influence of fleshly lusts, even if taken to heaven, could not be happy, must be miserable. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. The declarations of the word of God on the subject are most explicit: The end of a life in the flesh is death, eternal death. "We are not debtors to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.' "Be not deceived; God is not mocked whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."'

§3.-Motive drawn from the tendency of the course recommended.

The third motive is drawn from the tendency and probable consequences of the course recommended. The tendency and probable result of their "having their conversation honest among the Gentiles," in consequence of their abstaining from fleshly lusts, is stated to be. this: "The Gentiles, who spoke against them as evil-doers, by their good works which they beheld, would be led to glorify God in the day of visitation." The Gentiles, amidst whom the Christians addressed by Peter lived, spoke against them as evil-doers. The primitive Christians were very generally represented as monsters of wickedness, as guilty of the most unnatural and atrocious crimes, as atheists and haters of mankind. Even in that circumstance a reason might be found for Christians being peculiarly careful to indulge no disposition and to follow no course of conduct, which could give even the slightest probability to these calumnious misrepresentations. It was of great importance that, when spoken evil of, it should be falsely, -obviously, demonstratively, falsely.

But this is not the motive here employed by the apostle. He counts on the natural effect of uniform good behavior on the minds of the observers; and looking forward to a period, which he calls "the day of visitation," he encourages Christians by the hope that their "honest conversation" might be the means of bringing their heathen neighbors to a better mind, "to repentance, to the acknowledging of the truth;" and of leading them, instead of calumniating and cursing them, to glorify God.

"The day of visitation" is plainly the day of God's visitation. God is said to visit men when he gives very decided proofs of his presence and power, either in works of judgment or of mercy. The phrase is used in the first sense in the following passage in the prophecy of Isaiah: "What will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation that shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will leave ye your glory?" It is used in the second sense, when God is said to have "visited Israel" in Egypt, and to have "visited and redeemed his people," when he "raised up for them a horn of salvation in the house of his servant David ;" and when God

1 Rom. vi. 21; viii. 12, 13. Gal. vi. 7, 8.

2

3

They were represented as cannibals, magicians, infanticides; and as indulging in the most shocking impurities at their nocturnal assemblies.—Just. Apolog. i. ŒŒcumen. in loc. Euseb. iv. 7; v. 1. August. de Civ. Dei, xviii. 53.

9 Isa. x. 3.

is said to have "visited the Gentiles to take from among them a people to his name ;" and probably when Jerusalem is said not to have known "the time of her visitation," the day in which she might have known "the things which belonged to her peace." 1

If the phrase be understood in the first sense, the meaning is, that the good behavior of the Christians would, when Divine judgments came either on the Jewish or the Pagan opposers of Christianity, induce even those who had formerly spoken evil of them, to admit the righteousness of the Divine judgments, and glorify God by acknowledging how unfounded had been the reproaches they had cast on his people.

If the phrase be understood in the second sense, then the meaning is, in the day when God visits these poor benighted Gentiles with his grace, your consistent, holy conduct, witnessed by them, will be one of the means employed by him in leading them to glorify him in embracing the gospel and devoting themselves to his service.

This latter view of the words seems, on the whole, best to harmonize with the scope and design of the whole passage. The consistent, holy conduct of Christians, has often been the means of promoting the conversion of unbelievers; and few considerations are more likely to weigh with a true Christian, as to the adoption or rejection of a particular course of conduct, than this. By such a course I may harden men in unbelief, embolden them in sin, smooth their path to perdition, and obstruct their way to the Saviour; by such another course I may rouse them to consideration, I may lead them to inquiry, I may soften prejudice, I may "convert the sinner from the error of his ways, save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins."' 2

The great ultimate object which every Christian should, which every genuine Christian does, contemplate, is the promotion of the glory of God. In his estimation, every desirable end is included in God's being glorified. This should be,-this is, when he acts in character, his predominant design and thought, "that in all things God may be glorified." "In what way shall I most advance the glory of my God? How shall I, who am engaged more than them all, set in with the heavens and the earth, and the other creatures, to declare his excellence, his greatness, and his goodness?"

What formidable obstacles have the earthly-mindedness, and the unlovely temper and behavior of professed Christians, thrown in the way of the glory of God being displayed in the progress and triumph of the religion of Christ among mankind! How have their "envyings, and strifes, and divisions"-all, as Paul says, the manifestation of carnality or fleshliness-how have these impeded, and all but "destroyed, the work of God!" Never can we reasonably hope for a better state of things till those who bear the name of Christ, abstaining from fleshly lusts, have their conversation more honest, more lovely, more venerable, among the Gentiles. When Zion, enlightened by the heavenly beams of sanctifying truth, arises and shines, then, not till then, shall "the Gentiles come to her light, and kings to the brightness of her rising."4

1 Exod. xiii. 19. Acts xv. 14. Luke i. 68; xix. 44. • Leighton.

James v. 20. 4 Isa. lx. 1, 2.

Such, then, are the motives by which the apostle enforces his injunction on Christians to abstain from fleshly lusts, and to have their conversation honest among the Gentiles.

Brethren, this is our duty, as well as that of those to whom these words were originally addressed; and the motives presented are such as should influence us as well as them. Abstinence from all that is forbidden or even doubtful, and the having a consistent, uniform, ornamental christian behavior, are duties incumbent on Christians in all countries, and in all ages-duties so important and essential, that, if they be neglected, we can have no just claim to "the worthy name" which we bear. And are not we "pilgrims and sojourners before God, as were are all our fathers?" Are we not by our profession "plainly declaring, that we are seeking a country, a better country, that is an heavenly?" Do we not feel that the indulgence of inordinate desire for any earthly good disturbs our peace, and impedes our progress, and endangers our salvation? Ought we not to be desirous to be instrumental in advancing the glory of God by promoting the conversion of men? Then let us, as pilgrims on earth, and citizens of heaven, "set our affections on things above, and not on the things which are on the earth; let us seek the things that are above at the right hand of God; let us mortify our members that are on the earth;" let us "crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts;" let us repress all the desires "which war against the soul;" let us not degrade the souls which God breathed into us, which Christ died to save, which the Holy Spirit is willing to make his dwelling-place, into slaves to those vile subordinate agents of the prince of darkness, which seek their destruction. Let us cherish all those desires and affections which give peace, and health, and vigor, and activity, to the hidden man of the heart; let us war against those fleshly lusts which war against our souls; let us "not be conformed to this world," so full of, so domineered over by, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life;" but let us be "transformed by the renewing of our minds," and "prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God."

In fine, pitying a world lying in wickedness and hurrying to hell, let us do all we can to save them. If we can do little in any other way, let us at least, by a holy, consistent conduct, by exemplifying the purity and the peace of the religion of Christ, proclaim to all around us, "We are journeying towards the land of which the Lord hath said, I will give it you: come with us, and we will do you good; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel." "Let your light, then, so shine before men, that they, seeing your good works, may glorify your father who is in heaven." 1

1 Col. iii. 1-5. Num. x. 29. Matt. v. 16.

16

DISCOURSE X.

THE NATURE AND DESIGN OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND THE CHRISTIAN'S DUTY IN REFERENCE TO IT.

1 PET. ii. 13-15.-Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do dwell. For so is the will of God, that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish

men,

It has been remarked, that the moral precepts of Christianity are highly valuable, not only when viewed in reference to their primary and direct object, the direction and guidance of the movements of the inner and outer man, the regulation of the temper and conduct, the dispositions and actions, but also when considered in their subsidiary and indirect references, particularly in their bearing on the evidence of the Divine origin of that system of revelation of which they form so important a part. That bearing is manifold. Let us look at it in its various phases. Were a book, consisting partly of doctrinal statements and partly of moral precepts, claiming a Divine origin, put into our hands; and were we to find on perusal the moral part of it fantastic and trifling, inconsistent with the principles of man's constitution, unsuitable to the circumstances in which he is placed, and incompatible with the great laws of justice and benevolence, we should enter on the examination of the evidence appealed to, in support of its high pretensions, under the influence of a strong and justifiable suspicion. The study, for example, of the morality of the Talmud, or of the Koran, would go far, before commencing an investigation of evidence, to satisfy an enlightened inquirer that its claims to a Divine authority could not be satisfactorily supported.

On the other hand, when, in the New Testament, we find a moral code requiring all that is, and nothing that is not, "true, and honest, and just, and pure, and lovely," we cannot but be impressed with the conviction, that the system of which this forms a constituent part is worthy of being carefully inquired into; and we enter on the inquiry not merely with excited attention, but with a disposition to weigh candidly the evidence that can be brought forward of a supernatural origin. A man well acquainted with the preceptive parts of the New Testament, cannot help, unless he is completely devoid of candor, regarding the question of its origin as a grave and interesting one. He must feel in reference to its claims, not as he would in reference to the claims of a mere stranger, far less of one whom he knows to be a fool, and suspects to be a knave, but as he would in reference to the

claims of a person of whose wisdom and worth he had reason to think highly. The claims are of such a kind, and the consequences of admitting them are so momentous, that even, with all these favorable presumptions, they are not to be admitted without satisfactory evidence; but they obviously deserve to be examined, and respectfully and diligently examined.

But this is not all. A person in a great measure ignorant of what true Christianity is, as a moral as well as a doctrinal system, may, without much difficulty, be persuaded by an ingenious sceptic or unbeliever, that that religion, like so many others, has originated in imposture or delusion, or in a mixture of both. It is to ignorance of Christianity, as its principal intellectual cause, that we are disposed to trace the fearfully extensive success of infidel philosophy among the nominal Christians of the continent of Europe in the period immediately preceding the French Revolution. But on a person well informed as to the moral part of Christianity, all such ingenious sophistry will be thrown away. He is in possession of information which satisfies him that all those hypotheses, on one or other of which the denial of the truth and divinity of Christianity must proceed, are altogether untenable. There is a character of uniform, sober, practical, good sense, belonging to the morality of the New Testament, which makes it one of the most improbable of all things, that its writers should have been the dupes either of their own imagination or of a designing impostor: and there is a sustained and apparently altogether unassumed and natural air of "simplicity and godly sincerity," which forbids us, except on the most satisfactory evidence, to admit that they who wore it were other than what they seem to be, honest men. To the question, Were the men who delivered these moral maxims, fools or knaves, or a mixture of both? Were they stupid dupes or wicked impostors? the only reasonable answer is, the thing is barely possible, it is in the very highest degree improbable. Evidence tenfold more strong than infidel philosophy has ever dreamed of, would be necessary to give anything like verisimilitude to any of these hypotheses, on one or other of which must be built the disproof of the claims of Christianity on the attention, and faith, and obedience of mankind.

There is still another aspect in which the morality of Christianity may be considered, in reference to the evidence of the Divine origin of that religion. Viewed in all its bearings, it seems to be of the nature of a moral miracle. Compare the morality of the New Testament with the morality of ancient philosophy; compare Jesus with Socrates; and Paul, and Peter, and James, and John, with Epictetus, or Plato, or Seneca, or Marcus Antoninus. The difference is prodigious; the superiority is immeasurable. Now, how are we to account for this difference, this superiority? On the supposition that the writers of the New Testament were uninspired men, we apprehend it is utterly unaccountable. Nothing but the admission, that they were men who spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Spirit of God, can enable us satisfactorily to explain the undoubted fact, that the purest and most perfect system of morality which the world has ever seen; the system that discovers the justest and widest views of the Divine character and government, and the deepest in