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being destitute, afflicted, tormented (of whom the world was not worthy); they wandered in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth."* These are the things which it has enabled its possessors to do or to suffer here is the patience and the faith of the saints. In secret, the warrior would often shrink at dangers which, in the midst of his companions, he would despise ; but in the unnoticed privacy of humble life, faith has produced achievements more truly heroic than all these exploits which call forth the admiration and applause of the world. With scarcely a friend to participate in his sorrows, or to smile on his exertions, the humble and illiterate christian has evinced such steadiness and self-command in the midst of temptations, such perseverance and patience in the midst of sufferings, as seem to raise him above the level of mortals. He has evinced, in short, qualities and virtues which, if less splendid than the boldness and courage sometimes displayed by the men of the world, are more arduous, and, therefore, more wonderful and illustrious. The characters of some of the patriots and philosophers, both of antiquity and in modern times, it is impossible not to admire; but even they have been in many respects surpassed by the martyrs of religion: for the latter have given examples of the passive or suffering virtues, which are difficult because they are despised, and which we search for in vain in the conduct of the former. The heroes of this world have indeed subdued kingdoms; but faith has enabled the people of God not only to subdue kingdoms, but to subdue themselves, and to overcome the world. It has enabled them to gain a victory of a mental and moral nature; it has enabled them to vanquish those turbulent and ambitious

*Heb. xi. 33-38.

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passions by which the conquerors of this world are themselves too often conquered.

Such is the efficacy, and such are the exploits of that divine and wonderful principle. If it does not extinguish the sorrows occasioned by the more severe of the general evils of life, such as the misconduct, the calamities, or the death of earthly friends,-an effect that would be undesirable and unnatural,-it does more, for by mingling with these sorrows its hallowed and consolatory influences, it not only enables us to bear them, but it renders them powerfully conducive to our present improvement, and to our final happiness. Like the rays of the natural sun, painting on the dark and lowering cloud the glorious colours of the rainbow, faith serenes with the looks of patient acquiescence, or brightens with the beams of joyful hope, the countenance which was bedimmed with grief; and thus causes the most interesting of material forms to reflect to our admiring gaze, the most difficult and the most exalted of moral virtues. With regard to those sufferings which are occasioned directly by religion, such as persecution in any form, the power of faith is still more efficacious; for these sorrows are turned into joy before it. It leads its possessors to "glory in tribulation;" to rejoice if they are thought worthy to suffer shame for the name of their Master; and it takes "pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions and distresses, for Christ's sake."* With more than the fabled virtue of any talisman, faith, when duly exercised, heals the wounds of the broken spirit and the bleeding heart; renders its possessors impenetrable to the fiery darts of temptation; enables them to transport themselves occasionally to regions far beyond this terrestrial sphere,

* 2 Cor. xii. 10.

to inhale the fragrant breezes which refresh the realms. of light and immortality; and though resident on earth, it empowers them to have habitually their "conversation in heaven." To some persons I am afraid these things will appear as extravagant and incredible as the fictions of romance, or the vagaries of insanity. I am speaking, however, my friends, "only the words of truth and soberness." If you know not where to find confirmations in abundance of these truths, you must either be little acquainted with the oracles of heaven, or you must question their authority; and if you do not find some confirmation of these truths in your own experience, as well as in the oracles of heaven, your case is such as to authorise no very favourable prognostics respecting your destiny.

It would no doubt be a most delightful thing if, in drawing these observations to a close, I could indulge the hope that all of you were possessed of the principle of faith, that under its influence you were warring with success against the corruptions of sin, and, through scenes of hardships and peril, setting your faces stedfastly as those who are going up to the heavenly Jerusalem. When I consider, however, the sway which the cares of this world exercise over one class, and the dominion which the deceitfulness of riches exert over another; when I consider the unhallowed encroachments which earthly concerns are allowed to make on that comparatively moderate portion of our time, which God has required us to consecrate to his service, and the multifarious evidence furnished by your general conduct, how low is the place, in your estimation, occupied by the things of heaven, notwithstanding their ineffable grandeur,—it is impossible not to give way to gloomy apprehensions respecting the fate of many among us,

and around us. And entertaining such apprehensions, would it not be unkind to conceal them? What other effect indeed would such concealment have than to aid you in doing what you are but too much disposed to do of yourselves, to blindfold you on the brink of everlasting perdition. Explicit and alarming, whatever we may think of them, are the declarations of scripture respecting the setting the affections on earthly, in preference to heavenly things. "The friendship of the world is enmity with God,"*"If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him."t Independently of the declarations of scripture it is manifest, from the nature of things, that he in whose heart there is not formed, while on earth, a relish for celestial enjoyments, cannot be admitted to these enjoyments hereafter. "Except a man be born again," it is a thing not only morally incongruous, but naturally impossible, that he should see or enjoy the kingdom of God. And what then must be the portion of such a man, when he is deprived of his inheritance on earth? What is his hope, when God taketh away his soul? How desirable to him would be the gloomy horrors of annihilation! but, alas! between the bliss of heaven and the misery of hell, we read of no intermediate portion, and he who now rejects the one must hereafter be doomed to the other. What an incentive to self-examination do these considerations furnish to all who are in a state of ignorance and uncertainty respecting their character and condition. What an argument does this furnish to every one of us to attend to the one thing needful, and, instead of cumbering ourselves with many things on earth, to choose that good part which shall never be taken from us. Dismal as are the presentiments respecting the future

state of multitudes, which their conduct authorises us to form, we are yet allowed to hope that there are still a considerable number (would that there were many more!) who have enlisted themselves under the banner of the Cross, and who, under the influence of faith in him, who loved them and gave himself for them, are struggling with the temptations of the world, some of them, perhaps, with feeble and doubtful, and others of them with more strenuous and decisive efforts. To all such I would say, if you would wish to obtain the victory over the world, it becomes you, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, to endure hardness, and to cultivate all those dispositions and habits which are suited to the state of warfare in which you are placed. Cultivate watchfulness; if you are off your guard, your insidious and vigilant enemies are ready to take advantage of your negligence. Cultivate intrepidity and courage, for you have dangers and terrors to encounter. Cultivate fortitude and patience, for you have toils and hardships to endure. As the war you are called to wage of a spiritual and invisible nature, as you are guided not by sight but by faith, you are not to expect to be encouraged or disheartened by any of these sensible. objects or splendid scenes, which dazzle the senses, and rouse or depress the exertions of the men of this world. In the contest in which you engage, the ear is not stunned with the clangour of arms, with the shout of victory, or the shrieks of the dying; the eye is not attracted by triumphal processions, nor overpowered by the sickening prospect of encountering hosts, of desolated cities, or of fields of carnage and blood. In these respects the war in which you are engaged differs from those waged by the warriors of the world; but on that very account it must appear to every considerate person the more difficult, and the more honourable.

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