August 26

lation of Jesus Christ." He will then appear the second time without sin unto salvation. He will come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him. We shall see him as he is. He will be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe. Then his grandeur will be acknowledged. Then his love, power, patience, and truth; his character as a Saviour; his tenderness as a friend; his dominion as Lord of all will be developed; and he will enter, accompanied by a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, a world where he will attract every eye, and engage every tongue; and saints and angels will unite with a loud voice, "worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing."

But what is to be expected at the revelation of Jesus Christ? "THE GRACE THAT IS TO BE BROUGHT UNTO YOU."

AUGUST 26.—"THE GRACE THAT IS TO BE BROUGHT UNTO YOU at the revelation of Jesus Christ."—1 Peter 1. 13.

Two inquiries may here arise.

What does "the grace" here spoken of mean? It comprehends the fulness of the promise, "I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also"—His changing their vile bodies, and fashioning them like unto his own glorious body—His absolving and acknowledging them before an assembled world—His commendation; "Well done thou good and faithful servant"—His invitation; "Come ye blessed of my Father"—His placing them in a state of blessedness, which far transcends all our powers of expression and conception. After all our knowledge derived from Scripture and experience, it doth not yet appear what we shall be—"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the hearts of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." It is a glory which shall be revealed.

But why is it called grace? Why is it not said "The glory that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ?" May it not be—first to exclude merit from all share in attaining it? There is only one Being who reigns in heaven by his own right. Jesus deserved his throne, and could claim it on the ground of worthiness. But we are not worthy of the least of all God's mercies. How then could we claim an immensity, an eternity of riches and honour? If we look for a reward, it must be a reward of grace. Our work bears no proportion to the recompense. If our obedience was perfect, it could not be meritorious, because it is due to God: but our services are really full of defects and defilement, and therefore if they were dealt with according to their desert, they would be rejected. To which we may add, that all our good works are performed in the strength of the Lord: we live and walk in the Spirit. Every one therefore that knows himself, will say with the Apostle, "By the grace of God I am what I am: not I, but the grace of God which was with me." And we are sure the top stone of the spiritual temple will be brought forth "with shoutings, crying, grace, grace unto it."

And secondly, may it not be so called to show the identity of

grace with glory? They are not only so intimately and inseparably connected, but so greatly resemble each other, and are so essentially the same, that the one is interchangeably used for the other in the Scripture. Thus Paul calls glory grace, when he says, "We are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord;" meaning advancement from one degree of glory to another; or as it is elsewhere expressed, being "renewed day by day," or going "from strength to strength" in the divine life. And here Peter names glory grace. In fact, grace is glory in the bud, and glory is grace in the flower. Grace is glory in the dawn, and glory is grace in the day. But the morning and noon are produced by the same sun: and the bud and flower issue from the same plant.

Let us remember this—That glory is nothing but the completion of what grace begins. It is the perfection of those principles, dispositions, services, and enjoyments by which Christians are distinguished even in this world. Have we anything of heaven in us already? It will be a state of sinless purity—Do we delight in holiness now? It will consist in the society of the godly—are they our dearest companions now? Death changes our place, but not our state, not our nature. The change to a Christian, is a change not in quality, but degree. He has the foretastes of the bliss; the firstfruits of the harvest; the earnest of the inheritance—"He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who hath also given to us the earnest of the Spirit."

What then is our duty in the prospect of the event? For the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, "GIRD UP THE LOINS OF YOUR MIND, BE SOBER, AND HOPE TO THE END."

AUGUST 27.—"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."—1 Peter 1:13.

Our duty with regard to this event is expressed three ways. First, confirmation of principles—"Gird up the loins of your mind." The loins are the seat of physical strength. It is said of Behemoth, "his strength is in his loins." If the loins of a man yield, his body soon fails. When therefore he is weary, nature instinctively teaches him to put his hands on his loins, as if to support them. And hence the bandage or girdle worn about the loins by those who would prepare for strenuous exertion of any kind. In reference to which says another Apostle, "Let your loins be girt about with truth." It is not necessary that a man should make up his mind firmly upon every inferior opinion; but if he be loose in his leading principles in religion he will never excel. There may be a foundation without a superstructure; but there can be no solid and safe superstructure without a foundation. Wherein does the profiting of those appear who think it is a matter of little importance what a man believes? And how do we read the Scriptures? "Buy the truth and sell it not." "Exhorting them to continue in the faith." "Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines, for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace."