the Redeemer's existence and glory were not unfrequently afforded to early believers by visible personal manifestations and appearances; they saw and communed with him as "the angel of the covenant,"_" the angel of Jehovah's presence ;" and thus they were conclusively assured that he was then actually engaged in superintending and guarding the welfare of his church, and was then actually conducting towards its ordained accomplishment, the work of deliverance and salvation. The sense of these delightful facts was present to the mind, and prompted the proclamation, of Job; and strong indeed, amidst his unparalleled sorrows, must have been the consolation derived from the knowledge of a living Redeemer.

Since the times of the fathers, wondrous mediatorial events have occurred in the existence of the Son of God. The dispensations of prophecy and shadows have been terminated. He to whom prophets and types bore witness, has made that assumption of human nature which was necessary for the verification of his character, and the execution of his work as the "Redeemer." He has offered that all-sufficient atonement for sin, which early sacrifices prefigured, and on which early saints reposed, the grand and only provision for justification and salvation. He has risen again from the dead, and has ascended to the glory which he had with the Father before the world was, there to remain until the restitu

tion of all things. From the scene of his exaltation, he has uttered words which attest to every age the sublime truths-" I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."*

The objects connected with the Redeemer's existence, comprehend a vast extent of interest, and pledge to all his believing people, of whatever period or country, inviolable security and immortal joy. He liveth, that he may send down the Spirit of grace to enlighten, quicken, and sanctify. He liveth, that he may intercede before the throne, for all them that come unto God by him, and that he may save them to the uttermost. He liveth, that he may complete the magnificent plans connected with the enlargement of his church; that he may guide successive generations in rectitude and honour through the wilderness of time; that he may trample down all opposition to his power, accomplish the triumphs of his kingdom, and fill the mansions of his Father's house with the countless millions of the redeemed.-How cheering then, is the truth that" our Redeemer liveth!" and how unspeakably important to possess an interest in his work, to have our own existence interwoven with his, and be made one with Him for time and for eternity!

As to the second of the truths stated, referring

* Rev. i. 18.

to the future manifestation of the Redeemer; "he shall stand [arise] at the latter day upon [over] the earth.”* Considerable critical difference has existed as to the precise interpretation these words should receive. Some propose to read,—“ he, the last;"-supposing that the allusion is, not to time, but to person, and that we have a designation of the Redeemer by one of the epithets of divine majesty elsewhere assumed by the Father and the Son," the first and the last." Others consider the allusion to be not to person, but to time, and consider it as a prediction of " the last day," when the heavens shall pass away, and the earth and its works shall be burnt up, and when universal and eternal judgment shall be pronounced on the human race. This latter interpretation is the one we prefer. On the phrase the earth," on, or over which it is said the Redeemer will arise, it may be remarked, that it is more literally, dust," and that, in other places of Scripture, it is used to signify that which composes the human body, and to which the human body is to return. We may adopt the words of an excellent writer on this passage:

66

66

66

Dust, or scattered earth, always in this book, when it occurs in the figurative sense, denotes either the grave, or the decomposed elements of the body. There appears most evidence for attri

* Excellent illustrations of this phrase, and of the whole will be found in Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. ii.

Passage,

83-86.

buting to the clause this meaning;—he shall arise in triumph over the ruins of mortality.

This anticipated manifestation of the Redeemer, is of sure and necessary occurrence, in consequence of the arrangement of the divine counsels as to the course and consummation of the mediatorial office. An event of such vast importance was not concealed in the first revelations of God to man; and one earlier than Job-" Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of the coming of the Lord with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all." In the records of the Christian dispensation, intimations, distinct and solemn, are afforded as to the certainty of its arrival, and the nature of its transactions. Frequently did the Saviour himself, while dwelling in the flesh among men, employ the energy of his personal teaching in various methods, to assert, illustrate, and impress the fact of his second advent at the end of the world. To testify concerning it constituted a prominent duty in the ministry of the apostles; they diligently wrought to direct towards it the expectations of mankind; and they have, with master distinctness and skill, sketched the process of Divine government and redemption, until "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the

* Dr.

I. P. Smith's Scripture Testimony to the Messiah, vol. i. † Jude 14, 15.

archangel, and with the trump of God." From the certainty of that event, divine truth derives all the appropriateness and efficacy of its appeals. It is an event the magnificence of which must be transcendent and inconceivable; an event towards which all things are tending; an event for the arrival of which are managed all the projects and enterprises of men, all the revolutions of empires, and all the complicated changes of centuries; an event which is to consummate the system of providence, to close the invitations of mercy, and to introduce the decisions of eternity.

The appearance of the Redeemer on this last day, as you ascertain from the correct meaning of the words now considered, will be in grandeur and in triumph. He will appear in his glory as a Conqueror, with many crowns upon his head, followed by the armies of heaven, and having on his vesture and on his thigh a name written-King of kings, and Lord of lords. Then he will complete the victories of his mediation, by achieving the destruction of death. Of all the sad memorials of the last enemy, to be found in the havoc and desolation of ages, not a vestige or a trace will remain. At the voice of the Son of God, which then shall sound in the plenitude of omnipotence, the innumerable captives that have slumbered in the regions of the grave will be freed from their dungeons; and every child of Adam will come