and all belonging to me, in joy and sorrow, in consolation and trouble, in crosses and adversity, just as it may please Thee! I am ready for everything, and prepared to do Thy will in all things, that I may one day, as I trust, with child-like confidence, hear that desirable, and joyful, and consoling invitation in the valley of Josaphat amongst the sheep of Thy fold: “Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;” enter into eternal joy. Amen.
Another introduction to the same sermon for the first Sunday of Advent.
Text.
His autem fieri incipientibus, respicite et levate capita vestra; quoniam appropinquat redemptio vestra.—Luke xxi. 28.
“But when these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads: because your redemption is at hand.”
Introduction.
But, O Lord! are not these strange words of Thine? Is that the time to lift up our eyes and heads, when the powers of heaven are to be moved, when the stars are to fall from the firmament, when the sea shall overwhelm the earth by its raging waves, when men shall wither away for fear, when that terrible day of judgment is approaching, and in every tomb shall resound the cry: Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment? When we shall see Thee coming in a cloud with great power and majesty, shall we then lift up our heads and await our redemption? Should it not rather be the time for us to bow down our eyes and heads humbly to the earth, to strike our breasts, and to implore mercy? No, says Our Lord; “when these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads;” rejoice and exult. It is to you I am speaking, faithful servants of God; because fear, anguish, withering away, and despair are only for the wicked on that day. Yes; they indeed may well seek to hide themselves under the earth; they may call on the mountains and hills to cover them. But be you of good heart then, “because your redemption is at hand.” My dear brethren, last year as a warning to the wicked I selected as the subject of our meditation the terrible sentence of the Judge against the sinner: “Depart from Me, you cursed,
