your grief, and the loving willingness of heart to receive and welcome you as you are, empty, vile, and worthless; little thinking, on the contrary, how much He has been grieved, and wounded, and dishonored, and robbed of His glory, by this doubting of His love, and this distrusting of His grace, after all the melting exhibitions of the one, and all that convincing evidence of the other. But, is it the desire of your inmost soul that Christ should be glorified by you? then do not forget the grand, luminous truth of the Bible, that He is the Savior of sinners, and of sinners as sinners- that in the great matter of the soul's salvation, He recognizes nothing of worthiness in the creature; and that whatever human merit is brought to Him with a view of commending the case to His notice- whatever- be it even the incipient work of His own Spirit in the heart- is appended to His finished work, as a ground of acceptance with God, is so much detraction from His glory as a Redeemer- than which, of nothing He is more jealous- and, consequently, places the soul at a great remove from His grace. But like Bartimeus, casting the garment from you- be that garment what it may- pride of merit- pride of intellect- pride of learning- pride of family- pride of place- yes, whatever hinders your entering the narrow way, and prevents your receiving the kingdom of God "as a little child," and coming to Jesus to be saved by Him alone, brings more real glory to Him, than imagination can conceive, or words can describe. If, then, Jesus is especially glorified in the faith of His people, let yours be a life of faith in all its minute detail. Live upon Him for spiritual supplies; live upon Him for temporal supplies. Go to Him in dark providences, that you may be kept from sinking: go to Him in bright providences, that you may be kept from falling. Go to Him when the path is rough, that you may walk in it contentedly: go to Him when the path is smooth, that you may walk in it surely. Let your daily history be a traveling to Jesus empty, and a coming from Jesus filled. Keep the truth constantly and prominently before your eye, "The just shall live by faith." If this be so, do not expect that God will ever permit you to live by sight. Bend your whole soul submissively to Him in this matter. Let His will and yours be one. If, in the course of your wilderness journeyings, He has brought you into a great strait, yes, to the very margin of the sea, still at His bidding, 'go forward,' though it be into that sea. Trust Him to cleave asunder its waters, making a dry passage for your feet, and causing those very waves that threatened to engulf you, now to prove as a cloud canopying you above, and as walls of strength, fencing you in on every side. Remember, too, that it is one peculiar exercise and precious privilege of faith, to "wait patiently for the Lord." The Divine exhortation is, "Commit your way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He will bring it to pass." "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." This patience of the soul is the rest of faith, on the faithful God; it is a 'standing still, to see His salvation.' And the Divine encouragement is, that in this posture will be found the secret of your real power. "In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." "Their strength is to sit still." Be watchful against everything that would mar the simplicity of your faith, and so dim the glory of Jesus. Especially guard against the adoption of unlawful or doubtful measures, with a view to disentanglement from present difficulties. Endure the pressure, submit to the wrong, bear the suffering, rather than sin against God, by seeking to forestall His mind, or to antedate His purpose, or by transferring your interests from His hands to your own. "Beware of desperate steps: the darkest day, Wait but tomorrow, will have passed away." Oh, the glory that is brought to Jesus by a life of faith! Who can fully estimate it? Taking to Him the corruption, as it is discovered- the guilt, as it rises- the grief, as it is felt- the cross, as it is experienced- the wound, as it is received; yes, simply following the example of John's disciples, who, when their master was slain, took up his headless body, and buried it, and then went and poured their mournful intelligence into the ear of Jesus, and laid their deep sorrow on His heart; this is to glorify Christ! Truly is this "precious faith," and truly is the "trial of our faith precious," for it renders more precious to the heart "His precious blood," who, in His person, is unutterably "precious to those who believe." By a patient endurance of suffering for His sake, the Redeemer is greatly glorified in His saints. The apostle- and few drank of the bitter cup more deeply than He- presents suffering for Christ, in the soothing light of a Christian privilege. "Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to safer for His sake." And how touchingly did the experience of the disciples correspond with this: "They departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name." Has it pleased the Lord, dear reader, to place you in a somewhat similar position? Ah! is it no suffering to stand up in the midst of one's beloved family, surrounded by irreligion, and worldliness, and a total disregard of the fear of God, a lone and a despised witness for Jesus? Ah! is it no suffering to thread the intricate and narrow way, or to run with you the Christian race, in the domestic circle- no eye beaming with holy love, no voice responding in cheering accent, no hand to guide, no arm to lean upon, no bosom to weep upon, no kindred spirit, no second self; to see one's God denied, one's Savior rejected, one's religion scoffed, one's principles trampled under foot, and one's privileges curtailed; to have one's name cast out as evil, to be counted a fool, an enthusiast, or mad; to endure the loss of temporal interest, and domestic happiness, and earthly prospects, and in a sense to "forsake house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for Christ's sake;" -is this no path of trial and suffering? "But if you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you," for thereby is Christ glorified in you. He is glorified in your patient endurance of suffering, in your meek submission to reproach, in your overcoming evil with good, your return of prayer for cursing, of blessing for railing, and of love for hatred. Believer, suffering for Christ! rejoice, yes, rejoice that you are counted worthy to suffer shame for His sake! What distinction is awarded you! What honor is put upon you! What a favored opportunity have you now of bringing glory to His name! -for illustrating His sustaining grace, and upholding strength, and almighty power, and infinite wisdom, and comforting love! By the firm, yet mild maintenance of your principles, by the dignified, yet gentle spirit of forbearance, by the uncompromising, yet kind resistance to allurement, let the Redeemer be glorified in you! In all your persecution for righteousness' sake, let your eye be immovably fixed on Jesus. In Him, and in this peculiar path, you have a bright example. "Consider Him that endured such contradiction from sinners against Himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your mind." Remember how, for your redemption, He "endured the cross, despising the shame;" and for your continual support, "is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." "Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees," "for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you." Great, too, is the glory brought to our incarnate God by the sanctified afflictions of His saints. How deep these often are, let many testify; and yet the deeper the affliction, the deeper the glory. Behold the glory brought to God by Daniel in the den of lions; by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the fiery furnace; and by Paul and Silas in the prison. And what is their history, but a type of all the afflicted members of God's family? The Lord will be glorified in His people- therefore does He afflict, and try, and chasten them. "The Lord tries the righteous." He has His den, His prison, His furnace. He has His own mode, His appointed way of proving His work in their hearts; and whether by the lions' den, or the prison, or the furnace, He is glorified in them. To see how Christ can shut the mouth of the lion, and can temper the devouring flame, and can unbar the doors of the prison-house, how glorious thus appears His power! To mark the resigned will, the subdued spirit, the mute submission, the cheerful acquiescence in the deepest affliction, how glorious thus appears His grace! To behold the daily strength imparted, the precious promises applied, the soothing consolation experienced, how glorious thus appears His love! To see the chaff scattered, and the dross consumed, and the mind brought into perfect harmony with God's will, to say with David, "My soul is even as a weaned child," how glorious thus appears His wisdom! Oh, if these are the blessings which blossom upon the rod, then welcome the rod! If this is the glory brought to the name of Jesus by a process of sanctified affliction, then welcome the affliction! Only see that He is truly glorified in you by it. See that He is glorified while you are in the furnace, by your passive graces; see that He is glorified when you have come forth from the furnace, by your active graces. "Wherefore glorify you the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel." "When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold." Nor must we overlook that path walking in which the Redeemer is so manifestly glorified in His saints- even the way of a holy and cheerful obedience to His commands. Were we to select a single word from the Bible which we would desire to be distinctly, prominently, and constantly before the eye of the believer, it would be- obedience. The stress which the Holy Spirit has laid upon the duty is great, and the blessing and honor which the Lord has attached to its observance, is immense and encouraging. It involves every covenant mercy, and it is the great secret of all holiness, and therefore of all happiness. What the Lord once spoke to His ancient people, He speaks at the present to all His spiritual Israel, "Now, therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine. And you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation." And who does not trace the blessing which the Lord has attached to obedience in the history of Abraham, when, at God's command, be bound his son as a sacrifice upon the altar- "And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice." And see how the Lord confirmed the fact of his obedient walk, and fulfilled the promise of blessing to his son Isaac, to whom He said, "Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you; for unto you, and unto your seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I aware unto Abraham your father . . . because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." Rich, too, is the blessing annexed to the promise, "If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat of the good of the land." And solemn and searching the word addressed by the holy prophet to the temporizing king, "Has the Lord as great delight in burned offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." As King in Zion, our adorable Lord Jesus delights to reign over a loving and an obedient people. Thus He has made their obedience to His commands a test of their love to His person- "If you love me, keep my commandments." "Teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you," was the last charge given to His disciples. Now it is this keeping of His commandments, this observance of what He has enjoined, that glorifies Him in His saints. Coming to Him in our ignorance, glorifies Him as our Prophet; coming to Him with our guilt, glorifies him as our Priest; and walking obediently to His precepts, glorifies Him as our King. It places the crown upon the head of His sovereignty, it recognizes the spiritual nature of His kingdom, and it upholds the purity, majesty, and authority of His laws. It becomes, then, the solemn and imperative duty of every believer to search the will and testament of his dying, risen, and exalted Lord, to ascertain all that He has enjoined upon his obedience in the way of precept and command. For how can he be a good and an obedient subject, if be understands not the laws of Christ's kingdom? Then, when the precept is clearly revealed, and the command is distinctly made known, immediate, self-denying, and cheerful obedience is to follow, as that path which, while it insures the sweetest peace to the soul, brings the highest glory to Christ. Let yours be an obedient walk, dear reader! Let your obedience be the fruit of faith, the dictate of love. Permit no reserve in your obedience! let it be full, honest, and complete. Search the New Testament Scripture, and examine closely your own walk, and ascertain in what particular your obedience to Christ is deficient. Be upright, honest, and sincere in your inquiry. Let your fervent prayer be, "Lord, what will You have me to do? Is there any precept of Your word slighted, any command disobeyed, any cross not taken up? Is there any desire to withhold my neck from Your yoke, or to withdraw my shoulder from Your burden, or to mark out a smoother path than that which You have chosen and bid me walk in? Is there any secret framing of excuse for my disobedience, any temporizing, any carnal feeling, any worldly motive, any fear of man, any shrinking from consequences? Lord, You know all things, You know that I love You. You are precious to my soul, for You have borne my sins, endured my curse, carried my cross; and in return do only ask, as an evidence of how much I owe, and how much I love, that I should keep Your commandments, and follow Your example. Now, Lord, take my poor heart, and let it be Yours, Yours only, and Yours forever. Let Your sweet love constrain me to 'run in the way of Your commandments,' for this will I do when You shall enlarge my heart." Then will follow the precious fruits of obedience, even as the bud expands into the blossom, and the blossom ripens into the fruit. There will be a growth, a delightful expansion of the life of God in the soul! and with the increase of the Divine life, there will be an increase of all the precious 'fruits of the Spirit.' "Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel! I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go. Oh that you had hearkened to my commandments! then had your peace been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea." See that your Redeemer is glorified in your obedience; that for the happiness of your soul, and for the honor of Christ, you "stand complete in all the will of God!" The branch of our subject, thus imperfectly placed before the reader, is deeply practical. In what a solemn and responsible position it places every believer! "You are my witnesses, says the Lord." "I have created him for my glory." "You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified." Then, how "very jealous for the Lord God of hosts" should we be! How vigilant, lest in any degree, or in any way, we withhold from Christ the glory due unto Him. There are many ways by which we may be betrayed into this grievous sin- a careless walk- unmortified sin- self-indulgence- a light and volatile spirit- a neglect of means- a distant walk with God- coldness of love towards the saints. But especially mixing up with, and indulging in, a sinful conformity to the world, its fashions, its pleasures, its literature, its religion. Christian professor! can you rigidly conform to these fashions- can you spend your hours over that novel- can you attend that ball- can you move in that dance- can you embark in that enterprise, and glorify Jesus by it? Put the question fairly, honestly, and closely to your conscience, "Do I bring glory to Christ by this? Is my Redeemer thus magnified in me before the world and the Church?" Oh, aim for a high standard! Do not be a common-place professor. Do not be an ordinary Christian. Shun not to be singular. Dare for the glory of Christ to come out of the world, not to touch the unclean thing, and to be separate, set apart for God alone. "Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit! so shall you be my disciples." Thank God for the little, but, oh, aim for the 'much fruit!' - strong faith, ardent love, self-consuming zeal, unreserved obedience, holy, and entire, and supreme surrender. "From me is your fruit found." Your union with Christ, your living in Christ, your close adherence to Christ, your constant drawing from Christ, will be found to involve the happy secret of that great fruitfulness which brings most glory to the Triune God. Come- drawn by grace, constrained by love, attracted by the glory and the preciousness of Jesus- come now to that one' altar which sanctifies both the giver and the gift,' and as you lay yourself upon it, body, soul, and spirit, exclaim with the apostle, "Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death." The solemn vow is taken! The holy surrender is made! It is seen, it is heard, it is ratified in heaven. May you be so strengthened from above, "that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of God, even the Lord Jesus Christ," is the devout and fervent desire of one who, with you, through time and through eternity, hopes to unite in the grateful, adoring, and never ceasing hallelujah, "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift!"

## The Holy Spirit Glorifying the Redeemer He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. John 16:14 He will bring me glory by revealing to you whatever he receives from me. John 16:14 How replete with the deepest instruction, and how copious with the richest comfort, is the chapter which embodies the great truth, on the unfolding of which we have now entered! We have before observed, that it was a marked characteristic of the farewell discourse of our blessed Lord to His disciples, that He then went more fully into the character and official work of the Holy Spirit than at any former period of His ministry. There is an air of solemnity and a force of affirmation in the manner and in the terms with which He proceeds to enunciate the great truth of the Spirit's descent, as an immediate and necessary consequent of His own departure, which not only awaken on its behalf the deepest interest, but which evidence that, in the mind of the glorious Promiser Himself, the gift was identical with the most enlarged, costly, and enduring blessing to the Church: "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you: but if I depart, I will send Him unto you." Thereby implying, that the permanent presence and indwelling of the Spirit as the Comforter, was even more than an equivalent for His bodily absence; and would fully compensate the Church for any loss it might sustain from His departure. Ah, it is the mercy of the believer to know that he is not only a temple of the Holy Spirit, but that through all his pilgrimage he shall be gladdened with the presence, and cheered with the smile, of Jesus too. Our Lord then proceeds to advance another reason for the gift which He was about to bestow. "I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now." We are not to understand, that by this He meant to convey the idea that He had kept back any doctrines or precepts of the Gospel, to be afterwards revealed to, and more fully promulgated by the apostles: far from it; for in His frequent discourses, on various suitable occasions, He had fully expounded to His disciples all the great leading truths and doctrines of His Gospel, leaving them nothing to conjecture or to doubt. Hence, on a previous occasion, He declares, "I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard from my Father, I have made known unto you." But we are to interpret His meaning as referring, among other things, to the enlargement of His kingdom, by the accession of the Gentiles to it; to the nature of the Gospel Church, of which they as yet were imperfectly informed, if informed at all; to the dispersion of the Jewish nation, and their final restoration to their own land; to the entire abrogation of the Mosaic economy, and to the rise and progress of Antichrist; the full disclosure of these things, they could not then bear, in consequence of their Jewish prejudices, which yet existed- the earthly conceptions of Christ's kingdom, which they still cherished, and the scanty measure- the mere pledge- of the Holy Spirit, which they had as yet but received. There is yet another declaration of our Lord concerning the Spirit, to which we would refer, vindicating it from a misinterpretation, which it has received- "He will not speak of Himself." This passage has led many to suppose, that the Spirit does not speak of, or witness to, His own work! But this is, obviously, not the true meaning of the words. "He will not speak of (or, from) Himself," that is, in opposition to, or independently of, the Father and the Son. Thus our Lord, referring to Himself, says, "I have not spoken of (or, from) myself;" and again, "The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself," evidently meaning, "I come not in my own name, I come to do my Father's will; I have no separate authority of my own; I act in concert with Him that sent me." And in this obvious sense, our Lord says of the Spirit, "He shall not speak of (or, from) Himself;" -not that He shall not speak of or witness to His own work in the soul, but that He shall not speak of His own self, as separate from the Godhead. The misinterpretation which we have thus endeavored to correct, has led those who entertained it, to question the absolute Deity of the Spirit; as if the text implied inferiority of nature. But we answer, Did not our Lord come as a servant, and not in His own name; and did that inferiority of office prove an inferiority of nature? Surely not. Is the King's Son less a prince royal, because He bears a commission from His Father? He may be inferior to His Father in office, yet equal to Him in all the personal and essential attributes of royalty. When Christ affirmed, "My Father is greater than I," He alluded to a subordination of office, not to an inequality of nature. Thus the Spirit is as much a procession from the Father as the Son, and is as much the messenger of Christ as Christ is of the Father. The Spirit leads us to the Son, and the Son conducts us to the Father. "For through Him (the Son) we both (Jew and Gentile) have access by one Spirit unto the Father." The Father is God- the Son is God- and the Holy Spirit is God, and these three constitute the One Triune Jehovah. But the great work of the Spirit is to glorify Christ. To the devout and solemn consideration of this precious and important branch of our great subject, let us now direct our thoughts. Thus does our Lord affirm the truth- "He will glorify me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you." Viewed in relation to this truth, the work of the Holy Spirit appears in a light of immeasurable greatness and glory. It would seem to be the pivot on which turned the entire work of Jesus- the source which supplied its life, its power, and its efficacy. Not for a moment would we hazard the idea, that the testimony and grace of the Spirit imparted any intrinsic efficacy to the atoning work of Jesus; the entire completeness of that work, its full acceptance in the court of justice, the legal discharge of the Church on its ground, and the Father's approval of it by the resurrection and exaltation of His Son; as we have shown at some length. The sacrificial work of Jesus, therefore, receives no measure of intrinsic value, or efficacy, from any part of the work of the Spirit: and yet there is a connection, and a dependence. As far as the work of our dear Lord becomes available in the personal salvation of the believer, it depends solely upon the life-giving influence of God the Holy Spirit. Complete as is the righteousness, efficacious as is the blood, and all-sufficient as is the grace of Christ, yet apart from the especial, effectual, and Divine operation of the Spirit upon the heart, they would remain to us as a robe unworn, a fulness untouched, a "fountain sealed." Thus, there is a beautiful relation, a sweet harmony, between the atoning work of Jesus and the official work of the Holy Spirit- "He will glorify me." We have already alluded to the day of Pentecost. We recur to it again, because on that memorable day the Spirit first glorified Christ, openly, visibly, manifestly. It would seem as if the curtain of eternity were parted, and the windows of heaven were opened, and eyes that saw nothing but lowliness, and poverty and degradation in Jesus before, now were permitted to behold Him inaugurated in His throne, a Prince and a Savior, encircled with glory, and with gifts of grace in His hand, ready to shower them profusely upon the rebellious. Three thousand souls pierced to their heart, made to see the plague within, stretched out their hands of faith, and welcomed these gifts, adoring the grace, extolling the love, crowning the Prince, and lauding the Savior, from where, and through whom, they proceeded. Oh, how illustriously did the Spirit now outwardly glorify Jesus! How glorious did He appear to those who now saw nothing but deformity in themselves! How precious to those whose hearts were never before stricken with godly grief! What compunction, what sadness, what sorrow must have bowed their hearts to the dust as they thought- "This is He whom we called a Nazarene, whom we stigmatized as a glutton and a wine-bibber, whom we bound, whom we scourged, whom we spat upon, whom we mocked, and whom we crucified!" But how glorious to their eye would He now appear, returning them good for evil, blessing for cursing, cherishing them on the bosom they had wounded, and causing pardon, acceptance, present hope and future glory, to flow to them through that very blood in the shedding of which their hands had been imbrued! What an open, visible glorifying of Christ by the Eternal Spirit was this! The Spirit glorifies Jesus in the Word. The Word of God is full of Christ. He is the sun of this Divine system, the fountain of its light and beauty. How emphatically does He Himself declare this truth, and we know that His witness is true- "You search the Scriptures because you believe they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!" The Scriptures testify of Jesus. Every doctrine derives its substance from His person, every precept its force from His work, every promise its sweetness from His love. Is it not to be feared, that in the study of the Scriptures, it is a much forgotten truth, that they testify of Jesus? Are they not read, searched, and examined, with a mind too little intent upon adding to its wealth, by an increased knowledge of His person, and character, and work? And thus it is we lower the character of the Bible. We may read it as a mere uninspired record; we may study it as a book of human literature. Its antiquity may interest us, its history may inform us, its philosophy may instruct us, its poetry may charm us; and thus, while skimming the surface of this Book of books, the glorious Christ, who is its substance, its subject, its sweetness, its work- and but for whom there had been no Bible- has been deeply and darkly veiled from the eye. But it is the office of the blessed and eternal Spirit to unfold, and so to glorify, Jesus in the Word. All that we spiritually and savingly learn respecting Him, through this revealed medium, is by the sole teaching of the Holy Spirit, opening up this word to the mind. He shows how all the luminous lines of Scripture truth emanate from, return to, and center in, Christ- how all the doctrines set forth the glory of His person, how all the promises are written in His heart's blood, and how all the precepts are embodied in His life. To the question often earnestly propounded- "What is the best method of reading, so as to understand the Scriptures?" I would, in this connection of our subject, reply- Read them with the one desire and end of learning more of Christ, and with earnest prayer for the teaching of the Spirit, that Christ may be unfolded in the Word. With this simple method persevered in, you shall not fail to comprehend the mind of the Holy Spirit, in portions which previously may have been unintelligible and obscure. Do not restrict yourself to fixed rules, or to human helps. Rely less upon dictionaries, and maps, and annotations. With singleness of aim, with a specific object of research, and with fervent prayer for the Holy Spirit's teaching, "you need not that any man teach you;" but collating Scripture with Scripture, "comparing spiritual things with spiritual," you may fearlessly enter upon the investigation of the greatest mysteries contained in the sacred Volume, assured that the Savior, for whose glories and riches you search, will reveal Himself to your eye, "full of grace and truth." Precious Bible! so full of a precious Jesus! How do all its clouds and darkness melt into light and beauty, as He, the Sun of Righteousness, rises in noontide glory upon its page! Search it, my reader, with a view of seeing and knowing more of your Redeemer, compared with whom, nothing else is worth knowing or making known. Love your Bible, because it testifies of Jesus; because it unfolds the great Savior, the almighty Redeemer; because it reveals the glory of the sin-pardoning God, in the person of Jesus Christ. Aim to unravel Jesus in the types, to observe Him amid the shadows, to trace Him through the predictions of the prophets, the records of the evangelists, and the letters of the apostles. All speak of, and all lead to, Jesus. "They are they which testify of me." And not only thus, but by employing the truth which especially testifies of Jesus, as the grand instrument of producing that holiness in the soul of which He is the Divine Author, He confers unspeakable honor on Christ in the word. The Spirit of God undertakes the achievement of a stupendous work. He enters the soul, and proposes to restore the empire of grace, the reign of holiness, and the throne of God. He engages to form all things anew- to create a revolution in favor of Christ and of heaven. He undertakes to change the heart, turning its enmity into love; to collect all the elements of darkness and confusion, educing from them perfect light and perfect order; to subdue the will, bringing it into harmony with God's will; to explore all the recesses of sin, turning its very impurity into holiness- in a word, to regenerate the soul, restoring the Divine image, and fitting it for the full and eternal enjoyment of God in glory. Now, in accomplishing this great work, what instrumentality does He employ? Passing by all human philosophy, and pouring contempt upon the profoundest wisdom and the mightiest power of man, He employs, in the product of a work, in comparison with which the rise and the fall of empires were as infants' play, simply and alone, the "truth as it is in Jesus." With this instrument He enters the soul- the seat of the greatest revolution that ever transpired. He moves over the dark chaos, without form and void, and in a moment, a world of immortal beauty bursts into view. He overshadows the soul, and a vital principle is imparted, whose stream of existence, once commenced, flows on with the eternity of God Himself. How Divine, yet how natural, too, the process! In the illapses of human thought, in the overtasked power of the human intellect, how often is the mind impaired and shattered by the severe process through which it passes! But here is a revolution which touches every faculty of the soul, which changes all the powers of the mind; and yet, so gentle, so persuasive, and so mild, is the Spirit's operation, that so far from deranging the power, or disturbing the balance, of the intellect, it develops resources, awakens energies, and inspires strength, of which, until now, it knew not its possession. "The entrance of Your word gives light; it gives understanding unto the simple." And to what shall we turn for the secret of this? To the Gospel, so replete with the glory of Jesus. That Gospel, the substance of which is the incarnate God; the theme of which is Christ crucified. That Gospel which testifies of His Godhead, which declares His manhood, which unfolds the union of both in the person of the glorious Redeemer; and which holds Him up to view, mighty and willing to save to the uttermost. Well may the great apostle of the Gentiles exclaim, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes." In the further work of sanctification by the truth, the Divine Spirit equally magnifies Christ. Still does He employ the truth, that speaks of Jesus. Does He quicken? it is by a Gospel precept. Does He establish? it is by a Gospel doctrine. Does He comfort? it is by a Gospel promise. Does He sanctify? it is by a Gospel admonition. Thus is Jesus honored through the word, in every step of our way to heaven. And oh, how sanctifying and comforting is the truth which testifies of Jesus! It has but to point to Him, and, clothed with the energy of the Spirit, the strongest corruption is subdued, the deepest grief is soothed. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." And this it does, by unfolding Jesus in the word. Oh, of what, value or efficacy is all our knowledge of the truth, if it lead us not to Jesus; if it expand not our views of His glory; if it conform not our minds to His image; if it increase not our love to His person, and if it quicken not our obedience to His commands, and our zeal for His cause; and mature us not, by a progressive holiness, for the enjoyment of His beatific presence? But here let us vindicate the honor of the Divine Spirit against the view of some, calculated greatly to affect it. There are those who deny any other operation of the Holy Spirit, than that which exists in the written word- thus restricting His influence solely to the letter of the truth, and thereby limiting His power and detracting from His glory. But is not this an exalting of the instrumental above the efficient cause of regeneration? Divine as is the record, and precious as is the revelation it affords of Jesus, it yet is but an instrument, and nothing more. Unaccompanied with the power of the Holy Spirit, it is inactive, inoperative, a mere dead letter. It quickens not, it sanctifies not, it comforts not. It may be read constantly, and searched deeply, and known accurately, and understood partially, and quoted appropriately; yet, left to its own unassisted power, 'it comes but in word only,' producing no hallowing, no abiding, no saving results. If there be no other, especial and invincible, influence of the Divine Spirit, operating upon the mind, how comes it to pass that all who read the word are not instantly converted by the word? -that wherever these healing leaves are borne, wherever this precious seed is scattered, broad-cast upon the world, man's moral malady is not arrested, and a harvest of happiness to the creature, and of glory to God, springs not forth. Let those who insist upon no other extraneous and superior operation of the Holy Spirit, in the spiritual creation of the soul, than exists in the mere letter of the word, reply. But the truth itself shall testify. See how it disclaims all such glory, ascribing it to Him to whom it of right and alone belongs- God the Holy Spirit. "Our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit." Here, evidently, are the word and the Spirit, the instrument and the Agent, co-operating together. The apostle, in another place, speaks of the truth, as the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Of what real service can the sword be, if not used? Its surface may be polished, and its edge may be keen, yet if there is no powerful arm to wield it, it can do no execution- none feel, none fear it. But it is the "sword of the Spirit," - He employs it then it is that the "word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword," -then it separates, then it wounds, then it slays. "The word declares Christ, and the Spirit excites the heart to accept Him. The word shows His excellency, and the Spirit stirs up strong cries after Him. The word declares the promises, and the Spirit helps us to plead them. The word administers reasons against our reasonings, and the Spirit applies them. The word shows the way, the Spirit enables us to walk in it. The word is the seed of the Spirit, and the Spirit is the Quickener of the word. The word is the graft, and the Spirit is the Engrafter. The word is the pool of water, and the Spirit stirs it to make it healing." (Charnock) In the clear and decided testimony which He bears to the Godhead of the Redeemer, the Spirit especially glorifies Him. We have seen in the preceding pages, that the great glory of our Emmanuel is His essential glory. When our faith can firmly grasp the Deity of our adorable Lord- and on this precious doctrine may it never waver!- there is a corresponding confidence and repose of the mind in each particular of His sacrificial work. Then it is we talk of Him as a Mediator, and love to view Him as the great Sin-bearer of His people. In vain do we admire His righteousness, or extol His death, if we look not upon Him in the glory which belongs to Him as essentially God. From this truth, as from a fountain of light, beams forth the glory which sheds its soft halo around His atoning work. Oh, when, in the near view of death, memory summons back the past, and sin in battle-array passes before the eye, and we think of the Lord God, the Holy One, into whose awful presence we are about to enter, how will every other support but this sink beneath us! And as the Holy Spirit then glorifies Christ in His essential glory, testifying that the blood and righteousness- the soul's great trust- are from the incarnate God, we shall rise superior to fear, smile at death, and pass in peace and triumph to glory. Yes, reader, we shall be satisfied with nothing short of absolute Deity when we come to die. And in proportion as you find this great truth the substance of your life, you will experience it the support of your death. Thus does the Spirit glorify Christ in His Godhead. But especially in the experience of all His saints, does the Holy Spirit magnify Christ. "He shall glorify me, for He shall take of the things of mine, and show them unto you." We would not have you forget, that the first step which the Spirit takes in glorifying Christ in the creature, is to lay that creature low in the dust. He uncrowns, and humbles the pride of man, before He glorifies Jesus in the soul's experience. Oh, what a mighty work is this- what a great preparation for the entrance of Christ's glory in the soul! A preparation performed, not by the creature, but by the Spirit in the creature. And in what does the Spirit's preparation consist? Not in bettering the condition, but in exposing the depravity of our fallen nature. Not in concealing, but in uncovering the leprosy within. He goes before the Lord, to prepare His way, by discovering to the soul its extreme emptiness, poverty, and vileness. He creates a felt-necessity for Christ's entrance. He brings the soul into such a position, that none but Christ can meet its case. He inflicts a wound, which Christ alone can heal: He awakens grief, which Christ only can assuage: He creates a void, which Christ only can fill. Oh, what is the spectacle which fills God with delight, and heaven with gladness? Not the palace, rising in stately grandeur; not the monarch, ascending his throne in imposing royalty; not the cathedral, with its long-drawn aisle, and fretted roof, and pealing music, and burning incense, and fluttering robes. Nor is it the splendid but empty 'form of godliness,' which distinguishes the religion of the many. All is not gold. Many a man has been applauded for his benevolence, and the Lord has said, "I saw no benevolence in it!" And many a man has been extolled for his prayers, and the Lord has said, "I heard no prayer!" What then? It is a poor sinner laid low before the cross, uncrowning himself, and crowning Jesus. And as Jehovah looks down upon the spectacledespised by man, honored by God, for "to this man will I look, who is of a humble and a contrite spirit," -He seems to say, "I see a broken heart; I see a holy trembling at my word; I see one smiting on his breast, I hear a cry- oh, it is the voice of my Spirit- 'God be merciful to me a Sinner!' I behold my own image reflected in that lowly, contrite soul." Now the Spirit proceeds to glorify Christ, by revealing what Christ is to such an emptied, lowly, penitent soul. And this He does, by unfolding the great truth of the Bible- that Jesus died for sinners. Not for the righteous, not for the worthy, but for sinners, as sinners; for the unrighteous, for the unworthy, for the guilty, for the lost. Precious moment, when the Eternal Spirit, the great Glorifier of Jesus, brings this truth with power to the heart! "I had believed," exclaims the transported soul, "that Jesus died only for those who were worthy of so rich a sacrifice, of such immense love. I thought to bring some price of merit in my hands, some self-preparation, some previous fitness, something to render my case worthy of His notice, and to propitiate His kind regard. But now I see His salvation is for the vile, the poor, the penniless. I read, that 'when we were without strength, Christ died for the ungodly,' that 'while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,'- that 'when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son'- that 'it is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,'- that it is 'without money and without price,'- that it is 'by grace we are saved,'- and that it is 'of faith, that it might be by grace."' This good news, these joyful tidings, this glorious message of free mercy for the vilest of the vile, believed, received, welcomed, in a moment the clouds all vanish, the fogs all disappear, the face of God beams in mild and softened luster, and amid light and joy, gladness and praise, the jubilee of the soul is ushered in. Oh, what glory now encircles the Redeemer! That soul venturing upon Him with but the faith of reliance, traveling to Him in all weakness, and in the face of all opposition, brings more glory to His name than all the hallelujahs of the heavenly minstrelsy ever brought. Having conducted the soul to a sweet rest in Christ, the Spirit carries on His work, by keeping that soul perpetually within the influence of Christ's grace. The planets revolving around the sun, each moment liable to wander from their orbit, yet kept by the power of the sun's attraction, illustrates the position of every true believer. The Lord is the sun- in His orbit of light and glory every believer moves. Nor is there a moment in which there is not a tendency in that believer to start off, like a shooting star, or a wandering comet. The apostle has his eye upon this truth, when he thus sounds the note of tender warning- "Take heed, brethren; lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." And observe to what cause he traces all departure from God- unbelief. This is the sin which, in another place, he exhorts the Christian to 'lay aside,' as "the sin which does so easily beset us." What is the besetting sin of every child of God? Let any believer testify. Ask him to point to his most subtle, constant, powerful, and dangerous foe. Ask him what has the most easy access to his mind; what most entangles his feet, and so impedes him in the race that is set before him; what has most easily and frequently vanquished him; what has brought most distress to his soul, and dishonor to God- and he will unhesitatingly reply, "my evil heart of unbelief." He may have constitutional infirmities, and be assailed by peculiar temptations, and may yield to 'presumptuous sins,' and these, in secret and close transaction with God, may cause him the deepest bitterness and humiliation of soul. But the sin which does so easily and so perpetually beset him, is the sin of unbelief, the fruitful cause of all other sin. For as faith is the parent of all holiness, so is unbelief the parent of all unholiness. "It is always present with us," as Owen says, speaking of the restless workings of this evil heart of unbelief, "and so never lacking with any occasion. It stands in need of no help nor furtherance from any outward advantages to tempt our minds. Dwelling in us, abiding with us, cleaving unto us, it is always ready to clog, to hinder, and to disturb us. Does any difficulty or danger appear in the way? It is at hand to cry, 'Spare yourself,' working by fear. Is any sinful compliance proposed unto us? It is ready to argue for its embracement, working by carnal wisdom. Does the weariness of the flesh decline perseverance in necessary duties? It needs not arguments to promote its inclination, working by the dispositions of remaining enmity and vanity. Does the whole matter and cause of our profession come into question, as in a time of severe persecution? It is ready to set all its engines on work for our ruin- fear of danger, love of things present, hope of recovery, reserves for a better season, the example of others esteemed good and wise, shall all be put into the hands of unbelief, to be managed against faith, patience, constancy, and perseverance. It has this advantage, because it has a remaining interest in all the faculties of our souls. It is not in us as a disease that attempts and weakens one single part of the body, but is an evil habit that infects and weakens the whole. Hence it has a readiness to oppose all the actings of grace in every faculty of the soul. The flesh always, and in all things, lusts against the soul." This being the power of repulsion, so innate and so strong in the heart of a child of God, by what counteracting power is it opposed? By what other and mightier influence is the soul so kept within its Divine orbit, that it becomes not as a "wandering star, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever?" By what but the Sun's perpetual and never-failing attraction? Jesus, by the ceaseless energies of His grace, upholds, restrains, and restores the believer. Oh, the mighty power of the Lord continually exerted on behalf of His people! See, how He wins them by His attraction- "Draw us, and we will run after You!" See, how He upholds them by His power- "I have prayed for you that your faith fail not." See, how He checks them by His grace- "I kept you from sinning against me." See, how He restores them by His love- "And Jesus turned and looked upon Peter, and he went out and wept bitterly." Oh, wonderful patience, that bears with all our departures! Oh, surpassing love, that endures all our imperfections! Oh, powerful grace, that heals all our backslidings! Less than this never could meet our case. We need deity from first to last in our salvation. We need the power that never faints! the love that never changes! the patience that never wearies! the tenderness that never fails! the sympathy that never flags! We need Jesus in all that He is. We need the Sun that draws back the roving star. We need the Shepherd that goes after the stray sheep. We need the Fountain that perpetually cleanses from all sin. We need the righteousness that constantly imparts perfect peace. Oh, how does the Spirit glorify Jesus, as He thus unfolds Him in the experience of the believer! -and this He does by keeping the soul each moment within the influence of His grace. "He shall take of the things of mine, and shall show them unto you." The Spirit is the Great Conveyancer of Christ to the soul. Placing Himself between the Fountain and the believer, He purposes to convey all blessing, to supply all need, by taking the things of Christ's mediatorial fulness, bringing them into our blessed and holy experience. Having gone before to prepare the soul for the blessing, by discovering its poverty of state, and creating its poverty of spirit, He now takes of the atoning blood, and applies it to the conscience; and the justifying righteousness, and wraps it around the soul; and the sanctifying grace, and conducts it into the heart. In a word, He reveals Jesus to the mind, testifies of Christ to the soul: how Divine He is, therefore able to save; how loving He is, therefore as willing as He is able; how gracious He is, therefore stooping to our lowest circumstance; how tender He is, therefore trampling not upon our weak faith, nor despising our little grace; how sympathizing He is, therefore turning not away His ear, and withdrawing not His heart from our tale of sorrow or our burden of grief. Oh, what a glorifier of Christ is the Divine Spirit! All that we truly know of Jesus, all that we have inwardly experienced of His grace, has been from His teaching and conveyance. He has conducted us to the Fountain- He has led us to the robing-chamber of the King- He has anointed us with the 'oil of gladness,'- He has caused our "garments to smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces," -He has opened the treasury, taking of the precious, glorious things of the precious, glorious Christ, spreading them out in all their vastness, suitableness, and freeness, before our longing eye. How often, when the soul has hungered, He has broken up to us the bread that came down from heaven! when it has thirsted, He has smitten the Rock, and satiated us with its life-giving stream! How often, when guilt has distressed us, He has sprinkled anew the peace-speaking blood; and when sorrow has oppressed, and difficulties have embarrassed, and dependences have failed, and resources have become exhausted, and creatures most deeply loved have most deeply wounded us, He, the tender, loving Comforter, He, the blessed Teacher, He, the great Glorifier of Jesus, has given to us some new, and appropriate, and precious view of our Emmanuel; and in a moment the storm has passed, the waves have stilled, and peace, serenity, and joy, have shed their luster on the soul. One glimpse of Jesus in deep tribulation, one glance in heart-rending bereavement, one discovery of His countenance when all is dark, and dreary, and desolate, one surprisal of His love when the heart sinks into loneliness, one touch of His cross when it is depressed, and bowed, and broken by sin; oh, it is as though heaven had expanded its gates, and we had passed within, where neither tribulation, nor bereavement, nor darkness, nor loneliness, nor sin, is known any more forever! In placing before the renewed mind the Lord Jesus, as the model by which it is to be molded and fashioned in all godliness, the Spirit glorifies Him. Every soul re-cast into this model, every mind conformed to this pattern, and every life reflecting this image, is an exalting and a glorifying of the Son of God. Now there is no single practical truth in the word of God, on which the Spirit is more emphatic, than the example which Christ has set for the imitation of His followers. The Church needed a perfect pattern, a flawless model. It needed an impersonation, a living embodiment, of those precepts of the Gospel so strictly enjoined upon every believer. To whom should it look? To the holiest of mere men? Hear what one says who yearned to be a pattern of all that was noble and magnanimous in the Christian character, and whom some would have claimed as their master: "Be followers of me, even as I also am of Christ," "only as I follow Christ, only as I am conformed to Him as my copy, my pattern, my example." But God has graciously set before us our true model. "Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son." And what says Christ Himself? "My sheep follow me." Now, in laying stress upon this great practical truth, we concede that much heavenly wisdom and caution are here required. We allow that there are points in which we cannot, and are not required literally and strictly to follow Christ. We cannot lay claim to His infallibility. He who sets himself up as infallible in his judgment, spotlessly pure in his heart, and perfect in his attainments in holiness, deceives his own soul. Jesus did many things, too, as our surety, which we cannot do. We cannot drink of the cup of Divine trembling which He drank; nor can we be baptized with the baptism of blood with which He was baptized. He did many things as a Jew- was circumcised, kept the passover, etc., which things are not obligatory upon us. And yet, in all that is essential to our sanctification, to our holy, obedient, God-glorifying walk, He has "left us an example, that we should follow His steps." In His lowly spirit, meek, humble deportment, and patient endurance of suffering: "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart." In the freeness of His love, His pure benevolence, the unselfishness of His religion: "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others; let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." "We then that are strong, ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. For even Christ pleased not Himself." Look not every man on his own circle, his own family, his own gifts, his own interests, comfort, and happiness; upon his own church, his own community, his own minister. Let him not look upon these exclusively. Let him not prefer his own advantage to the public good. Let him not be self-willed in matters involving the peace and comfort of others. Let him not form favorite theories, or individual opinions, to the hazard of a church's prosperity, or of a family's happiness. Let him yield, sacrifice, and give place, rather than carry a point to the detriment of others. Let him with a generous, magnanimous, disinterested spirit, in all things imitate Jesus, who "pleased not Himself." Let him seek the good of others, honoring their gifts, respecting their opinions, nobly yielding when they correct and overrule his own. Let him promote the peace of the Church, consult the honor of Christ, and seek the glory of God, above and beyond all private and selfish ends. Oh, this is to be conformed to the image of God's dear Son, to which high calling we are predestinated! But as the preceding pages have frequently alluded to the example of Christ, on this point we need not further enlarge; only adding, that in any feature of resemblance which the Holy Spirit brings out in the holy life of a follower of the Lamb, Christ is thereby glorified before men and angels. "These are they who follow the Lamb wherever He goes." The Spirit glorifies Christ in the death of the believer. In that last, closing, trying moment, when life is brought to a fine point, and on that point is suspended an eternal world of glory, Jesus stands by the departing soul. Heart and flesh are failing- the world fades upon the eye- reason wanders- the hand returns not affection's last grasp- the cheek feels not the scalding tear of grief that falls upon it- external objects, once so fond and pleasing, affect no more; but Jesus is there, walking through the dark valley, side by side with the receding spirit. Yes, He is bearing it up in His arms, and is carrying it over the flood gently and safely in His bosom. How many saints in dying have been privileged, with all the strength of their powers, to testify, "Christ is with me in the valley!" The Eternal Spirit in this awful moment has applied afresh the atoning blood- He has wrapped around the spotless righteousness- He has fed with the hidden manna- He has spoken the comforting promise- in a word, He has testified of Jesus. Oh what anticipations of heaven, what transporting joys, what untold glory, what visions of God, have now burst upon the soul! How one has longed to die with them! "Death is not terrible," said Halyburton, when dying in an ecstasy; "it is unstinged, the curse of the fiery law is done away: I bless His name, I have found Him; I am taken up in blessing Him; I am dying, rejoicing in the Lord; I long to be in the promised land! I wait for Your salvation; how long? Come, sweet Lord Jesus, take me by the hand. What means He to stay so long? I am like to faint for delay; I could not believe that I could have borne, and borne cheerfully, this rod so long. This is a miracle, pain without pain; and this is not a fancy of a man disordered in his brain, but of one lying in full composure. Oh, blessed that ever I was born! Oh, if I were where He is! and yet for all this, God's withdrawing from me would make me weak as water. I am wonderfully helped, beyond the power of nature; though my body be sufficiently afflicted, yet my spirit is untouched. In the Mediator, Christ Jesus, there is all the fulness of the Godhead, and it will never run out. When I fall so low that I am not able to speak, I'll show you a sign of triumph when I am near glory, if I be able." This he did by elevating his hands, and clapping them together when speechless, and just departing. Janeway declared in his last sickness: "I am through mercy quite above the fears of death, and am going unto Him whom I love above life. Oh that I could let you know what I now feel! Oh that I could show you what I see! Oh that I could now express the thousandth part of that sweetness which I now find in Christ! You little think what a Christ is worth upon a deathbed. Oh, the glory, the unspeakable glory that I behold! My heart is full, my heart is full! Christ smiles- would you keep me from my crown? The arms of my blessed Savior are open to embrace me, the angels stand ready to carry my soul into His bosom! You would not have the heart to detain me, if you could but see what I see!" Dr Goodwin said, "I am going to the three People with whom I have held communion: they have taken me, I did not take them. I shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye; all my corruptions I shall be rid of in a moment!" Then alluding to the eleventh of the Hebrews, he said, "All these died in faith. I could not have imagined I should ever have had such a measure of faith in this hour; no, I could never have imagined it; my love abides in strength. Is Christ divided? No, I have the whole of His righteousness; Christ cannot love me better than He does; I think I cannot love Christ better than I do; I am swallowed up in God: soon I shall be forever with the Lord!" John Knox thus spoke in dying: "That day is now at hand, which I have so often and intensely longed for, in which I shall be dissolved, and be with Christ. O my friends, wait on the Lord, and death will not be terrible! I have a certain persuasion in my own breast, that Satan shall not be permitted to return, or molest me any more in my passage to glory; but that I shall soon, without any pain of body or agony of mind, sweetly and peacefully exchange this wretched life for that which is through Christ Jesus." Rutherford said, "I shall shine! I shall see Him as He is, and all the fair company with Him, and shall have my large share. I have gotten the victory; Christ is holding forth His arms to embrace me: I have had my fears and faintings, but as sure as ever He spoke to me in His word, His Spirit witnessed to my heart, saying, 'Fear not."' A few moments before breathing his last, he exclaimed, "Now I feel, I believe, I enjoy, I rejoice, I feed on manna, I have angels' food; my eyes shall see my Redeemer: I know that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth!" and then expired, saying, "Glory, glory dwells in Emmanuel's land!" Mr. Holland, overwhelmed with a vision of glory on his death-bed, asked whether the candles had been lighted: he was told it was the sunshine. "Sunshine!" said he, "no, it is my Savior's shine. Oh! tell at my funeral God deals favorably with man; whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell, God knows; but I see things unutterable;" and in this rapture he fell asleep. And how shall we describe the last moments of the seraphic Payson? To go and stand by his dying-bed seems more like a visit to the land of Beulah than to the place where the 'king of terrors' was waging his last conflict. It is to stand 'quite on the verge of heaven.' Listen to the dying saint: "The celestial city is full in my view. Its glories beam upon me, its breezes fan me, its odors are wafted to me, its sounds strike upon my ears, and its spirit is breathed into my heart. Nothing separates me from it but the river of death, which now appears but an insignificant rill, that may be crossed at a single step, whenever God shall give permission. The Sun of Righteousness has been drawing nearer and nearer, appearing larger and brighter as He approached, and now He fills the whole hemisphere, pouring forth a flood of glory in which I seem to float like an insect in the beams of the sun, exulting, yet almost trembling, while I gaze on this excessive brightness, and wondering, with unutterable wonder, why God should deign thus to shine upon a sinful worm. Oh! if ministers only saw the inconceivable glory that is before them, and the preciousness of Christ, they would not be able to refrain from going about, leaping and clapping their hands for joy, and exclaiming, 'I'm a minister of Christ! I'm a minister of Christ!' I can find no words to express my happiness. I seem to be swimming in a river of pleasure, which is carrying me on to the great Fountain. I find no satisfaction in looking at anything I have done; I need to leave all this behind- it is nothing- and fly to Christ, to be clothed in His righteousness. I have done nothing myself. I have not fought, but Christ has fought for me; I have not run, but Christ has carried me; I have not worked, but Christ has wrought in me- Christ has done all! It seems as if the promise, 'God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,' were already fulfilled to me, as it respects tears of sorrow. I have no tears to shed now, but those of love, and joy, and thankfulness. Peace! peace! Victory! victory!" Thus, to life's closing scene, the Spirit glorifies Jesus in the experience of the believer. And thus will He take of Christ's and show them unto you, Christian reader, in the final hour. You shall not lack your Christ when you most need Him. He who has been with you through all your earthly pilgrimage, will be with you in its last step. The Shepherd who has guided you through the wilderness will not leave you when just emerging from it into the promised land. The Pilot who has conducted you across the stormy main, will not resign the government just as the vessel enters the haven of rest. The Captain who has conquered for, and conquered in you, will not leave you when on the eve of the final conflict, and the certain victory. Oh no! Jesus will be with you to the last. Do not be painfully anxious about your dying hour. Let all your solicitude be how you may best glorify Him in your life- He will glorify Himself in your death. All grace, all strength, all glory is laid up for you against that moment. And when it comes, and not until then, will Jesus unlock the treasury, and bring it forth. But oh, to live to Him! To be able to say, "To me to live is Christ!" "Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death." Strive for this. Whatever opposes it, take it to His grace, lay it beneath, yes, fasten it to His cross. Oh! let Christ be everything to you in life, then will He be everything to you in death. Does the ear of some dear departing saint of God lend itself to the recital of these closing words? Beloved of the Lord, beloved in the Lord, what a blessed opportunity have you now of leaning the entire weight of your soul, with all its sins and sorrows, upon the finished work of Jesus, your Almighty Savior, your Goel, your Redeemer! The great debt is cancelled. Justice exacts not a second payment, the first from your Surety, the second from you. No! justice itself is on your side; every perfection of God is a wall of fire round about you. You stand complete in the righteousness of the incarnate God. The blood of Jesus Christ, the Father's own Son, cleanses you from all sin. Many and aggravated you now see to have been your flaws, your derelictions, your departures, your backslidings, your stumblings; sin appears now as it never did before; the sense of your utter unworthiness presses you to the earth. Well, who is on the eager watch for the first kindlings of godly sorrow in the heart of the prodigal? Who welcomes his return with joy, with music, with honors? Whose heart has not ceased to love, whose eye has not ceased to follow, amid all the waywardness and wandering of that child? Oh, it is the Father! "When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." Behold your God, your covenant God and Father in Christ Jesus! This reconciled Father is yours. Throw yourself into His arms, and He will fall on your neck, and will seal upon your heart afresh the sense of His free forgiveness and His pardoning love. Heaven is before you. Soon you will be freed, entirely and forever freed, from all the remains of sin. Soon the last sigh will heave your breast, and the last tear will fall from your eye, and the last pang will convulse your body. Soon, oh how soon, will you "see the King in His beauty," the Jesus who loved you, died for you, ransomed you, and loves you still! Soon you will fall at His feet, and be raised in His arms, and be hushed to rest in His bosom. Soon you will mingle, a pure and happy spirit, with patriarchs and prophets, apostles and martyrs, and with all who sleep in Jesus, who have gone but a little before you. See how they line the shores on the other side, and wait to welcome you over! See how they beckon you away! Above all, sweetest and most glorious of all, behold Jesus standing at the right hand of God, prepared to receive you to Himself! Then, may you not sing– "What's this that steals, that steals away my breath? Is it death? Is it death? That soon will quench, will quench this vital flame? Is it death? Is it death? If this be death, I soon shall be From all my sins and sorrows free, I shall the King of glory see! All is well, all is well! Weep not, my friends, dear friends, weep not for me, All is well, all is well! For I am pardoned, pardoned, I am free; All is well, all is well! There's not a cloud that does arise To hide my Jesus from my eyes; I soon shall mount the upper skies! All is well, all is well! "Tune, tune your harps, your harps, you saints in glory, All is well, all is well! I will rehearse the pleasing story, All is well, all is well! Bright angels are from glory come! They're round my bed, they're in my room; They wait to waft my spirit home! All is well, all is well! "Hark! hark! my Lord, my Lord and Master calls me! All is well, all is well! I soon shall see His face in glory! All is well, all is well! Farewell, loved friends, adieu, adieu, I can no longer stay with you! My glittering crown appears in view! All is well, all is well! "Hail, hail, all hail, all hail, you blood-washed throng, Saved by grace, saved by grace I soon shall join, shall join your rapturous song, Saved by grace, saved by grace! All, all is peace and joy divine, And heaven and glory now are mine! Oh, hallelujah to the Lamb, All is well, all is well!" With this song of joy may you wade the swellings of Jordan, until, landing on the other side, you drop it, to join the triumphant hymn– "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable Gift"

## The Glory of the Redeemer in His Second ## Coming Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Titus 2:13 while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, Titus 2:13 while we look forward to that wonderful event when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. Titus 2:13 If it were true, that the abuse or the perversion of a good thing formed a valid argument against its truth, or were a proper objection to its utility, then how soon should we be compelled to abandon all our strongholds of truth, tamely relinquishing into the hands of the sceptic and the caviler the power of controlling our opinions, and legislating for our consciences! If the advocates of Christianity were responsible for all the flaws, mistakes, and inconsistencies, with which its professed disciples were chargeable; and if it were demanded from them to concede a doctrine or an institution, because that doctrine or that institution had been made the instrument of unrighteousness, then how little would be left to us of the "glorious Gospel of the blessed God!" To what a mere skeleton of truth would this sublime, life-inspiring system be reduced! Take, for example, the Scripture doctrine of justification by faith in Christ. To the urgent and faithful expositor of this cardinal truth, laid deeply and pressed home upon the conscience with earnestness and power, how ready is the opponent of this truth with the remonstrance, "You are teaching a doctrine which has proved most injurious to the best interests of the Christian Church- a doctrine which undermines the foundations of morality, and which weakens the obligation to practical holiness!" Suppose that the believer, admitting the truth of this allegation, were in consequence to abandon the doctrine altogether- what would he be relinquishing? One of the essential corner-stones of the great fabric of the Gospel; one of the main pillars of Christianity; one of the most sanctifying, God-glorifying truths of the Bible; yes, a truth which has well been denominated the doctrine of a standing or a falling Church. Now the subject of this closing chapter is one of those Scripture doctrines against which the prejudices of many Christian minds have been formed, in consequence of the speculative and fanciful views with which it has been associated by many of its advocates. The same mode of reasoning which we have applied in the vindication of the great doctrine of justification, will with equal force apply here. Is the doctrine of Christ's second appearing less a doctrine of Divine revelation- is it less glorious in its nature and holy in its tendency, because some have abused it? Assuredly not. But separated from human speculation, disentangled from the errors with which men have interwoven it, and made to stand out dressed in its own native sweetness and sublimity, it will be found to be one of the most precious, holy, and influential truths revealed in God's holy word. The doctrine of a coming Savior was to the early Church a fully received, most endearing, and practical truth. They are represented as "waiting for His Son from heaven;" as "loving His appearing;" as "looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God even our Savior Jesus Christ." The great apostasy, however, dimmed this star of hope on which the eye was accustomed to gaze so intently and so fondly. And as it waned, with it waned her true spirituality. The Church of Rome, 'the mother of abominations,' the great extinguisher of all evangelical light, by the introduction of doctrines more palatable to the taste of a declining Church, drew off its mind from the great truth, and the expectation of the Lord's coming became, almost entirely extinct. A purgatory after death, which might allow a longer period and an easier atonement to cleanse the souls of the wicked, was far more agreeable to such a system, than the sure and near approach of the Almighty King, "coming to take vengeance on those who knew not God, and that obeyed not the Gospel of His Son." To the Reformation we are indebted for the recovery of this, as of many other glorious truths of the Bible, so long buried beneath the rubbish of the great apostasy. The reformers, returning to the principles of the early Christians, returned to the 'blessed hope' of the Church, and once more pointed her eye to this bright constellation, which, though darkened and lost to view for a while, now shone forth as if robed with new and richer effulgence; and again the Bride was brought into the holy posture of an anxious expectant of her Lord. The great subject which has for some time occupied our attention, I trust to the endearing of His name to our hearts, has been the glory of Jesus. Imperfectly as it has been discussed, I am reluctant to conduct it to a close without directing the eye of my reader to one more view of the Redeemer's glory- the last, the crowning one of all- the glory of His second appearing. Let it be premised, however, that with the spiritual and practical bearing of the doctrine as it is laid down in God's word, we have alone to do. It comes not within our scope or design to meet the objections which have been alleged against it, or to touch upon those controverted prophetic points with which, in the minds and in the writings of many, it has been connected. This would divert our attention from the grand topic before us. May the Holy Spirit descend upon us while investigating this great truth! May He unfold it deeply to our minds, and lay it closely upon our hearts, that we may awake out of sleep, gird up afresh the loins of our minds, trim anew our lamps, and be found waiting, watching, and looking for the coming of the Bridegroom, that thus we may be prepared to go forth and meet Him, when He shall "appear the second time without sin unto salvation." We shall first endeavor to place the doctrine of the second coming of the Redeemer upon a scriptural basis; and then proceed to unfold His glory in connection with the grand event. If it be found to be a truth revealed by God the Holy Spirit, then it becomes us with all teachableness, humility, and joy, to receive it- all prejudices and objections yielding before- "Thus says the Lord." We commence the SCRIPTURE PROOF with adducing a few of the more prominent predictions of the Old Testament, quoting an observation of Sir Isaac Newton, that "there is scarcely a prophecy in the Old Testament which does not in something or other relate to the second coming of Christ." The first promise of mercy to fallen man must be regarded as containing an intimation of the second advent of our Lord, for the events of the first advent did not fulfil all that is contained in this prediction. "And I will put enmity between You and the woman, and between Your seed and her seed: he shall bruise Your head, and You shall bruise his heel." Now, the incarnation of our adorable Lord has taught us who is the "woman's Seed;" His death has fully explained the prophecy of the "bruising of his heel;" but that part which relates to the bruising of the serpent's head must be considered as yet an unfulfilled prophecy. Christ did indeed defeat and overcome Satan upon the cross; chaining Him to His car, thus "leading captivity captive." But the fatal blow aimed at the head, cannot be said to have been inflicted until Christ tames the second time to take full possession of His kingdom, to raise His saints, and chain down Satan, so that he shall never go forth again to deceive the nations that are upon the earth. The head, or the power of the serpent, is not yet fully bruised nor destroyed; but it will be when the descending Redeemer shall place His foot upon him, trampling him to the earth in complete and glorious triumph. Restored to its chronological order, the remarkable prophecy of Enoch, the seventh generation from Adam, as preserved by the Apostle Jude, is worthy of our next consideration. "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment upon all." That this refers not to the first, but to the second coming of Christ, is unquestionable, from the fact that the former was an errand of mercy, whereas the latter is here represented as one of judgment. We must be content to present in a single group, and without comment, the remaining prophetic testimonies. Thus the patriarch Job, in the strength of a far-reaching faith, testifies, "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." Thus the prophet Daniel: "I watched as thrones were put in place and the Ancient One sat down to judge. His clothing was as white as snow, his hair like whitest wool. He sat on a fiery throne with wheels of blazing fire, and a river of fire flowed from his presence. Millions of angels ministered to him, and a hundred million stood to attend him. Then the court began its session, and the books were opened." Thus, too, speaks the prophet Haggai: "Thus says the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come." Malachi, in a similar strain, closes the prophetic testimony: "The Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom you delight in: behold, He shall come, says the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appears? for He is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap." Thus clearly, as a golden thread, does the great truth run through the prophecies of the Old Testament. We pass to the proof afforded by the New Testament writings. Intimations of a second appearing are clearly discoverable in the angel's annunciation to Mary. "Behold, you shall conceive in your womb, and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. And He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end." Surely the subsequent history of our suffering Lord forbids the application of this angelic prediction to the era of His humiliation in the flesh. The Son of David at that time found no throne; the scene of His humiliation was the ignominious cross; thorns the only crown which He wore; and a reed, mocking in His dying, agonies the claims of His majesty, the only scepter which He swayed. But we look for its full accomplishment at a period of far greater visible glory, when He shall part the heavens asunder, and appear in great and acknowledged majesty. While upon the testimony of the angels, we may refer to the period of His ascension, when, for anything that we know, the same 'ministering spirits' thus proclaimed His second coming: "And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; who also said, You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven." We pass on to our Lord's own testimony to the doctrine. Comprehending two distinct predictions, the one the destruction of His temple, and the other His coming again, when the nation now rejecting Him should gladly welcome and acknowledge Him their Redeemer and their King, He thus addresses the Jews- Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, You shall not see me henceforth, until you shall say, Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord." Again, intimating that the time of His appearing would be a season for which His Church would long have to wait, thus rebuking the received opinion that it was then near at hand: "He said unto the disciples, The days will come, when you shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and you shall not see it." He then presents an emblem of His manifestation: "As the lightning, that lights out of the one part under heaven, shines into the other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of man be in His day." He then proceeds in the following verses to describe the unexpected manner in which the day of His appearing will burst upon an ungodly and unprepared world; illustrates it by the sudden surprisal of Sodom and Gomorrah by the Divine judgments, leaving not a moment to loiter upon worldly possessions; and then, to rebuke a hankering spirit after earthly glory, now fading upon the view, pointed to the case of Lot's wife, who, casting a lingering look upon the doomed city she had left, became instantly a monument of God's indignation. It only remains that we adduce the proof found to exist in the writings of the apostles. Here the doctrine of the second coming is inscribed as with a sun beam. How solemnly and emphatically are we reminded of this great and grand event, on each return of the ordinance of the Lord's Supper! "As often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death until He come." Thus fitly is this precious truth entwined with our most solemn rites, and blended with our most hallowed scenes. Well is it that we keep in mind, when partaking of the sacred emblems, the speedy return of Him, the elements of whose dying love are at that moment melting upon our lips, and the splendor of whose personal appearing will soon burst upon our view. With this same truth the apostle seeks to soothe the sorrow of those who were mourning over the pious dead. "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent (or rise before) those who are asleep." Mark the certainty which He attaches to the second coming: "If we believe that Jesus died and rose again." As surely as Christ has atoned for our sins, and has risen again for our justification, so surely will He come again for our glorification. The three great facts form so many links in one golden, indissoluble chain. Yet again. "Our conversation is in heaven, from where also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." "When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory." "It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." "Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." "Christ the first-fruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming." "To the end He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints." "We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him." "The coming of the Lord draws near." What further testimony need we? The doctrine stands upon the impregnable basis of Divine revelation, and happy and holy is he that receives and embraces it as the "blessed hope" of the Church. Let us now contemplate THE GLORY OF THE REDEEMER AS CONNECTED WITH THIS GREAT EVENT. It is called the "glorious appearing of the great God our Savior." Surpassing in glory all that the eye has ever seen, or the imagination has ever conceived, will be the second personal appearing of the Son of God. A perfect contrast will it present to His first advent. Then He appeared a king, but disguised in the form of a servant, without a retinue, without the insignia of royalty, without visible glory, His throne a cross, His crown the thorns, His scepter a reed. But His second coming will be in perfect contrast with this. He will now have thrown off the garment of humiliation, and will appear clad with the robe of majesty, the King acknowledged and adored. In the first place, He will appear in the glory of His Father. "The Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father." As the representative of the Father, He appeared in the flesh: "He that has seen me has seen the Father." But when He appears the second time, it will be with a clearer, brighter manifestation of the Father's glory. He will come as the Father's equal- as His own beloved Son, and with all the glory which the Father gave Him as the Mediator of His Church. This will contribute immensely to the splendor of the scene. The Father's glory and the Son's glory will now be seen to be one glory. All His former claims to a oneness with the Father, to a perfect equality with Him in essential dignity, will now be made good. How gloriously will shine out the Father's love, the Father's grace, the Father's wisdom, when the Son of God appears in the clouds of heaven with great glory and majesty! Exalted and precious as had been our previous views of the Father, methinks they will appear as nothing compared with the revelations which at that moment will burst in overwhelming power on the soul. But more especially will He appear in His own personal glory. "The Son of man shall come in His glory." He will come in the glory of His Divine nature. His Deity will now be unveiled, unclouded, and undenied, the "God over all, blessed forever more." He will appear as the" Great God, even our Savior." The question of His Deity will be set at rest forever. Will men deny it now? Will they refuse Him Divine honor? Will they withhold from Him Divine worship? Will they now lift their puny hands and pluck the crown of Godhead from His brow? No! "At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Angels will laud Him, saints will crown Him, devils will fear Him, His enemies will bow to Him. Every tongue will confess His Deity. His own glory will shine out to the confusion of His foes, to the admiration of His friends. But He will also appear in the glory of His human nature. This was concealed beneath the cloud of sin and sorrow when He was on earth. Although it was holy, spotless, flawless, yet it was humbled, bruised, and trodden under foot. But He will "appear the second time without sin unto salvation," that same humanity now robed in glory and exalted in dignity. Especially will the glory of His priestly character now burst forth; and like the Jewish high priest, who, after He had offered the sacrifice, entered the holy of holies, taking in His hands the blood of the atonement; then when He had sprinkled the blood upon the mercy-seat, put on His gorgeous robes, and appeared again to bless the congregation; so Jesus, our great High Priest, having offered Himself a sacrifice, and having entered within the veil with His own blood, will appear the second time, robed in majesty and glory, to bless His people, and to take them to Himself forever. Angels and saints will contribute to the glory of the scene. The celestial beings who sang His nativity song, and who escorted Him back to heaven with ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands more, will now throng His descending way. Clustering around still nearer to His person will be the ransomed Church, the "holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." And as she nears the new earth, the future scene of her rest and her glory, a "great voice out of heaven" will be heard, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." Oh, blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God our Savior, "when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all those who believe!" But let us briefly trace SOME OF THE IMPORTANT EVENTS suspended upon the coming of the Lord, which will contribute greatly to the glory of the Redeemer, and to the grandeur of the scene. The first that will then transpire will be the resurrection of the righteous. This is termed in the Apocalypse the "first resurrection." After a glowing description of the thrones, and of the happy saints who filled them, the apostle proceeds to say, "This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is He that has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." Now this first resurrection, which will transpire a thousand years before the second, will be exclusively the resurrection of the saints. They shall take precedence of the ungodly world. How distinctly is this truth thus affirmed! "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Then the upright shall have dominion over the wicked in the morning of the resurrection; and in the evening of the thousand years- for with the Lord a thousand years are but as one day- the rest of the dead shall come forth. Blessed hope! transporting prospect! The Lord descends! the trumpet sounds! the earth trembles! the graves open! And who emerge? None but those who slept in Jesus. All the rest of mankind remain locked in the iron dominion of death until the thousand years shall have expired. Not an enemy of God, not a despiser of Christ, not a foe of the Christian, now rears his dark brow! None but holy and happy forms are seen throwing back the clods, and coming forth, gilded with the light, breathing the air, and drinking the dew of that orient and blessed morning. What calmness reigns! All sounds of sin and of suffering are now hushed, and no voice breaks the holy stillness of that hour, save the joyous challenge, as each mounts in triumph from the tomb, "O grave! where is your victory?" Saints of God! this will be your resurrection! Oh to have a part in it! Then will God's electing love shine forth in all its magnificence. Then will sovereign grace appear truly glorious. And then will the crown be laid at Jesus' feet, and every tongue will confess, "Salvation is from the Lord." The perfect glorification of His saints will then follow. In what will it consist? The reunion of the soul and the body, and both made like Christ. "Our citizenship is in heaven; from where we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body." "It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." "As we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." This will constitute the perfect glory of the risen saints- they shall be like Christ in body and in soul. The body spiritual, immortal, glorified: the soul resembling a sea of glass, transparent, pure, serene, reflecting every perfection and lineament of the Divine image: "We shall be like Him." Then we will not speculate as fo the details of that happy and holy existence- it is enough that we shall be like Jesus: this, we know, will comprehend perfect holiness and consummate bliss. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." The mutual recognition and reunion of the saints, will form another element in the glory which is to be revealed at the first resurrection, and at the second coming of the Redeemer. This truth is not one of vain speculation or idle theory, and conducting to no important practical result. It is one, if not of express, yet of clear, revelation in God's word, is comforting in its influence, and is associated with the most sublime prospect of the believer's faith. We shall meet and know each other at the appearing of the Lord. That the saints will recognize and have communion with each other immediately on their entrance into glory, is, we think, clear from the apostle's words, when enumerating the privileges of the released believers: "We are come . . . . to the spirits of just men made perfect." We indulge, therefore, the fond hope that, should death remove us before the coming of the Lord, we shall meet, know, and have delightful communion with our friends, who departed this life in Jesus. But the recognition and the communion must necessarily be not so perfect and full as when Christ shall appear, and the risen saints shall cluster together around the person and in the kingdom of their Lord; since neither we nor they have attained our state of full knowledge and capacity, until that great event take place, and the "blessed hope" is realized. How clearly is this truth stated by the apostle! Attempting to console the minds of those who were mourning for their departed kindred, he uses these animating words: "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them who are asleep, that you sorrow not even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." These members of the Church in Thessalonica were bereaved: the apostle seeks to soothe their grief by assuring those who, at the coming of Jesus, they would meet their departed relatives again. But what real consolation could this hope inspire if, when they met them again, they should not know them? But we argue the recognition of the saints from the fact of the perfection of knowledge to which the coming glory will advance us. Our dear Lord reminds His saints that they shall be equal to the angels. They know each other. It would seem impossible, living together for so many years, that they should not. If, then, the saints are equal to them at all, they must be in this sweet privilege. And is it reasonable to suppose, that in all other respects our knowledge will be perfected, save in this one particular only? Shall we possess an element of mental power here, which we shall lose in a gradation towards perfection, and consequently, shall not possess in a higher degree hereafter? Assuredly not. When, therefore, the dead in Christ shall rise at His coming, every intellectual faculty will be enlarged, and not only retaining all our former, but increasing the amount by a larger degree of additional knowledge, we shall "know even as we are known." The perfection of happiness, which glorification implies, involves this blessing. What a rich source of high and holy delight does the communion of saints supply even in our present state! How it elevates, chastens, expands, and soothes the mind and heart, so much beclouded by care and chafed by sorrow! A look beaming with love, an expression of the countenance speaking of sympathy, a word unfolding counsel or uttering a promise, oh, it has been like the sudden gleam of the sun bursting through the dark clouds of a storm-wreathed sky! Above all price is Christian friendship! How sweet the communion of holy minds! To rush into the warm embrace of fond ones, from whom oceans had divided or years had long separated us; to recognize their well-remembered features, too deeply engraven on memory's tablet to have faded- to know again the speaking eye, the familiar countenance, the gentle voice- oh, who has not felt the joyous thrill of that moment? But heaven will perfect this bliss. Does it not heighten the beauty of the prospect, and strengthen the expectation of the scene? Will it add nothing to the glory of that event, and to the happiness of that moment, when the Son of God descends, and, dissolving the soft slumbers of the holy dead, will re-animate each with its former occupant, that then we shall perfectly recognize those we once knew and loved, and renew the sweet communion before imperfect and limited, but now complete and eternal? Dry, then, your tears, and cease to mourn, you saints of God. They are 'not lost, but gone before.' Their spirits live with Jesus. And when He comes, He will bring them with Him, and you shall see and know them with a cloudless sight and a perfect knowledge. The very eyes which once smiled upon you so kindly- the very tongue which spoke to you so comfortingly- the very hands which administered to you so skillfully- the very feet which traveled by your side so faithfully- the very bosom which pillowed you so tenderly- you shall meet again. "The coming of the Lord draws near," and those who "sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." Let us "comfort one another with these words." And will it be no additional joy to meet and to know those eminent servants of the Lord whose histories and whose writings stimulated, instructed, and cheered us, shedding light and gladness on our way? Abraham, whose faith had animated us; David, whose experimental psalms had comforted us; Isaiah, whose vision of Jesus had gladdened us; Paul, whose doctrinal epistles had instructed us; John, whose letters of love had subdued us; to gaze upon 'Magdalene' sitting at Jesus' feet- upon the 'beggar' reposing in Abraham's bosom- upon the 'thief' with Christ in paradise- oh! will not this add to the happiness of heaven? Will this be no joy, no bliss, no glory? Assuredly it will! At Christ's coming, will not His ministers, too, and those to whom their labors had been useful, meet, know, and rejoice in each other? The pastor and the flock, will there be no certain and permanent reunion? no sweet, and fond, and holy recognition? Shall their union in the Church below exceed, in its beauty and sweetness, their reunion in the Church above? Here it is necessarily mingled with much that is imperfect. Much concealment is connected with their united labors in the vineyard of Christ. They go forth weeping, bearing precious seed, and often are called to their rest before the fruit of their prayers, and tears, and toil appears. Here, too, seasons of sickness and of separation frequently transpire, enshrouding the spirit with gloom, and wringing the heart with anguish. And then, at last, death itself rudely breaks the tender bond, lays the Standard- bearer low, leaving the affectionate flock to gaze with streaming eye upon the lessening spirit of their pastor as it ascends and towers away to glory. But the coming of Jesus, with all His saints, will restore this happy union, invest it with new and richer glory, and place it upon a permanent, yes, everlasting basis. "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy." It was this hope which animated the apostle so fully and constantly to preach Jesus: "Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." Do we not see here an argument for the mutual recognition of the saints at the coming of the Lord? For how could the apostle present those believers in that day, unless he had a knowledge of their persons? or how, without this recognition, could he call them his "crown of rejoicing?" Yes, beloved, we shall know one another again, altered and glorified though we may be. Our Lord's appearing, if it change our vile body, fashioning it like unto His glorious body, will also enlarge our mental capacity of knowing even as also we shall be known. You bereaved flocks! you mourning churches! has the Lord taken from you the faithful minister, the tender pastor, the watchful shepherd? Has he who first led you to Jesus, who preached to you Jesus, who built you up in Jesus, gone now to be with Jesus? Oh think, as you gaze upon the vacant and mourning-clad pulpit, that soon Jesus will come in the clouds of heaven, attended by your pastor; and you shall meet him again, and he will present you, even you, his children begotten in the faith, before God perfect in Christ Jesus. The restoration of the Jewish nation to their own land, and their national conversion to God, will be an event greatly contributing to the glory of the Redeemer at His coming. Into the full investigation of this deeply interesting subject- deepening in interest as the "day draws near" our few remaining pages will not allow us to enter. We must content ourselves with a rapid glance at the Scripture testimony on which we ground our belief of the gathering together of Israel and Judah to the land of their fathers, and the reunion of the two kingdoms subsequently to, and yet closely connected with, the second advent of Him whom they pierced. We need not spend any time in proving that the descendants of Abraham are not only not in possession of Palestine, but are at this moment a people 'scattered and torn,' the dispersed over all the lands. This fact is too evident to need proof. Where is there scarcely a spot on the earth, trodden by the foot of civilized man, where the Jews have not, in their wanderings, found their way? Separate and distinct from all, they yet have existed among all nations, a living monument of the truth of God's word, and a mournful witness to the sin of their fathers. In almost every part of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, they have been alike found. No mountains nor rivers, no deserts nor oceans, have terminated their wanderings. They have penetrated into the very heart of countries, where the traveler hears of their existence, but can not reach them. Thus are fulfilled to the letter the predictions which foretold their ostracism and dispersion among all countries, their total separation from all people, and the severe persecution of which they should everywhere be the subjects: "I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you, and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste." "And the Lord shall scatter you among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other. . . And among these nations shall you find no ease, nor shall the sole of your foot have rest: but the Lord shall give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind." "And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them." "So the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations." How literally have these prophecies been accomplished! From the moment of their banishment from their own land they have roamed the world in quest of rest, finding it not, a "proverb and a byword," the objects of individual hate, of national scorn, proscription, and violence. Oh what an overwhelming evidence to the truth of revelation does their thrilling history afford! Let the infidel honestly study it with God's word in his hand, and he must bend his judgment to the irresistible conviction that that word is truth. Their preservation is a standing miracle, and that miracle is a standing proof of the divinity of the Bible. But exceedingly great and precious promises are theirs. Bright and glowing prospects are placed before them. Their own land, now occupied by Turks, Greeks, Christians, Arabians, and Moors, while very few Jews are permitted to remain in it- let it be distinctly borne in mind- God gave to them unconditionally, and as theirs forever. Thus He spoke to Abraham, "Unto your seed will I give this land." "All the land which you see, to you will I give it, and to your seed forever." "I will give unto you, and to your seed after you, the land wherein you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an ever lasting possession; and I sill be their God." Now this gift God has never revoked, in any subsequent period of their history, painful and chequered as that history has been. The unconditional promise of their perpetual possession of the land of Palestine remains to this day as God gave it to Abraham, and will ever so remain. Let us now turn our attention to some of the promises which distinctly point to their certain restoration to this their own land. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left." How striking and conclusive is this passage! It refers to a second recovery of the Jews. Hitherto there has been but one restoration of the whole nation, which was when God delivered them out of Egypt, for their partial recovery from Babylon does not correspond with the fulness of the language of this prophecy. Again, the prophet declares that the Lord shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." "In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers." "The days come, says the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it." "Thus says the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.... Thus says the Lord of hosts, In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you." What a bright and radiant landscape stretches out before the view of God's ancient people! What hues of beauty tint and adorn their sky! What blessings, what bliss, what honor, what distinction await them! The conversion of the Jews to the faith of Jesus- perhaps the first in order of time- is a subject as distinctly and clearly specified in God's word as is their literal restoration to their own land. A few passages only, affirming the certainty of this blessed event, must suffice for our present proof. "I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and I will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and anew spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments, and do them. And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God." "Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth .... They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them." "They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son." Passing on to the New Testament, we find the conversion of Israel as unequivocally and explicitly declared. "I say then, Has God cast away His people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Know you not what the Scripture says of Elias, how he makes intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed Your prophets, and dug down Your altars: and I am left alone, and they seek my life? But what says the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace." The apostle then goes on to show, that the accession of Jacob's posterity to the Church of God will involve on a large and national scale the conversion of the Gentiles. "Now if the full of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness! ... If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?" "God has concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all. Oh the depth of, the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" But the glory which these events- the complete recovery of the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and their gathering together within one fold, and under the one Shepherd- will enkindle around the descending form of the Redeemer, what imagination can fully conceive, or pen describe? Then how glorious will appear His word, magnified above all His name! How manifest His faithfulness in fulfilling to the letter all His promises to His ancient people! How stupendous His love, how rich His grace, how precious His blood, how mighty His power, how illustrious His wisdom, yes, how transcendent His whole moral government, as from the valley of dry bones a mighty army is seen to arise, of living, joyous, holy beings as from every part under heaven, His long lost, long afflicted, long rebellious people are seen to come clustering in adoring crowds around Him whom their fathers slew and hanged upon a tree! Methinks it will be the crowning act of redeeming, pardoning, quickening grace- the brightest, the sweetest, the richest of all. The cry of wondrous joy will be raised, "Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as doves to the windows of their dove-cote?" Ten thousand voices will be heard replying- "These are they who have come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb;" while from their lips, once muttering imprecations upon their Messiah, the song will now float, filling the air with its melody, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness." Oh, who does not love and long for His appearing in the clouds of heaven, whose coming will be the signal of such blessings to the Church as these? Other events dependent upon the coming of the Redeemer will augment the glory of His person and the splendor of the scene. Then will take place the full revelation, and the final overthrow of the "Man of sin," and all anti-christian confederates- the creation of a new heaven and a new earth, in which will dwell righteousness- the setting up of the throne of David, and the millennial reign of the saints with Christ over a holy and happy creation. "Then will He sit upon the throne of His glory." "He will judge among the nations." He "shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously." "All things shall be put under His feet." He shall wear the "many crowns," and the "kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever." "Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly!" Let us now briefly contemplate THE APPROPRIATE AND SPIRITUAL POSTURE IN WHICH IT BEHOOVES ALL, AND ESPECIALLY CHRIST'S CHURCH, TO BE FOUND IN VIEW OF SO GLORIOUS AND NEAR AN EVENT AS THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS. For "behold the Lord comes with ten thousand of His saints." The becoming attitude is in general terms thus expressed- "Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God even our Savior Jesus Christ." It involves among other particulars, Faith in the doctrine of the coming Savior, as the basis of a holy posture of expectation. Without a belief of this truth, there can be no looking for this blessed hope. "When the Son of man comes, will He find faith" -in this doctrine- "on the earth?" No: it is to be feared that many in the Church will be found sadly lacking here. They had believed in the coming of death, but they had not believed in the coming of Him who has 'abolished death.' They had expected with trembling the "king of terror," but had not expected with joy the "King of glory." They had hoped to go to Christ, but they had not hoped that Christ would come to them. But the "glorious appearing" of Jesus, and not the death of the saints, is the "blessed hope" of the Church of God. On this one grand event the eye of faith is bade to rest, as the pole-star of the soul: "Until the day-star arise in your hearts." And how much more soothing to the believing mind is such an object of faith, than the terrific monster- Death! To look up to the "bright and morning Star," and not down into the misty vault of the grave- to anticipate the glorious coming of the great Captain of my salvation, and not the gloomy and subtle approach- perhaps by slow and lingering steps- of the "last enemy" of my being- to hope for the coming of the Conqueror, and not to live in dread expectation of the foe, surely is more strengthening to faith, animating to hope, and stimulating to love! Faith thus firmly grasping the doctrine that reveals, will inspire the hope that expects, the event. The child of God first believing it, will then be found looking for it. Resembling the faithful and affectionate wife, who frequently retires to read over the letters of her long- absent and far-distant husband, lingering with especial interest and delight over the assurances of his certain and speedy return to her again, love will constrain you to dwell upon the promise- "Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, you may be also." "I will not leave you comfortless (orphans), I will come to you." Thus, a quickening power and holy exercise are given to these sister graces of the Spirit, faith, hope, and love. Faith believes it; hope expects it; love desires it. Thus, with this firm belief in the doctrine of the Lord's coming, the truth itself will be found an eminently influential one. Is it asked, Of what PRACTICAL USE is this blessed hope to the Church of God? We answer, 'Much every way.' Chiefly in the emptiness and nothingness to which it reduces all worldly glory, and in the holy elevation which it gives the believer above all sublunary enjoyments. And is this no great attainment in holiness? The grand duty of the believer is to live above the world. He is not of the world, even as Christ was not of it. The very name of a Christian implies his crucifixion to the world. In his profession, his joys, his pursuits, his hopes, he seems to say, with the soaring eagle, "I was born on the earth, but I live in the sky." But we require powerful motives to influence us to this. We are moved by motive, and the religion of Jesus is pre-eminently a religion of motive. The certain and speedy coming of Christ to glorify His Church, oh, what a motive is here! Were you to rise in the morning impressed with this truth, how sweetly would it carry you through your day! How effectually would it dim the luster of the world's pomp, deaden its joys, soothe your sorrows, dry your tears, lighten your burdens, reconcile you to poverty, to crosses, to losses, yes, to whatever your Lord ordains! You would feel, "What have I to do with the world's vanities, its smiles, and its glories? I am waiting, expecting, looking, hoping, praying, for that blessed hope, the appearing of my Redeemer." Oh what an eminent Christian would you be! What a burning and shining light! What vigorous faith, what lively hope, what fervent love, what a holy living for God, for Christ, and for eternity, would henceforth distinguish you! It stimulates to the exercise of watchfulness and prayer. How closely and beautifully has our dear Lord connected together these two important Christian duties, "Watch and pray!" The one as necessary as the other is sublime. Watchfulness implying uncertainty as to time; prayer expressive of an earnest desire to be found in an appropriate attitude for the event. "Watch therefore and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." "Watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord does come." "Therefore, be you ready also, for in such an hour as you do not think, the Son of man comes." "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches and keeps his garments." Surely, if our affections were supremely fixed on Jesus- were He to us the "chief among ten thousand," and did we really feel in our hearts the sentiment which our lips so often utter, "Whom have I in heaven but You? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides You," the return of our Lord would be to us a matter of most delightsome expectation and joyous desire. Our earnest prayer would oftener be, "Why are Your chariot- wheels so long in coming? Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!" Yet again: we are the expectants of a "new heaven and a new earth," from which will be excluded all that is sinful and sorrowful, and in which will dwell all that is holy and blissful. This world of pollution and of woe, and yonder skies of storm and of tempest, soon will pass away. "The heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and of perdition of ungodly men." "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up. Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness." As to the precise period at which God will thus create all things new, the students of prophecy are divided in opinion. Some place it at the commencement of the thousand years of millennial blessedness, believing that on this renovated earth Christ will reign in glory with His saints, and that at its expiration, the second or general resurrection will take place, the judgment will be set, and the books be opened. But differing from this view as to the time of the new creation, we are constrained to place it after the first resurrection, at the close of the thousand years, and immediately following the judicial process of the judgment day. In support of this opinion we again quote the words of Peter, "The heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and of perdition of ungodly men." And it will be recollected that immediately after John describes the process of the last judgment, he says, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea." The heavens and the earth, thus renovated and formed anew, will constitute the home and the abode of the glorified, palm-bearing saints. All the physical evils, all the ravages of sin, all the emblems of the curse, will have passed away; and from the conflagration of the old, a new creation will spring, like the fabled phoenix from its ashes, robed in beauty, order, and loveliness. "For behold," says God, "I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be you glad and rejoice forever in that which I create." That this view of a renovated earth may disturb the conceptions of many pious minds, we are prepared to believe. To the believer the present material world has so long been the scene of moral degradation and of sin, a valley of bereavement and of tears, that he has labored to detach his best sympathies and affections from its locality, and fix them upon some distant though undefined abode of glory and of bliss. Throwing his eye around, and resting it on nothing but spots blighted with the mildew of the curse; forms of pollution each moment crowding around his path, and spectacles of suffering meeting him at every glance; his ears assailed with the plaintive sighs of grief, or the harsh sounds of blasphemy, he has longed for the wings of a dove, with which he might soar to another and a holier dwelling-place, far removed from all the sorrows of earth and the grossness of materialism. But of such would I inquire, May not your views and anticipations of heaven be less spiritual than you have supposed? Are not your conceptions of its nature derived less from anticipations of the Divine glory, than they are intertwined with cherished expectations of your own happiness? What is it to me, whether I float in ether, or whether I dwell in a material heaven- a world re-created, restored, made holy, if God is but glorified, and His will is done on earth, even as it is done in heaven? And this is heaven! To come back, wearing my same material but glorified body, to the same material but glorified earth, both springing from their ruin, lovely, pure, beauteous, immortal- "to be with Christ"- to be like Christ- to behold the glory of Christ- to mark His triumphs- to witness the golden harvest of Redemption waving in a world once accursed through rebellion, and barren through sin- to behold the contrast between revolt and allegiance, hatred and love, sorrow and bliss, death and immortality- to go and trace the spot where this picture of incarnate love was displayed- to see the crown upon His head, who singlehanded fought the battle and won the victory- to reign with Him, and to unite in the accordant song of praise in the presence of Him to whom it refers, "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen," -oh, can we form a loftier conception of heaven, or cherish a fonder desire for its happiness and joy, than this? Where is rest, where is peace, where is joy, where is purity, if not found in the presence of the crowned Lamb, associated with the reigning Church, and on the actual theater of His glorious triumph? "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of people ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and basting unto the coming of the day of God!" But the appearing of the Lord, while it will be "the year of His redeemed," will also be the "day of vengeance" to His enemies. He comes to judgment! "Look, the Lord is coming with thousands of his holy ones. He will bring the people of the world to judgment. He will convict the ungodly of all the evil things they have done in rebellion and of all the insults that godless sinners have spoken against him." You may think lightly of Christ now- you may despise and reject Him now- you may scoff at the doctrine, and say, "Where is the promise of His coming? " but, He will come to judgment, and every eye shall see Him, and you shall see Him. That same Jesus whose Deity, perhaps, you have denied, whose atonement you have rejected, whose saints you have ridiculed, that same "Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who know not God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." Then will "all the kindreds of the earth wail because of Him." "I beheld," says the apostle, "and the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" You enemies of God! You despisers of Christ! You lovers of the world, dazzled with its pomp, and fascinated with its pleasures, pause for a moment, and contemplate this tremendous scene. "Look at that point, far away in the ethereal regions, where the gradually lessening form of our Savior disappeared from the gaze of His disciples, when He ascended to heaven. In that point see an uncommon, but faint and undefined, brightness, just beginning to appear. It has caught the roving eye of yon careless gazer, and excited his curiosity. He points it out to a second and a third. A little circle now collects, and various are the conjectures which they form respecting it. Similar circles are formed, and similar conjectures made, in a thousand different parts of the world. But conjecture is soon to give place to certainty- awful, appalling, overwhelming certainty. While they gaze, the appearance which has excited their curiosity rapidly approaches, and still more rapidly brightens. Some begin to suspect what it may prove; but no one dares to give utterance to his suspicions. Meanwhile the light of the sun begins to fade before a brightness superior to its own. Thousands see their shadows cast in a new direction, and thousands of hitherto careless eyes look up at once, to discover the cause. Full clearly they see it; and now new hopes and fears begin to agitate their breasts. The afflicted and persecuted servants of Christ begin to hope that the predicted, long-expected day of their deliverance is arrived. The wicked, the careless, the unbelieving, begin to fear that the Bible is about to prove no idle tale. And fiery shapes, moving like streams of lightning, begin to appear indistinctly amid the bright dazzling cloud which comes rushing down as on the wings of a whirlwind. At length it reaches its destined place. It pauses; then, suddenly unfolding, discloses at once a great white throne, where sits, starry resplendent, in all the glories of the Godhead, the Man Christ Jesus! Every eye sees Him, every heart knows Him. Too well do the wretched unprepared inhabitants of the earth now know what to expect; and one universal shriek of anguish and despair rises to heaven, and is echoed back to earth. But louder, far louder than the universal cry, now sounds the last trumpet; and, far above all, is heard the voice of the Omnipotent, summoning the dead to arise, and come to judgment. New terrors now assail the living. On every side, no, under their very feet, the earth heaves, as in convulsions; the graves open, and the dead come forth, while, at the same moment, a change, equivalent to that occasioned by death, is effected by Almighty power on the bodies of the living. Their mortal bodies put on immortality, and are thus prepared to sustain a weight of glory, or of wretchedness, which flesh and blood could not endure. Meanwhile legions of angels are seen darting from pole to pole, gathering together the faithful servants of Christ from the four winds of heaven, and bearing them aloft to meet the Lord in the air, where He causes them to be placed at His own right hand, preparatory to the sentence which is to award to them everlasting life." But another and a different scene presents itself. Consternation now seizes the myriads whom this event has surprised amid their worldliness, their gaiety, their voluptuousness, their employment, their marrying, and their being given in marriage. As a thief in the night, the Bridegroom has startled them from their sleep! And now the graceless professor seizes his lamp, and finds it destitute of oil. The pharisee hastens to wrap his righteousness around him, but discovers that it is too narrow to conceal his deformity. The scoffer, the sceptic, the careless, the procrastinator, are seen fleeing from refuge to refuge, from mountain to mountain, from rock to rock, but none afford a shelter from the darkening storm. The great day of His wrath is come, and who is able to stand? The judgment is set! the books are opened! the wicked are arraigned! the trial proceeds! the verdict is given! the sentence is pronounced! the doom is fixed! and the undying worm and the quenchless flame are their portion forever! "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." "Upon the wicked He will rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup." Reader! are you prepared for the coming of the Lord? Are you ready to enter in with Him to the marriage supper? Are you a professor? Have you grace- renewing, humbling, sanctifying, Christ-exalting grace in your heart? Is your preparation one of principle, one of habit? Will it abide the searching scrutiny of that day? Examine and see. Take nothing for granted, in deciding a matter so solemn, and involving interests so momentous. Christ must be all in all to you- the entire groundwork and fabric of your salvation. Mere notions of truth- external membership with the Church- sacraments- regular attendance upon means- punctilious observance of days, and forms, and ceremonies, in themselves, are no fit preparation for this awful event. As the fruit of a living faith in Jesus, they are valuable; but standing alone, without repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are the wood, the hay, the stubble which the last fire will consume. Believer in Jesus, the day of your redemption draws near! The Lord is at hand. Behold, the Judge stands at the door. The days we live in are eventful. The times are perilous. The signs, thickening and darkening around us, are deeply and fearfully significant. We are standing on the eve of events perhaps more awful than the world has ever seen. A period of glory for the Church brighter than has yet shone upon her, and a period of woe to the world more dark than has yet cast its shadows upon it, seems rapidly approaching. Then, "let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober." "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand." "Watch you therefore for you know not when the master of the house comes, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning: lest coming suddenly He find you sleeping." Oh, to blend the steady thought of our Redeemer's coming with every present duty, privilege, and effort: how would it hallow, cheer, and dignify us, consecrating by one of the most solemn motives, the lowliest work of faith, and the feeblest labor of love! Thus, too, would there be a growing preparedness of mind for the judgments which are yet to come upon the earth. "For there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." "Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draws near." "A child of God! and can this earth's vain pleasures Be anything to you for whom the Savior died? Rise, rise above them all! its worthless treasures, Its soul-destroying joys, its pomp and pride. Be His in all, your soul and eye be single, Fixed as the glory that surrounds the throne; Seek not Christ's service with the world to mingle; Remember God has sealed you for His own. O child of God! do not be this earth your dwelling, But stand in spirit on that glassy sea, Where the rich harmonies forever swelling, Sound forth the slain Lamb's love, so full, so free. Stand forth in peace, far above all the madness Of sinful man, weighing with even scale The worth of all things- feeling the deep gladness Of one who follows Christ within the veil. Child of the living God! what boundless blessing! His Spirit yours, to comfort and refine; The heir of God! joint-heir with Christ, possessing All things in Him, and He Himself too thine. Hold fast your crown, go forth with joy, meet Him Soon will He come, and take you for His own. With girded loins and burning lamps then greet Him, The Bridegroom's triumph yours; yours too His throne!" Precious Jesus! we have been contemplating Your glory as through a glass darkly. And yet we thank and adore You even for this glimpse. Dim and imperfect though it is, it has endeared You, unutterably endeared You, to our hearts. Oh! if this is Your glory beheld through a clouded medium, what will it be when seen face to face! Soon, soon shall we gaze upon it. Then, glorious King, we will exclaim, "It was a true report that I heard of Your acts and of Your wisdom, and behold, the half was not told me." "Seeing that we look for such things, grant us grace, that being diligent, we may be found of You in peace, without spot and blameless. Send to us what You will, withhold from us what You will; only vouchsafe to us a "part in the first resurrection," and a seat at Your right hand when You come to Your kingdom. Low at Your feet we fall! Here may Your Spirit reveal to us more of Your glory! Oh irradiate, sanctify, and cheer us with its beams! Behold, we cling to You! You are our Emmanuel, our portion, and our all. In darkness, we repair to the fountain of Your light. In sorrow, we flee to the asylum of Your bosom. Oppressed, we come to the shelter of Your cross. Oh take our hearts, and bind them closer and still closer to Yourself! Won by Your beauty, and drawn by Your love, let there be a renewed surrender of our whole spirit, and soul, and body. Claim and take a fresh possession. "Your statutes have been our songs in the house of out pilgrimage;" "You shall guide us with Your counsel, and afterward receive us to glory." Then, oh then shall we unite with the Hallelujah Chorus, and sing in strains of surpassing sweetness, gratitude, and love "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!"