'I cannot and will not deny that I am a King. It ii my office to declare the truth ; it ie by the in8uence of truth that I am to reign in the hearts of men, and I c11DDot shrink from 11.Sserting thie most important truth, that I have the power and authority of II eovereign at once to rule and to defend my people. Let not this doctrine offend. Every one who is of the truth, who loves the light, and whose mind is open to conviction, heareth and acknowledgeth this and all my doctrines.' These words, spoken at IO interesting and trying a period, discover to us the elevation of our Saviour in a very striking light. We see his mind unbroken by suffering. We 110e in him the firmest adherence to the doctrines he had formerly taught. We see in him a conscioue dignity, a full conviction of the glory and power with which he wae invested. He asserts his royal office, not from ostentation, not amidst a host of flatterers, but in the face of enemiee; and when he made this solemn declaration bis appearance bore little conformity, indeed, to the splendour of earthly monarchs." There is a difference between the good confession of Timothy and the good confession of Christ indicated in the language. Timothy confessed his good confession, i.e. in the way of saying before- hand what he would do in the trial. Christ witnessed his good confession, i.e. authenticated it by making it in the immediate prospect of death. He went forth from Pilate's judgment-hall and sealed his confession with his blood. He was thus the first and greatest of confessors. It adds much in the way of definitenus, that we can thus think of him. It also adds much in the way of bracing. There ia a halo around the great Onlooker from his past. The presence in a battle of the hero of a hundred fights, of a Napoleon or Wellington, ii worth eome additional battalions. So, 0 man of God, be braced up to the fight, by the thought that 1.huu art fighting under the eye of thy God, under the eye of thy Saviour. And do not think of getting the prize surreptitiously, but only by fair means, keeping to the rules of the contest, what is here called keeping the comman(iment, so that no little spot is made on it, no little dishonour done to it. For, however little, it means so much taken away from the value of the prize. I charge thee, then, says the apostle, in these great pre&encea keep the com- mandment. V. FINAL EVE:RT. "Until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: which in its own times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only bath immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable; whom no man bath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power eternal. A.men." The final event of the day, on the occasion of a great gladiatorial show, was the coming forward of C111sar, in circumstances of pomp, to crown, or otherwise reward, the victors. So the final event of time will be the coming forward of our Lord Jesus Christ (as from looking on) lo crown the victors in the good fight of the faith. There is reference to the same event in 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. It would be the proudest moment of a man's life when he was called forth to receive the prize from the hand of his emperor. So it will be a moment of greatest satisfaction to the believer when he is called forth (as by the herald proclaiming his name before a great assemblage) to receive the crown from the hand of his Lord. He will not certainly be filled with self-satisfaction. He will feel that he ls only a debtor to Christ, and his first impulse will be to cast his crown at the feet of his great Benefactor. This appearing God is to show, i.e. to effect and to bring forth into view. He is to show it in its own times-at present hidden, but clear to the mind of God, and to be ehown when his purpoaes are ripe. He who is to effect the appearing is appropriately adored as the Potentate (the Wielder of power). Not less appropriately is he adored as the blessed or (better) the happy Potentate, i.e. self-happy, having all elements of happiness within himself, no void within his infinite existence to fill up, but not therefore disposed to keep happiness to himself, rather prompted, in his own experience of happinees, to bestow it on others, first in creation and then in redemption. It is the happy Wielder of power t-hat is to bring about an event that is fraught with eo much happiness to believers. He ,hall show it, for he is the only Potent.ate; none can di11pute the name with him. There are powers under him as there were rulen, with different namee, under the emperor; but he is the King of kings and Lord of lorch-aovereign Dieposer of all human and angelic representatives of power. "The king'• heart i11 in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water: he turns it [however impetuous] whithersoever he will." He shall show it in ila - lima, for, li.oweT• cliltant thoae timea, he ahall liTe to do it, being the only Oiie wllo bath l40 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY, [OH, VI, 1-21,
immortality from himself, essential imrrviousness to decay. He shall show it, who is himBelf inaccessible within a circle o light, and not only never seen by men but nec61111&rily invisible to men, i.e. in the unveiled brightness of his glory, All honour and power eternal, then, be to this God, We may judge of what the appearing i11 to be that iB to be effected by One in whose praise the apostle breaks forth in ao lofty a strain. We may conclude that it is to be the grandest display of the honour and power of God. And what a privilege that the bumble believer-victor in the battle of life-is to be called forth before an assembled universe, under the presidency of Christ aud by the hand of Christ, to be crowned with the life eternall Let every one add his Ame11 to the ascription of honour and power t.o God, as displayed in the appearing of Chrill&.-R F.