works and designs, and in the possession of his consciousness of his supreme dominion and transcendent excellence, his unutterable and unbounded felicity!

Conceive, then, of a Being absolutely independent, and existing from eternity; in the enjoyment of infinite happiness, always master of his purpose, never perplexed with difficulty, never agitated with anxious expectation, resting on his own all-sufficiency, and viewing with complacency each attribute of his infinite fulness. What, then, is an age in his view, compared to what it is in the eyes of mortals? Surely with such a Being "one day must be as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

Admiration is in most instances the offspring of ignorance; at least, it implies a limitation of the views: so that an object shall appear great in the contemplation of one man, which, to another of more elevated and capacious powers, shall appear small and inconsiderable. But, to an infinite understanding, nothing can appear great that does not partake of its own infinity. The Supreme Mind, and that alone, grasps eternity, possesses it every moment. He not only comprehends, but constitutes, eternal duration, by enduring " from everlasting to everlasting;" for there could be no eternal duration if something did not always endure: we cannot conceive of its existence but as a mode of being, and that being is God.

The measure by which he estimates time is, consequently, quite different from that which we are compelled to apply in its contemplation. We measure one portion of duration by another; he measures time by eternity. How inconceivably different must be the apprehension arising from these different methods of considering it! In attempting to form a conception of endless duration, we are under the necessity of accumulating ages upon ages, and multiplying millions of ages into millions; accompanied with this conviction, that we have arrived no nearer to an adequate comprehension of it; that there remains beyond us an infinitely larger space than we have travelled over. To his view it is every moment present: to him it is familiar, as his element, his habitation; and from that stupendous elevation he locks down upon the scenes of time and the lapse of ages. These reflections may assist us to conceive how to him one day must necessarily be as "a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." II. The use to which the doctrine of the text may be applied.

1. It removes the ground of objection against the fulfilment of the divine declarations arising from the accomplishment being long delayed.

If some time is to be allotted for preparation, some space for operation, it surely belongs to God to determine of what extent it should be; this, perhaps, you will admit. But why so long a space? But in whose eyes is it long? In yours, who are but the creatures of a day, who are, from the narrowness of your views, liable to perpetual illusions and deception? or in God's? And, amid this diversity of appre hension, can you hesitate in deciding which is correct?

No slackness in his purpose is then to be imputed to him, according

to what men account slackness; no unsteadiness in his resolution, no revolution of his determination.

Nothing is to be concluded in favour of the impunity of prosperous vice, nor of the final neglect of oppressed and afflicted piety. The prosperity of the wicked is but for a moment: "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading like a green bay-tree: yet I passed by, and he was not; yea, I sought him out, but he could not be found."

2. It accounts for the peculiar cast of Scripture language when employed in announcing the coming of Christ, and the end of all things.

3. Though we cannot immediately change our senses, let us endeavour to conform our ideas and convictions to the dictates of Infallible Wisdom on this subject. Let us consider the whole duration of things here as very short.

The more we drink into the spirit of the Scriptures, the more will this be the case.

XXXIX.

THE LORD'S-DAY COMMEMORATIVE OF CHRIST'S
RESURRECTION.

PSALM CXviii. 24.-This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

THIS Psalm appears to have been composed on David's accession to the dominion over all Israel; when he had subdued his enemies around, and completely established himself as a great and victorious prince. It was probably set to music on the anniversary of David's coronation. That was a most joyful event. As a very important passage in [this Psalm] is applied to Christ, both by himself and his apostles, no doubt can be entertained of its referring, in its fullest and sublimest sense, to the person and kingdom of the Redeemer. In this light I shall consider it in the following discourse: and as the Lord'sday is appointed to commemorate the resurrection of our Saviour, at which his kingdom commenced, I shall endeavour to invite your attention to those sources of religious joy which are opened by that event. The event which this day is designed to celebrate is calculated to afford joy on the following accounts :—

I. On this day the purchase of our redemption was completed.

In order to render the salvation of sinners consistent with the holiness and justice of the Divine nature, some great moral expedient became necessary. The expedient which the Divine Wisdom adopted was the substitution of the Son of God in the room of sinners; who freely consented to assume our nature, and to sustain those sufferings which VOL. III.-N

the Father deemed requisite for the satisfaction of his own justice, and especially the suffering of death. Though the merit of his obedience is more eminently ascribed in Scripture to his death (“He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross"), yet we are justified in considering all the humiliation he endured during his abode on earth as forming a part of his merit, and consequently of the price of our redemption. His voluntary condescension in coming into our world, his assuming our nature itself, with all its infirmities and sorrows, formed an important part of his merit, because he was under no previous obligation to do it.

His merit, as far as it was the result of his sufferings, was composed of three parts:

1. His assumption of human nature itself; which, as he was under no previous obligation of doing, was in the highest degree meritorious. 2. The endurance of evils which were not necessarily included in it; such as poverty, conteinpt, and innumerable privations.

3. [His] death; the efficacy of which was specific, resulting not merely from it as suffering, but as that precise species of suffering which the law inflicted on disobedience: "In the day thou eatest 'thereof, thou shalt die." "The wages of sin is death." The pain of death terminated when he cried, "It is finished!" but the humiliation still remained until his resurrection.

Justice is now satisfied, the law is magnified and made honourable. The majesty of heaven and earth appear in the person of the Saviour, with an inviting benignity dressed in smiles, proclaiming peace from the cross "to them that are nigh, and to them that are far off."

II. On this day the character of Christ was illustriously vindicated, and his pretensions fully asserted and sustained. During his life he laboured under the accusation of deceiving the people; his miraculous works were imputed to diabolical agency, and death [was] inflicted on him under the character of a blasphemer, because he affirmed himself to be the Son of God: he was "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead."* "Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I do these things."t

The grand proof of Christ's messiahship is his resurrection.

To witness his resurrection was the principal office of the apostles: "Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, until that same day that he was taken up, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection." It was the evidence to which he had himself appealed: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again." It was such an attestation of divine approbation as was never conferred before or since.

III. This day afforded to Christ a signal triumph over his enemies. During his abode in the grave, his enemies exulted, the world rejoiced, his disciples were rejected and dispersed. Witness the desponding ↑ John viii. 28. + Acts i. 21, 22.

*Rom. i. 4.

John il. 19.

"We thought it

language of his disciples on their way to Emmaus: had been he that should have redeemed Israel; and, besides all this, it is the third day since these things were done." The hopes of the church were sunk to the lowest point of depression: it seemed as if the name of Jesus and his cause were for ever entombed in his grave. But how gloriously was the scene reversed by his resurrection! The person of the Saviour was for ever removed beyond the reach of further assault, and his cause was more than ever triumphant: "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all."* Greater miracles were

wrought by the apostles in his name than any which he wrought himself. From thence we must date the extensive and successful propagation of the gospel. The Spirit descended, and the eleven apostles were sent forth into all the world. the sceptre of universal dominion, to sit rule and to establish it for ever and ever. him in heaven and in earth."

He then began to assume upon the throne of David, to "All power was given unto

Mil

IV. On this day our Lord gained an everlasting victory over the last enemy, and triumphed over death in that nature which had always been subject to its dominion before. Death had reigned, not only from Adam to Moses, but through all subsequent generations, subjecting the whole race, and trampling them with indignity in the dust. lions and millions had descended into his dreary prison, of which none had ever been able to break the bars, and escape from the confinement. The king of terrors maintained an undisputed dominion, a despotic sway, over all the past generations of mankind. Some were indulged with a larger respite than others. Some descended into his mansions with more funereal pomp and pageantry; but when arrived there, they all met with the same reception: the same darkness enveloped them; and they equally said "to corruption, Thou art my sister; to the worm, Thou art my mother." But on this day a new order of things commenced. Death for the first time encountered an enemy more powerful than himself; and though he seemed to prevail for a moment, he was for ever foiled in the conflict. He received into his territory, in the guise of a captive, Him whom he found a conqueror. [Christ] exhibited the first specimen of immortal man: not that shadow of immortality consisting in being remembered and celebrated for ages by creatures who are hastening to the tomb; but an immortality consisting in a form which is imperishable, a glorious being, over which death hath no more power, which will subsist in undecaying youth and splendour when the heavens are no more. This is the pattern and example to which the children of the resurrection will be conformed.

V. On this day we are called to rejoice in that sure and certain prospect which the resurrection of Christ affords to all true believers, of ascending with him to heaven, and of there partaking with him of his glory. As he was the substituted representative of true believers, what was accomplished in him at his resurrection will ere long be accomplished in them: the victory over death which he acquired he

*Acts iv. 23.

will impart to them; the glory which he has received he will give to them; the eternal rest into which he has entered at his ascension he hath prepared for them :-" Every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; then they that are Christ's at his coming." In nothing that our Saviour suffered or obtained is he to be considered in the light of a private character. Nothing was suffered on his own account, or effected merely with a view to his own benefit. "As he bore our sins in his own body on the tree," and "died, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God," the rewards which he merited, the dignity to which he was exalted, are not confined to his own person, but accrue to every part of his mystical body.

XL.

CHRIST'S CARE OVER CHURCHES AND MINISTERS. REV. ii. 1.-These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.

As Jesus Christ is the "true light" of the world, so a principal means by which he dispenses his illumination is by the appointment of a stated ministry, and the formation of Christian churches. By concentrating and uniting their efforts,-by collecting their information, their zeal, and piety into a [point,] they dispel much of the darkness of the present state. This state is frequently in Scripture compared to night: "The night is far spent; the day is at hand." During the prevalence of this darkness, previous to the rising of the "Sun of righteousness," he has placed his ministers as stars in the firmament, and appointed his churches to be as lamps or candlesticks.

By the representation of the text, we are strongly reminded of the sole end and design for which ministers are consututed and churches formed: it is to dispense spiritual illumination to a benighted world; it is that they may shine with knowledge and holiness. As far as they answer this purpose they are useful and important; in proportion as they lose sight of it they forfeit every just claim to esteem, and sink into insignificance and contempt. It is their duty to "hold forth the word of life." The light they are appointed to dispense is the pure doctrine of Christ, exhibited by an open profession, and sustained and recommended by the virtues of a holy life. When churches depart from the essential truths of Christianity, they become incapable of answering the end of their institution. They are no longer useful lights, but delusive meteors; which, instead of guiding souls to heaven, mislead and betray them to destruction.

False teachers are compared by Jude to "wandering stars,"‡ in