DISC. 1X.1 FAITH BUILT ON KNOWLEDGE. 239 III. When weenquire, what it is that the apostle com- riritted to Christ ? I think there is no need to limit or con- fine the trust ; all that belongs to poor sinful man, which God the Father had appointed Christ to take care of; may be included in this depositum, this important trust. I have committed my whole person, soul and body, all my spiritual concerns in this world, and all my ever= lasting interest in the world to come, into the hands of Christ ; my soul, and the affairs of my eternity. And this the apostleseems to havé chiefly in his eye, because he was now ready to leave the body, and all things of this present life.. So Christ on the cross commits his soul into the hands of his Father; Luker xxiii. 46. Fa- ther, into thy hands I commend my spirit. So Stephen, the first martyr, addresses himself to Christ ; Acts vii. 59. Lord .Jesus receive grey spirit. So David, by a spiT rit ofprophecy, in evangelical expressions, betrusts his soul with God his Redeemer; Ps. xxxi. 5. into thu hands I commit my spirit; thou least redeemed it, O Lord God of truth. IV. What is that day, thát great day, which the apos- tle means in the text ? Without doubt, he refers to the last judgment, which is that day, by way of eminence, that day when the works of all other days shall be reviewed, when all mankind shall appear together upon the earth, that have lived in several successive days, and 'years, and ages, and a decisive sentence shall be passed upon all, without a possibility of reverse : The day on which the fate of their eternity shall depend, and be determined. It is the custom of the apostle to speak of thisday in such a way of absolute eminence, without particular descriptions : So he does twice in this same epistle ;; chap. i. 18. and` iv. 8. And it is expressly evi- dent in '2 Thess. i. 10. he means this last great day, when Christ shall appear in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that obey him not :and shall come to be glorified in,all them that believe. Thoughbelievers in Christ, who have committed them- selves to his charge, find their souls safe in the moment after death, and the beginning of their intellectual hea- ven, yet this is more insensible to other men, and unseen to the world : The day ofjudgment is a more remark- able and conspicuous day in the eves of all fte creation,
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