Forgiveness of Sins and Salvation

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II. Let a curtain drop on this unreal scene. "There is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared." What proclamation can be louder? "To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against Him." Let His voice be heard--"I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against Me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against Me." (Jer. 33:8.) And again--"None of his sins that he has committed shall be mentioned unto him." (Ezek. 33:16.)

Our God is a God ready to pardon. He multiplies to pardon. Forgivenesses, in ever-flowing streams, roll down from the deep springs of His eternal love. His treasure-house is full of pardoning grace--the sinner, pleading the name of Christ, may enter in, and revel in the abundance of forgiveness. These mercies never fail--they never can be exhausted. They are large as Deity itself--they extend to every form and mode of iniquity. No mountain of transgression is so lofty that forgiveness cannot over-top it; no ocean of iniquity is so vast that forgiveness cannot exceed it. The heart of God, in Christ, ever beats with this forgiving love--His hands are ever open largely to dispense it. From everlasting His wisdom formed the scheme which gives free scope to this overflowing mercy.

Mighty hindrances opposed this grace. These obstacles have already had much thought; but Scripture teaches to add line upon line. Let summation then proceed. The majesty of the holy kingdom must be kept inviolate--it must be magnified, exalted, and raised very high. This result is gloriously secured. Sin is punished; wrath is inflicted; vengeance receives all dues. But the person of the sinner is exempt--a Surety, a Substitute is found. This Surety is strong, no almighty, to endure, and wholly qualified to represent. God's well-beloved Son--His Fellow by eternal generation, man's brother by the assumption of man's nature--undertakes to expiate--"He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins." In Him every hindrance is swept to immeasurable distance; in Him every plea for pardon is supplied. The contrite sinner may fly to the mercy-seat, and bewailing his iniquities, may plead, 'Jesus died for these transgressions.'

In the garden, on the cross, He presented Himself a full, and perfect, and sufficient atonement. In testimony that every debt is paid, He rises again, and shows Himself infallibly alive. To perfect salvation He enters as triumphant Conqueror into the courts of heaven, and sits as unceasing Intercessor on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Thus pardon may be humbly craved as a blessing purchased, earned, merited, deserved, decreed. Forgiveness thus implored knows no delay--it descends, filling the heart with joy and the lips with praise. A loving voice thrills through the soul--"Son, be of good cheer; your sins, which are many, are forgiven." "Go in peace. Your faith has saved you."


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Sweet is the result. The joy is so real, that even the reality of heaven can scarcely augment. Let the happy recipient be viewed. He tightly grasps forgiveness as his own--a deep conviction fills him that iniquity shall not be his ruin; that his many transgressions shall not sweep him to perdition; that no condemnation threatens him; that he stands before God spotless and clean, through the sprinkling blood, and bright and beauteous in the robe of undecaying righteousness. He realizes that--God is his reconciled Father; Jesus his complete Savior; the Holy Spirit his indwelling light, and guide, and consolation; heaven his promised abode; psalms of victory and songs of triumph his heritage forever.

Can a happier change be felt! Darkness is gone, and the true light shines; tumultuous passions calm into the reign of holy peace; tremblings have ceased; dread of God has fled. "The desert rejoices, and blossoms as the rose." "Instead of the thorn, comes up the fir tree; and instead of the brier, comes up the myrtle tree." "The ransomed of the Lord return and come to Zion, with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads--they obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing flee away."

Filial fear has banished slavish trembling. The pardoned believer realizes his adoption into the household of faith and family of God. He is no more afar off--his desolation as an outcast is exchanged for citizenship with heaven, and fellow-heirdom with all saints. He exclaims, "This God is my God forever and ever!" This God is my Father while eternity rolls on! "I love Him because He has so loved me." With every faculty of mind and body I will serve Him, and show forth His praise. I will shun, as a viper, departure from His ways; I will reject offence as a poisoned cup; I will watch my every thought, lest any root of bitterness should arise; I will guard the portal of my lips, lest any evil sound should issue forth; I will strive to walk even as Jesus walked, and to abound with fruits of righteousness to the praise and glory of His name. Thus he who lately trembled as a slave, warms into the loving child; and the criminal who sought concealment, now craves closer union. His ear is ever listening for directions; his lips continually cry, "Lord, what will You have me to do?" His loins are girt for daily service; his feet are shod with preparedness for work; his one pathway is sincere obedience.

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Thus the sense of forgiveness melts, and softens, and converts. The sweet captivity of love prevails. A reconciled Father is adored, whose guiding eye is always sought. Others may abstain from evil, through selfish fear. The disgrace, the reproach, the loss of fame and friends may deter; but the pardoned soul sees a loving Father in every command, and vile ingratitude in each transgression. He feels with David--"Against You, You only have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight." He reasons with holy Joseph--"How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" He realizes His amazing mercy, and love constrains him to make God's will his chief delight. He knows that grace purchased pardon for him; so he lives as one bought by a price, and bound to glorify God with his body, soul, and spirit, which are no more his own.

The truth is thus incontrovertible--that the full reception of the Gospel leads to filial fear of offending his Savior. He is the saintliest man who most entirely embraces the glad tidings of complete remission.

Hence the wisdom of constantly striving "to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." The continuous charm of life should be to gaze on Jesus, and to study the full achievements of His work; the daily position should be beside His cross. Increasing knowledge of the purpose, aim, end, fruits of His dying love, should be the mind's pursuit.

Thus assurance would flow like a river through the soul. The first voice from the cross should be ever resounding in enraptured ears--"Father, forgive them," bestow the mercy which this blood procures.

Blessed, indeed, are they who rejoice in evidence that their iniquities are forgiven and their sins covered. They go from grace to grace; they enter on paths of joyous service. Theirs is the fear that loves, and the love that fears.

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A MODEL FOR IMITATION

"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."--Ephesians 4:32

Divine forgiveness is here commended as a pattern. High and heavenly is the prescribed walk. Precepts from God admit no lower standard--His children must ever strive, the Spirit helping, to be holy, as He is holy; to seek perfection, as their Father is perfect; to purify themselves, even as Christ is pure. This molding in celestial likeness is mainly formed by study of the Word. The sacred truths, to which thoughts there are led, produce resemblance--this is a general position.

The present subject points to especial instance. The art of forgiving will be best learned by gazing on God, set forth in Scripture as the glorious Model. The students in this school will be conspicuous on the stage of life--forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven them. Let the example first be viewed--the duty will then take a clearer form.

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1. THE EXAMPLE. Grace has been seen as the deep SOURCE from which forgiveness springs; the cross has been uplifted as the procuring PRICE; representative atonement has shone forth as the central luminary of the Gospel-system--the surety-death has been exhibited as its axis of rotation. God, acting in the element of Christ crucified, acquits the sinner. His anger subsides; the torch of wrath is quenched; remission is won; pardon waves an olive-branch of peace. Thus God forgives, and stands forth as a Model for instruction.

(1) Is it asked, To WHAT does forgiveness deal such mercy? It is replied--To every form of evil; to sin in its every phase; to every violation of the law; to vile omissions and to worse commissions; to boundless provocations; to repeated insults; to irritating affronts. It forgets the ingratitude which repays kindness with ill-treatment; it remits the debt of ten thousand talents; it wipes out robbery, and sacrilege, and wrong. Hateful is this spectacle; but forgiveness overlooks the total mass.

(2) Is it further asked, On WHOM does forgiveness look with rescuing eye? The answer is--It smiles on creatures who have daringly defied the great Creator, and trampled on His gentle rule; on children requiting their parents' love with enmity, and wounding their breasts with shafts of hate; on subjects warring against their rightful King, and harboring foul plots of treason; on servants withholding obedience from their Master, and wasting goods entrusted to their care; on men striving to seat Satan on the throne of God. Such is a picture of graceless man. From these forgiveness takes the filthy garments, and in their place gives heavenly robes!

(3) The inquiry follows, What moves God thus to forgive? No inducement from the side of man appears; no streaming tears persuade; no penitence, no contrition, no shame, no confession of iniquity, no acknowledgment of guilt, no downcast heads, no stricken hearts, urge melting pleas; no promises of change besiege the mercy-seat; no vain excuses strive to avert just wrath. Why then should criminals be spared? It is a fruitless task to seek a cause from earth--there is no motive but the heart of God. Grace reigns. Grace forms the scheme in which forgiveness works. Through the atoning blood, through the obedience of the Son of God, a heaven-high fortress is erected, in which the sinner may find sheltering mercy--in this fabric every stone is laid by grace. Thus God freely pardons, moved by the impulse of His love. When man deserves all woe, pardons dispense all blessings. Such is heaven's example. It is as bright as the eternal day; it is perfect as its Author; it is glorious as God.

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II. THE DUTY. Those who rejoice in forgiveness are exhorted to emulate the grand Exemplar--"Forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you."

The precept thus to act assumes that opportunities will occur. The story of each day gives melancholy proofs. While Satan is at large, evil will not be dormant--at every turn its hateful image will be seen. The moral picture of this earth is sad. Love exerts not universal sway; kindness breathes not as an encircling element; tenderness flows not as a perennial stream; truth spreads not as pervading atmosphere--on the contrary--a swarm of provocations buzz with irritating sting.

Let direct acts of cruelty, injustice, wrong, not now be named--let the lesser excitements of the day be marked. A fly may tease, an insect may disturb--thus peace is ruffled without flagrant deeds. How often are pure motives mis-represented--the rightful fact distorted--calumnious reproaches circulated--disparaging reports diffused--unjust suspicions entertained--base charges whispered! Hearts are wounded by the poisoned shafts of slander; and fair fame blasted by whispered insinuation, or the untruth of suppressed reality. Thus the causes of vexation are a prolific brood--rare is the day which knows them not. Hence angry feelings will be prone to rise; indignation will chafe against restraints; fretfulness will suggest that to resent such treatment is alike befitting and praiseworthy.

Let not such feeling nestle in the mind--let it expire before it can gain birth. Resentment grows not in the Gospel-garden--it is a weed of heathen wilds. Reproach is not the language of the school of Christ. Evil must not meet evil, nor sin compete with sin--such conduct reflects not heaven's rays, nor shows the features of the great Exemplar. Such erring steps stray widely from the heavenly rule.

The unforgiving spirit may sometimes frame excuse. It may be said that provoking conduct has been cruel, undeserved, and often-repeated--that much pain has been inflicted, and much loss in fame and character and property sustained. Doubtless there is aggravating cause, or no vindictiveness would rise. Waters are calm when no wind blows; the viper stings not unless touched; if no fire burns, no smoke ascends; the engine moves not without steam.

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When the irritating cause is great, the door is widely open for Christian principle to stalk forth. Circumstances may render rebuke most easy; the offenders may be powerless to escape; the injured hands may hold the rod. These advantages give large opportunity for Godlike spirit to shine brightly--the Model shows all power forgiving utter weakness.

A secret thought will sometimes lurk, that such precept is beyond the power of man; that human shoulders are too weak to lift such loads. Doubtless unaided man is a frail reed. But why is he ever without aid? He who commands is ever near, and ever able to brace the nerves and to supply all strength. A child sinks not beneath a weight when the parent lends supporting arm; a weak man on a giant's back can do grand work; Moses called to face a mighty monarch, shrinks not when assured, "Certainly I will be with you." The hosts of Midian were mighty--how can Gideon repel them? He heard the word, "Go in this your might;" and again, "Surely I will be with you." The promise was sure. "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon" gained the victory.

The timid fleeing on the battlefield are often wounded in the back--the brave march on and tread down foes. Jonah seeks escape from duty, and meets the storm and prison in the sea. He, who obeys the call from heaven, finds to obey is strength. Is it not written, "He gives power to the faint, and to those who have no might He increases strength"? (Isaiah 40:29.) And again, "He that is feeble among them shall be as David, and the house of David shall be as God, and as the angel of the Lord before you." (Zech. 12:8.)

He spoke what he had found, who said, "I can do all things, through Christ who strengthens me." (Phil. 4:13.) They who strive to "forgive one another, as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven them," will find the mandate to be ability.

He understands machinery best who sees it in its work. Let instances then appear, in which grace helped believers to forgive. Are any smarting under cruel usage, worn down by savage and relentless hate?--Stephen's dying scene gives counsel. Could death be more unmerited and more inhuman? He stood the saintliest of the saints of that day; the Holy Spirit dwelt in him in abundant measure--it was his joy and constant work to preach Christ Jesus and to call sinners to the way of life. But malice thirsted for his blood. Amid the shower of crushing stones, reproach stains not his lips--there is no call for retribution to avenge his cause. "He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this he fell asleep." (Acts 7:60.) Grace triumphed over nature's impulse. God's precepts through God's help, can be obeyed. Sweet is the word, "Do not say, 'I'll pay you back for this wrong!' Wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you." (Prov. 20:22.)

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Paul brings corroborating proof. He stands accused at the imperial bar--he is denounced as seditious, and causing peril to the state. No friend appears to intercede in his behalf, to testify his innocence, to bear witness to his blameless course. As with his Lord, so it is now with him--all forsook him and fled. But his Lord's own Spirit strengthened him. Christlike, he gently writes, "At my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge." Strong was the provocation to complain and to resent; but he was enabled to imitate heaven's Model, and to forgive, as God, for Christ's sake, had forgiven him. Thus in the effort there will be success.

Let it be added that Christian profession implies a forgiving spirit. What is the heaven-taught prayer? What is the constant utterance in public, in the closet, on the knees?--"Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us." Is this reality, or mockery? Let not hypocrisy insult the mercy-seat--let not the plea be false on which forgiveness is implored; let not untruth arrest the wings of mercy. Here let it be noted that when the lesson of prayer is ended, forgiveness is the point to which our Lord reverts. Solemn are the concluding words, "If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Let not the warning be in vain.

The thought then is untenable, that to forgive is to surmount impossibilities. The apostles when exhorted to this grace, conscious of insufficient power, prayed, "Lord, increase our faith." (Luke 17:5.) Let help be similarly sought. The hand which held the sinking Peter is near to aid. Difficulties will vanish--duty will become delight. Smooth is the path in which feet often tread.

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Condemnation of an UNFORGIVING SPIRIT

""This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."--Matt. 18:35

The parable of a man, alike a debtor receiving mercy, and a creditor showing none, thus ends. The words impress the main lesson of the picture; they unveil its prominent feature; they exhibit the important point on which the eye should rest; they awaken the echo which should reverberate from the perusal.

The warning shows that unforgiveness from God is the doom of those who forgive not heartily, gladly, universally, unreservedly, every offending brother his every offence. To withhold forgiveness from offending man is proof that there is not forgiveness from the offended God. "Whatever measure you use in giving—large or small—it will be used to measure what is given back to you." Such is the inference. It is most distinct. May an expository review of the story instructively impress it.

At the entrance a caution may not be ill-timed. The parable teaches that the unforgiving shall not find forgiveness. Such is the appalling truth. But misapprehension must not here delude. It would be grievous error to infer that forgiveness on man's part constitutes in any sense the originating cause, and moving spring of divine pardon. God is not thus actuated. But still none have a saving interest in His absolving grace whose hearts are stern in unforgiving hardness.

Let discrimination analyze the case. The fountain of forgiveness of sin is grace--the purchasing price is the God-man's blood; the recipients are the children of eternal love--the flock given to Christ in counsels of eternal wisdom. They are loved, because God willed to love them. They are forgiven, because Christ's blood has paid the total of their debt. They have washed in the fountain opened for all sin and uncleanness, because the Spirit has made them willing in the day of His power. They have, also, forgiving hearts, because the same Spirit has softened, melted, hallowed them, and established His reign of gentleness and love.

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This forgiving spirit is sweet evidence that they are sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, who is the pledge of the heavenly inheritance. Without Him, there is no scriptural warrant for joying in the remission, which belongs only to the family of faith. He, who forgives not from his heart his brother all his trespasses, bears on his front those unrelenting features which exclude from fellowship with the forgiven.

These thoughts lead to the graphic lesson of the parable. Let advance be made with eyes fixed on the focus to which the rays tend, and only pausing to gather warrantable improvement from the embellishing circumstantials.

The scene thus opens (ver. 23)--"the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him." The reflecting mind instantly turns to our heavenly Father, arrayed in all power--the sovereign Ruler of the universe--who distributes to his servants their several talents, arranges their opportunities, and is about to institute the scrutiny of final reckoning. They are wise who walk and speak and live and work as they who know that they must be made manifest before the judgment-seat, and that everyone "must receive the things done in his body, according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad."

(Ver. 24.) "When he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought unto him who owed him ten thousand talents." Enormous is the amount. Astounding is the debt. It almost surpasses calculation. A terrifying thought arises--All men are debtors to God's justice, and who can reckon the inconceivable immensity of the obligation? Illustrations fail to span infinity--no words can paint a boundless magnitude. Count all the stars which sparkle on the breast of night--count all the sands which form the ocean's bed--count all the drops which constitute its billows--super-abounding sins exceed. Pile them, and the pyramid overtops the highest summit of the heavens. Let the ten thousand talents of transgression be estimated, and terror must petrify all hearts. Despair must sink into the lowest dust.

(Ver. 25.) "Since he had nothing to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made." The sinner's condition is utter insolvency. In himself his only property is sin. Darkness cannot create light; sin cannot cancel sin; debt cannot liquidate debt--therefore, if justice takes its course, irretrievable ruin must ensue. The sentence is just--"Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness."

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(Ver. 26.) "The servant therefore fell down and begged him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you all." In agony the debtor is prostrate on his knees. He urges no denial--he makes no excuse; he pleads no extenuating circumstances. His importuning language is confession. He prays for respite. Seemingly bereft of reason, he promises an impossibility--even full restitution. Let the sinner learn hence to sink into the depths of contrition, and to utter only cries for mercy; but let him shun the notion that he can make any repayment by his own efforts, and in his own person. Such error may not be inferred from this portion of the pictorial scene.

(Ver. 27.) "The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go." The narrative sweetly manifests pity, forgiveness, liberation. It is an exhibition of the Gospel of free grace. Our heavenly Father is rich in compassion--mercy is His precious attribute. It constitutes a grand portion of his essence--it reaches unto the heavens--it endures forever. It provides means in Jesus through which the chains fall from the sinner's hands, and the prison-cell is not his doom. An obliterating decree expunges the whole claim.

But the servant's enormous debt was brought clearly to his view, before he sought or could esteem remission. So by the Spirit's power the sinner must be taught to feel his hopeless, lost, and ruined state, before he will extend the hand of faith to grasp the free-grace pardon, or can value its full blessing.

The scene now frightfully changes. Surely the debtor thus graciously forgiven, will be melted into one flood of tenderness! Surely all his thoughts, and words, and acts will now flow in placid streams of gentleness!

It is far otherwise! The story thus proceeds (ver. 28)--"The same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, who owed him a hundred pence." He goes out--Happy are they who ever abide in closest fellowship with God! In keeping near is safety, happiness, and holy living--in the slightest departure is peril, temptation, downfall.

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This recipient of such goodness met a fellow-debtor who owed an hundred pence--an evanescent sum compared with his own debt just remitted--it scarcely amounted to a millionth part. Offences towards our fellow-men, though very grievous and most vile, have pigmy form beside our giant-sins against our God.

(Ver. 29.) "And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that you owe. And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay you all."

He hears the entreaty which he so recently had urged. He had prevailed. He is now supplicated by the like petition, and he miserably hardens. The heart of unrenewed man appears in odious colors--the nether millstone is of softer material.

(Ver. 30.) "And he would not, but went and cast him into prison until he should pay the debt." Unrelentingly he consigns his fellow-servant to the dungeon more justly merited by himself--he sternly inflicts the penalty so tenderly remitted to his prayer. Unmelted by a sense of his free and full pardon, he freezes into icy cruelty.

(Ver. 31.) "So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told their lord all that was done." Many eyes look watchfully around, and pitiless obduracy even here awakens indignation. Many Christian hearts, in meek complainings unto God, call down attention to surrounding misery, and pray Him to put forth His mighty hand to check all evil and redress all wrong.

Now the final scene is reached. (Ver. 32.) "Then his lord, after he had called him in, said unto him, O you wicked servant." For the first time reproof goes forth. "I forgave you all that debt because you begged me; should not you also have had compassion on your fellow-servant, even as I had pity on you?" If the mercies of redemption, and the tenderness of the God of all grace fail to produce meek, loving, gentle, forgiving temper, the evidence is clear and sad, that the Spirit who uses the Gospel as His conquering power is not present. In such case the unsubdued heart has not been allured into the arms of Jesus. To receive Him is to become partaker of His love--to abide in Him is to abide in heavenly-mindedness. The unmerciful are not fitting through grace for heaven, where the congenial song is praise for forgiveness without end. Is not the warning plain?--"He shall have judgment without mercy that has showed no mercy."

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(Ver. 34.) "And his lord was angry, and delivered him unto the tormentors until he should pay all that was due unto him."

Such is the dreadful conclusion. Let its solemn message sink deeply into pondering thoughts.

(Ver. 35.) "So likewise;" in like measure, and the measure is torment until all is paid, "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." Unrelentings will fall on the relentless--they who spared not will not be spared--there is no pity for the pitiless.

It should not be wholly omitted that one occurrence here has raised perplexity. An inference has been wrongly sought, exciting some clouds of doubt. It appears that the mercy granted to the unmerciful servant was subsequently revoked. It has hence been imagined that a sinner forgiven today may through aggravated sin, be subsequently condemned. It is sufficient to reply that such fears are wholly in opposition to the whole tenor of Gospel-teaching. When God forgives, He forgives wholly, and forever. "With Him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." "He hates divorce." "Repentance is hid from His eyes." Let it be added that this injurious inference is drawn not from the main lesson of the parable, but from its descriptive dress. The circumstantial drapery of a parable brings into clearer light a main lesson, but it never may be unfairly pressed to establish any doctrinal position.

Let none then cavil, but let all hold fast the rightful lesson. Let honest inquiry penetrate the heart, and see if any traces of enmity, malice, resentment, still linger. If so, let humble prayer ascend for increase of grace, that we may forgive the pounds due to us, and so may rejoice in evidence that God has forgiven our ten thousand talents. He may trust that God has forgiven him who feels that he can forgive all injuries. Mercy to others is reflection of mercy from above.

Here the thought can scarcely be repressed, How perfect is the Gospel-rule! If it had sway, the breast would resemble the ocean in repose--no storm would ruffle; no angry passion would disturb. Peace would walk hand in hand with joy, and every pulse be love. The promised scene would dawn--"Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them; and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God." (Rev. 21:3.)

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ETERNAL GLORY, the Ultimate Cause of Forgiveness

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."--Rev. 7:9-10

The worth of forgiveness will not be fully known until time swells into eternity. To enliven hope and to encourage, strengthen, and embolden faith, the Holy Spirit withdraws the veil, and presents a prospect of the endless raptures which will then become reality. To this scene revelation here invites. Let revering hearts now intermix, and reap some first-fruits of the harvest which forgiveness will then surely reap.

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I. THE TIME. When shall this bliss commence? It dawns when the endless age shall have arrived, and Jesus shall have "delivered up the kingdom to God the Father; when He shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power." (1 Cor. 15:24.) When the peaceful sway of the millennial prelude shall have brightened into fuller, richer perpetuity; when "the great white throne" shall be removed, because its work is finished; when death and hell, and whoever was not found written in the Lamb's book of life, are swallowed in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14), and the righteous shall have passed into life eternal. (Matt. 25:46.) This day is surely coming. Let us in spirit meet it, and ask, 'Will it find us in the rejoicing throng, whose sins are pardoned through the blood of Christ?'

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