2. There are other persons, it is much to be feared, who avoid professing their dissent from the Christian belief on this great subject, but who yet do not heartily concur in it. They hear, it may be, of the coming of our Lord without any sign of contradiction; they speak of it, perhaps, as of a matter undoubted and allowed; but still they do not verily believe it. They are persuaded, perhaps, that it is a fable, but that it is not at least, they have

prudent to explode it; or, some suspicions that possibly it may be so ;-or they suspend, as they suppose, their judgment, and deem it abundantly sufficient to keep their thoughts upon the subject to themselves;—or, in some way or other, they do not in their inmost souls believe it to be positively certain that Christ Jesus will hereafter appear in the way and for the purposes declared. Now all this may be secret, but it is secret unbelief. Such persons may possibly suppose that they are maintaining a prudent hesitation; they may imagine themselves to be patiently waiting for some more ample and convincing evidence than any hitherto afforded; or they may even indulge the flattering idea that they are wise above what is written, and that while they discover the thing foretold to be impossible, they see also the end and expediency of the general delusion. But, whatever may be

the complexion of their reasonings, or the nature of their creed, they may know, and they ought, moreover, to be awake to the fact, that they do not, at this moment, believe the Christian doctrine of a future judgment, that they do not receive the message of the gospel. Their want of genuine belief is attended with a corresponding deficiency of Christian temper and practice. And their lurking infidelity is the source of much of that ungodliness which prevails among professors of the gospel, and of much unmerited disgrace to the cause of real and honest Christianity.

Let such persons look within themselves, and consider their real state and circumstances. It is impossible that they can hide their hearts from God; but it is too likely that, while they are imposing upon the world, they are also deceiving their own selves. Let them put themselves in the way of becoming not only almost, but altogether, Christians. Let them remember that their reserve and dissimulation are positively sinful. Let them consider,-what is really a most important recollection,-that if they have reason or knowledge enough to lead them to doubt or to suspect, they do therefore, and at the same time, possess reason or knowledge whereby they may examine the evidence afforded. We entreat them

to deal honestly in a matter so momentous; to consider the subject with candour; to pray with simplicity of heart, that they may be guided into truth; and we doubt not that grace will in this way be given them to the acknowledgment of the faith of Christ Jesus our Lord, and to the salvation of their souls.

3. But, on the other hand, the Christian really gives credit to what Scripture has affirmed concerning the coming of our Lord. He regards this event as a certainty. It enters into his calculations as something which, though future, will yet assuredly come to pass; and which, therefore, he must not overlook in the regulation of his conduct. He has never, perhaps, had a doubt upon the subject; but, having received his information from apparently competent authority, he has always acquiesced in it. And herein he has done wisely. Or it may be, on the other hand, that he has examined, with labour and diligence, the whole body of Christian evidence. He has, perhaps, searched antiquity, and brought a whole mass of learning to bear upon an investigation of the truth of his religion. And in this And in this way also he has done wisely; and he has arrived at a favourable and permanent conclusion. It matters not, however, by what process, whether more or less complicate, he has satisfied his mind; but

the fact is, that he does not only profess, but also earnestly believe, this great article of faith, that, at the coming of the Son of man, the dead shall rise again with their bodies, and all men shall receive from the sentence of his mouth their unalterable doom. And this, as we have shown by way of contrast, is one important particular wherein he may truly be said to be "waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

II. But then, secondly, to be waiting for the coming of Christ implies something more than merely a belief that the event will hereafter come to pass. It is, indeed, too possible for men to believe, or to assent to, this truth as well as others, while the consent of the understanding may have no influence whatever on the feelings or bias of the heart. It is not so, however, with those who are described as waiting for the coming of their Lord. They have not only an expectation of the event as one which will certainly take place, but they have also an abiding and practical impression on their minds of the importance of that event compared with all others, together with a well-founded persuasion that it will be to themselves a blessing. They feel an interest in it. They are looking for a grace that is

may

to be brought unto them at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and therefore they are waiting for that period in the way of hopeful anticipation. Theirs is not merely a cold and powerless assent to the declarations of the gospel. Such assent may indeed be given; but it is given to no good purpose. Men be convinced that Christ will hereafter come to judgment, because this may have been made manifest to their reason by sufficient demonstration. They may make, too, their profession of this right belief in creeds and divers forms. But then, if their faith be thus much and no more,— if it rest and terminate in this assent and this profession,-it does not amount to that waiting for the coming of the Lord which is a feature of vital Christianity.

We dwell not, however, at this time, on that darker side of the picture which may too easily be drawn. Let us consider what Christian faith, in this particular, really is, rather than what it is not. Let us contemplate, for a few moments, the Christian waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, under the persuasion of a personal interest in this decisive revelation. And let us view this as in a picture. "About midnight, as they were driven up and down in Adria," the shipmen, with whom Paul was sailing for Italy, "fearing lest they should have fallen upon rocks, cast four an