Lord for counting him faithful, "who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious "." As he said before king Agrippa, "I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which things I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities." Such was Paul the persecutor. But when the power of Christ had wrought mightily within him, behold! how he could do and suffer all things. Let him that was "in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft," tell his own tale. "Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep. In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides these things that are with

71 Tim. i. 13.

& Acts xxvi. 9-11.

out, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches"." Verily the Apostle might well “I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me!" no other strength could have sustained him.

say,

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Now, when we read these passages, Christian brethren, no doubt our hearts burn within us, and our affections are moved. There are great searchings of heart." But then, let us recollect that mere transient feeling is but a useless thing. We must see that the power of Christ be in us also, as He shall please to distribute it by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit. It will not avail us to wonder at St. Paul, and to go on sinning ourselves. It will not avail us to wring our hands in despair when the difficulties of our Christian course throng upon us, and to say, "Alas! my leanness, my leanness," when we ought, so to say, to have been "fat and well-liking," by a holy obedience to Christ's commands. Then, on the contrary, is the time to stand firm, after so noble an example, and not to be "like to the children of Ephraim, who, being harnessed, and carrying bows, turned themselves back in the day of battle." fact is, we are to see that all good examples be written in our hearts, and that they be showed forth in our lives. So shall all men know that the power of Christ is at work within us, and that it is as mighty to help as to save. At such a time, when

The

92 Cor. xi. 24-28.

1

1 Ps. lxxviii. 10.

we should be fighting the battles of the Lord, it is the slothful man that saith, "There is a lion in the way: a lion is in the streets"." Wise were it at such a time to bear in mind what our Saviour said to the father of that poor youth, which had been possessed of a dumb spirit from a child, and which ofttimes cast him into the fire and into the water: "Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth "." Couple with this the remarks of the blind man in St. John: "Now we know that God heareth not sinners; but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth 1." 4 Arise, therefore, and be doing, and the Lord be with thee 5." No exhortation is better than that.

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Much let us beware, Christian brethren, that we "frustrate not the grace of God";" as all those do who labour not in the Lord. It is, be assured, if not nipped in the bud, and done despite to, "an immortal seed, that will certainly sprout up and blow into glory; it is a living fountain, that will certainly blow and bubble up into everlasting life; it is a ray of heavenly light, that will scatter and triumph over darkness, and wax brighter and brighter unto the perfect day':

This did not St. Paul. He was ever for stirring up the light that was in him. He furbished the Chris

7

2 Prov. xxvi. 13.

52 Chron. xlii. 16.

3 Mark ix. 23.

4 John ix. 31. 6 Gal. ii. 21.

Hopkins' Works, vol. iii. ed. 8vo, et infra.

tian armour by Christian practice, and kept it bright, the Lord being his helper. As it is to be inferred from the text, he gloried in being able to perform the duties of a Christian. It was a lesson that he had learned at the foot of the cross. He had taken it up, and followed his Saviour, and, compared with the burden of Jewish ordinances, he had found it light. And so, compared with the yoke of sin, and the miseries of an unprofitable and listless life, will every one who professes and calls himself a Christian. Indeed, we must turn a deaf ear to the complaints of idle and unprofitable servants. For nothing is so common with men, as to pretend they cannot do what they have no mind to do. 8 Thus it is daily in instances of common life. A sluggish servant cannot go through with a painful work; a half friend cannot perform a troublesome and costly part of friendship; and a man in power or business cannot do some offices, or show some favours, which are desired of him: they cannot, that is, they will not do them. They want not the power and opportunity if they would, but only the will and readiness to make use of it. And thus it is in religion also. Men pretend" (but they are but vain words,) "the keeping of God's commandments to be an impossible task, when they do not believe it; or believe it impossible without making any attempt, and before they have had any trial of it; passing a judgment, not from

8

Kettlewell's Works, vol. i. p. 717, ed. folio, 1719.

what they feel, but only from what they fancy in it. They have a mind to spare their own pains about it; or are affrighted with some ill reports and misrepresentations which are made thereof, and so presume they cannot do it, without ever trying whether they can or no.”

Others, again, take up a different line of argument, and, with a pretence of much mock humility, rival the unwise one whom we read of in the Book of Ecclesiastes, "The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh"." These, forsooth, complain of the weakness of their nature, of their inability to do that which is lawful and right, of original sin, and so forth. All of which, with due restrictions, and so stated, as at the commencement of our discourse, is very and perfect truth. We are weak, we are disabled;"there is none righteous, no, not one;"none understandeth, none seeketh after God" as he ought to do ;-we "are all gone out of the way;" we are "together become unprofitable 1;"-original sin hath indeed spread over our whole nature, and deluged us like a spring tide. This, none will confess more readily than the humble penitent. But those above alluded to complain of original corruption with a far different intent. They use it as a stalkinghorse for sin. It serves as a cloak and a covering for malicious wickedness. And whenever we find this to be the case, whenever we find men falsely complaining

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"Eccles. iv. 5.

1 Rom. iii. 10-12.