in all them that believe." 2 Thess. i. 7-10. "Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.". Rev. i. 7. "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." 2 Peter iii. 10.

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This coming of Christ, which is disregarded by many, for the reason assigned by St. Peter, 2 Peter iii. 9, 10, is so fully expected by those who live under the dispensation of the Spirit, that they are constantly "looking for, and hastening to, the coming of the day of God." 2 Peter iii. 12. According to St. Paul, sinners are converted from the error of their ways, that they may the living and true God, and wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead;" 1 Thessalonians i. 9, 10; “looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Titus ii. 13. This second coming of Christ was the object of this apostle's highest hopes, after which he represents himself as "groaning" with the most fervent desire. Rom. viii. 23. "Yea, I count all things but loss, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection. Our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things. unto himself." Philippians iii. 8, 10, 20, 21.

As God had afforded believers under the cld testament a perspective view both of the manifestation of the Redeemer in a mortal body, and of that dispensation of the Spirit which he was to open among his followers under the new testament, so he had likewise foretold by his prophets the glorious return of that Saviour to the earth. "The Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment." Jude 14, 15. "Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap." Mal. iii. 1, 2.

Mark the terms in which our Lord himself declares

this sublime dispensation : "The love of many shall wax cold. False prophets shall arise; and ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, stand in the holy place. Immediately after the tribulation of those days the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. But of that day and hour knoweth no man. Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." Matt. xxiv. Thus Jesus himself testified of his second coming; and his first disciples, in conformity to their Master's declaration, addressed a large assembly in the following terms, almost immediately after his ascension:-" Repent ye, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus, which before was preached unto you; whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." Acts iii. 19-21.

So long as a minister embraces these different promises; so long as, with a lively faith which is "the evidence of things not seen," he believes, that the Father sent his Son for the redemption of sinners, and his Holy Spirit for the sanctification of believers; so long as, with a faith which is "the substance of things hoped for," he believes, that Christ shall one day return for the glorification of his saints; so long he is saved by that faith and hope which enable him to preach the gospel in all its wondrous extent. So long he not only comprehends, but experiences, the power of that gospel in his own soul, while he labours to make it manifest before the world by his public discourses, and by the whole tenor of his conduct.

THE TRUE MINISTER STUDIES THE DIFFERENT DISPENSATIONS, IN ORDER TO QUALIFY HIMSELF FOR THE DISCHARGE OF EVERY PART OF HIS DUTY.

THE pastor who is ill-instructed in the mysteries of our holy religion loses himself, and leads his sheep astray. The good pastor, on the contrary, having found out the way to everlasting life, presses forward therein at the head of his flock, and exhorts every heedless wanderer to follow his steps. He is conscious, not only that he has a mixture of sheep and goats in his fold, but he knows, that, among the former, there are some to whose spiritual condition the sincere milk of the word is much better adapted than stronger food. To all of these he studies to address himself in a suitable manner. To those who are dead in trespasses and sin, equally destitute both of love and fear, he proclaims the first principles of the gospel; such as "repentance from dead works, faith toward God, and an eternal judgment." Heb. vi. 1, 2. Those who are already awakened from the delusions of sin, he anxiously leads into the paths of grace, and endeavours to conduct those to evangelical perfection who have felt the “ powers of the world to come." Heb. vi. 5. He easily distinguishes the mixed multitude of his hearers into a variety of classes. The unbelieving and impenitent, who are to be considered as "without God and without hope in the world," are such as go on without any symptom of fear toward the gulf of perdition; whether it be by the high road of vice with the notoriously abandoned, or through the by-path of hypocrisy with pharisaical professors. Converted sinners or believers are either under the dispensation of the Father, under that of the Son, or under that of the Holy Ghost, according to the different progress they have made in spiritual things; and the faithful pastor is as perfectly acquainted with their various attainments, as a diligent tutor is acquainted with the different abilities of his several pupils.

Believers, under the dispensation of the Father, are ordinarily surrounded with a night of uncertainty and doubt, though visited at times with a few scattered rays

of hope. Under the dispensation of the Son, the doubts of believers are dissipated like those of the two disciples who journeyed to Emmaus, while they discover more clearly, and experience more powerfully, the truths of the gospel. But, under the dispensation of the Spirit, they "walk in the light;" 1 John i. 7; and are led “into all truth by the Spirit of truth;" John xvi. 13; "the anointing which they have received abideth in them, and teacheth them of all things" necessary to salvation. 1 John ii. 27.

A father of the church, paraphrasing upon those words of the apostle, "Lord, save us, we perish," apostrophises thus with the doubting disciples: "You have your Saviour with you, what danger can you fear? We are yet, they reply, but children, and have attained but to a small degree of strength; hence we are afraid. The descent of the Holy Spirit, that divine protector, which has been graciously promised, has not yet filled us with full assurance. This has been the cause of our unsteadiness hitherto; and hence the Saviour so frequently reproaches us with the weakness of our faith." Origen. Hom. Matt. viii. 23, 28. Now, all those Christians who have not yet received the spiritual baptism so frequently mentioned in the new testament are shut up in this state of weakness and doubt. But no sooner are they born of the Spirit, than ceasing to cry out, with trembling fear, "Save us; we perish!" they cry out in transports of gratitude, "God, according to his mercy, hath saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he hath shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour." Titus iii. 5, 6.

Under the dispensation of the Father, believers constantly experience the fear of God, and, in general, a much greater degree of fear than love. Under the economy of the Son, love begins to gain the ascendancy over fear. But under the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, "perfect love casteth out fear;" 1 John iv. 18; because it is the peculiar office of the Comforter to deliver the soul from every thing that is liable to distress and torment it.

Under the economy of the Father, the believer is fre quently heard to exclaim, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Rom. vii. 24. Under that of the Son, he gratefully cries out, "I thank God," who hath effectually wrought this deliverance, "through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. vii. 25. But under the perfect gospel, which is the dispensation of the Spirit, all believers are enabled to say with one voice, "We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but we have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father! The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God, and joint heirs with Christ." Rom. viii. 15—17.

St. Paul thus distinguishes the different states of advancement in the Christian faith. "The heir, as long as he is a child," and such is the case with believers, under the dispensation of the Father, "differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of his father. Even so we were" once "in" a state of "bondage; but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ;" Gal. iv. 1-7; "by whom we have access into this grace, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Rom. v. 2.

Our Lord himself evidently pointed out the progressive state of the church, when, turning to his disciples, "he said, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see; for I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." Luke x. 23, 24. Nevertheless, when their gracious Master held this language, he was at that time neither glorified nor crucified; and it is well known, that the great glory of the gospel was to follow his sufferings and his triumph.