to be. That was the symbol, this is the Substance; that the passing shadow, this the abiding Reality; that the parable, this the Interpretation. Yes, the last Adam is older than the first; the Church of the living God older than the Mother of all living (Gen. iii. 20). And so St. Paul, in declaring to us his great mystery concerning Christ and His Church-to wit, that we are members of His body, being of His flesh and His bones, and so repeating Adam's own words in Eden-did ever, as was the wont of his own Master, utter things which had been kept secret from the foundation of the world (Matt. xiii. 35). Heaven grant that these natural relationships of ours may indeed accomplish in us the purpose for which they were ordained; namely, to train us for the spiritual, teaching us through the blessed hints of the earthly marriage how to secure a share in the True and Everlasting Bridal. So shall we be ready to meet the Bridegroom, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Rev. xxi. 2). So shall we be ready for the Midnight Cry, Lo, the Bridegroom cometh!" (Matt. xxv. 6). 66 Return. And thus we come to speak of that 4. The Bride- blessed event: the Bridegroom's promgroom's Promised ised Return. For now it is only the espousal time, the Church's secret betrothal as a pure Virgin to Christ; then shall be the open, everlasting Bridal, even the Bridegroom's joyous presentation of the Church to Himself before all the Universe in all her unspeakable beauty. Then shall it be seen that though for a small moment He had forsaken us, it was that He might with great mercies and everlasting kindness gather us (Is. liv. 7). Heaven speed that blessed hour! Even now may it be ours to hear as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. rejoice, and give to Him the glory. Let us be glad and the Lamb is come, and His Wife hath made herself ready. Blessed are they who are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb" (Rev. xix. 6–9). The Bolted Door. Our everlasting home!"-(Bonar.) Friends, no one will sup with Him in heaven who has not been wont to sup with Him on earth. Listen, then, again, to the Bridegroom's knock: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me" (Rev. iii. 20). O friend, that knocking will not continue forever. Persist in keeping thy door closed, and thou, too, shalt ere long knock at a closed door. "While they went to buy, the Bridegroom came; and they who were ready went in with Him to the Marriage-feast; and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He answered and said: Verily I say unto you, I know you not” (Matt. xxv. 10–12). Call. "Late, late, so late! and dark the night and chill! 'Too late, too late! ye cannot enter now.' "No light had we: for that we do repent; "No light; so late! and dark and chill the night! "Have we not heard the Bridegroom is so sweet? —(“GUINEVERE.") But I cannot bear to close so sadly. The Bridegroom's Listen, then, to the Bridegroom's cheery call: "The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My Beloved speaketh, and saith unto me: Arise, My love, My fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, The rain is over, and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; The time of the singing of birds is come, And the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land; The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, And the vines in blossom give forth their fragrance. Arise, My love, My fair one, and come away." -(CANT. ii. 8-13.) Yes, Thou Bridegroom of the Church, we will arise and follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. LECTURE XIII. GENESIS OF THE SABBATH. "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made."-GENESIS ii. 1-3. I.-Explanation of the Passage. 1. the Creative Process. : FIRST of all, let us attend to the Explanation of the Passage. And, first, the Divine Cessation from Cessation of Creative Work: "Thus were finished the heavens and the earth, and all their host and on the Seventh Day God ended His Work which He made." But observe precisely the kind of activity from which Deity ceased on the Seventh Day: it was not the activity of administration, either in Providence. or in Morals-our Father worketh hitherto (John v. 17): but it was the activity of creating: "God ended all His work which He created in making it." And science strikingly confirms the hoary Archive. However much scientists may disagree as to the origin of the universe, or the age of the globe, or the character and method of the geologic processes, or the antiquity of man, they all agree in one point-to wit: Man himself was the last to appear on this earth's stage. |