rising and setting suns, and "your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended." The helmet will be taken off your heads and a crown of glory put on which fadeth not away.

You, therefore, see from what we have said, that your enemies are always seen by Him who loves you—that they can do nothing without His permission-that He who is with you is above them all-that they cannot destroy or injure your main interest-that you will more than vanquish them, and that this will be speedily. You should therefore examine yourself, and remember, "no cross, no crown." It is a sad evidence against you if you find your religious course no longer a warfare; for a warfare it has ever been found by all the followers of the Lamb. It is an evidence, therefore, in your favour if you find it to be so. How good is the Lord in providing support and consolation under trial! He hath said to His ministers, "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people." His people are also called upon to comfort one another; He would have His people not only safe, but cheerful; He hath said, "Let not your hearts be troubled." You see, though it becomes Christians to take heed, according to the admonition, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall," yet it also becomes them to exercise holy courage. "The righteous are as bold as a lion," that is, they should be so, their experience requires it. Bunyan with as much truth as genius, has made Mr. Greatheart the conductor of the pilgrims; how much courage it requires to go forth without the camp, bearing His reproach to follow the Saviour through all opposition! Let, therefore, the weak say with David, "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my heart, of whom shall I be afraid? Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident."

414

XXXVII.

A GLORIOUS TRANSLATION.

(Delivered on Thursday Evening, February 27th, 1845.)

"Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son."-COLOSSIANS i. 13.

DIVINE grace makes a real and marvellous change in all its subjects. Isaiah emphatically expressed this, when he said, "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fig-tree, and instead of the brier the myrtle-tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign, which shall not be cut off." And this is implied in Paul's question to the Corinthians, "Who maketh thee to differ from another?" so that there is a difference between them and others, such a difference as exists between wheat and tares-between sheep and wolves-between slaves and free men-between the living and the dead. And while they are thus made to differ from others, they also differ from their former selves; and no wonder, " for by nature they were children of wrath, even as others." They are ready to acknowledge this, and say, "We ourselves were sometimes foolish, serving divers lusts and pleasures, hateful, and hating one another. But after this, the loving-kindness of God our Saviour appeared "-for they well know that whatever they are, they are not by birth, but by conversion. They therefore with humble and grateful feelings often look, though not often enough, "to the rock whence they were hewn, and the hole of the pit whence they were digged;" and considering their present privileges, and their future hopes, they can express themselves in the language of the Apostle, "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son." Let us consider, first, their natural state; secondly, their new condition; and thirdly, the operation which delivers them from the one and translates them into the other.

I. Let us consider THEIR NATURAL STATE. They were in the possession or under the power of darkness.

"This is a very good and just representation," some may be ready to say," of the state of the heathen without the Gospel, for they are under the rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places; they are without God in the world." But, brethren, need you be informed that every unchanged sinner is a little heathen world in himself? He is without the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Others say, that there are some who stand in need of conversion, but not all; for there are some who have happily retained their original innocence; and there are others who, though they require an improvement, do not need an entire change. But what saith the Scripture? This assures us that we are all descended from the same original stock, and "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" that we are not in different states, but only in different degrees of the same state; that we are all going astray, though every one turns to his own way.

But now as to this state and condition-the natural state of God's own people under "the power of darkness." The term is used in Scripture for many things. Ignorance is darkness; and under the power of this, they were once "alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." Sin is darkness, and they were under the power of this; "sin had dominion over them, and they obeyed it in the lusts thereof." Misery is darkness; and under the power of this they found "the way of transgressors was hard"; that "there is no peace to the wicked," but that "destruction and misery are in their path." Death is darkness; and under the power of this they felt themselves doomed to die, and subject to bondage through the fear thereof. The devil is the prince of darkness, and he had a peculiar influence over them. You remember when our Saviour sent His Apostles to go forth to the Gentiles, He sent them to "open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." There are some persons weak enough to deny his existence; but if there be no such being, our Saviour came into the world to destroy a nonentity, for "He came to destroy the works of the devil." "The power of darkness" is Satan's tyranny, his agency, his influence." And we are not ignorant of his devices." "He blinds the minds of them that believe not"; he filled Ananias and Sapphira with deceit; he is "the spirit now working in the children of disobedience"; "the world lieth in wicked

ness"—or, it lieth in the wicked one; that is, the devil. His government of man was not original, but it is the consequence of rebellion. Having forsaken God, their rightful sovereign, He suffered the enemy to triumph over them. They talk of liberty, but of what a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. "His servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness." Men express their hatred of slavery, and yet they live in the most dishonourable and rigorous vassalage. They are "taken captive by the devil at his will." Or, to vary the metaphor, though not the meaning, "Ye are," says the Saviour, "of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.”

II. Let us now turn the medal. Having seen their natural state, let us view THEIR RENEWED CONDITION. "He hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son"; where we observe three things: the character of Jesus, His empire, and the privilege of being His subjects.

First, the character of Jesus, God's dear Son. Dear to Him, and as Watts says, "Chosen of God, to sinners dear"; but not to all, the greater part of them despise and reject Him; but all awakened and convinced sinners exclaim, "What must I do to be saved ?" and to them, Oh how dear is He!

"And saints adore His name ;

They trust their whole salvation here;
Nor shall they suffer shame."

"To them that believe He is precious."

make Himself precious to all of them.

He takes care to

He makes Himself

infinitely dear, by showing them what He has done, what He

has suffered, and what He means to do.

This is not all. He

is not only dear to saints, but dear to angels. of angels" in the days of His flesh.

"Through all His trials here below,

They did His steps attend ;

"He was seen

They oft rejoiced, and wondered where
His course of love would end."

And now that He is in heaven, we are informed that they are adoring Him, and with a loud voice exclaim, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and

wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." But principally He is dear to God. He is His only begotten Son, His Elect, in whom His soul delighteth. We read that "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand." He feels an infinite complacency in His Person, in His work, in His sufferings, and in His Atonement. His offering and sacrifice was a sweet-smelling savour, and through these man was not originally so dear to God as he now becomes when he enters His presence sprinkled with the blood of Christ, and making mention of His righteousness. "We are accepted in the Beloved." So dear is He to the Father, that when we go to Him, and ask anything in His name, He cannot refuse. "Whatsoever," says the Saviour, "ye ask the Father in my name, He will do it."

Then observe, secondly, His Empire. For He has a kingdom," and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son." Once He had not where to lay His head, and widows ministered to Him of their substance; but now He fills the throne of universal empire; now "He is King of kings, and Lord of lords;" now "He changeth the times and the seasons; He removeth kings and setteth up kings," and empires rise and fall at His nod; "He doeth according to His will in the armies of heaven, and amongst the inhabitants of earth;" and "none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?" Sinners, by an overruling Providence, accomplish His designs. "The wrath of man is made to praise Him." "He is the Governor among the nations."

But He has a kingdom which in the Scripture is called "righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost"; a kingdom which "cometh not by observation"; that kingdom of God which is "not in word but in power"; that kingdom of which He spake when before Pilate He made so good a confession, and said, "Now is my kingdom not from hence." It means His mediatorial kingdom-that kingdom which was the recompense of His sufferings, the joy that was set before Him, and for which "He endured the cross.' "Because He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, therefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and hath given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." Yes, because His soul was to be made an offering for sin He

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