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Here the saint is in no strait. If the enemies of religion threaten, "Behold," says he, "I am ready, not to be bound only, but also to die for the name of the Lord Jesus!" He even rejoices that he is counted worthy to suffer shame for his sake, and exults under the persecutions of a Nero, in the consideration that "he is ready to be offered, and that the time of his departure is at hand." "Having fought a good fight, finished his course and kept the faith, there is laid up for him a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give him at that day.”

From the above sources, if from any, the desire of death may be lawfully indulged. But, to close the subject with a few cautionary hints, I would observe, that a cheerful resignation to the will of God, in all cases, is a clear and constantly binding duty; the desire of death, extraordinary and peculiar. A preference of heavenly and eternal things to those that are earthly and temporal, is likewise a constant and peremptory duty; but the time to be put in complete enjoyment, ought to rest with the Divine Disposer of our persons and our lives. All discontent and impatience under the dispensations of Providence, ought carefully to be avoided. In all cases, a fortitude of mind should be earnestly implored and unceasingly cultivated, to endure the whole will of God, to whose service we profess ourselves devoted, having our minds in unison with the apostle who labored, that whether absent or present, he might be accepted of God.

REMARKS ON 1 COR. xv. 24, 25, 28.

Extracted from the late Dr. Erskine's Sermons.

"CHRIST'S power over all flesh shall appear in ruling his church in heaven, and imparting to them the blessings of his glory. "He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." It seems absurd to suppose that he, who is emphatically termed the Prince of Peace, shall enjoy his power only while wars and oppositions remain; and shall be divested of it when enemies are conquered, and peace established by their destruction. No; he shall for ever continue the king of his church, the channel through which all our bliss is conveyed, the bond of their union with God, the medium of their access to him: the spring and security of all the happiness of saints in heaven, is shortly this: "The Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and lead them unto living fountains of waters."* Every enjoyment will be enhanced to them, and doubly relished, when received from the hands which, for their redemption, were nailed to the accursed tree. Scarcely could Christ be said to give eternal life to as many as were given him by the Father, if he only bestowed on them. the first fruits of that life, not the full harvest. Imagine not that when Christ conducted you to the palace of the Father, his relation to you as a Mediator, and his acts of kindness to you, in consequence of that relation, No! he ever liveth to make intercession for us! His throne is for ever and ever; and it is the ever

cease.

* Revelation vii. 17.

lasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, into which an entrance shall be ministered abundantly. Christ is called our life;* which, as is evident from the context, must mean, That as he now imparts to us the blessings of his grace, so, hereafter, he will impart the blessings of glory. When the marriage of the Lamb is come, the church will not receive less from her heavenly Husband than when she was only espoused to him; and when the redeemed shall reign for ever and ever, surely the Redeemer shall not cease to reign! "I know that many learned and pious divines have taught a different doctrine, and argued speciously in support of it, from 1 Cor. xv. 24, 25, 28. But in matters of faith, calling no man Father, we ought to bring every opinion to the touchstone of the sacred oracles; and to explain what is more dark and obscure in a way consistent with what is more clear and explicit. Christ shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; but as the Father did not cease to reign when all power was given to Christ in heaven and in earth, so neither shall the Son cease to reign when he delivers up the kingdom to the Father; as the Father's reign shall not then begin, so the Son's reign shall not then terminate. The kingdom, therefore in this passage, means The subjects of the kingdom. Christ having completed the salvation of every one of them, shall present them all to the Father, saying, "Behold I and the children which God hath given me." He shall give an account of what he did on earth, in consequence of the trust committed to him; and shall claim, that the purchase of his

*Colossians iii. 3.

blood and the conquests of his grace, may inherit the kingdom to which they are thus entitled, and for which they have been thus prepared.

"The King of Zion must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet; but to infer from this, that he must reign no longer, is as absurd as it would be to infer from Michal, the daughter of Saul, having no child unto the day of her death,* that after her death she had a child! David says, "The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." Lest this should lead to false notions of the duration of Christ's kingdom, we are told "He for ever sat down on the right hand of God."+

"We are informed, that "when all things shall be subject to him, then shall the Son also himself be subject to him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." But this neither proves that Christ's power over all flesh ends, or that his subjection to the Father commences with the general resurrection. Both in the purchase and application of salvation, Christ always acted as the Father's righteous servant; and in the Scripture, things are often said to happen when they are known and made manifest. We have three instances of this in one chapter: "Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar;" i. e. Let God be acknowledged true, and every man accounted a liar who arraigns the Divine faithfulness: "What things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God;" i. c. May appear to be guilty, may have their guilt manifested: "That God might be just;" i. e. Romans iii. 4, 19, 26.

* 2 Samuel vi. 23. VOL.III.

† Hebrews x. 12. 25

That he might appear to be just. Let me apply these observations to the present subject. The apostle to the Hebrews having told us, that "God hath put all things under Christ's feet, yea, left nothing that is not put under him,"* immediately adds, "But now we see not yet all things put under him:" in like manner, if we know the Mediator's subjection to the Father, it is now by faith, not by sight; but, after the resurrection, when Christ shall give an account of all he hath done for the salvation of those given him by the Father, that subjection shall be more fully manifested to the whole rational creation. Thus the spirits of the prophets are said to be subject to those other prophets who judge what they have spoken. Indeed, the Son, as Head of the redeemed, shall, through all eternity, acknowledge that, in the glorious scheme of man's redemption, all things are of God; and shall lead the worshippers of the higher house, in their expressions of reverence, love, and subjection, to his Father and their Father, his God and their God! Thus there is nothing in this passage inconsistent with the clear declarations in other passages of Scrip ture, that Christ's mediatorial relation to his people shall continue for ever; and that he shall eternally exert his power, in consequence of these relations, for their benefit; and if this is indeed one branch of the Redeemer's revealed glory, doubtless, it concerns us to ascribe it to him."

* Hebrews ii. S. † 1 Corinthians xiv. 32, compared with ver. 29

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