by the assurance of a glorious reward, the same conflict, the same inducements and a splendid triumph at last. But he to fidelity are held out to you as those conceals from them none of the sufferings which cheered on the confessors of former they might previously be called to en- ages. The promise is still sure-the redure. He assures them that, before they ward is certain-the prize of immortality could hope to obtain the promised crown, is still to be won-and the glorified Sathey might expect increased hardships. viour is still saying to every one now preThe bloody sword would remain un- sent, "Be thou faithful unto death, and sheathed. They might anticipate bonds I will give thee a crown of life." and imprisonment, torture and death. As These words contain, individuals, they might be called to seal their testimony with their blood, and as a church, they might expect an extended term of tribulation; but, amid all their sufferings, they were not to darken, by cowardice, their bright hopes for eternity. All their losses and pains will be much more than compensated by the successful issue of the conflict. How glorious to ascend to heaven from the scaffold of death to receive the martyr's crown! I. A solemn exhortation; and, Both of these topics claim our serious attention. And may the Spirit of all grace aid the speaker, and impress his hearers with a deep sense of the vast im. portance of the subject, that each of us may, during life, with ceaseless aim, seek after glory, honour, and immortality. I. The SOLEMN EXHORTATION demands our consideration. "Be thou faithful unto death." Fidelity is the duty here You, my friends, are not exposed to enjoined. The meaning of the term is the same severe trials, losses, and suffer- level to the understanding of every one, ings, for the sake of Christ, as the church and therefore does not require any lengthin Smyrna. But, as the adherents of the ened explanation. It has an obvious "captain of salvation," you must en- reference to the proper and conscientious dure hardships as good soldiers of Jesus discharge of every duty which we owe Christ. While you are in the world you as moral, social, and responsible beings. will have to fight the battles of the Lord. So long as one incumbent, especially reThe enemies of your souls are still as cognised duty is neglected, the claim to hostile to the spiritual welfare of the entire fidelity is forfeited. And in this friends of Christ as ever, and as full of unhappy condition every individual of malignity against your glorious leader. our species is placed. But it is not in Circumstances are indeed changed. The this extensive sense that we design to world is now more formidable in its consider it in this discourse; but as desmiles than in its frowns, and more de- scriptive of what the disciples of Christ structive by its allurements than by its owe to him as their Saviour and Lord. terrors. And Satan's policy is likewise His claims to their fidelity are unalienadifferent. Instead of appearing in all his ble and just in themselves, but recognative deformity to work on your fears, nised to be so by those who assume his with more cunning he now puts on the name, and solemnly profess their attachgarb of an angel of light. Instead of ment to his person and cause. Viewing employing his agents to light up the the exhortation as delivered by the gloriburning pile, and use instruments of tor-fied Redeemer to his followers, we reture to appal the followers of the Lamb, and induce them through terror to apostatize, he rather endeavours to gain them over to his cause by flatteries. Still you "wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." And while you maintain VOL. I.-33 mark, 1st. That Christians are urged to fidelity in their professions of personal attach-, ment to the Saviour.-The claims which the Son of God has on the faithful adherence of all his followers are so many and powerful as to defy enumeration. The infinite glories of his divine person the intrinsic and manifested excellences Y 2 fully known to the Son of God before he of his mediatorial character-and the amazing undertaking which he executed for man's salvation, exhibit him to every believer in a light the most attractive and amiable. It is impossible for one who knows and feels that he has been rescued from impending destruction by the generous interposition of another, to refrain from cherishing towards his benevolent deliverer the most grateful emotions. And surely every sentiment of wonder and glowing attachment must rise to its highest exercise, when the redeemed sinner remembers the unparalleled love and boundless compassion of Jesus to guilty men, and the striking proofs which he gave of these. When our race must have perished for ever had he not interposed, he became their surety. He came forth from the bosom of his Father, where he was venerated and adored by all the heavenly hosts, and appeared on our earth in the "form of a servant." Though he had made the world and all its inhabitants, yet, when he came to it, he found no birth-appreciated the character, the work, and place but a stable, and no cradle for his the excellences of Christ, and to be infant head but a manger. And he was influenced by love to him. You have not ignorant of the reception with which avowed your attachment to him in the he would meet before he appeared among most solemn and public manner, and you men. He knew that penury, toil, reproach, are bound by every consideration of duty and persecution would be his constant at- and consistency habitually to act under tendants that every obstruction which the constraining influence of love to earth and hell could throw in his way, to Christ. The pulse of this heavenly afimpede his benevolent enterprise, must be fection ought to beat strongly and steadiencountered that in the execution of his ly within you, so long as your heart remagnificent undertaking he would have tains its natural warmth. Your love to to bear the ingratitude of men, and the Jesus must not blaze like a meteor, but attacks of devils-the fury of the powers burn like the sun. No combination of of darkness, and the wrath of offended external circumstances must quench the heaven-that in the fulfilment of his cove- pure flame of heavenly affection to the nant engagement with his Father to save Saviour. Providence may frown, friends sinners, he must pass through scenes, may disclaim you, or, like the leaves in and sufferings, and conflicts, such as autumn, may drop into the grave-health never were before exhibited, nor endured, may depart-the languor of disease and and never shall be again. The sun suf- the fell grasp of death may paralyze your fered a miraculous eclipse to conceal the faculties; but whatever you may have to terrors of the hours during which Jesus encounter from the attacks of enemies hung suspended on the accursed tree. without, or suffer from within, endeavour And the signals which announced the never to allow the ardour of your love to victory won, and salvation complete, cool. So long as it is in vigorous exerwere the loud voice of the expiring Sa- cise, it will bear you up over every caviour, exclaiming, "It is finished," rend- lamity. You will not hesitate to suffer ing rocks, supernatural darkness, and a for Him who did so much for you. Seek great earthquake. Now, all this was then to have your love fed with the holy 66 oil of heavenly influence, that you " may | authority of Christ, and of fidelity to his be able to comprehend with all saints cause. Those who would persuade you what is the breadth, and length, and that you ought to attach no importance depth, and height, and to know the love to the articles of your creed, provided of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that you keep strict watch over your conduct, ye may be filled with all the fulness of are to be avoided as poisoners of the very God." Then shall you evince the reali- springs of moral action. They do every ty and intenseness of your affection to thing in their power to infuse into the soul your Saviour, and prove your fidelity to one of the most certain elements of spirithim. And as his love to you was not ual death. Their own crude opinion, cooled by the indignities he endured, the when once embraced as a practical princiagonies he suffered, or by the grave in ple, proves fatal to all correct morality. It which his sacred body for a while lay is indeed possible for a man of bad prinentombed; so "neither death, nor life, ciples, occasionally, to do an outwardly nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, good action, but it is impossible that it nor things present, nor things to come, nor can be so estimated by the Searcher of height, nor depth, nor any other crea- hearts. Though thousands of his fellows ture shall be able to separate you from applaud, the righteous Judge will conthe love of God which is in Christ Jesus demn him. But as a general maxim it our Lord." holds true, that as a tree is known by its fruits, so are a man's principles by his conduct, and the converse of this statement is equally certain. Be not then indifferent to any one doctrine of revelation. Hold fast the form of sound words which are contained in the oracles of truth; contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. You can 2d. The exhortation calls on Christians to be faithful in their adherence to all the doctrines of revelation.—Correct views of divine truth are essential to the formation of the Christian character. "The truth" is the great instrument which the Holy Spirit employs in regenerating and perfecting believers, and for fitting them for the services and enjoyments of the bless-not surrender the smallest portion of died on high. Divine truth is the lamp of heaven, by which the dark soul is illuminated, and the footsteps of the Christian pilgrim directed in his way to the promised rest. The Bible is the mirror in which the moral deformity of our hearts is most strikingly reflected, and the beauty of holiness most attractively displayed. The doctrines of revelation well understood, and cordially believed, influence every spring of moral action, and give an impulse to right conduct. To insinuate error into the mind is like casting poison into a fountain. The streams which issue from it become pestiferous, and impregnated with death. It must be of vast importance, then, that you form accurate views of those doctrines which the Spirit of the living God has unfolded, and whose truth he has demonstrated by the most splendid miracles, and by other evidence no less satisfactory. To estimate lightly the worth of any truth taught in the Bible, is to betray an utter want of respect for the vine truth without hazard to your spiritual welfare. And if through ignorance or unbelief you neglect, overlook, or abandon any of the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, the consequences may be awfully fatal. You must not shape your religious principles by the prevailing opinions of the world, but by the word of God. To give up in complacency to the enemies of Christianity, or in courtesy to the spurious liberality of the age, any of the doctrines of the gospel, is to prove a traitor to Christ. You must be decided in your adherence to every truth contained in the Bible, and determined to hold it fast though you should stand alone. Consistency, safety, and fidelity require this of you-you must never be ashamed even of those doctrines against which the wit of the scoffer, the reasonings of the rationalist, and the contempt of the profane are most bitterly directed. You must take your stand at the foot of the cross, grasp it as the standard around which you must valiantly fight, and take as your war-cry the words of inspiration, | is in his nostrils. The wall of fire which "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." The text calls on Christians, 3d. To be faithful in maintaining the royal authority of the Saviour, and his Headship over his church.-Jesus was foretold by the prophet as a priest on his throne, intimating very forcibly that he would unite in himself the offices of a king and of a priest; that while he would come in all the meekness of a lamb to be slain, and in all the compassion of our great High Priest, to offer up himself a sacrifice, and to bear the infirmities of his people, he would come likewise in all the majesty and authority of a king to legislate for his church, and to throw over her the shield of his own omnipotent protection. These laws are contained in the Bible, which is the only statute book of the church. They are piain, perfect, and easily understood. They are of universal obligation, and bind as firmly the greatest monarch on earth as the lowliest individual. Every man is commanded to study them for himself, and to judge for himself. The commands -prove all things-hold fast that which is good-let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind-are addressed indiscriminately to all to whom revelation comes. No man, no class of men-no counsel, assembly, or parliament-can, without daring arrogance, issue an authoritative interpretation of any passage of sacred Scripture, and enforce it upon the conscience of another. To your own master you must stand or fall-every one of you must give an account of himself to God. One is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. But though these statements are as reasonable as they are scriptural, they have been sadly overlooked, both by individuals and churches. The authority of Christ has been set aside by human enactments, and the sacred territory of conscience invaded. His own bloodbought church has been torn from under his own almighty protection, and put under the patronage of man, whose breath the Redeemer has reared around his own Zion, is not deemed sufficient for her safety, but the visible arm of earthly power is sought as a substitute. As the sworn subjects of the Prince of Peace, you are bound to vindicate his insulted honour, and assert the supreme authority of your King. It is treason to Jesus to allow a usurper to enter his sacred province, and dispute with him his authority, or claim a homage which is exclusively his due. The conduct of all the worthies of former generations loudly calls on you to imitate their heroic example. The cruel threatening of an arbitrary despot-the alluring influence of voluptuous musicthe showy pomps of an idolatrous worship-the prostrate knees of sycophantish multitudes-the burning fiery furnace, seven times heated, combining, as they did, all that is alluring on the one hand, and appalling on the other, could not shake the courage of the Hebrew youths, nor secure their ignoble compliance with what they regarded as sinful. Daniel chose to be cast into the lion's den, brave the loss of worldly honour, and encounter the rage of a despotic king, rather than offend his God, and wound his conscience. Reverence for the royal authority of Jesus led many, in former days, to the scaffold and the stake. Scotland, too, has had her martyrs in the same noble cause. Our natal soil has been watered with sainted blood. The individuals who call it their own, and claim kindred with those who resisted every human encroachment on the authority of Christ, and yet tamely surrender their religious liberties, and allow men to legislate for the church, dishonour the cause with which they claim alliance, and are traitors to the Saviour. Whatever, then, it may cost you, maintain the exclusive authority of Christ over his church, and over the consciences of his followers. "Be faithful unto death." But your loyalty to Christ must not stop here. While you contend for his prerogatives, you must yield yourselves up wholly to his service. He has instituted ordinances to be observed, and given laws to be obeyed. His authority | sacrifice this may cost you, do not hesitate attaches alike to every one of them. To neglect the one, or disobey the other, is to forfeit all claim to the character of a Christian, and to incur his righteous displeasure. His will must be your rulehis glory your end-his ordinances your delight his favour your life, and his smile your heaven. Then comes, bringing his reward w for one moment to make it-present pleasure, secular advantage, worldly friendships, are less than nothing when put in the balance with the salvation of the soul. Give yourselves cheerfully to the work of the Lord-enter with holy ardour and stern resolution on that course which aphe peared to you so desirable from a commuonion table or the borders of eternity; let your language be, "I am 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, who loved me, and gave himself for me." give to every man according as his work shall be, he will say of you, "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." The exhortation requires you, But if you, in opposition to all your en Saviour's cause, how dreadful must be your eternal condition, and how terrible your doom! Does it not now make your blood run cold and stagnate at your heart, to conceive it possible that, instead of rising from your graves with joy, to join the myriads thronging to take their place on the right hand of the Judge, you may be called out of your prison-house to be dragged as a perjured traitor to receive the condemnation you have merited; and instead of obtaining the crown of life as the reward of fidelity, to be given over into the custody of death and hell, to be tormented for ever with the devil and his angels as a cowardly deserter from the cause you had sworn to defend? 4th. To be faithful in paying your so-gagements and professions, abandon the lemn vows. Many of you have come under the most solemn obligations to devote yourselves to the service of God. His vows are upon you. They are registered in the book of his remembrance, and you never can deface the record, or recall the sacred transaction. It shall remain indelible till it be exhibited before an assembled universe, and read in the hearing of countless multitudes. Whatever may have been the character of these transactions, whether in the shape of resolutions, promises, subscribing with the hand unto the Lord, or seating yourselves at the communion table, they are for ever binding upon you. Whensoever they may have been made-whether when you were first awakened to see your guilt and danger as a sinner, or when the earthly 5th. To be faithful unto death.-When house of your tabernacle seemed dissolv- you made a profession of religion, and ing, and you had the near prospect of be-enlisted into the army of the Captain of coming an inhabitant of eternity, or when surrounding the sacramental board, with the affecting symbols of a crucified Saviour in your hands, or when your hearts burned within you for benefits received, and mercies enjoyed; it matters not what may have been the time or circumstances in which you vowed to be the Lord's; his claim to your services is unquestionable. You cannot set it aside. You are bound to glorify him in your bodies and your spirits, which are his. The text commands you, salvation, it was not for a short campaign, but for life. Having put on the Lord Jesus Christ, you are henceforth to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness-having set out in your way to heaven, you are not so much as to look back; you are to press on towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. You are not to use your religion as you do your Sabbath attire. It must be worn as your habitual garb—you must be clothed with Give up, then, my dear friends, the it. Alas! there are many who make a sins you vowed to forsake―abandon the profession of religion who are utterly company you resolved to shun-whatever | ignorant of its great principles, and have |