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an unlimited and unreserved obedience. But it was foreseen that, instead of submitting to him, his creatures would rise up in rebellion against him, and cry out with one voice, "We will not have this man to reign over us." Christ, however, laughed them to scorn; and told them by his prophet, many hundred years before, that every knee should bow to him, and every tongue take an oath of allegiance to him as the only sovereign of the universe; at least, if they did not do this willingly, as an expression of their unfeigned subjection, they should do it, in effect, against their will, by suffering the punishment due to their rebellion.]

2. The advancement of his kingdom

[While in the world, he was to be considered as vile, yea, as the vilest of mankind; and to appear weak as other men: but in due time he was to be regarded, not only as righteous and powerful, but as the only source of righteousness and strength to all his creatures. In themselves, all are 66 ungodly and without strength:" feeling therefore their guilt and helplessness they are to "come to him," each saying for himself, and each animating others to say, " In the Lord have I righteousness and strength."]

3. The confusion of his enemies

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[Notwithstanding his unspotted innocence, and unbounded kindness, he was to be an object of utter abhorrence to his whole nation. But their triumph over him was to be of short duration: the time was soon to come, when they should " him whom they had pierced, and mourn." Their violence was soon to be recompensed upon their own heads, unless by previous repentance and faith in his blood, they obtained the remission of their sins. At all events, they should be "ashamed," whether penitent and pardoned, or impenitent and condemned. They should either be made to acknowledge with Paul, that they had been "blasphemers, injurious, persecutors, and, the very chief of sinners," or to confess the justice of that sentence, that consigned them over to everlasting misery.]

4. The salvation of his people

[His enemies are the seed of profane Esau; but his friends are "the seed of Israel," whose prayers prevailed with God, and whose example they imitate. These were for a time to be as men disappointed of their hopes; but, ere long, their expectations, founded on the word of Christ, were to be abundantly "justified" in the sight of men; and, their persons too were to be "justified" in the sight of God; so that both before God and man they should have reason to glory in the name of Jesus. None of them should be left in their forlorn condition;

but "all," all without exception, be made to triumph in him as the Rock of their salvation.]

Such was the exaltation, and such the consequences of it to himself, to his enemies, and to his believing people, which Christ so long before predicted with a solemn oath in confirmation of which we proceed to state

II. The certainty of its accomplishment

If God had simply asserted these things, it could not fail but that they must have come to pass; for, "he is not a man that he should lie, or the son of man that he should repent.' "But for our fuller conviction and assurance, he has sworn; and "because he could swear by no greater, he has sworn by himself:" his word is gone forth in righteousness and truth, nor shall it " return," till every jot or tittle of it be fulfilled. But

1. It has already been accomplished in part

[Atthe hour of his death, his enemies thought that they had gained their end. He, whom they had arrayed in mock majesty, and crowned with a chaplet of thorns, and before whom they had bowed the knee in derision, crying, Hail, King of the Jews, had expired on the accursed tree, an object of universal execration and abhorrence: and his followers were scattered as sheep that have no shepherd. The leader being destroyed, it seemed as if this infant sect, like others that had preceded it, were crushed, and brought to nought. It only remained that Jesus should be proved an impostor, by watching his tomb for three days; and then their victory would be complete. But in vain were the stone, the seal, the watch: at the appointed hour he rose triumphant; and the affrighted guards fled to relate the wonderful event. Now began his exaltation, which speedily reversed the scenes that had been exhibited. His enemies already stood confounded; and propagated an absurd falsehood to conceal their shame. The hopes of his disconsolate people were revived by many infallible proofs of his resurrection. They conversed and eat with him, and beheld him in the very act of ascending into heaven. It was but a few days afterwards, when, according to his promise, he sent down the Holy Ghost; and thereby completed the confusion of his enemies, and the triumph of his friends. Instantly no less than three thousand of his most inveterate enemies "bowed the knee to him," and " took, as it were, an oath" of allegiance to him as their rightful sovereign: though they had just before seen him "crucified through weakness," and treated as the most infamous of malefactors, the "came to him; that they might obtain "righteousness and strength." What confusion

now seized the rulers, who still retained their enmity against him! All their efforts were in vain: the more fierce their opposition was, the more did the word prevail: so that in a little time, not Jerusalem only, but all Judea, yea, the whole Roman empire, was filled with converts to the cause of Christ. Now the disciples triumphed in their turn: and from that time myriads in every place have been "justified by his blood," and have "gloried" in his salvation.]

2. It shall be yet more fully accomplished at the day of judgment

[It is in reference to this period in particular that the apostle cites the passage before us:b and then indeed will it be verified to the uttermost. The submission of his people will be more entire, their acknowledgments more grateful, and their glorying more ecstatic, than they could be in this world; while the subjugation of his enemies, and their confusion before him, will be complete. When he shall say, as to those of old, Many good works did I for you, for which of them did ye hate me? for you I left my glory, and veiled myself in human flesh; for you I sojourned upon earth, and died upon the cross; for you I sent my messengers to beseech you in my name to accept of mercy: for which of these things was I a stumblingblock unto you? how will they hang down their heads with shame! Eloquent as they now are in vindication of themselves, they will not then have one word to answer. Thus shall it be both to the friends and enemies of Christ: as sure as there is a God in heaven, possessed of faithfulness and power to fulfil his word, so sure shall not one jot or tittle of it ever fail of its accomplishment.] IMPROVEMENT

1. For conviction

[Nothing surely can be more calculated to awaken the secure than this solemn oath of Jehovah. Methinks the Deity, to fix our attention and obtain belief, stands forth before the assembled universe, and, with his hand lifted up to heaven, swears, "As sure as I am God, thus and thus shall it be with my friends and with my enemies." Must not then sinners be more deaf than adders, and more obdurate than rocks, if they do not hear, and relent, at the voice of their God? O that men would no longer trifle with their eternal interests! We may argue as we please against the word of God; but we cannot invalidate its tremendous declarations. Let us then believe and tremble, yea, "believe, and obey the gospel."]

b Rom. xiv. 11. VOL. II.

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Alluding to Dan. xii. 7.

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2. For consolation

[God, in his oath, consults more immediately the comfort of his people. They are, alas! too backward to believe his word; and therefore he confirms it with an oath. Let every subject then of the Redeemer's kingdom rejoice: let their confidence in him both for righteousness and strength be greatly increased: let them never doubt, but that his enemies and their enemies, shall soon become his footstool: let them know, that they are justified from all their sins: and let them glory in him as their God and portion. Difficulties they may, they must expect; but the word of God shall not be frustrated: "the counsel of the Lord shall stand; and he will do all his pleasure." Let them only rest on the oath of God, and they shall experience its accomplishment to all eternity.]

d Heb. vi. 17, 18.

CCIII. CHRIST'S COMING TO JUDGMENT.

Jude 14, 15. Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, 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.

God has had in every age some to testify against the ungodly, and to warn them of the consequences of their sin at the future judgment: and though the faithful execution of this office meets but with ill returns from an ungrateful world, yet we trust there will be found, to the end of time, some, who will gladly suffer reproach or even death itself in the service of their God, and in the benevolent attempt to save their fellow-sioners from destruction-We do not indeed hear of many, who were witnesses for God, before the time of Moses; and even in his warnings and exhortations were enforced principally with temporal sanctions: yet the certainty of a future judgment was known, not only by Moses, but by the antediluvian world; and was solemnly urged by Enoch as a motive to repentance-This prophecy is not recorded in the Old Testament; but, by whatever means St. Jude attained the knowledge of it, whether by tradition, or by some written memorial, or by immediate inspiration, we may be

sure that it was delivered by Enoch; and we may be thankful that such a precious fragment of inspired truth' has been preserved to us-It proclaims to us

I. The manner in which our Lord shall come to judg

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Christ, we are assured, is coming to judge the world

[There can be no reason to doubt that Enoch referred to Christ, even to that very "seed of the woman, who was to bruise the serpent's head:" him he represents as coming to complete his victory over Satan and his agents by calling them to his tribunal, and by consigning them over to the punishment they have deserved The New Testament writers uniformly speak to the same effect: they declare that it is at the judgment seat of CHRIST we must stand;a that it is Christ who is ordained to be the judge of quick and dead; and, that all judgment is therefore committed unto him, because he is the Son of man; or, in other words, that he, who died for sinners, shall, in that very nature that he assumed for them, be the immediate author of salvation to his followers and of condemnation to his enemies-]

And even the manner of his appearing is here plainly predicted

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[It is not with "his saints," but with his holy ones, or holy angels, that he will come-The saints will not be his assessors in judgment till they themselves shall have received their sentence: then indeed "they shall judge angels," but till then, they themselves will stand before him to be judged. But the holy angels will be his attendants in the clouds of heaven; all the "myriads" of them shall descend with him from their blessed abodes, to increase the solemnity of that day, and to honour him, to whom they owe their very existence-This accords with the description given by Daniel,e by St. Paul, and by Christ himselfs-How different will our Lord's appearance then be from what it was when he first visited our guilty world, and lay an helpless infant in the manger!-And how earnestly should we now exert ourselves that we may be prepared to meet him!-]

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That our minds may be raised to an expectation of that day, let us consider

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