mocked and ridiculed Noah while building the ark; then, as they watched the gathering waters, made haste to escape to some rising ground, and as the flood gathered around them even there, cast their anxious gaze to a still more lofty crag, and perished, perhaps, while they were making haste to escape thereto. On the other hand, Noah had believed God, and being "moved with fear," had "prepared an ark for the saving of his house." He believed, and while a guilty and unbelieving world was drowning, there was no need that he should make haste to escape from the waters of the flood. Safe in the ark, for "the Lord had shut him in," he could smile at the fury of the storm. He believed in God, and he was not ashamed.

So also, was it a fearful day when showers of burning sulphur descended upon guilty Sodom and Gomorrah, filling all hearts with terror and dismay, and involving men, women, and children in one general and awful destruction. Contemplate, for a moment, that terrible scene! Who are those young men, pressing their hands over their mouths to shut out the burning, suffocating atmosphere, casting their inflamed eyes to yonder neighboring mountain, and making haste, if it were now possible, to escape to a place of safety? They are the sons-in-law of Lot. Alas! it is now too late. They had heard the solemn warning from their father-in-law, but Lot had "seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law," (Gen. xix. 14.) Lot and his daughters were now in safety, for they had heeded the angels' warning-" Escape to the mountain!" They had believed God, and were not ashamed. As for these wicked young men, they had treated with contempt the admonition of Lot. They had refused to believe, and were now ashamed and confounded. They made haste, if it were possible, to escape from the suffocating flames, but they made haste in vain. The sentence had gone forth"Behold! ye despisers, and wonder and perish!" and repentance came, now, too late. And thus, my hearers, shall it be in the day of judgment. Then those who trusted in falsehood shall find to their dismay, that "the hail shall sweep away their refuges of lies." They have built upon the sand, and they shall feel their foundation give way, and in that day shall their hopes perish. See! that terror-smitten company as they come forth from their graves, roused by that voice which shall awake the dead. Alas! alas! they feel that the hour of their judgment is come, and conscious guilt tells them that "righteous Judge" is now their enemy. Hark! that cry of agony-"Rocks fall on us! mountains, cover us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb!" but rocks and mountains are deaf to their cry. See! how they make haste to hide themselves, if it were possible, from the lightning of his eye. But they make haste in vain. They would not believe, and now the day of mercy is past; their dismay and confusion is complete!

But O, how different the portion of the righteous! Rising from

the grave, they feel that the hour of their complete redemption has at length arrived. The promise is at length fulfilled-"I will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy death! O grave, I will be thy destruction!" (Hosea xiii. 14, Welsh translation.) As they burst the fetters of the grave, they look upward, and behold the coming, the expected Saviour, and break forth in the joyful acclamation, "Lo! this is our God, we have waited for him, we will rejoice and be glad in him!" They believed on Jesus Christ, and now they are not ashamed. They built upon the rock of ages, and now, indeed, as ever before, they find him to be a tried stone, a sure foundation. Standing before the tribunal of the Judge, the believer in Jesus feels that in that Judge he has a Saviour, an Advocate, a Friend; and in reply to the demands of a violated law, he can point to Christ as his Redeemer from the curse, and as the Lord his Righteousness. In the beautiful words of Cowper, describing the scenes of the Judgment—

"All joy to the believer! he can speak,

Trembling, but joyful,—confident yet meek;
Since the dear hour that led me to thy foot,
And cut up all my follies by the root,
I never trusted in an arm but thine,
Nor hoped, but in thy righteousness divine.
While struggling in the vale of tears below,
That never failed, nor shall it fail me now."

O glorious and blessed promise! "he that believeth shall not make haste"- "shall not be ashamed or confounded world without end." May this promise, beloved brethren, be yours and mine! may we build all our hopes on Christ as the rock of ages, and thus find him to be a tried stone, a sure foundation! And then, in temptation and sorrow, in sickness and at death, at the judgment and in eternity, will he be our never-failing friend, and our portion forever!

X.

OUR OWN SALVATION-THE WORK AND THE ENCOUR

AGEMENT.

BY REV. M. W. JACOBUS,

PASTOR OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, BROOKLYN, (PRESBYTERY OF N. Y.)

"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure."-PHIL. ii. 12, 13.

A MAN who has undertaken to be saved, has entered upon the greatest possible work-a work which, as it looks for its consummation at the end of life, so is to engage all the energies of his lifetime. There never was a more grievous deception of Satan, than that which satisfies the convert with his initial experiences, and settles him down upon them as the substance of salvation. All the crude ideas of getting religion by a few given exercises, and a certain short process of excitements and reliefs, so that soon it shall be all done and over, have come of that arch-deceiver, who ruins as completely by false hopes, as by infidelity. This urgency of the Apostle is therefore of most momentous import. The Christian course is called a race. And he exhorts the man who has entered the lists, to run on. The crown is not at this end, nor anywhere along the course; but at the other end-at the goal. Here is a WORK, Only undertaken now, and only begun. All the undertaking and the beginning infer a vigorous and continuous prosecution. is a thing to be elaborated, carried out, completed. And because it is a man's own salvation, it is very plain that it must be a work demanding high personal endeavors, which are never to be remitted unto the end.

It

Our own salvation, therefore, he sets before us, as a plan to be executed as a design to be fulfilled-as an edifice to be carried up to the top-stone. And as this salvation is not really accomplished, on our part, until life ceases, so the working out of this majestic plan is the grand business of one's lifetime; and the laborious workman puts the last stroke of the hammer to the building, with his last and dying breath.

But here it is to be understood, that this prosecution of the work also supposes the work really commenced. The language is susceptible of misapplication. The address is here, in the text, not to

the unconverted, but to those who have really undertaken-in whom, and by whom, a beginning has been made. It is not intended to set any man upon his own resources, until he is first fully cast upon the resources of God in Christ. None but such would understand the mental philosophy of the text. It is not meant to deceive any with the idea that they can undertake and work out their own salvation, all independently of the Almighty, and with no thanks to divine grace. We enter into no discussion here about the divine efficiency as consistent with the free agency. We take the fact, as it must be admitted, and as it is expressed in the text, that in this saving matter, man works out, and God works in. We are not compelled to describe the processes, any more than to explain the co-operation of soul and body in every action. We know from the fact itself, that such co-working is consistent. Every Christian finds it so in his experience, whatever his theory may be; and the man is only urged to his own proper part in the matter. We need not show how, in the highest sense, Christ has wrought out the salvation of every true believer, by his redeeming work; or how the plan employs the man's own energies, only renewing his will. The whole truth of the subject is implied in the text, and the positions are perfectly consistent.

First, then, it is here put among the leading encouragements to a Christian, that it is God who already worketh in him. That a good and gracious work is already begun in the believing heart by the Author of our salvation. "If there be any consolation in Christ," he says, go forward. If you have any comfort in his love, get more. If you have any fellowship of the spirit, any bowels and mercies, aim at an increase, and fulfilment. The way is most clearly opened to you. For this experience, however incipient, is to be recognized as a proof of that divine working, which gives the highest encouragements for the prosecution. You are to take these beginnings of a new life, and instead of being disheartened at the mere infancy of it, consider its high and heavenly origin, and be animated in the prospect of its development. If there be in you any genuine feature of the new birth, does it not argue that you are laid hold of by infinite grace, for your salvation? And you are "to follow after, if that you may apprehend that for which also you are apprehended of Christ Jesus. Seize these cheering proofs that "God hath not appointed you to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." They are the encouraging hints to you of an eternal purpose, working already in you this incipient willing and doing. Every changed disposition, and every regenerate action, are God's gracious intimations to you, urging you on in the way of your complete and eternal redemption. You are not left to grope in the dark, awed and disheartened by impenetrable mysteries; for just so far as God's secret plan may be useful to be known in the attainment of salvation, so far it is opened to the true be liever. The work is a present salvation from sin, as connected

with a future salvation from death. The name Jesus has this interpretation to every believer, "He shall save his people from their sins." The work is personal, therefore. It is present and practical. It is such, that if it is going on, you can see its progress in the progressive results. It is such as to engage your interest and energy at every step. To be saved from the sins which have debased you, and from the sins which still beset you, is to be your daily aim and ambition, as the essence of the great work; and never are you to be content a moment, except as you see this salvation going vigorously forward to the end. And so Christ does early whisper to the true disciple, "I have chosen you and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit." Fear not, little flock," he is yet saying to his believing people; "it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." And by unmistakable marks and tokens, he is already showing the timid heir of heaven all the promises, and seals, and covenants, and often, as it seems, his very name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Are not these the strongest incentives held out, from that world of glory, to labor onto climb up the hill-to work out the salvation? This is the crown laid up for the Apostle, of which he knows beforehand. This is the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, which he declares himself to have been striving for as his one aim of life, and with all his energies.

We have now prepared the way to consider this practical subject from the proper point, and with its legitimate application-to show how one's salvation is to be worked out-and to urge these high incentives.

1. This charge of the Apostle is aimed against the natural perils of the case. It would be readily enough comprehended, in reference to any other undertaking. We all know what it is to work out a calculation to its results-what it is to work out a difficult plan to its execution-what it is to work out a personal deliverance by energetic labors-what it is to work out any enterprise to which zeal and vigor of mind and body can be applied. It is to employ our highest endeavors to compass the results, whether they be near or distant, whether they occupy us an hour or a lifetime. One of the English masters, when asked how long he had been at a certain picture, answered, “All my life." Has a man undertaken to be saved? Then this is only the greatest possible undertaking. Has he looked into the revealed plan, and consulted the divine party, and so entered upon the work? Then, here is simply an exhortation to that man to work on, under the most gracious auspices, with the strongest assurances of success, yet with fear and trembling at the parties concerned, and at the magnitude of interests involved. It is an exhortation pressed home, in view of a natural tendency to run a brief season, and tire, or turn aside-to work, and weary of it-to fall under the power of Satan, in temptations that seem the more severe and artful, because of the effort to elude his snare.