Call to mind the weakness and disease, the pains and miseries, of what men call life; the agonies and strife of dissolution; the rending of closest ties; the tears, and groans, and blood, with which earth is full. Think upon the dread and anguish of spirit, the racking torments of mind and body both, in this world and the next, that follow in the train of sin. Is all this included in the reign of death? O then, judge ye, what must be comprised, on the other hand, in this description of believers' blessedness," They shall reign in life, by Jesus Christ." It tells you of a fulness of joy, a variety and intensity of bliss, passing knowledge. "The Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign, for ever and ever!” (Rev. xxii. 5.)

While then, my brethren, you learn, from this subject, the dreadful nature of sin; while you see, by it, what one offence is capable of procuring to the sinner, and to multitudes along with him; learn from it also, the unspeakable preciousness of Christ's salvation. Grace, Righteousness, Life, Reigning in life,—these are, all, terms which God employs, here, to set forth its benefits. Learn, from it, your infinite obligations to a dying Saviour, bearing the many offences of his people, and bringing them everlasting life, by himself submitting to death's dominion, for their redemption from it, in him.

your

Learn, too, dear brethren, the value of Bible; that word which, alone, is "able to make you wise unto (this) salvation;" which, alone, reveals a Saviour, and these his benefits. Who, that is ignorant of that thrice blessed volume, ever conceived such things, as the portion of miserable, fallen man? Are you, then, giving heed to that Bible? Are you embracing this Saviour, and his offered blessings? There is no reigning in life, no escape from the damnation of hell, no deliverance from curse and death in Adam, but by the grace of God in him. Believers, you see, are they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness; and, if they reign in life, it is only by one, Jesus Christ. "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." Come ye to him, and you shall never have reason to complain of your participation in Adam's fall. Only look out of it to Christ, and, thenceforth, you participate with him, by faith: yea, rise out of it, in him, to heights of blessedness, which Adam, by his best obedience, never could have reached." The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one!"

"They shall REIGN IN LIFE, by one, Jesus Christ!"

180

SERMON IX.

BELIEVERS' CARES CAST UPON GOD.

1 PETER V. 7.

Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for

you.

DUTY and privilege go hand in hand, in true religion; so that, sometimes, they are scarcely to be distinguished: the one is included in the other. This is, especially, the case, in the matter proposed to us in my text. Certainly, the believer not only may cast his cares upon his God, but he must do so it is his duty to do it: it is his sin, if he act otherwise. At the same time, Who does not see, that he is called, herein, to the exercise of the sweetest, the most precious privilege, that a poor, vexed creature can enjoy, in a world of sins, and sorrows, and perplexities? "Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you."

O happy they, we shall all confess, who have such a refuge, under the endless anxieties of life; such a friend to care for them whose God will let them come, and put their affairs, one and all of them, the greatest and the meanest, into his hand, and have done with uneasiness, because he will take the management of them. Yes, my brethren, such are happy. Would that they, to whom the privilege belongs, did but use it, and live in the heaven of it, more. Here you see, how true is that witness, respecting real godliness," Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." (Prov. iii. 17.) May the Lord incline you to inquire after those ways; to seek acquaintance with him, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, that this blessedness may be yours. For, observe, It belongs not to all. If we care for sin and vanity, for the world and the flesh; if all our anxieties be about earth, and its interests;-these are cares, which we cannot bring to God, and expect him to care for us. The apostle is addressing persons, here, who had far other aims, and desires: and this it will be necessary for us to take special notice of, in the first place.

We may consider then, from these words,

I. Who they are, to whom this privilege belongs.

II. The Lord's care for them.

III. The duty, and privilege, of such, to cast all their care upon God.

I. Who they are, to whom this privilege belongs.

"He careth for you." Now, the persons here addressed are described, throughout this epistle, by various marks, which make it quite impossible that we should mistake their character. They were such as (chap. i. 2) had been chosen of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. They had been begotten again, according to his abundant mercy, unto a lively hope of the heavenly inheritance, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (ver. 3.) They were such as loved Christ, and rejoiced in Christ, through faith, while, as yet, they saw him not. (ver. 8.) They had been called (chap. ii. 9) out of darkness into God's marvellous light, that they should show forth his praise. In one word, they were the people of God: part of that "peculiar people," whom God, in every age, has been gathering to Christ, from the beginning, to be holy, and blessed, in him: a people whom God has loved from everlasting; and, because he loved them, therefore he sent his Son, when