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mated by the promise of Christ telling him, He that overcometh shall sit down in my throne; he was animated by the mercy, which he knew, how weak soever his efforts might be, would be approved at the tribunal of Jesus Christ, provided they were sincere, for Jesus himself conquered for him, and himself acquired that prize for the apostle, at which he aspired; in a word he was animated by his love, Jesus Christ is at the end of the race, and Paul loved Jesus Christ, and longed to be with him. I said, he saw two objects, the prize of victory, and Jesus Christ, but these make only one object. St. Paul's prize is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is Paul's paradise. According to him Christ is the most desirable part of celestial felicity: Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord; we are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord, 2 Cor. v. 6. 8. I desire to depart, and to be with Christ, Phil. i. 23. I press toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, chap. iii. 14. This thought, that every step he took brought him nearer to Jesus Christ, this thought rendered him insensible to all the fatigue of the race, and enabled him to redouble his efforts to arrive at the end.

O flames of divine love! Shall we never know you except by the examples of the primitive christians! O flames of divine love, which we have so often described, shall we never feel you in our own souls! Fire us, inflame us with your ardor, and make us understand that all things are easy to the man, who sincerely loves God! God grant us this grace! To him be glory for ever. Amen.

SERMON XIII.

THE MORAL MARTYR.

Psalm cxix. 46.

I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.

MY BRETHREN,

IT is not only under the reign of a tyrant, that religion involves its disciples in persecution, it is in times of the greatest tranquillity, and even when virtue seems to sit on a throne. A christian is often subject to punishments different from wheels and racks. People united to him by the same profession of religion, having received the same baptism, and called him to aspire at the same glory, not unfrequently press him to deny Jesus Christ, and prepare punishments for him, if he have courage to confess him. Religion is proposed to us in two different points of view, a point of speculation, and a point of practice. Accordingly there are two sorts of martyrdoms, a martyrdom for doctrine, and a martyrdom for morality. It is for the last that the prophet prepares us in the words of the text, and to the same end I dedicate the sermon, which I am going to address to you to-day. I come into this place, that affords a happy asylum for confessors and martyrs, to utter in your hearing these words of Jesus Christ, Whosoever shall

be ashamed of me, and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels, Mark

viii. 38.

In order to animate you with a proper zeal for morality, and to engage you, if necessary, to become martyrs for it, we will treat of the subject in five different views.

I. We will shew you the authors, or, as they may be justly denominated, the executioners, who punish men with martyrdom for morality.

II. The magnanimity of such as expose themselves to it.

III. The honors that accompany it.

IV. The obligation which engages men to sub

mit to it.

V. The glory that crowns it.

We will explain these five ideas contained in the words of the Psalmist, I will speak of thy testimonies before kings, and will not be ashamed; and we will proportion these articles, not to that extent, to which they naturally go, but to bounds prescribed to these exercises.

I. The authors, or, as we just now called them, the executioners, who inflict this punishment, are to be considered. The text calls them kings, I will speak of thy testimonies before kings. What kings does the psalmist mean? Saul, to whom piety was become odious or any particular heathen prince, to whom the persecutions of Saul sometimes drove our prophet for refuge? The name of the God of the Hebrews was blasphemed among these barbarians; his worship was called supersti

tion by them; and it would have been difficult to profess to fear him and avoid contempt.

It is not easy to determine the persons intended by the psalmist, nor is it necessary to confine the words to either of the senses given; they may be taken in a more extensive sense. The word king in the eastern languages, as well as in those of the western world, is not confined to kings properly so called; it is sometimes given to superiors of any rank. Ask not the reason of this, every language hath its own genius, and custom is a tyrant, who seldom consults reason before he issues orders, and who generally knows no law but self-will and caprice. If you insist on a direct answer to your inquiry concerning the reason of the general use of the term, I reply, the same passion for despotism, which animates kings on a throne, usually inspires such individuals as are a little elevated above people around them; they consider themselves as sovereigns, and pretend to regal homage. Authority over inferiors begins this imaginary royalty, and vanity finishes it. Moreover, such as are called petty gentry in the world are generally more proud and absolute than real kings; the last frequently propose nothing but to exercise dominion, but the first aim both to exercise dominion and to make a parade of the exercise, lest their imaginary grandeur should pass unnoticed.

I understand, then, by the vague term, kings, all who have any pre-eminence over the lowest orders of men, and these are they, who exercise tyranny, and inflict the martyrdom, for which the prophet in the text prepares us. In order to comprehend this more fully, contrast two conditions in the life of David. Remark first the state of mediocrity, or rather happy obscurity, in which this holy man was born. Educated by a father, not rich,

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