rash and hasty judgments of persons and things on the one hand, and to be fortified in our own souls against such judgments of us on the other? "With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's day; (see margin.) Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." 1 Cor. iv, 3-5. Is the saint to be stirred up to diligence and zeal and untiring exertion? The apostle treats the whole subject of the resurrection and of the coming of Christ. "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order; Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." He speaks of diverse glories, of heavenly and of earthly, of natural and of spiritual bodies; and then winds up by a passage previously quoted in part, "Behold I shew you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." This is clearly the event treated of in the passage already considered in 1 Thess. iv. But what use does the apostle make of the subject here? After further dwelling on it, and raising a note of holy exultation as he views the last enemy under the victor's feet, he concludes thus, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Cor. xv. As the grand motive to an unearthly spirit and a devoted walk, the same apostle uses it elsewhere. Having besought the saints to walk as they had him for an ensample, and told them with tears of some who were enemies of the cross of Christ, minding earthly things, he thus proceeds; For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved." Philip. iii, 28; iv, 1. This hope stands equally connected with the mortification of our natural, sinful propensities. "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall also appear with him in glory.

appear, then shall ye

Mor

tify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." Col. iii, 3—5. În 1 and 2 Thessalonians, the coming of Christ is mentioned in every chapter. The hope of it is, in part, what they had been converted to. "Ye turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven." It was at the coming of Christ Paul expected to have the full joy of the success of his labours among the Thessalonians. "For what is our hope, our joy, our crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy." The Apostle prays the Lord to make them increase and abound in love one toward another and toward all men, "to the end," as he adds, "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." After the long and interesting passage, already considered, as to the resurrection of the sleeping saints, the change of the living ones, and the translation of both to meet the Lord in the air, and so be ever with him, he adds, to shew the value and use of the doctrine he had been teaching, "Wherefore comfort one another with these words." "The hope of salvation,"-not the salvation of the soul, which we now have, but the perfected salvation which the coming of Christ will bring to us,-is "the helmet" we are exhorted to wear. Then, finally, the Apostle prays for the Thessalonians “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." How this hope associates itself with everything in his mind.

In the next epistle, Paul speaks of what will occur at the return of Jesus, "when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." This sets his heart on fire, and he adds "Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power." "The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him" is the basis of all the exhortation and instruction in the second chapter; and in the third he prays thus-" And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ." To his beloved Timothy he writes, "I charge thee therefore before

God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word; be instant in season, out of season;" while, in the same chapter he affectingly describes the hope by which he himself was sustained on the very eve of martyrdom. Ready to be offered up, the time of his departure at hand, having fought the fight, finished the course, kept the faith, "Henceforth," says he, "there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." What a powerful,

exhilarating hope!

"For

In the epistle to Titus we are expressly told that the grace of God teaches us to look for this hope; and the looking for it is the crowning lesson of those enumerated by the apostle, as taught to us by the grace of God. the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour (see the Greek) Jesus Christ." Titus ii, 11-13. In the light of this hope, patience is inculcated. Heb. x, 36, 37. "For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry." James uses it in like manner, "Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord." Jas. v, 7. Peter treats largely of our being begotten again to a lively hope of an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for those who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time. He speaks of the saints rejoicing greatly in this hope, even though now for a season, if need be, they are in heaviness through manifold temptations The issue of such trials is to be seen at the coming of Jesus. "That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ." Then further he exhorts us, "Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." It is this hope by which Peter as well as Paul would encourage the saints under all the afflictions they endure. "But, rejoice, inas

much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that when his glory' shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." The godly care of the flock by those who have the charge of it, he enforces by the same motive. "Feed the flock of God which is among you... .....and when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."

The disciple whom Jesus loved, and who lay in the Saviour's bosom, is not, as we may well suppose, behind the rest in his joyful anticipations of his Lord's return. "And now, little children, abide in him; that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming." "Beloved,' he 66 says, now are we the sons of God; and it doth 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." The sanctifying influence of this expectation, he declares in the most emphatic way. "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." As to the Revelation vouchsafed to this favoured apostle-the closing book of scripture-it is impossible to understand it at all, if the coming of Jesus be not, as we have so largely seen, the hope of the Christian. True that it is the coming of Christ to execute judgment that is most prominently treated of in this book; along with the premonitory judg ments which usher in that solemn event, and the reign of peace and blessedness which ensues upon it. But when Christ comes thus, it is with his saints; when he reigns thus, his saints reign with him; and all this implies that they have been previously caught up to him, and glorified. They are those who have part in the first resurrection, that live and reign with Christ a thousand years. I content myself at present, however, with citing from the last chapter of this book-the closing chapter in the volume of inspiration-a passage which shews in the most affecting way what the value of this hope is, both to the heart of Jesus, and to the hearts of his saints. The coming of Christ has twice in this very chapter been spoken of in the way of warning, "Behold, I come quickly." But ere the whole volume closes, Jesus announces himself to his people. "I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star." This announcement of what he is, elicits from the church an invitation to him to come. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come."

Any one who has ears to hear is invited to join in the cry. "And let him that heareth say, Come." Thirsty sinners are also invited, yea, and whoever will, to partake freely of the living waters. Then, after a parenthesis on quite another subject, Jesus replies to this invitation. It is not a note of alarm-Behold, I come quickly. It is an assurance to the hearts of those who long for him, and invite him, that he will not long delay. "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly." The church again responds "Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." The apostle's benediction on the saints is all that remains of the Apocalypse, or the scripture. It is, if I may venture so to express myself, with this touching dialogue between Christ and his church, as to himself and his speedy return, that the bible concludes. Can any one doubt that the coming of Jesus was intended to be the christian's hope? Would that it were more vividly realised in each of our hearts!

This last passage relates, indeed, to the hope of the church in its corporate character as the Bride of Christ. The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. But the hope of the church is the same as that of the individual believer: and it is moreover in the hearts of individual believers that the church's hope is cherished. The church corporately is composed of individual believers ; and while, viewed in its corporate character the church has relations to Christ which the believer individually has not, (a believer is not the body of Christ or the bride of Christ-the church is), it is nevertheless in the affections and conscience of the individual believer that those relations of the church to Christ are to be recognized, and to have their effect. Hence the identity of the church's and the individual believer's hope. That moment which brings to the believer all he has longed and waited for, in the return of his now absent Lord and Saviour, brings to the church the consummation of her happiness and glory as the body, the bride of Christ. The bride and the Bridegroom join each other in the air. The body is glorified with its Head.

Scripture identifies the corporate and the individual hope; that of the church, and that of the christian. By man's thoughts and systems these two are separated. First, men substitute as individual christians the hope (true in itself as to all who die) of happiness with Christ after death, for the true, blessed hope of his return as set before us in the scriptures we have considered, and in many, many more. Then, when death has been made the cer