The text announces their glory. When? "Then shall the Son of man send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them that do iniquity;" then shall he clear the church. Then also, in the morning of the resurrection, shall the righteous shine forth; yea, then shall they shine in their full glory, whatever other glory they may have previously. Three things to be remarked here. 1. The place of their manifestation-"in the kingdom of their Father." We are not here dazzled with description; Jesus has softened it: the kingdom of our Father-Father waiting to take us home. While looking down, even now, he says, "This is my beloved Son, and I will spare him as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." What language! His jewels as well as his children. True, this, in comparison with the former, is a coarse metaphor, but this we do not mind. He is now polishing! we are in the cru cible to be fitted for the Crucified's crown. At the last day he makes up his jewels, not gathers them, but sets them in his crown-he will deck it. The last mile is travelled over happily when home is in prospect. Stephen-going home under a shower of stones-beheld the Son of God standing to receive him. Courage! Endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ Jesus. (Our ship tossed-but "There all the ship's company meet, Who sailed with the Saviour beneath." Yea, they shall enter under full sail-not like a shipwreck. May the entrance be abundant, swelling on the tide.) We are soldiers now, and are to keep our armour bright, and be always ready for the conflict: but then we shall unbuckle and put on the fine robe, renouncing the sword for the palm and the helmet for the crown of glory. Then let death come! Dr. Rowland Taylor at Hadley, in Suffolk, a martyr of blessed memory, exclaimed, "Never better, soon at home! only two stiles more to ascend, and then I shall reach my Father's house;" he saw it through the smoke of the fire! "I have," said Bede, "done my work, and am going home, and such a home!" "The best of all is," said Benson, "I shall find my Father in his kingdom." Saints are now separated. * * * We warm towards Hottentots, &c., when converted; we long to see them. "The whole family in heaven and earth are our brethren." Many are escaping. (Allude to the deceased.) Who feels not that heaven has a portion of each of our families? No gulf exists between heaven and earth-it is between heaven and hell; they cannot come to us, but we can go to them. There shall be Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God; all the glory and wisdom of all ages, and the Lamb. They also shall be kings: "How can it be, my heavenly king, That thou shouldst us to glory bring, 2. Its splendour. Mark the figure-sun bursting from the clouds. The righteous do not now diminish its splendour abstractedly. Though not so perfect as in heaven, yet all the elements exist. See the clouds breaking at the bed of the dying saint. He does not sink like the sun into the ocean; the rays penetrate the clouds like morning breaking upon the heavens; they are tinged with glory while he is seen struggling through like the sun. Then I retire-the brightness dazzles me; the veil drops, but the sun has risen into the heavenly galaxy! Every veil shall then be removed; the world shall then know both him and them. John, who had often seen him as the man of sorrows, once saw him as you shall then behold him: "His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shining in his strength." Then the world shall be there, and shall know them. Nero and Domitian shall meet with those whose blood they shed. But I will not go to the pillows of infamy; yet all shall be there! then they shall see them on the right hand owned by Jesus! There shall be a pub lic manifestation. I know which place I would rather have, the cruel tyrant's or that of the saint tortured by him. Then shall we discern between the righteous and the wicked; no matter how splendid sinners are here, rich and poor shall be alike there. Now the Neros" call on rocks and mountains to fall on them, and hide them from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb." But the saints will mount above the fire with bodies like Christ's; no infirmity, or tear, or sigh shall pollute heaven's atmosphere: no note of sorrow to disturb the celestial harmony! 3. The perpetuity of their manifestation; it shall be " as the sun:" the very emblem of perpetuity-not diminished by age, but the same now as when it lighted Adam and Noah-not in the least shorn of its beams. Yet, unlike the sun, the redeemed spirit shall enlarge, lengthen his beams, and travel the path of eternity with increase of splendour forever. It rises above the figure: the sun shall be put out-never so the sons of glory. Jehovah shall be the glory in the midst of them forever and ever. Application.-Why should any of you set in darkness! The loss of a soul! Will it be my soul? Tell me, my God! Or that man's? God forbid! Why should they die when thou hast died? -Memoir of the deceased- * SERMON X. THE PROUD ABASED AND THE HUMBLE EXALTED. ADDRESSED TO CHILDREN. 1 Peter, v., 5.—God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. ONE of the greatest evils in the world is pride, and one of the greatest blessings humility; the blessing is the cure of the evil. I treat it simply for you, children. Pride and Humility. I. The folly of pride. 1. Are we proud of our strength? It is far inferior to that of many beasts. Our feebleness is so great and infirm ities so many that horses and mules must carry us. 2. Our clothing? It is not so pretty as the peacock's. (Fable of the Jackdaw in others' feathers.) Other animals are always alike; we metamorphose, clothing wears out, and is our shame. What is deficient in the head they make up at the heels; or what is wanting inside they put out. 3. Our beauty? It is inferior to many flowers. When most florid and gay, three fits of the ague change into yellowness, leanness, hollowness, and wrinkles. After all it be comes food for worms! But so have I seen a rose. (Taylor, p. 10.) 4. Our riches? That man is a fool who prides himself upon these; for, if exalted above his neighbour because he has more gold, how much inferior is he to a gold-mine! He is below a chain of pearls or a knot of diamonds. 5. Our birth? He who plumes himself upon this is proud of the blessings of others, not his own. He ought to thank God and be humbled. It is generally true that he has in himself less virtue and honour than those who raised his family, and has degenerated. Cicero's expression. * If thou hast more than thy neighbour, thou art more indebted to God, and wilt have to account for principal and interest foolish to boast of being more in debt. Pride was not made for man; it is his fool's coat. A proud man is like a puff-ball-wind! II. The wickedness of pride. 1. Makes a man especially hateful to God. "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate." "Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord."t According to our text, pride arms God against us; and according to others it turns him from us. It is of all things the most unlike God! though he is the "high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy." Jesus Christ humbled himself; angels are servants of his that do his ↑ Prov., xvi., 5. * Prov., viii., 13. pleasure. All creation was made to be dependant; the proud man breaks the link: the highest title of man is servant of God, and your servants for Jesus' sake. 2. Pride is the most diabolical sin with which we are acquainted: "Being lifted up with pride, we fall into the condemnation of the devil." 3. It is the most productive of all sins! Most of the crimes in the world may be traced to pride. It is the parent of covetousness: "Yea, also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people."* Of persecution: "The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor :"† of strife: "Only by pride cometh contention." It was the sin of Absalom, Haman, Herod, and the Pharisees. Yea, it was pride that instigated the death of Jesus. III. The destructiveness of pride. Seeing it is the participant of such crimes, no wonder it is the most destructive sin―a presage to the ruin of those in whom it reigns. "Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." It is the forerunner of shame: "When pride cometh then cometh shame, but with the lowly is wisdom." Haughty Pharaoh and his host were overthrown by pride. It was Haman's downfall as well as his sin. It brought Nebuchadnezzar from his throne to herd with beasts, and caused Herod to be eaten of worms. God has determined "it shall be abased." A proud man cannot receive the grace of God. "How can ye believe who receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from above?" Therefore, in the world to come the proud go to their father the devil; and what room for pride there? Thus God resists them here, and puts them from him hereafter: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Secondly, we notice the cure of pride-Humility. 1. Be convinced of its great excellency; it is directly opposite to pride: "God resisteth the proud and giveth grace † Psalm X., 2. Prov., xiii., 10, ◊ Prov., xi., 2. * Habak., ii., 5. |