"It is not for private men to order the periods, or stints, or revolutions of times, wherein businesses are to be tried; but public authority constitutes that, and every man must wait for the appointed time; so the Church must not set God the times, when it would be heard or eased, but must trust his wisdom and power; for there is a set time, wherein he will have mercy upon Sion."- Bp. Reynolds, Psalm cx.

"I am fully persuaded, and make a free confession of this as of a necessary and infallible truth, that Christ, by the preaching of the Apostles, did gather unto himself a Church, consisting of thousands of believing persons, and numerous congregations, to which he daily added such as should be saved, and will successively and daily add unto the same unto the end of the world; so that by the virtue of his all-sufficient promise, I am assured that there was, hath been hitherto, and now is, and hereafter shall be, so long as the sun and moon endure, a Church of Christ one and the same. This Church, I believe in general holy in respect of the Author, and institution, and administration of it; particularly in the members here I acknowledge it really, and in the same hereafter perfectly, holy. I look upon this Church, not like that of the Jews, limited to one people, confined to one nation, but by the appointment and command of Christ, and by the efficacy of his assisting power, to be disseminated through all nations, to be extended to all places, to be propagated to all ages, to contain in it all truths necessary to be known, to exact absolute obedience from all men to the commands of Christ, and to furnish us with all graces necessary to make our persons acceptable and our actions well-pleasing in the sight of God. And thus I believe the Holy Catholic Church.”—Pearson on the Creed, Art. IX.

Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori!

MATT. xxiv. 14.

"And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations: and then shall the end come."

THE passage with which the text stands in connexion is in every way awfully striking. The immediate reference is to the destruction of Jerusalem. But, if we may be allowed so to speak, an under-current of prophecy flows along with it, and what, in the first instance, appertained to the "city of the great King," and to the unparalleled miseries which awaited her ruin, has reference yet again to time swallowed up of eternity, and to the judgment which is to come. In the words of the angel in the Revelation, "Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings '." And so, although Jerusalem was taken and destroyed by Titus nearly eighteen hundred years agone', yet, when we read

1

1 Rev. x. 11.

2

A.D. 70.

this passage, a voice from behind seems to say, "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come 3." The burden of it is still the same, "Prepare to meet thy God." And this the wise will understand, and each one severally for himself, will declare with much meekness and lowliness of heart, "I will thank the Lord for giving me warning "."

6

Under these circumstances, having received the atonement, being numbered with those redeemed by the most precious blood of Christ, and being guided by the Spirit of truth unto that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord,-we may rest in hope, and run with patience the race which is set before us. For if "the living know that they shall die "," the same Scriptures assure them that those who die in the Lord only fall on sleep, that they may awake up in glory. And when the summons cometh, "Behold the days approach that thou must die"," the faithful servant of his God, though he be some time afraid, will "lay him down in peace, and take his rest, for it is thou, Lord, only, that makest him dwell in safety 8." Yea, with the aged Simeon, he will rejoice for the consolation, saying, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peo

3 Matt. xxiv. 42.

5 Ps. xvi. 8.

7 Deut. xxxi. 14.

• Amos iv. 12.

6

Eccles. ix. 5.

6 Ps. iv. 9.

ple: a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel "."

But this it is enough to know, and to be assured

Enough it is to have

"This Gospel of the

of the salvation of our God. this present help in trouble. kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations." Beyond, we shall be wise if we abstain to ask. Wherever the sound shall reach,—wherever the glad tidings shall go forth,-to the people that shall hear of Christ, east or west, north or south,-unto them shall the Gospel of the kingdom be a witness, for good or ill, for weal or woe, as their conscience shall make answer to opportunities of saving knowledge lost and thrown away, or acceptably received. "And then shall the end come;" that is, in God's own good time it will draw nigh, that second Advent, that last day will break forth, when Jesus Christ, that came to visit us once in great humility, will "come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and dead'." In other words, "The Gospel, whereby the kingdom of Christ is both gathered and erected and governed, shall before my last coming, and the end of the world, be preached to all the nations of the habitable world; so as they shall have no excuse for their ignorance, but shall be fully convinced of the truth thereof 2" To the disbelievers and the unwise it

9 Luke ii. 29-32. 1 First Sunday in Advent. Collect. 2 Bishop Hall's Paraphrase.

will be "a savour of death unto death;" whereas to the wise and believing, "a savour of life unto life 3."

Do we, however, find, Christian brethren, that the world in general is contented to abide God's own good time, that it is willing to wait, and to be still, to cast off restlessness, and quietly to anticipate unfulfilled promises? Does it so, faithfully acknowledging God to be true, his word to be "Yea and Amen?"

Such a state of things it can hardly be said that we may lift up our eyes and see. Few, comparatively, walk by faith, many by sight. That which they see not, they are unable to realize. And so, the world is but too apt to fix times and seasons for itself, and although the kingdom of God cometh not with observation, to act as though it did; to look to an arm of strength for aid, when "the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength 5." It imagines that more can be done than God seemeth it Him right to do at once. It lays not the blame on its own inefficiency, or precipitate haste, or want of counsel, order, regularity. It wonders because, ere this, the earth is not filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. The Lord, though his right hand have the pre-eminence, they seem to think, is slow to work his purpose. Though a faithful witness in heaven, his

2 Cor. ii. 16.

Take the word aparηphσews in either of its senses. Luke xvii. 21. Isa. xxvi. 4.