of their wound"." At present, our views of Christ are obscure: we see him only as a shadow, or, at the best, only "as in a glass darkly :" but then " we shall see him eye to eye," and, as it were, face to face0. The grace also that shall accompany this knowledge will be proportionably enlarged. Exceeding beautiful is the description which the Prophet Joel gives us of the state of things in that day: " It shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters ; and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittimp," a place proverbially dry and barren. In fact, so universal and abun- dant will be the prevalence of real piety, that it will seem as if all the saints that have ever died had risen again, and Christ himself were dwelling and reigning in the midst of themq.]
Above all, it will be a season when God will ma- nifest himself on earth, almost as he does in heaven itself —
[Some think that Christ will personally reign on earth, during the whole Millennium. But, without acceding to that opinion, I think it clear that he will manifest himself on some special occasions, as once he did upon Mount Tabor in his transfiguration : and so bright will be his glory, that the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously1"." In fact, the city in which we shall dwell will have no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it : for the glory of God will lighten it, and the Lamb will be the light thereof s." See the exultations of the saints
in that day, as expressed in the prophetic writings*
See them, also, as declared in the book of Revelation, where they refer expressly to the period when " the saints shall reign on the earth u:" and, methinks, you will say that that season will be to every living man an earnest and a foretaste of heaven itself.]
Let me then entreat you, Brethren,
1. To seek the establishment of Christ's kingdom in your own souls —
[If He is to reign over all at the period referred to, should not his kingdom be established in our hearts ? O, let him not find a rival there ! Let every thing that exalts itself
n Isai. xxx. 26. ° Isai. lii. 8. p Joel iii. 18.
i Rev. xx. 0. and xxi. 2 — 4. r Isai. xxiv. 23.
s See Rev. xxi. 22 — 26. l Ps. xcviii. 1 — 9. and Isai. xii. 3 — 6. u Rev. v. 9, 10.