by the sight that you have become altogether like Him, without a single temptation or difficulty left, and with every stain and tendency to sin rooted out, and gone for ever. But this is what we are led to expect in these words of St. John: ‘Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.’ No wonder, then, that with such a hope in view our Lord directs us, even in the midst of the fears and perplexities of the latter days, to look up, and lift up our head, for our redemption draweth nigh. But one thing we must remember. We shall never rejoice in the redemption or deliverance that is to come, till we can rest in the redemption or atonement that is complete. There are many amongst us, I sadly fear, who find no pleasure in the thought of the Lord’s return, and in many cases there can be no doubt about the reason. They have found no peace through His cross. I believe that no one ever cares for the Lord Jesus Christ as a Deliverer from either death or sin till He knows Him as the Redeemer from the curse. No man can look up and lift up his head if he expects to rise again to the resurrection of damnation, and to be cast forth for ever with all the guilt of all His sin on his miserable head. Therefore it is that, till you know the atonement by blood, you will never care for the deliverance by power. Till you know the sufficiency of the ransom you are sure to dread the coming of the Deliverer, as, I fear, too many do. Look backwards, then, as well as forwards, I most earnestly entreat you. Accept the assurance of the coming deliverance in all its fulness. Accept it in all its joy. Rejoice in the blessed hope. But take care; and while you look forward in the hope that your redemption draweth nigh, remember also to look back on that finished atonement, and never rest till you can appropriate these words to the Ephesians, ‘In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.’ One word before we close respecting the sacred feast of the Lord’s supper, in which it is our sacred privilege as believers to gather round the table of our Lord. It is a connecting link between the two parts of redemption, the atonement and the deliverance, the cross and the advent. In it we look backwards and forwards, as we are taught 1 Cor. xi. 26: backwards, for we show the Lord’s death; and forwards, for we do so ‘till He come.’ When He does so, we shall sit down with Him at the marriage supper of the Lamb, and our symbolic service will cease in the realisation of the fulness of His blessing. Oh! how I pity those who are moved neither by memory or hope, by the recollection of what He has done, or the hope of what He is about to do; who never show the Lord’s death according to His own appointment, and never act as if they were waiting for His coming! XIV. HEAVEN.