God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward man.""* Let the "epithalamic" harmony roll on, and roll forever, until the "glory of the Lord shall fill the whole earth, even as the waters cover the sea." "The highest himself shall establish her." 3. In the character of its progress in the world, is seen the di. vinity of the cause, and, by consequence, also, the divinity of the institution of the Church. This progress was symbolized by the rolling stone of Daniel, seen of the king of Babylon in his night vision, which is interpreted to refer to the power and expansion of the kingdom of Christ. High amidst the mountains of the Lord, a stone, cut out without hands, commenced to roll down upon the earth. The great image, representing the idolatries as well as the kingdoms of the world, was crushed beneath it; the hills were leveled, and the valleys were raised, until, in its vast expansion, it filled the whole earth. This was Christianity, which, being of God, and not of man, was literally without hands." A divine impulsion from the heavenly throne, culminating in power and expanding in purpose, extending itself, by the forces of an inherent Omnipotence, over countries and kingdoms, and embracing in its ample arms the whole world. For even as Jesus Christ "tasted death for every man,"‡ the time shall certainly come when, in the language of the prophet, "they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord." The varied history, the struggles, fortunes, persecutions, and proscriptions of the Church, through all which it has been so triumphantly conducted, attests also the divinity of the cause. To no other power but to that of the direct inspiration and presence of Almighty God, can be attributed the wondrous manner of the Church's preservation, when assailed, as it has been, by the political combinations of governments, and the settled hatred of the world. If it had been simply human in its nature, it is plain to see that with the crumbling dynasties and changing kingdoms of the world, it would have ceased to exist centuries ago; and if history had remembered it at all in the present day, * Luke ii, 9. ↑ Daniel ii, 31-35. + Heb. ii, 9. Jer. xxxi, 81. it would have been to have classed it with its kindred rubbish of antique obsoletism-with the "myths" and "marvels" of ancient days. But instead of this, it has grown mightily in the midst of death, and expanded in power and possession most where proscriptions and persecutions have been loudest and most violent against it. The secret of the invincibility of its progress is contained in the fact that God is with it. The promise to Moses, "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest," has been verified in every step and period of its eventful history, from the first persecution at Jerusalem to the last proscript of Rome. The war, the poison, the steel, the axe, the flame, the gibbet, and the cord, have done their bloody work, and swelled the martyr list to tens of thousands; but even in this the divinity has overruled, and "the wrath of man has been made to praise God." Millions have risen into the places of the thousands lost, and God has magnified his cause above all the earth. Like a great seamark, or lofty tower of light, set to guide the endangered mariner over the angry deep, the Church stands amidst the billowy ocean of Time, the invulnerable « Pharos❞ of spiritual light and safety. May we not say, too, that it is also the great tower of strength, which holds together the structure of things? *If not, what did Christ mean when he said to his disciples, "Ye are the salt of the earth"? The great characteristic of salt is that it preserves. The Church as an institution, and Christianity as a principle, operate to preserve the world for a time from that certain dissolution which, but for this divine interposition, would irremediably and irresistibly be its fate; for unto this end sin hath wrought in the earth. It might be said, then, of the Church and the world, as it was once said of Rome and the Colisseum, "While the Church stands, the world stands; but when the Church falls, the world falls." That is, while the Church holds its present associated relationship to the world of mankind, the earth will stand; but when the divinity of the cause has carried to its close the progress of the design-when from the circumference to the centre shall come upon the laden wires the travelled word of triumph, that the "battle of life is fought and won, and the last sinner converted to God" then, casting the earth from it into the destruction prepared for its doom, the Church, in heavenly procession, will rise to glory and to God, inspired and * Exodus xxxi, 14. sanctified and made eternally joyful, by that same divinity, which is now, and ever has been, the spirit and power of its resistless progression. "For the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion, with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."* There "The saints in his presence receive Their great and eternal reward; In Jesus, in heaven they live They reign in the smile of the Lord." II. The Divinity of the Church demonstrated in the purposes of its foundation. "This and that man was born in her." "Marvel not," said the Saviour to Nicodemus,† "that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." Holiness to the Lord, through the sanctification of the Spiritwhich, as a principle, is the life of the soul, and without which "no man shall see God,"‡-is the corner stone of hope, in the christian structure. 1. Holy Living. This is the first fruitage of the system, and is the early demonstration, both to the individual himself in its practice, and to the world at large in its profession, of what the true purposes of the Church are,-of its designs in reference to the human family, and its mission to convince mankind of its instrumental divinity, and to mark this effect upon all "who will," with the presence and power of the Holy Ghost. While Christ, therefore, says to his followers, in order to the inspiration of their confidence in Him, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world,"|| that the testimony of the cause might be more complete and perfect, the inner witness is also called, and joined with the outer, in the Divine attestation that "the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." No greater paradox could be invented, than is contained in the idea of an unholy christian; and no greater mistake committed than to attempt the ascent to heaven by any other way than holiness. Of this, Isaiah, in his vision of the Christian Church, says, " An highway shall be there, and it shall be called the way of holiness," which Christ locates in himself. For says He, "I am the WAY, and the truth, and the life.”** Isaiah xxxv, 10. ↑ John iii, 7. + Heb. xii, 14. Matt. xxviii, 20. **John xiv, 16. Rom. viii, 16. The holy living, or holiness of heart and life, which is "the way" of the christian, is necessarily therefore in Christ, and cannot be anywhere else. Hence the Apostle says, "We walk by faith, not by sight."* To be in Christ, where the Church is, and where the Church, by the Spirit given, invites the world to come, involves two things which stand in necessary sequence to each other, holiness and happiness. These principles, which are properties of the christian faith, in whichever way they may be logically placed, will be found to sustain to each other the relation of cause and effect. The holy man is the happy man, and the happy man is the holy man. These are sequences of greater infallibility than that ascribed to the chair of St. Peter. The philosophy of this principle is contained in the fact that christians are, by faith, in Jesus Christ, who is the fountain of holiness; and from him, as "the branch in the vine," they draw the aliment of their moral and religious being. Consequently, if the relationship be perfect, they must be like him, and show as reflectors of His divinity. Less than this would be less than the measure made by Christ himself. He says of the relationship, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." This the Apostle declares to be "fruit unto holiness," the end or result of which is "everlasting life." Holiness of life, then, is the great gospel mirror that shapes to the world the divinity of the cause-the divinity of the Church. 2. Happy Dying. This is the natural result of holy living,-for he who commences to be happy in Christ, by a holy profession of the christian faith, and continues therein until the end comes, makes assurance doubly sure to this effect. He takes a bond, by faith, for its accomplishment,-not of fate, but of grace, written by the Divine hand, and sealed in the blood of the Cross, whose pledge "is a crown of life," and whose security is the oath of God. "For wherein," says the Apostle, "God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise, the immutability of His counsel confirmed it by an OATH, that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us." That to die in peace is the greatest desideratum and hope of life, is too evident a proposition to need an argument. The sinner, as well as the saint, will admit this. There is no difference between the Church and the world, with regard to the desirable end; both wish to be safe-both wish to be happy. The difference lies in the manner and labor of attaining unto that end. In this they are wide apart; with what wisdom God, and the final destiny of all things, will ultimately set forth. But that "happy dying" is the immutable consequence of holy living," Christ formed the hope of glory," is as well the witness as the cause. A triumphant death, or separation from the world, to the superficial observer, might be looked upon, perhaps, as enthusiastic, if not miraculous. But upon examination, it will show to be neither the one nor the other. It is perfectly within the range of philosophical exposition, and is as susceptible of demonstration as a problem in mathematics. Nay, more than this, it is just as impossible, if the Word of God be a verity, for a holy christian to die otherwise than happy, as it is for figures, truthfully calculated, to exhibit an erroneous result. "For so an entrance SHALL BE ministered unto you abundantly, into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ."* If a certain change, then, from poverty to riches, from gloom to gladness, and from death to lifea life of never-ending joy, and wrought out, through the faithfulness of the christian, by the direct agency of the Holy Ghost,-God himself being pledged to this end,-be sufficient to inspire a rapture at the parting from sin and misery and pain in the world, then the result is irresistible, and not only irresistible, but natural and philosophic. For God says "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." In view of this, St. Paul exclaimed with holy joy, as he stood upon the confines of time, and gazed into eternity-his departure being at hand-"I am now ready to be offered." "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." death, where is thy sting? O, grave, where is thy victory?" "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." This happiness in death hath its producing cause in the "new birth," which plants Christ in us; and which, as the accomplishment of one of Zion's purposes in the world, as set forth in the text, is another witness of the Divinity of the Church. Under "O, • 2 Pet. i, 2. ↑ Rev. ii, 10. + 2 Tim. iv, 8. || 1 Cor. xv, 55. |