T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S the crown of righteousness is awaiting the deliverance of his spirit from the trammels of the flesh, and his exit from this earth? Not at all. That that crown will one day be his he now knows be yond the peradventure of a doubt, for he has faithfully performed the task which his Master has put upon him. “ But when does he expect that the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteous Judge,, ; will give him this signal, and most glorious proof of His approbation? ‘Henceforth there is laid up for me’, ‘kept in store,’ ‘the crown of righteous ness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give to me at that day.’ And to remove as it were all possibil ity of mistake, lest any one should sup pose that by the phrase, ‘at that day’, he refers to the day of his own death, he adds in immediate, and one might suppose in altogether unmistakable, connection, ‘and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved His appearing’ (v. 8). It was to the resur rection of the just, to the day of the reunion of his spirit to his resurrected body, that he looked forward with eager and expectant eye, for the complete and glorious fulfillment of all his ardent expectations. “ And is it not in accordance with the nature of things that it should be so? The spirit and the body of man have been likened, and with beautiful appro priateness, to a jewel and its setting. But who will say that the jewel is just as valuable without its setting as with it? Is not the value of the precious diamond enhanced? Is not its glitter ing splendor brought out into bolder re lief, when the skilful artisan has em bedded it in a chastely wrought setting of fine gold? And is it not somewhat' thus with the ethereal spirit of man and its tenement of clay? The soul is indeed of first and greatest importance; nevertheless the soul, or spirit, is by no means the whole man. Man is a physi cal as well as a spiritual being. And is
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divine power to succor them in the hour of need; His ascension to glory, coupled with the assurance of the an gelic messengers, ‘This Jesus, Who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven’ (Acts 1:11) these things ought likewise to have ban ished forever the supposition, that the reunion of soul-and body in the'resur rection state will be at all incompatible with the highest possible degree of fe licity which, through the unending cycles of the eternal ages, the finite mind will be able to attain unto! “ It is indeed true that ever since the fall the children of God have groaned in this sin-defiled tabernacle, and that many have longed with the apostle Paul ‘to depart and be with Christ’ (Phil. 1:23). Yet this apostle assures us, that that which he most ardently longed for was fellowship with Christ in suffering and in the power of His resurrection (Ch. 3:10), And when ‘Paul the aged’ wrote his last epistle to his son Timothy, and declared that the time of his departure was at hand, what were his expectations as to the immedi ate future? Did he expect to receive the crown of victory the very moment after he had been delivered from the cross of conflict and of suffering? How ever much it may accord with prevalent modern teaching to answer affirmatively to the last question, nevertheless, bear ing in mind his other inspired teachings, we hesitate not to affirm most emphatic ally. No! he expected nothing of the sort. “ Look at the language of the apostle, as he sees the time approaching when he too will have to seal his testimony with his blood. ‘For I am already be ing offered, and the time of my depar ture is come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course.’ The race was won! ‘ ‘I have kept the faith’ (2 Tim. 4:6-7). And what now? Does he express his joyous assurance that
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