IV. Reasons FOR THE WATCHFULNESS ENJOINED. Though there is no express appli- eation of the illustration, a circumstance which adds much to the ease and grace of the narrative, we are at no loss for, and find no difficulty in making, that application. The Master of the house is our Lord; his disciples, in the first place, are the domestica whom he entrusted with the management of the household when he himself took his departure to the goodly land afar off, appointing each believer his own sphere of labour and the special duty he was bound to perform, and leaving a strict charge of watchfulness with the porter who kept the door; that is, either the ministry in general, who are watchmen on the walls of Zion, or Peter in particular, to whom had been entrusted the power of the keys in opening the door of faith to Jew and Gentile. Nor do we thereby concede anything to the Romanist in reference to Peter’s supremacy— @ rank which the apostle himself never claimed. Be this as it may, however, the duty of watchfulness is enjoined on all, (1) because the time of the Master’s coming back is wenlenown. We know neither the day nor the hour of our Lord’s return. No fellow- creature can tell us: no minister nor man can inform us: no angel can give us any
on, xi, 1—37.] THE GOSPEL ACCURDING TO ST. MARK, 227
intimation ; no messenger from either world can bring us word, “Of that day and of that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of God.” Now, though the coming of the Son of man is not to be confounded with death—for the two events are quite distinet—yet for all practical purposes, and as far as our personal interests are concerned, death is the coming of the Son of man to us individually ; for whether he come to us or he call us to him, it is virtually the same thing for us, as then our destiny is finally
and for ever fixed. We are urged to watchfulness (2) because this event, which, though — not the coming of the Son of man to the Church in its universality, is tantamount to his coming to the Christian in his individuality, is wncertain as to time. This great event may be near at hand while we least expect it. This day may be our last, on earth, and our first in the spirit-world; on this very night the soul may be required. This very day our lamp may lose its oil and go out in darkness; this very day our taber- nacle may totter and tumble into dust; this very day our wondrous harp, with its thousand strings, may go out of tune and lose its melody. ‘ What is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” What is your lease of life? It is the breath in your nostrils, and at any moment that breath
_tmay be withdrawn, Im any case— :
“ Determined are the days that fly Buccessive o’er thy head ; The number’d hour is on the That lays thee with the dead.”
Further, watchfulness is indispensable, because (3) at his coming he will deal with us separately and singly. We shall be assembled in the aggregate, but dealt with in detail, The great fact is as prominently stated, as it is positively sure, that we must each stand in his lot at the end of the days, You, reader, and I and all must soon give an account of our stewardship—must soon be reckoned with for the talents, whether ten, or five, or one, that God gave us; whether we have buried them in the earth, or brought them forth employed, improved, and augmented ; whether we have wasted our Lord’s goods, or used them in his service and for his glory; whether we have occupied till the time of his coming, or loitered out our day of life. We are required to be watchful, for (4) in the last great day each and all—the one and the many—vshall stand face to face with the Judge of all the earth. If we pause and ponder the vastness of that crowd, we are almost overwhelmed by the thonght. Let us think of all the people of a single nation being brought together; what a crowd they would make! t us think of all the subjects of a great empire being assembled at one place and at one time; what an assembly that would be! Let us then think of all the inhabitants of one of the quarters of the globe being congregated; what an immense mass-meeting would be thus formed! Yet the thought of the great congregation at the coming of the Son of man far outgoes all that. The assemblage which it implies, and which shall one day take place, shall consist, not only of the inhabitants of a province, or nation, or an empire, or even a quarter of the globe, but shall comprehend the inhabitants of all provinces, nations, empires, and quarters of the globe, down along the ages and throughout all the centuries of time. And yet not one in all that crowd shall be hidden from the eye of him that cometh in that day; not one shall be able to evade his presence, not one escape his sentence, not one shall be so remote as to be unable to catch a glance of him, not one on whom his eye shall not rest. “ Every eye shall see him!”—the eye that con- templated his goodness and his grace; the eye that “beheld his glory, as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth ; ” the eye that looked and longed for his appearing ; the eye, on the contrary, that looked only on the objects of sense and sin, the pomps and vanities of the world, and the follies of life; the eye that never gazed upon the cross, or never cast more than a passing glance thereat, and then turned away in coldness or carelessness, or perhaps contempt; the eye of friend and follower; the eye of foe and false professor. Oh, what a sight to the unpardoned sinner, to the god- less transgreasor, to the swearer, to the sabbath-breaker, to the slanderer, to the adulterer, to the murderer, to the drunkard, to the liar, to the lewd and licentious, to the unholy and the unjust, to the impure and impenitent! Gladly would the wicked shut their eyes on that sight; gladly would they sink into the bowels of the earth or she depths of ocean to escape the glance of that searching eye! Earnestly will they
228 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. [on. xu1 1—37.