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^^60. 
 
 
 SERMON 
 
 PREACH KD IN KNOX CHURCH, HAMILTON. 
 JULY 26th, 1876, 
 
 BVTHK 
 
 Kkv. \v. h. rewelsox, m.a. 
 
 L 
 
 ' i 
 
SERMON, 
 
 PREACHED IN 
 
 n 
 
 , pai[ilt0», 
 
 JULY 25TH, 1875, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. W. H. RENNELSON, M.A. 
 
 " Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken 
 Unto you the Word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of 
 their conversation." 
 
 X^^-V--V^ -X '*'• .-X/s.'N ' 
 
 HAPfflTOW POBiro LIBRARV 
 
 TORONTO : 
 
 DUDLEY & BURNS, PRINTERS, 
 
 H COLBORNE STREET. 
 
Many of the members of Knox Church have expressed 
 a wish to see the last sermon preached to them by their 
 late Pastor. To gratify that wish, and not at all for general, 
 distribution, the last written sermon has been published, that 
 each family in the Congregation may possess a copy. 
 
 It was written hastily, while suffering from illness, and 
 many will see it is merely an outline of the sermon as 
 spoken to them. But in the light of the present, the sub- 
 ject seems singularly appropriate as his last words from 
 the pulpit to his people. 
 
SERMON. 
 
 #» 
 
 OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUTURE. 
 I 
 
 I. John 1 : 2. 
 , ^'P^^°^u^', "°*^are we the sons of God ; and it doth not yet aooear 
 &'e^Wi;rw^^-h''a^[sTe'S^^^A:r^" "^ shall appear w^^^sLTSI 
 
 One of the German poets has a passage as re- 
 markable as it is beautiful, in which he represents 
 men as gazing into the future with most anxious, 
 questioning eye. A black, impenetrable curtain 
 overhangs its portals ; and though nothing can be 
 seen nor even heard, the generations of men have 
 appeared before that curtain with torches in hand, 
 trying to peer into that which lies behind. They 
 have seen nothing but their own shadows thrown 
 upon the screen. Deep, everlasting silence reigns 
 within. None of those who havepassed beyond will 
 ever answer those who have been left without. No 
 
 matter hnw pno-f^rlir imt< ^..^^^ r 
 
 — o— V /vu LTicss jui an 
 
 ill answer 
 
 you 
 
#•» 
 
 KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUTURE. 5 
 
 will hear nothing more than the echo of your own 
 voice, as if you shouted into a chasm. And yet 
 behind that veil we all must pass. 
 
 What lies in the future is a very natural question 
 for us all to ask. There must be few persons indeed, 
 who in their thoughtful moments do not speculate' 
 on the problem of what they will be, when time has 
 emptied itself into eternity. Whether your mind 
 approaches the subject with hope o- with fear, it is 
 m either case fraught with interests that touch the 
 heart very deeply. He who trembles knows not 
 how much reason there is for fear. He who hopes 
 knows not how manifold and how secure are his 
 reasons for hope. The whole subject, too, casts 
 its reflection over the lives of men, as does the 
 mountain its shadow over the adjoining valley. But 
 believe that there is an eternity, and you cannot es- 
 cape from its mighty influence. It casts either cheer 
 or gloom over ever pathway by which mortals are ad- 
 vancing toward it. Its decisions are unchangeable 
 and its awards so momentous that we may not 
 wonder if we find every where eager questioners 
 with their torches trying to see through the veil. 
 
 And yet how little we know I How closely God 
 has drawn the curtains. No voice has ever sound- 
 ed out of the darkness. John was n*-rm,ff^ */> 
 look through the gate of bliss ; but having no fit 
 
KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUTURE. 
 
 language in which to tell us what he saw, we are 
 left largely to imagine still. Paul was taken within 
 the gates ; but what he saw and heard, " it was 
 not lawful for man to utter." Lazarus had four 
 days' experience, but though he came again he told 
 it not. 
 
 " Behold a man raised up by Christ ; 
 
 The rest remaineth unrevealed, 
 He told it not ; or something sealed 
 
 The lips of the Evangelist." 
 
 Our Knowledge of the Future Condition of the 
 Believer. 
 
 / It is exceedingly limited. 
 
 The Apostle regards the future from the stand- 
 point of the present. The foundation on which he 
 stands is the truth—" Now are we the sons of 
 God." That truth naturally leads the mind to the 
 future ; for sonship implies an inherit,' nee. .How 
 can he be a son of God without a share in the 
 family glory ? But we are not to expect the full 
 inheritance until this life is over. What then is to 
 be the glory hereafter ? What is to be our posses- 
 sion, and what are we ourselves to be when the 
 coming glory shines full upon us ? 
 
 The Apostle meets the question with the state- 
 ment that " It has never yet been manifested what 
 we shall be." We know not even where heaven 
 will be ; we know not in what form we shall ap- 
 
 i 
 
\ 
 
 < *■ 
 
 KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUTURE. J 
 
 pear ; for we know not what is meant by a spiritual 
 body ; nor have we any knowledge of the language 
 we shall speak — whether like that of earth, or some 
 higher language of spirits. But most incompre- 
 hensible of all is the glorious experience of being 
 possessed of a sinless heart. While the unceasing 
 joy that will course through the soul is part of those' 
 things which have never " entered into the heart of 
 man " 
 
 There are sufficient reasons, too, why the heaven- 
 ly condition should not be manifested now. 
 
 Mature thought will make evident to us the wis- 
 dom of Christ in maintaining silence upon all this 
 matter. Pictures of heaven are an artifice which 
 one would quickly seize upon as a powerful way 
 of influencing the mind. Mohammed adopted this 
 plan, and in it lay the power which gave such suc- 
 cess to his teachings. The Church of Rome, whose 
 religion is far more earthly than spiritual, has done 
 the same thing. Jesus Christ left the glories of 
 His Father's Kingdom all untold. There was no 
 language, intelligible by us, in which to tell them. 
 Whoever tries to picture heaven must do so in the 
 language and symbols of earth. And no matter 
 how pure the symbols, they must ever fail of their 
 purpose. One has but to read the Revelation of 
 John to realize how impossible it is fully to set forth 
 
s 
 
 KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUTURE. 
 
 spiritual ideas by means of material imagery. All 
 earthly symbolism must fail to represent the glory 
 of the future inheritance. 
 
 And as no language can be found, so if we had a 
 language, the intellect would fail to comprehend it. 
 We can understand only as far as we have had ex- 
 perience. 
 
 (I. The present ignorance is- favourable to the 
 growth of faith.) 
 
 II. We know enough to make heaven a place of 
 glad anticipation. 
 
 One can well imagine the feeling of triumphant 
 joy with which the Apostle penned that sentence : 
 " We know that we shall be like Him." There is 
 much, it is to be confessed, of which we are in en- 
 tire ignorance. But this much we do know. And 
 there is not the beginning of an admission that this 
 knowledge is of trifling importance. John has an 
 evident pleasure in surprising us with the essential 
 completeness of the knowledge of which we are in 
 possession : " We shall be like Him.'' 
 
 This is knowledge of which there is no uncer- 
 tainty. ",We know," is the expression for that 
 which is of absolute certainty. It is a good thing, 
 amid all the uncertainties f life, and the weakness 
 of human faith to hear one who has received his 
 instructions from the Centre of Truth saying— "We 
 
 W 
 
KNOWLEDGE OF THE ' TURE. 
 
 ii> 
 
 know." Like a vessel which has been tossed by 
 the storm, and at last feels its anchor holding, is 
 the soul, which, amid abounding unbelief, rests 
 upon a declaration of God, and feels that the foun- 
 dation is sure. 
 
 But who knows what it is to be " like Him ?" 
 Adam knew, but we do not. " No man hath seen 
 God at any time," and faith cannot tell us. More- 
 over we know nothing of the mode in which a 
 spirit exists apart from the body. And even did 
 \\e know that, our most powerful imagining will 
 tell us little of what it is to be like the glorified 
 One. 
 
 We may, however, approximate to the idea here 
 set forth, by considering in what respect we are 
 unlike God ; and remembering that the likeness of 
 God was stamped upon the first of our race, we 
 will easily perceive that the essential point of un- 
 likeness is the presence of sin in the believer's 
 heart. " We shall be like Him." Sin and all the 
 evils of which it is the parent, are to be removed. 
 We shall know good as God knows it,— as filling 
 the heart with all its affections and motives. We 
 shall know no temptation, for there shall be there 
 nothing that " defileth or maketh a lie." We shall 
 
 irc i#- 
 
 knnw sin fnr\ ac ClrkA L-rmtif 
 
 can never know here, its fearful consequence? 
 
 MiuWiiig as Wc 
 
lO 
 
 KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUTURE. 
 
 knowing it moreover in its own inherent hateful- 
 ness. Satan spoke more truth than he knew, when 
 he said, " Ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and 
 evil." God knew evil as having driven from His 
 presence a section of His angelic creation. Man 
 had never known it but for his falling under it. 
 Hereafter he shall know it as delivered from it and 
 standing above it. "We shall be like Him." 
 
 And if the mind requires help to embrace the 
 idea of God, and make it comprehensible — then 
 we have Christ who is the " brightness of His 
 Father's glory, and the express image of his person* 
 
 Now think of it. This blessing is in store for 
 every sinner saved by Christ. We were like devils 
 when He found us. , " We shall be like Hi7n when 
 He appears." 
 
 There is a reason given here for the likeness, 
 which lets us deep into the philosophy of heaven, 
 *• We shall be like Him because we shall see Him 
 as He is" The same writer tells us in the Apo- 
 calypse thai in glory they shall see His face." 
 What kind of sight that will be, is a problem too 
 great for us now. Whether in the glorified body 
 we shall have eyes which can look upon splendour 
 ineffable, and recognize the features of the Eternal, 
 we cannot say. More likely will that sight be such 
 as Christ meant when he said, " The pure in heart 
 
KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUTURE. 
 
 IT 
 
 
 shall see God." There is a vision of the heart by 
 which purity recognizes purity. 
 
 This sight will be true, just as the eye in certain 
 diseases must see falsely, so do we see God parti- 
 tially, and not without error. With a corrected 
 heart-vision, we shall see Him truly, as well as 
 more fully " as He is." 
 
 We shall see Him, and as we gaze shall result a 
 marvellous transfiguration of ourselves. Paul re- 
 presents the sinner as looking through a veil at 
 God; but the Christian with open face as behold- 
 ing Him in a mirror. And though He is seen only 
 as in a dark and imperfect mirror : he who gazes 
 becomes changed into the same image. There is 
 the process. How the result is achieved we can- 
 not fully tell. It is the Spirit's work. 
 
 The day will soon be upon us, when mirrors 
 will be of no more use. And as the Spirit leads us 
 up in triumph to meet the Lord at His coming, we 
 shall gaze right at the Throne and Him who is up- 
 on it, and shall find that we are like Him." 
 
 Nor let any one think that this knowledge is of 
 any mean importance. Some minds may run off 
 on such a track as this. " This likeness is all very 
 good in itself, but it ./ould have been more en- 
 couraging if we had been told something more 
 definite about what God will do for us, and what 
 will be the nature of our joys." 
 
12 
 
 KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUTURE. 
 
 " But likeness to Christ implies far more than 
 the mere honour of exhibiting the family linea- 
 ments. It implies all that it is essential to heaven. 
 What is heaven to any one's thoughts, if it be not 
 a state of unalloyed purity ? You need not enume- 
 rate any of the resulting blessings. Make him 
 like God, and by necessity it follows that his 
 whole nature will be in delightful harmony with it- 
 self and with God." 
 
 All the questions that men eagerly ask — e. g. 
 Where is heaven? Shall we know each other 
 there? Will it be a walled city with streets of 
 gold? Or will there be green fields and waving 
 forests and crystal streams ? are interesting enough ; 
 but, as compared with the information of the text, 
 utterly unimportant. Make a man pure, and he 
 will be happy either in ci^y or forest. Make him 
 Hke God, and his joys are above disturbances. It 
 is what you 7mll be that will make heaven for you. 
 Be what you should, and be like him/' -id all the 
 rest is only the drapery of Heaven's walls. 
 
 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS. 
 
 I. — There are some persons oppressed with the 
 thought of the indefiniteness of heaven, they fancy 
 it is to be some kind of dream v exisfenrf» nf nn^^nrii^rr 
 ease ; or, again, that it is to be a too prolonged 
 
KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUTURE. 
 
 13 
 
 ^» 
 
 Strain of voices and harps, that cease not day nor 
 night ; or, again, that it will be so etherealized that 
 every sort of present feeling will be excluded. 
 But Christ is there with His human nature, and 
 every ransomed one will bear, too. His human 
 nature— made like unto the divine. And the 
 gladness and joy of that sinless world will be such 
 as Christ sought everywhere to shed around Him 
 on earth. And if God has adopted us into His 
 family, and intends to call us a family, we may be 
 sure the happiness will be such as children can 
 enjoy. 
 
 2. — We see that the rewards of heaven will not 
 consist in what we shall receive, but what wt shall be. 
 Heaven is not for the selfish, who will only work 
 for a prize, but for those who seek purity because 
 they love it for its own sake. 
 
 Here is a test which tries every one of us. 
 Will you seek God for what ffe is, or must it be 
 for something which He will give ? 
 
 3. — How does this knowledge bear on life? 
 You have the two ends of the journey fixed. You 
 begin as a son of God : You end in complete 
 likeness to Him. Now, as the ploughman sets up 
 his stakes, or the builder stretches his line, so 
 SiiOUivi our aim be determined. Where is the line 
 of your life to run— in the place of respectable 
 
14 
 
 KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUTURE. 
 
 worldliness, or in ever-growing purity towards the 
 Father's presence, where you will at last " see Him 
 as He is V 
 
 I began with an imaginary picture by a German 
 poet. Let me close with a real picture from the 
 Book of God. Out from behind that curtain 
 which hides the unseen, came, in bodily form, the 
 Son of God. He returned again, and left His 
 disciples gazing up into heaven, as "a cloud 
 received Him out of their sight." Angelic mes- 
 sengers came to the gates and said, " This same 
 Jesus shall so come in like manner as ye have 
 seen Him go into heaven." One of those very 
 men who gazed into heaven that day, did after- 
 wards hear a message from within, and has given 
 it to us. " Ye know that we shall be like Him, 
 for we shall see Him as He is." 
 
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