done•for men, At the beginning of their life as his diaciples, when filled with fear because they had seen somewhat of the iniquity of their sin, the seeing of Jesus allayed that fear and gave them peace. During the progress of that lifo, when sin has reasaerted its cruel power, and they have been heart-cr11Shed in consequence; when the cares of this world have well-nigh overwhelmed them; when sorrow has saddened their very souls; when temptation has drawn near in its most deadly, because in its most enticing, form ;-at all such times the seeing of Jesus, by the quickened eye of faith, has given hope and help, strength and deliverance, according as. the need baa been. And in the hour of death the seeing him has soothed the sufferings of that last time, and snatched victory from the last enemy,.death, and given it to .the dying 118int whose auecour and salvation the sight of Jesus has then secure,!, li,-tben, our poor vision here has been so full of blessing, what !!hall not our perfect vision yonder be? IL AND IT WILL BE A SEEING WIil. Not a mere hearing conceming him. 1. Hearing is a grr.at blessing. What do we, not owe to the gospel story t.hat we have heard read or preached, so many times? '' Faith "-the faith that saves-!! cometh by hearing." 2. But aeeing is far 1Jetter. Word-pictures describing some faic,landscape &rjl oft.en inwesting, and sometimes so well done that thoy. help us .muoh.w realize what. the scene described must be. But bow the best of auch descriptions fuils. before the seeing of the landscape itself! And even the gospel stol'y of Jesus will be 88 nothing to ihe •ng him-seeing his face. .. .. m. AND HIS GLORIFICATION WJLL BE NO BAR 'l'O OUR JOT. For we have· not to say of him now that he is a. spirit. li he were that, if his gloriAcatio~ had transformed him futo an entirely spiritual being,.then our Lord woulu be lo~t to us, for we cow.d form no idea, no clear conception, of him. But it ia not eo. He wears his humanity; he has glorified that, and still he is the Son of man. The pierced hands and feet, -the brow that was crowned with thorns, the side that was riven by the spear, he has taken with him into heaven. Therefore we shall see hie /ace-the very face that. sweat great drops of blood, and that was marred more than any man's, Literally our text is true. : IV. AND WB SH.A.LL :a:wow HIii. Not merely recognize him, but know him as here we have never done. Hill people will read his heart, •ill understand him as now they cannot. Much there is here which hinders our understanding, our true knowledge of him. Sin, sorrow, worldly pursuits, earthly mindedness of all kinds, serve to hide him from our hearts. and so hinder our knowledge of him. But there these things shall :aot be. V. AND rr WILL BB "A LASTING BIGHT." It will not .be n. mere glimpse- fitful, tleeting vision, which is all that we now enjoy. But our "joy !lhall remain." VI. AND IT ll1PLIES )(UCB THAT 18 V&RY BLESS&D. For example: 1. T/1at Wll are really Ma. Were we not, the sight of that face would be unendu111ble. 'l'he wicked cannot. bear it. And yet they muat behold it, Ah I would that all such would think of this, and now be reconciled to God I But the fuct that we rejoice to see his face is" an evident token of salvation," 2, That we shall 1tot se11 our sin,. Whtber or no we shall remember our sins in heaven, and if so, whether that .memory will ad.den heaven for us, ill a question that has often been asked. That we can 11ctually and.entirely forget them is impossible; but that the" remembrance of them" will be "grievous to us, and the burden of them intolerable," as here we confess they e.re, we cannoUbink. For, on a bright starry night., what is it that we notice, that arre~taour attention, 88 we delightedly gaze and gaze upon the magnificent scene? L! it the black stretches of cloud through which the stars shine down upon 118? Certainly not, but the stars themselves. And so" bis face," a.s compared to our sins, will be as those stare to the clouds.. In that beatific vision the darker memories will be swallowed up and, as it were, unseen. 3. Thal toe shall be like him. For 1eeing -imila,t,,11. •We shall be like him," says St. John; "for we shall see him as he is." CoNOLUBION. Are we of the number who shall enjoy this beatific vision? How can we tell? St. John supplies the answer. "He that bath this hope in him pnrifieth himself"-that is the test. .Are we thus striving after Christ-like purity?-S. C.
Ver. 11 .-Pmnaneney of character: a leNTl,()tt /or tAe cl«»ing year. These _very 10lemn words have been used again and again to illustrate and enforce the le11BOn1 JJ JUI.Vli:J..ATlO:S, 20 1162 THE REVELATION OF ST•. JOHN THE DIVINE. [oa. xxu.1-21.