nicious delusions acquired an injurious ascendancy in the church. A dependance upon personal penance and angelic intercession came to be engendered; and, against such a dependance as this, the apostle expressed himself when he said, that, to every man, whether Jew or Gentile, he would preach Christ-in opposition both to what they themselves might suffer, or what they supposed angels could do for them, as the only foundation of hope respecting that glory which they imagined they were securing by other

means.

These few observations are sufficient to show us the general sense of this passage, in its application to the circumstances of primitive believers, and as it would be understood by the Colossians themselves. They had been personally exposed to the seductions of Hebrew prejudice and Gentile superstition. Some of them, like the members of the churches in Galatia, to use the apostle's own words, "had been removed away from the hope of the gospel;" that is, had been tempted to remove the hope they entertained of acceptance and blessedness, from one foundation to another; from Him who is the stone divinely laid for this very purpose, and upon which the whole fabric of Christian truth and expectation rests; to a vain and deceitful mass of crude notions, erroneous ideas, and superstitious observances. This had actually taken place at Colosse. It was the apostle's object, in writing this epistle, to correct such injurious mistakes. He refers to them distinctly in other parts of the letter; and, there can be no doubt, had them fully before his mind when he dictated the passage to which attention is now to be directed. In the further prosecution of the discourse, we shall endeavour to present to you the full meaning of the text, in a short series of explanatory and practical observations.

I. Let us first notice the subject of the apostle's declaration-"glory," and "the hope of glory." This, of course, refers to the felicity of a future life, as discovered by the gospel; "the hope," as it is in another place expressed, "laid up for us in heaven," that is, using the term descriptive of a feeling for the object towards which that feeling is directed-the happiness, or "the glory, honour, and immortality," to which Christians are ultimately to attain. Of a life after death, the Gentiles knew nothing-nothing I mean with certainty; the wisest of them could not speak with confidence ; they were either oppressed and alarmed by perplexities and apprehensions, or they were deluded by dreams of an Elysium, in which, in the society of the wise and virtuous, they should possess a perpetuity of repose and pleasure. They sung of this in their poetry,

and they reasoned about it in their speculations, but they had no "foundation of hope," properly so called, even for this; they could not "give a reason for the hope that was in them;" as to actual knowledge, they were without God," and therefore were they "without" solid "hope in the world." "Life and immortality,"

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so far as they were concerned, were pre-eminently "brought to light by the gospel." The Jewish nation, previous to the appearance of the Lord, entertained many just anticipations respecting this subject. Even a resurrection from the dead was a prevalent expectation amongst them. The patriarchs and prophets "sought another country, that is, an heavenly;" the hope of the people was directed and sustained by their example; while their devotion was kindled and their faith confirmed by expressions like these"Thou wilt guide me by thy counsels, and afterwards receive me to glory."

This future glory, then, is the subject of which the apostle speaks. A glory including that of character; that glory "which is to be revealed in us." This personal perfection, resulting from the forgiveness of sin, and begun in the renovation of the heart; consisting in the complete work which the great Sanctifier of the church is engaged to perform in the entire assimilation of our spirits to God; this, doubtless, is an important part of the lustre which is to adorn that world "wherein dwelleth righteousness." It may be regarded, however, with strict propriety, in a more literal acceptation. It may be supposed to refer to the sight and the participation of that incomparable splendour, which is represented as ever emanating from the throne and pervading the residence of Deity. God himself is often described in Scripture, by the employment of emblems and epithets expressive of magnificence. He is said to be "Light," and "to dwell in light that is inaccessible, and full of glory." In consistency with this, the mansions prepared for the church are spoken of as "the inheritance of the saints in light;" the sun, and moon, and all the luminaries of heaven, are excluded from the new world as unnecessary appendages, in consequence of that divine and surpassing splendour with which it is to be replenished, derived immediately from God and from the Lamb! These, and similar passages, are employed, I imagine, not merely as figures; they are intended to mean, what they seem literally to express, that, in respect to positive, and, if we may use the term, material magnificence, all the lustre of the sun in his clear and cloudless majesty, when pouring forth his tide of intolerable light, "is not worthy to be compared with the glory that is yet to be revealed."

Now, to the hope of this glory the Gentiles were raised. It was offered to them after the resurrection of Christ, and by the preaching of the apostles. The world had previously existed for four thousand years, and that same God, "who now commanded all men every where to repent," and "to lay hold of this hope set before them in the gospel," had confined every divine intimation respecting this glory to the descendants of one man, whom he had selected for the accomplishment of certain moral purposes, and whom he had distinguished by peculiar favour. This people, proud of their privileges, mistaking the true reason of their separate existence, and ignorant of what was most agreeable to the character of that Being," whose tender mercies are over all his works," were offended with the thought of religious privileges and blessings being extended to those from whom they had before been withheld. There was a mystery about the thing which they could not penetrate or explain; a mystery, not in the previous limitation of the divine regard, which, it would seem, might most naturally have been felt, but a mystery in the circumstance of its universal extension! They were actually exasperated by the idea that the Gentiles, the dogs, as they used contemptuously to term every nation but their own, were to be placed on a level with themselves, and to become, with them, "heirs together of the grace of life!" In fact, so staggering was this intention of the gospel even to the apostles, that it was long before many of them cordially entertained it. Paul, from the moment of conversion, saw and rejoiced in the benevolent design, for he was peculiarly chosen to carry it into effect; but Peter and the rest required, so to speak, miraculous instruction ere they could embrace it, or believe it to be agreeable to the analogy of faith. We cannot wonder, therefore, that others should be perplexed by its apparently incredible character, nor at the strong terms in which allusion is made to it by Paul. It is to this that he refers in the previous verses of this chapter; and it is from this that the expression in the text derives much of its primary significance and point. "I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you (Gentiles), to fulfil the word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and generations, but is now made manifest to his saints, which is-Christ, (even) to you the hope of glory;" you, so long" without God and without hope in the world;" you, despised by those to whom belonged "the adoption, and the glory, and the covenant, and the giving of the law, and the promises;" even to you has Christ become " wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption."

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II. But, in the second place, the words before us express the medium through which the Gentiles became the partakers of this hope. To them Christ was that hope; he was the author and bestower of it; he had not only revealed the object, and thus imparted knowledge respecting it, but he had himself opened the way to its enjoyment, and had thus imparted knowledge of a far higher and more necessary kind—even that of the means by which it was to be secured. It was thus that Christ was the hope of glory to man; not merely, that as a prophet, acting under divine inspiration, he had discovered the fact of immortal life, for that of itself is nothing; it may even be something worse, for it may aggravate despair, by shewing us what we have lost, the value and grandeur of which we might not otherwise have known. Christ, however, did not merely do this, but he added to the discovery of the glory the discovery of the way that led to it, and this was Himself-himself, in all the plenitude of his grace, and in all the efficiency of the offices, which, as the Redeemer of a lost world, he condescended to sustain. To obtain that glory required the pardon of sin, and this was secured by his atoning death;-to obtain that glory required the renewal of our nature, and this was secured by his promise of the Spirit;to obtain that glory required a practical abandonment of sin, and the visible exhibition of sanctified excellence, and this was secured by the constant supply of His grace, who ever liveth to intercede for believers, and who is exalted to govern and purify his church. These, and other kindred truths, were all necessary to be known for the Gentiles to have any thing like "hope towards God." And these are all supernatural truths;-truths which they never could have discovered for themselves; which philosophy never could have taught them; and which, in all their richness and grandeur, they could not have learnt even from the Jews:-but from Christ, who was himself "the way, the truth, and the life;" who was the substance and reality of that "better hope," the bringing in of which was all that Judaism accomplished; "who himself bore our sins, in his own body, on the tree;" "who opened a fountain for uncleanness, and consecrated a way into the holiest of all;" "who," for the very purpose that sinners might come with boldness to a throne of grace, and lay hold of the inheritance within the vail, "was set forth a propitiation through faith in his blood, that God might be at once a just God and a Saviour;""who, though a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, was yet declared to be a foundation on which whosoever trusted should never be ashamed;"from Christ, we repeat, in whom all these qualities met, and many more equally adapted to their state, and equally necessary to be

known-from him they received all, and in him they saw all, that was requisite to inspire them with a hope full of immortality, and "to fill them with joy and peace in believing." And they needed nothing besides;-they were indebted to him, and to him only; it was inconsistent with that grace and truth with which he was replenished, and that omnipotence to save of which he was possessed, and that love with which he was looking upon every one of them from heaven,-it was inconsistent with these, as well as with the perfection of his work upon earth, for them to have recourse either to Jewish ceremonies, or to personal suffering, or to philosophic superstitions, as means of augmenting their confidence, and securing the possessions of the anticipated eternity. To youChrist is the hope of your calling, for to him alone are you indebted for every thing by which man can be justified with God, and by which God can consistently confer glory upon man.

III. But, in the third place, we observe that there are senses in which Christ is the hope of glory in us;-in us, personally and experimentally ;-in us, as applicable to all believers, simply as such, without distinction of nation or time. There are several passages, both in the discourses of the Lord and in the writings of his apostles, in which this phraseology occurs in a very remarkable manner. We propose briefly to examine them, and to ascertain their fair and obvious sense.

In the sixth chapter of the Gospel by St. John are many of the most striking and singular of the sayings of Christ. He refers to the manna on which the people lived in the wilderness, and speaks of himself under the figure of the living bread which came down from heaven. As he proceeds, however, the figure undergoes an alteration, or rather is explained by another, which other renders his whole discourse still more remarkable and significant. "I am the bread of life." "If any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." This passage evidently refers to the doctrine of Christ respecting himself as a sacrifice for sin; and by his dwelling in those who feed upon him, is intended such a reception of this truth as insures their participation of that redemption, which, by his infinitely meritorious sacrifice, the Redeemer has obtained for the penitent believer. I do not see that these