God's kingdom " may be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous:" and he says in another place, "Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book "?" In the book of the prophet Malachi it is said, “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared

the Lord, and that thought upon his name: and they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in the day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." So also it is written in the Psalms, that "the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance;" and in the book of the Revelations, that "there shall in no wise. enter into the heavenly Jerusalem any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of

Ps. Ixix. 28. b Ps. lvi. 8. Ps. cxii. 6.

'Mal. iii. 16, 17.

life" "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life; but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels ":" but, 66 if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city"."

Now all these are figurative expressions, to signify, not that God has, of a mere arbitrary will, fixed upon certain individuals of the human race, and appointed them absolutely and unconditionally to eternal life; but that the Lord knows, watches over, and remembers, the ways of the righteous; that their that their persons are highly valued by Him, as though they were his own sons; that faithful perseverance in his service shall be rewarded with eternal happiness in heaven; but that if they forsake Him and do that which is evil,-how great soever might be the satisfaction with which He had once regarded them,—they shall be banished at the last day from his

presence, and thrown into eternal punishment.

In accordance with this, the expression of the text," rejoice that your names are written in heaven," must be understood. The disciples had been, as all other men, "dead in trespasses and sins°;" but now, they were" alive unto God through Jesus Christ their Lord ":" they were "begotten again to a lively hope";" they had "received the adoption of sons"," and were "come to the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heavens:" they had forsaken all and followed Christ; and had hitherto faithfully obeyed and adhered to Him. They were therefore dear to Him, and dear in Him to the Father, whose "good pleasure" it was to give" unto them an everlasting" kingdom"" which should not be moved. Here then was an ample source of joy. The wonderful powers which they had derived from even the immediate interposition of the Spirit, were one day to be taken away

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from them: but here was a still more distinguished privilege which they now enjoyed, and a blessed hope towards another life; of neither of which would they ever be deprived, if they valued and preserved them as they ought.

Yet even here also there was cause for "fear and trembling." As on the one hand, they were rather to distrust themselves than to rejoice, in their ability to perform the most wonderful works: so on the other hand, their rejoicing in the consciousness of God's present favour and in the hope of his blessed rewards, was not to be unconditional. They were to remember that a race was yet to be run, and a battle yet to be fought, before they could make themselves absolutely certain, that a crown of righteousness and glory was laid up for them. They were to bear in mind that they were beset with manifold sins and infirmities; that they were liable to be drawn aside from their stedfastness by the deceitfulness of their own heart; and that they had to "wrestle not" merely against flesh and blood, but against prin

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cipalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, against the wiles of the devil "," who either " an angel of light "" with endless and subtle devices would labour to seduce, or as a roaring lion would seek to terrify, them from the narrow path of life. And they had to contemplate and watch against the possibility of their fainting by the way, and thus of coming short of that rest, which God has, of his infinite mercy and goodness in Christ, provided for his people.

But even these momentous considerations were again to be counterbalanced by the promise of our God and Saviour Christ, that the Spirit of truth and power would help their infirmities, and purify their hearts and by the most indubitable assurance, that "greater is He that was in them, than all they that are in the world";" and that how numerous soever, and subtle, and powerful, might be their enemies, they would possess in their Christian faith a Eph. vi. 12. 2 Cor. xi. 14. y 1 John iv. 4.