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Our Lord Jesus Christ both came to men, and went away from men, and is to come to men. And yet He was here when He came, nor did He depart when He went away, and He is to come to them to whom He said, "Lo, I am with you, even unto the end of the world." 1 According to the "form of a servant" then, which He took for our sakes, was He born at a certain time, and was slain, and rose again, and now "dieth no more, neither shall death have any more dominion over Him;" 2 but according to His Divinity, wherein He was equal to the Father, was He already in this world, and "the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not." 3 On this point ye have just heard the Gospel, what admonition it has given us, putting us on our guard, and wishing us to be unencumbered and prepared to await the end; that after these last 4 things, which are to be feared in this world, that rest may succeed which hath no end. Blessed are they who shall be partakers of it. For then shall they be in security, who are not in security now; and again then shall they fear, who will not fear now. Unto this waiting, and for this hope's sake, have we been made Christians. Is not our hope not of this world? Let us then not love the world. From the love of this world have we been called away, that we may hope for and love another. In this world ought we to abstain from all unlawful desires, to have, that is, "our loins girded;" and to be fervent and to shine in good works, that is, to have "our lights burning." For the Lord Himself said to His disciples in another place of the Gospel, "No man lighteth a candle and putteth it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that it may give light unto all that are in the house." 5 And to show of what He was speaking, He subjoined and said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." 6
