None shall abide that judgment but those whom God hath chosen for himself-but " for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." And how will the ransomed ones ascribe their deliverance to the free grace of God! with what joy will they exclaim, "Not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name be all the praise !" Even now, in the season of conflict and temptation, every servant of God who feels in himself that he is in a measure at least plucked out of the enemy's hand, that the flames of lust, and pride, and all evil passions, are partially quenched in his soul, ascribes his deliverance to the grace of God alone, and looks upon himself as a worthless and halfconsumed brand plucked out of the fire! He believes that the flames of hell were already kindled in him, when the Lord in mercy looked upon him, and snatched him from destruction, even as He saved Lot out of Sodom. "By grace are we saved, through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast."* O that we could all adequately appreciate the danger of our guilty souls by nature! O that we knew our own helplessness, and inability to save ourselves! So should we now flee unto Jesus, and value worthily his great salvation.

But some further circumstances in the vision remain to be considered, illustrative of the same * Eph. ii. 8, 9.

glorious truths. Joshua was not only "as a brand plucked out of the fire," he was not barely delivered from that perdition which he and the people whom he represented justly deserved, but he was honoured and glorified. "His filthy garments were taken from him, his iniquity passed away, he was clothed in a change of raiment, and a fair mitre was set upon his head;" beautifully descriptive of that imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ which is "to all and upon all them that believe." Our best deeds are but as squalid garments, defiled with many imperfections and corruptions, but Jesus has prepared a seamless robe of beauty and holiness, in which he invites his people to his marriage feast. And to those who unconscious of their own unworthiness and disposed to trust in their own supposed merits, are in danger of despising the righteousness which he has provided,* the Lord saith, "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear."† Arrayed in these the condemned sinner is honoured and glorified. He is not only acquitted, but honourably + Rev. iii. 17, 18.

* See Rom. x. 3, 4.

acquitted he is more, he is JUSTIFIED-and by virtue of the new, perfect, and divine merit and righteousness of the Lord in which he is clothed, he takes his seat among the highest angels in glory. He has gained honour, happiness, and holiness by Christ, infinitely more resplendent than those which he lost in Adam; and throughout eternity he will proclaim the riches of God's grace, which" took him as a beggar from the dunghill” of sin, guilt, and woe, and "placed him among his bright and shining ones around the throne.' "Where sin abounded, grace did much. more abound." How is every circumstance in this vision calculated to humble the sinner and exalt the Saviour! How powerfully does it teach us that we are all by nature guilty, ruined, and undone, and that if saved at last, it must be by an act of pure mercy and unmerited grace !

Are we then willing to receive these humbling truths? or do our proud hearts rebel against them? O let us not, like Naaman the Syrian, "turn away in a rage" from the only mean of salvation, because it deprives us of all glory and boasting. May God be pleased to give to each of us deep conviction of sin-a knowledge of our own hearts-a consciousness of our lost state by nature and a willing heart, to accept with joy, gratitude, and love, the rich grace of the gospel!

And if we venture to indulge the hope that we

are upheld by the arms of divine mercy-if with humble confidence we believe "that we have an advocate with the Father," who will appear for us, and confess us before assembled worlds at the great day-then how devoted should we be to his service! Zechariah beheld in the vision that the Lord sent back Joshua to his people, their pardoned and accepted representative, with this solemn declaration, "And the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, if thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house and keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among them that stand by:' :"* that is, among the holy angels. Let these words be as "the charge of the Lord" to us, if we aspire to the privileges of the redeemed. Let us earnestly seek help from on high, to walk steadily and uprightly in the ways of holiness and peace, to cleave unto God with full purpose of heart, to discharge the duties of that state of life in which we are placed: ever remembering, that though all is of grace, and that of ourselves we can do nothing, yet that those alone "will walk among the shining ones in glory," who have learned "to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." Those alone will Christ confess before assembled worlds, who have confessed him here

* Ver. 6, 7.

+ Titus ii. 11, 12.

on earth, who have taken up their cross and followed him. Those alone are his people, "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father," who evidently show that they are elect "through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." And as "He who hath called us is holy," so doth he require us, and promises to enable us, 66 to be holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy." And when in any thing we fail and come short of that standard of perfection at which we aim, a result which by sad experience we all have learned to expect, for "in many things we offend all," O how consolatory to reflect that there is one who can silence the accuser, and will claim us for his own at the bar of God! To Him we all must come, confessing ourselves unprofitable servants, even when we have done our all, our best. And to Him we will, throughout eternity, ascribe, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, all honour, and glory, and praise, and power, for ever and ever. Amen.

* 1 Pet. i. 2, 16.