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rious appearing of the great God, even our Saviour, who shall at length address to the objects of his dying and his reigning love, this invitation," Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matt. XXV. 34.

And will not the blessedness of the kingdom prepared by the Son of God, bear a proportion to his own transcendent dignity and unparalleled merit, as our Redeemer and our Lord? Had the progenitor of our race retained his integrity, and persevered in obedience, would he not have secured to his latest posterity, in virtue of his federal relation, an inheritance of blessedness? Is it then possible to form too elevated an idea of that happiness which shall be provided for the heirs of salvation, in virtue of their relation to Him who appoints to them a kingdom which is the recompense of his own obedience unto death? When, in reading the magnificent descriptions of the glory of that kingdom, we are almost apt to imagine the picture to be overdrawn; when we are ready to say of the representations of heavenly blessedness, "This seems too much to expect, too good and too great to be realized by any of our race;" when it appears almost presumptuous and unwarrantable to anticipate felicity so rapturous and so glorious; then, let us remember, that it is a happiness procured by the meritorious obedience and sufferings of the incarnate Son of God, and intended to be of such a

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character, that in respect of the blessedness as well as of the multitude of the redeemed, "he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." Isaiah liii. 11. What shall we not venture to expect on reading such expressions as these: "The glory which thou gavest me, have given them-To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne-All things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." John xvii. 22; Rev. iii. 21; 1 Cor. iii. 21-23.

Let me direct your thoughts,

II. To the blessedness arising from the direct vision and immediate presence of our God and Saviour.

"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God-Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." Matt. v. 8: Rev. xxi. 3. When Moses received an encouraging assurance of the Divine friendship, he ventured to present to the Almighty this request, "I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee;-but thou canst not see my face; for there shall no màn see me, and live." Exod. xxxiii. 18-20. It was then only a partial and indistinct manifestation of the Divine glory which this favoured servant of Jehovah was permitted to

behold; and yet we have reason to conclude, that he beheld as much of glory as his bodily frame was prepared to endure; since even the reflection of that splendour from his countenance was too dazzling for the people to behold without a veil. We have also reason to conclude, that as bright a manifestation of Divine glory was granted to his mind, as its capacities were fitted to receive or to sustain; and yet one attribute only of the Divine character appears on this occasion to have been invested with peculiar effulgence, "I will make all my goodness pass before thee." Now if even amid the glories of this attractive and endearing attribute of the blessed God, there was still a partial concealment of his majesty, so that his face could not be seen, what will be the blessedness of that vision, when to the enraptured eyes and hearts of the redeemed and glorified, all the splendours of love Divine shall be revealed without an obscuring cloud, without an intervening veil! Then shall they know, by a development peculiar to the world of consummate felicity, the full import of those bliss-inspiring words, "God is love." 1 John iv. 16. Then shall they be able to comprehend the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that they may be filled with all the fulness of God." Eph. iii. 18, 19.

With this display of the goodness of God, will be connected also a glorious manifestation of his holiness. This attribute, which is

justly represented as the glory and beauty of Jehovah, has on some occasions penetrated the hearts even of the people of God, with fear and consternation. When Isaiah beheld in the temple the glory of the Lord, and heard in the responsive song of the seraphim, the reiterated ascription of holiness to Him who filled the sanctuary with the symbols of his presence, he exclaimed with trepidation, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Isa. vi. 5. How blissful then must it be to have a vision of that glorious holiness still more bright, when the feeling of awe will not disturb the serenity of the soul; when, instead of the apprehension arising from the consciousness of guilt, and the shame induced by a sense of pollution, we shall know and feel that we ourselves are holy, even as God is holy; that instead of detecting in us sin, which he abhors, he discerns only the purity which he loves; that he delights in contemplating the image of his own holiness, and takes entire complacency in the character he has formed for his presence and for his praise. Conceive, if you are able, of the joy which every purified spirit will derive from this one thought, "The blessed God will never henceforth look on me without delight; his face will never be obscured by a cloud; his countenance will never be darkened by a frown." And will not the most refulgent manifestations

of Deity be made, through the medium of the Eternal Word, who is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his substance? On the august occasion which the chapter before us describes, will he not come in his glory, and sit enthroned in glory? and will it not be in the exercise of his supreme authority as the King of glory, that he will say to the righteous, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared?" Matt. xxv. 34. And when, in joyous obedience to this invitation of love, they shall accompany their triumphant Lord to the kingdom, and actually enter on the possession of the inheritance, shall his glory suffer diminution? What though he deliver up into the hands of the Father, the Mediatorial kingdom, when its entire design shall have been accomplished; will he not still display the uncreated and unfading glory of the Son of God, and will he not eternally continue to be the adored and beloved Head of the myriads he has redeemed by his precious blood? On this point, so deeply interesting to our hearts, and so vitally connected with our loftiest hopes there rests `not the shadow of a doubt. An inspired apostle was directed to add to the vivid description of the day of judgment and of the resurrection, these gladdening words, "And so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. iv. 17. This eternal union of the Saviour and the saved, is an object of desire, and will be a source of delight to the Lord Jesus Christ himself; and in the days of his sojourn on

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