ble must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. The saying that is written shall be brought to pass, Death is swallowed up in victory." "We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." "Your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we also shall appear with him in glory." "The Lord shall descend with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall first arise. Then we which are alive, and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we be forever with the Lord." "It is a righteous thing with God to recompense to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven." "An entrance shall be ministered unto us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." "We, according to his promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God. I will give him a crown of life. He shall not be hurt with the second death. I will give him to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name, which no man knoweth save he who receiveth it; and I will give him the morning star. He shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life; but will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall no more go out. I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on his throne." "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." "And there shall be no more curse; and there shall be no night there; and they shall reign forever and ever.”

These are "the things which have been reported to us by them who have preached the Gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." There is a good deal in those descriptions which is dark through excessive brightness,-imperfectly intelligible by us, because descriptive of a state more pure, and felicitous, and glorious, than our limited, obtuse, sensualized faculties can distinctly apprehend; but what is clear, and what is dark, equally prove that this happiness, with the love in which it originates, has a height, and a depth, a length and a breadth, that pass knowledge. And O, delightful, solemnizing thought! this is no airy dream. "These are the true and faithful sayings of God." The period referred to is hastening on apace; and all this happiness must either be gained or lost by every one of us-gained or lost forever.

1 Rom. ii. 6, &c.; Rom. viii. 18-25. 1 Cor. xv. 20, &c. 2 Cor. v. 2, 3. Col. iii. 3, 4. 1 Thess. iv. 13. 2 Thess. i. 6, &c. 2 Pet. i. 11. Rev. ii. passim; Rev. iii. passim ; xxi. 4; xvii. 1–5.

III. THE FINAL HAPPINESS OF CHRISTIANS THE SUBJECT OF ANGELIC STUDY.

It only remains that I turn your attention to the last view which the apostle gives us of the final salvation of Christians, as the subject of angelic study: "Into these things the angels desire to look."

Into what things? Obviously into the things "of which the prophets prophesied, and into which they inquired"-into the things repeated to us by them who preached the Gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven," that is, into the things respecting "the salvation prepared to be revealed in the last time"-into the things respecting "the grace to be brought to Christians at the revelation of Jesus Christ" into those things the angels desire to look. The meaning of these words is obviously, the angels have an intense desire to understand the whole truth in reference to the final salvation of the people of God.

The angels here spoken of are, without doubt, "the elect angels,"those holy, happy, unembodied spirits who retain their original integrity, who, infinitely beneath God, are yet far superior to men in the scale of being, who excel in wisdom and strength, and who find their happiness in contemplating the divine excellencies, and in doing the divine will.

1

These exalted spiritual beings are represented as "desirous to look" into the things which respect the final salvation of the redeemed from among men. The original expression is very beautiful. They are with earnest desire bending down, fixing their intensest gaze on these things. The peculiar mode of expression probably alludes to the figures of the cherubim above the mercy-seat, who with downcast eyes were represented as looking on the mercy-seat, as if seeking to penetrate the mystery of wisdom and kindness which the fiery law, covered by the blood-sprinkled golden propitiatory, embodied.

We have no reason to think that the angels directly know anything more about the final salvation of the redeemed among men than we do. It is "by the Church," that is, by the dispensations of God to the Church, that "the principalities and powers in the heavenly places" become acquainted with that revelation of "the manifold wisdom of God" contained in the plan of human redemption. We have no doubt that they know all that is revealed in the Bible on this subject; and that, from their higher faculties, and their more diligent study, and their juster and more extended views of the divine perfections, and of what constitutes the happiness of intelligent creatures, they understand what is revealed there much better than we do.

But still they are not satisfied-they are desirous to understand these wondrous divine declarations more completely, and they are looking forward with intense desire to the period when fulfilment shall develop the full extent of their meaning. Nor is it at all difficult to divine what are the principles in the minds of angels which make them thus desire to look into these things. Enlightened curi2 Eph. iii. 10.

ἢ ἐπιθυμοῦσιν ἄγγελοι παρακύψαι.

osity, piety, and benevolence, all combine in turning their attention with unwearied interest towards this subject.

Enlightened curiosity, or the desire of useful knowledge, is one of the characteristic features, we have reason to believe, of angelic as well as human minds. They know far more than we do, but there is much they do not know; and it is probable their thirst for knowl edge exceeds ours just in a similar proportion to their possession of knowledge. It is easy to conceive how desirous they must be of knowing what it is for "corruption to put on incorruption," what it is for "mortality to be swallowed up of life." Enlightened philosophers have great pleasure in witnessing, and in expecting to witness, experiments tending to throw light on the processes of nature. A world in flames, the elements melting with fervent heat, and the heavens flying away like a scroll, and a new heaven and a new earth rising out of the fiery chaos, are spectacles which it is not wonderful the angels should look forward to, with eager desire and almost holy impatience.

Their piety interests them still more deeply in the subject. This salvation is to be the full manifestation of the divine excellences, as displayed in the whole of that wonderful economy which shall then be completed. Angels will then see more of the power, and wisdom, and holiness, and benignity of God, than they had ever seen, than they had ever conjectured; and then, in the final pulling down of everything which opposes his will or obscures his glory, they will obtain the fullest gratification of the strongest wish of a loyal creature's heart—" that God may be all in all."

Their benevolence, too, keeps their minds fixed on the subject. "They are all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation." They "encamp round about them that fear God, and deliver them." They have a kind interest in, a tender affection for, those committed to their care. They regard their manifold trials with a benignant pity, though themselves strangers to pain; and they take a generous interest in those events which are to consummate their blessedness. They wonder at the height of glory reserved for the redeemed among men; and, completely free from envy, they desire to understand what is meant by "all things being put under their feet," and by men who have overcome through the blood of the Lamb, sitting down with him on his throne, as he, when he overcame, sat down on his Father's throne.

The practical use to be made of these truths it is not difficult to discover. If these things have been reported to us by men who preached the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, surely we should believe them. And if we believed them-if we really believed them-O what an influence would they have on our temper and conduct! A faith of this truth would induce the man, who is yet uninterested in the christian salvation, immediately to seek a share in its heavenly and spiritual blessings, and would make those who are interested in it very holy, very happy, very active, and perfectly contented amid all the calamities and trials of life.

1 Heb. i. 14. Psal. xxxiv. 7.

What is the subject of the constant, intense contemplation of angels, surely deserves our most careful study. We are far more closely connected with, far more deeply interested in, the subject of study, than they. The salvation they desire to look into will promote, but it will but indirectly promote their happiness. Their happiness may be secure without reference to it. But as to us, this salvation must be ours, or we are undone forever and ever. It is now that an interest is to be obtained in it, if obtained at all. It is only by knowing and believing the truth about this salvation, that an interest in it can be obtained. Oh, then, let us, with intensest ardor, seek the knowledge of this salvation! If we die unacquainted with it, we die uninterested in it; and if we die uninterested in it, it never, never can become ours. "Now is the accepted time, now is the day

of salvation."

NOTE A, p. 75.

Τὰ εἰς Χριστὸν παθήματα- the till-Christ sufferings. Gal. iii. 24. Εἰς Χριστὸν=εὶς μéρav Xρioтov. Phil. i. 10. The view we have taken of the expression 7. ε. X. π. k. T. μ. T. S. substantially that taken both by Luther and Calvin. Calvin's remark savors of his ordinary exegetical sagacity: "Non tractat Petrus quid Christo sit proprium, sed de universali ecclesiæ statu disserit." Le Clerc's note is good: "Tà eìs Xρioтòv пałńnaтra intellexerit de piorum perpessionibus, Christi causa exantlandis: quas praeviderant obscurius Prophetæ, et gloriam fidelium post sequuturam; sed quarum nescierunt tempora nisi quod revelatum eis est, ipsorum ævo eas non event

uras.

Hæc egregie consentiunt cum serie orationis Petri qui loquitur de malis quibus religionis causa afficiebantur Christiani." Winer, though he does not adopt our exegesis, distinctly says that the expression before us is incorrectly taken for Tà Xρloтоv пalýμаra.-Gram. Part. iii. sec. 30, p. 157. The Tà eìs Xploтòv malýμатα seem to denote the same thing as ἢ θλίψις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ of the Apocalypse, chap. i. 9, of which John represents himself and those to whom he wrote as ovykowvwvoi.

DISCOURSE V.

CHRISTIAN DUTY-MEANS OF, AND MOTIVES TO,

PERFORMANCE.

ITS

1 PET. i. 13–21.—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: as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conyersation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

AMONG the numerous mistaken notions of Christianity which prevail among its professors, few are more common, and none more fatal, than that in which it is viewed merely as a theory-a system of abstract principles, which, however true, are but remotely connected with human interests; and which, therefore, can but feebly influence human character and conduct. It is but too evident that the grand characteristic doctrines of Christianity, such as the trinity, the incarnation, the atonement, justification by faith, sanctification by divine influence, are, with many who readily admit their truth, and who would indeed be shocked at having their orthodoxy called in question, mere inoperative opinions, which exercise no more practical influence over their temper and conduct than the philosophical doctrines respecting the nature of space and time, or the size and distance of the celestial bodies, or the historical facts respecting the victories of Alexander or the discoveries of Columbus.

It is painful to think that it is no uncommon thing for a person to be able to talk plausibly about these principles of Christianity, to reason conclusively in their support, and to be zealous even to rancor against those who deny, or even doubt, their truth; while he yet continues a total stranger to their transforming efficacy, the slave of selfishness, malignity and worldliness. And what is the most lamentable part of this sad history, the infatuated man seems in a great measure unaware of the shocking inconsistency he is exhibiting, in displaying the most unchristian tempers in defence of christian truth. He mistakes his knowledge and zeal about certain propositionswhich, it may be, embody christian truth-for Christianity itself; and looking, it would seem, on orthodoxy of opinion as the sum and substance of religious duty, wraps himself up in an overweening concep