3. HE IS preparing a place for us :— : "I go to prepare a place for you," (John xiv. 2.) "A house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens," (2 Cor. v. 1, &c.) The same with "the new heavens and the new earth" He is even now creating them; and when they are ready, he will come again-not to live here on earth, or in a renovated earth, but "to receive us;" (Gr. "to take us away to himself,") to that place where he now is. Thus the Church prays, "that God would exalt us unto that same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before:" (Collect for Sunday after Ascension-day;) not that he would come down and dwell with us, but that we may ascend and dwell with Him. 4. HE 18-in a state of expectation: Expecting until his foes be made his footstool,” (Psalm cx. 1, cum Heb. x. 13.) "We see not yet all things put under him," (Heb. ii. 8.) He sits on his Father's throne only "until the times of restitution of all things." (Acts iii. 21.) Meanwhile, death reigns-sin appears to triumph -Satan works his measure of destruction-the wicked prosper-saints are oppressed" all things are out of course; and though salvation is secured to believers, and entailed upon them, they are in their minority, and not yet in possession; and so it will be until "the time of the end"all things point to a future crisis :— III. HE IS TO COME! 1. His second Advent is as certain as his first, and depends upon it :— --What he was, and what he is, proves what he will be: as he was true to the predictions of his first coming in all the most minute particulars, so will he be to those of his second. Which of all the prophecies touching his humiliation have wanted their fulfilment? All are fulfilled, every jot and tittle- none have failed! This accuracy points to the future; to the great promise of the New Covenant: "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner, as ye have seen him go into heaven." (Acts i. 11.) Innumerable predictions ratify this; so in ver. 7: “Behold, he cometh with clouds," &c. Nothing is so sure "Heaven and earth will pass away, but this word will not," &c. (Luke xxi. 33.) 166 2. HE IS TO COME-suddenly and unexpectedly,as a thief in the night." It shall be "in such an hour as ye think not". as the lightning's flash"- as the "fire 66 on Sodom God" (what presumption for man to calculate upon it!) (Matt. xxiv. 36-44: xxv. 13.) All the virgins, both wise and foolish, were asleep when the bridegroom came: even those who are habitually prepared will be taken by surprise: hence the many exhortations to "watch and pray," &c. 3. HE IS TO COME-with power and great glory— -"in the clouds of heaven;" it will be "the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. (Titus ii. 13.) "He will sit upon the throne of his glory." The very "brightness of his coming" will destroy his enemies. (2 Thess. ii. 8.) If at his transfiguration his glory was "above the brightness of the sun," what shall his final glory be? What this glory shall be no heart can conceive! 4. HE IS TO COME-for the final consummation of all things: (a) To raise all the dead: not the saints alone, but "all that are in their graves." (John v. 28; Hosea xiii. 14; Dan. xii. 2.) The general contemporaneous resurrection of the dead, both good and bad, is and has ever been the faith of the catholic Church. The first resurrection, as held by the Millenarians, has ever been a heresy, that is, a private interpretation-never sanctioned by the Church. "At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies; they that have done good, . . . and they that have done evil," &c. (Athanasian Creed.) (b) To judge the world in righteousness: "It is he which was c) To destroy the old earth in the element of fire: not as in (d) To create and manifest the new heavens and the new earth: period, which might terminate at some time, but for ever Let us lift our eyes and hearts above minute details and particulars, to the undoubted universal object of the faith of the Church, the immediate, personal, and certain glorious coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, to judge and to reign everlastingly! And let us ask 1. Who is ready for his coming ?— Who ? Not the voluptuary-nor the vicious-nor the covetous, "whom God abhorreth;" nor the idle, the indolent, and self-indulgent; nor the careful man of the world ; nor the hypocritical professor of religion; nor any man whose heart is not broken by a sense of sin, and who has not fled to a crucified Jesus, to secure a hope of acceptance with a glorified and returning Lord! Oh that all would prepare to meet their God! 2. Believers! prepare ye also to welcome ing Lord: your return -assume the attitude of expectation: blessed are they that "look for him"-" that wait for him "-and "love his appearing." This is rather a posture of the heart, than an occupation of the head. To some who speculate on matters too hard for them, or dimly revealed, we are tempted to say"Why stand ye here gazing up into heaven?" Others may be neglectful of "the signs of the times," but you are too exclusively observant of them. They may not prepare for his coming; but you may be so occupied with it, as to neglect your present duties: "He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not *It is a fact within my personal knowledge, that many of the principal leaders of the Irvingite heresy first lost themselves in the labyrinth of Millenarianism; and that many of the truly amiable and pious persons now deluded and bewildered in another extensive schism, termed the Plymouth Brethren, commenced their departure from the Church by the same road; viz. daring prophetic speculations! I record this simply as a warning to any who may be disposed (under leaders, I admit, of as much warmth of piety as of imagination,) to meddle with intricate questions, to their souls' hurt. They who travel much on the verge of error may expect a similar fate to those who have gone before. reap." (Eccles. xi. 4.) Blessed are they who wait in faith, in prayer, and in diligent, self-denying devotedness to the work of the Lord: "Blessed is that man whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find"-not so speculating—“ but so DOING!" XXVI. ENTHUSIASM VINDICATED. 2 Corinthians v. 13-15. For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. ENTHUSIASM in religion is deprecated by many as something of a most dangerous tendency. Yet is it highly applauded in every secular pursuit! Some gallant action is performed by the army-and we are told "that nothing could exceed the enthusiasm of the troops!" The devotedness with which the painter, the scientific man, the philosopher, the poet, and even the philanthropist, each follows his favourite pursuit, is esteemed a noble, a generous, an admirable enthusiasm! And, in fact, nothing great in arts, in arms, or in science, was ever achieved except by enthusiasts in their profession! Why then should that be evil in religion which is good in every thing else? Yet the prophets of old, apostles, missionaries, and all zealous Christians, have ever been esteemed "mad fellows," (2 Kings ix. 11; Acts xxvi. 24); and even Christ himself. (John x. 20.) St. Paul in the text and context meets this charge, not by repudiating it, but by justifying it; arguing that the stirring truths of revelation are so animating, so awakening, that every person who is duly affected by them must be an enthusiast, must be borne away by them to a holy devotedness, a noble contempt of earthly things, and a generous self-dedication to the service and glory of God. "Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God. . . . For the love of Christ constraineth us," &c. May the Holy Spirit bless our meditations, while we consider I. THE TRAIN OF ARGUMENT WHICH THE APOSTLE PUR SUES. II. THE CONCLUSION AT WHICH HE ARRIVES. I. THE TRAIN OF ARGUMENT WHICH HE PURSUES:-he takes a rapid view of the leading facts of redemption, and concludes that such truths must impel him and all who believe them to an enthusiastic devotion to God's service. 1. "One died for all:". -a magnificent truth of revelation-the doctrine of substitution, that one should die for many-an idea which the heart of man never would have devised! But one what? One bullock, or he-goat? No! One angel, or archangel? No-that could not atone for the sin of another order of beings! One man? one child of Adam? Alas, all alike were guilty! They must let that alone for ever!" (Psalm xlix. 7, 8.) It was indeed a man-but "A MAN that was God's fellow," (Zech. xiii. 7): The Christ—the incarnate Deity—“ God manifest in the flesh :" perfect God-and perfect man. 66 66 This "ONE died for ALL: one man, in one spot, at one time, did receive in his individual person the whole weight of the Divine vengeance against sin. This great doctrine, established by all scripture, and affirmed by the Church, is opposed alike to the animal sacrifices of Jews and heathensand to the repetition of sacrifice, in any sense, by Christians, whether Papists or Protestants. By one sacrifice of himself, once offered," &c. (Heb. ix. 26-28, and x. 10-14.) "He died for ALL"-for the whole world, and every child of man. Let us be cramped by no narrow systems of particular redemption-scripture is plainly against them: "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself," (ver. 19.) If this means the "world of God's elect," there is no longer any certainty in Holy Scripture! "He tasted death for every man." (Heb. ii. 9.) "He was a propitiation for our sins"-the sins of his people; "but not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world." (1 John ii. 1, 2.) For all men, in all time, in all lands, "a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice and satisfaction," &c., (Liturgy); for you-for me -for every sinner. Grand, glorious truth! Christ died for all, and is freely offered to all, that they may believe and live! 2. The Apostle deduces from this fact, another: "then were all dead.” This argument is generally inverted, and the necessity of some universal efficacious remedy is argued from the extent and desperate character of the disease; but here St. Paul |