Jesus of Nazareth, let us proceed to consider the magnificent appearance he is said to have assumed. This comprehends the scenery of the text. 1. He is seated on a white cloud. On a cloud, to betoken his elevation and empire. "He has prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all." On a white cloud, to signify the immaculate purity of his nature, as the holy one of God; the unimpeachable rectitude of his administrations, transparent as the fleecy vapour of which these visible heavens are composed; and the blessed consequences of his government, when purity shall be universally established, and "white-robed Innocence," returning to our forsaken world, shall take place of fraud and rapine, violence and blood. Then shall "holiness unto the Lord be written on the bells of the horses." Furthermore, on this luminous cloud he is said to have been seated, as on a throne, expressing at once the high dignity and perfect repose which he enjoys. The arduous toils and intense sufferings of his mediatorial office being ended, he sits in undisturbed composure and ineffable splendour, at the right hand of the majesty on high. Ps. cx. 1. "Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thy foes thy footstool." 2. On his head was a golden crown. The crown is an emblem of empire and dominion, and a crown of pure gold fitly represents the validity of his title, and the honour and glory by which he is encircled. In a similar passage of this book, he is exhibited as having on his head many crowns, to denote his various claims, and his comprehensive sway. To him belongs the crown of original supremacy, as he is "God over all blessed for evermore," the "blessed and only potentate." His is the crown of dear-bought victory. In single combat he has vanquished the powers of darkness, the hosts of hell, the enemies of our salvation. "He hath ascended up on high, he hath led captivity captive." Passing through the portals of the celestial city, with an innumerable company of angels in his train, he has demanded admittance in the words of the prophet, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, that the King of glory may come in." With his raiment dipt in the blood of the slain, and with the victor's crown upon his brows, he has entered upon a state of everlasting triumph, and immortal joy. His also is the crown of stipulated reward. He claims it as the recompense of his humiliations, his labours, and his sorrows; the just remuneration promised to him in the covenant of redemption, and awarded to him, at the awful moment when he proclaimed from the cross, the completion of his undertaking, crying with a loud voice, "It is finished." 3. In his hand there is a sharp sickle. This I apprehend to be an emblem of his judicial authority and retributive vengeance. To him the Father hath given authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man, and hath put all things into his hands. "He hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." Some writers interpret the harvest spoken of in the context, in a good sense, as referring to the mighty efficacy of the gospel in the hand of the Messiah, by which his enemies shall be subdued, and a large ingathering of souls, made willing in the day of his power, shall accrue to him. In this view of the subject, the fields are already white unto the harvest, and it is only for the sickle to be applied to its destined purpose, in order to consummate the moral and spiritual process by which the earth is to be reaped. Others refer this feature of the description to the work of judgment, which we have reason to think will precede the second coming of the Lord our Saviour, as indeed the following verses of the chapter intimate. At all events, we cannot err in applying the language to that solemn period when the Lord shall come with the myriads of his holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, "of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed," and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. A fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him; he shall call to the heavens above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people." What havoc and slaughter shall be made by the sharp sickle, with which he is invested, when his irreclaimable enemies shall be made the helpless victims of his inexorable indignation! When the great day of his wrath is come, who shall be able to stand? III. The practical lessons inculcated by the contemplation of the subject. This leads us to the immediate uses of the text. 1. We infer the high and honourable conceptions we should form and entertain of the Lord Christ. Many alas! there are, who seek to cast him down from his excellency, who disrobe him of his essential dignity, and obscure the splendour of his mediatorial exaltation. Far be from us, a course so repugnant to the testimony of the Scripture, so opposed to the declared will of God, so utterly destructive of the whole scheme of human redemption. Think highly, and speak highly of the Son of God. Give him the throne of your hearts. Bow down before him as did the apostle Thomas, acknowledging his infinite glories, and exclaiming "My Lord and my God!" Fear not to follow where the holy angels lead, who, in obedience to the edict of the Eternal Father, obsequiously adore him, and crown him with their perpetual praises. 2. We infer from this subject that, "before honour is humility." The stable in Bethlehem, the garden of agony, the ignominious cross, paved the way to all this glory and elevation. Scenes of humiliation prepare for scenes of glorification. This is the established order of providential administration. God abases the proud, and dignifies the lowly. "He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree." O what an illustration of this principle do we find in the instance before us! He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, 66 WHEREFORE God also hath highly exalted him." Young people, I pray you, discipline your minds by the study of this important truth. The way to rise, is first to stoop-humility is the stepping-stone to advancement. He will beautify the meek with salvation, but them that walk in pride he is alike able and determined to abase. 3. Let us learn how important it is to ascertain whether we are among the subjects of this exalted Prince. Do we constitute a part of his spiritual kingdom? Have we submitted to his teachings as a Prophet? Have we placed our whole reliance on him as a Priest? Have we done him homage as a King? These offices are inseparable, and if we have received him in one of them, we have received him in all; if we reject him in one, we reject him in all. Are you accepted in Christ, interested for Christ, and sincerely devoted to his cause and to his glory? 4. Let us learn to rejoice in the perfection of his administration. It is indeed matter of devout congratulation that Jesus reigns, and, that all the arrangements and appointments of his government must be unsearchably wise, unimpeachably just, and invariably kind. In ruling the world in righteousness, he cannot deviate from the immutable principles of his holy nature and his benevolent heart. He is seated on a white cloud, and all his ordinations are as unsullied as the snowy heavens on which he plants his throne. The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice! Jesus is at the helm, and though the storm rages, and the ocean foams, he binds the winds in his fists, and holds the waters in the hollow of his hand. Nothing can take place with respect to individuals, families, churches, and nations, but by his wise permission, or direct appointment. What a ground is here presented for the confidence of faith, the homage of submission, the patience of hope, and the acclamations of praise! "Alleluiah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!" 5. Let us learn how terrible will be the final doom of all the enemies of this mighty Prince. Behold he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also who have pierced Him, and all kindreds and tongues shall wail because of Him. All nations shall be congregated at his awful bar, and upon the heads of his unbelieving and impenitent adversaries, he will pronounce the decisive sentence of eternal death. The sharp sickle which he wields, shall be plunged into their heart, and shall drink their blood. The attendant angels will be the ready executioners of his just and holy indignation, and will cast the wicked into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. O ye careless and stouthearted transgressors, how will your hearts endure, and your hands be strong, in the day when he shall deal with you? O when will ye bethink yourselves, and seek reconciliation through the merit of that blood which now pleads your pardon, but will then seal your condemnation? Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? Before you shall hear the terrific mandate, louder than ten thousand thunders, "Bring forth my enemies that would not that I should reign over them, and slay them before me;" crouch to his footstool, supplicate his forgiveness, touch the sceptre of his grace, and live for ever. 'Knowing the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men." Finally, if such be the advantages and pleasures connected with the sight and contemplation of a glorified Saviour in this world, what will the beatific vision include! To see him as he is, without the interposition of any obscuring veil, any dense medium! The unclouded manifestation of his incomparable beauty and infinite majesty! "That blessed interview how sweet, To fall transported at his feet, Through the full beamings of his grace!" Let us labour, by a diligent cultivation of the graces of the blessed Spirit, and the habits of progressive holiness, after a growing meetness for this desirable consummation. "And now, little children, abide in him, that we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming." SERMON XVII. JESUS WEEPING. BY THOMAS TIMPSON. JOHN xi. 35.-Jesus wept. INSPIRED prophets, in the long succession of a thousand years, predicted the advent and triumphs of Messiah. They declared both the divine and human honours of the Saviour of the world. But the "Spirit of Christ which was in them, testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ," as well as "the glory that should follow."* They foretold the appearance of the Holy One of Israel in our world, not in the gaudy pomp of mundane grandeur, surrounded by the dazzling splendours of mortal royalty, but as a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”† 66 Our present text, and the evangelic records generally, contain a perfect echo to the prophetic voice; presenting the blessed Redeemer to our believing contemplation, in a point of view at once the most affecting and engaging. "Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh;"‡ in mercy to our race he became a man of sorrows." 66 Tradition reports, that Publius Lentulus, the secretary of Pontius Pilate, governor of Judea, together with communications to the Roman senate, mentioned the character and ministry of our divine Lord. Among other things which his epistle contained, he said, "There appeared in these our days, a man of great virtue, named Jesus Christ, who is yet living among us, and of the Gentiles is accepted for a prophet of truth; but his own disciples call him 'the Son of God.' He raiseth the dead, and cureth all manner of diseases: a man of stature, somewhat tall and comely, with a very reverend countenance, such as beholders may both fear and * 1 Pet. i. 11. + Isa. liii. 3. 1 Tim. iii. 16. |