A day, thus conferring the most exalted blessings, presented the most powerful considerations to the Christian converts, to walk as becometh the children of that light which had risen upon them.

"Let us," says the Apostle, in the verses connected with the text, "cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof."

save.

The exhortation, my brethren, should operate with equal force upon us. Not a circumstance endeared the day of salvation to the first believers, which does not establish its claim to our affection and gratitude. We, as well as they, see him whom prophets and kings long desired. We, also, are that spiritual Judah and Israel whom he came to We, also, are quickened, from our natural state of sin and condemnation, to spiritual vigour and life. For us, also, Jesus is that true and living way, by which we have access unto our God. He guides and enlightens us by his word; he sanctifies us by his Spirit; and for us he hath gone before, our Intercessor with the Father, our Almighty King, promising us conquest over temptation, victory over death, and an entrance into everlasting life.

My fellow Christians-the "light" which saves us from the worship of "lying vanities," from bowing to the work of our own hand, and calling it our God; which reveals to us, in all his glory and his goodness, the Father of our spirits, our Maker, and our Lord; which discloses to us, in the "blood of his Son," the full propitiation for our sins, and inspires the confidence of pardon; which, through the influences of the Holy Spirit, enlightens and renews us after the image of God, and revealing to us his favour as our consolation in life, and his grace as our support in death, leads to his presence as our unspeakable joy, for ever and ever this " light," which thus inspires the hope of immortal life, and alone prepares us for it, beams from that "day" of salvation which the Apostle announced. Its full lustre surrounding us, let us not close our hearts to its renovating power, and its consolatory hopes. "The works of darkness;" those vices and sins which disgraced even the "times of ignorance," when men wandered in the "night" of pagan darkness; those sensual indulgences, so degrading and offensive, which men seek to conceal from the knowledge of the world, and, if possible, even from their own consciences, and therefore chuse for the commission of them the shades of midnight, would be in the highest degree criminal and odious in those who enjoy the splendour of Gospel day.

These " works of darkness," as the Apostle ex

horts, you should "put off;" cast them away with holy indignation. "The armour of light" alone becomes you. The virtues which are inculcated in the Gospel; the holy tempers and habits which adorned your Divine Master, and shone forth in his illustrious example; the meekness, the purity, the heavenly mindedness, the entire goodness which your holy profession enjoins, and which are exhibited in such splendour in that Gospel day which shines upon you; you must " put on." You must appear invested with them daily and constantly. They copstitute the clothing of "light," the pure and splendid garments with which the children of light should be arrayed. They will indeed prove, as the Apostle styles them, "the armour of light;" fortifying you against the assaults of temptation, the persecutions of the world, the accusations of conscience, the attacks of your spiritual enemy, and the judgment of the great day. Clad with this "armour of light," your conversation and conduct should not disgrace your holy profession.

And, therefore, the Apostle continues the exhortation, you should "walk honestly as in the day;" not with those base purposes, and unjust and dishonourable practices, which seek conceal, ment; but with those elevated views, and that uprightness of character and conduct, which court enquiry and command confidence. "Rioting and drunkenness, chambering and wantonness," the sensual and lewd indulgences, that were practised

by the heathen during the night of spiritual darkness which covered them, and which now characterise not the open day but the shades of "night, corrupting and degrading, offensive to the world, to reason, to conscience, to that God who will bring them into judgment, you, Christians, should shun with holy detestation. For you are the children of that splendid and heavenly "light," which discloses to you, as the perfection of your nature, the most exalted virtues, and opens to you scenes of eternal bliss, your destiny and your reward. And "strife and envying" you should avoid as repugnant to that spirit of lowliness, of charity, and of love, which the "light" of Gospel excites and cherishes.

day"

"Put ye on," proceeds the Apostle in his animating address, "the Lord Jesus Christ." What emphasis in the expression-put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. Appear as he appeared. Through the influences of that enlightening and sanctifying Spirit which is his gift, shine forth in his image, with the piety, the purity, and the meekness that adorned him. To "make provision for the flesh," not for the laudable purposes of comfort, of innocent enjoyment, and pious benevolence, but "to fulfil the lusts thereof," for the indulgence of a vain ostentation, for luxurious living, for the gratification of inordinate appetite, would be a conduct fit only for the children of darkness, the abandoned devotees of the " night," and utterly

unworthy of those who are called to "the day" of purity, and of heavenly light and bliss.

These are the practical lessons which the Apostle enforces, from the consideration that "the day" of Gospel grace, and salvation, has commenced-the day of the first coming of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

But these exhortations derive additional force from considering "the day," which the Apostle declares" is at hand," as

II. The day of the second coming of Him to judge the world, who first came in great humility to redeem it.

This is emphatically styled, in various parts of the sacred writings-the day-the great day-the great day of the Lord-the day of the consummation of all things.

Awful and momentous must be the scenes, the transactions, and the issues of a day, thus characterised in the sacred volume.

Yes-it will be the day—when the trump of the Archangel shall pronounce, time is no longerwhen the Son of Man shall descend from Heaven with the glory of his Father and the holy angels; thousand thousands standing before him, and ten thousand times ten thousand ministering unto him -the heavens pass away-the elements melt-the earth reels to and fro amidst the burning flamethe Son of Man takes the judgment seat-he opens the books-wakes the sleeping nations--summons