LECTURE XI. THE GLORIOUS ADVENT OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. BY THE REV. HUGH M'NEILE, M.A. INCUMBENT OF ST. JUDE'S, LIVERPOOL. REV. xix. 12. And on his head were many crowns. THE whole passage, which is confessedly a description of the glorious Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, is this: "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns ; and he had a name written, that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of : iron; and he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." My brethren, to be saved, in the full and perfected sense of that expression, is to be made like unto our Saviour Christ, both in body and spirit. The beginning of salvation in man is to be willing to be like Christ. This is an essentially different thing from a willingness to escape punishment. Every man is naturally and instinctively willing to escape punishment; and every man who has heard, and understood, and believed any thing about hell, is unfeignedly willing to escape its torments. This willingness by itself is no part of salvation. It is the mere instinct of terrified nature, increased sometimes to despairing agony, on a sinner's death-bed, while his heart all the while may be in a state of undiminished enmity against God. A willingness to be saved, on the contrary, includes a desire not only to escape punishment, but also to please God; not only to avoid the pains of hell, but also to acquire a relish for the enjoyments of heaven; not only to be shielded from the wrath of God, but also to be conformed to the holiness of God. This conformity can be had only in the enjoy |