and unbelievers have their fears, but they arise from very different sources, and have quite opposite effects. The fears of unbelievers arise from unworthy thoughts of God; a distrust of his power, faithfulness, and goodness; and, also, from a prevailing love of the present world and its enjoyments, which makes them more afraid of worldly losses and sufferings for righteousness' sake, than of forfeiting the divine favor," or incurring the divine displeasure. "Such fears not only indispose the mind to obedience, but lead directly to sin. But that godly fear which is proper to believers, arises from a just view, reverence, and esteem of the character of God, and a supreme desire of his favor, as their chief happiness; and is a fear lest they offend him and incur his just displeasure. Such a fear outweighs all the allurements of sin on the one hand, and all the terrors of the present suffer. ings on the other." Such is the fear inculcated by the prophet when he says, "Sanctify the Lord God in your heart, and let him be your fear and your dread, and he shall be for a sanctuary." Such is the fear enjoined by our Lord on his disciples: "Fear not him who, after he has killed the body, hath no more that he can do; but fear him who, after he hath killed the body, can cast both soul and body into hell fire; yea, I say unto you, fear him." Such is the fear prescribed by the apostle in the passage before us, as an instrumental means for securing christian obedience: "Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear." I This fear must be habitually exercised during the whole continuance of our mortal life. None are so highly advanced in grace here below, as to be out of the need of this principle; but when their pilgrimage is finished, and they are come home to their Father's house above, there shall be no more fearing. There are no dangers there, and therefore no fear. They shall indeed have, in a higher degree than ever, a holy reverence of the Divine Majesty, but the fear of offending God will pass away with the possibility of offending him. In that blessed world there is neither sin, nor temptation to sin; no more conflict, no more danger; the victory is complete, the peace secure, the triumph eternal.2 These observations have been addressed exclusively to Christians. But I am afraid there are persons now hearing me who are not Christians. I call on them to fear: they have good reason; I dare not call on them to hope, while they continue in unbelief and impenitence. "There is no peace to the wicked, saith my God," -no hope for the unbelieving. But I present to them "the hope set before us" in the gospel. I tell them, Christ Jesus died for sinners; for the chief of sinners. I assure them that "eternal life is the gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." I put them in mind of the solemn oath of God, that he has no pleasure in their death; I put them in mind of the most condescending expostulation, " Why, why, will ye die?" I beseech them to despair of salvation in themselves; I assure them that things he said to me was, "Sir, you have found me reading your countryman, Archibald M'Lean. He was a man mighty in the Scriptures, sir: mighty in the Scriptures." 1 Isa viii. 18. Matt. x. 28. • Leighton. * Isa. lvii. 21. Jesus is "able to save them to the uttermost," and as willing as able.1 Oh, if they would but believe "these true and faithful sayings of God," a hope that will never make them ashamed would spring up in their hearts; and, along with that fear of the Lord by which men depart from evil, a fear in which there is sweet awful pleasure, not torment, in delightful harmonious operation, would induce them, from "children of disobedience," to become children of obedience; and, instead of continuing to "fashion themselves according to their lusts in their ignorance," would lead them to "be holy in all manner of conversation." III-MOTIVES TO THE PERFORMANCE OF CHRISTIAN DUTY. Let us now illustrate the motives to Christian duty, which are unfolded in the paragraph under consideration. These are four in number. (1.) The grandeur, excellence, and security of that inheritance, the full possession of which can be attained only in a course of christian duty: "Wherefore," says the apostle, referring to the whole of the preceding description of the final happiness which awaits Christians at the second coming of their Lord. (2.) The holiness of God: "Be ye holy, for I am holy." (3.) The equity of God: “The Father on whom ye call, or he whom ye call Father, judgeth every man according to his works." And, (4.) The provision made for sanctification, by the sacrifice of the Son of God: Ye are redeemed, not with such corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot; who verily, was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God." Let me turn your attention to these powerful motives in their order. § 1.-The grandeur, excellence, and security of the Christian salvation, a motive to Christian duty. The grandeur, excellence, and security of the inheritance, the full possession of which can be attained only in a course of christian duty, is a most powerful motive to obedience, and to the employment of all the means which are fitted to secure it. When the apostle says, Wherefore," for these reasons, we naturally ask, for what reasons? and we readily find an answer. The preceding context is principally occupied with a description of the final happiness, the eternity of holy blessedness, which awaits the genuine followers of Jesus Christ in the last time, at the revelation of the Saviour. Now, is not the attainment of this eternity of holy happiness well worthy of every exertion that man is capable of?-will it not infinitely more than compensate for privations however great, sacrifices however costly, sufferings however severe, that may be required in * Rom. vi. 23. Ezek. xxxiii. 11. pursuing it? When we look around us, and see "all things so full of labor, that man cannot utter it;" when we see men, in order to obtain some worldly advantage, the value of which is in a great measure imaginary, and the possession of which must be insecure and shortlived, rising early, sitting late, eating the bread of carefulness, compassing sea and land, straining to the utmost every faculty of exertion, and tasking to the utmost every power of endurance, we cannot help being painfully struck at the disproportion between the worthlessness of the object, and the multitude and mightiness of the means. It "resembles ocean into tempest tost, to waft a feather or to drown a fly." We feel disposed to ask the infatuated laborer, "Wilt thou set thine heart on things which are not?" "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not ?" ness, But there is no such disproportion here. "The crown of righteous," "the crown of life," is an adequate reward for all the toils, and privations, and fatigues, and agonies, of the christian race and warfare; and all the sufferings of the present state, to which a Christian may be exposed in the cause of his religion, are not "worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us;" the afflictions of the present state, however numerous and severe, are lighter than dust in the balance, when weighed against that "far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Is not this calculated to arouse to active exertion, to prepare for patient suffering? Is it not most reasonable, that, in prosecuting such a pursuit, our determination to do nothing that can hazard failure, and everything that can promote success, should be most resolute, and that we should look away from everything, however otherwise attractive, which is calculated to divert our attention or divide our affections? Is not the attainment of such a blessing a fit object of hope? Is not the loss of such a blessing a fit object of fear? But it may be said, Is not the "salvation which is in Christ, with eternal glory," "the gift of God," and is it not " sure to all the seed?" Is it not "laid up for them in heaven ?" and are they not kept for it by the mighty power of God? What need, then, of all this obedience and submission? What need of all this determined resolution, and self-denied moderation, and animating hope, and cautious fear? The answer to those questions is at hand, and it is brief and satisfactory. The final salvation is the gift of God, and the objects of his love shall, assuredly, not come short of it. But there is a divinely appointed method for obtaining that eternal life which is the gift of God; and none can enjoy the well-grounded hope of possessing it, who do not seek it in this divinely appointed method. Nothing is more distinctly stated in Scripture, than that it is only in the way of persevering faith and holiness that heaven is to be expected; and that, in the way of persevering faith and holiness, heaven cannot be too confidently expected. It is in the way of persevering faith and holiness alone that we can reach heaven. "We have need of patience," that is, we must persevere, "that, by the will of God, we may obtain the promised Rom. viii. 18. 2 Cor. iv. 17. 1 Prov, xxiii. 5. Isa. lv. 2. 2 Rom. vi. 23; iv. 16. Unbelief blessing." "Without holiness no man can see the Lord." 1 and disobedience are the road to hell; and even a true Christian, when, under the influence of the evil heart of unbelief, he falls into backsliding, may be justly said to be on the road to hell, though blessed be God, it is certain he will never reach the termination of that road; for the prayer of his Redeemer, who is mighty, will prevent his faith from utterly failing, and his backslidings will be healed, and he will be made to retrace his steps, and walk onward in faith and holiness towards heaven. Still it is a general truth which all should attend to, "He that lives after the flesh shall die." "He that sows to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption." He that turns back, "turns back towards perdition." On the other hand, nothing is more certain than that, in a persevering course of christian faith and obedience, the celestial blessedness in all its grandeur and excellence shall be realized. "He who, through the Spirit, mortifies the deeds of the body, shall live." He who, "through a constant continuance in well-doing, seeks for glory, honor, and immortality, shall obtain eternal life.' He who "endureth to the end, shall be saved." He who perseveres in believing, shall obtain "the salvation of the soul." He who "adds to his faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity;" he who doeth these things," shall never fall, but thus an entrance shall be ministered to him abundantly, into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." The attainment of the celestial blessedness in this way, is not merely a high probability—even in this case the motive would be a powerful one-it is an absolute certainty. It is as secure as the word and oath, the perfections and being of God, can make it. How well fitted are such considerations to repress weariness, to rekindle ardor in the christian race! "I run not as uncertainly," I keep along the marked race-course, and I am sure of "the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." How admirably calculated to revive fainting courage in the christian conflict! "I fight not as one that beateth the air." I know that, "waxing valiant in fight, I shall put to flight all the armies of the aliens." "I know in whom I have believed." Continuing to "fight the good fight of faith," I shall be "more than conqueror through him that loved me." The men of the world, in prosecution of their fancied good, spare no pains, shrink from no difficulty, decline no hazard, though they have nothing but probability, often a very weak probability, to excite and encourage them. How unnatural, how inexcusable, on the part of those professing to believe the gospel revelation, to be careless and inactive in the pursuit of a happiness which "eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, and which it hath never entered into the heart of man to conceive;" and of the attainment of which, in the appointed manner, we may be, we ought to be, as certain as we are of our own existence! Well might the apostle, when his mind was warmed and 1 Heb. x. 36; xii. 14. 2 Rom. viii. 13. Gal. vi. 8. Heb. x. 39. Eis drλetav. 2 Pet. i. 5-11. Rom. viii. 13; ii. 7. Matt. x. 22. Heb. x. 39. ⚫ 1 Cor. ix. 36. Phil. iii. 14. 2 Tim. i. 12. elevated by the contemplation of the glories of the final deliverance, say, "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end; and be obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in your ignorance; but be ye holy in all manner of conversation." This is the effect which the believing contemplation of the heavenly blessedness is calculated and intended to have on the mind. It is not intended to afford an indolent delight, but a powerful excitement, and to induce Christians to be " steadfast and unmove able, always abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as they know their labor shall not be in vain in the Lord." § 2. The holiness of God a motive to Christian duty. The second motive which the apostle presents to the mind as urging to christian obedience, is the holiness of the Divine Being—“ Be holy in all manner of conversation, as he who has called you is holy; as it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy." There is none holy as Jehovah. He is "glorious in holiness." "He" only "is holy"-"holy and reverend" is His name.1 And those intelligent beings, who are capable of apprehending most of the perfections and beauties of his uncreated nature, have their attention chiefly fixed by this lovely attribute, and "day without night" hymn his praises as the "holy, holy, holy" One. The holiness of God is just another word for the moral perfection of his nature. It is not something different from justice and benignity. It is the absolute perfection and the harmonious union of justice and benignity. The sum of the Christian's duty is to be holy; that is, to be conformed to God; to have the same views, and judgments, and sentiments with him; to approve what he approves; to disapprove what he disapproves; and the strongest and best reason why the Christian should have these views, and judgments, and sentiments, and likings and dislikings, is just because God has them. The strongest and best reason why he should thus think and thus will, is just that God thus thinks and thus wills. To be holy, is to be conformed to God; and to be conformed to God, is at once man's highest honor, duty, and happiness; and what more cogent reason can be given for following any tenor of disposition and conduct than that it is "the whole of man," the whole of his honor, his duty, and his happiness? The divine being is the most glorious and venerable being in the universe; and it is his holiness far more than his power or his wisdom, far more than his eternity or his immensity, or his immutability, that makes him so. His other perfections, separate from this, would make him an object of terror rather than of veneration. He is emphatically "glorious in holiness;" and it is this perfection which clothes all the others with moral attractive influence, and makes their possessor at once infinitely estimable and infinitely lovely. When an intelligent being bears no resemblance to God in moral excellence, there is in that being nothing really dignified and honorable; no 11 Sam. ii. 2. Exod. xv. 21. Psal. xcix. 5; cxi. 9. 2 Isa. vi 8. |