cried "the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried :" and they were no common posts; they were Jachin and Boaz; they had their names on account of their stature, and strength, and glory, but they trembled at the seraph's voice. I have been told, that on a great musical occasion in Westminster Abbey, in the reign of George the Third, there was one stroke, a swell so deep and so amazing, that the building shook, and that they were afraid of its repetition. But let me tell you, that high anthems are sung in heaven. When they laid that stone, that poor paltry stone, at the building of the second temple, there was shouting which filled all heaven again. But when Christ's great work is done, when all the myriads of the saints shall be gathered home, and all the unsinning creatures in his universe shall be gathered together to be the witnesses, they will raise such a chorus, they will hold such an anthem, as shall make the arches and the canopies of the universe to quiver again, as in sympathetic joy. And I do believe, that in the heavenly world there will be the solitary solo, and the social worship by twos, and by threes, and by fours, and the great united adoration of the immense multitudes of myriads who shall come together on high festive occasions.

"One cried unto another." And what they celebrate is the divine holiness; Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah God of Hosts." God delights in his holiness; he claims it for himself, and his creatures ascribe it to him. And it denotes in this case the transcendent excellence of it. It is uncreated purity; it is not like the holiness of an angel, it is not like the piety of man; it is something distinct and peculiar to himself. It denotes this; and also the delight which they take in contemplating and in celebrating it. God's holiness pervades all his attributes; it is the lustre which is shed over all his attributes and perfections; it is that also in which he himself pre-eminently delights; and the world, sooner or later, will be filled with the light and the glory of the knowledge of it. They said, "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, IS JEHOVAH, GOD OF HOSTS."

30

SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.

"PAUSE, then, for a moment, and contemplate, with the eye of faith, or if you have no faith, with the eye of imagination, this tremendous scene.— Look at that point, far away in the ethereal regions, where the gradually lessening form of our Saviour disappeared from the gaze of his disciples, when he ascended to heaven. In that point see an uncommon, but faint and undefined brightness. just beginning to appear. It has caught the roving eye of yon careless gazer, and excited his curiosity. He points it out to a second, and a third. A little circle soon collects, and various are the conjectures which they form respecting it. Similar circles are formed, and similar objections made, in a thousand different parts of the world. But conjecture is soon to give place to certainty-awful, appalling, overwhelming certainty. While they gaze, the appearance, which had excited their curiosity, rapidly approaches, and still more rapidly brightens. Some begin to suspect what it may prove; but no one dares to give utterance to his suspicions. Meanwhile the light of the sun begins to fade before a brightness superior to his own. Thousands see their shadows cast in a new direction, and thousands of hitherto careless eyes look up at once, to discover the cause. Full clearly they see it; and now new hopes and fears begin to agitate their breasts. The afflicted and persecuted servants of Christ begin to hope, that the predicted, long-expected day of their deliverance is arrived. The wicked, the careless, the unbelieving begin to fear, that the Bible is about to prove no idle tale. And now fiery shapes, moving like streams of lightning, begin to appear indistinctly amidst the bright dazzling cloud, which comes rushing down, as on the wings of a whirlwind. At length it reaches its destined place. It pauses; then, suddenly unfolding, discloses at once a great white throne, where sits, starry resplendent, in all the glories of the Godhead, the man Christ Jesus. Every eye sees him, every heart knows him.

"Too well do the wretched, unprepared inhabitants of earth now know what to expect; and one universal shriek of anguish and despair rises up to heaven, and is echoed back to earth. But louder, far louder than the universal cry, now sounds the last trumpet; and far above all, is heard the voice of the Omnipotent, summoning the dead to arise and come to judgment. New terrors now assail the living: on every side, nay, under their very feet, the earth heaves as in convulsions; graves open, and the dead come forth; while, at the same moment, a change, equivalent to that occasioned by death, is effected by Almighty power on the bodies of the living. Their mortal bodies put on immortality, and are thus prepared to sustain a weight of glory, or of wretchedness, which flesh and blood could not endure. Meanwhile, legions of angels are seen, darting from pole to pole, gathering together the faithful servants of Christ from the four winds of heaven, and bearing them aloft to meet the Lord in the air, where he causes them to be placed at his own right hand, preparatory to the sentence which is to award to them everlasting life.

"Christian, if you would gain more and greater victories over the world than you have ever done, bring this scene often before the eye of your mind, and gaze upon it, till you become blind to all earthly glory. He who gazes long at the sun becomes unsusceptible of impressions from inferior luminaries; and he who looks much at the Sun of Righteousness, will be little affected by any alluring object which the world can exhibit."-DR. PAYSON.

THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE ORIGIN AND THE
CONTENTS OF THE SCRIPTURES.

REV. HUGH M'NEILE, A.M.

PERCY CHAPEL, FITZROY SQUARE, APRIL 18, 1833.

"To whom also he shewed himself alive, after his passion, by many infallible proofs; being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” -ACTS i. 3.

"PASSION," is one of those words which has changed its meaning since our Bible was translated: it then signified "suffering:" it now signifies "anger," or "vehement desire." In this text, it signifies suffering, and the statement here made is, that, to the chosen disciples, Jesus shewed himself alive, after his suffering, assuring them that it was he himself; that he continued so with them for the space of forty days, and that, on those occasions, he conversed with them concerning the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. The suffering of the Lord Jesus was a suffering unto death: this the disciples knew. The crucifixion that he endured was no fanciful act, but a real one: it was not conducted by any of his friends or adherents, to leave room for the suspicion of any fraudulent connivance or plan, whereby they might secure the subsequent advantage of a supposed resurrection. It was conducted by the Roman soldiers, who had no personal interest in the matter beyond securing their wages for their recompence; and the multitude on the occasion were the inveterate enemies of Jesus, the priests and elders of the Jews. It was done publicly also, in a public place, on a public day, in the presence of a concourse of people; and, as if to invite an extra share of publicity to the act, over his cross was written" Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews." His burial was also well known: it was, indeed, transacted by his friends, but it was carefully witnessed by his enemies, whose jealous fears prompted them to adopt precautions which afterwards turned into proofs against themselves. Their fears were urgent: "We remember," said they to the Roman governor, "that this deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command, therefore, that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first." The Roman governor left them to take their own course: their precautions were well concerted: they set a watch of Roman soldiers opposite the sepulchre, and they sealed the stone. Here was a double precaution: the watch was set to guard against the disciples, and the stone was sealed to guard against fraudulent collusion among the watchmen. In the meantime, the disciples were wholly disconcerted: they had expected much from their Master, whilst they were witnesses of his wonderful works and auditors of his wonderful discourses: they expected that he would restore the kingdom to

Israel. Now, their expectations seemed to fail; and, either forgetting his prediction, that he would rise again, or losing faith in it when his enemies triumphed, their hope seemed to be buried in his grave.

It is quite obvious, that the resurrection of Jesus is the turning point of the whole question; the grand fact of revealed religion. In history, facts are plain things in argument, facts are stubborn things. Opinions may fluctuate and vary, feelings may deceive; but facts are the doings of God, and they alter not with the opinions and feelings of men. It is the peculiar glory of our religion that it rests not upon the opinions of men, however well supported by argument; neither upon the feelings of men, however well regulated by reason; but that it rests upon the truth of God. God loved the world: this was a feeling. Had he retained this feeling in his own bosom, it could have availed us nothing. Had he revealed it in words only, still it could have availed nothing; nay, rather, it would have been worse than nothing; for it would have increased our perplexity, while we perceived that his sense of justice hindered his acting on a feeling of love. But he proved by such a fact that, while it gave most eloquent expression to the existence of God's love, it removed every hindrance to the exercise of God's love. He gave his Son, when the world was about four thousand years old: the Eternal Son of God came into it, " made of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem them that were under the law." This was the great fact of the birth of Christ. About thirty-three years after the same wonderful act, Jesus Christ, "being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God," was seized by the hands of wicked men, and unjustly condemned and crucified as a malefactor. This is the great fact of the death of Christ. On the third morning following, the same mysterious Being rose from the dead, laid aside his grave clothes, resumed his flesh, unchanged by corruption and mortality. This is the great fact of the resurrection of Christ. But, now, observe the essential difference between this fact and the other two. The other two, so far as the circumstances connected with them were generally known, were common occurrences. That a child should be born; that a man, after devoting his life, actively and diligently teaching the great truths of religion, and corroborating his statement by wonderful works, to prove him a messenger sent from God-that that man, after all, should meet a violent death, a death apparently provoked by his exceeding zeal and goodness;—these were common things; the Jews were accustomed to such things from the days of Abel: therefore they might admit these facts, and yet deny that there were any doctrines peculiarly connected with them: and they did not deny them. He had lived and died amongst them; and what then? It is true, there were certain peculiarities connected with these facts; but they were not generally known. It was true he was born of a virgin, which could not be said of any other man: it is true he died, by a voluntary act of his own, before the crucifixion would have caused his death: this could not be said of any other man. But these peculiarities were not known; and the fact of his birth and death were readily admitted, and any peculiarities connected with them were easily denied. There were indeed very strange peculiarities connected with them. As concerning his birth, it was declared, that He who was in the beginning with God, and who was God, was manifest in the flesh. He who had made all things, and without whom not any thing was made that was made," was manifest in the flesh. Again, concerning his death, it was said, that it was a sacrifice for sin; that his blood cleansed from all sin. These were peculiarities indeed; but these were opinions con

nerted with facts, and men might admit the facts, and question the opinions. As touching his birth and his death, therefore, the controversy was not concerning the facts, but concerning the opinions connected with the facts.

But, now, look at the resurrection: here was a strange thing. This was not according to the experience of mankind; the experience of mankind ran the other way. Here was a strong fact, which could not be admitted like the others. The enemies of Christ might admit the birth and the death of Christ, and deny the doctrines; but they could not admit his resurrection, and then deny the doctrines. Whereas, in the other cases, the controversy turned upon opinions connected with facts; in this, the controversy turned on the fact itself. And therefore it is, we find the Apostle reiterating with such earnestness the fact of the resurrection of the Lord. God raised him from the dead: it was not possible that he should be holden of death. This is the preaching throughout the Acts. The fact of the resurrection was the grand theme of the Apostles' discourses; they could not substantiate the doctrines connected with it, unless they first substantiated the fact of the resurrection; and, therefore, you will find, if you trace the history of the apostolical preaching, that the grand theme was the resurrection. That was what peculiarly belonged to the apostolical preaching, for the reason already assigned. The Apostles eould not exhibit the doctrines connected with the common facts of Christ's birth and death, until they had made good the uncommon fact of his resurrection.

Now, it is remarkable to observe how the enemies of the Lord Jesus had already pledged themselves on this point respecting the resurrection. When they saw him hanging on the cross, the Chief Priests and Scribes mocked him, and challenged him to come down if he were the Son of God: "Let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. We have heard of his birth, and his preaching, and his death; and what then? We admit all these things, and we do not believe him: but now that he is nailed to the tree by the Roman soldiers-now, if he will extricate himself—now, if he will come down-now, it will be such a manifestation of divine power that we will no longer withhold our belief." Now, on their own principles, they were still more pledged to believe if he rose from the grave; because he was more holden there than on the crosshe was further gone when he was buried, than when he was on the tree. If it would have been such a proof of his power, if he had descended from the cross, still more should they yield when he ascended from the tomb. It is a common feeling amongst mankind, that if one rise from the dead, all our prejudices give way at once. It is to this common feeling among men that our Lord addressed himself, when he wished to show the sufficiency of the Scriptures: he told them that if they would "not believe Moses and the Prophets, neither would they believe though one rose from the dead;" as though that was the chief thing which man pants after, and desires as the acme and climax of evidence-that a friend should return from the dead, and tell him of the eternal world. But if the evidence laid before you, or if the sufficiency of Scripture be not sufficient to overcome your unbelief; if you receive not Moses and the Prophets-the pentateuchal history, and the doctrines connected with them; neither would you believe though one rose from the dead. This wish of man's heart, that a man should rise from the dead-this liberty, or rather this pretext of unbelief, was granted in the case of Jesus Christ. God went to the very extremity of what man says he wants for evidence; and he has put man on his trial by this last sign. This is the last sign that he gave-the sign of the Prophet Jonas: that