^ Elsewhere this day is more specifically described as " That Day," as " the Last Day," as " the Day of God," and " the Day of the Lord," as " the Day of Christ," the " Day of Eedemption," and " the Day of Judgment." All these expressions are significant, and carry with them meaning of great moment and solemn instruction.
2. The Christian Church is appealed to as exercising a firm faith in the gradual consummation of the present dawn into perfect day. These words are a remembrancer ; reminding those early travellers of the great secret which they know, — the most
1 W. B. Pope.
ROMANS XIII. 12 391
precious secret time has to disclose, — that the Lord is at hand, bringing with Him all, and more than all, their hope can conceive. The return of our Saviour, — or, rather, His coming ; for that is the Scriptural word, as if His first appearance was but a transient visit — fills the entire New Testament with a glow that leaves no part dark, brightens into all but glory the dimness of the Church's present vexation, and already almost swallows up death in victory. To " know the time " is to know this its greatest secret. But the Apostle uses here an expression which occurs nowhere else ; one which, without overstraining it, yields a very important truth. The coming of Christ will be to His Church — to His mystical, spiritual people — the regular and peaceful consummation of a day already begun ; the same light and no other, but raised into meridian glory. To the ungodly world a catastrophe, and to slumbering Christians a sore amazement, it will be to those who wait for His appearing what day is to the earthly traveller who waits for the morning. The elements of heaven are here; the dawn is the earnest as well as the pledge of the day ; and all that wOl be needful for the redeeming of every pledge the Scriptures contain is the withdrawal of the veil, the appearing of the Sun in the heavens, the showing Himself once more to His people. One of the most impressive, and also the most common, notes of the Christian community is this, that they "wait for his Son from heaven."
Through love to light! Oh, wonderful the way That leads from darkness to the perfect day ! From darkness and from sorrow of the night To morning that comes singing o'er the sea. Through love to light! through light, 0 God, to Thee, Who art the love of love, the eternal light of light I ^
II.
Pkeparation for the Day.
" Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put
on the armour of light."
1. The Apostle uses the expectation of Christ's coming as an argument for wakefulness and watchfulness. "It is high time
* Richard Watson Gilder.
392 READY FOR THE DAWNING
to awake out of sleep." "They that sleep, sleep in the night," but " the night is far spent, the day is at hand." Awake then ye slumbering and torpid souls ; up and be doing ! It is not the sinner only that needs thus to be aroused, but the saint also. The Christian ought to be characterized by liveliness, but he is very apt to let torpor get the better of him. He ought not to sleep as do others, but to watch and be sober, giving all diligence to make his calling and election sure.
^ It is marvellous to consider the unanimity of mankind, outside Christianity altogether, in believing that they are, within limits, responsible beings, and that the results of life will follow them beyond the grave. Even many backward and savage races believe that the Being they worship is also a Moral Governor, and will, at the last, be their Judge. The ancient Egyptian thought that, after death, the soul was weighed in the balance, in the presence of the gods, against the image of the goddess of truth. Therefore, the religious texts were full of such sentences as, " Mind thee of the day when thou, too, shalt start for the land where one goeth to return not thence. Good for thee will have been a good life. Therefore, be just, and hate iniquity ; for he who loves what is right shall triumph." ^
2. Because the night is far spent and the day is at hand, we are bidden to cast off the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light. The exhortation, though in two parts, is one and the same. The Apostle gives both its negative and its positive side. The two acts are simultaneous, the one cannot effectually take place without the other; there is no casting off the works of darkness without putting on the armour of light, or putting on the armour of light without casting off the works of darkness. Satan is effectually cast out, and kept out, only by Christ entering in and occupying the heart. Sanctification is a positive as well as a negative process. It is at once the mortifica- tion of sin and the cultivation of holiness.
i. The Works of Darkness.
1. What are the " works of darkness " ? Evidently such works as men commonly choose to do in darkness, i.e. wicked works. For as our Lord says in another place, "Every one that doeth