these truths they hope to turn men from the guilt and domi- nion of sin, to peace with God, and universal holiness. Obsti- nate unbelievers will deride this attempt as visionary : but the minister of God can point to his converts as living witnesses for God, and as monuments of the saving efficacy of his Gospel ; and in this view they give him a ground of joy and exultation far beyond all that the whole world besides could afford. Hence " he glories in them in the Churches," as God himself also does, seeing that " they are to him for a name and for a praise and for a glory" throughout the whole earth.]
2. As trophies of the Redeemer's grace —
[There is not one of them who was not once a bond-slave of Satan, " the god of this world, who ruleth in all the chil- dren of disobedience." But secure as they once seemed to be in the hands of " the strong man armed, the stronger Poten- tate, even Jesus, has rescued them" from his dominion, and "brought them into the glorious liberty of the children of God." Jesus, when he yet hanged upon the cross, triumphed over the principalities and powers of hell, and " by death overcame him that had the power of death ;" but in his resur- rection and ascension he triumphed yet more, " leading cap- tivity itself captive." But it is in the preaching of his word that all this is made to appear. By that men are " turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God." Not that he drags them like captives at his chariot- wheels, but rather takes them up with him into " his chariot, wherein he goes forth conquering and to conquer." How Jesus exults in them in this view may be judged from that expression of the prophet ; " Ye are a crown of glory and a royal diadem in the hands of your Goda." No wonder there- fore that the soldiers of Christ, through whose instrumentality the victory has been won, exult also.]
3. As the fruits of his own labour —
[It is rarely, if ever, now, that faithful servants of Christ are suffered to labour, like Isaiah, fifty years, and, like Hosea, seventy, with scarcely any visible fruits of their ministry. Though God does not make equal use of all, yet, if they be faithful, he will not leave them without witness b: he will " accompany their word with signs following." Were they left to " labour in vain and run in vain," their hands would soon hang down, and their hearts faint : but when they see " the dry bones quickened, and the dead come forth out of their graves," through the influence of their word, they greatly
a Isai. Ixii. 3. b Jer. xxiii. 22.