-they convey the chosen throng, now met in "sweet surprise," to the glorious presence of their common Lord and immutable Friend! This record is from the lips of Christ, and it cannot mislead us. It will sustain every expectation we may build upon its truth. "This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes."

And now let me venture to ask, is not this consummation of blessedness to the elect an event entirely consistent with every expectation which we can reasonably form, from the connexion established between Jesus Christ, as "the second Adam," and his redeemed saints?

What, I would gratefully inquire, what may we not anticipate from words like those once addressed to his disciples? (John xiv. 1.) "Let not your heart be troubled: ye 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 and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. Verily, verily I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born in the world. And ye now, therefore, have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Or what may we not anticipate from words like those addressed by Jesus to his Almighty Father, in behalf of his chosen. (John xvii. 1.) "Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Neither pray I for these alone; but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee: that they also may be one in us. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold the glory which thou hast given me."

Can any expectations be too elevated, which we build upon a foundation of this eternal strength and solidity? Ought it to surprise us, if in this confidence the early saints "took joyfully

the spoiling of their earthly goods, knowing they had in heaven a better and more enduring substance?" Ought it to surprise us, if, believing that "nothing could separate them from the love of Christ;" if, satisfied that "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature," should be able to effectuate such a separation; if, persuaded that "all things were theirs: the world, and life, and death, and things present, and things to come; all were theirs, and they were Christ's, and Christ was God's;" if persuaded that at the blissful morning "of the first resurrection" they should behold Emmanuel's glory, and with him "judge the world in righteousness;" oh! can we wonder that they absolutely "groaned within themselves," "waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body;" in the day of "the manifestation of the sons of God?" When they marked the cruelties, the oppression, the crimes, and the tears of mankind, say can we wonder that they looked, and even hasted, "to the coming of the day of God?" in which day they knew the disordered world would assume a new aspect, and the promises of God arise to their full and glorious accomplishment? Truly this hope it was which cheered their hours of gloom, and inspirited afresh their wearied hearts! At that time "truth was indeed fallen in the earth;" for its sacred Author had not in that earth "where to rest his head." Idolatry and superstition, false philosophy and grossest ignorance, held the sceptre; and amidst such misrule the apostles had little to expect, save reproach, and scorn, and death. But they looked forward to the hour, bright to the eye of faith, when "truth shall again flourish out of the earth, and righteousness look down from heaven." They anticipated the hour, when, under the agency of eternal love, they should become yet more munificent bezefactors to a ruined race, than in the best days of their earthly ministry they had ever been! They hailed the hour, when the Lord would unite them in glory for ever to himself, and consign in a great measure to their guidance and control, some happier regions of a renovated world! "We shall reign on the earth!" Ö, well then might they exclaim, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, unto him be glory, and honour, and blessing, and praise from henceforth, even for ever!"

Having thus considered the general subject of the kingdom. of Christ and his glorified church, I propose to inquire into some few particulars as to its nature and effects, so far as they are recorded on the page of Scripture. Now, indeed, "we see as through a glass, darkly;" and "it doth not yet appear what

we shall be;" but that which even this dim glass permits us to discern, is exceedingly bright and glorious; and it were competent to us, had we faith to receive it, to imitate the wise men in their journey to Bethlehem, who, "when they saw the STAR which stood over where the young child was," while yet they saw not HIM, "rejoiced with an exceeding great joy!" Such a light at least have we, "whereunto we shall do well to take heed." This light may indeed be "a lamp to our feet" as we advance along the pathways of this wilderness world, until, "the day dawn, and the day-star itself arise in our hearts."

CHAPTER VIII.

The Reign of the Glorified Saints.

BEFORE we proceed to the more particular examination of the nature of the kingdom of Christ and his saints, we may observe, that the existence of such a kingdom throws great light upon several obscure intimations made to individuals in the Book of God. Of these, besides the dominion of the earth promised to Adam, which we have considered at large, we may notice the inheritance (Gen. xiii. 14) of Canaan promised to Abraham.

To Abraham the Lord gave the whole land, which he discovered around him, for a possession: and by "faith" we are told, (Heb. xi. 8,) "He sojourned in the land of promise, which he was after to receive for an inheritance:" but has he ever possessed it otherwise than by faith? The promise to him yet lies unfulfilled upon the sacred page.

Again, the assurance made to Daniel (chap. xii. 13) merits consideration: "Go thy way, Daniel, till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot in the end of the days." "The end of the days" is surely the end of the fourth monarchy, at which era the people of Israel will be restored to their own land; and at this same time it is promised to Daniel "to stand in his lot." A similar intimation we find in the 99th Psalm. This Psalm commences with the expression, "The Lord reigneth:" this expression fixes the chronology of the declaration. It is added, (ver. 5,) "Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool, for he is holy." Then mark the words that follow: "Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name: they called upon

the Lord, and he answered them." Their former intercourse with God is now to be renewed in that day of the Lord when the throne of David shall be rebuilt. Bishop Horsley, in his comment on this Psalm, has this expression: "In the 99th Psalm, Jehovah, seated between the cherubim in Zion, (the visible church,) reigns over all the world, in order to be praised for the justice of his government." "This Psalm," he adds, "this Psalm, I think, alludes to a reign of Jehovah in Zion, subsequent to the restoration of the Jewish nation, when Moses, Aaron, and Samuel are to bear a part in the general worship." (Horsley in loc.)

Now, the first resurrection of the saints, and the kingdom placed in their hands, subordinately to the power of Christthese facts, whenever they are realized, will at once accomplish the promises here made to Abraham and to Daniel.

The kingdom of the "first resurrection" is indeed a clue to many difficult passages of Scripture, and may recall, in this place, to the recollection of the reader, the assurance to Nathanael and Philip, (John i.) "Hereafter shall ye see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man;" and likewise the promise to the twelve apostles in particular, "that they should sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

Let us now attempt to elucidate, as far as the light of Scripture will carry us, the nature of the kingdom of Christ, and of his saints upon the earth. For this purpose, in the first place, let us advert to the state of the world at large, as it will appear after the second advent of our Lord.

The infidel and apostate factions, connected more especially with the broken state of the last, or Roman empire, will be dispersed and annihilated by the visible judgments of the Lamb of God, when "He comes with his ten thousand saints," in whose hands is the sceptre of iron, to avenge the Lord's cause. This demolition of the mystic Babylon comprises not only the ensanguined papacy, long "drunk with the blood of the saints," but the secular system of carnal protestantism, and the open coalition of deism, and infidelity: all these anti-christian confederacies will be swept away. (Rev. xvi. 17-19.) The Jews at this time will be converted amidst much trouble and slaughter, and will be brought back to their own land.

(Zech. xiv. Dan. xii. 1.) Idolatry and superstition will gradually terminate, and the nations which are at present in heathen darkness, will be prepared to welcome the light of the gospel. (Isaiah ii. 11. 25.) At the same time a remnant of the nations, connected with the apostacies of ancient Christendom, (Zech. xiii. 8, 9,) will be converted; and thus, after the

final pouring out of the phials of wrath upon the earth, the inhabitants which will remain to constitute the subjects of the Redeemer's kingdom, will be composed of the existing Pagan nations then converted to Christianity; the restored Jews; and the remnant of the apostate countries of Christendom, reserved for repentance and faith. Over these nations the dominion of Christ and his saints will be extended.

What physical change the earth, with its climates and fruitfulness, may undergo at this time, it is not for us to assert; but I think it plain, from various passages of Scripture, that a great mitigation of the original curse will take place, and that the joy of the earth will be great, because "the Lord reigneth;" and because his saints, the excellent of the earth, will be the "princes" and rulers in his kingdom. The curse, however, may not, and probably will not, be wholly removed from the earth at this time, inasmuch as its inhabitants will still be mortal; and, though living in peace and prosperity, will still pass to the dust of the grave, until the general resurrection at the final period of the Messiah's kingdom.

This kingdom will be different in its character from every other manifestation of power and authority ever exhibited upon the earth. The latter rains of the Spirit" descending upon the inhabitants, they will become fruitful in good works. Satan, through whose means their bad passions have been fomented and excited, with all his hosts of malignant angels, will be driven from the earth. He will no longer be its prince; idolatry will wholly cease, and power will become as the image of God, a sacred energy used to promote the best interests of truth, integrity, happiness, and concord. The subordinate governments will be Christian, and the sceptres will be swayed in righteousness.

The view which I entertain of the INFLUENCE which will form and sustain the allegiance of this kingdom, would lead me to expect not only that the large majority of mankind will be genuine converts to the gospel, but that during a very long period the number of merely nominal converts will be exceedingly small. The allegiance of the world will be sincere, affectionate, consistent.

Whether this change will take place with a very extraordinary rapidity-a rapidity manifestly miraculous, or with a rapidity suited to a more usual influence of divine grace, more than one opinion may perhaps be entertained. I am disposed to think that the change will be wrought with a miraculous rapidity, of which the day of pentecost may afford an illustration. In the language of the Prophet "a nation shall be born in a day."