Page images
PDF
EPUB

ceive, what can we desire of happiness more than this? And yet these words, bright and glowing as they are, can give but a most imperfect idea of the actual rest and glory which they foreshadow. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him."

And now before I conclude, let me address a few words to you of application of what we have been considering. We have seen, as it is drawn out in the Scriptures of to-day, the portion of God's people; we have seen how greatly they endured, and how gloriously they are rewarded. The inference is, as was long ago drawn by the Apostle," that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution." "That we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." It need not be that we should be exposed to great bodily suffering, or be called upon to work great acts of might, as was the case aforetime: but tribulation of one sort or another we shall all have to undergo: tribulation in struggling with sin; tribulation in withstanding temptation; in bending our wills to God's will, and ruling ourselves after His word. If we be poor, we shall have in addition to this,-the common trial of us all to struggle against those feelings which the circumstance of our lot is but too likely to call forth; against discontent; against envy,

against a repining, and unsubmissive temper. If we be rich, we shall have to struggle against the ill effects of prosperity, against indifference to the afflictions of others, against hard-heartedness, against covetousness, against that false sentiment of security which whispers to our soul," thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." In a word, whatever be our condition, whatever our degree in life, we have all, as many as would have any hope of finding happiness in heaven, a great contest to carry on at present, a great warfare to maintain; a warfare, not with one another, but with ourselves, with our besetting sins, with the temptations by which we are peculiarly assailed; it is a warfare in which we must expect affliction, in which we cannot be successful without enduring hardness. But let us not be discouraged, let us not shrink from those acts of self-denial, and self-mastery, without which, such is our natural corruption, we cannot be fitted to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. We have them for our guides, and for our examples: they in their day were men of like passions with ourselves; sinful men by nature, and without power to will, or to do anything that was good. How was it that they in the end were so victorious,-more than conquerors? It was because they had faith,-they

trusted in God, and prayed unto God, and He heard their prayer, and helped them: He gave them strength to have victory, and to triumph against the world, and the flesh, and the devil. And will not He give us also strength if we seek it from Him? Has He not pledged Himself to do so? Yes, truly. He who gave His only-begotten Son to die for our sin, will not withhold from us that gift of grace, and sanctification, without which His death had been in vain. "Ask and ye shall have, seek and ye shall find." Pray God to give you grace to follow His blessed saints in all virtuous, and godly living, and doubt not that if sincere, He will enable you to do so. And then how blessed will you be; for if you tread in their steps here, nothing shall exclude you from their society hereafter. You too, in due time, when you have finished your course, when you have accomplished your warfare, when you have kept the faith, shal be among the number of those who are counted happy in their death. You too shall come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly, and church of the first-born which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Medi

66

ator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel."

Little Hadham, 1846.

278

SERMON XXII.

THE WIDOW OF NAIN.

St. Luke vii. 14, 15.-" And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak."

Of

OF all the miracles recorded of our blessed Lord in the Gospel, there are three which are calculated to make the deepest impression upon the mind of a devout believer. I allude to those in which He manifested forth His power in the most striking manner by raising to life one that was dead. these, the first was that which He wrought at Capernaum when he raised to life the only daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, Jairus; and this is related by all the evangelists except St. John. The second-that to which the text refers the recovery of the widow's son at Nain, is found only in St.

« PreviousContinue »