cipated that day when his eyes should behold his King in His triumph, we find him pouring forth the prayer, 'Blessed be His glorious name for ever; and let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen, and Amen.' We need not wonder when it is added, 'The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended' (Ps. lxxii. 20). All his heart's desires, all his fondest longings would be, he shows, fully and alone satisfied in the glory of his Master. In vain we look for universal peace ere Christ returns. Until then the sound of war will still be heard; nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; man's hand will be raised to shed his fellow's blood. The world will not gradually glide into a millennium. Of His Son God says in prophecy, 'I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him' (Ezek. xxi. 27). The times of the restitution of all things' will never arrive until He, who is their great restorer as well as their framer, the true Prince of Peace, will set up His throne upon earth. His sceptre then will be one of righteousness. To Him alone can it be truly said, 'The sceptre of Thy kingdom is a right sceptre' (Ps. xlv. 6.) Such teaches us what will be the character of His kingdom, and who alone will share in its glories; 'There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie' (Rev. xxi. 27). From the same may we learn what is the uniform rule of His administration. Many now may not yield to His rule-may dispute His authority-yea, even charge Him with injustice; but it will not be always so. There is a day coming when 'the wicked shall be silent in darkness' (1 Sam. ii. 9). When the King comes in to see the guests, they who are without a wedding-garment will be found 'speechless' or without excuse. The righteousness of Christ's rule, both now and hereafter, all will some day be constrained to acknowledge. In the prospect of that day, when the 'decree ' shall be brought to pass which God has declared respecting His Son, whom He has set as His King upon His holy hill of Zion,' we are warned what is our duty and in what our safety lies: 'Kiss the Son lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little' (Ps. ii. 12). In which is implied submission, reconciliation, and confidence on our part. With this last the 'kiss' spoken of is identified, when the psalmist immediately adds, 'Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.' warned in hearing,' said the crushed to pieces in feeling. either actively or passively.' 'He that will not be martyr, 'shall be God will be obeyed The thought of Christ as a King should suggest to us not only the safety of His people in consequence of the power enlisted in their defence, but also their present dignity, and their future glory. They also are made 'kings and priests unto God' (Rev. i. 6). Such should remind us of the rich provision in which it is their privilege to rejoice even now. Το use the language of an old writer: 'Kings live not like common persons; their apparel, diet, dwelling, attendance, revenues, all are above the vulgar rank. If Christ hath made us kings, why do we live like beggars? Our diet is manna, the bread of angels; our apparel out of the rich wardrobe of God's own Son; our dwelling (for this is but our pilgrimage) is that glorious court above the starry firmament; our revenues be those immortal graces from the treasury of goodness which can never be wasted; our attendants no meaner than celestial angels.' Reader, is this your soul's experience of Christ, and what He has provided for you? Can you thus rejoice in Him, 'out of whose mouth went a sharp two-edged sword'? CHAPTER VIII. THE GLORY OF CHRIST. Though sore beset with guilt and fear Have taught my heart to love His Word? Revealed His name, and bid me pray, 'No. Though cast down, I am not slain ; The present, Satan, is thy hour, His love will plead for my relief, He hears my groans, He feels my grief; A soul that thought his help was lost.' เ His countenance was as the sun shineth in His strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.' IN the narrative recorded of our Lord's transfiguration on the mount before His three most favoured disciples, we read of the fullest display of Christ's glory on this earth which mortals' eyes have ever been permitted to behold. There we are told, 'His face did shine as the sun' (Matt. xvii. 2). In such we have set before us a faint foreshadow of what will be the glory of our exalted Lord at His second advent, when He will be beheld, not by Peter, James, and John only, but when 'every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him' (Rev. i. 7). The close connection of the transfiguration with a Saviour's second coming is taught us by the Apostle Peter; when proving to those whom he addressed that he had not followed cunningly devised fables when he made known unto them the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of His majesty, he confirms all that he had advanced by a reference to that time when there came to Christ from God the Father 'such a voice from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;' and he further adds, 'This voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount' (2 Pet. i. 18). When 'the great and dreadful day of the Lord' was predicted by the prophet Malachi, we find Christ spoken of by God under the title of the Sun, 'Unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings' (Mal. iv. 2). Similarly, when the exiled disciple detailed what |