What do ye more than others?'—MATTHEW v. 47.

In a mountain the law was propounded to Moses, in a mountain the law was expounded by Jesus; the former to a man of God, the latter by the Son of God: the one to a prophet of the Lord, the other by the Lord of the prophets.

As the works of Christ were miraculous, so the words of Christ were mysterious; they were such a depth which none could sound but those whom God had furnished with the plummet of an enlightened understanding. Before any one can peruse the Scriptures to profit, the Lamb of God must open the seven seals.

In this chapter, the soul-justifying Saviour condemns the self-justifying Scribes and Pharisees. Never did men make more boast in the law, but never had men less cause. They knew but little as to the letter, but less of its spirit. They were better acquainted with the customs of nature, than the canons of Scripture. Alas! how shall the blind see when the seers are blind! They who should have put the eyes of others in, had put their own out.

The righteous laws of God cannot connive at the unrighteous lives of men, they not only require truth without, but within also. The rays of this sun enter the most secret chambers of the heart, therefore he that lusteth after, and he that lieth with a woman are both adulterers. He is a murderer whose heart is full of hatred, though his hands be free from violence. Thus the lusts of men may be predominant, when the lives of men are not inordinate; as guests may be in the house, when they look not out of the windows. He who begins religion where it should end, will end religion where it should be begun.

But as the suburbs direct to the city, and the portal leads to the palace, so the context will guide us to the text. 'If ye love them that love you, what reward have you? do not the Publicans the same?'

As an echo returns the voice it receives, so many will shew kindness where kindness is shewn; but shall Publicans be as godly as the Lord's disciples? Shall the sons of men equalize the sons of God? Shall the law of nature swell to so high a tide as the law of grace? This were for the dribbling rivulet to vie with the drowning ocean; this were for royalty to degenerate into beggary; and for the meridian sun to yield no more light than midnight shades.

'If you salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others?'

I shall not curiously dissect these words, lest I should present to your view a frightful skeleton; nor shall I lavishly paint these windows, lest my deep colours should shut out the light. The native comeliness of Scripture scorns the unnatural colour of a bewitching Jezebel. One rough diamond is of more value than many smooth counterfeits.

My subject treats not of oratory, but divinity; and my design in it is rather to express affections, than to affect expressions. Though the sweetness of the sauce may yield pleasure to the palate, yet it is only the soundness of the meat that can administer nourishment to the blood.

This text is like a precious jewel, small in quantity, but great in quality. The words contain two parts:

I. An action propounded.

II. A question proposed.

1. An action propounded, touching that which is lawful: because salutation is only a pledge of affection, it is the overflowing of the heart at the lips. There is a kiss of subjection and obedience, that is the subject's kiss; there is a kiss of wantonness and temptation, that is the harlot's kiss; there is a kiss of dissimulation, that is the traitor's kiss; there is also a kiss of tenderness and affection, and that is the brother's kiss.

Now this Scripture enjoins you, not only to salute your friends, but your enemies also. Party esteem is but withered fruit, and falls rather from Sodom's, than Sion's trees. There is therefore a kiss of pity and forgiveness, and that is the Christian's kiss: if this be wanting, the others are vain. For, if ye salute your brethren only, then observe what follows: which is,

2. A question proposed, 'What do ye more than others?'

This is the well from which I shall draw the water, and the foundation upon which I shall raise the superstructure. You cannot rationally imagine that you will be supplied with bitter streams from so sweet a spring, or that I should make a bowing wall or tottering fence with such choice materials. Those who collect pearls from this spot, will leave as many behind them as they carry with them.

As the disciples of Christ are more than others, so the disciples of Christ do more than others. A hypocrite may move beyond a Sodomite; but a Christian moves beyond them both. Though the naturally dead can do nothing, yet the spiritually dead may do something. Though they can do nothing to merit the grace of life, yet they may do something as to using the means of life.

Cicero complains of Homer, that 'he taught the gods to live like men: 'but grace teaches men to live like gods. It is lamentable that we should live so long in the world and do so little for God; or that we should live so short a time in the world and do so much for Satan. Other creatures are not more below a sinner, than a saint is above a sinner. Man is the excellency of the creature, the saint is the excellency of man, grace is the excellency of the saint, and glory is the excellency of grace.

Believers are among others, as Saul was among the Israelities, the tallest by the head and shoulders. Their birth is truly low who are not born from above. "What are such earthly shrubs, compared with heavenly cedars? or such thorns of the world's brake, to the willows of God's brook? Those trees which have their top branches of hope in heaven, will have their lower boughs of activity on earth. Those who look for a heaven made ready, will live as though they were already in heaven.

Grace not only makes a man more a man, but it also makes him more than a man. The primitive Christians were the best of men. None were more lowly in their dispositions, or more lovely in their conversation. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation. He was not a sinner among saints, but he was a saint among sinners. "Who would have looked for so fair a bird in so foul a nest. Though he once acted as the sons of men do, yet he was numbered with the sons of God. A field of wheat may be good, and yet have a weed in it. A saint is not free from sin, that is his burden; a saint is not free to sin, that is his blessing. Sin is in him, that is his lamentation; his soul is not in sin, that is his consolation.

Mark how an immaculate Saviour glories in one of these singular saints, 'And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job?' Why, what is there in him so considerable? 'There is none like him in all the earth.' Though there were none in heaven so bad as Job, yet there were none on earth so good as Job. He was a man so like unto God, that there was no man like him.

A gracious person once hearing how far a hypocrite might go, said 'Let hypocrites proceed as far as they can in that which is laudable; and when they can advance no further, I will go beyond them. A true Christian not only does more than others will do, but he also does more than others can do.—Whatsoever is not above the top of nature, is below the bottom of grace. Ihere are some who pretend to believe, but work not; there are others who work, but believe not: but a saint does both, he so obeys the law, as if there were no gospel to be believed and so believes the gospel, as though there were no law to be obeyed. Religion consists not singly in believing or doing, but in both.

There are four sorts of things in the world:

1. There are some things which are neither good nor pleasant as envy and detraction. The eclipsing of another's sun will not make thine own shine with brighter beams. 0 pare off those envious nails, which are ever disfiguring that face which is fairer than thine own. Why do you wound yourself with that plaister which is laid upon your brother's sore? or weep at every shower which falls beside your own enclosure? Who would envy an ox that pasture which only fits it for the slaughter? or the malefactor that carriage which only conveys him to the place of execution? You have no less because others have much, nor have they much because you have little. Another's wealth is no more the cause of your want, than Leah's fruitfulness was the cause of Rachel’s barrenness. 0 never pine at your neighbour's prosperity, and you shall never pine away through your own scarcity He enjoys much who is thankful for a little. A grateful mind is a great mind.

2. There are some things which are Peasant, but not good, as youthful lusts and worldly delights. These bees carry honey in their mouths but they have a sting in their tails. When this Jael brings forth her milk and her butter, then beware of the nail and the hammer. Death is in the pot while you are tasting the soup. The world always presents a deadly portion in the gilded cup of worldly pleasure. If the cup be sinful, do not taste it; if it be lawful, carouse not over it. Reason forbids you, either to taste known poison, or to be intoxicated with pleasant wine. The fish is caught upon the hook, by leaping at the bait. Sin is like a river, which begins in a quiet spring, but ends in a tumultuous sea.

3. There are some things good, but not pleasant, as sorrow and affection. Sin is pleasant but unprofitable, and sorrow is profitable but unpleasant. By affliction, the Lord separates the sin that he hates, from the soul that he loves. He does not always ordain it, to take your spirit out of your flesh, but your flesh out of your spirit. It is not sent to take down the tabernacle of nature, but to rear up the temple of grace within you. As waters are purest when they are in motion, so saints are generally holiest when in affliction. A foul fescue frequently points to a fair lesson. Some Christians resemble those children who will learn their books no longer than while the rod is on their backs. It is well known that by the greatest affliction the Lord has sealed the sweetest instruction. Many are not bettered by the judgments they see, when they have by the judgments they have felt. The purest gold is the most pliable. That is the best blade which bends well, without retaining its crooked figure.

4. There are some things both good and pleasant, and those are gracious operations on the soul. A believer's bed of graces is more fragrant than the most precious bed of spices. He who freely gives his image to us, must of necessity love his image in us. How illustrious do the heavens appear while the sun is radiating them with his beams! Now, my brethren, `Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, lovely, and of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.'

But, as you cannot see so well by a candle under a bushel, as upon a table, I shall therefore hold up the subject to your view in the following light:

Firstly, I shall touch upon the explanation of that which is doctrinal.

Secondly, Upon the application of that which is practical.

The former is like cutting the garment out, the latter is like putting the garment on.

I am first to treat of that which is doctrinal. And here I shall shew, first, why a believer does more than others; and, secondly what he does more than others.

I begin with the first. Why do Christians do more than others?

1. Because more is done for them than is done for others.

There is that done for them which none but he who made them could do. They are loved, they are atoned for, they are prayed for, and they are provided for more than others. Now where there is a superaddition of privilege, there should be a superaddition of practice. We naturally expect more splendour from the beaming of the sun, than from the burning of a candle; and we look for more moisture from the dissolving of a cloud, than from the dropping of a bucket. The same heat that melts the wax, will harden the clay. The juice which distils into a rose, is returned in a sweet perfume; but that which drops upon a nettle, is returned in an ill savour. If the mercies of God be not loadstones to draw us to heaven, they will be millstones to draw or sink us in perdition.

'To whom much is given, of them much shall be required.' The blessings we enjoy are not the fruit of our merit, but the fruit of God's mercy. By how much the more grace we have received, by so much the more glory we are obliged to return to the giver. He does not exact much where little is bestowed; nor accept little where much is received. A drop of praise is an unsuitable acknowledgment for an ocean of mercy. 'Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you, 0 children of Israel, You only have I known of all the families of the earth. But was their return according to the benefit? No surely, otherwise he would not have added, 'Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.' They were more known to God than others, therefore they should have acknowledged him more than others.

Those who have tasted the goodness of God, can never speak good enough of God. Reason teaches, that those should bless most who are most blessed. What are carnal men to Christian men? The power of God appears in the formation of one, but the stupendous grace of God shines illustriously in the transformation of the other. In creation God has given the productions of the earth for our bodies, but in redemption he has given himself for our souls. Thus it appears to be a greater favour to be converted than to be created; yea, it were better for us to have no being than not to have a new being. When you were sailing to destruction, before sin's dangerous blast, then the most blessed gales of mercy sprang up and changed your course. When you lay in the blood of transgression, then God beheld you with bowels of compassion His heart pitied you, and his hand helped you. Now where there is distinguishing mercy, there ought to be distinguishing duty. The husbandman who holds the largest farms, will pay the greatest rent; and he who sows the most precious seed, will expect the choicest crop. Now read the great husbandman's complaint against his vineyard: 'Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: and he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein.' Here is an inventory of God's goodness to his vineyard. Now what follows? 'He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.' He looked that they should be better to him than others, because he had been better to them than he had been to others.

God had made them flowers of Paradise, while others were left as the weeds of the wilderness.—While others were Satan's thoroughfare, they were God's choice enclosure.

How has God embraced you, who are believers over many shoulders! He has made you his own dials, on which the beams of the Sun of righteousness do shine! He has made you studs for his crown, while others are stools for his feet! 'Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?' As if he had said, 'Lord, what are we more than others, that thou shouldest shew thyself to us; when thou mightest have shewn thyself to them and not to us?'

Reader, has God made you a vessel to honour out of the same lump? Has he shewn himself to you, and not to the world? And will you not shew yourself for God, and not for the world? Remember, that it lay as a great blotch on Hezekiah's escutcheon, that, 'he rendered not unto the Lord according to the benefit done unto him.'

2. Another reason why Christians do more than others, is, Because they stand in a nearer relation to God than others. _

The nearer the relation, the stronger are the ties of obligation. In this view, believers on earth are superior to angels in heaven. Christ is related to these as a lord to his servants; but he is united to those as a head to its members. In this head, there are no glazed eyes, nor are there any withered or dead members in this body. While others are made of God, these are born of God. While others stand before him as prisoners before their judge, these appear before him as children before a father, and as a bride before a bridegroom. There are no stillborn children in the family of grace. God is the living Father, and therefore all his children live by him; he is also the everlasting Father, and therefore he will have due honour paid him. 'For a son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear?' As a father, he will be revered for his goodness; and as a master, he will be feared for his greatness.

If honour be not the Lord's due, let him not have it: if it be his due, let him not be denied it. As man was born to serve God, he had better never have been born than to refuse him that service.

When the son of Flavius was found in the conspiracy of Catiline, the displeased father reprehended him sharply, saying, Non ego te Catilinae genui sed patriae, `I did not beget you for Catiline but for your country.' This is the language of God to his children, I gave you not bodies and souls to serve sin with but to serve me with. Our bodies were not formed to be the instruments of unrighteous actions, nor our souls the gloomy abodes of foul spirits.

The everlasting Father cannot brook the ungrateful behaviour of his own chidren. Therefore, attend to the great complaint he prefers against them. ‘Hear, 0 heavens, and give ear, 0 earth, for my children refuse to hear, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.' Where the relation is the nearest, there the provocation is the greatest. It is far more pleasing to behold rebels becoming children, than to behold children becoming rebels.

When Caesar was wounded by the senators of Rome, Brutus a Roman of an illustrious family, also made a pass at him. With that Caesar gave him a wishful look, saying, 'What thou, my son Brutus!' How can that tender mother endure to feel those lips sucking her blood, which were wont to draw her maternal breast? The unkindness of a friend is more sensibly felt than that of an enemy.

The Roman censors took such an utter dislike to the debauched son of Africanus, that they refused to let him wear a ring on which his father's likeness was engraven; alleging, ‘That he who was so unlike the father’s person, was unworthy to wear the father’s picture.’ Thus God will never grant any to enjoy the love of Christ in heaven, who are destitute of the likeness of Christ on earth.

Alexander, who is reported to be an exceeding swift runner was once solicited to run in the Olympic games. He answered 'I will, if kings are mine antagonists.' Give me such a saint who will pursue nothing on earth, which may be unsuitable to his birth from heaven. What, shall he walk in darkness, whose Father is light! Shall those lips be found broaching falsehood, which were found breathing out prayers! Shall those eyes be found gazing on unseemly objects, which were found reading the lively oracles of God!

The remembrance of our dignity, should engage us to our heavenly duty. 'It is not for kings, 0 Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine and strong drink.' Such a sin is detestable in a sovereign, who has the eyes of his subjects upon him; but it is aggravated in a saint, who has the eyes of his Saviour upon him. A spot in scarlet, is worse than a stain in russet.

3. Another reason why Christians do more than others, is, Because they profess more than others.

Though there be many professors who are not true believers; yet there are no true believers, but what are professors. As trees are known by their fruits, so believers are known by their works. Such as have received Christ's bounty, are unwilling to fight under Satan's banner.

There are many who 'profess to know God, but in works deny him; being abominable, disobedient, and to every good work reprobate.' Man is not what he says, but what he does. For a man to say what he does, and not to do what he says, is to resemble those trees which are full of leaves, but void of fruits; or those barns wherein there is much chaff, but no grain. 'What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord.'

Ah, how intolerable will the punishment of those professors be, who have appeared as burnished gold to men, and are found only base metal in the sight of God! What will it profit, to put off the old manners, and not put off the old man? A snake may change its skin, and yet preserve its sting. The gospel professed, may lift a man unto heaven; but it is only the gospel possessed, that brings a man into heaven. To profess piety, and yet to practise impiety, will be so far from advancing a man's commendation, that it will assuredly heighten his condemnation.

'And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?' As if he had said, 'Either keep my words more, or else call me Lord no more; either take me into your lives, or cast me out of your lips.' As princes disdain to have their images on base counterfeits, so the Lord Jesus cannot delight to see his name on rotten hypocrites. Therefore he saith, 'Let every one that nameth the name of Christ, depart from all iniquity.' If godliness be evil, why is it so much professed? if it be good, why is it so little practised?

'Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling.' Now a holy calling will be attended with a holy carriage. Many may be found who can talk of grace; but very few can be found who taste of grace. It is not every one who looks like a Christian, that lives like a Christian. For there are some who make their boast of the law, and yet through breaking the law, they dishonour God. It is a greater glory to us, that we are allowed to serve God, than it is to him, that we offer him that service. He is not rendered happy by us; but we are made happy by him. He can do without such earthly servants; but we cannot do without such a heavenly master.

It is unnatural for a Christian's tongue to be larger than his hand. It is lamentable for him to hold a lamp to others, and yet to walk in darkness himself. There are generally more infected by the undue conduct of some, than there are instructed by the righteous doctrines of others. He that gives proper precepts, and then sets improper examples, resembles that foolish person, who labours hard to kindle a fire, and when he has done it, throws cold water upon it to quench it. Though such a physician may administer the reviving cordial to some fainting disciple, yet he is in danger himself of dying in a swoon. I may say of such professors, as was once said of a certain preacher, that 'when he was in the pulpit, it was a pity he should ever leave it, he was so excellent an instructor; but when he was out of it, it was a pity he should ever ascend it again, he was so wretched a liver.'

Many people are offended with the profession of religion, because all are not religious who make a profession. A little consideration will correct this error. Does the sheep despise its fleece, because the wolf has worn it? Who blames a crystal river, because some melancholy men have drowned themselves in its streams? The best drugs have their adulterates. And will you refuse opiate, because some have wantonly poisoned themselves with it? Though you have been cozened with false colours, yet you should not disesteem that which is dyed in grain. He is a bad economist, who having a spot in his garment, cuts off the cloth, instead of rubbing off the dirt. God rejects all religion but his own.

4. Another reason why Christians do more than others, is, Because they are inwardly conformed to the image of their Redeemer more than others.

As Jesus Christ is the fountain of all excellency, to which all must come; so he is the pattern of excellency, to which all must conform. As he is the root on which a saint grows; so he is the rule by which a saint walks. God has made one Son in the image of us all, that he might make all his sons in the image of that one. Jesus Christ lived to teach us how to live, and died to teach us how to die. Therefore he commands us, saying", 'Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.' 0 reader, if the life of Christ be not your pattern, the death of Christ will never be your pardon! Though the Lord Jesus was a man of many sorrows, yet he was not a man of the least sin. No man can equalize him in holiness; yet every man ought to imitate him in holiness.

As the sun is the glory of creation, so is Christ the glory of redemption. The summit of moral religion consists in imitating God: without this, your religion will be found a Tekel: when it is weighed in the balance, it will be wanting. It would be well if there were as great a similarity between the life of Christ and the life of Christians, as there is between a just copy and the original. What he was by nature, that we should be by grace. As face answereth to face in water, so should life answer to life in Scripture. He that was a way to others, never went out of the way himself.

A truly religious life, is a crystal glass; wherein Christ sees his own likeness. In our sacramental participations, we shew forth the death of Christ: but in our evangelical conversation, we shew forth the life of Christ. An excellent Christ, calls for excellent Christians. As he was never unemployed, he was never ill-employed. For, 'he went about doing good.' As our happiness lay near his heart, so his honour should lie near our hearts.

Jesus Christ even submits his person to be judged by his actions: 'If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.' As if he had said, 'Never take me for a Saviour, if I act contrary to a Saviour.' Thus should it be with a professor, 'Never take me for a Christian, if I live contrary to the life of a Christian.’ If professors do more than others, it might be said, ‘Those are men and professors; but not men and Christians.'

Man is naturally an aspiring being, and loves to be nearest to those who are highest. Why does he not therefore take as much delight in those precepts which enjoin holiness, as in those promises which ensure happiness?

All those who are conformed to the image of the Redeemer, are as willing to be ruled by Christ, as they are to be esteemed by him. He that deems his yoke heavy, will not find his crown easy.

By David's language, there were many singular saints in his day: 'To the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.' Was it so then? and should it not be so now? We know the New Testament outshines the Old, as much as the sun outshines the moon. If we then live in a more glorious dispensation, should we not maintain a more glorious conversation?

How blessed would it be for us, to have that blessed Scripture fulfilled in us, 'As he was, so are we in this world.' Now if we are in this world as he was, we shall be in heaven as he is. If there be no likeness between Christ and you on earth, there can be no friendship between Christ and you in heaven.

5. Another reason why Christians should do more than others, is, Because they are looked upon more than others.

If once a man commence a professor, the eyes of all are upon him; and well they may, for his profession in the world, is a separation from the world. Believers condemn those by their lives, who condemn them by their lips. Righteous David saw many who were waiting to triumph in his mistakes. Hence the more they watched, the more he prayed: 'Teach me thy way, 0 Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.' It may be rendered, 'because of mine observers.'

Christian, if you dwell in the open tent of licentiousness, the wicked will not walk backward, like modest Shem and Japheth, to cover your shame; but they will walk forward, like cursed Ham, to publish it. Thus they make use of your weakness as a plea for their wickedness.

Men are merciless in their censures of Christians: they have no sympathy for their infirmity; while God weighs them in more equal scales, and says, 'The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.' While the saint is a dove in the eyes of God, he is only a raven in the estimation of sinners. Consider Christian, that an unholy conversation, strips off the rich ornamental jewels from the neck of the bride, the Lamb's wife. Sin indulged in a believer, is like a rent in a richly embroidered garment; or like a crack in a silver bell. A foul spot is soonest discerned in the fairest cloth. The world will sooner make an excuse for its own enormities, than for your infirmities.

The behaviour of some professors has often given the wicked an opportunity to reproach religion. Lactantius reports, that the heathens were wont to say, 'The master could not be good, when his disciples were so bad.' The malice of sinners is such, that they will reproach the rectitude of the law, for the obliquity of their lives who swerve from it. 0 that your pure life, did but hang a padlock upon their impure lips! Such will ever be throwing the dirt of professors, upon the face of profession.

If the sun be eclipsed one day, it attracts more spectators than if it shone a whole year. So if you commit one sin, it will cause you many sorrows, and the world many triumphs. Dr. Whitaker, on reading the fifth of Matthew, brake out, saying, Aut hoc non est evangelium, aut nos non sumus evangelici, 'either this is not the gospel, or we are not of the gospel.' The cruelty of the Spaniards to the Indians, made them refuse Christian baptism, 'For,' said they, 'he must be a wicked God, who has such wicked servants.' 0 that God's jewels did but sparkle more in this benighted world!

That was a glorious encomium given to Zacharias and Elizabeth: `And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.' God made them both righteous, and then men saw them righteous. Their religion was undefiled before God and the Father: and their lives unspotted from the world.

Reader, would you be righteous in God's sight? then you must be righteous in God's Son. Would you be unspotted from the world? then remember, you are not of the world. When the godly are left to fall, then the envious sinner will exclaim, 'There is your religion.' No wonder if a Barbarian gives the alarm, when the leprosy is in an Israelitish house.

6. Another reason why believers should do more than others, is, Because if they do no more, it will appear that they are no more than others.

As there is no man so vicious, but some relative good may be performed by him to man; so there is no one so religious, but some evil may be committed by him against God. As one swallow does not prove the approach of summer, neither does one good action prove a man a believer. There is in every being a natural tendency to some centre. God is the centre of the saints, and glory is the centre of grace. Now where we do not discover that bias, we may deny the being.

Reader, would you be thought more than publicans and sinners? then beware of living as publicans and sinners. Jesus Christ gives you an excellent mirror in his memorable sermon upon the mount, for you to behold your own likeness in: 'Ye shall know them by their fruits.' There is no ascertaining the quality of a tree, but by its fruits. When the wheels of a clock move within, the hand on the dial will move without. When the heart of a man is sound in conversion, then the life will be fair in profession. When the conduit is walled in, how shall we judge of the spring, but by the waters which run through the pipes?

As a sinner will discover the good he wants; so a saint will shew the good he enjoys. When the sun dawns upon the earth, it is presently known; and when the Sun of righteousness arises upon the heart, it cannot be hid. It is said of the Saviour, that 'he could not be hid.' As it is with the head, so it is with the members: 'Ye are the light of the world.—Let your light so shine among men, that they may see your good works.' When Saul was made a sovereign, he had another spirit poured out upon him; a spirit of government, for a place of government: and when a sinner is made a saint, he has also another spirit poured out upon him. As he is what he was not, so he does what he did not.

It is reported of a harlot, that when she saw a certain person with whom she had committed folly, she renewed her enticements; to whom he replied, 'I am not now what I once was.' Though she was the same woman that she was before, yet he was not the same man he was before.

Were the sun to give no more light than a star, you could not believe he was the regent of the day; were he to transmit no more heat than a glow-worm, you would question his being; the source of elementary heat. Were God to do no more than a creature, where would his Godhead be? Were a man to do no more than a brute, where would his manhood be? Were not a saint to excel the sinner, where would his sanctity be?

Professor, if you live and walk as a worldling, you subject yourself to that apostolic rebuke, 'Are ye not carnal, and walk as men?' If men debase themselves as beasts, the Lord will nominate them beasts; and if Christians walk as men. God will call them men. There is no passing for current coin in heaven, without the stamp and signature of heaven.

7. The disciples of Christ do more than others, Because they are appointed to be judges of others.

If you consult the Holy Scriptures, you will find that both the Father, the Son, and the saints are to judge the world. The ordination is the Father's, the execution is the Son's, and the approbation is the saints'. This shall no more derogate from the honour of Christ, than the sessions of the justices derogate from the authority of the judges.

When the apostle Paul would quash the sinful suits among the believing Corinthians, he informed them that they did not so much require men of eminence to terminate their controversy, as men of godliness. 'Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? If you are to judge in causes between God and man, how much more in controversies between man and man?' If about matters that are eternal; why not in affairs that are temporal?

Felons may be jovial in the prison, and bold at the bar; but they will tremble at the tree. When wicked men come like miserable captives out of their holes, the godly shall rise like an unclouded sun above the horizon of the grave.

There is a, cloud of witnesses to prove the Christian's judicial process,—Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, 'Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all.' Again he saith, 'When the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.' Now the world judges the godly, but then the godly shall judge the world. The act of the head is imputed to the members, and the act of the members is acknowledged by the head.

Reader, in the great day there will be no distinction made between him who now sitteth on the bench, and him who standeth at the bar. Tell me, how will you be capable of passing a righteous sentence on others, for those evils which you have lived in the constant commission of? The true Christian can cordially subscribe to that ancient maxim, 'Because I enjoy the greatest share of religious majesty, I am therefore entitled to the least share of licentious liberty.' It was once said to Caesar, 'Seeing all things are lawful to Caesar, therefore it is the less lawful for Caesar to do them.'

'By faith Noah, being warned of God, prepared an ark,—by which he condemned the world.' Noah's believing set him to prosecute his building. Thus the sanctified Christian judges the world, both by his faith and his practice.

Christian reader, remember, that the gospel purity of your life, shews to worldlings the impurity of theirs. The usual prejudices which the world has against religion, is, that it makes no man better, though it may make some men stricter.

We too frequently behold that those who exclaim against the pride of others, are as proud as others. As they so constantly meet together, they are expected to be more godly; but they are not more godly for their meeting together. Take away their profession, and you take away their religion. They have nothing belonging to the sheep, but its skin.

Mark, how the God of Israel expostulates with the professing Israel of God, 'Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.' Here is a professing people, outdone by a people who made no profession. If heathens take up their gods, they will zealously keep up their gods. They were true to the false gods, while Israel was false to the true God.

'Hear, 0 heavens, and be astonished, 0 earth!' Why, what is the matter? 'The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.' God does not call in a jury of angels to condemn them; but he empannels a jury of oxen and asses, to pass sentence upon them. Alas, that oxen and asses should be more religious than men who professed religion! In their kind they are more kind. If their owners feed them, they readily own their owners.

8. And lastly, the disciples of Christ do more than others, Because they expect more than others.

A true hope of heaven, excites an utter dislike to the earth. 'And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.' Hope is too pure a plant to flourish or grow in an impure soil.

Reader, you must not look to toil for the prince of darkness, all the long day of your life, and then sup with the Prince of light at the evening of death. There is no going from Delilah's lap, to Abraham's bosom. It is not the tyrannic reign of sin in your mortal body, which makes way for the triumphant reign of your soul in eternal glory. Grace is such a pilot, as without its steerage you will certainly suffer shipwreck in your voyage to everlasting tranquillity.

There is no gaining admittance into the King of heaven's privy chamber of felicity, without passing through the strait gate of purity. 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.' A dusty glass will not distinctly represent the face. To look for a Turkish paradise, is to conceive of the heaven of purity as a house of impurity; but while they expect to bathe themselves in carnal pleasures, you should look to be the chaste and happy consort of the Lamb.

The Lord's gratuitous bestowments on saints, awaken the grateful sentiments of saints. 'Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.' Men commonly season the vessel with water, before they trust it with costly wine. Thus God will season the vessel of your heart with his grace, before he pours into it the wine of his glory. It is hard to say, whether God discovers more love in preparing heavenly mansions for the soul, than in preparing the soul for heavenly mansions.

Reader, if the Lord has made you a true believer, you earnestly desire that your present deportment may be suitable to your future preferment. You know there is no living a vicious life, and dying a righteous death. As divine justice crushes none on earth before they are corrupted, so divine mercy crowns none in heaven before they are converted.

Holiness and happiness are so wisely joined together, that God will never suffer them to be put asunder: 'Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.' Though holiness be that which a sinner scorns, yet it is that which a Saviour crowns.

The soul of man is the Lord's casket, and grace the jewel: now, wherever the jewel is not found, the casket will be thrown away. Though the wheat be for a garner, yet the chaff is for the fire. The Scripture presents you, not only, with an account of what God will do for a Christian, but also what a Christian will do for God.

The high prize of heavenly bliss, is at the end of the gospel race: `So run that you may obtain.' To neglect the race of holiness, is to reject the prize of happiness. He that made you without your assistance, will not crown you till he has saved you from your disobedience.

It would be well for fruitless sinners, were they seriously to consider that fearful Scripture: 'Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.' If you be not fruitbearing plants, you must be burning brands. There is no making out your salvation, where there is no working out your salvation. Men are condemned, not only for their profaneness, but also for their slothfulness. Men may perish for being unprofitable servants, as well as for being abominable servants.

The Lord binds none in the bundle of life, but such as are heirs of life. 'Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.' How cheerfully should those cast in their net, who are sure to enclose so excellent a draught of fishes! |

Reader, why do you expect more than others in heaven, if grace has not made you more than others on earth? 'If you love them that love you, what reward have you?' It is but natural, that love should be returned to those from whom it has been received. Now natural works shall have only natural wages. If you would not have God put you off with a Pharisee's portion, how can you put him off with a Pharisee's performance?

The Lord hangs the bait of duty, upon the hook of mercy: he sets the promises of the gospel in the galleries of his ordinances. The hardy soldier will undergo a bloody seed time, to enjoy a happy harvest: he has nothing more than earthly mammon in his pursuit; but the saint has nothing less than heavenly mansions in his pursuit.

Thus have I despatched the first general head, namely, Why the disciples of Christ do more than others. I, therefore, come secondly to consider, What the disciples of Christ do more than others And here I shall form a golden chain of twenty links, for believers to wear about their necks.

The first singular action of sanctified Christians, is, `To do much good and make but little noise.

Some people say much, and do nothing; but Christians do much and say nothing. To deserve praise where none is obtained, is better than to obtain it where none is deserved. The old maxim is worthy to be revived; he that desires honour, is not worthy of honour.

'Take heed that you do not your alms before men, to be seen of men; otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.’ A saint may be seen doing more works than any and yet he does not desire to do any of the works, to be seen. An alms which is seen, is by no means unpleasant to God, provided it be not given with a design to have it seen. Though good ends, make not bad actions lawful; yet bad ends, make good good actions sinful. The harp sounds sweetly; yet it hears not its own melody. Moses had more glory by his vail than he had by his face. It is truly pleasant to behold those living in the dust of humility, who have raised others from the dust by their liberality.

That ancient caution of our Saviour is very suitable to modern times: ‘Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men.' What the first verse calls doing to be seen of men, this calls doing to receive glory from men.

Hypocrites would never be anxious for men to see them; but that by seeing them, men should praise them. The indigent are more indebted to their vanity than their charity. They give alms, not so much for the poor to live upon, as for the rich to look upon. This is employing the master's coin for the servant's gain. Hypocrites are more zealous for the market than for the closet. They can pray better in the corners of the streets than in the corners of their houses.

It is both meat and drink to a formalist to fast, if others do but see it. It is reported, that the nightingale never sings so sweetly as when others stand by to hear its melody. ‘Come, see my zeal for the Lord of hosts;' when there was no zeal for the Lord of hosts to be seen. Jehu only made religion a stirrup, to mount upon the saddle of popularity. Sounding souls are seldom souls that are sound. The vote of a Jehu is always linked to the heart of a Judas. Some persons are like hens, which no sooner drop their eggs than they begin to chatter. If such bestow a little money on a church's repairs, it must be recorded upon glazed windows.

How frequently do the enemies of grace lurk under the praises of nature! While a hypocrite is extolled, grace is injured. By how much we arrogate to ourselves, we derogate from God's honour. Vain-glory is like Naaman's leprosy,—a foul spot upon a fair paper. What are the acclamations of man, to the approbation of God? Of what real advantage is it, to be cried up on earth, by those about us; and cried down in heaven, by him who is above us? One flaw in a diamond diminishes both its splendour and value. Where self is the end of our actions, there Satan is the rewarder of them.

'When thou doest thine alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.' Acts of mercy are right hand acts, but the left hand must not know them, because it will make them known. It is a singular thing for Christians to do much in secret, and to keep it secret when it is done. God is nearer to us than we are to ourselves. We need not sound a trumpet for anything that is bestowed; for when the great trumpet shall sound, every work shall be revealed.

Where the river is the deepest, the water glides the smoothest. Empty casks sound most; whereas the well-fraught vessel, silences its own sound. As the shadow of the sun is largest, when his beams are lowest; so we are always least, when we make ourselves the greatest. Wicked Saul would rather resign his crown than his honour: 'Honour me before the people.' There is little worth in outward splendour, if grace yield it not an inward lustre.

When the sun of worldly grandeur is in its meridian, it may be masked with a cloud. By climbing too high on the bough of honour, you may hang yourselves on the tree of dishonour. Some would rather suffer the agony of the cross, than the infamy of the cross. It is worse, in their esteem, to be dispraised than it is to be destroyed. Thus Abimelech, the fratricide, conceived of it: 'A certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and broke his skull; then he called hastily to the young man his armour-bearer, and said unto him. Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him.' Poor man, he dies, but his pride does not die!

How frequently does God reject those as reprobate silver whom men esteem as fine gold! 'He is a Jew, who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit whose praise is not of man, but of God.' The praise of a hypocrite is not of God, but of man; the praise of an Israelite is not of man, but of God. The former desires to seem good, that he may be admired; the latter to be good, that God may be honoured. The self-abased saint on earth, imitates the angels in heaven; while the self-admired sinner on earth, imitates the fallen angels in hell.

The cherubims in Ezekiel's vision 'had the hands of a man under their wings.' They had not their wings under their hands; but their hands under their wings. Their hands denoted skill, their wings celerity; and their hands under their wing's, the secrecy of their actions. They would not have others fall down and worship them, who were only round the throne; but they fell down themselves to worship him, who is upon the throne.

It was foretold of our Lord Jesus Christ, who did the most excellent works that ever were done, that ‘he should not cry nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets' ' He should not cry,' that is, he should not be contentious: 'he should not lift up his voice in the streets,' that is, he should not be vain-glorious.

How repugnant to this, was the conduct of the boasting Pharisee. 'The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.' Hypocrites are better in setting forth their own worth, than their own wants; in displaying the banners of their perfections, than in discovering the heinousness of their own trangressions. ‘I am not as other men are!’ As if he had been such a fellow, as had had no fellow. Because he was not so bad as most, he thought himself as good as the best. Ambition is so great a planet, that it must have a whole orbit to move in; and is envious at its equals.

A sunburnt face seems fair, compared with an Ethiopian; but cyphers can never constitute a sum. This Pharisee was as far from being religious, as he was from being scandalous. But upon what foundation did he rear his superstructure? ‘I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. ‘He proclaims all out of doors which was done within. He forgot that he was like the sea, which loses as much on one shore as it gains on another. He hid his sins, which he should have confessed, and published his good deeds, which he should have concealed.

What victory a formalist seemingly obtains over one lust, he loses by being overcome of another. He trades, not for God's glory, but for his own. If a tear be shed, or a prayer be made, as it is performed by him, so it is divulged by him. He who traffics in God's service, to freight himself with man's praises, shall suffer shipwreck in the haven.

It is reported of Alexander's footman, that he ran so swift upon the sand, that the prints of his footsteps were not to he seen. Thus may it be with Christians. Nothing is more pleasing to God, than a hand liberally opened, and a tongue strictly silent.

Most persons are like Themistocles, who never found himself so much contented as when he heard himself praised. I will not say a gracious heart never lifts up itself; but I will say, that grace in the heart never lifts it up. Grace in the heart constantly acts like itself; but a gracious heart does not always do so.

Saints should resemble a spire steeple, which is minimus in summo, smallest where it is highest; or those orient stars, which the higher they are seated the less they are viewed. Usually the greatest boasters are the smallest workers. The deep rivers pay a larger tribute to the sea than shallow brooks, and yet empty themselves with less noise. I have read of a harlot, who offered to rebuild the walls of a city which Alexander had demolished, so that she might but set her own arms upon them. "What will not a hypocrite do, so he might but see his own signet upon it when it is done!

3. Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is, To bring up the bottom of his life to the top of his light.

By how far our hearts are set upon God's precepts, to love them; by so far are his ears set upon our prayers, to answer them. David knew this when he said, ‘If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. ‘Since the tree of knowledge hath been tasted, the key of knowledge hath been rusted.

Therefore, ‘The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. ‘Spiritual truths oppose the wickedness of human reason, because they are against it, therefore it cannot receive them: they also exceed the weakness of human reason, because they are above it, therefore it cannot perceive them. It is better to be a toe in the foot, and that be sound, than to be an eye in the head, and that be blind.

There is a great propriety in the exhortation of St. Peter, ‘But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. ‘No knowledge can equal that of Christ; no growth can equal that of grace. Without grace, there may he seeming knowledge; but without grace, there can be no saving knowledge.

There were more enlightened than enlivened in the days of Christ; hence he said, ‘If ye know these things, happy are ye, if ye do them. ‘To obey the truth, and not to know it, is impossible; to know the truth, and not obey it, is unprofitable. For, ‘Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. ‘Divine knowledge is not as the light of the moon, to sleep by; but as the light of the sun, to work by. It is not a loiterer in the market-place, but a labourer in the vineyard.

A man may be a great scholar, and yet be a great sinner. Judas the traitor, was Judas the preacher. The toad that has a pearl in its head, has poison in its bowels. The tree of knowledge has often been planted, and flourished, where the tree of life never grew. A man may be acquainted with the grace of truth, and yet not know the truth of grace. Parts and even all gifts without grace and holiness are hut like Uriah's letters, which were the death warrants of him who carried them.

Naked knowledge will he as unserviceable to the soul, in a dying day, as a painted fire would be to the frozen body, in a cold day. As some articles are tanned by the same sun in which others are whitened, so are some professors hardened under the same gospel by which others are softened.

I would never have that the brand of Christians, which was the bane of heathens. ‘Because when they knew God, they glorified him not as God.‘ As it is lost labour to smite the flint, if it propagate no sparks; so it is fruitless toil to furnish our heads with light, if it refine not our hearts. Satan may as well put out our eyes, that we should not see the truth; as cut off our feet, that we should not walk in the truth. Naked knowledge may make the head giddy, but it will never make the heart holy.

Who would wait for such a gale, as would drive them farther from the desired haven? or freight their vessels with such a cargo, as would ruin the owner? Shall we hold the candle of the gospel in one hand, and the sword of rebellion in the other? How many professors are there, who have light enough to know what should be done; but have not love enough to do what they know! Such people have no advantage from carrying a bright candle in a dark lantern. Give me the professor who perfectly sees the way he should go, and readily goes the way he sees.

That is barren ground, which brings forth nothing except it be forced. ‘To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.‘ The sins of ignorance are most numerous; but the sins of knowledge are most dangerous. That sinner's darkness will be the greatest in hell, whose light was the clearest on earth.

Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates the king of Pontus, sent a crown to Caesar, at the time he was in rebellion against him, Caesar refused the present, saying, ‘Let him first lay down his rebellion, and then I will receive his crown.‘ There are many who set a crown of glory upon the head of Christ by a good profession, and yet plat a crown of thorns upon his head by an evil conversation. By the words of our mouth we may affect to adore religion, but it is by the works of our lives that we adorn religion.

It was a just saying of one, ‘That in the best reformed churches, there were the most deformed professors.‘ Look to this, reader, that all will be pulled down without you, if there be nothing set up within you. As trees without fruits are unprofitable, so knowledge without good works is abominable. Leah and Rachel are fit emblems of knowledge and obedience; knowledge, like Rachel, is beautiful; but obedience, like Leah, is fruitful. He that dislikes to do what he knows, will one day not know what to do.

'Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.‘—Wise as serpents to guard against the wolf's rapacity, and harmless as doves that you may do no man any injury. Thus, the serpent's eye is an ornament when placed in the dove's head. The lives of many professors are awfully unlike their lights. They have the light of the sun, for wisdom; but want the heat of a candle for grace and holiness.

I have read of a painter, who being warmly reprehended by a cardinal, for putting too much red in the faces of St. Paul and St. Peter, answered, ‘It is to shew how much they blush at the conduct of many who style themselves their successors. ‘Were Abraham the father of the faithful, now on earth, how would he disclaim all relation to many who call themselves his offspring! Though there was less grace discovered to the saints of old, yet there was more grace discovered by them. They knew little, and did much; we know much, and do little.

John the Baptist 'was a burning and a shining light’ To shine is not enough, a glow-worm will do so: to burn is not enough, a firebrand will do so. Light without heat, does but little good; and heat without light, does much harm. Give me those Christians who are burning lamps, as well as shining lights.

The sun is as vigorous in his moving, as he is illustrious in his shining. I know the light of nature requires grace, to repel the lusts of nature Will any say, 'The day of hope is dawning within them, when the powers of darkness are ruling over them?’ How monstrous is it to see a Christian's tongue larger than his hand! To speak so much of God, to others, and act so little for God, himself.

3 Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is, To prefer the duty he owes to God, to the danqer he fears from man.

Christians in all ages have prized their services above their safety. 'The wicked flee when no man pursueth; but the righteous are bold as a lion. ‘The fearful hare trembles at every cry; but the courageous lion is unmoved by the greatest clamours.-Were believers to shrink back at every contrary wind that blows, they would never make their voyage to heaven

'My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go.’ ’Poor Job could hold nothing fast, but his integrity: grace kept his heart, when he could not keep his gold. Uprightness is so fair a complexion, as not to be subject to any alteration by the scorching beams of persecution. The laurel preserves its verdure amidst the severest blasts of winter. Times of trouble have often been times of triumph to a believer. Suffering seasons have generally been sifting seasons; in which the Christian has lost his chaff, and the hypocrite his courage.

Dangers have frequently made the worldling leave his duties. The scythe of persecution cuts down the tender grass of his devotion. Those who always refuse to carry the yoke of Christ upon their necks, will also refuse to carry the cross of Christ upon their backs. Nothing less than the enjoyment of God, who is altogether good, can permanently support us, under the suffering of that which is evil. The flesh is an enemy to suffering; because suffering is an enemy to the flesh. The flesh may make a man an earthly courtier; but it will never make a man a Christian martyr.

Wicked men stumble at every straw, in the way to heaven; but they climb over hills, in the way to destruction. Hang heavy weights on rotten boughs and they will suddenly break. If sinners take up religion in a fair day, they will eagerly lay it down in a foul one. The language of such is, ‘Lord, we are willing to serve thee, but unwilling to suffer for thee. We will go to sea with thee; but on condition, we have no storms. We have no objections to enter into the war; but upon this promise, that we have no blows/ Such would fain be wafted, to the port of felicity, in such vessels as would not be tossed in the sea of calamity. They think too much of wearing a thorn, though it be borrowed from Christ's crown.

There are some who would sacrifice a stout heart, to a stubborn will; and would rather die martyrs for sin, than servants to truth. How shall those stand for Christ, who never stood in Christ? True believers are more studious how to adorn the cross, than how to avoid the cross. They deem it better to be saved in troubled water, than to be drowned in a calm ocean.

Temporary professors are like hedge-hogs, which have two holes; one to the north, and another to the south: when the south wind fans them, they turn to the north; and when the north wind chills them, they turn to the south. Thus they lose their activity, to preserve their security. That was a beggarly saying which fell from a prince's lips, ‘I will sail no farther in the cause of Christ, than while I can preserve my retreat with safety to land.‘

Man is a shortsighted creature; he is afraid to follow too far upon the heels of truth, lest it should lead him into danger. Weak grace may do for God, but it must be strong grace that will die for God. A true Christian will lay down his lusts, at the command of Christ; and his life, for the cause of Christ. The more a tree of righteousness is shaken by the wind the more it is rooted in the ground. What, art thou a member of Christ, and afraid to be a martyr for Christ! If those be blessed, who die in Christ; what must they be, who die for Christ!

What, though the flesh do return to dust; so the spirit returns to rest! What is the body of a man, for a soul to live in, compared with the bosom of Abraham, for a soul to lie in! Righteous Abel, the first soldier in the church militant, was the first saint in the church triumphant. He offered up a sacrifice when the altar was sprinkled with his own blood. As his body was the first that ever took possession of the earth, so his soul was the first that ever had a translation to heaven.

‘Should such a man as I flee?’ saith Nehemiah:--a man so much owned and honoured of God! It is better to die a conqueror in religion, that to live a coward in religion. Those who are willing to be combatants for God, shall also be more than conquerors through God. None are so truly courageous, as those who are truly religious. If a Christian live, he knows by whose might he stands; and if he die, he knows for whose sake he falls. Where there is no confidence in God, there will be no continuance with God. When the wind of faith ceases to fill the sails, the ship of obedience ceases to plough the seas. The taunts of Ishmael shall never make an Isaac disesteem his inheritance.

Reader, if a righteous cause bring you into sufferings, a righteous God will bring you out of sufferings. A Christian is as much indebted to his enemies as to his friends. The malicious crucifixion of Christ, wrought out the glorious exaltation of Christ. The worst that men can do against believers, is the best they can do for believers. The worst they can do them, is to send them out of the earth; and the best they can do to them, is to send them into heaven.

That was a Christian expression, of one of the martyrs to his persecutors: ‘You take a life from me, that I cannot keep, and bestow a life upon me, that I cannot lose; which is, as if you should rob me of counters, and furnish me with gold.’ He that is assured of a life that has no end, need not care how soon this life shall end.

Neither the persecuting hand of men, nor the chastising hand of God, relaxed ancient singular saints. 'All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we deal falsely in thy covenant. Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way; though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.’ Believers resemble the moon, which emerges from her eclipse, by keeping her motion; and ceases not to shine, because the dogs bark at her. Shall we cease to be professors, because others will not cease to be persecutors!

By the seed of the serpent, the heel of the woman may be bruised; but by the seed of the woman, the head of the serpent shall be broken. A Christian may enjoy a calm of inward peace, while he sustains the storms of outward trouble. If he enjoy the former, he may expect the latter; if he suffer the latter, he may expect the former. There is no spring, without its fall; no summer, without its winter.

'Many waters’(may drown the world, but many waters) ‘cannot quench love. The water of affliction cannot extinguish the fire of affection. If the calling of religion cannot be peaceably maintained, formalists will quickly shut up their windows. They will rather tarry out of the land of Canaan, than swim to it through the red sea. A man will never sustain trouble for Jesus, till he find rest in Jesus.

Adventurous Peter could cry, ‘Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to thee on the water. Love to Christ, can walk on the water without drowning, and lie in the fire without burning. It is said of the serpent, ‘That it cares not to what danger it exposes its body, so it can but secure its head. ‘Thus a Christian cares not to what danger he is liable, so Jesus is but honoured thereby.

Paul, who turned the world upside-down, could not be turned upside-down by the world. ‘None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy. ‘A saint is inwardly pious, when he is not outwardly prosperous. The sharper the medicine is, the sounder the patient is for its operation. The higher the flood swells on earth, the nearer the ark mounts to heaven.

God can strike straight strokes, with crooked sticks; and make Satan's dross, burnish his choice vessels. Christians are crucified by the world, that they might be crucified to the world. God makes it their enemy, that he might make them enemies to it. Religion is that phoenix, which has always flourished in its own ashes. While magistrates defend the truth with their sword, martyrs defend it with their blood. The loss of their heads, hastens the reception of their crowns.

We should never land in triumph, at the haven of rest, if we were not tossed upon the sea of trouble. If Joseph had not been Egypt's prisoner, he had never been Egypt's governor. The iron chains about his feet, ushered in the golden chains about his neck. Temporal losses are only gentle breezes; but eternal losses are insupportable storms.

Reader, tell me, is not Christ, with his cross, for a few years, better than Dives, with his dainties, for a few days? What comparison is there between the short-lived happiness of the wicked, attended with everlasting misery; and the short-lived misery of the righteous, attended with everlasting happiness?

4. Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is, To seek the public good of others, above the private good of himself.

The sentiment of Plato, a heathen, is worthy to be adopted by every Christian, (I was not born for myself alone: for my country claims a part, my relations claim a part, and my friends claim a part in me.’ As we are not born by ourselves, so we are not born for ourselves.

Buruch, the man of God, was forbidden to make self the centre of his wishes: ` Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not.’ For saints to set their hearts upon that, whereon beasts set their feet; is as if a king should abdicate his throne, to follow the plough; or, as if a man should desert a golden mine, to dig in a pit of gravel. When we search ourselves, it denotes that we are virtuous; but when we seek ourselves, it denotes that we are covetous.

I am unwilling to draw a defective feature in any man's picture; yet how many are there, who have occupied public places, with private spirits! While they pretended to undertake everything, for the good of others; it has appeared, that they undertook nothing, but for the good of themselves. Such suckers at the roots, have drawn away the sap and nourishment from the tree. They have set kingdoms on fire, thnt they might roast their own venison at the flames. These drones stealing into the hive, have fed upon the honey; while the labouring bees, have been famished.

Too many resemble ravenous birds, which at first, seem to bewail the dying sheep; but at last, are found picking out their eyes. These people never want fire, so long as any yard affords fuel. They enrich their own sideboard with other men's plate.

There is a proverb, but none of Solomon's, ‘Every man for himself, and God for us all.’ But where every man is for himself, the devil will have all.—Whosoever is a seeker of himself, is not found of God. Though he may find himself in this life, he will lose himself in death.

The public spirit of Seneca is a sharp censure to many private spirited Christians: ‘I would so live,’ said he, ‘as if I knew I received my being only for the benefit of others.'

How justly might that complaint be taken up, which was so sadly laid down by Paul: ‘For all men seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's. ‘If some heathens excel Christians, it is not because Christianity does not surpass heathenism. A selfish man will not sow his seed, except he reap the whole harvest; nor plant the vines, except he press all the grapes into his own vessel. The wheel of his diligence will not move, except the oil of profit be in it. It may be said to many, as a great personage once said to his servant, ‘Your rise, has been my fall.'

If Dives be tormented, because he refused to impart his own; what shall their torment be, who avidiously take that which is another's! If those fingers be cut off, which so closely clasp their own property; what will become of those hands, which are always open to grasp at other men's!

It was Israel's lamentation, ‘That those who were once clad in scarlet, embraced the dunghill. ‘It may now be England's lamentation, ‘That many who once embraced the dunghill, are now, by injustice, clothed in scarlet. ‘Every man's private interest is best secured in the public good. A drop of water will soon be dried up if alone; but in the ocean it will retain its moisture. A single beam of light, is suddenly obscured; but in the body of the sun, it retains its splendour.

Too many in all ages have turned a commonweal into a common woe. They have spun themselves superfine suits, out of the nation's fleece.—Many noble birds have been deplumed, that their wings might be richly feathered. When any springs have been opened, they have laid pipes to convey the water into their own cisterns. Such pretended pilots, have steered the ship of plenty, into their own haven; but justice will certainly squeeze such spunges, and leave them as dry at last, as they were at first. All those moths shall be destroyed, which eat into other men's garments.

For a man to advance his interest, out of another's property, is to keep all the meat in his mouth, and starve all the body beside. Naturally every man is his own Alpha, and his own Omega. He has his beginning from himself, and his ending in himself.

That was a morose speech of Cain, to the Almighty: 'Am I my brother's keeper?’ He thought it was not his duty to be his brother's keeper, but did not consider, that it was against his duty to be his brother's assassin. There are many who will not be their brother's keepers, and yet will be their butchers. They have riveted themselves to their possessions, by the bones of their murdered brethren; and paved causeways to honour, with the skulls of honest men.

Self-seeking has been so long pulling the ropes, that it has rung the passing-bell of many nations. It is sad to see the house in flames, while the chamber is being furnished; the ship sinking, while the cabin is filling; or the tree falling, while the nest is building. But better fruit cannot grow upon the trees of cruelty, than wantonness and oppression. God will compel them to drink the dregs of that cup which they have so unjustly mingled for others,

Queen Esther was a singular saint; for she preferred the public to her private good. `If I perish, I perish. For how can I endure to see the evil which shall come upon my people?’ This Israelitess was not more comely in appearance, than benevolent in her disposition. She did not prefer her own life to her people's, but her people's to her own.

When Theodosius lay on his dying pillow, he was more studious how to do his kingdom good, than how to sustain his torturing pains; as appears by his counsel to his sons, to whom he left it: ‘I counsel you to be deeply concerned for the promotion of religion, and the good of man; for by this,’ said he, ‘peace will be preserved, and wars no more known.’

Though the eagle be the queen of birds, as the lion is the king of beasts, yet she was not offered up in sacrifice, because she lived upon the spoil of others. Grace teaches a Christian, not only to act like a man to God, but also like a God to man.

Our Lord Jesus Christ pleased not himself, that thereby he might eternally profit us. ‘For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.’ A drop of his blood, is worth more than a sea of ours; and yet he died our death, that we might live his life; and suffered our hell, to bring us to his heaven. He lay in the feeble arms of his mother, that we might lie in the tender bosom of his Father. His love began, in his eternal purposes of grace; and ends, in our eternal possession of glory.

Why was the Bread of life hungry, but to feed the hungry with the bread of life! Why was Rest itself weary; but to give the weary rest! Why did he hang upon the cross on Mount Calvary; but that we might sit upon the throne on Mount Sion! His shining face was covered with spittle, that our disfigured faces might be enamelled with glory! Why did this Jonah cast himself into the sea of his Father's wrath, but to save the ship of his church from sinking! Christ is not only the vessel in which the waters of life are contained, but he is also the pipes through which they are conveyed.

If the mountains overflow with moisture, the valleys are the richer; but if the head be full of ill humours, the whole body is the worse. Happy are those persons, whom God will use as besoms, to sweep out the dust from his temple; or who shall tug at an oar in the boat, where Christ and his church are embarked.

David was a king that ruled in righteousness, and studied not so much to make himself great, as to make his people happy. ' For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep.' His royal services were not swallowed up in the narrow gulf of self. He did not draw all his lines to the ignoble centre of his own ends. Such birds are bad in the nest; but worse when their wings are fledged, to fly abroad. He served his own generation: not the preceding, for that was dead before he was alive; nor the succeeding, for he was dead before that was alive.

Every gracious spirit, is public; but every public spirit, is not gracious. God may use the midwifery of the Egyptians to bring forth the children of Israelites. An iron key may open a golden treasury; and leaden pipes convey pleasant waters. Though earthly blessings may be communicated to a spiritual man, yet spiritual blessings will not be communicated to a carnal man.

While meteors keep above in the firmament, they yield a pleasing lustre; but when they decline, and fall to the earth, they come to nothing.

Though the name of the author of Psalm cxxxvii. be not recorded, yet his generous disposition should ever be admired: ' If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I do not prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy.' Good old Eli mourned more for the loss of religion, than for the loss of his relations. His heart was broken, before his neck. If the church be lost, Christians cannot be saved; if the church be saved, Christians cannot be lost.

Augustus Caesar possessed such an entire attachment to his country, that he called it, his own daughter; and refused to be called its master, because he ruled it, not by fear, but by love. After his decease, his disconsolate people lamented over him, saying, ' 0 would to God that he had never lived; or that he had never died!' Those whose lives deserve no praises, their death deserves no tears.

A self-seeker lives unrespected, and dies unlamented. When once a man becomes a God to himself, he then becomes a devil to others. Such a one, cares not who sinks, so he does but arrive safe at shore. Those execrable wretches, whose conduct is recorded in the Acts, cared not, whether a whole city lost their souls, so that a few shrine-makers might but preserve their gain.

It is reported of Agrippina, the mother of Nero, who being told, that if ever her son came to be an emperor, he would be her murderer, she made this reply, `I am content to perish, if he may be emperor.’ What she expressed vain-gloriously, that we should do religiously: `Let us perish, so our neighbours, our relations, and our country be bettered; or the gospel, or the

Saviour be honoured.’ But there are many who entirely reverse this language; if not in words, yet in heart, they say, 'Let relations, neighbours, country, and religion perish, so we are benefited thereby.'

Such was the public spirit of Moses, that when the Lord proposed to him to destroy Israel, and to make a great nation of him, he became intercessor for them; yea, even when they were ready to stone him. His affection as a ruler, was stronger than his affection as a father. Thus Joshua, his honourable successor, so far imitated him, that he first divided Canaan into several allotments and portions for the tribes of Israel, before he made any provision for his own family. Give me such carvers as lay not all the meat upon their own dishes. '

5. Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is, To have the most beautiful conversation, among the blackest persons.

As an ungodly man poisons the air, in which he breathes; so he pollutes the age, in which he lives. The putrid grape, corrupts the sound cluster. Pious Joseph, by living in the court of Pharoah, had learned to swear, by the life of Pharoah. A high-priest's hall instructed Peter how to disclaim his suffering Master. Fresh waters lose their sweetness by gliding into the salt sea. Those who sail among the rocks, are in danger of splitting their ships.

When vice runs in a single stream, it is then a fordable shallow; but when many of these meet together, they then swell a deeper channel. The Lord has appointed from the beginning that enmity shall subsist between the righteous seed of the woman, and the unrighteous seed of the serpent. There must be no harmony, where the chief musician will have a jar. It is far better to have the ungodly man's enmity, than his society. By the former, he is most hateful; but by the latter, he is most hurtful. A religious man in the company of wicked men, is like a green branch among dry and burning brands; they can sooner kindle him, than he can quench them.

As sheep among the thorns, injure their fleeces; so saints among sinners, do an injury to their graces. Hence it is said, 'Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?' To see a saint and a sinner maintaining familiar intercourse with each other, is to behold the living and the dead keeping house together. The godly are more frequently corrupted by the evil deportment of the worldling, than the worldling is refined by the chaste conversation of the godly.

The impious lives of the wicked are as contagious as the most fearful plague that infects the air. When the doves of Christ lie among such pots, their yellow feathers are sullied. You may observe, that in the oven the fine bread frequently hangs upon the coarse, but the coarse very seldom adheres to the fine. If you mix an equal portion of sour vinegar and sweet wine together, you will find, that the vinegar will sooner sour the wine, than the wine sweeten the vinegar.

That is a sound body, that continues healthful in a pest house. It is a far greater wonder, to see a saint maintain his purity among sinners; than it is, to behold a sinner becoming pure among saints. Christians are not always like fish, which retain their freshness, in the salt sea; or like the rose, which preserves its sweetness, among the most noisome weeds; or like the fire, which burns the hottest, when the season is coldest.

A good man was once heard to lament, 'That as often as he went into the company of the wicked, he returned less a man from them, than he was before he joined with them.' As it is a singular thing to touch melting pitch and not be defiled; so it is for saints so to act toward sinners, as to do much good for them, and receive no injury from them. If we cannot help them, it is their unholiness; if they hurt us, it is our unhappiness. The Lord's people by keeping evil company, are like persons who are much exposed to the sun, insensibly tanned.

Every Christian is a light in the world, though he be not the light of the world. `Let your light so shine before men, that they seeing your good works, may glorify your Father which is in heaven.’ 0 that Christians were more like the light which abides pure; though the air be corrupted, in which it dwells! Men may defile themselves in the light, but they cannot defile the light itself. The sun shines throughout an impure world, and yet knows no impurity. Ah, how many resemble swine in the fairest meadow, which would break every mound to find the mire! They remind me of impious Judas, who instead of being a disciple amongst devils, was a devil amongst disciples. Poor man, he was all precept, and no example. He could attempt to reprove one, who was innocence itself; and encourage one, who was sin itself.

Religious company brings fire to our graces, to kindle them when they are freezing; but irreligious company brings water to quench them when they are flaming.

It is observed by some, that 'the sweetest flowers may be found among the most offensive herbs.' The poets affirm, that 'Venus never appeared so beautiful, as when she sat by black Vulcan’s side.’ This we are beyond a doubt concerning, that Stephen's face never shone so gloriously in the church where he was admired, as in the council where he was abhorred. Had he been like them, they had not disliked him. Had not God given him spiritual life, they would never have put him to an ignominious death. How will the fire consume dry fuel, when it prevailed to such a degree over the green!

That jewel must needs be glorious in the sun, which glitters in the shade. There are certainly many men who can suit with any men. They can be professors with professors, and scorners amongst scorners. One day, they can join the multitude in shouting ‘Hosanna.’ In another day, they can join the Pharisees in crying, `Crucify him crucify him.’ Thus they are like the planet Mercury, in the horoscope of man’s nativity; good in conjunction with those who are good; and evil in conjunction with those who are evil.

Every man loves to be admired, and is too apt to take pleasure in none but those who take pleasure in him. It is no honourable appearance, when we cease to be exemplary Christians, that others may think us good companions. It is impossible to be conformed to the world, in our outward man; and transformed to God, in our inward man. There is no such a thing, as being an outward heathen and an inward Christian. There is but little difficulty in Englishing the Spanish proverb, 'Tell me where you go, and I will tell you what you do.' We say, that 'birds of a feather, will flock together.' To be too intimate with sinners, is to intimate that we are sinners.

'As soon as the disciples were let go, they returned to their own company.' With whom should believers join, but with believers? There is no trusting the tamest nature, with the savage monster, without manifest danger. It is running a great risk, to be found cohabiting in that house where God is not found dwelling. There is no sleeping with dogs, without swarming with vermin.

That is a royal diadem which Christ places upon the head of his spouse: 'As the lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters.' There are many thorns among the lilies; but there are not many lilies among the thorns. It is a choice spectacle to behold, when a believer preserves his spiritual beauty, amidst the tents of Kedar; or when he is like Noah, a new man, in an old world. Had Lot been polluted with Sodom's sin, he might have been consumed in Sodom's flames.

It is ill breathing, in an infectious air. Satan's progeny, love not to go to hell without society. It is far better to be with Philpot in a coal-house, than with a Bonner in a palace. A man may pass through Ethiopia, and yet be unchanged; but he cannot take up his residence there, without being changed.

Ecclesiastical history reports of Valens the emperor, that he, by marrying an Arian lady, was corrupted with that error. 'Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.' If Rome leave us in the foundation, let us leave her in the superstructure. Where she departs from God, there let us depart from her. For when such worms breed in the body of a nation, they will soon eat out the bowels of religion. Not to guard against such wasps is to expose ourselves to the venom of their stings.

6. Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is, To choose the worst of sorrows, before he will commit the least of sins.

The wicked entirely reverse this; for they will prefer the greatest sin, to the least sufferings. This is to leap out of the burning pan, into the consuming flame. By seeking to shun an external calamity, they rush into eternal misery. Spira, by labouring to preserve his outward estate, exposed himself to the most bitter reproaches of conscience. This is, as if a man should lose his head, to preserve his hat; or, as if the mariner should sink the sailing vessel, to avoid the rising storm.

Above every evil, we should consider sin as the greatest evil. Sin is the only butt at which all the arrows of divine vengeance are shot. Sinners are those spiders which weave their own webs, and are afterward entangled in them. Our own destruction is but the fruit of our own transgression.

Sin has every evil subjoined to it; it is the fountain and origin of them all. Thus the prophet viewed it; `Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?’ When man had no evil within him, he had no evil upon him.—He began to be sorrowful, when he began to be sinful. When the soul shall be fully released from the guilt of iniquity, the body shall be wholly delivered from the burthen of infirmity. Sorrow shall never be a visitant, where sin is not an inhabitant. The former would be a foreigner, if the latter were not a sojourner.

God is as far from beating his children for nothing, as he is from beating them to nothing. A hole in the ship, will sink it to the bottom. A small bite from a serpent, will affect the whole body. There is no way to calm the sea, but by excommunicating Jonah from the ship. If the root be killed, the branches will soon be withered. If the spring be diminished, there is no doubt but the streams will soon fail. Where the fuel of corruption is removed, there the fire of affliction is extinguished

'The wages of sin is death.' As the works of sin are dishonourable, so the wages of sin are mortal. The corruption of nature is the cause of the dissolution of nature. The candle of our lives is blown out by the wind of our lusts. Sin is that noxious weed which overtops the choicest corn; that offensive smoke which depresses the rising flame; and that dismal cloud which overshadows the beaming sun.

Were it not for sin, death would never have had a beginning; were it not for death, sin would never have an ending. Man as a creature, is a debtor to the commands of God, as a sovereign; but as a sinner, he is a debtor to the severity of God, as a judge.

What is so sweet a good, as Christ? and what is so great an evil, as lust? Sin has brought many a believer into suffering; and suffering has instrumentally kept many a believer out of sin. It is better to be preserved in brine, than to rot in honey. The bitterest medicine is to be preferred, by all wise men, before the sweetest poison. In the same fire, wherein the dross is consumed the precious gold is refined.

There are many thousands of souls who had never obtained the hopes of heaven, if they had not been brought thither by the gates of hell. As every mercy is a drop derived from the ocean of God's goodness, so every misery is a dram weighed out by the supreme wisdom of God's providence.

When Eudoxia angrily threatened St. Chrysostom with banishment, he calmly replied, 'Go tell her, I fear nothing but sin.' He who serves God, need fear nothing so much as sin.

Those who launch out into any undertaking, should always previously look well to their tackling, lest a destructive storm should overtake them in their voyage. A bad conscience, imbitters the sweetest comforts; but a good conscience, sweetens the bitterest crosses. How great a wound do vices make in the conscience; yea, even in our infant years! Though the hardened sinner be not afraid to do evil, yet he will be afraid to suffer evil. What need those fear a cross on the back, who feel a Christ in their heart!

The water without the ship, may toss it; but it is the water within the ship, which sinks it. It is better to have the body consumed to ashes, for the sake of Christ; than to have the soul dwell in everlasting burnings, through being ashamed of Christ. Though Christians have no warrant to expect that they shall live here without afflictions; yet in the exercise of them, faith will teach them to live above afflictions.

That noble servant of Christ, Ignatius, gloried in reproaches for his Lord, 'I verily delight to suffer for Christ, but I know not whether I am worthy to suffer.' Every Christian's Patmos, is his way to paradise.

Suppose the furnace be heated seven times hotter, yet God can make the sufferer seventy times happier. Those who are here crossed for well doing, shall hereafter be crowned with the well dying. There are none more welcome to the spiritual Canaan, than those who swim to it through the red sea of their own blood.

Christian reader, when you come into the world, you do but live to die again; and when you leave the world, you do but die to live again. What is the grain the worse, for the fan by which it is winnowed? or the gold, for the fire by which it is refined?

Pendleton, a self-confident professor, promised to fry out his fat body in the flames of martyrdom, rather than betray religion; but when the trial approached, he changed his note, and said, 'I came not into the world burning, neither will I go out of the world flaming.'

Those who refuse to give up their lusts for Christ, will never be inclined to give up their lives for Christ. Paul and Silas had their prison songs in their prison sufferings. Those caged birds sang with as much melody as any which have sky liberty. Thus Ignatius, in his epistle to the persecutors of the church, gloried, saying, 'The wild beasts may grind me, as corn between their teeth; but I shall by that become as choice bread, in the hand of my God.'

I have read an account of a woman who was imprisoned for her religion, and being in travail she cried out with pain. The keeper derided her, saying, 'How can you endure the fire, seeing you make so much noise in bringing forth a child?' 'Very well,' said she, 'for now I suffer as a sinner, but then I shall suffer for my Saviour.' There is more real evil in a particle of corruption than in an ocean of tribulation. In suffering, the offence is offered to us; in sinning, the offence is committed against God.

In suffering, there is an infringement of man's liberty; in sinning, there is a denial of God's authority. The evil of suffering is transient; but the evil of sin is permanent. In suffering we lose the favour of men; but in sinning we hazard the favour of God.

The rose is sweeter under the still, where it drops; than upon the stalk, whereon it grows. The face of godliness is never so beautiful, as when it is spit upon. The best of wheat, is that which sustains all the drifts of wintry snow.

That was a heroic saying of Vincentius to his hardened persecutors: 'You may rage and do your worst; but you shall find the Spirit of God administering more strength to the tormented, than the spirit of the devil affording strength to my tormentors.' Where professors choose that which is truly best, there let malicious persecutors do their worst. Though you may feel their might, yet you need not feel their malice. They can have no just grounds of fear, whose confidence is in God. Life is only to be desired by those to whom death would be no gain.

It is reported of Hooper the martyr, that when he was going to suffer, a certain person addressed him, saying, '0 sir, take care of yourself, for life is sweet, and death is bitter!' ' Ah, I know that,' replied he; 'but the life to come is full of more sweetness, than this mortal life; and the death to come is full of more bitterness, than this uncommon death!' A man may suffer without sinning; but he cannot sin without suffering.

When Philip enquired of Demosthenes, whether he was afraid to lose his head; he answered, 'No, for if I do lose it, the Athenians will bestow an immortal one upon me.'

That was animating language which dropped from the lips of the three children, or rather of the three champions: '0 Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, 0 king. But if not, be it known unto thee, 0 king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.' Either they must sin foully, or suffer sadly. They must either bow to a golden image, or burn in a flaming furnace. But they were as far from worshipping his gods, as he was from worshipping their God.

The beloved Daniel chose rather to lie in the den of lions, than shamefully desert the cause of the Lamb. Shall not we, for his sake, bear the wrath of man, who, for our sakes, bore the wrath of God?—Though obedience be better than sacrifice, yet sometimes, for a man to sacrifice himself is the best obedience. He that loses a base life for Christ, shall hereafter find a better life in Christ.

When Herod and Nicetes attempted to turn Polycarp from the faith, by insinuating that, 'There was no evil in calling Caesar, Lord, and offering sacrifices to him,' he replied that, 'He had served Jesus Christ for many years, and had always found him a good master; that he should therefore submit himself to all the tortures they should inflict, rather than deny him.'

Moses, that memorable worthy, `Chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.' What is a cup of physic, which removes a disease; compared with a cup of poison, which takes away the life? Those who live upon God, in the use of the creature; can also live upon him, in the loss of the creature. That was a noble expression of a noble Christian, 'Whatsoever I thankfully receive as a token of God's love to me, I part with contentedly as a token of my love to him.'

'For a righteous man, scarcely will one die; yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.' Shall one even dare to die for a good man? and shall we refuse to die for a good God?

'Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection.' Some would have used any picklock, to have opened a passage to their liberty; but they knew too much of another world, to bid at so high a rate for the present.

It is reported of Hormisdas, a nobleman of Persia, who being degraded of all his promotions, because he would not change his profession, that afterward his persecutors restored them all again, and solicited him to deny Christ; but he rent his purple robe, and laid all his honours at the feet of the Emperor, saying, 'If you restore these honours with an intention to make me desert my Saviour, I beg leave to decline accepting them upon such conditions.' Good man, he thought, and that justly too, that Christ without worldly honour, was better than worldly honour without Christ.

It is recorded concerning one of the martyrs, that when he was going to the stake, a nobleman besought him, in a compassionate manner, to take care of his soul. 'So I will,' he replied, 'for I give my body to be burnt, rather than have my soul defiled.’ How many professors are there, who would rather have sinful self satisfied, than crucified!

As the power of grace comes in at one door, the love of vice will go out at another. The only way to have the house of Saul weakened, is to get the house of David strengthened. Those Philistines who wanted fortitude to meet Samson when he was in vigour, could insultingly dance round him when he was in affliction.

Reader, consider seriously, that it is sin which in this life debases a person, and in the next life destroys him. Their state must be awful, whose end is damnation, because their damnation is without end. No condition can be so intolerably doleful, as that which is unalterably painful.

A certain person, on seeing a Christian woman go cheerfully to prison, said to her, '0 you have not yet tasted of the bitterness of death!' She as cheerfully answered, 'No, nor never shall; for Christ hath promised, that those who keep his sayings shall never see death.' A believer may feel the stroke of death, but he shall never feel the sting of death.—The first death may bring his body to corruption, but the second death shall never bring his soul to destruction. Though he may endure the cross, yet he shall not endure the curse. There can be no condemnation to those Christians who belong to Christ,

7. Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is, To be a father to all in charity, and yet a servant to all in humility.

First, To be a father to all in charity. That crop that is sown in mercy, shall be reaped in glory. In heaven, there are riches enough; but no poor to receive them. In hell, there are poor enough; but no rich to relieve them. How many of the most wealthy are deaf to the most importunate requests for mercy! They will do no good in the world, with the goods of the world. They too much resemble spunges, which greedily suck up the waters, but will not yield a return of them again till they are well squeezed.

Necessity is not likely to be supplied by the hand of misery; while there are so many that would help, cannot, for want of ability; and so many who may help, will not, for want of charity. There is not a drop of water for such a Dives in hell, who has not a crumb of bread for a poor distressed Lazarus upon earth. Every act of charity is but an act of equity. It is not the bestowment of our gifts, but the payment of our debts.

The rich man's superfluity, was ordained to relieve the poor man's necessity. A lady, on giving sixpence to a beggar, accosted him thus, 'I have now given you more than ever God gave me.' To whom he replied, 'No, madam, God hath given you all your abundance.' 'That is your mistake,' said she, `for he hath but lent it me, that I might bestow it on such as you.'

John, the beloved disciple of Christ, inculcates the doctrine of love to the disciples of Christ: 'Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God; and every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him.' As holiness works a likeness to him that begets it, so it works a love to those who enjoy it. It is impossible for any one to love the person of Christ, who does not delight in the picture of Christ. He that loves himself, will not hate his brother. While he is out of charity with his brother, he shews that God is out of charity with him; and we lose more for want of God's love, than our brethren lose for want of our love.

He is not a covetous man, who lays up something providentially; but he is a covetous man, who gives out nothing willingly. He is as prudent a man who sometimes distributes discreetly, as he who accumulates hastily. Men frequently discover more wisdom in laying out, than in laying up.

Reader, the hope of living long on earth, should not make you coveteous; but the prospect of living long in heaven, should make you bounteous. Though the sun of charity rise at home, yet it should always set abroad.

Seneca, the heathen, inculcates a principle worthy of the credence of every Christian, I believe, 'I truly enjoy no more of the world's affluence, than what I willingly distribute to the necessitous.' Without your mercy, the poor cannot live on earth; and without God's mercy, you shall not live in heaven. Some men's churlishness entirely swallow up their charitableness. Instead of praying one for another, they are making a prey one of another.

When I consider that our hearts are no softer, I wonder that the times are no harder. It is a reproach to many rich men, that God should give them so much, and that they should give the poor so little.

Some observe that the most barren grounds are nearest to the richest mines. It is too often true in a spiritual sense, that those whom God hath made the most fruitful in estates, are most barren in good works. It is too generally true, that the rich spend their substance wantonly, while the poor give their alms willingly. A penny comes with more difficulty out of a bag that is pressing full, than a shilling out of a purse that is half empty.

Wherefore, doth the Lord make your cup run over, but that other men’s lips might taste the liquor? The showers that fall upon the highest mountains, should glide in the lowest valleys. `Give, and it shall be given you,' is a maxim little believed.

It is infidelity which is the spring of all cruelty; so that wheresoever you can discover the face of one, you may also hear the sound of the other's feet. If you deny relief to those who are virtuous, you kill laborious bees: if you bestow your gifts on those who are vicious, you do but support drones: but it is better to favour a bastard, than to murder a legitimate child. God looks not so much on the merits of the beggar, as upon the mercy of the giver.

'He hath shewed thee, 0 man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?' Here is a trinity of precepts, from a trinity of persons. Pharisees delight more to plead this precept, than to practise it. Which is, as if a man should cry up the kindness of his king, and at the same time join in rebellion against him. If all were rich, no alms need be received; if all were poor, no alms could be bestowed.

God, who could have made all men wealthy, hath made most men poor; that the poor might have Christ for an example of patience, and the rich for an example of goodness. Cruelty is one of the highest scandals to piety; for instead of turning lions into lambs, it turns lambs into lions.

'Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.' Clemency is one of the brightest diamonds in the crown of majesty. How cheerfully should we take off the copy, when we consider who has set us the example: 'Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.' What one Scripture calls mercy, the other styles perfection; as if this one perfection of mercy included all. He that sheweth mercy when it may be best spared, will receive mercy when it shall most be needed.

It is reported of one of the Dukes of Savoy, that, being asked by certain ambassadors at his court, what hounds he kept, he conducted them into a large room, where there were a number of poor people sitting at table. 'These,' said he, 'are all the hounds I have upon earth; and with whom I am in pursuit of the kingdom of heaven.' It is counted an honour to live like princes; but it is a greater honour to give like princes.

'Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.' The flames of piety towards God, must be accompanied with the incense of charity towards man. Mercy is so good a servant, that it will never suffer its master to die a beggar.

Those who have drained their own wells dry, in order to fill the poor man's cistern, shall never perish for want of water to quench their thirst. Those who have blessed others, shall be blessed themselves.

'Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink.' Mercy is the queen of beauty, and the blessed offspring of the King of glory.

Scarce any virtue in the whole Scripture has been returned with greater interest than the love of mercy. Though charity may make your purse lighter one day, yet it will make it heavier another. All who have their names registered in the book of eternity, will have the poor man's distresses recorded upon the heart of sympathy; for though they be so poor as to be unable to relieve him, yet they are so tender as to pity him. I know no better way to preserve your meal, than by parting with your cake. Methinks, full breasts should milk themselves, without drawing; and large springs should send forth their waters, without pumping. Your benevolence should seek the poor, before the poor seek your benevolence.

`Put on therefore, as the elect of God, bowels of mercies.’ He that hath put off the bowels of compassion, hath put off the badge of election. Many can love at their tongue's end; but the godly love at their finger's end. If a man be naked, it is easy for the miser to bid him be clothed; or if he be empty, he can easily bid him be filled; as if poor Christians were like chameleons, able to live upon the air. Liberality does not consist in good words, but in good works. The doubtful are to be resolved by our counsels, but the necessitous are to be relieved by our morsels. Methinks it is exceedingly lovely to behold the pictures of purity, though they be hung in the frames of poverty.

Reader, would you be covetous of anything; let it be, rather to lay out on necessity, than to lay up for posterity. Hospitality is seed; and the husbandman does not become wealthy by saving, but by sowing of his seed.

Secondly, A servant to all in humility.

Our first fall, was by rising against God; but our best rise, is by falling down before him. The acknowledgment of our own impotence, is the only stock upon which the Lord ingrafts divine assistance.

A humble saint looks most like a citizen of heaven. 'Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.' He is the most lovely professor, who is the most lowly professor. As incense smells the sweetest, when it is beaten smallest; so saints look fairest, when they lie lowest. Arrogance in the soul, resembles the spleen in the body; which grows most, while other parts are decaying. God will not suffer such a weed to grow in his garden, without taking some course to root it up. A believer is like a vessel cast into the sea; the more it fills, the more it sinks.

'Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.' The flowing river, quickly turns to an ebbing water. It is not all the world that can pull a humble man down, because God will exalt him; nor is it all the world that can keep a proud man up, because God will debase him.

Do but mark, how one of the best of saints, views himself as one of the least of saints: 'For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle.' In the highest heavens, the beams of majesty are displayed; but to the lowest hearts, the bowels of mercy are discovered. 'Be ye clothed with humility.' Pride is a sinner's torment, but humility is a saint's ornament. The cloth of humility should always be worn on the back of Christianity.

God, many times, places a thorn in the flesh, to pierce the bladder of pride. He makes us feel a sense of our misery, that we may sue for his unmerited mercy. The first Adam was for self-advancement; but the second Adam is for self-abasement: the former was for having self deified; the latter is for having self crucified.

Though there may be something left by self-denial, yet there can be nothing lost by self-denial: nay, a man can never enjoy himself, till he be brought to deny himself. We live, by dying to ourselves; and die, by living to ourselves. There is no proud man, but what is foolish; and scarcely any foolish man, but what is proud. It is the night-owl of ignorance, which broods and hatches the peacock of pride.

God abhors them worst, who adore themselves most. Pride is not a Bethel, that is, a house where God dwells; but a Babel, that is, a noisome dungeon in which Satan abides. It is not only a most hateful evil; but it is a radical evil. As all other lusts are found lodging in it; so they are found springing from it. It is a foul leprosy, in the face of morality; and a hurtful worm, gnawing at the root of humility. It is a swelling dropsy within, and a spreading plague without.

'Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.' Give me the homely vessel of humility, which God shall preserve, and fill with the wine of his grace; rather than the varnished cup of pride, which he will dash in pieces, like a potter's vessel. Where humility is the cornerstone, there glory shall be the top-stone.

It is impossible to have true thoughts of ourselves, while we entertain high thoughts of ourselves. 'Though all men forsake thee, yet will not I.' Poor Peter, he was the most impotent, when he was the most arrogant. He had no doubt of standing, while others were falling; but it proved at last that he fell, while others stood.

That was an excellent saying of one, 'Where a gracious person would sit below me, I will acknowledge his dignity; but where a proud person would move above me, I would abhor his vanity.' A humble heart may meet with opposition from man, but it shall meet with approbation from God. As humility is a grace, very excellent in itself; so it is very pleasing to God. He who is a subject of the former, shall hereafter be an inheritor with the latter.

8. Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is, To mourn most before God, for those lusts, which appear least before men.

Others cannot mourn in secret for public sins, but we should mourn in public for our secret sins. That must be sought with repentance which has been so long lost by disobedience. Outward acts are most scandalous among men, but inward lusts are most dangerous before God. Reader, if you would know the heart of your sin, then you must know the sins of your heart; for, ' Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false-witness, blasph