and leave the shores of mortality. You have heard the tolling bell; the change is passed-the decree is gone forth-" He that is filthy, let him be filthy still; he that is holy, let him be holy still." And have the Scriptures taken so much pains to tell us of the inheritance of the saints in light, and made such mighty preparations that we should possess it, and you remain stupid and insensible, like those in the time of Noah, till the flood came and swallowed them up? How foolish and infatuated thus to judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life! Ask yourselves, are you ready? For you know not what day or hour the Son of Man cometh. I hope some of us are prepared for heaven; see that you are advancing; trim your lamps, quicken your pace; remember, a few more pains, afflictions, and trials, and "He that shall come will come, and will not tarry." Long for a diviner ardour; remember that absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Cherish these views, and seek for wider prospects; think less of this world, lament its losses less bitterly; "set your affections on things above, and not on things on the earth." Pray that God would direct you, and enable you to hold out to the end. O that each of us were more intent upon this preparation! He hath promised us all that a God can bestow, and all that a creature can wish. Let us forget the things that are behind, and reach to those that are before, for the prize is eternal life, a crown of glory. This was the conduct of the apostles, and are you wiser than they? They said, "Lord, to whom should we go but unto thee?" It was this that enabled them to meet death with calmness and composure, even in the most terrific forms; and it was this appeal which sustained their confidence, and animated their hopes: Lord, to whom should we go but unto thee, for thou hast the words of eternal life?" God grant that this may be the case with us all.

66

XLVI.

END OF THE UPRIGHT MAN.*

PSALM Xxxvii., 37: Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace.

[Preached at Broadmead, Bristol, February 3, 1828.]

THE prosperity and exaltation of the wicked, and the affliction and depression of the righteous, have been a mystery and stumbling-block in all ages. Hence we find the Prophet Jeremiah complaining, "He hath hedged me about; he hath made my chain heavy:" "He hath made my paths crooked:" "I was a derision to all my people, and their song all the day." And David, also, in his days, we find referring to these intricacies in the conduct of Divine Providence. The psalm from whence this text is taken

* From the notes of John Greene, Esq.

:

sets out with the expression of these feelings, and with an exhortation "Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity; for they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb." "Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed ;" and verse 10 follows, with the solemn conclusion of the matter: "For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be." The Psalmist, in the words of our text, proceeds to furnish an antidote to those feelings and wrong judg ments, in which we are apt to indulge when looking upon these mysterious dispensations, by referring to the final state and condition of the good man "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace." We find God has been pleased to put this mark and seal upon him, notwithstanding outward appearances and difficulties, to signify that such are the special objects of his care.

1st. Here are two things to be noticed: it is the perfect man and the upright that God approves.

2dly. The reason assigned for inviting our attention to these characters: "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace.'

3dly. Why we are to mark, or for what purpose, and with what views are we thus to mark and behold.

First. Perfect and upright are terms used in Scripture to denote persons of acknowledged piety. They are those who are sanctified by the Divine word, and renewed by the Divine Spirit. This, however, must be understood with some limitation; not that they attain to a sinless perfection in this life; for they are sensible of their deficiencies, and their hearts will be ready to Thus Noah is said to be a acknowledge and mourn over them.

perfect man: "For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation." The same was said with respect to Job: "Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth-a perfect and an upright man-one that feareth God and escheweth evil." And in the 119th Psalm, "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord;" which may be rendered perfect and upright. You yourselves, my brethren, have known such characters. Though in many there may appear deficiencies in their temper and conduct, in the aberrations of life, yet there must be a prevailing principle of integrity and uprightness. It is true, there are some professors who have lived the same sort of life as Ephraim, of whom it is said, in the 7th chapter of Hosea, 8th and 9th verses, "Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned; strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not." There are others that are worldly, sensual, and selfish, who give occasion to those who are without religion to stumble and blasphemé; and unless, my brethren, we make it our aim

sincerely to do the will of God and walk in his ways, the world may justly call in question the reality of our religion. The spirit of our holy religion is an active spirit, which wars against all the enemies of God, and is never satisfied till it attains the Divine image. The true subjects of it are restless and dissatisfied with themselves, until they are holy even as God is holy: "Then shall I be satisfied, when I awake in thy likeness."

Secondly. The reason assigned for inviting our attention to these characters: "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace." It will be of little consequence, however severely we may suffer through life, if we do but end well. And however prosperous we may have been, and however we may have enjoyed all the pleasures and gayeties of life, having had every appetite indulged, what will it avail us if the end be not peace? The scenes of the present life are about to close, and will vanish like thin air. The world will be converted into an element of despair to all its votaries. On the other hand, if nothing else can be affirmed but that our end is peace, it will afford a delightful satisfaction, after all the priva tions and afflictions we may have endured. It is true that many good men have been harassed with distressing temptations and fears in a dying hour; for sin and holiness, my brethren, will appear in a very different light then to what they did in the agitating scenes of life. Many allowances, however, must be made for the constitution and temperament of such persons; the disease, also, may have been such, that nothing but a supernatural power could have prevented the mind from being clouded and agitated; yet Jesus Christ has made peace the standing bequest to his Church. "My peace," He says, "I leave with you; my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you." He will give peace in affliction, preserving the subjects of it from despondency; and peace in prosperity, to keep them humble. We find, also, that in those seasons of deep suffering the graces of his people are invigorated and replenished. As eternity approaches, the Christian is brought nearer to the proper element of his existence; then it is that these graces are no longer contemplated in the abstract, but are felt; and, as heaven opens upon his view, the remembrance of the sorrows of his life will pass away, and his devout mind will be fixed in holy contemplation upon it. The soul is no longer divided between the things that are seen and those that are unseen; for the Christian is then left alone with his God and his Redeemer; he then looks on the world, not as a prospect, but in the retrospect as an interest that he has survived. The faculties of the mind are then entirely spiritual, and they come into close contact with the things of eternity; he looks not at "the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.'

Besides, the Divine Being is faithful who hath promised, and will not suffer his people "to be tempted above measure ;" and

He frequently reserves his brightest manifestations and richest cordials for this period. Nothing, at these seasons, can support. the soul but the hope of the Divine glory; and He then, in his. mercy, pours in new and Divine emanations of himself. He then especially gives the seal of his Spirit, that his servants may have such an intercourse with heaven as shall put them apart from the world, and place them in company "with the spirits of just men made perfect." They are already, in the words of infallible truth, come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels;" so that it may justly be said of persons of sincere and exalted piety and eminent consistency (and we have seen and known many such), that their end was peace. Observe, it is not said that the end is to be joy or transport, but peace; for joy is not promised to any, but that their end shall be peace. A calm sense of the Divine favour, a peace in believing, which passeth all understanding. Peace is the bread of God's children; it is the fruit of his pardoning love-the effect of justification; it is that which the Christian lives upon; it is the bread of life, and therefore God will not deny it to him in a dying hour.

Thirdly. Why we are to mark the perfect man, or for what purpose. There is no spectacle, my brethren, in the world so lovely, so illustrious, as the life and death of a saint. Jesus Christ has his Church in the world, which is composed of saints who believe in Him, and love and obey Him. His precepts they follow, because they love him. Take but this Church out of the world, and what would remain? None that love God, none that fear Him, none that have a Scriptural hope in his mercy, would be found in it. But the spiritual life of a saint must have its commencement. It is not natural to him; it is a supernatural life. "The natural man knoweth not the things of the Spirit of God, because they are spiritually discerned." This knowledge must be wrought in him by the Spirit of God. He sends his Spirit from on high to effect this great purpose, and as the gracious agent comes from heaven, so is the conversion of the sinner an object of interest to the celestial world. Hence we are informed that "there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth." And what is repentance? It is the commencement of a holy course. It is a turning-point in the grand concerns of religion, issuing in a lively faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, if it be a true and genuine repentance. Those who have experienced this Divine change are his servants, are his subjects, whom He will own and bless-to whom He will manifest himself, and bring to them the presence of his Son and the ministry of his holy angels; for he has loved them with an everlasting love, and with loving kindness will he draw them to himself. Their affections are purified by a sight of the immaculate purity and excellence of the object of their faith. There is produced in them a beauty, a sym

metry, a harmony, and consistency; and they are arrayed in the beauty of holiness, and filled with the fruits of righteousness.

Again, besides this, it is our duty to mark the perfect man, and to behold the upright, in order to establish our own minds in the conviction of the truth and the reality of the religion we profess. There are some who doubt of religion, as being a supernatural principle, and consider it as merely fanaticism or enthusiasm. The only way to convince these persons, who will not believe the Scriptures, or any other evidence, "though one rose from the dead," is to refer them to matter of fact, of plain and certain testimony-to point them to a fixed and permanent principle in the heart. It is to refer them to such as we have known and have marked-men who have found their secret devotions to be like the still waters of consolation-and who, when they have returned from these sacred exercises, have had their faces shining, like that of Moses when he had seen the face of God. We have seen them exulting in the decays of nature, saying, "O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." They have appeared like the victor who is about to be crowned with a wreath of glory. "Mark," then, "the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace." In youth, it may be, the servant of God became purified from the corruptions that are in the world through lust, and, as he advanced in life, delighted himself with the Saviour, till he became wholly adorned, elevated, and prepared for the glory that shall be revealed.

Again, this subject may be improved with a view to the imitation of the "perfect man." The disciple of Jesus Christ has passed from death unto life, and his sins are pardoned by the blood and righteousness of his Saviour. Unite yourselves, then, my brethren, to such as we have here described. "Cast in your lot among them." Haste as for your lives; now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace." Persons of this character began their course in a sense of their ruin and danger, and humbled themselves in the dust before God, and He lifted them up. They were purified and purged that they might bring forth much fruit, and their end was peace. God grant that our end may be peace!