these self-denying followers of Christ, were transcribed into our own minds and graven on the tables of our hearts. And which, my brethren, amongst us all will deliberately resolve not to do this? which will say that St. Paul's zeal is no argument to exertion in him, nor St. Stephen's endurance any incentive to patience in his soul? You will not thus belie your Christian name; you will not thus deny your Christian hope; you will not so abjure your Christian calling and degree, as to stop short, wilfully, of that excellence the grace of God was given you to attain to. Our hands have been put to the plough; our foreheads have been marked with the sign of our profession; our vows of perfectness have been made: "How," then, "shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?"* Oh! my dear brethren, let us, with renewed eagerness and hope, look forward to that blessed hour when what is now endeavour will be fruition, what is now desire will be possession, what is now contingent will be sure: and moved by the bright array of glories such as "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard," let us with a fresh impulse of zeal pray for that grace, which is able to guide our steps into the perfectness of the children of God. * Heb. ii. 3. † 1 Cor. ii. 9.

SERMON IX.

THE APOSTLES AND SAINTS OUR EXAMPLES.

[CONTINUED.]

PHILIPPIANS, i. 23. 24.

I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.

FROM these words I took occasion, last Sunday, to speak, generally, of the high importance we ought to attach to the examples left us by the holy men of God, whose faith, and conduct, and piety are recorded in the Bible; more especially, I drew attention to the bright and instructive

pattern of godliness presented to our imitation in the lives of the apostles, and evangelists, and martyrs of the earliest Church of Christ: and I endeavoured to show from different considerations, that their rich gifts of grace were no other or greater, for saving purposes, than those we individually enjoy. I pointed out that, even in the case of those virtues and excellencies which are esteemed by the world, there can no better pattern be chosen for our and our children's imitation, than the one they have bequeathed us; whilst for all those higher and purer graces that adorn the Christian character, it would be in vain to seek elsewhere. It is a cause of deep lamentation that this rich mine of Christian excellence is not more wrought and drawn from than it is; that this fruitful source of knowledge in practical righteousness is not more resorted to by every one, whose desire after salvation through Jesus Christ is based upon the promises of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And you, my brethren, are, I trust and pray, amongst this latter number; you have not learned the dangerous error of dividing what God has joined together; you have not been taught the wicked delusion by which sin is gilded over, and holiness obscured; by which bitter is

called sweet, and sweet bitter; by which the will of God and your sanctification, things that the apostle of Christ has joined in one, are unnaturally and unrighteously divorced; and through the operation of which the unholy spirit, because uncleansed from sin, lays claim to the promises of heaven. "But, beloved,"-I use the apostle's words,—“ we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation ;"* and therefore do I urge upon your acceptance those glorious examples of holiness the apostles and saints of the Lord have bequeathed you. Who would not desire to be as holy as they? Who would not covet the same freedom from the trammels of sin they enjoyed? See, then, how they lay their course of life before you; how they encourage you by their success, how they warn you by their failure; how they entreat you to be followers of them, even as they were of Christ.

It is to further, so far as may be, this excellent object, that I propose to continue, this evening, the consideration of their conduct, as a rule and a pattern for ourselves. And, to limit in some measure, a subject so extensive in itself, I will

* Heb. vi. 9.

confine my observations to the case of the apostle Paul. In the life of this undaunted champion of the faith, there are two periods so distinct in themselves, and so instructive also, that we cannot do better than take them for the bases upon which to found our examination of his character. The two periods I refer to are those which precede, and follow after, his memorable journey to Damascus; in other words, the periods of his unconverted, and of his converted state. In the former of these you will behold the workings of the natural man, the instigations of the carnal and proud mind, leading the possessor into every degree of violence and severity. You will find in it hatred, anger, strife, variance, tumults, seditions, murders, and every other evil work. You will see zeal misdirected, perseverance misapplied, learning perverted, influence abused; all this, and much more, you will find displayed in the life of the unconverted Saul. But in Paul the apostle, Paul converted and subdued to the knowledge and acceptance of the truth, all these elements of violence and strife will be melted down, and refined, and purged away. cursing, you will hear him bless; secuting, you will see him take

Instead of instead of per

patiently the