The People's Service of Song. A Plea for Plain Language from the Pulpit. The Sigh and the Tear The Truth of the Evangelical History of our Lord Jesus Christ. Essays on Science and Theology. Our Friends in Heaven. Memorials of Agmondesham and Chesham Leycester Patriarchy; or, The Family. The Mystery. Typical Forms, Sermons on Special and Ordinary Occasions. Sermons by Dr. Christology of the Old Testament. The Words of the Lord Jesus. The Two Lights. The Words of the Lord Jesus. The Prophecies of Daniel and The Poetical Works of Robert Burns. The Poetical Works of 430 Gems from the Coral Islands; or, Incidents of Contrast between 433 This World or the Next. The London Monthly Review, and 434 A HOMILY ON The Sovereign of the Future. "For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak."-Heb. ii. 5. THE sun of a new year shines on the opening page of this, the fifth volume of our work. As we look back upon our Homilistic labors, we remember the candour, sympathy, and help of our friends, and our heart warms with gratitude; we remember the imperfections of our literary labors, both in thought and expression, and feel profoundly humbled; we remember the salutary influence, which, we are assured from all sections of the church, we have to some extent exerted on the pulpit of the age, and we feel a pensive and devout consciousness of unworthiness before the infinite source of all good. We congratulate ourselves on nothing :-boasting, by every law, is excluded. We have only started a work which was evidently needed, and which we religiously wish may soon fall into other and abler hands. Meanwhile we will toil on; we will dig into the Bible-field for pearls, and navigate the seas of inspired thought, in earnest quest of those hidden treasures that enrich the soul, and help on the true progress of the world. We welcome, with hopeful heart, the dawn of this new year. Though it swells our responsibilities, and places us in nearer contact with the grave than we ever stood before; though it saddens us with the memories of departed years, adds another figure to our short life, and impresses us Vol. V. B with the celerity with which we are borne on to a period that will break up our present connexion and change for ever our condition; and though its beams fall, I fear, on England waning, and on Europe in battle and blood, we welcome it with hopeful heart. To us there seem sweet promises in its opening beams, soothing and cheering whispers in its morning breeze. May these visions and voices be more than the illusive wishes of an ardent nature too prone to be deceived! The dawn of a new year brings up futurity to the mind in its most impressive forms. As it stands before us in its majestic vagueness and terrible uncertainties, it starts many an anxious question, and evokes many a solemn scene. At one moment we feel a desire to rend its veil and burst its seals, at another we shrink with horror at the fear of what it may disclose. Now it suns us with the cheerful beams of hope, and now it clouds us with the depressing gloom of dread. How shall we look at it with equanimous serenity and an ever-hoping heart? There is a way. Be penetrated and possessed with the great idea of the text: namely, that Christ, our greatest friend, is the absolute Prince of all coming ages.* The expression, "world to come," we shall not regard as referring to any particular planet, which may succeed this as the habitation of man; nor as referring to that *The apostle, in the text, resumes the subject he had been discussing in the preceding chapter, from the fourth verse to the end. The position he sought to maintain was, that Jesus was superior to angels. His argument in support of this point is drawn from the Old Testament, which his readers, being Jews, would regard as the highest and ultimate authority. He seems to derive four arguments from the scriptures, to show the superiority of Christ over angels. First, He is spoken of as THE Son of God. They are never spoken of as such (5,) Secondly, He is spoken of as worshipped by them (6 and 7.) Thirdly, He is spoken of as the immutable Creator and ruler of the universe (8-13.) In the text he introduces another argument, namely, that Christ is the sovereign of man's futurity, -angels are not. " "new character which this planet will assume, either during the millenial ages, or after the resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment; but as referring to futurity in its widest sense. The great idea which we feel warranted in raising from this passage is, that the immeasurable future, not only of humanity, with all its generations and concerns, but of the universe, too, with all its ever-multiplying existences, forces, events, worlds, and systems, are under the absolute rule of Christ—that "He is exalted far above all principalities, and powers, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that WHICH IS TO COME." What is to come? Who shall tell the future of the creation? Nay! narrow the question :-Who shall tell the future of this little earth? Though a mere blade on the continent, a sand on the shore, of being, it has a future which the highest seraph cannot estimate nor yet foresee. Who can tell the generations of men that will yet appear on its surface, breathe its air, plough its fields, navigate its oceans, and carry on its affairs? Who can tell the battles that are yet to be fought here, the empires that are yet to rise and fall like bubbles on the stream of its history? Narrow yet the question Who shall tell the future of one solitary man?—the thoughts and emotions that will rise in his ever-widening soul, the circumstances that will transpire in his life, the impressions that will be made on his being, as the ages of his interminable destiny flow on? But thank God! the future of the little and the great-of the individual and the race-of the earth, and the entire creation, is under the absolute direction and KINGSHIP OF CHRIST. What are the practical lessons and bearings of this glorious truth? I shall briefly state a few, and observe :— I. THAT IF CHRIST IS THE SOVEREIGN OF THE FUTURE, WE SHOULD HOLD STRONG FAITH IN THE UNIVERSAL TRIUMPHS OF HIS SYSTEM. The Bible abounds with promises that His truth shall triumph over every form of theoretical and |