they be glorified who behold his countenance.

We know not what we shall be, but this we know, that we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. I speak not of the physical beauty of that divine countenance that sits upon the mediatorial throne. I speak not of the halo of splendour, which, burnished in the light of heaven, glows around the majesty of the Redeemer. I speak of that purity, that heavenly love, of that holy joy, of that beaming peace, of that placid and enduring grandeur, belonging to the mind of the glorious Mediator. We shall

be like him, for we shall see him as he is. It is not those eyes, that shall reflect again the glowing benignity of his countenance; it is not those ears, that shall leap again at the hallowed melody of his praise; but it is this soul, it is this spirit ennobled and sanctified in the might of heaven, that shall behold him in beauty and dwell in his presence. Oh, how shall we describe what crown this is? No sorrow there, to cast a dim shade on any one of its bright gems; no grief to swell the bosom that is girded with the garment of righteousness; no tears to be wiped away; no sin to be felt, or to be confessed; no desire to be uttered, or to remain unindulged; nothing, no, nothing, to lessen the blessedness, to diminish the happiness, to interpose in any measure between the communion, of those blessed spirits.

This is the inheritance which is in reversion;

who gives it? who is the donor of this inheritance? "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give to me at that day." Oh, what confidence! How wonderful that any man should be able to speak thus! how mysterious the grace that reigns through righteousness unto eternal life! Look back a few years: go to the way that leads to Damascus; listen to the language that burst from the ruling spirit of that band; behold the countenance, which swelled with pride as he rode forth, the leader of his band, or was carried in the eastern style of magnificence and authority. Look to the countenance with which he spoke his swelling words of vanity and threatening, and talked of how he should bind his captives and his prisoners, and bring them into the dungeon or to the stake. A persecuter, a blasphemer, an injurious person, one that not only accused and solemnly maligned the best of men, and trampled under foot the tenderest sympathies of the human bosom; one that not only struggled for the ascendancy with men of a like genius, a like ardour, and sought to bring under dominion those that would have opposed him; but, with cruelty and with harshness, he haled men and women to the dungeon, and stopped his ears against the cries of female and infantile sorrow; look at him. It is not man that he hates, nor woman that he tramples under foot only; but it is the Lord of

glory; it is the Saviour of sinners; it is the dying Jesus; it is he whose side was opened to pour out a flood to take away your sins; it is he whose head was lacerated and mangled with thorns, that his soul, that his mind, might be oppressed with sorrows for you; it is he, now raised to glory, whom Saul thus persecuted and hated; and it is this Saul who now says, "Henceforth there is laid up for me-for me-a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give unto me at that day.”

Had it been the angel Gabriel, who stands continually before God, hearkening to the voice of his word, or flies swiftly to convey heaven's messages of goodness; had it been Aaron the saint of God, or Moses the meekest of all men; had it been Enoch that walked with God, or Job that waded through the deep waters of sorrow in patience and in prayer; had it been Jeremiah that wept his longings, or Daniel that counselled with his wisdom for the nation; it might have been unto him. But it was the chief of sinners; it was for a sinner who could of sinners "I am chief," that this crown of righteousness was laid up. Oh, surely it must be the Lord that will give such a crown! who else could give it? "My way is not as your ways" (he saith), "my thoughts are not as your thoughts; high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways, and my thoughts above your

say

thoughts." This is the language of Jehovah, when he has come to save the returning sinner; when he is inviting the wanderer home; when he is promising pardons like a God; when he is speaking peace to the rebel spirit, and by the peace that he speaks is subduing the mind unto himself.

Nor let it be forgotten, it is the Lord, the righteous Judge, who gives the crown, because it is he who prepares it; because the bestowing of it will glorify his name; because the wearing of it will be to the praise of the glory of his grace; because those who wear it will be led to make their acknowledgments to him, saying, "Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name be the praise." The Lord is the Righteous Judge. We have been engaged contemplating a solemn event "that day;" but on that day will the Lord give this crown; on that day will he bring it forth from the treasury of his love; on that day will he place the golden diadem upon the head of his chosen; on that day will he say, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindnesses have I drawn thee." Let us, then, give God the glory; it is the Lord's to bestow the crown; he will bestow it as a Judge, and he bestows it of his sovereign grace, but in connection with a perfect righteousness.

Oh, say some, who can expect to obtain such a prize? It might be, that the Apostle could thus

speak, because, although he had been a wicked sinner at first, he was afterwards a monument of grace; though he was a persecuter in early life, he reaped in his own soul a thousand times more suffering for his Lord, than was ever inflicted upon us; he was in stripes more abundant; he was in labours more frequent; who can tell the labour and the suffering of the Apostle, when he bore about in his body the marks of the dying of the Lord Jesus, and when he filled up in his body the sufferings of Christ for the Church? No wonder, in contrasting Paul with us, we may be ready to say, Paul might get that crown, but not I. In preaching the gospel from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum, he counted all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. He thought of nothing, but to finish his course as a faithful ambassador of Christ; he was a successful minister, and many souls were brought by him to God; he was a faithful apostle, and in consequence of his ministration, we, to this day, enjoy the benefits of divine instruction; Paul might hope for the crown, but not we.

Such may be the desponding utterance of some: what said Paul? "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his