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IV.

THE ROYAL PENITENT.

You know the parable in Luke, xii. 35-38, "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants." Here we meet with three impressive ideas. "The Lord cometh!" is the first. The heart of many an one thrills at this call. He thinks of the approaching and complete establishment of the Lord's kingdom upon earth; and he sighs, "Ah, didst thou but come!" Yes, our heart also joins in this longing of eighteen hundred years; for even so long has it been in the church, not like a flood-water which is gradually lost in the sand beneath, but like a stream which the nearer it draws to its destination rolls onward with greater power. How many a prophetic omen has there been, that the grand moment of jubilee is not far distant. We already perceive signs of the publication of the Gospel" in all

the world;" that of the shaken foundations of Mohammedism; that of the re-emergement of the beast from the abyss; that of the decline from Christ and his Word extending through the world; and that of the "powerful errors" of an anti-christian spirit acquiring domination over the cultivation of genius; of the idolisation of men, and of many more similar signs.

"The

Never did the church witness such a constellation of signs of the near coming of Christ, as now. branches of the fig-tree are full of sap; the summer is at hand." Assuredly, I am not ignorant that a portion of the church has become gradually weary of the longtarrying, and has fallen into doubt. You also shake your head, and are of opinion, that we have long talked of "the last time." Well, use this language, and increase the number of the existing signs by the addition of this new one. Add that of the foolish virgins, who shortly before the midnight hour maintained, "the Lord would not come for a long time." They ate, they drank, they wooed and were wooed, and inscribed over the festivity-decorated gate of their dwelling, "Peace! peace! There is no danger!" But then, however, the depths suddenly burst open, and the floods rushed forth at the command of the eternal wrath. Only Noah and those with him watched, and were preserved: upon every one else destruction came with the swiftness of a whirlwind.

"The Lord cometh!" O, were he already here! How do we long for his revelation in these dark times! But, in the words referred to, allusion is not alone made to that coming of Christ for the judgment of his enemies. There is another which we ought to feel still more deeply. It is that one which daily occurs, which

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we may hourly experience, and which takes place also in the dark abyss, which we are accustomed to call "death" and "dying." The word of truth recognises our earthly existence in no other light than that of a state of waiting for the Lord.

According to the scriptural view our end approaches not, the "Judge" approaches; we do not hasten towards the grave, but go to meet the Son of Man; we are not summoned by death, we are called in death by "God." According to the Scriptural notion, our death is no God-abandoned process of nature; but in our dying, as in our life, the decree, the providence, the hand of the great King,-under whom, pious or ungodly, all stand, out of whose dominion not one can come forth even for a moment; to whom, whether you acknowledge Him or not, you are responsible for every thing you do ;has, according to your character, appointed for you eternal palaces of peace, or eternal dungeons and chains of death. A distinguished visit it is, therefore, that you have to expect; a more distinguished one than that of a king or an emperor! And whence does he come? "Be ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding." Then he is at the wedding; yonder, whence the grand hallelujah sounds and the golden harps of heaven burst forth in melodious strains; for the bride is now eternally united to her bridegroom, and the undecaying crown of life flourishes in its verdure round her brows. Thus then we here below are not yet at the wedding. This is consoling to learn. We need not then be very greatly astonished if sometimes we are so little disposed to participate in its pleasures.

Because we often feel so little love, are often so

spiritless, often so poor in joys, we can hardly avoid the conviction, that it is all over with our adoption, and that we have no share in the New Testament. You hear, friends, we have not come as yet to the wedding. The Lord is only with those who are no longer in our ranks. We remain still abroad. The time will come when we shall also stand very differently. The distance is not too great from here below to the place above for us to attain to it.

at some time!"

"Then we shall Why we are you sure it is we? That is a question. That to us all the Lord comes, is certain; but whether with the insignia of a judge or a friend, will be decided according to our position. "Therefore," says the Lord, "let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and be yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord!" Observe, how delicately and tenderly it is here signified to us, wherein first of all the nature of true preparation for the reception of the Lord is to be sought. Like unto men, our resemblance must be. "Well," I hear it said, "that am I!"-Indeed? "Certainly, for I perform my duty!" No, friend, that is not the peculiarity in the character of those people. "Well, then, I live uprightly!" That may be done also by them; but even that will not be made their most prominent feature. "I give to each his own, I do my work faithfully, I am also of the church, and serve God, as I ought to do, and none can say aught of evil against me!" O, that is all very good, worthy of appreciation and praise! But all this may be found with those servants in the parable. But what the Lord praises in them as furnishing an example, is something very different from that morality apart and separate from God, and devoid of

all sincere faith in God, in which a blind world is accustomed to set the preparation for eternity. "Be like unto men," it says, "that wait for their Lord." Do you observe? In the first place is presented, as the peculiarity of these people, that they are not masters who are themselves to know what is good and what is evil, but that they are servants. Then, they not the less feel that they are under a living chief, to whose service they are devoted, and not merely under a dead law; and above all, that they are to wait for their Lord, and tarry in expectation of his appearance. By the Lord in the parable is to be understood Jesus himself; and thus it is clearly shown what the preparation is. Relations of heart to him, to hold him beloved, to long after complete union with him. That is the preparation. This desire, to be sure, grows only in the depth of a broken and humbled heart; and hence the so-called good man, the Pharisee, knows it not. This longing includes much in itself: repentance, separation from sin, faith, delight in the godly, holy love. But it is by design that the Lord does not make especial mention of these several qualities as belonging to true preparation. He knows how many of his dear children, who are deceived in themselves, would then soon cry out: "Woe is me! I am not yet prepared!"—but who with all their bashfulness could be able to exclaim, "My delight, my hope, my highest treasure, Lord Jesus art thou! Whom have I besides thee to comfort me ? Thou alone makest my life bright and clear. What were more sweet to me, than to repose with John on thy bosom, and every moment to see thee, and to hear thy voice!"

Now, if you examine yourself closely, would you