other the kingdom of gain. He does not serve the prince of this world in his merry kingdom of pleasure, which I confess I do; but he serves the prince, nay, the god of this world in his kingdom of gain and greediness for money. I never like to have any dealings in business with that man, for if it is possible to take an advantage of you, he is the one to do so.' This will not do. If we are really the Lord's, we can have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. If we have received the kingdom of God, we have received a spiritual leaven, which must work its its change in the whole man. It is "this christianity in earnest "* for which I wish to plead with you. You come to hear the gospelit has pleased God to give his ministers a listening among you. But it is not our word, but His word, the holy, awful word of the Lord God of heaven and earth that we preach. Till His word has found an entrance into the secret recesses of your very hearts, till the principles of that word have been set up there, and begun to work there, like some engine of mighty power, nothing will be done to any real purpose. The question which in the sanctuary above is asked about you at this very hour is not; How do these people hear? but, how do they live? They hear the truth as it is in Jesus, do they walk in

* Chalmers.

truth? This is the great subject not only of the minister's rejoicing, but of His, who is the great Shepherd of the sheep. May God the Spirit bring the word of God into your hearts, and abide in you and walk in holy, happy fellowship with you; and wherever you are, O, remember whose followers you are! The Lord is your Shepherd. If you are really His, you will follow as the sheep follow the good Shepherd. You see Him not, but He is looking upon you, and He has said, "I will guide thee with mine eye." He is ever with you, and if you are His, the thought, 'Thou God seest me,' will be ever present with you, and not only Thou God seest me, but Thou, O God, even with thine eye Thou guidest me. Wherever you are, remember His eye. In the midst of your family, His eye. your chamber, His eye. In the quiet fields, His eye. When kneeling in prayer, His eye. When about to yield to temptation, His eye. When sinners entice you, His eye. His eye-that unseen, but most awful eye--that eye that never slumbereth nor sleepeth-never, no, not for one fraction of an instant, during the whole of your course on earth, turned away from you! But this guidance, the guidance of His eye, you surely love, for the Lord God is your Shepherd, and the eye of God is the eye of the good Shepherd. You will not need to be held like a

In

168 THE SHEEP AND THEIR SHEPHERD.

horse, and mule, which must be held with bit and bridle. You will love to be guided by His eye. You will turn to Him in prayer, and cry, "Give ear, O Thou Shepherd of Israel! Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock! shew Thyself. Also, Thou that dwellest between the cherubims! shine forth. Turn us, O God! and cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved."

* Psalm 1xxx.

SERMON X I.

CHRISTIAN WARFARE.

'

1 PETER IV. 1.

Forasmuch, then, as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourself with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin."

THE church militant, the church at war, the church in the battle-field, is the state of the church at present; and as the soldier is called upon to arm himself and to prepare manfully for suffering when his warfare begins, so the good soldier of Jesus Christ, the great Captain of our salvation, is called upon to endure hardness and suffering, and to put on his armour, and to arm himself with his weapons for the contest. The very ground of this world is to the follower of our Lord Christ the vast battle-field of a perpe

I

tual warfare. His rest, like that of his divine Master, shall be glorious, but in his onward course, he must not rest till his warfare is accomplished. Thus, an old writer has well said, "The christian stands fighting, falls fighting, rises fighting."

The

I. In the first place, let me call your attention to this fact that all sinners must suffer. There is no exemption for a single individual. Since the fall, man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards." We are by nature born in sin, and therefore born to suffer. Who can doubt the fact, that the wicked suffer? Sin and suffering are cause and effect one to the other. wicked are like the troubled sea that cannot rest. There is no peace, saith my God, for the wicked! Whatever may be the pleasures of sin for a season, at the last it stingeth like a serpent ; sooner or later, the enemy finds out impenitent sinners, and in hell their torment is described in words of vivid horror; 66 Their worm dieth not, their fire is not quenched."

It is not, however, on the suffering of the wicked and the ungodly that I would dwell, but on the necessary and unavoidable suffering of the child of God. If you observe, the expression is in the case both of our Lord and of His disciple, “suffered in the flesh," which seems not only to mean that He suffered mortal griefs