The Peculiar Song and Service

of the Redeemed.

A SERMON

BY

REV. THOMAS Smyth, D. D.,

of Charleston, S. C.

Published in the Southern Presbyterian.

THE PECULIAR SONG AND SERVICE OF THE

REDEEMED.

REVELATION XIV. 3.

"And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts and the elders; and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand which were redeemed from the earth."

The special object of the present exposition will be to inquire into the nature of the service which the redeemed from the earth will be qualified for rendering in a future state:

The great end, for which we were created, and are placed for a time in this world, so far as we can discover, is that we may be prepared for rendering a peculiar service to God, and for being happy in the enjoyment of him, THROUGH THE endless ages oF ETERNITY. And if you consider the subject with ATTENTION you will soon be convinced, that THE SERVICE, which the redeemed from the earth will be qualified for rendering, when they reach the kingdom of their Father, is such, as could not be performed by any order of being, how perfect soever who have continued in a state of innocence from their creation.

The angels, who never sinned, may venerate the holiness and power of God; they may admire his wisdom, they may adore his goodness, they may confide in his faithfulness; but they cannot be grateful for his mercy, because, having never been involved in guilt and misery, they never stood in need of mercy. Hence gratitude for the divine mercy, and the peculiar praise, which that sentiment in the heart must produce, appear to be the new song, which no one can learn but the redeemed from the earth.

And when we consider that mercy is an essential perfection of the divine nature, we will at once perceive that as it was most fit, that there should be a race of rational beings to celebrate the praises of divine mercy, with songs of gratitude, that race must previously have been the object of that mercy. Nay, if it was fit that such an order of beings should be produced, as the redeemed from the earth will be, when they reach the kingdom of their Father in heaven; an order of beings qualified to extol for mercy received from him, who sitteth on the throne, and the Lamb, for ever and ever, there must have been a race, previously circumstanced in all respects, as we now are; exposed to ruin through their own fault; but rescued by the very means, which has been appointed, and applied to us. The least difference, either in the original circumstances of the

race, or in the means employed for their recovery, must have produced a corresponding difference in the order of beings produced. These might have been more or less perfect than the redeemed from the earth will be; but they must have been different from them, in their experience, their sentiments and their feelings.

Gratitude to the Father of mercies, who loved us, and "sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins," and gratitude to the Lord Jesus Christ who also 'loved us, and gave himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet smelling savour,' and gratitude to the Holy Spirit will be the prevailing sentiment in the redeemed, when they reach the kingdom of their Father. But were the same sentiment to possess the breast of an angel who never sinned, and hence stood in need of mercy, it is evident that such a sentiment in him would be a mere deception, and could not be a suitable or acceptable act of homage to the God of truth.

When the key of mercy, therefore, is touched in the mansions of bliss, the angels may, from sympathy, join in the chorus, but the redeemed from the earth alone, or such as they, if any such there be from other worlds, must be the chief performers. "These things," saith the apostle, "the angels desired to look into." They may perceive the effects of redeeming love. None except the redeemed can feel them.

As gratitude to redeeming love can have place only in the breast of the redeemed, how much must that sentiment be diversified, when the outward sound ceaseth to be regarded, and the real feelings and affections of the soul alone constitute praise. Considering the diversity of situation, in which we are placed upon earth; there may not be two perfectly alike, in all respects among the spiritual seed of Abraham, though numerous as the sand on the sea shore. When therefore they reach their Father's kingdom, mercy will be the subject of all their praise, but mercy diversified in its effects beyond conception.

The redeemed alone, therefore, can be qualified for celebrating the praises of divine mercy with songs of gratitude. That, I apprehend, will be the most striking peculiarity in the praises of the redeemed, to distinguish them from those of the angels who never sinned. But I conceive there are other respects in which they will differ from one another and of these I shall briefly mention a few.

The angels, who never sinned, cannot but be humble, when they consider their absolute dependence, and their comparative weakness in contrast with the divine perfection. But the redeemed will have other grounds for humility, even the recollection of what they were, while they sojourned upon earth, how ignorant; how thoughtless; and yet how insensible of their