lss THE HIDDEN LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN. [SEßM. X. ever dwell where my joy, my life is. All my springs are in God, and I shall be for ever with him." And when the morning ofthe resurrection dawns 'upon the world, and the day of judgment appears, the body ofa Christian shall be called out of the dust, and shall bid farewel for ever to death and darkness ; to disease and pain, to all the fruits of sin, and all the effects of the curse. Christ, who is the resurrection and the life, stands up as a complete conqueror over all the powers of the grave: He bids the sacred dust, arise and live; the dust obeys and revives; the whole saint appears ex- ulting in life ; the date of his immortality then begins, And his lifeshall run on to everlasting ages. Methinks such livelyviews Of death should, incline us rather to desire to depart from the body, that we may dwell with Christ. Death is but the flight of the soul where its divine life is. Why should we make it a matter of fear then, to be absent from the body, if we are im- mediately present with the Lord ! Methinks, under the influence of such meditations of the resurrection, faith should breathe, and long for the last appearance of Christ, and rejoice in the language of holy Job: I know that my Redeemer livet/i, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon theearth, Job xix. 25. A christian should send his hopes and his wishes for- ward to meet the chariot-wheels of our Lord Jesus the Judge; for the day of his appearance is but the display of our life, and the perfection of our blessedness. When Christ, who isour lye, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him inglory, Col. iii. 4. My thoughts kindle at the sound of that blessed pro- mise, and I long to let contemplation loose on a theme so divinely glorious. Ifever the pomp of language be indulged, and the magnificence of words, it must be to display this bright solemnity, this illustrious appearance, which outshines all the pomp of words, and the utmost magnificence of language. Come, my friends, let us meditate the sacred con- formity of the saints to Christ, first, in their hidden, and then in their glorious life; as he was on earth, so are they; both hated of the world, both unknown in it. The disciples mint be trained up for public honours, as their I4laster was, in this hideous and howling wilderness, in
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