and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." The bond which unites the believer to Christ is an impervious shield against every enemy and evil. Tribulation may come; those he loves, and whom Jesus loves, may die and be gathered home; death may invade his own pillow, and he may dwell beneath the clods of the valley; but his flesh shall rest in hope, and because Jesus lives he shall live also. "All things," be they what they may, and where they may, light and darkness, joy and sorrow, good and evil, friends and foes, though often by wonderful combinations and contrast, "work together for good to them that love God." If the omniscient Saviour knows how to promote their highest and holiest happiness; if the gracious Saviour is disposed to do this; if there is no restraint upon his power, and the omnipotent Saviour is able to bring about a result so glorious; then have his people the assurance that he will bring good out of evil, and light out of darkness, and may "cast their care upon him, knowing that he careth for them." "Dominion is with him!" His "eyes run to and fro throughout the earth, to show himself strong in behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward him." Jesus reigns, and let the earth rejoice!

It is delightful also to have the confidence, that the great work of redemption, in the hands of the gracious Dispenser of the New Covenant, will be crowned with success. Because all things are subjected to Christ, he will not fail to make them all tributary to his kingdom. It will hold on its course, and will ultimately receive both the reluctant and the willing homage of the whole creation. We cannot have a surer guaranty of its universal ascendancy, than the truth we have been considering. It will reign triumphantly over the world, and all will honor the Son, even as they honor the Father who sent him.

His Gospel shall be everywhere proclaimed; his Spirit shall be sent down to dwell with men; and Christ shall be all in all. Great holiness and great happiness shall bless mankind, because the King of Zion is the King of the universe. He shall "create Jerusalem a rejoicing and his people a joy ;" and "he shall rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in his people, and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying." All that is written of the truth of Christianity, and the power of godliness, and the glory of the Son, shall then be verified. The earth shall become his temple, consecrated by his presence, bright with his glory, and filled with his praise. "Every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea," shall then be heard, "saying, Blessing and honor, and glory and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb forever! And the four living creatures shall say, Amen! And the four-and-twenty elders shall fall down and worship Him that liveth forever and ever!"

CHAPTER XIX.

THE CROSS THE ADMIRATION OF THE UNIVERSE.

THE Cross of Christ furnishes a subject of interesting contemplation, most certainly, to men. But there are other intelligent beings in the universe beside the inhabitants of this lower world. While the lights of science furnish strong presumptive evidence of the existence of other systems in addition to those mentioned in the Scriptures, yet are we warranted in saying that their existence is a mere theory, and one which, however probable, may not be numbered among well-ascertained realities. As believers in a supernatural revelation, we are specially concerned to know only those worlds which have been, and are still, and forever will be, more or less affected by that great remedial economy, redemption by the Cross. These are composed of this earth, which is the residence of men; of the Heaven where Jesus Christ dwells, which is the residence of unfallen angels, and of the spirits of just men made perfect; and of Hell, the everlasting abode of the angels who are fallen, and of that portion of the human race who live and die without God and without hope.

How the Cross affects the character and condition of the inhabitants of this earth we have already seen. Its influence upon the divine government over the inhabitants of the world of darkness is, in one respect, lenient,

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and in another severely just. Its lenity is felt in the mitigated punishment of the devils and the damned, until the judgment of the Great Day; and its just severity, in their augmented punishment after that last day of time. The devil and his angels now roam over this earth in unseen forms, "seeking whom they may devour;" and in this liberty, they have some respite from the sufferings which they will endure hereafter, only through the influence of the Cross. Nor will wicked men, who are now, and who will hereafter become, inhabitants of the world of darkness, endure the full measure of suffering that awaits them until after the resurrection, when both soul and body "go away into everlasting punishment." These features of the divine government toward the inhabitants of the world of perdition, are no doubt modified by the Cross, and are the necessary accompaniments of the divine procedure in carrying into effect his designs of mercy toward his church. Nor will they assume the form of perfect and unmitigated justice, until the mediatorial kingdom of the Son is brought to an end, and all his enemies are subdued under his feet. Whether the region of the reprobate is affected in any other way by the Cross, we do not know, and have no curiosity to inquire. It is a dreadful world now, and it will be still more dreadful after that despised Saviour shall have come in his glory, with all the holy angels with him, and, in obedience to his resistless mandate, legions of devils and multitudes of our fallen race shall enter their gloomy prison, and he "that shutteth and no man openeth," shall shut its doors, and they "shall go no more out!"

There is another class of beings who contemplate the Cross with deep emotion. I mean those pure and celestial spirits which the Scriptures call angels; those crea

tures of God who still retain their primeval integrity. The number of these exalted intelligences is not known to us; though, from several hints in the Word of God, we have reason to believe it is very great, if not greater than all the tribes of men. With their character we are better acquainted. Created in the image of God, that image remains in all its loveliness, untarnished by sin, and resplendent in all the beauties of holiness. The faculties and powers of their minds act in due and uniform subordination to each other; nor has this order ever been confounded, or this harmony disturbed. Their understandings are clear, and they never grope in darkness, because they have never been alienated from the life of God, himself the eternal source of light and truth. Their conscience has never gone astray, because their sense of right and wrong has never been violated. Their affections are pure, and unmingled by any base alloy. As they look back, they have nothing to regret; and, as they look forward, they have nothing to fear. They are called "holy angels," and "elect angels," because, when those of their number who kept not their first estate, involved themselves in ruin by wilful rebellion, they stood fast and firm, and were confirmed in holiness and happiness forever. They are styled "spirits," because, though probably not pure and uncompounded spirits like the Deity, they are strangers to all that is gross and earthly, and subsist in an element where spiritual bodies alone subsist. They are exalted above men in the rank of intelligent existences, for we are told that man was made lower than they. They are distinguished for wonderful powers, wonderful activity, and unexampled obedience; for the Scriptures inform us "that they excel in strength, that he maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire ;" and that they "are swift to do his will, hearkening to the voice of his