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SERMON XXV.

THE BRIDE OF CHRIST.

REVELATION, Xix. 7, 8.

"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him : for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.

"And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints."

THE glorious vision is not yet withdrawn. Another glimpse is granted us of the blessedness of the saints in heaven. This morning we beheld them as "a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues," standing "before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands." Now we behold them mystically one; "The marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready" first, we look upon them as many members; and now we behold them as one body: first we see the numerous band of the elect, and contemplate them in their diversities, as gathered from the four winds, and from every kingdom under heaven; and then we

1 1 Rev. vii. 9.

view them as the One Holy Church, the simple and beautiful Bride of Christ, arrayed in her glorious garments, and prepared for her Bridegroom. Thus all the servants of the Lord who "fear Him, both small and great," being bound together in one Holy communion and fellowship, and partaking of one life, are one body in Him who is One; One Glorious Church, redeemed by the Blood of One, who was once offered, inspired by the quickening breath of the One Spirit who proceedeth from the One Father; espoused to One Husband, that she may be presented as a chaste virgin to Christ; and by Him already so greatly beloved, that He "gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church."

Now these thoughts, dear brethren, are peculiarly suitable to All Saints' day: for we contemplate the assemblage of the saints to-day, not so much as single individual men and women, striving each in their turn against the hindrances which they encountered in passing through this world of trial, but as united in One Holy Family, as the members of Christ, in particular, and together His Body. For one by one they were gathered into the Church which is One. As each was born into the world, and had his natural home in the world, he was chosen out of the world, and assigned his position in the Church. By a true living union, wrought by the Holy Ghost, each Christian saint was received into Christ, as a member of His Body mystical; and in 2 Rev. xix. 5. 3 Eph. v. 25, 27.

:

union with His body was made partaker of all gifts and graces required for pardon, sanctification, and, in the end, salvation. Outwardly they are scattered over the face of the whole earth, unknown by face, unknown by name, to their own loving brethren: but inwardly united, in love united, in faith united, in hope united loving one Saviour, believing one Creed, hoping for one salvation, and partaking one life. Baptism brings them into one; and communion in the One Sacrifice, once offered by the One High Priest, who is now ascended into the heavens, keeps them at one. If they were all alive (I mean upon the earth), they would be all one, since they would all partake the one Bread, and by it the one Body, and so be what they partake; and if they were all dead (by which I mean asleep in Christ), they would be still all one, because they would sleep in Him. And though there be some living, as we say, and some dead; some toiling, and some at rest; some at home in the body, and some absent from the body and present with the Lord, yet are they still one : for those who are absent from us as regards the body, are yet present with us in spirit, present in Him who is omnipresent. Perhaps they are indeed otherwise present. It may be they are permitted to be locally present, to watch our movements, and to hear our words. But, however this may be, at least we know this much, that they are with Christ, and Christ is with us; that as He

4

4 "Si bene accepistis, vos estis quod accepistis."-St. Augus. Serm. ccxxvii.

"Quia passus est pro nobis, commendavit nobis in isto Sacramento corpus et sanguinem suum; quod etiam fecit et nos ipsos. Nam et nos corpus ipsius facti sumus, et per misericordiam ipsius quod accepimus, nos sumus.' ."-Serm. ccxxix.

saved them, He is saving us; that as we are upheld by Him, they rest in Him: and that as we long in Him for perfect rest, so they in Him look forward with earnest expectation for a glorious resurrection.

Let us then, dear brethren, contemplate to-day the elect of God as one Holy Church, the pure and spotless Bride of Christ. In the text we behold the One Church in glory; the saints in heaven, as they will be hereafter, in the garments of holiness, praising the Lamb; the Bride adorned with ornaments, and arrayed in fine linen, entering upon her inheritance of everlasting light. This is what shall be hereafter. The vision is for an appointed time. But come it will. As surely as Christ died and rose again, and ascended into glory, so surely the vision shall be a reality. As surely as the Lamb is now in heaven, so surely His Bride shall be there too.

Meanwhile the whole Church is in a condition very different to that foreshown in the vision. The dead are not as they shall be; much less are the living. And while we contemplate for a little time the bright vision of glory which the beloved disciple sets before us, yet we turn again to the thought of our own present condition, our hopes and fears, our struggles against evil, our earnest expectations of deliverance : and we ask, "What help, what encouragement, what consolation, what guidance, will this blessed vision afford us?" For good, doubtless for our good, it is granted us. We believe that He who has taken us into the number of His elect, has revealed to us their glory, and described their future condition for our benefit. This day we are assembled together to

hear these words, to behold this vision.

"Interpret

the dream," you say; "make the vision plain." O Lord, we turn to Thee, do Thou instruct us. Open, O Lord, the eyes of our understanding, that we may behold the wondrous things of Thy law. O "Give me wisdom that sitteth by Thy throne; and reject me not from among Thy children:" but by her blessed influence teach Thou me that I may teach others also.

Let us, then, dear brethren, observe some part of these words more closely. "To her (the Lamb's Bride) was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." Behold the true glory of the heavenly Bride, the fine linen of the righteousness of the saints: the garments of holiness, these are the glory of the Church in heaven! And observe how the same truth is declared in this morning's epistle : "Lo, a great multitude ... stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes." And again, compare these words with that which is said in the parable in the Gospel for last Sunday: "When the King came in... He saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:" for this he was blamed for this he was cast out. It is plain, therefore, that those who remained, and sat there blameless, were clothed in wedding garments. Thus we have the garments of holiness three times mentioned; once they are called the clean and white linen of the Lamb's Bride; once they are called the white robes of the countless multitude of the elect; and once 5 Wisdom, ix. 4. • Twentieth Sunday after Trinity.

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