365 SERMON XIX. THE HOPE OF GLORY. (Preached at the conclusion of the year 1828.) COLOSSIANS i. 27. "Christ in you-the hope of glory." I DESIRE, my dear brethren, to be thankful, that I have an opportunity of speaking to you, at the conclusion of another year of your pilgrimage, concerning the unsearchable riches of Christ; the boundless grace of Him who is the Alpha and Omega; the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End; who is without beginning of days or end of life; the same yesterday, to day, and for ever. With whom should we begin our years, with whom should we pass every moment of them, with whom should we bring them to an end, but with Thee, in whom we live, move, and have our being; and whose years, though the heavens shall pass away, and the earth be no more, shall never fail! To most of you, I hope, my dear hearers, this inexpressibly gracious Saviour is more or less known. May God grant that, though by the few remarks which may follow, you may receive no new apprehensions of His glory, the knowledge you have of Him may at least be confirmed; and his name become more precious in your esteem! I. The first thing which our text calls me to notice, is that name which is above every name, the only name given among men, by which they must be saved; the sacred name of Christ. On the mention of this name, associated as it is with every thing that is endearing, with everything that is important, with every thing that is glorious,-what a multitude of reflections irresistibly rush upon the mind! At the name of Jesus meeting our ears, we are carried back into the ages of eternity; and led to the recollection of those soul-reviving truths,-that in Him, God had a purpose of grace towards us before the world began: that in Him, God loved us with an everlasting love; and in Him, When we established with us an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure. speak of Christ, we speak of One who, for us, left all the glories and all the happiness of heaven; and submitted to every thing that was ignominious and disgraceful in human estimation, and to every thing that was painful in suffering, in order that He might raise us from the awful condition of servants to sin and Satan, to the high and peculiar dignity and privilege of the children of God. In Christ, we, as believers in Him, see, through His most precious bloodshedding, a satisfaction for all our sins; a righteousness which can never be disputed; a perfection which can never be sullied. We see One, in whom it hath pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell; One, in whom there is a fulness that filleth all in all. We see, indeed, in Christ, One qualified by the Holy and Eternal Spirit, in every way, for the accomplishment of a reconciliation between God and man, and for the obtaining for the very chief of sinners, every thing to bless in time, and every thing to glorify throughout eternity. Oh! Christians, when I point to Jesus, who, for you, quitted the realms of glory; for you became the scorn of men, and the outcast of the people; for you died; and by rising from the dead, overcame death for you, and vanquished the power of the grave; in whom, through His meritorious ascension, you are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, and in heavenly things; and through whose all-prevailing intercession at the right hand of the Majesty on high, you have access with confidence by one Spirit unto the Father," I know I am touching a chord that vibrates within you. I know your renewed souls thrill with joy, and gratitude, and love. I know that there is something within, which responds to the sound, and leaps at the name of Jesus."* Let me most affectionately remind you, that whatever enjoyment you may, at any time, have had, in any direct blessings, either of a personal or relative nature, in Him you may trace the great source and spring of all. Whatever may have been your sufferings, difficulties, trials, or perplexities, through which you have been called to pass, in Him you may see them all sanctified, all working together * Jackson. for your good, all sent with a gracious design of making you partakers of His own holiness, and all engaged in working out for you a far more exceeding, even an eternal weight of glory. It is the peculiar privilege of a Christian, as well in his sufferings, as in his rejoicings, through his interest in Him, in and with whom he has all things, to discover favours and blessings, where others can discover none. If the Lord wound, it is only that He may heal: if He kill, it is only that He may make alive: if He cast down, it is only that He may raise up: if He disturb our feelings, if He disappoint our expectations, if He bring a cloud over our prospects, it is only that He may increase our joy, when He gives us the desire of our hearts. Would, my beloved brethren, that such were my own lively apprehensions of all the past mercies of the Saviour to me, His most sinful creature, that I could, with more of the spirit and soul of the Psalmist, call upon you in his words:"Oh! praise the Lord with me, and let us magnify His name together!" Be it ours, however, as long as we are spared to contemplate what the Lord of glory has |