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such as the resurrection of sleeping saints, the restoration of Israel, the universal exaltation of God's anointed King, the final triumph of godliness, the judgment of God's enemies, and the reward of his

servants.

Surely if the Bible did not reveal this as the ultimate outcome of the great historic ages, it would seem the most consistent and natural culmination and consummation of the redemptive scheme. This is the “blessed hope " toward which for many years our departed brother looked with unspeakable longing as the crown of all other hopes.

That which pre-eminently marks the Scripture teaching as to our Lord's second coming, is its imminence, or the combination of certainty at some time with uncertainty at what time. And our Lord himself made this imminence the main incentive to vigilance and diligence: "Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." To refer this to death is to violate the simplest laws of exegesis and upset the whole science of hermeneutics. Such, and similar expressions can refer to nothing less than the personal return of the Son of Man, to assume the sceptre and mount the throne toward which all prophecy and promise look. And as Dr. Gordon often said, there is not a virtue or grace in the whole circle or chorus of Christian attainments that is not in the Scripture connected expressly with this blessed hope.

This dream, therefore, not unnaturally pictures the Son of Man as coming suddenly to his temple -unexpectedly appearing in the midst of his people to test, as with refiner's fire, the service of his saints, as to whether or not it is an offering in righteousness.

III

THE SACREDNESS OF THE PREACHER'S VOCATION

HERE is one calling which especially

deserves the name of the "High calling of God in Christ Jesus," namely, that of the preacher of the gospel. He who, from this divine vocation, goes into any other, though it be to occupy the throne of a world empire, steps down to a lower level. The piety and purity of a Christian community will therefore be found to be in exact proportion to the intelligent respect and reverence in which the office of the minister of Christ is held, and by which it is magnified.

Paul to the Ephesian elders,1 gives the five-fold aspect of this office of the preacher and teacher : First, it is a ministry of the Lord Jesus, of whom he is a disciple and ambassador; secondly, it is a ministry of the gospel of the grace of God, of which he is a herald and witness; third, it is a ministry of the kingdom of God, in which he is a subject and representative; fourth, it is a ministry of the church of God, in which he is a servant and shep

1 Acts 20: 24-28.

herd; fifth, a ministry of the Holy Ghost, of whom he is an ensample, and overseer or bishop.

To Dr. Gordon the holy vocation was thus invested with this manifold opportunity and obligation, exalted privilege and commensurate responsibility. To fulfile these high functions, three things were pre-eminently needful that the word of Christ should dwell in him richly, that Christ himself should abide in him, and that he should be filled with the Spirit. Hence he sought to know the word thoroughly as his text-book, to know Christ as his personal Saviour, and to know the Holy Spirit as his indwelling Guide.

He was, as became a preacher of the word, a man of clear and firm convictions. If physiognomy is any index of character, there was no mistaking the meaning of that large head, high, broad brow, firmly set lower jaw. It needed no exceptionally keen observer to detect and predict the intellectual capacity, intelligent habit, and courageous conviction, of which such signs were hung out by nature herself. And the signs were not misleading, for he lacked neither mental power, nor clear vision of truth, and tenacious hold upon it.

But this devout man of God had learned that it is not enough that one hold the truth, if the truth hold not him. "Teneo et Teneor." How grand the significance of the metaphor in the Epistle to the Ephesians, which represents truth

as the girdle of the warrior Christian-the very zone that, grasping the vital parts, holds all the other pieces of armor in place! But let us not lose sight of the fact that the minister of Christ must also know his Master, the living Word.

Thackeray sagaciously hints that there is a law of spiritual harvest; we sow a thought and reap an act; sow an act and reap a habit; sow a habit and reap a character; sow a character and reap a destiny. A character like that of Dr. Gordon is a whole history brought to light; it tells of habits of life, of thought as well as conduct, of a secret communion with God in the closet which shows its fruit and has its reward openly. Charles Lamb satirizes the man who vainly persuades himself that he can eat garlic in secret and not smell of it publicly. No man can walk with God in secret and cultivate the acquaintance of the unseen Christ, without character becoming radiant, until even his face will shine though he knows it not. Hence a minister is not only to be a herald but a witness. He is to tell what he knows, testify to that which he has tested and proved by testing, and, because experience limits his testimony, he must aim at a constantly richer and deeper experience in order to a witness correspondingly convincing and persuading.

How long will it take us to learn that power in service hangs on the height and breadth of attainment in divine things? A minister of Christ must

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