and reveal the secrets of God there, but beyond that, she could impart no information. At last, 'the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our hope,' appeared. Then man's future destiny was plainly revealed. In what a beautiful manner does the Apostle Peter introduce this subject: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.'* The same subject is presented by the Apostle in his letter. to Timothy: 'Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began; but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.'+ In writing to the church at Thessalonica, the Apostle refers to this hope: 'Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work.' In describing this hope, the inspired writers seek out the most expressive terms. It is said to be 'lively,' 'precious,' 'sure and steadfast.' In illustrating and setting it forth, the choicest metaphors are employed. It is described as an anchor of the soul.' But to give any thing like a fair view of the manner in which the

* 1 Pet. i. 3, 4.

† 2 Tim. i. 9, 10.

2 Thes. ii. 16, 17.

apostles have described the hope of the Christian would require volumes. For it was their great theme in all their labors, whether among Jews or Gentiles. It was on account of the hope and resurrection of the dead, that Paul was called in question.

Jesus is the author of our hope, the object of our hope, and the declarer of our hope. Let us dwell for a moment on some of the peculiarities of our hope, the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. This hope is excellent. All worldly hopes terminate on perishable objects. In Jesus, we hope for an everlasting and imperishable existence, not for ourselves alone, but for the world. For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord, both of the dead and living.'* How consoling are such declarations. We can now look

beyond the tomb to an unfading, undying state of being. 'When,' says one, sorrow and sadness pour upon us like a mighty deluge-when grief corrodes within the breast-when cares perplex the mind, and disappointments bring their train of melancholy, or despair fixes her talons deep upon the heart; it is hope alone that can light up the dark paths of life, and bear us up from shrinking under the heavy hand of affliction. A well-founded hope presents the future, illuminated by its own unfading radiance; it refers us to a nobler world than this-to the beautiful

*Rom. xiv. 7-9.

shores of immortality; and when the last convulsive throb of nature ceases to beat within the breast, hope with radiant finger points to realms of everlasting felicity, and joys unspeakable.' Jesus is the author of this hope. He came into our world, suffered and died; on the third day he rose from the tomb, and walked upon the mountains of Palestine, giving to the world a demonstration of the glorious doctrine of life and immortality. 'O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.'

2. This hope is firm and ever enduring. Nothing can overthrow it, for it rests on the promise of God. Hear the Apostle :-'Wherein 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: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus.'* We see from this the immutability of the foundation of our hope. An author, speaking on this subject, says, 'The ocean has been referred to as a striking figure of the eternity and infinity of God. Who, it has been asked, can stand upon its solitary shore, hear its surges beat, uttering such grand and inimitable symphonies as

*Heb. vi. 17-20.

are fit for the audience of cliffs and skies; and have their minds fly back to the time, when, though we were not, and our fathers were not, these surges were yet beating, incessantly beating, making the same wild music, and heard alone by the overhanging cliffs and the overarching skies, without regarding it as a striking personification of eternity? But God swore not by the ocean; he swore by that which will abide when the ocean shall cease to be; when its cliffs shall crumble to dust, and the skies be folded up like a vesture; he swore by himself. Thus the foundation of hope is broad as the universe and fixed as the eternal throne.'

Gladly would we dwell on this subject, but time would fail us to point out all the glories and excellencies of the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope.' Hope to the Christian is what the polar star is in the loneliness of night to the mariner. As that guides him on his way through the pathless waters to a haven of rest, so does this hope point the believer to that bright world where storms and tempests are unknown. Like the sun that gilds the mountain-top with beauty, and lights up our world with joy, so hope lights up 'the dark valley of the shadow of death,' and points to a world of unfading glory and everlasting peace. As the rainbow denotes that the tempest is past, so the hope given to us in the Lord Jesus Christ denotes a period when the storms of life will be past, and man admitted to mansions of everlasting rest.

16*

+XLII. IMAGE.

'Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.'

Heb. i. 3.

JESUS is thus distinguished in two other instances. Col. i. 15. 2 Cor. iv. 4. Man is also said to be made in the image of God. Gen. i. 27. 1 Cor. xi. 7. The more closely the intellectual and moral nature of man is examined, the more evident will this truth appear. In man we find wisdom, power and benevolence. These attributes all exist in God, and in man; they are of the same kind, though differing in degree. But our plan does not permit us to enlarge upon the thought here presented.

In an apocryphal work, a form of expression is found very similar to that in the motto. Speaking of wisdom, the author breaks forth in the following very sublime strain :-'She is the brightness of the everlasting light; the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness.'* One would almost think that the Apostle in writing to the Hebrew church had his eye on this passage.

But how are we to understand that Jesus is the express image of God's person? An image, as all know, is a mere representation of some object, either

*Wisd. vii. 26.