things; such, from the aggravated guilt incurred, must be the doom of those who neglect so great salvation. Seeing then the infinite importance of this conclusion, suffer me to make a close and serious application of the subject to your hearts and consciences.

Are you chargeable with that most desperate folly and wickedness, which it has been the object of the present discussion to expose and condemn? To reply to this inquiry will not demand any deep penetration, any minute investigation into your views and conduct. The question reduces itself into a narrow compass. Are you neglecting the great salvation of the gospel? Are you living in a state of carelessness and security with respect to your eternal concerns? Are you taking no pains, at least no adequate pains, to examine and to ascertain the truth, the value, the excellence of the gospel; to impress your minds with a feeling conviction of your own utter need of an interest in the atoning blood of Christ, and in the sanctifying operations of the spirit? Or, holding these momentous doctrines with merely a speculative faith, are you omitting to promote their practical influence on your heart? Are you omitting, by constant prayer, by diligent study of the word of God, by a conscientious discharge of every duty, by a careful abstinence from every occupation which must necessarily impede your growth in grace and holiness, to improve the glorious talent committed to your trust? If the grand objects revealed in scripture do not engage the first place in your soul, are not chosen with a decided preference, are not pursued with that humility and earnestness, without which they never can be attained, it is most evident that you are neglecting this great salvation. You are involved in all the guilt, in all the danger, which attaches to that neglect.

Consider then how aggravated is that guilt, how inevitable that danger! You cannot escape. You have seen that you cannot escape. The arguments, on which this conclusion rests, you are utterly unable to disprove. You may now indeed make light of the guilt. You may contemplate the danger with indifference. But be sure your sin will one day find you out. Even now the wrath of God abideth on you. Hitherto you have experienced the greatness of the divine forbearance. The Lord hath

not suffered his displeasure to arise. Hitherto he has continued, still he continues to you that glorious privilege which you so wickedly despise. But will his longsuffering never be exhausted? Have you not reason to fear lest he should withdraw his slighted mercy from you? Have you not reason to fear, lest he should swear in his wrath that you shall never enter into his rest. O, my brethren, beware, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets, Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.'

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Consider further the vanity, the worthlessness of those objects, for the sake of which you are neglecting so great salvation. What will the world, with all its gilded toys avail, when you stand before the tribunal of God, and are summoned to account for your contemptuous disregard of his gospel! Will riches, will honours, will the flattering applauses of men, at that awful hour, avert the sword of vengeance? Will they deliver you from going down to the pit? No. They will only administer fuel to those flames, to which you will be assigned. For these things then will you persist in neglecting so great salvation? For a little transitory pleasure will you barter your immortal soul? Like Esau, stigmatised with the title of profane, for a morsel of bread will you sell your birthright? Remember, "how that afterwards when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears."t You may hereafter bewail your foolish choice. When doomed to endure the consequences of your folly, you assuredly will bewail it. But lamentation and remorse will then be fruitless. That salvation, which you so long neglected, will then be sought in vain. "Because I have called, saith the Lord, and ye refused: I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded: but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer: they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge,

*Acts, xiii. 40, 41.

P

Heb. xii. 17.

and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices."*

How will ye endure these things? "O then that ye were wise; that ye would understand this, that ye would consider your latter end!"-that "ye would know, even now in this your day, the things which belong unto your peace, before they are hid from your eyes--before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and while ye look for light, the Lord turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness!". -that " to-day, while it is called to-day, ye would harden not your hearts!" For as yet the Lord is waiting to be gracious. He hath no pleasure in the death of him that dieth. He is "not willing that any should perish; but that all should come to repentance."

SERMON XIV.

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE REAL CHRISTIAN. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is Gain.—Philippians, i. 21.

HAPPY would it be for us, my brethren, if we could all adopt this striking declaration with as much truth as the apostle originally made it. Highly desirable indeed was the state of mind which dictated the sentiment in the text. St. Paul was now a prisoner at Rome for Christ's sake, and it was uncertain what the event of his imprisonment would be; whether he would be restored to liberty, or would be called to seal his faith with his blood. But for either alternative he was prepared. It was his "earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing he should be ashamed; but that with all boldness always, so now also Christ should be magnified in his body, whether it be by life or by death. For" (as he adds) "to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Should his life be prolonged, it would be devoted to the service,

*Prov. i. 24-31.

and would redound to the glory of Christ. Should death await him, incalculable would be the benefits resulting to him from the exchange. Surrounded with such prospects, contemplating on either side objects so inviting, can we be surprised at hearing him declare, that he was "in a straight betwixt two," and that "what he should choose he wot not."

But while the words of the text are illustrative of the happy state of the apostle's mind, the truths contained in them are equally applicable to us. There is not in

fact a single real christian, of whom it may not be justly said, "To him to live is Christ, and to die is gain:" in which view the passage may be considered as setting before us a short, but comprehensive description of the life and the death of the real christian. To these two points then I shall separately direct your attention.

I. The life of the real christian.

To him "to live is Christ." In this general description are included several important particulars which demand explanation. To the real christian to live is Christ, because,

I. He lives through the power of Christ.

In common with other persons he is indebted for the gift and preservation of natural life to Him, "who made the world and upholdeth all things by the word of his power. But it is spiritual life, of which we are speaking; and for this life also he is indebted to the same divine person. Christ quickened him, when "dead in trespasses and sins," and still maintains that spiritual life, which he first imparted. "Without Christ," i. e. separated from him, the christian "can do nothing."† It is only from his union with this the true vine, that he derives health, and vigour, and fruitfulness. In himself he is unable to think or to do such things as be rightful.' It is Christ, who "worketh in him both to will and to do of his good pleasure." In himself he possesses no wisdom, no grace, no goodness: he is empty and destitute; and stands in need of continual support "by the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ." So subtle and powerful are his spiritual adversaries; so ensnaring is the world; so corrupt and treacherous is his own heart, that to endure

Hebrews i. 2, 3. + John xv. 5.

for a single moment under his own guidance, and in his own strength, would be a work impossible. Whatever effectual opposition he maintains is "through Christ, who strengtheneth him." He derives from this source succours, which no enemy can intercept. His "life is hid with Christ in God."*

2. Hence he lives by by faith in Christ.

"I am

Thus the apostle declares respecting himself. crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life, which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God." The christian, taught by experience to feel his own weakness, and to know where his strength lies, continually looks for help from above. Believing the precious promises of the gospel, in the daily exercise of prayer he trusts to have those promises fulfilled to himself; and not on extraordinary occasions only, but in the most ordinary cases seeks for direction, and depends on assistance, from Him, who has said, "Ask and ye shall have." Under the pressure of guilty fears, whither does he flee for relief? To the encouraging assurance, that "the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin." In the prospect of impending difficulties, whence does he derive consolation? From the animating assurance, " My grace is sufficient for thee." In an humble, but a believing appropriation of the truths of scripture, he lives upon the fulness which is in Christ Jesus: he sets the Lord alway before him by faith beholds him as the only-begotten of the Father, the propitiation for his sins, his Advocate and merciful High-priest; "of God made unto him wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." And thus looking unto Jesus, he goes on his way rejoicing.

3. He lives to the glory of Christ.

What, as we have seen, was the case with the apostle? His earnest and unceasing desire was, that "Christ might be magnified in his body, whether it were by life or by death." Such in some measure is the desire of all true christians. "The love of Christ constraineth them no longer to live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and arose again."§ Their wish and aim is to * Col. iii. 3. + Gal. ii. 20. 1 Cor. i. 30. § 2 Cor. v. 15.