Ver. 28.-The second redemption. "Lift up your heads; for yourredemptiondraweth nigh." Jesus Christ led his disciples to think that beyond the redemption which he was working out for them, and subsequent to it in time, wa.~ another great deliverance which should prove of unspeakable value to them. This is true now of our discipleship; we look for and we sorely need a second redemption. I. 1TB CHARACTER. It is not, like the first, distinctively and purely spiritual. That was; men were yearning for a political revolution and redemption. Bnt the kingdom of heaven was not to be "of this world;" it was to be wholly inward and spiritual; it was to be our redemption from sin and restoration to the favour and the likeness of our Divine Father. But the second redemption is not distinctively and primarily that of the soul; it is to be " the redemption of our body" (Rom. viii. 23). lt will have a gracious and beneficent effect, a redeeming and elevating influence, upon the soul; but in the fitct instance it is a redemption from a troublous and tryin~ condition; it is being taken away, by the appearance of Christ, in the providence of God, from a state in which happy service is almost impossible; it is a removal from storm to calm, from hostile to friendly forces, from turbulence to serenity; from hard conflict, or tense anxiety, or painful suffering, to "the rest which remaineth for the people of God." It is a. blessetl and merciful change from unfavourable to fa,-ourable conditions. II. OoR HUMAN NEED OF IT. We are not of this world, we who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and renewed by the Spirit of God. And we may be nobly, even grandly, victorious over it, being "always caused to triumph" by that Divine Spirit that dwells within us, and" strengthens us with all might." Yet are we actually, and by universal expe1ience, seriously affected by it, and we suffer many things a~ we pass through it. '\Ve may suffer, as the early Christians did (to whom these wurds were addressed), from persecution, and thereby be made" most miserable" (1 Cor. xv. 19). Our life may be made worthless, or worse than worthless, to us by the cruelties of our fellow-men. Or we may suffer so much from privation of privilege, or from the struggles of daily life, or from grief and disappointment, or from a steadily advancing decrepitude, that we may earnestly long for this second redemption, the redemptiun of our bod_y. We may be in sore need of its approach, of its presence. III. ITS KINDLY SHADOW. It will then be much to us, perhaps everything, that our redemption drau:eth nigh. 1. It is something that at any moment we may be within a step of the heavenly sphere; for anything we know, Christ may be a.bout to say concerning us, "'!'his day ye shall be with me in Paradise." 2. It is more that we may be confident that a life of holy activity will rapidly pass away and bring us to the day of rest and of reward. 3. It is very much indeed that the duration of the blessed future will prove to be such that any number of years of earthly trouble will be nothing in comparison. 4. It is also a truth full of hope and healing that every day spent in faithful service or patient waiting brin'.;S us tliat u:stance nearer to the blc;;se,l- ness that lies beyond. "We nightly pitch our movin~ tent A day's mlU'ch near~r hoiae." Beneath the varied and heavy burdens of time we are fain to bow onr hca,l~; but we shall liH them up with strength and eager-hearted expect:itiun as we realize tli:i.t every step forward is a step onward to the heavenly liorizuu.-C. Ver. 33.-T/ie immortality of Christian truth. These striking words suggest to us- I. CmusT's CONSCIOUS CONNECTION WITH 'l'HE ETERNAL FATHER. Had there not been in him a profound and abiding consciousness that, in a sense rar transcending our own eiqwrieuco, God dwelt in him aud ho in God, these wonls woul,l have been wlwlly 192 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING 'l'O ST. LUKE. [on. xx1. 1--38,
indefensible; they would have been in the last degreo immodest. Proceeding from any ot.Jier than the Son of God himself, they would have simply repelled us and would have cast grave discredit on every other utterance from the same lips. It was because he was Divine, and felt the authority which his Divinity conveyed, that he could and did use such words as these without any trace of assumption ; without violating that " mrekness and lowliness of heart" which he claimed to possess-the possession of which neither friend nor enemy has attempted to dispute. JI. THE PERMA1''ENCE OF TRUTH COMPARE0 WITH THE TitANSITORINESS OF MATTER. lt is only in a limited and figurative sense that we can speak of material things as eternal. The hour will come when they will perish; indeed, they are perishing as we speak. The immovable rocks, the everlasting hills, are being disintegrated by sun and rain; the fixed earth rises and falls; the "changeless rivers" are cutting new courses for their waters. Only truth abides; it is only the words in which the thought of the Eternal is expressed that do not pass away. Fashions do not touch it with their finger; revolutions do not overthrow it; dispensations leave it in its integrity. We look particnlarly at- III. THE n:,rnRTALITY OF THE THOUGHTS OF CHRIST. 1. We have found him a true Erophet. E'l"ents have happened according to his word. 2. We are finding him to be the Di'l"ine Teacher of truth to-day. He has that to say to us which, in our better moods and worthier moments, we hunger and thirst to hear. In his deathless words there are still treasured for us salvation from our sin, comfort in our sorrow, sanctity in our joy, strength in our struggle,companionship in our loneliness, and peace and hope in our decline and death. Unto whom shall we go if we sit at his feet no longer? 3. We shall find him the Source of truth in the after-life. Death will not make his words less true, even of it makes some of them less applicable than they are !,ere and now. ills thoughts will never lose their hold upon our heart, never cease to affect and shape our course. The truths which Jesus spake eighteen centuries ago will beautify our life and bless our spirit in the furthest epochs and the highest spheres of the heavenly world. (1) lfwe would render the truest service to ourselves, we shall do our utmost to fill onr minds with the thoughts of Christ; for these will prepare us for any and every condition, here or hereafter, in which we can possibly be placed. (2) If we would serve our race most effectively, we shall consider in how many ways we can impress his thoughts upon the minds of men and weave them into the institu- tions of the world. And we shall find, at any rate, these three: (a) 'fhe testimony of a Christian life. (b) The utterance, in public or in private, of Christian doctrine. (c) The support of Christian institutions.-C.