God upon the Mount, his face

retained the light which had shone upon it, so that the people could not stedfastly look upon him. When Jesus appeared to Paul in the way to Damascus, such was the glory of the light which attended him, that all the company fell to the earth; and Paul himself was struck blind,

How shall I who am now in darkness be made a partaker of the glory which is set before me? How; but by considering first with myself, what a dreadful thing it would be, if I should lose the kingdom of glory, and fall into the kingdom of darkness! It is possible to love darkness rather than light: God forbid I should be of that mind! But I shall be so if my works are evil: therefore let me now put away the works of darkness. Then let me take the word of God, as a light unto my path. As Christ endured the Cross, and despised the shame of it, for the joy that was set before him; so let me bear the sufferings of the present time, whatever they may be, knowing that they are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. Let me be constant in using the means of grace, that I may be prepared by them for the enjoyment of glory. So shall God, who breathed

breathed into me the breath of life from his spirit, enlighten me at last with his presence, when my body shall be raised up in glory: and mortality shall be swallowed up of life; as the darkness of the earth is drowned and over

come by the light of heaven pouring in upon it at the rising of the sun.

THE QUESTIONS.

Q. What is glory?

A. It signifies the bright shining of the light.

Q. What is the glory of the natural creation?

A. The sun.

Q. What is the glory of the kingdom of heaven?

A. God himself.

Q. What shall glorify the Saints?

A. The presence of God.

Q. How doth the Scripture describe him? A. As having no variableness nor shadow of turning; like to what we are subject to who inhabit this earth,

Q. How did Christ appear, when he was transfigured?

A. His

A. His raiment became white as snow, his face shone like the sun, and his whole person as bright as the light itself.

Q. Did any sign of glory attend the angels of heaven when they appeared?

A. A light shone in the prison when Peter was delivered by an angel.

Q. What was the effect, when Moses conversed with God?

A. A glory remained upon his face, too bright for the people to behold.

Q. How are you to obtain the glory which is promised?

A. By putting away the works of darkness. Q. Who are they that love darkness rather than light?

A. They whose works are evil.

Q. How is the mind to be glorified now? A. By conversing with God as Moses did. Q. How can that be done?

A. By reading and studying his word.

Q. How are you to prepare yourself farther?

A. By bearing, as Christ did, the sufferings of the present time.

Q. How farther?

A. By using the means of grace; for it is grace only that leads us to glory.

THE

THE TEXTS.

Psal. xix. 1. The heavens declare the glory of God.

Rom. xvi. 27. To God only wise be glory. Luke ix. 29. And his raiment was white and glistening.-32. And when they were awake, they saw his glory.

2 Cor. iii. 7. The children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance-V. 18. But we all, with open (unveiled) face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory.

Luke ix. 26. He shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the Holy Angels.

Col. i. 27. Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Rom. viii. 18. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

XIX. THE

XIX. THE PREACHER'S PICTURE OF OLD AGE.

IN the 12th Chapter of Ecclesiastes, the preacher admonishes me to dedicate my youthful days to the service of my Creator, considering the evil days which are coming upon us, when all the faculties of our minds and bodies shall fail us under the infirmities of age. For then, as the preacher beautifully represents it to us, as in a glass or mirror, the sun and the moon and the stars are darkened; the superior powers, which rule in the body of man, as the heavenly luminaries do in the world; the understanding and reason, the imagination and the memory, are obscured, as when the clouds interpose between us and the lights of the firmament. In the earlier season of life, the clouds of affliction having poured down their rain, they pass away, and sunshine succeeds; but now the clouds return after the rain; old age itself is a continual sorrow, and there is no longer any hope of fair weather. The keepers of the house, the arms and hands which are made to guard and defend the body, begin to shake and tremble; and the strong men, the shoulders, where the strength of the body is placed, and which

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