12 — In the Character of His Followers

Chapter 12 THE GLORY OF CHRIST IN THE CHARACTER OF HIS FOLLOWERS. The time was when the human nature, like the angelic, bore the impress of its divine original. The perfect production of the artist indicated his excellence and skill. The stream was clear, and discovered the purity of the fountain. But man is no more what he then was. His " carnal mind is enmity against God;" nor is it until he " puts on the new man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness," that he " shows forth the praises of him who hath called him out of darkness into his marvellous light." This is the high privilege of all the followers of Christ. " If any man be in Christ he is a new creature." His highest honor is to honor Christ. That the Son of God should be glorious in himself and in all that he has done, is a thought that commends itself to reason, to conscience, to piety; but that he should be glorious in the character of his followers, welcome as the thought is, is one which does not find so ready access to our minds. It is a wondrous manifestation of the divine condescension, that a creature of yesterday, born in sin, should be allowed to cherish so lofty a purpose. " Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man that is a worm, and the son of man which is a worm!" Yet nothing short of this fulfills man’s spiritual and immortal destiny. This affecting truth bursts upon. us from every utterance of the divine oracle, from the progressive developments of divine providence, and from the inward teachings of the divine Spirit. It is among the perpetually-augmenting glories of Christ, that he " is glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe." He is glorious in the character of his followers, in that they give him the throne, and cheerfully acknowledge his authority over them; in that their character is but the reflection of his own; in that they are his witnesses in this ungodly world; and in that they live to advance the interests of his kingdom and promote his glory. Let us dwell a few moments on each of these four thoughts.

Christ is glorious in the character of his followers in that they give him the throne and cheerfully acknowledge his authority over them. Every creature in the universe needs to be governed; not excepting the "angels who excel in strength." Nothing would be more unstable than this world under the control of a capricious monarch, or under any other than his one empire who is " Head over all things to his church." Even under such a head, what faction, sedition, treachery, disloyalty, and rebellion on the part of the great mass of mankind! The humors and tempers of men are the sport of their passions; the world is a scene of tumult, so that, instead of living in peace and order, and by their subjection doing honor to the King of heaven, every man is his own monarch; and the world we live in bears the marks of desolation and anarchy.

It is in such a world that he who styles himself the " Prince of the kings of the earth," has not only set up his throne, but subdued unto himself a "willing people in the day of his power." By nature, just as depraved and rebellious as other men, and just as much disposed to complain of his laws, they have learned to award him the honors of universal empire, and to take their proper places at his footstool. On that memorable day ’ in which he first made his spiritual conquest over them, and when, as sinful and guilty rebels, they first drew nigh to God with hopes of pardon, it was through him, as the exalted Mediator, and by faith in the blood of his cross. They were "reconciled to God by the death of his Son;" but it was with penitence and shame for their former disloyalty, with self-renunciation and self-abasement, and with unconditional submission, not less to his authority as their lawgiver, than to his mercy as their Redeemer. These were the indispensable terms of their mutual reconciliation. The very end of their reconciliation, was " that they might walk in his statutes, and do his judgments and keep them;" their obedience is the test of their reconciliation. True religion consists in a renovated character, controlled by those high-born principles, which, while they are the main-spring of spiritual affections and emotions, possess the vigor and efficacy to govern the life, and show their strength only when they constrain its subjects to make the will of Christ their joy. His yoke is easy, and his burden is light, because his sceptre is a right sceptre, and such as every right-minded man loves to obey. The very acts of obedience which he requires, are themselves joyous, and productive of inward blessedness. If it costs self-denial to obey, there is happiness in the self-denial; the love of Christ makes the service delightful. Nor do his followers engage in it unpardoned, and staggering under the curse; but with the embarrassments of a legal condemnation thrown off, and cheered with the light of their Heavenly Father’s countenance. Although they are sanctified but in part, and do not always find a heart within them that is pliant to the authority of their Master; yet is their strength according to their day, and there is grace to help them in the time of need. There is an eye above them that inspects all their inward struggles, and observes all their outward conflicts; and there is a voice, too, that cheers and comforts them. Many a time does their heart turn away from the fickleness and imbecility and deception of earth, to his all-gracious and stable throne, and rejoice that their divine Lord and Prince is not only qualified to rule, but to defend and enrich them. All power is his; his are the riches of the universe. "Dominion is with him," and greatly do they rejoice. And is it too much to say, that those whose minds and hearts have been graciously schooled and disciplined into this conviction and these sentiments, do him homage? Do they not speak for him and hold in check this rebellious world? Are they not the guardians and defenders of his rightful and royal prerogative? Is it not his honor to have a loyal people in this world of anarchy and wickedness, and one so full of dishonor to " the monarchy of heaven?" Bound to him by cords of love and recorded vows, they rally round this unearthly fabric of his power; and though, like his exiled and captive people of old, they may be "men that are wondered at," they are his "peculiar people." Our second thought is, that Christ is glorious in the character of his followers, in that whatever is excellent in their character is but the reflection of his own. The moral desolation of the world is fitly represented in the Scriptures, by the earth shrouded in darkness. It is all gloom, imperishable gloom. There is no sun, no moon. Not a star twinkles in the sky. Not a light is to be seen in the habitations of men. Imagine yourself standing in the midst of such an impervious night; and then see the curtain gradually drawn up. One black cloud after another rolls away, discovering here and there a pale star, then a bright planet, then some clustered galaxy, and then the full moon walking in her brightness. Yet all these bright orbs shine in borrowed splendor, and do but reflect the light of the great Central Sun. So the light reflected from the church of God on the earth, whether from a single star, or a brighter planet, or from more faint and congregated twinkling’s of the milky-way, is the light of heaven. It is not uniform; " one star differeth from another star in glory;" yet is it luminous, and its brightness indicates its source. If there be those who think and say that there is wonderfully little of this resemblance to the character of Christ among men; while we confess there is too much truth in this remark, we at the same time affirm, that what there is of true religion in the world, consists in this resemblance. We do not inquire how strong or how faint the resemblance is; and only say, that be it ever so faint, it is still a resemblance to him. Be it so that it is faint, and often marked with dark shadows; blot it out, and the world is all darkness, Egyptian darkness, darkness that may be felt. Even the imperfect holiness that is found among men, is a beautiful object; the most beautiful under the sun. We could hold up before you the character of many a Christian man and woman among the living, that would at once be recognized as a beautiful, though not a spotless character. The severest and most fastidious moral critic in the world, would be slow to deny that the true church of God, with all its blemishes, possesses a beautiful character. " Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined." " Thou wast exceeding beautiful’’ and thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty; for it was perfect, through the comeliness which the Lord God had put upon thee." This reflected character of the Lord Jesus in his followers is not a little for his own honor and glory. He has undertaken the great work of redeeming his people from the power of sin; and when their renewed and sanctified character is contrasted with what it once was, who is there that is not constrained to honor him for what he has done, and in what he has done? We look at the church of Rome, at the time when their " faith was spoken of throughout all the world," and compare it with the same individuals whose nauseous character is described in the first chapter of the epistle to the Romans. We look at the licentious, debased, and polluted Corinthians, and then at those same Corinthians, " washed and sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus;" and while we love and honor them for their piety, it is not the persons themselves whose character is thus transformed, that we so much think of, as that Lord Jesus, by whose grace they were thus beautified, and whose reflected glory they show forth. Could we unroll the catalog of all those holy men and women, so many of whom were stars of the first magnitude, and so many more of whom whose light was less resplendent, but not the less lovely and attractive; and could we add to these those untold myriads of infant minds, born in sin, but made pure and bright by him that " maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning;" and could we then bring before you the names of those now on the earth who were once as notorious for their wickedness as they now are more or less illustrious for their piety, we should furnish some adequate illustration of the glory of Christ in the character of his followers. The moral hemisphere is lighted up with these reflections of his love and power.

" Look how the floor of heaven Is thick inlaid with patinas of bright gold;

There’s not the smallest orb that thou behold’st But in his motion like an angel sings, Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim."

Yet all this celestial harmony is but an echo; and these brilliant lights in the vault of heaven shine by rays from the Sun of righteousness.

If from such a survey, you take the map of the world as it now is, and trace those lands where the national character and government and laws and literature and customs are formed by the degrading and brutalizing influence of Paganism, the iron sceptre of the False Prophet, the delusions and tyranny of the Man of sin, and those prolonged triumphs of Oriental philosophy over reason and conscience and moral virtue, and contrast them with the civil, social, religious, and moral condition of those favored nations where Christianity exerts her appropriate influence; can it be difficult to decide in which the Prince of life is exalted? Is there not in this survey, both of individual and congregated and national character, an intuitive perception of the Saviour’s glory? Does it not strike the eye as clearly as the rainbow when it spans its arch over against the cloud? What is Christianity but Christ revealed? What is its appropriate influence, but Christ revealed to the mind and heart? And in what consists its true glory, unless it is in the fact that where it is thus ascendant, millions of intelligent and immortal beings, in the solitude of their retirement, and in the noise and bustle of the world; in the depression of their grief and in the tranquility of their joy; in the secrecy and publicity of their devotions; in the rectitude, truthfulness, and benignity of their deportment toward God and their fellowmen; manifest his glory, who is " the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." The most difficult graces and virtues which the disciples of Christ are called upon to exercise, are those which respect their relations to their fellowmen. Many are they who cheerfully engage in acts of piety and devotion toward God; it costs them little to pray, and praise, and hear his word. But to do justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly; to practice the duties of kindness, forbearance, meekness, forgiveness of enemies, beneficence, self-control, and self-denial; to be just, truthful, diligent, honest; these are the duties which most honor our divine Master. The Scriptures largely insist on the importance of these relative obligations, in our intercourse with our fellow-men. " Though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, I am as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals." "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the widow and fatherless in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." These duties are spoken of by the Saviour as the great evidence of a living and operative faith at the Last Great Day. " In as much as ye did it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me." We cannot be profitable to God, as we can be profitable to our fellow-men. We cannot serve him, but we can serve them. We cannot do good to him, but we can do good to them. External religious rites are a very cheap religion. We may perform them all, and yet be covetous men, proud, malicious, envious, revengeful, and voluptuous men. True godliness honors Christ in the family, as well as the closet; in the world, as well as the church; never does it shine in more attractive beauty, than in the very heart of the world, and living, breathing, in the midst of secular employments. The image of Christ, though faint, is there; it is Christ in the soul. Their weakest emotions of love, their faintest beamings of hope, their very lispings of prayer and praise, are beautiful and heavenly because they are so full of Christ. Much more is he glorious in them when they " come to excellent ornaments," and the rigor and constancy, and uniformity of their character are in more close and bright resemblance to his own. There is nothing in this inferior world in which Christ himself so much glories, and which he has done so much to restore, elevate and ennoble. He calls them " his treasure;" and anticipates with joy the day when he " makes them up as his jewels." None triumph in their bright prospects so much as he; and none but he could paint them in such glowing imagery as he has done, when he says to them, " Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee. The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary and I will make the place of my feet Glorious." Nor have they themselves any more devout exultation, than when they declare, " I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." Our third thought is, that Christ is glorious in the character of his followers, in that they are his witnesses in this ungodly world. Errors and sin have no need of witnesses; they are too deeply embedded in the human heart to require testimony. Nor has there ever been a period of time, since the days of righteous Abel to the present hour, when there were none on the earth to bear witness for the King of truth and grace. They have often been " a little flock;" but they have borne their testimony, and like righteous Abel, " being dead, they yet speak." Sometimes their testimony has gathered strength with the widening and rapid current of time; then again it has been alternately accumulative and diminished; and then, like the waters of the ocean, it has become diffused and dispensed itself over the earth in clouds.

If you inquire of what are they the witnesses; I answer of the truth and power of Christ and his gospel. Many such witnesses the Saviour has now on the earth; and though they may be of different preferences, and polity, and names, they all unite in bearing testimony to the truth of Christ. His church is a witness-bearing church. They are witnesses to his being and character; to his deity and incarnation; to his life and death, to his resurrection and ascension. They are witnesses to the equity and binding obligation of his law, and to the hallowed influences of his grace; themselves living epistles of its excellence known and read of all men. When the scoffers’ tongue slanders the doctrines of grace as conniving at immorality and wickedness, the Saviour can point to all his true followers and say, " These are my witnesses," who have been taught to deny " ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present evil world." True Christians are practical preachers of the gospel, demonstrating in their own lives its elevating and purifying tendency. They are witnesses of its preciousness; of the pleasures it gives above all the pleasures of sin. They are witnesses of the high privilege of access to God and sweet communion with things unseen; they are witnesses of the equanimity which arises from trust in him, and from a mind subdued and regulated by the graces of the Spirit; they are witnesses of the comfort which the Saviour’s presence imparts, of the rest which he gives in the time of trouble, in the midst of this fluctuating and agitated world; they are witnesses of clear and sunlight prospects when the wilderness is dark, and of springs of joy in this dry and thirsty land where desolated blessings and blasted hopes so fearfully mark the Destroyer’s path. They are witnesses to the truth of his promises and the value and preciousness of his ordinances. They are witnesses for his Bible; witnesses for his Sabbath, his Sanctuary, his ministers, and his saints. They are chosen, called, and faithful witnesses. They are sworn witnesses, and consent before God, angels, and men, that " God should help them," as their testimony is true or false. They are competent witnesses, even though they may not be learned. They are credible, convincing, and unanswerable witnesses; and where their testimony is disregarded, they are condemning witnesses. They are witnesses for the Saviour and judge of men against Satan, sin and the world. They are continued through every age of time; and just so far as they are his followers, the testimony he calls for they give.

Every true Christian in the world is Christ’s witness. Whether he occupies a throne or a dungeon, his heart and his voice are lifted up for his once suffering and now exalted Master. The poor Negro who is washed in the blood of the Lamb, the frozen Greenlander whose heart is warmed by the love of God, the brutalized Hottentot, the treacherous Hindoo, and the lewd and sanguinary worshiper at the shrine of Juggernaut, who have been turned from dumb idols to serve the Living God, are as truly witnesses for Christ, as the favored Missionary of the Cross who first bore the glad tidings of great joy to their degraded lands. That Christian mother, and that believing child, bear witness for him as truly as Paul before Nero; or Luther at the diet of "Worms; or Calvin by his Institutes; or Zuiugle on the battle-field; or John Knox in the Castle of St. Andrews; or the persecuted Church of Scotland by her Solemn League and Covenant; or Thomas Chalmers when he led out the Church of Scotland free.

There have been noble witnesses for Christ in ages of darkness and when wickedness triumphed, and the witnesses were clothed in sackcloth, and sealed their testimony with their blood; but that child of poverty and prayer who is overheard giving utterance to her faith and submission in the almshouse, is as truly, though a more humble witness for him, as the martyr at the stake. Great and extraordinary trials and conflicts call for great sacrifices; nor will the providence and grace of God fail to raise up witnesses fitted for such scenes; yet must it not be forgotten, that it is amid the ordinary scenes of Christian life, where watchfulness and prayer, faith and patience, and toil, uncheered except by heavenly influences, that the believer’s testimony exerts its appropriate and powerful and abiding efficacy.

It is no small matter to live and die, bearing witness before angels and men for Christ and his truth. More especially is the Saviour honored by this testimony when the witnesses are few, and dishonored for their testimony. When wealth and pride, fashion and power frown upon the Christian; when to be allied to Christ is to dissolve the charm of other alliances and the believer stands alone; then it is that the exactions of the gospel are urgent, and a strength of no ordinary faith is called for in order to take up his cross cheerfully. The temptation was strong for the twelve disciples to symbolize with the impiety of Jerusalem and Rome; and it was this that gave their testimony value and importance. When iniquity abounds, and error unfolds her gorgeous and Protean standard, and those even from whom better things are expected fall away; it is no feigned regard to the Redeemer’s honor, that verifies his truth. Noble was the answer and the testimony, and it shall travel wherever this gospel is preached, " Lord to whom shall we go but unto thee? thou hast the words of eternal life, and we know and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the Living God." How many millions have lived and died bearing this testimony! That death-bed testimony, how precious it is! and how many pallid lips have uttered it! and how have its fragments been gathered up, and consecrated by tears! When Toplady lay on his death-bed, he said to a friend, " It is impossible to describe how good God is to me. The comforts and manifestations of his love are so abundant, as to render my condition the most delightful in the world. He leaves me nothing to pray for but a continuance of them. My prayers are all converted into praise. Those great and glorious truths which the Lord in mercy has given me to believe, and which he has enabled me, though very feebly, to stand forth in defence of, carry me far above the things of time and sense. Sickness is no affliction; pain no curse; death itself no dissolution. I am the happiest man in the world. O how this soul of mine longs to be gone! Like a bird imprisoned in its cage, it longs to take its flight. Being fixed on the eternal Rock, Christ Jesus, my soul is filled with peace and joy." When he drew near his end, he said, " O what delight! Who can fathom the joys of the third heaven! The sky is clear; there is no cloud. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!" Soon after this, he closed his eyes, and found " A death-like sleep, A gentle wafting to immortal life."

How many precious memories of the departed have thus been preserved, and how often have they been scattered far and wide, and everywhere shedding the fragrance of the Saviour’s name! And think you, Christ is not glorified by this great cloud of witnesses, whether among the living or the dead? This testimony is designed to honor him, and does honor him. Our last thought is, that the followers of Christ live to promote his glory and advance the interests of his kingdom. ’"None of us," says the inspired Apostle, " liveth to himself" Such is the supreme and all-absorbing egotism of the human heart, that to do this is the most difficult thing in the world. The great conflict is between the flesh and the spirit, self and interests that are higher and more important. The conquest is complete when sin and self are lost and swallowed up in God. And although it is never complete in the present world, yet just in the measure in which the conflict is successfully maintained, is Christ glorious in the character of his followers. We confess to no sympathy with those moral chemists, who, by their subtle analysis, have endeavored to resolve all the elements of goodness into self-love. Self has its place in the nature and relations of all intelligent existences; it has its place in the divine law, and in the gospel of Jesus Christ. But the infinite and ever-blessed God has also his place. Nor is it possible for a false philosophy so to twist and mould any one modification of true piety, as to make it appear that its origin and ruling motive is selfishness. If this principle were true, it would break down all moral distinctions in the universe, and show that the best man in the world, though he may be wiser, is radically no better than the worst. The controlling principle which governs every truly Christian mind, is not so involved in abstruseness and intricacy as to escape consciousness; nor is it so obscure and doubtful in its overt actings, as to escape observation. The self-sacrificing impulse is strong where " the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost." The faith of the gospel " works by love." A dead faith is a contradiction; it has no actual existence; it wants the principle of life and activity; its vitality is gone. Living Christians are " constrained" by the love of Christ, henceforth to live," not unto themselves, but to him that died for their True piety has this for its great object; and never does it appear to such advantage, and never so glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, as when it holds forth the beautiful picture of a redeemed sinner, caring more for the honor of Christ than his own, and for the interest of his kingdom than his own interest. Be his errors and imperfections ever so mournful a blot upon the canvass, this single characteristic stands out upon it in bold relief. There is not a Christian on the earth, who does not live to promote the glory of the Redeemer, and advance the interests of his kingdom. It is not his own ease, or honor, or wealth, or social relations, or country, that he lives for; it is for interests above and beyond all these, and to which all these, even when most cherished, are made subordinate. This is the great triumph of Christianity. In the character of such followers, its author is able to show the universe some bright spots in this dark world. Much as he is despised and rejected of men, and little as the mass of mankind care for the salvation of others, and for the nations that are going down to death, there are those who think of him, and honor him; who feel that all they are, and have, and can perform, belongs to him, and that it is their earnest expectation and hope, that he may be " magnified in them, whether it be by life or by death." Is he not glorious in such as these? May he not say concerning them: See, I have not died in vain! The manger of Bethlehem, the poverty of Nazareth, the gloom of Gethsemane, the scorn, the scourge, the spitting, the cross, the grief, the love, were not in vain. Nor when I rose, was it in vain that all power in heaven and on earth was entrusted to my hands. These are they who were bought with a price. To their hands I have committed my honor, and the interests of my kingdom in yonder world. This is my reward; these are my triumphs, and they shall be multiplied as the drops of the morning dew! Are they not multiplied? Are they not found wherever a pure Christianity lives? Does not the wilderness blossom as the rose for them? Are they not the friends of the fatherless and the widow; the founders and patrons of every charity, the teachers of the ignorant, the reformers of the vicious, and the Christianizers of every people, and kindred, and tongue, and nation? Sweet is the privilege to be thus instrumental in extending the knowledge of God’s salvation, and to become one of the lights of the world! Every effort to make known his name, is an effort to promote his glory; it makes God himself known, and "makes his praise glorious." It brings glory to him from others, arresting the attention of a thoughtless world, augmenting the trophies of his love and power, making new manifestations of his glorious character, radiating around them and beyond them, to untold generations. God himself has said, "This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise."

Thus is the glory of Christ unfolded in the character of his followers. Nor is this empty speculation; but full of comfort to the people of God, full of inducements to holy living, and full of rebuke to ungodly men.

It is full of comfort to the people of God because they have the greatest security in his guardianship and love. " The Lord’s portion is his people; Israel is the lot of his inheritance." He has left them in this world as the guardians of his honor; to their keeping he has committed this sacred deposit, more valuable than worlds. And think you he will not keep them and be their Guardian? We may rest satisfied that his church is safe. The signs of the times may be complex, and even dark; thrones may totter and there may be commotions among the people; but nothing in heaven, or on earth, or in hell, shall ever divert the love of Christ from his people. His unchanging faithfulness is the guaranty that light and darkness, good and evil, joy and sorrow, friends and foes shall work together for their benefit. " Surely there is no divination against Jacob, and no enchantment against Israel." There is nothing he regards with such a watchful eye, or such a loving heart. What God said to ancient Israel, he says to his church now, and in these ends of the earth: " Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; for all the earth is mine, and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation." He stands forth their Protector. " He that toucheth them, toucheth the apple of his eye." His church is more beautiful and lovely in his eyes than in ours; and he will be its friend because it is the only living exhibition on the earth of his amiable and glorious character. " Not for their sakes will he do this, but for his own great name’s sake." He has too many important purposes to accomplish, by their character and agency, ever to intermit either his care, or his love, or to fail in the promise, " I will make thee an eternal excellency, the joy of many generations." The thoughts which have been expressed, are all full of inducements to holy living. We know of none stronger, or more constraining. " Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. For what has his spiritual vineyard a place in this desert world; for what has he built a hedge about it, and encircled with his omnipotent protection, and nurtured it by the prayers, and tears, and blood of his Son; but to bring forth fruit? From time to time, he visits it to "see if the vine flourish and the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth." If his church would welcome the visits of his love, she should welcome these visits of inspection. Her prayer should be, " Awake, O north wind, and come thou, south; blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out! Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits!" It is not enough to be professors of the Christian faith, and maintain the forms of Christian consecration and worship; the pride and self-delusion of the human heart often assume this disguise. Outward decency may not be the " fruit of the Spirit." It is a melancholy indication when men refuse to avow relation to Christ, and are ashamed of his truth and institutions; but this avowal is not necessarily Christian, nor may its object be to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour. If we would honor Christ, we must possess his Spirit, and sympathize with him in the great objects he came into the world to accomplish. We must exemplify his Spirit in the more arduous and self-denying duties, by bearing his cross and never becoming weary in his service. We should take heed lest we dishonor him, and furnish a keen eyed and fault-finding world some plausible pretext for saying, " What do ye more than others?" O give no ground for this. Be consistent; be circumspect. Do not wound the Saviour "in the house of his friends." Do not betray the trust he has committed to you, but preserve his glory untarnished. It is a glorious trust. "Wherefore also we pray for you that our God would account you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power; that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." The thoughts which have been suggested are also full of rebuke to ungodly men. There are no indications of the Redeemer’s glory in their character. They neither acknowledge him to be their Lord and King; nor is their odious sinfulness any reflection of his unblotted purity; nor are they his witnesses in the world; nor do they live to advance the interests of his kingdom and promote his glory. It is another Master they serve; another model they imitate; another cause in behalf of which they appear as witnesses, and other interests than his which they live to promote. They bear no fruit to his praise; and but for his overruling providence, would be cumberers of his ground, and but for his forbearance and long-suffering, would be cut down. " Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud; for the Lord hath spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountain, and while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. But if ye will not hear, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride, and mine eye shall run down with tears." It is wonderful that God spares "the proud and them that do wickedly" so long. It is a perfectly proper thing that after he has waited upon them a suitable time he should cut them down. " Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire." We say frankly to all the ungodly, it must come to this unless you turn from your evil way, and live and die to him whose glory is man’s chief end and joy. The day of his scorning is not gone by; for men still hide their faces from him, and it is the day of his reproaches. Yet, with all the contumely that you are heaping upon him, his eye now beams upon you the radiance of compassion and love. Woe to the man who discourages, and exhausts, and crushes those heavenly sympathies! The day is coming when the defamed Jesus will vindicate his insulted honor; when he will avenge the wrong that has been done to him; and the man who now hates and slanders him, will find that he has not a friend in the universe, and that heaven and earth " shall clap their hands at him, and hiss him out of his place."