66 cend nearer and nearer to God and heaven. In all they do, they aim to lay up for themselves treasure in heaven; they make their conduct at once the preparation for, and the matter of, their future reward. Eternity is the soil of the Spirit, in which they sow. If their conduct is such as they believe to be consistent with the reward of Christ and heaven, then, whatever others may judge, this is enough for them; thus they lay up for themselves a good foundation, that they may lay hold on eternal life;" thus they "press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," if, "by any means, they may attain the rusurrection" to a glorious immortality! And, like the apostle, they desire to combine a holy retrospect with the happy prospect; "I have fought the good fight; there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." Nor is this hope of an unworthy or mercenary nature, in having such a respect unto the reward. We are so constituted that hope we must have, as the spring of action, hope of good and fear of evil; none can lift up himself above such a motive. And what a dignified and elevated hope is this of heaven! the hope of a state where no sin, no curse exists; where we recover the image, and behold the glory, of God, and forever enjoy the presence of the Best of beings! "Every one that hath this hope will purify himself as He is pure," and make it his great aim in life to become "meet for the inheritance of the saints in light." (2.) With action we must connect meditation on the heavenly world: we must hold communion with it, study the nature of its felicity as painted in the word of God; and, in this view, we may derive much light and aid from that which is in other respects the darkest portion of that word, the visions of John, in which we meet with bright vistas into the state of glory. If our thoughts are often making excursions into the unseen world, if we dwell in the suburbs of eternity, if we thus, without hyperbole, have "our conversation in heaven," we shall grow in grace and ripen for glory. To such as thus wait for Him, God gives realizing foretastes of heaven, like the grapes of Eschol in the midst of their pilgrimage through the wilderness; He consigns and seals them for eternal glory! By way of a brief improvement, let me remind you, my brethren, that, if we would have an entrance into heaven, our conversation must be there. We may not make our belly our god, nor our shame our glory, and yet we may be destitute of the Christian character, and "mind earthly things." If you are living for this world, you are not for heaven you are yielding eternity for trifles, like the young man who, for the sake of his possessions, turned his back on all the glories of the gospel! Not that the want of worldly things is any exemption from such a character. It matters not what we are in circumstances, but where we lay our treasure, what we aim at. Ask yourself often at the close of a day," Have I this day had my conversation in heaven? have I lived for eternity and God? I am not my own, I am his; I am bought with the blood of Christ, and not my own!" So will you spend every day for heaven; so, when your end comes, you will be calm and prepared for it. Oh, what an inheritance have they who wait for Christ! heaven is theirs, God is theirs, height and depth, life and death, all things are theirs! Let us, my brethren, be of this number: to us let it be Christ to live, and then to die will be our unspeakable gain! XXIX. GOSPEL CONDUCT.* PHILIPPIANS, i., 27: Only let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ. [Preached at Broadmead, Bristol, September 11th, 1828.] THE members of the Church at Philippi enjoyed the apostle's esteem and friendship in a very eminent degree. He loved them for their moral excellences. On account of their ardent piety, they attained to a high rank among the Christians of those times. Yet he addresses to them the word of exhortation, and affectionately urges them to strive after higher attainments, and to make greater advances in the divine life. As they had manifested their regard for him by assisting liberally to provide for his wants, he might justly love them in return. But the character of the apostle forbids the supposition that this was the only motive. We have more reason to suppose that his regard for them was founded in their exemplary piety, devoted attachment to the Saviour's cause, and their consistent walk and conversation. I. There is a certain description of conduct worthy a profession of the gospel, and which all Christians ought to maintain. We invariably find principle and conduct closely connected; a real Christian will, therefore, maintain a course of conduct which accords with the Divine principles of the Christian religion. There is throughout the gospel a practical tendency which leads its adherents to live in a manner worthy of it. This conduct includes several leading things, some of which we will particularize. 1. The gospel unfolds the perfections of a glorious Being, and exhibits a pattern in the person of Jesus Christ. A conversation worthy the gospel will therefore be distinguished for purity. Not such purity as was inculcated by the philosophers who lived in the earlier ages of the Christian era; then whole cities were given up to lust and idolatry, and obscene vices formed an element of their religion. Christians openly condemned these practices in private life they abhorred them. And could the secret workings of their inmost souls have been disclosed, it would have been seen that they maintained a continued struggle with the corruptions of the flesh. * Partly as reported in the Evangelist, and partly from the notes of John Greene, Esq. This purity in action, speech, and thought, is so becoming a professor of the Christian religion, that the most casual observer perceives it. It is better, therefore, not to name Jesus Christ, than to profess to love Him, and to disgrace that profession by not maintaining this purity. 2. Integrity, faithfulness, and punctuality in all our engagements are important elements of this conduct. Christians are supposed by their profession to be free from the love of the world as a ruling principle. But why? Because they are seeking a better country. Hence many motives to the indulgence of dishonest practices are powerless in their case. The God whom they revere, and love, and worship, is a faithful God. Dishonesty as a means of unlawful gain is contrary to these principles. Christians who maintain a conversation becoming the gospel have no temptations to injustice, for they have this world as though "they possessed it not." The word of a sincere Christian is to him as solemn as his oath, and as sacred as his bond. The men of the world attach a high value to these virtues. The gospel enjoins them, and tends to promote their growth. Hence they form very essential parts of a consistent profession of religion. 3. A spirit of benevolence is another important part of this deportment. The gospel is a perfect system of benevolence. God is love, and when his word takes effectual hold of the heart, it invariably expands every affection, and directs them to proper objects. A Christian imbibes the Spirit of God. His soul is warmed by its influence, and every motion and faculty is sustained by its Divine energy. He becomes like his heavenly Father. It is as natural for a Christian to do good, as it is for the sun to send forth heat and light. Hence malice and guile are extinguished in the Christian's bosom. Ambition and inordinate self-love, which harden the heart, have no abiding within him. 4. Continued zeal for God's glory is another element of this deportment. The glory of God consists in the display of his perfections in giving a practical manifestation of the principles of that revelation which makes them known to us. And closely connected with this object is the promotion of the welfare of mankind in general. The Christian is, therefore, a steady adherent to the Saviour's cause. He is zealous and devout in an attendance on Divine worship-he is active in supporting those institutions which tend to diffuse throughout the world the knowledge of the Saviour's name. Having thus adverted to the chief elements of the conversation recommended in the text, we proceed to notice, II. The reasons in which it is founded. 1. Such conduct is calculated to please God. Are the subjects of an earthly monarch anxious to please their sovereign? How much more shall the Christian be anxious to please God, who is the King of kings, and Lord of lords? Are children desirous of pleasing their earthly parents? Much more shall the Christian strive to do the will of his Father who is in heaven. Just as an evil life is a stench in his nostrils, so a virtuous and consistent life is like a sweet-smelling savour, both fragrant and pleasant. 2. It tends to promote the grand end of our conversion. The apostle states that the Christian is not his own, and he is exhorted on that ground to glorify God with his body and spirit, which are his. To glorify God is, therefore, the end of conversion. Consistent conduct tends to silence the mockery of foolish men. It shows the power of their principles, and proves the reality of their attachment to them. Their own souls are not only benefited, but there is a visible harmony between profession and conduct. The recollection of a consistent life will cheer them in the hour of distress, and support them in the article of death. And do not the ungodly wish for this tranquillity in sorrow and death? Do they not desire the fortitude and heroism which a good man displays in these trying and eventful circumstances? When they are smitten by Providence, do they not send for him, that the darkness which surrounds them may be cheered by the holy radiance of his religion? What an homage to pietywhat a proof of the value of the gospel, and of a conversation worthy its profession! What a stimulus to cultivate a holy life! “Let your light so shine before men that they, seeing your good works, may glorify • your Father which is in heaven." Religion makes men better husbands, better fathers, better children, better servants, better neighbours. None but those who are blind to all causes of moral gcod can deny that the religion of the gospel cometh from the Father of lights. It may be farther stated in proof of what has been advanced, that inconsistent conduct on the part of professors of religion is one of the causes most prolífic of infidelity in the world. Let this consideration put Christians on their guard, and awaken them to a just sense of the importance of the duty here enjoined. 3. It will afford great satisfaction to the Church. The Church is never so happy and prosperous as when its members are walking in the truth. Those who wish to make any return for what they owe to Christ-who wish to cheer the heart of their pastor-who wish to contribute to the peace of Zion, will obey the precept. It will diffuse a spirit of harmony and love, and excite the zeal, and stir up the gra ces of those with whom we are united in Christian fellowship. This precept was with regard to the final salvation of the Christian converts; it depended upon their "continuance" in these commands. They were to be diligent, to be found of him in peace; to do which, they were to continue faithful unto death. Too many Christians are apt to look back upon their conversion as a ground of comfort; but the Scriptures give us no promises but what are connected with perseverance to death. If, after having begun in the Spirit, ye end in death-if you conform to the spirit of the world, you know nothing of the spirit of Christianity; you have the name without the spirit; ye are weighed in the balances, and found wanting. It is by consistency only we can allure others to the profession and dignity of the Christian character; for it rests upon this, "that others, seeing your good works, may glorify your heavenly Father." These principles, my brethren, followed out, will carry us to great heights and degrees in Chris tian virtue; we shall not ask how little of it we may have, but does such a spirit, and such a course of conduct, most become the gospel of Christ? With these maxims in our mouths and in our hearts, we shall be aiming to have as much of it as we can, and be continually dissatisfied with ourselves if we are not copying some new lineaments of the features of Jesus Christ. This, the apostle says, would be a source of unspeakable satisfaction to Him. Their union with each other, and their steadfast adherence to the cause of Christ, was one part of this exemplary course. He exhorted them to be nothing terrified by their adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition. Having Jesus Christ with the Father as an advocate, what was there to terrify them? They knew He was at the head of all principalities and powers. That Christian, my brethren, who views Jesus Christ as the Lord of men, of angels, and of glory, how firm and undaunted may he look around him, and consider kings and princes but as common dust; for they must submit themselves to his authority, or perish! This resolute adherence to Christ firmly showed that they had an invisible protector; that those potsherds of the earth must be destroyed: "Wo to him who striveth with his Maker!" This was an evident token of perdition to their enemies, but of salvation to themselves. It was a foretaste of their future inheritance; for unto you (the apostle says) it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but to suffer for his sake. Instead of their repining at the cross of Christ, they were to consider it a privilege which God had put on them-it was a gift on behalf of Christ; they rejoiced that they were thought worthy to suffer for Him. Why this unutterable kind of sentiment and feeling, my brethren? Because they believed the friendship of Jesus Christ, and they knew that He had solemnly declared, "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven." They knew that, though all the faithful followers of Jesus Christ would be crowned, yet a brighter crown was reserved for them; they knew that they should reign with Him with peculiar honour and glory. They considered the sufferings of the Church on earth as an earnest of their elevation in heaven; that the degree in which they sunk in one, was to be their exaltation in the other. Can we have this spirit if we do not deny the world? or, if we do not suffer for his sake, how can we be companions of them that suffered? On the whole, my brethren: Oh, the great importance of having these views in life, and these hopes in death, which the apostle sets before us! As we must all die, and God has laid no other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ, let us often ask ourselves whether the end of our life is to glorify God, and whether we have any well-founded hope, if we were now to die, we should be with the Lord. The inquiry is all-important, "Is your conversation such as becometh the gospel of Christ ?" |