yet Christ has not revealed Himself as Messiah to His own people, the Jews; but the days of their distress, of "Jacob's trouble," are at hand, then will He appear for their deliverance. And as Joseph's brethren bowed to the sheaf of his honour and glory, and became sharers of his honour and glory, so will it be with Israel in the latter day; they will own Jesus as their deliverer, and give Him honour and glory as their king. Ah, beloved, you may sooner pluck the sun from its heavenly orbit, or quench the brilliant effulgence of its rays; ye may sooner plunder hell of its torments, or heaven of its mansions, than rob Christ of this His coming kingly glory, or prevent this earth from seeing that glory. But mark, whilst Joseph was rejected by his brethren, he was far away, altogether unknown and unseen by them. But all the while what was he doing? Why, he was making provision, first, for a dark daya time of famine and tribulation; also for a golden age. Ah, do ye not see Christ, our Joseph, hidden now from the natural sight of a rejecting world, yet providing, first of all, for us heavenly mansions-mansions which eye hath not seen-the carnal eye,—and which ear hath not heard the carnal ear, but which God hath revealed to us by His Spirit. And next, He is to save from out of the great tribulation, and bring into the glory of His kingdom, His elect remnant of Israel, who will say, "This is Jesus whom we crucified" this is our Lord, we have waited for Him. And think you, did not Joseph inform his friends? Says Paul, "But God hath revealed these things unto us by His Spirit." And said Jesus, I will not call you servants, for servants know not what their Lord doeth; I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my father, I have made known unto you. And oh, what a revelation has He given! what a making known of His plans! And now, beloved, may we all see our own part in each of these men. They are the seeds of all glorious things! And look out on the most distant future! How precious is each one! We cannot do without Abel; for if no blood, no remission of sins. Or without Enoch; incorruption-life-to live together with Christ is our special hope. And how in peace bury our precious dead, unless in sure and certain hope of resurrection to eternal life. Or, how, apart from resurrection, apart from Christ, can we look the event of our own death peacefully in the face? Oh, it is when we see sin put away and forgiven, and that for ever, and this old flesh dead, and Christ our life, oh, it is then we can stand, as it were, over our own tomb, and exclaim, "O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory?" "As we have borne the image of the earthly, so we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." What glory! what victory! Oh, look at it! what triumph in anticipation; clap your hands at the very thought! For when He comes, He will do three things: He will destroy death; He will destroy the grave; and He will change the living. And what a change! This corruptible will put on incorruption; What a marvellous redemption! With such a hope we may well be as Abraham, pilgrims in spirit and in life; and as Isaac, rejoicing in our heirship; and in the God of all grace, as Jacob found him to be; and let us know the sufferings of Christ, with the glory to follow, as shadowed forth in Joseph. And, oh, to be practical here, how should our life be conformed to our hope. Christ is one thing; being 66 conformed to the hope we have of soon seeing him is another. It was Christ in heaven whom Paul knew to be there, and whom he loved, that gave rise to the strong wishes and desires he had to be with Him. To be with Christ. Waiting there for the glory was far better than remaining here. Paul is our model pilgrim in this respect. What says he? How lovely the description of "the strait" he was in. Says the Apostle, "I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better." Now, there would have been no "strait" had he been clinging to this world, or there would have been no strait had he seen nothing worth living for here. "I am in a strait," he says, "betwixt two;" for here I am anchored, yet my canvas is unfurled! and the storms have come from off the land, loosening me from this world, and bidding me to set sail for the glory; moreover, the waves of earth roll out in sorrow by the side of my anchorage, and I long to draw anchor. To depart is far better. And then he turns to the other picture; for he well knew what Christ was here, what the work was here, what the love of saints was here, what it was to spend and to be spent here, what it was to be getting a weightier and weightier crown down here, to cast at Jesus' feet up there. And, looking at both pictures, he says, "I am in a strait betwixt two." Ah! Paul was no morbid sentimentalist. He was not like some who appear to see everything through one of those deceptive mirrors, which, whilst they magnify one part, diminish another. Such either magnify the world and live for it, and would grieve to leave it, or are all for departure and see nothing to anchor them here. Ah! you can never convert a soul in heaven. You can never add one such gem to the priceless crown of Jesus when inside the heavenly portals. "We would not live always;" yet who of us would like to be here if we could never add another act whereby Jesus could be glorified? A poor life to have lived with some of us were it to end now! A poor prospect of a crown with some of us were we to depart now! Ah! how little any of us do for Him! How little do we glorify Him! Then apply the mirror of the Word itself, and, when you see Jesus, give way to your longing to be with Him, or when you see it would be for the glory of Jesus for you to remain, say with Paul, "Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful." In the mean while "We'll stem the storm, it won't last long, We'll anchor by-and-by, In the haven of eternal rest, With Jesus ever nigh." And now, O sinner, a word to you. Of all doctrines, the Abel doctrine is the foundation one; without the offering and the sacrifice-without an atonement for our sins, an expiation for our guilt-without a Saviour slain for us, we have no redemption; but "we have redemption in His blood." Oh, if you feel your sins, and are weary of the load, come with me and see the blood of Jesus; look and live. "That blood can make the foulest clean." God accepted Abel and his offering. God has accepted Christ as Saviour, on the ground of His offering; and all who look to that offering are accepted in Him. Nay, have died together with Him; and are risen together with Him, and shall one day, not far from hence, come with Him. So wondrous is this union with Jesus, that He will not be in the glory, and leave you behind. Oh, keep your eyes on Jesus. For one look at your poor, wretched self, take twenty at HIM; it would cure you of that one look if you only knew Him as He is your Jesus-your all in all. Count self to be dead, utterly dead, and Christ to be your life. Not self, but Christ; not you, but Jesus. 1 ADDRESS XVI. THE BODY OF CHRIST. "And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all."- EPHESIANS, i. 22, 23. THE body of Christ we understand to be His Church, as the apostle says, "The Church which is His body." The body is not composed of Jews simply, as was the dispensation of old, nor of Gentiles merely, as the nations will be as distinct from Israel in the day of the Lord. There will then, doubtless, be one glory of Israel, another glory of the nations, and another glory of the Church, which is His body. There will be those who will form the kingdom, and those who over the kingdom will reign together with Christ in the glory. These several glories of the day of the Lord more or less find their separate roots now. For example: Israel, as among the nations, though not yet gathered, is a distinct people, a race not to pass away or to lose its distinct existence as such by any merging of itself with the nations. And there are the nations that now know not God, out of which God is calling both Jew and Gentile into one body. This latter, doubtless, is "the mystery" of Eph. iii. 3-6, where Paul says, "How that by revelation God made known unto me the mystery which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Q |