(c) It reveals to us the fact, also, that the saints in heaven are interested in the salvation of men. While we worship here, they applaud before the throne. They cannot participate in this service because of their changed environment; but, doubtless, they look out from their spirit home with supreme delight upon the achievements of the church. While we surround this altar, Cookman, who went "sweeping through the gates," washed in the blood of the lamb, and Coleman, whose white plume leads the van far up the shining way, and Palmer and Inskip, with Bishop Simpson, and the sainted Wiley, whose mouldering dust rests in the flowery kingdom,—with spirit fingers sweep the immortal lyre. (d) But we learn further that special manifestations of God to the human soul are essential preparations for successful work. The excited apostle would build tabernacles, and remain upon the mountain. He would have a time of perpetual exultation. But Jesus said, " But Jesus said, "Arise, let us go." There was important work even then awaiting them on their return, which their less favored brethren were unable to perform. There are those who imagine that religion is a personal luxury to be enjoyed without regard to the needs of others, or that it is at the best a preparation for death. To that class of persons, the name of Jesus is only an amulet or a charm; while another class, in the very ecstasy of selfishness, sing, "My willing soul would stay In such a frame as this, But true fellowship with God prepares its possessor for a noble and useful life, for glorious achievements, for victory and reward. (e) It teaches us that none but those who have been in the transfiguring presence of Jesus are really and truly prepared to live, to labor, or to die. Pentecost was the reproduction of some of the features of the transfiguration. It was the official enthronement of the Holy Ghost as the administrator of this dispensation; and when he had interpreted and applied this vision in the upper room, the disciples were prepared for labor or for death. Jesus went from this mountain conference with the Father, from within the pavilion of the excellent glory, to Gethsemane, to Pilate's judgment hall, to Calvary, and to Joseph's tomb; but the tomb could not hold him, and he went from there to Olivet, and to the throne of power. In the same manner all true Christians go out from the transfiguring presence of God, to labor and to sorrow, to serve at the bedside of the dying, or minister consolation to the bereaved. They go from the mountain heights of religious privilege, which are the essential places of divine preparation, to work in the vineyard of the Master; to endure hardness, as good soldiers, for Jesus Christ; to suffering and to death; to glory, honor, and eternal reward. (f) But, finally, it reveals to us the fact that Jesus is the central figure of the universe, the abiding one of all the ages. When the heavenly pageant had passed by, "They saw no man, save Jesus only." Moses and Elijah had returned to their place. The Father had withdrawn his glorious presence, the bright cloud and the "excellent glory" no longer enveloped the mountain; but Jesus remained with his disciples. The dwelling-place of God is with men, and the divine tabernacle remains to the end of the ages. Fables and philosophies all fail, they disappoint us in life and desert us in emergencies; but the divine Redeemer is a satisfying portion to the soul. Wealth may be turned into smoke and ashes in a single hour, health and friends and honors may disappear together, the waves of sorrow may dash over our trembling bark; but Jesus walks above the threatening billow, he comes to bring deliverance to the stricken soul, and anchor the storm-tossed vessel in the haven of eternal rest. Death may claim the body as its own lawful prey, but Jesus is the "Resurrection and the Life." The light of infidelity goes only to the grave, and goes out in endless night; but Christianity throws the rainbow of promise over the tomb, scatters all the darkness from the valley of death, and throws out its scintillations until they mingle with the effulgent beams from the eternal shore, irradiating and illuminating, with a halo of glory, our pathway to the throne. V. THE PERPETUITY OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM AND THE UNIVERSALITY OF HIS REIGN. [Baccalaureate Sermon, Preached before the Faculty and Students of Baker "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." - DANIEL ii. 44. "And his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth." - ZECHARIAH ix. 10. THERE are two kingdoms in this world, the kingdom of satan and the kingdom of Christ; the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light; the kingdom of evil and the kingdom of good; the kingdom of antichrist and the kingdom of Christ. There are two distinct personalities, each with a following, who are now contending for the supremacy, -contending for the possession and control of the material and moral forces of this world, — Jesus and Apollyon. These antagonistic characters and forces are not the necessary parts of the same kingdom. Satan is not a coadjutor of Jesus Christ; he is a usurper and an assailant. These prophetic declarations of Scripture which we have read refer to the gracious kingdom of God, to Jesus Christ and his spiritual kingdom which he has set up in the earth, to his church which he has purchased with his own blood. As prophet, priest, and king, Jesus cannot be separated from his church. The Scripture we have read is a divine assurance of the universal dominion of the gospel kingdom. It is to extend from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. The text also indicates the forces by which this is to be accomplished. It emphasizes the fact that the gospel itself is the generic agency of this achievement. If this text has any significance, it teaches us that the Lord Jesus Christ is to subjugate, possess, and rule this revolted world. I think it must be apparent to all in the light of this Scripture that God did not build this earth with all its varied and sublime possibilities only for a stage on which satanic power might play its fantastic freaks for a season. I think it is equally clear to every thoughtful mind that the church which the Saviour purchased at such fearful cost should own the material and moral world, and direct all their forces, not by arbitrary edict, not by ecclesiastical manifesto, but by the persuasive power of intelligent love, by the nature and force of Christian thought. We believe that the resources of the gospel are equal to the accomplishment of this result, and that the gospel will secure this end whenever it is fully apprehended and properly directed. The fact that the gospel has not already accomplished this end is a perpetual testimony that the ultimate resources of the gospel have not yet been developed, nor its agencies fully appreciated nor rightly directed. |