men, who are yet without God and without Christ in the world? Do we, in the exercise of that good-will toward men, which was first taught us, in its purity, only by the love of God towards us, go forth to find another and another of our kinsmen, our brethren according to the flesh, and use all our persuasions, entreaties, and endeavours, that they may be converted and united to the only Messias-to him who alone hath the words of eternal life? Let us attentively and solemnly consider these momentous questions; and then say, whether we be in the exercise-the vigorous and increasing exercise-of that love to our brethren in Christ, and our brethren of mankind at large, which forms so indispensable a preparation for sitting down at a communion table, and there partaking in the feast of love.

VI. We have now arrived at the last head of that self-examination in which we are engaged. We have to examine ourselves as to the possession of those feelings which the believing contemplation of our Lord's second coming should naturally awaken in our minds. The contemplation of that momentous and glorious event, (of which we are so strikingly reminded in the ordinance of the Supper,) is admirably fitted, as has previously been shown, to comfort us with the assurance that he is not forgetful of us in his absence-to inspire us with patience under the trials and disappointments of this present life-to awaken in us a holy solicitude, that when he appears we may be like him, and ready to receive him and to inspire us with holy desires and fond anticipations as to its arrival-an event which, though unspeakably awful to his enemies, is fraught with every thing which is glorious and delightful to those who are indeed relying and waiting on him for salvation.

And are these, then, the feelings by which we are really animated when we contemplate the certain and

glorious return of our already exalted, but still unseen and absent Lord? Does it indeed afford us, in the first place, sincere and peculiar delight, to be reminded of the fact that he continues to regard us as the objects of his gracious and affectionate remembrance? In the case of an earthly benefactor, such a circumstance could not fail to be, in the highest degree, gratifying and delightful. If any individual who had at one time been, in some respects, our equal, but who has subsequently been exalted to a situation of the greatest affluence, dignity, and honour, is found not only to cherish a lively remembrance of the former relation in which he stood to us, but to exercise the highest of those functions and prerogatives with which he has been invested, in such a manner as strikingly to evince the peculiar. affection which he feels for us, and the pleasure which he takes in promoting our welfare-the circumstance is one on which we must find it impossible to reflect, without the liveliest emotions of gratitude and delight. Now, though our blessed Lord, who was pleased to be made like unto his brethren, is gone into the heavens, we are distinctly given to understand that he will come again that he will not delay his coming one moment beyond the time which is requisite for the manifestation of his own glory, and the accomplishment of that which is essential to our happiness; and that one of the grand objects with which he is ever occupied during his absence, is just that of "purifying us unto himself, a peculiar people, zealous of good works." And, in contemplating these glorious truths, are we sure that we are deeply and suitably affected with those grateful and joyous emotions which they are so peculiarly fitted to inspire?

But we have also seen that the belief of our Lord's second coming is not less fitted to inspire us with patience under the trials and disappointments of this present life. Is this, then, in the second place, the feeling with which, as often as we are called to reflect

on that glorious event, we feel that our souls are fortified and comforted? Under the ordinary vicissitudes of life, do we feel that our "hearts are stablished" by the consideration that "the coming of the Lord draweth nigh?" No effort of mere human fortitude, or selfpossession, would be sufficient to support us under such trials and afflictions as those to which we are at present liable. We can thus be supported only when we are thoroughly impressed with the conviction that these trials are appointed and overruled by a gracious as well as a righteous God; and that the time shall come when they shall not only cease, but result in our endless and unspeakable enjoyment. And is this the conviction by which we are practically influenced is this the way which we demonstrate to the church and to the world, the same glorious truth which is proclaimed as often as we show forth our Lord's death, by the celebration of the supper-that " He who cometh will come, and will not tarry ?"

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But again: We have seen that the contemplation of our Lord's second coming, is admirably fitted to awaken in us a holy solicitude, that when he appears we may be like him, and ready to receive him. And is this, also, in the third place, the feeling which it actually awakens and keeps alive in our souls? Our blessed Lord has gone into a far country, and has said to all his servants at his departure, "Occupy till I come." He has assigned to all their respective duties, and committed to all the proper number of talents which they have to lay out and improve in his service. He has intentionally kept them in ignorance as to the precise time at which he may return, for the express purpose of keeping them continually diligent and watchful, and constantly solicitous as to the way in which he shall find them employed at his coming, and as to the sentence of approbation or disapprobation which he shall then pronounce on them, (Luke xii. 35-46.) Have we, then, been at pains to study the character, to remember the injunctions, and to promote

the interests of an absent Lord? Are we careful to imbibe his spirit, to embrace his doctrines, and to imitate his example? Is conformity to his image the great and constant object of our holy ambition? Do we habitually feel an earnest concern to have our "loins always girded, and our lamps always burning," being "like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he shall return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately?" We call ourselves, and are called the followers of Christ; but, alas, alas! how imperfectly do we follow him! O for more of ardent and abiding desire to be holy as he is holy, and perfect as he is perfect-that, when he shall appear, we may "be like him, and see him as he is!"

This leads us to inquire, in the fourth and last place, whether we have been enabled to regard our Lord's second coming as the object of those holy desires and fond anticipations, which, as we have also seen, it is admirably fitted to awaken in the breasts of his believing people. To many thousands of our guilty race, the day of his coming shall be a day of vengeance-the great and terrible day of the Lord-the day when "they who know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, shall be banished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." It is the day, however, when he shall be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe ;" the day when he shall complete their deliverance from sin and all its consequences— suffering, sorrow, and death; the day when he shall make them full partakers of his glory, and receive them into his presence with exceeding joy. Now, is this latter the aspect in which we feel an increasing encouragement to regard it? In spite of the bodily pangs which we have to endure in our conflict with the last enemy-in spite of the melancholy certainty of separation for a season from all whom we love on this earth-and in spite of the darkness which still

broods over the valley of the shadow of death?-do we feel that our faith, and hopes, and affections have taken such firm hold on the glorious objects which are beyond it, that they begin to fill us with a joy which is unspeakable and full of glory? Under the bondage of corruption, do we earnestly groan for the everlasting liberty of the sons of God? While willing still to glorify God in the flesh, and not impatient of the farther discipline which he may see meet to employ, do we feel that we are becoming weary of sin, and so powerfully attracted by the beauty of holiness, as to rejoice more and more in the prospect of being introduced into the society of the spirits of just men made perfect, and of being for ever in the presence of Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant? Do we begin to feel somewhat of the apostle's longing, "rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord ?" Does a glow of rapture ever come over our souls, as we anticipate the happy time when vain thoughts shall no longer lodge within them-when vile imaginations shall no longer pollute them-when sinful desires shall no longer, even for a moment, be excited within them— and when, wondrous and delightful as the change must be, of having our bodies freed for ever from pain, and disease, and mortality, and corruption, still more wondrous and delightful will be the change which our souls shall have undergone, in being made perfectly conformable to the image of the well-beloved Son of God-to the image of him who redeemed them? Surely, when we reflect that such glorious results are to be accomplished at the time of our Lord's second coming, those who truly wait for his salvation may sometimes feel disposed in this view to adopt the language of the Psalmist, "My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning-they that watch for the morning," (Psalm cxxx. 6.) Or sometimes, perhaps, they may express their longing expectation in the language of a very different individual," Why is his chariot so