Let us, therefore, remember, that "wisdom is justified of her children :" That the knowledge of the will of God and obedience to it, is wisdom: That to study houestly the will of God, and to strive faithfully to obey it, is to be the child of wisdom. The will of God, as far as our salvation is concerned, is made known to us in the Scriptures. The study of the Scriptures is, therefore, the study of wisdom. To this study we must bring the candid teachable disposition of children, because we are God's scholars, and he our master. His book is to us the fountain of that heavenly wisdom which will make us "wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus." Prejudice, party-spirit, love of our lusts and vices, must, as far as possible, be laid aside. They blind the mind, they warp the understanding, they harden the heart against the convictions of truth. Under their influence, we shall probably fall into such constructions of Scripture as comport with our pre-conceived opinions, or with the peculiar sentiments of our party, or with the practice of our favourite vice. So shall we pick out error even from the words of truth; and make the revelation of God, which is intended for our guide unto life, minister to our greater condemnation.

Let, therefore, a sincere desire to know the will of God that you may do it, a candid mind disposed fairly to understand what you read, and a willing disposition to part with every sentiment and practice which you there find condemned, inake the temper with which you study the Bible. Add to this your constant and fervent prayers to Almighty God, the author of every good and perfect gift, for the light and grace of his Holy Spirit, that you may perceive and know the things which you ought to believe and do, and may have strength and power faithfully to fulfil the same. Then shall you live free from all dangerous error in this world, and finally obtain the hope of your calling, eternal life with God in the world to come, through the Redeemer Jesus Christ. Amen.

DISCOURSE XVI.

THE CHRISTIAN RACE.

HEB. xii. 1, 2.

Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

IN the preceding chapter, the apostle had enumerated

many instances of the efficacy of divine faith in the Patriarchs and Prophets, both before and after the flood; and had proved that they overcame all temptations and difficulties, supported by that stedfast faith and trust in Almighty God, to which all Christians are called. The text is the inference he hath drawn from his discourse in that chapter-that since Christians are called to the profession of the same faith which animated those eminent saints of God, and have, in them, so many witnesses attesting its great power and efficacy; they ought to be discouraged by no obstacles, but with patience and resolution, fulfil the duties of that holy religion to the belief of which God's providence had called them: And that, for support and encouragement in their duty, they ought to look to the example of the holy Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith, who, in prospect of the joy that was set before him, endured the pain, and despised the shame of the cross; and, as a reward of his sufferings, is, in his human nature, exalted to power and glory at the right hand of God; therefore, in conformity to him, they ought patient

4

ly to suffer as he did, that they may be also glorified to gether with him.*

This is the lesson taught by the apostle in the text. And certainly a more effectual method of impressing his doctrine on the minds of Christian people could not have been taken, than to show them, by instances and facts, what that same principle, under which they profess to act, had already been able to accomplish. The same principle, under the same circumstances, will produce the same effects. It must, therefore, be the particular fault of particular Christians, if their faith does not advance them to the same height of virtue and holiness which the old Patriarchs and Prophets attained, under its influence.

Faith is such a belief of the declarations of God, whether they contain instructions, commands, threats, or promises, as carries the will, and affections, and actions into obedience to what is declared. This faith is called divine, because it proceeds from the operation of the Spirit of God, and because it has God for its object, being founded on his authority. As the object of the Christian's faith cannot change, its effects will always be in proportion to its strength. In other words, our attainments in holiness, or obedience to God, will always be in proportion to the strength of our faith, or belief of what God hath revealed.

When, therefore, we see the present professors of Christianity generally fall short of that virtue and holiness to which the first Christians attained, we ought not to think that their religion is become, through length of time, that vain, powerless, ineffectual thing, which the lives of many Christians might tempt us to suppose it. The revelations of God cannot be less true, because they were made many centuries ago. But the present Christians want that firm faith in the principles of their religion which advanced the first Christians to that eminency of virtue, for which they are so justly celebrated.

They to whom the Apostle wrote, were by him supposed to have been possessed of that faith which the Gospel requires; and he directs them to remove all impediments

Rom. viii. 17.

which might hinder its free and full operation. We, also, by the good providence of God, profess to have that faith which his Gospel requires. Let us, then, attend to the directions which he gave to the Hebrew Christians; that, all obstructions being taken out of its way, it may, by God's grace, increase in strength, and become perfect in obedience to the will of God.

I. The first direction in the text is, that we "lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us."

The Christian life is frequently represented to us in the Scriptures, by those things which require the greatest exertions of bodily strength, and exactest attention of mind; by a state of war, by a combat, by wrestling, &c. and, in the text, by a race. It is common for those who run in a race, to divest themselves of every thing which may add to their weight, or may hinder their speed. This prudent conduct, St. Paul recommends to Christians. The race they are called to run is the Christian life, a life of selfdenial and holiness: The prize they hope to obtain, is eternal life with God their Creator. Certainly, to obtain this prize, they must live in that state of holy obedience to God, which he hath promised to accept through the mediation of his son. They must repress every temper, and passion, and appetite, and forbear every action which can hinder their progress in this divine life, or be to them, like a weight to him that runneth in a race.

Christ hath called his disciples to the renunciation of every worldly advantage, of every temporal consideration, which shall come in competition with their duty, or divert them from that holy life which his Gospel requires: Nor father, nor mother, nor wife, nor children, nor any worldly possessions are to be preferred before him. He declares it even better to part with a hand, or an eye, or this temporal life itself, than by complying with evil lusts and vicious pleasures, to render ourselves unworthy of the kingdom of Heaven.

The general rules and cautions of Scripture must, by particular Christians, be accommodated to their own state and circumstances. The various occupations of life, dif

VOL. II.

D d