it not infinitely more than compensate for privations however great, sacrifices however costly, sufferings however severe, that may be required in pursuing it? When we look around us, and see "all things so full of labour, that man cannot utter it;" when we see men, in order to obtain some worldly advantage, the value of which is in a great measure imaginary, and the possession of which must be insecure and short-lived, rising early, sitting late, eating the bread of carefulness, compassing sea and land, straining to the utmost every faculty of exertion, and taxing to the utmost every power of endurance, we cannot help being painfully struck at the disproportion between the worthlessness of the object, and the multitude and mightiness of the means. It "resembles ocean into tempest tost, to waft a feather or to drown a fly." We feel disposed to ask the infatuated labourer, "Wilt thou set thine heart on things which are not?" "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not?"1 But there is no such disproportion here. "The crown of righteousness," "the crown of life," is an adequate, ay, infinitely more than an adequate reward, for all the toils, and privations, and fatigues, and agonies, of the Christian race and warfare; and all the sufferings of the present state, to which a Christian may be exposed in the cause of his religion, are not "worthy to be compared with the glory which is to be revealed in us;" the afflictions of the present state, however numerous and severe, are lighter than dust in the balance, when weighed against that "far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Is not this calculated to arouse to active exertion, to prepare for patient suffering? Is it not most reasonable, that, in prosecuting such a pursuit, our determination to do nothing that can hazard failure, every thing that can promote success, should be most resolute, and that we should 1 Prov. xxiii. 5. Isa. lv. 2. 2 Rom. viii. 18. 2 Cor. iv. 17. look away from every thing, however otherwise attractive, which is calculated to divert our attention or divide our affections. Is not the attainment of such a blessing a fit object of hope? Is not the loss of such a blessing a fit object of fear? of God? But it may be said, Is not the "salvation which is in Christ, with eternal glory," "the gift of God," and is it not 66 sure to all the seed?" Is it not "laid up for them in heaven?" and are they not kept for it by the mighty power What need, then, of all this obedience and submission? What need of all this determined resolution, and self-denied moderation, and animating hope, and cautious fear? The answer to those questions is at hand, and it is brief and satisfactory. The final salvation is the gift of God, and the objects of his love shall, assuredly, not come short of it. But there is a divinely appointed method for obtaining that eternal life, which is the gift of God; and none can enjoy the well-grounded hope of possessing it, who do not seek it in this divinely appointed method. Nothing is more distinctly stated in Scripture, than that it is only in the way of persevering faith and holiness that heaven is to be expected; and that, in the way of persevering faith and holiness, heaven cannot be too confidently expected. It is in the way of persevering faith and holiness alone that we can reach heaven. "We have need of patience," i. e., we must persevere, that, by the will of God, we may obtain the promised blessing." "Without holiness no man can see the Lord." Unbelief and disobedience are the road to hell; and even a true Christian, when, under the influence of the evil heart of unbelief, he falls into backsliding, may be justly said to be in the road to hell, though, blessed be God, it is certain he will never reach the termination of that road; for the prayer of his Redeemer, who is mighty, will prevent his faith from utterly failing, and his backslidings will be healed, and he will be made to retrace his 66 1 Rom. vi. 23; iv. 16. 2 Heb. x. 36; xii. 14. steps, and walk onward in faith and holiness towards heaven. Still it is a general truth which all should attend to, "He that lives after the flesh shall die." "He that sows to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption." He that turns back, "turns back towards perdition." On the other hand, nothing is more certain than that, in a persevering course of Christian faith and obedience, the celestial blessedness in all its grandeur and excellence will be realized. "He who, through the Spirit, mortifies the deeds of the body, shall live." He who, "through a constant continuance in well-doing, seeks for glory, honour, and immortality, shall obtain eternal life." He who "endureth to the end, shall be saved." He who perseveres in believing, shall obtain "the salvation of the soul." He who "adds to his faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity;" he who doeth these things, "shall never fall, but thus an entrance shall be ministered to him abundantly, into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." The attainment of the celestial blessedness in this way, is not merely a high probability: even in this case the motive would be a powerful one: it is an absolute certainty. It is as secure as the word and oath, the perfections and being of God, can make it. 2 How well fitted are such considerations to repress weariness, to rekindle ardour in the Christian race! "I run not as uncertainly," I keep along the marked course race, and I am sure of "the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." How admirably calculated to revive fainting courage in the Christian conflict! "I fight not as one that beateth the air." I know that, "waxing valiant in fight, I shall put to flight all the armies of the aliens." "I Rom. viii. 13. Gal. vi. 8. Heb. x. 39. Εις απωλειαν. 2 Rom. viii. 13; ii. 7. Matt. x. 22. Heb. x. 39. 2 Pet. i. 5-11. know in whom I have believed." Continuing to "fight the good fight of faith," I shall be "more than a conqueror through him that loved me." The men of the world, in prosecution of their fancied good, spare no pains, shrink from no difficulty, decline no hazard, though they have nothing but probability, often a very weak probability, to excite and encourage them. How unnatural, how inexcusable, on the part of those professing to believe the gospel revelation, to be careless and inactive in the pursuit of a happiness which "eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, and which it hath never entered into the heart of man to conceive;" and of the attainment of which, in the appointed manner, we may be, we ought to be as certain, as we are of our own existence! Well might the Apostle, when his mind was warmed and elevated by the contemplation of the glories of the final deliverance, say, Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end; and be obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in your ignorance; but being holy in all manner of conversation." This is the effect which the believing contemplation of the heavenly blessedness is calculated and intended to have on the mind. It is not intended to afford an indolent delight, but a powerful excitement, and to induce Christians to be "stedfast and unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; for as much as they know their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord." § 2. The holiness of God, a motive to Christian duty. The second motive which the Apostle presents to the mind as urging to Christian obedience, is the holiness of the Divine Being-" Be holy in all manner of conversation, as he who has called you is holy; as it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy." There is none holy as Jehovah. He is "glorious in 11 Cor. ix. 36. Phil. iii. 14. 2 Tim. i. 12. holiness." "He" only "is holy"-" holy and reverend" is HIS name. And these intelligent beings, who are capable of apprehending most of the perfections and beauties of his uncreated nature, have their attention chiefly fixed by this lovely attribute, and "day without night" hymn his praises as the "holy, holy, holy" One. The holiness of God is just another word for the moral perfection of his nature. It is not something different from justice and benignity. It is the absolute perfection and the harmonious union of justice and benignity. The sum of the Christian's duty is to be holy; that is, to be conformed to God; to have the same views, and judgments, and sentiments with him; to approve what he approves ; to disapprove what he disapproves; and the strongest and best reason why the Christian should have these views, and judgments, and sentiments, and likings and dislikings, is just because God has them. The strongest and best reason why he should thus think and thus will, is just that God thus thinks and thus wills. To be holy, is to be conformed to God; and to be conformed to God, is at once. man's highest honour, duty, and happiness; and what more cogent reason can be given for following any tenor of disposition and conduct than that it is "the whole of man," the whole of his honour, his duty, and his happiness? The divine being is the most glorious and venerable being in the universe; and it is his holiness far more than his power or his wisdom, far more than his eternity or his immensity or his immutability, that makes him so. His other perfections, separate from this, would make him an object of terror rather than of veneration. He is emphatically "glorious in holiness;" and it is this perfection which clothes all the others with moral attractive influence, and makes their possessor at once infinitely estimable and infinitely lovely. When there is no resemblance to God in moral VOL. I. 1 1 Sam. ii. 2. Exod. xv. 21. Psal. xcix. 5; cxi. 9. I |