III-THE FINAL HAPPINESS OF CHRISTIANS THE SUBJECT OF ANGELIC STUDY.

It only remains that I turn your attention to the last view which the apostle gives us of the final salvation of Christians,-as the subject of angelic study: "Into these things the angels desire to look."

Into what things? Obviously into the things "of which the prophets prophesied, and into which they inquired"-into the things reported to us by them who preached the Gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven," that is, into the things respecting "the salvation prepared to be revealed in the last time"-into the things respecting "the grace to be brought to Christians at the revelation of Jesus Christ"-into those things the angels desire to look. The meaning of these words is obviously, the angels have an intense desire to understand the whole truth in reference to the final salvation of the people of God.

The angels here spoken of are, without doubt, "the elect angels,"those holy, happy, unembodied spirits who retain their original integrity, who, infinitely beneath God, are yet far superior to men in the scale of being, who excel in wisdom and strength, and who find their happiness in contemplating the divine excellencies, and in doing the divine will.

These exalted spiritual beings are represented as "desirous to look" into the things which respect the final salvation of the redeemed from among men. The original expression is very beautiful. They are with earnest desire bending down, fixing their intensest gaze on these things. The peculiar mode of expression probably alludes to the figures of the cherubim above the mercy-seat, who with downcast eyes were represented as looking on the mercy-seat, as if seeking to penetrate the mystery of wisdom and kindness which the fiery law, covered by the blood-sprinkled golden propitiatory, embodied.

We have no reason to think that the angels directly know anything more about the final salvation of the redeemed among men than we do. It is "by the Church," that is, by the dispensations of God to the Church, that "the principalities and powers in the heavenly places" become acquainted with that revelation of "the manifold wisdom of God" 2 contained in the plan of human redemption. We have no doubt that they know all that is revealed in the Bible on this subject; and that, from their higher faculties, and their more diligent study, and their juster and more extended views of the divine perfections, and of what constitutes the happiness of intelligent creatures, they understand what is revealed there much better than we do.

But still they are not satisfied-they are desirous to understand these wondrous divine declarations more completely, and they are looking forward with intense desire to the period when fulfilment shall develop the full extent of their meaning. Nor is it at all difficult to divine what are the principles in the minds of angels which make them thus desire to look into these things. Enlightened curiἃ ἐπιθυμοῦσιν ἄγγελοι παρακύψαι. Eph. iii. 10.

1

osity, piety, and benevolence, all combine in turning their attention. with unwearied interest towards this subject.

Enlightened curiosity, or the desire of useful knowledge, is one of the characteristic features, we have reason to believe, of angelic as well as human minds. They know far more than we do, but there is much they do not know; and it is probable their thirst for knowledge exceeds ours just in a similar proportion to their possession of knowledge. It is easy to conceive how desirous they must be of knowing what it is for "corruption to put on incorruption," what it is for "mortality to be swallowed up of life." Enlightened philosophers have great pleasure in witnessing, and in expecting to witness, experiments tending to throw light on the processes of nature. A world in flames, the elements melting with fervent heat, and the heavens flying away like a scroll, and a new heaven and a new earth rising out of the fiery chaos, are spectacles which it is not wonderful the angels should look forward to,, with eager desire and almost holy impatience.

Their piety interests them still more deeply in the subject. This salvation is to be the full manifestation of the divine excellencies, as displayed in the whole of that wonderful economy which shall then be completed. Angels will then see more of the power, and wisdom, and holiness, and benignity of God, than they had ever seen, than they had ever conjectured; and then, in the final pulling down of everything which opposes his will or obscures his glory, they will obtain the fullest gratification of the strongest wish of a loyal creature's heart-" that God may be all in all."

Their benevolence, too, keeps their minds fixed on the subject. "They are all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation.' They "encamp round about them that fear God, and deliver them." They have a kind interest in, a tender affection for, those committed to their care. They regard their manifold trials with a benignant pity, though themselves strangers to pain; and they take a generous interest in those events which are to consummate their blessedness. They wonder at the height of glory reserved for the redeemed among men ; and, completely free from envy, they desire to understand what is meant by "all things being put under their feet," and by men who have overcome through the blood of the Lamb, sitting down with him on his throne, as he, when he overcame, sat down on his Father's throne.

The practical use to be made of these truths it is not difficult to discover. If these things have been reported to us by men who preached the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, surely we should believe them. And if we believed them-if we really believed them-O what an influence would they have on our temper and conduct! A faith of this truth would induce the man, who is yet uninterested in the christian salvation, immediately to seek a share in its heavenly and spiritual blessings, and would make those who are interested in it very holy, very happy, very active, and perfectly contented amid all the calamities and trials of life.

1 Heb. i. 14. Psal. xxxiv. 7.

What is the subject of the constant, intense contemplation of angels, surely deserves our most careful study. We are far more closely connected with, far more deeply interested in, the subject of study, than they. The salvation they desire to look into will promote, but it will but indirectly promote their happiness. Their happiness may be secure without reference to it. But as to us, this salvation must be ours, or we are undone forever and ever. It is now that an interest is to be obtained in it, if obtained at all. It is only by knowing and believing the truth about this salvation, that an interest in it can be obtained. Oh, then, let us, with intensest ardor, seek the knowledge of this salvation! If we die unacquainted with it, we die uninterested in it; and if we die uninterested in it, it never, never can become ours. Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation."

NOTE A. p. 75.

Tà eis Xpiorov Tanpara-the till-Christ sufferings.-Gal. iii. 24. Εἰς Χριστὸν πείς hpepar Xporou.-Phil. i. 10. The view we have taken of the expression T. ε. X. π. K. T. p. r. d. is substantially that taken both by Luther and Calvin. Calvin's remark savors of his ordinary exegetical sagacity: "Non tractat Petrus quid Christo sit proprium, sed de universali ecclesiæ statu disserit." Le Clerc's note is good: "Tà eis Xorov a0μara intellexerit de piorum perpessionibus, Christi causa exantlandis: quas praeviderant obscu rius Prophetæ, et gloriam fidelium post sequuturam; sed quarum nescierunt tempora nisi quod revelatum eis est, ipsorum ævo eas non eventuras. Hæc egregie consentiunt cum serie orationis Petri qui loquitur de malis quibus religionis causa afficiebantur Christiani.” Winer, though he does not adopt our exegesis, distinctly says that the expression before us is incorrectly taken for Tà Xorov zabíjμara.—Gram. Part iii. sec. 30, p. 157. The Tà εἰς Χριστὸν παθήματα seem to denote the same thing as ή θλίψις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ of the Apocalypse, chap. i. 9, of which John represents himself and those to whom he wrote as συγκοινωνοί.

DISCOURSE V.

CHRISTIAN DUTY-MEANS OF, AND MOTIVES TO, ITS
PERFORMANCE.

1 PET. i. 13-21.-Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ: as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, * and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

AMONG the numerous mistaken notions of Christianity which prevail among its professors, few are more common, and none more fatal, than that in which it is viewed merely as a theory-a system of abstract principles, which, however true, are but remotely connected with human interests; and which, therefore, can but feebly influence human character and conduct. It is but too evident that the grand characteristic doctrines of Christianity, such as the trinity, the incarnation, the atonement, justification by faith, sanctification by divine influence, are, with many who readily admit their truth, and who would indeed be shocked at having their orthodoxy called in question, mere inoperative opinions, which exercise no more practical influence over their temper and conduct than the philosophical doctrines respecting the nature of space and time, or the size and distance of the celestial bodies, or the historical facts respecting the victories of Alexander or the discoveries of Columbus.

It is painful to think that it is no uncommon thing for a person to be able to talk plausibly about these principles of Christianity, to reason conclusively in their support, and to be zealous even to rancor against those who deny, or even doubt, their truth; while he yet continues a total stranger to their transforming efficacy, the slave of selfishness, malignity and worldliness. And what is the most lamentable part of this sad history, the infatuated man seems in a great measure unaware of the shocking inconsistency he is exhibiting, in displaying the most unchristian tempers in defence of christian truth. He mistakes his knowledge and zeal about certain propositionswhich, it may be, embody christian truth-for Christianity itself; and looking, it would seem, on orthodoxy of opinion as the sum and substance of religious duty, wraps himself up in an overweening concep

tion of his own attainments, and resigns himself to the pleasing dreams of a fancied security, from which but too frequently he is first and forever awakened by hearing the awful mandate, "Depart from me, I never knew you;" and by finding his place assigned him with the hypocrites, in the regions of hopeless misery.

It is an interesting inquiry, and, if properly conducted, would certainly elicit some important results-How comes it that men, with the Bible in their hands, can practise such fatal impositions on themselves? How comes it that the mere speculator should so readily conclude himself a sound believer? How comes it that the truth of doctrines should not only be readily admitted, but zealously maintained, while their appropriate influence is altogether unfelt, and indeed, steadily resisted? It would lead us too far out of our way just now to engage in such an inquiry; but I must be permitted to observe, that whatever influence deficient human representations of divine truth may have had in producing so mischievous and lamentable a result (and I believe that influence has been extensive and powerful), the truths of the Gospel themselves, and the scriptural representation of them, cannot be justly charged as in any degree the cause of this evil. The doctrines of the Gospel are of such a nature, that, if apprehended in their meaning and evidence,-if understood and believed,-they must, from the constitution of the mind of man, have a commanding influence over its principles of action; and these doctrines, as taught in the Bible, are not exhibited as mere abstract propositions, but are stated in such a manner as distinctly to show, how closely the belief of them is connected with everything that is good in disposition, and right in conduct. The speculatist in religion must not seek, for he will not find, in the Bible, an apology for his infatuation and inconsistency. On the contrary, he will meet with much to prove him altogether inexcusable.

The principles of Christianity are never in the New Testament exhibited in an abstract systematic form. They are interwoven with the injunctions to the cultivation of right dispositions, and to the practice of commanded duties, to which in truth they form the most powerful motives. The Author of Revelation, who is also the Author of our nature, and who is intimately acquainted with all its intellectual and moral obliquities in its present fallen state, has mercifully and wisely led those "holy men who spoke as they were moved by his Spirit," to guard their readers against that tendency to consider the doctrines of Christianity as mere matters of speculation, to which we have been adverting, by almost invariably following a statement of doctrine, with a statement of the practical consequences which that doctrine, understood and believed, is at once calculated and intended to produce.

Of this we have a very striking and instructive exemplification in the passage which we have here chosen as the subject of this discourse. In the preceding paragraph we have a statement of some of the most sublime and delightful peculiarities of Christian doctrine. We are instructed respecting that state of ineffable purity, dignity, and happiness, to which it is the purpose of God ultimately to raise men, through the mediation of his incarnate only begotten. This