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and worshipped him, that liveth forever and ever." These facts are incontrovertible proofs of the divinity of the God-man. He is indeed the only wise God our Saviour. But this is only one from the mass of evidences. We could produce a thousand proofs. Blessed be God, to this consolatory truth, there are a cloud of witnesses. Blessed be God, that in this child born, in this everlasting Father, we live, move, and have our being.

First,

SKETCH CXXIV.

REVELATIONS xxii. 10, 11.

AND he said unto me, seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book; Why? For the time is at hand.

Secondly, He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still. Perhaps the best way of designating the unjust and filthy, is to advert to the contrast of those characters, the just and the spotless. Isaiah xxvi. 7, "The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just." The paths, the ways of erring man, being thus tested by him, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, we are not surprised to hear Job ask, Job ix. 2, "How should man be just with God?" The apostle James decisively says, chapter ii. 10, "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." And Jesus being the only human individual, who never offended in a single point, is the only just, the only holy one. But men are called just, this is by the righteousness of the just God, of the God-man, who was raised again for our justification.

Thirdly, What are we to understand by being filthy? It is being defiled by sin, it is only a stronger mode of expressing the same melancholy truth; nor is it a particular description of the human family, that are thus characterized; listen to the prophet Isaiah, lxiv. 6, "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, we are all as an unclean thing." The prophet Zechariah, iii. 3, informs us, that even Joshua was clothed with filthy garments.

But man is not the only filthy being. God passeth over unclean spirits. Matthew x. 1, "And when he had called to him his twelve disciples, he gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out." And he commanded the unclean spirits to quit their abode in the bosom of humanity.

Fourthly, The general judgment will convene two distinct races of intelligent beings, sheep and goats; these are figures. of men and angels. The dead shall be raised incorruptible and glorious. But how can they be all righteous? Because Jesus Christ was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, because he is the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world, because he shall change these vile bodies, and fashion them like unto the glorious body of the Son of God; after which the individuals of the human family shall no more be unjust, filthy. But he that is unjust, shall be unjust still, and he that is filthy, shall be filthy still, and he that is righteous, shall be righteous still, and he that is holy, shall be holy still. Blessed be the name of our God, forever and ever.

SKETCH CXXV.

REVELATIONS xxii. 12, 13.

First, AND, behold, I come quickly. 2 Peter iii. 9, 10, « The LORD is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Habakkuk ii. 3, "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry."

What is the reward

Secondly, And my reward is with me. of the Redeemer? Psalm cxxvii. "Lo, children are the heritage of the LORD; and the fruit of the womb is his reward." But has God given every individual born of a woman to the Redeemer? John iii. 35, "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand." John xvi. 15. But will every individual thus given come unto Jesus? Is it not written, ye will not come unto me that ye may have life? The Redeemer affirmeth, VOL. III.

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John vi. 37, "that all that the Father giveth shall come to him," and, he adds, "that those who come he will in no wise cast out." But may not the sovereign will of God finally consign them to perdition? The testimony of Christ Jesus should invariably be considered as decisive, and to this question his answer is unequivocal. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. But doth the will of the Divine and human nature correspond respecting the reward that is with him? John xvii. 24, "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory."

Thirdly, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. The Redeemer doth not say, he cometh to pay every man, then it would be wages, and as there is no man that liveth and sinneth not, the wages of sin being death, he must pay unto every man death. He doth not say, he cometh to give unto some men, but unto every man. But what are the works which will on that day be rewarded? Let us consult the sacred oracles of our God. Isaiah xxvi. 12, LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us; for thou also hast wrought all our works in us." But we will appeal to the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls. John xiv. 12, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." The reward of these works shall be great in heaven. But have all those who were given unto the Saviour these works in perfection? Attend once more to the voice of the Redeemer of men, John xvii. 23, “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." But are we not taught, that individuals will be rewarded according to their works? Assuredly we are. First, Jesus will be rewarded according to his works; all souls are his reward; and for these, despising the shame, he endured the cross. Secondly, the adversary, he who goeth about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may destroy, shall be rewarded, according to his works. The evil which he thought to bring upon the human family, shall be brought upon himself. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double, ac

cording to her works; in the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double. Thirdly, The disciples of our LORD shall be rewarded, Hebrews xi. 26, "Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward." The preachers of the gospel have their reward, 1 Corinthians iii. 8, 14, "Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one; and every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.” Believers of the truth as it is in Jesus, who give unto the poor, shall in no wise lose their reward. They who pray to their Father in secret have their reward. The Saviour of the world assureth us, that he who receiveth a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward. But as it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do, the reward is not of debt, but of grace. The way of the transgressor is hard. The ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. Let us never be weary in well doing, for in due time we shall reap, if we faint not; let us always remember, that God is pleased with works of faith and labours of love, wrought in the name of Christ Jesus the LORD.

I have been asked what is intended by the eighteenth and nineteenth verses of the chapter which contains our text. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Perhaps it is less difficult to say, what this last declaration does not intend, than what it does intend. The eighteenth verse may be taken literally. An attempt to add to the testimony of God may multiply the sorrows of the audacious presumer. But the loss which he who diminishes the words of the prophecy is to sustain, cannot design any deduction from the reward of the Redeemer. We cannot suppose that Emmanuel will lose any part of that, for which he endured the agonies of the cross. Ile gave himself a ransom for all; he is the head of every man. book of life all his members are written, and it is impious to suppose, that the name of a single member of the body of Christ Jesus can be erased from the book of life! Perhaps the denun

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ciation in this nineteenth verse is but another mode of expressing the latent truth contained in the parable of the talents. From him that hath not, shall be taken away, even that which he hath, or seemeth to have; and it shall be given unto him which hath the ten talents, that God may be all in all. This may be accomplished at that period, when those works of individuals which cannot stand the test, shall be destroyed, and they themselves saved so as by fire.

But whatever may be the design of this passage, I am satisfied, I am happy, that it is not a balance for, that it cannot cancel those reiterated promises which bear testimony to the salvation of all men, and which are abundantly multiplied in the oracles of my God.

SKETCH CXXVI.

REVELATIONS xxii. 20.

First, We are to inquire of whom the Spirit speaketh; and it is abundantly apparent, that he speaketh of Jesus, of the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last; of Adam the second, of the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world, of the head of the Church, of him who is the head of every man.

Secondly, Will he sustain these important characters, when he descends to judge the world? O, yes, assuredly he will; for he changeth not; Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. And when the risen Saviour ascended into heaven, and the disciples, with eager eyes, beheld his beatified elevation, it is recorded, that two men stood by them in white apparel, in other words, two angels of God, and addressing the disciples, said, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”

Thirdly, He which testifieth these things, saith, Surely, I come quickly. This intelligence is to every believer in God our Saviour, glad tidings of good things. The Redeemer will come quickly, and he will accomplish, that which all his holy prophets have

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