is enough to recollect that God has prepared for those that love Him such good things as pass man's understanding; that his will and his power to bless are alike illimitable; that "then we shall see face to face, and know even as also we are known."

In accordance with this view, St. Paul regarded his converts as his "joy and crown," not here only, but also hereafter, "in the presence of the Lord Jesus." Moses and Elijah, on the mount of transfiguration, were intuitively recognised by the three disciples: the beggar Lazarus is represented as reposing next in place to the exalted Abraham, just as the beloved John reclined on the bosom of Jesus, in the converse of familiar friends at the same table. The allusion in that parable is the same as in the text, to the recumbent posture of the guests at an ancient Eastern banquet. On such occasions, the head

of each guest approached the bosom of his nearest neighbour, while his feet were extended towards those of the neighbour on his other side; and thus Lazarus, leaning on Abraham, beautifully intimates that the meanest in earthly station may be the most highly favoured there the superficial difference of rank will disappear in the real resemblance of spirit and character-the beggar that was rich in pious faith and patience, will be recognised and beloved by the most distinguished of the saints. The Redeemer himself honoured the penitent thief with that inestimable assurance, "To-day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise;" using, it is supposed, the expression, "be with Me," in allusion to the customary form of a festal invitation. "Father, I will that those whom Thou hast given to Me be with Me, that they may behold my glory," as guests at the marriage-supper of the Lamb. Glorious and delightful anticipation! Whose heart does not yearn to realize it? Is there no parent that instinctively reverts to the departed child? no child that is reminded of the vanished parent? no friend of the severed friend? Be cheered by the thought, that in that assembly, however multitudinous, they will not be lost to your discovery in heaven there will be no confusion-no difficulty to recognise the beloved Spirit in its transfigured and glorified form.

And though the nearer intimacies of nature or of friendship may even there, as here, retain a peculiar charm, who does not rejoice in the prospect of knowing many whom we knew not here, or knew only by their "praise in all the churches?" some whose names are embalmed in the book of God; like the patriarchal three mentioned in the text from whom "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," condescended to take one of his most distinguished and most expressive titles; like Adam, our common progenitor; Enoch, who never saw death; Noah, the preserver of our race; Moses, the leader; Aaron, the priest; David, the psalmist of Israel; Elijah, the antagonist of idolatry; Isaiah, the seraph of prophecy; Daniel, the pattern of pious firmness; John, the herald of the SAVIOUR; Paul, the teacher of the Christian Church; Peter, so full of fervour; John, so full of love! to add not a single name of those Christian fathers, martyrs, reformers, ministers, missionaries, public or private individuals, of whom we may here have heard, with interest, in their lives, deaths, labours; or of

whom we may not have heard here; men who, like the diamonds of society, irradiated the scene in which they were placed, precious in the sight of the Lord and of his people; men who, like Abel, "being dead, yet speak;" speak, through every age, by the examples, the achievements, or the writings which they left behind; to some of whom, under the Divine blessing, we may have been ourselves indebted for our primary conversion or subsequent edification. Who would not desire to meet such a company? Who would not exult to be honoured with such friendships? to acknowledge his obligations to such men, as instruments of Him to whom all is due? For this there will be an eternal opportunity, when, if found faithful, we shall be favoured "to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven."

V. The fifth, and last, and most important idea, which may be extracted from our Lord's declaration in the text is, what has been adverted to, but not unfolded, that of a feast. The expression, rendered "sit down," more correctly, "recline," conveys this idea. The most familiar and obvious enjoyment of animal nature is thus transferred to the spirit and to heaven. By this metaphor the Oriental, more than other nations, express any exquisite delight. I need not remind you of those instances in Scripture, in which the spiritual blessings of the gospel are represented as a feast of the richest dainties, and wines the most refined; or in which our Saviour speaks of the gospel kingdom under the image of a marriage feast which a king made for his son, and to which guests of every description were freely invited.

When the joys of heaven are compared with a banquet, that there may be something literal designed by the comparison, I presume not either to affirm or to deny. Man was originally a compound being, an incarnate spirit; he was such while he yet retained the image of his Maker; and, though sin has brought death, and severed the spirit from its bodily frame, yet we are assured that a new, a spiritual, a glorified body will again invest the indwelling spirit of every believer. It seems, therefore, by no means unreasonable to suppose that an enjoyment, answering to the nourishment of the body, but proportioned to the glorious nature of a spiritual body, may be one among the manifold and unimaginable fruitions of immortality: "They that shall be counted worthy of that world, and of the resurrection, shall be as the angels," says our Lord; and we read of "angel's food," as distinct from man's. It may be that many pious persons, in their just abhorrence of a sensual paradise, have erred in an opposite extreme, by exploding all ideas of bodily fruition, and admitting only those of ab. stracted spirit, in the heavenly state. Be this as it may, the feast of heaven is principally to be referred to the mind, to the spiritual nature of man a spiritual banquet, adapted to evey appetite and faculty of the glorified spirit; to the understanding and the affections; to memory and anticipation.

1. A feast of the understanding. Here we see darkly; now we know in part but then! Where now so much obscurity attends our knowledge, as to its kind, there will then prevail the utmost clear

ness: where our knowledge is now so partial as to its extent, it will be then perfect and complete. Nothing more amazing is said of that state, than that there "we shall know, even as we are known;" with a knowledge like that of which we are the subjects. One idea of glory is that of precision. Heaven is the world of light; God is light in his light we shall see light. More clearly, more comprehensively, than we now see the first principles of knowledge, we shall then perceive all those miracles and mysteries of the Divine dispensations, in nature, providence, and grace, of which we now hear or speak so much, and understand so little; in reference to which we now think as children; but then, from this infantine state, we shall rise to adult maturity of mind. Man is formed to expatiate and luxuriate in varied knowledge: what a feast of knowledge, ennobled by devotion, will be spread in heaven for the intellect, proportionately expanded to receive it! With this will be spread,

2. A feast of the affections. Heaven is the world of ardour, as well as of light: the head and the heart shall be there replenished with equal satisfaction. St. Peter has reminded his brethren, with a beautiful emphasis, of Christ, as Him" whom, not having seen, they loved;" implying how much more they would love Him when they should come to see Him as He is; behold their King in his beauty; their Saviour in his glory. What a sight for enraptured admiration and love, He to whom we owe all that blessedness! What an object for all the noblest, the happiest sentiments of the overflowing heart, He who hath loved us, "washed us from our sins in his own blood, and made us kings and priests to God!" The measure of love will be the measure of glory: those, it is probable, will be nearest to the throne, and highest in bliss, who were here most purely filled with holy love: for love, which is the soul of religion, is the soul of heaven: "God is love; and he who dwells in love dwells in God," and is a partaker of the Divine beatitude.

Then will the Saviour's desire be fulfilled, that "all his disciples may be one." As love is essential to felicity, so must it be pure and perfect, in order to produce pure and perfect felicity. In a saint yet mortal, the purest love is impaired by much alloy of a fallen nature: no such alloy will be there. The whole spirit, without the least reserve, will there be surrendered to holiness: while new perceptions of spiritual beauty, new motives to spiritual love, will forever arise. There are now, in all our brethren, human imperfections and infirmities the spirits of the just will be then "made perfect:" not a blemish will be visible in the bride of the Lamb: "all, with open face, beholding the glory of the Lord, will be changed into the same image from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord." The principle of love, and the objects of love, will be alike exalted beyond conception.

3. A feast of memory. There is here a religious enjoyment of memory, in reviewing the way which we have been led, with all its trials and all its mercies: this will be infinitely heightened in heavLike the seaman on the cliff, gazing on the deep, after a voyage in which he has been mercifully saved from shipwreck; from that

.en.

calm and secure elevation will the saint look back on the little scene of his infantine existence, his providential and spiritual discipline. With what sacred interest, with what admiring gratitude, will he retrace all the windings of his path; his wonderful deliverances and restorations; his blessings in the disguise of troubles; his early convictions of sin, and attractions to the Saviour; his gradual detachment from the world; his slow steps in knowledge and sanctification; and all the wise and gracious leadings of Providence and the Spirit! He will then see the various parts of the plan, now seen disjointed, in their harmonious whole; every circumstance in all its relations. Like an Israelite in Canaan, recollecting the wilderness, he will regard these years of trial in their counexion with the eternity of recompense; these little struggles, with that great victory. In that retrospection, how important will appear our social Sabbaths and our secret devotions! how insignificant our worldly cares, pleasures, or afflictions!

4. And, finally, a feast of anticipation. It is an essential property of our minds to look forward as well as backward; to expect as well as remember. Anticipation, so far as the present life is concerned, is extremely circumscribed, and extremely precarious; we never foreknow what a day may bring forth. Hope, as alloyed with uncertainty, and contracted within bounds, will have no place in heaven; but "hope full of immortality," expectation assured of joys that can never fail, of "an inheritance incorruptible," of "an eternal weight of glory;" anticipating hope, like this, will bloom in amaranthine beauty there, as in its native and congenial clime. The soul, created with infinite desires, will triumph in the amplitude and grandeur of an infinite prospect. From the point of present bliss, it will stretch its view to the interminable succession, of which, according to our ideas, eternity is composed, while ever-brightening glories will gild the prospect that can have no horizon. As transiency is the fatal defect of sublunary joys, so the crown of glory is this, that it "fadeth not away." The hope of such a glory affords to the Christian, at certain seasons, unspeakable happiness even here; puts out the false glare of the world; arms him against its allurements or discouragements, and brightens even the valley of the shadow of death: but the full feast of anticipation, the consummate beatitude of hope, is reserved for those who shall "sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven."

Such, then, Christian brethren, are the leading ideas of this great and interesting theme, as suggested by the terms of the text. But fidelity obliges me to add, in conclusion, that this glorious prospect has a dark contrasted counterpart. Our Lord, in the immediate context, warns us that "the children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!" And who are these unhappy "children of the kingdom?" They are those who, like the unbelieving Jews, to whom our Lord made a primary reference, and whose rejection of the gospel opened the way for "many to come from the east and west" into the Church of Christ;

hose among ourselves, brethren, who, similarly surrounded with religious privileges, deceive themselves with a merely nominal and formal religion, while their hearts are estranged from the Spirit of God, from love to Christ, and desire of "a better country, that is a heavenly." How dreadful for such to see the men of Nineveh rising up, as accusing witnesses, against themselves, as false, unfruitful professors of the Christian name and faith! How intolerable for such to see a poor Syrophoenician woman, or a Roman centurion, called to join that happy assembly! to see pious relatives and acquaintances, faithful instructers, and many an afflicted Lazarus, admitted to the beatific presence of Christ; but to find themselves, the fancied "children of the kingdom," excluded forever!

Can we need argument to urge our earnest avoidance of such a destiny; our diligent watchfulness, lest we should seem to come short of the grace of God; our faithful repentance from all dead works; our cordial and obedient acceptance of the Saviour? Can we need entreaty to press forward, in the narrow way, to the prize of our high calling, our admission to the eternal festival of the whole family of God?

And, as Christians, let us be moved, by the expectation of our heav enly home, to cherish the spirit of union; and, instead of mutually receding, to draw closer to each other in the bonds of brotherly love. How strange, how unnatural, that there should subsist any distance or antipathy on earth, among those who profess themselves to be candidates for one celestial society, expectants of an eternal union above! In a word, let us be followers of those who, through faith and patience, now inherit the promises; followers of those pious patriarchs, named in the text, who sought a better country; children of Abraham, Israelites indeed! Encompassed with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and run with patience our appointed race, looking unto Jesus, the Divine Forerunner, that, with the many who have come from the east and the west, we also may be favoured to sit down in the kingdom of heaven; and there to ascribe our entire redemption from the ruins of our fall to the united love, grace, and fellowship of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! Amen.

XLVIII.

PRESENT SUFFERINGS CONTRASTED WITH FUTURE

GLORY.*

ROMANS, viii., 18: I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed.

[Preached at Hope Chapel, Clifton, April, 1830.]

Ir is a saying as ancient as the book of Job-supposed to be the most ancient book in the Bible-that "man is born to trouble:"

VOL. IV.-Y Y

From the notes of the Rev. T. Grinfield.