God. It may not be ours to witness, as the angel of the Church of Smyrna did, for the Holy One; albeit we must be "faithful unto death.” We may be forgotten by our fellows, hidden from all eyes but His; we may have no sympathy from companions, no cheering words from comrades in the fight; we may even hear nothing further on this score from the great Captain of our salvation. But we must be "faithful unto death" in our spirit, our trust, our obedience, and our love. This may seem hard measure, but not when we remember how He has urged this claim upon us. If He had hesitated to undertake our redemption we should never have been summoned to His service. "He who liveth, and was dead, and is alive for evermore, and hath the keys of death," must have vastly different notions of it from that which our weakness and ignorance avail to form. To us it is a drear and shameful unclothing; but to Him it is the moment of a Divine array when we are "clothed upon with our house which is from heaven," and when "mortality is swallowed up of life." He looks at death as a foe whom He has worsted. He knows the He mettle and the malice of His great antagonist. has put him to the proof, and the proof was too great. Whereas we tremble at the thought of the encounter, to Him it is the moment of our discharge from doubt, from temptation, from servitude, from waiting, from long patience, from tedious toil; to Him it is our acceptance of the reward, the crown, and the glory. "Take it on trust a little while, soon thou shalt read the mystery right in the full sunlight of His smile." There is much connexion in the mind of Him who is the "truth," the "way," and the "life," between faithfulness and triumph. Thus elsewhere He says, "Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things." A crown brings us into higher fellowship with the King. Thou shalt, if thus faithful, sit down crowned at a banquet of kings. A living crown, not one fashioned by human hands; an immortal crown which shall not wither, ever retaining the zest of its first bestowment and the charm of its first wearing, shall be thine. There shall be no tarnish on its gold, no autumn on its leaves of glory, for they shall be taken from the tree of life, and be ever fresh with the dews of Paradise. And I may say to all who hear me, that with slight difference in phrase these words are applicable to us all. We must all be faithful to our human heart. It is sometimes wiser than our logic, greater than our tradition, stronger than our circumstances; a Divine messenger of love, and charity, and sympathy. We must still more certainly be faithful to conscience, and exercise ourselves to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and man. We must all be faithful to Him who speaks through heart and conscience, and who is greater than either. Let us be faithful in a few things; be faithful in the use of the talents, whether five, or two, or only one, which He has entrusted to us. Let us be faithful unto death, and we too shall receive the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall give unto all them that love His appearing. сс SERMON XIX. THE JUDGMENT OF GOD.* JOHN VI. 44 and 2 COR. v. 10. The last day.... We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. AN unerring justice is ever awake amid the affairs of men. We need not wait till death or doom are ushered in, to learn that "judgment is set, and that the books are open." Even "now is the judgment of this world." "Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment, and some men's they follow after. Likewise, also, the good works of some are manifest beforehand, and they that are otherwise cannot be hid." Sin brings its own punishment, not only in the wretchedness and chastisement which it inflicts, but in the evil disposition, the deteriorated conscience, the lowered moral standard, and the hidden face of God. There are invincible links, binding together into indissoluble union certain sins and certain sorrows; and Divine grace * This sermon was preached to an assembly of working men on the last night of a year. has conjoined peculiar states of mind with corresponding blessedness. The connection between extravagance and poverty, between dissipation and disease, between dishonesty and disgrace, is so intimate and common, that the exception only proves the rule. The few instances where brazen-faced roguery contrives to outwit unsuspecting goodness are so rare, so few and far between, that they really produce no effect upon the general run of sentiment on the subject. There may be some iron constitutions that can brook an immense deal of folly and vice without succumbing to the deadly influence, but the damage done to the soul and the hardening of the conscience are fearful compensation for the comparative and apparent immunity. On the other hand, poverty of spirit, godly sorrow, true humility, real hunger after righteousness, mercifulness, purity, and charity, bring the benedictions of Jesus with them. The eternal laws of God's kingdom do not fail to associate sterling blessedness with real virtue, and progressive happiness with increasing excellence. If a man sows to the Spirit he reaps life eternal. If he delights in God he receives the desires of his heart. The unction of the Holy One is the earnest of the inheritance. If certain sinners are surprised with alarming reverses, or with sudden calamities, it is not right to say that these are judgments which God's providence has inflicted upon their transgressions. It would be in direct contravention of the teaching |