ended; they are with Christ, and, compared with the best abode on earth, this is" far better." What an excitement is here presented to the active and laborious servant of God, not to be weary in well doing! What a source of consolation is here presented to the suffering Christian in his painful retirement, and to the martyr in his high and responsible situation! A little longer-only a little longer exertion of patience and faith, and you shall come out of all your tribulations, and God shall wipe away all tears from your eyes! May these hopes both sanctify and sustain us; and at the close of life may we have a well grounded expectation, that when we are absent from the body, we shall be present with the Lord!

SERMON XVI.

Preached at York Street Chapel, Walworth, on the 11th of September, 1831, being the Sunday after the CORONATION of his MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY KING WILLIAM IV.

BY GEORGE CLAYTON.

REV. xiv. 14.—And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

THE eye, which is the seat of one of the most important and valuable of the human senses, is the inlet both of knowledge and of pleasure. It is by the faculty of sight that we become acquainted with the objects of the natural world, in the heavens above, in the earth beneath, and in "the great and wide sea." Rising "through nature up to nature's God," we are conscious of sublime elevation and exquisite delight, while we exclaim, in the words of the inspired Psalmist, " O Lord, how manifold are thy works, in wisdom hast thou made them all!"

By the same faculty, we are able to avail ourselves of the researches and observations of other men, who have either lived before us, or have travelled into regions which we have never visited, and have no prospect of exploring for ourselves. Reading is a principal and most precious source of information and entertainment. He, indeed, whatever other advantages he may possess, is an object of pity, who has no taste for books, and finds the perusal of the instructive page a dull and wearisome employ

ment:

"The wretch who digs the mine for bread,

And toils that others may be fed,

Feels less fatigue than that decreed

For him who cannot think or read."*

From the use of this faculty, also, arises the high gratification which mankind have generally derived from what are called

* Hannah More.

spectacles, whether natural, artificial, or philosophical. What hazards, what sacrifices, what costs of expenditure, have been incurred by the curious, for the sake of witnessing the pomp and pageantry of worldly glory, and gazing upon the short-lived procession of sublunary grandeur! How quickly does it fade from the vision, leaving no trace behind, but the remembrance that you beheld it, that you were delighted or disappointed in the contemplation of it, and that it is gone for ever! So vanishes the proudest array of earthly splendour, for "the fashion of this world passeth away." Amongst spectacles of this kind, the ceremony of a coronation is not the least interesting. There are circumstances, too, which may serve to invest it with a peculiar degree of attraction. The coronation of a prince, who, in the order of undisputed succession, has peacefully ascended the throne of his ancestors-who lives in the affections of his subjects-who returns, in every patriotic sympathy, the duty, loyalty, and love he receives from them-and who, in accepting the ensigns of dominion, solemnly engages to respect the rights, secure the immunities, and promote the happiness of his people, is a spectacle fitted to excite the most pleasurable emotions. Every rightly constituted British mind, if it finds little in the pomp and circumstance of such an exhibition to command attention; and if the antiquated ceremonials and superstitious usages connected with it, supply matter for deep and pious regret, yet will not refuse, on such an occasion, the tribute of its gratitude and its prayers, saying from the heart, "God save the King! Long live the King! Let the King live for ever!"

But, my brethren, the objects of the spiritual world are infinitely more sublime and commanding than any which the material universe can disclose. The mental vision is a source of more abundant profit, and more intense satisfaction, than the corporeal organ. Before these exhibitions, the ordinary scenes which delight the gaze, have no glory remaining to them, by reason of the glory that excelleth. We have this day a far nobler spectacle to present to you than earth has ever prepared. If you have entered the temple of God, saying, "Sir, we would see Jesus,"-if your feelings are in unison with the sentiments of our own poet,

"Where God resorts

I love it more

To keep the door

Thar. shine in courts ;"

then can we promise you a spiritual vision of transcendant magnificence. "I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden

crown, and in his right hand a sharp sickle." The text forms part of a description given by St. John of one of the visions granted to him in the isle of Patmos. He beheld four angels, who were commissioned to deliver messages of the utmost importance to the church of God. The first is represented as flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, ver. 6; which has been generally referred to the period of the Reformation, brought about by the immortal Luther and his illustrious associates, and by which the Holy Scriptures, being released from the captivity in which they had been held, were translated into the vulgar tongues, preachers were multiplied, and the knowledge of the gospel was every where spread abroad. The next angel, under the mystic name of Babylon, foretels the utter destruction of the papal antichrist, ver. 8. The third angel denounces tremendous woes upon those who continue in guilty association with the corruptions and superstitions of the degenerate community, and who, partaking of her sins, will become partakers of her plagues, ver. 8-10. The scene then changes, and presents to view a white cloud, and one sitting on it, in the similitude of the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. The fourth angel is introduced soliciting that He who sat on the cloud would thrust in his sickle, and reap the harvest of the earth, which he declares to be fully ripe. Then "He that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped!" The chapter concludes with a description of other angels employed in executing the judgments of God upon a rebellious and incorrigible world. In these words let us consider

I. The glorious person intended in this sublime description, which will aid us in determining the sense of the text.

II. The magnificent appearance He assumed, which will comprehend the scenery of the text.

III. The practical lessons suggested by the contemplation of the whole, which will embrace the uses of the text.

I. The illustrious personage intended. This we conceive to be no other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the exalted Messiah, who, for the suffering of death, was made a little lower than the angels, and is now crowned with glory and honour. The reasons of this opinion are, that he is evidently distinguished from the angels, of whom frequent mention is made in the chapter, and is represented as far more glorious than they; and that he is set forth by a threefold description, of which the application cannot easily be mistaken.

1. His characteristic designation-" The Son of Man." This was the form or similitude he wore. The manhood of Christ is exalted to the throne of Deity. "He who, in the beginning, was with God, and was God, the brightness of his Father's glory and the express image of his person, became flesh, was, in the fulness of time, born of a woman, and was found in fashion as a man." "Great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh. And we beheld his glory," &c. He who is the Son of God, in an exalted and peculiar sense, is also the Son of man; and to whom will this term apply but to the glorified Redeemer? How constantly he is designated by this appellation in the New Testament, and especially when he speaks of himself, I need not remind you. It is, however, not a little remarkable that when he describes to us the scene of his future appearance, and of the final judgment, he selects precisely this denomination: "When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and all nations shall be gathered before him."

2. His high exaltation. He is said to be throned on the clouds of heaven, and dignified with the highest honours: "For Him hath God exalted with his own right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour." He is exalted and extolled, and made very high: "I will make him, saith Jehovah, my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue confess." Where can we fix our eyes upon the humanity thus enthroned and exalted, but in the person of Jesus the Saviour?

3. The insignia appropriate to his office. He is advanced to the dignity and authority of a king, and therefore is invested with a crown of gold, and a sickle—an emblem of power, answering to a sceptre or sword, but put in this form, as having a relation to the service which was immediately to be performed in reaping the harvest of the earth. These are the regalia of his kingly office. "Art thou a king then?" said Pilate, when he stood as a criminal at his bar. To which inquiry he meekly replied, "Thou sayest that I am a king, for to this end was I born, and for this purpose came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth." He has on his vesture, and on his thigh a name written," King of kings, and Lord of lords." Who can fail to recognize in this feature of the description, the Saviour of a lost world? "Yet have I set my king on my holy hill of Zion." "Truly this is the Son of God."

II. Having ascertained the just application of these words to