2. To follow the footsteps of the saints of old — [There are those who have gone before us, whose ways
were not folly, though they might be esteemed foolish by those who were themselves blinded by Satan. " Abraham went out from his kindred and his country, not knowing whither he went':" Moses refused all the wealth and honour that Egypt jcould afford, that he might participate in the lot of God's per- secuted
s? John ii. 15, 10. " John xvii. 14, \6.
•'' Gal. vi, 14. ' Heb. xi. 8.
secuted and despised people^: many saints ''took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance*^:" Matthew left his lucrative em- ployment to follow Christ ' : Paul suffered the loss of all things for Christ™ ; and after having engaged in the Christian course, attended to nothing but his progress in it, straining every nerve to win and secure the prize". All of these would be thought by the world to carry religion to a very culpable excess : but they acted with consummate wisdom, each in the part he took : they all " chose the good part, which could not be taken away from them." Let any one who reflects on the present state of these eminent saints, say, whether " their way was folly ? " If it was not ; if, on the contrary, it accorded with the dictates of true wisdom ; then let all not only " approve their say'nigs," but imitate their doings also, and " be followers of them, as they ■were of Christ."]
Advice,
1. Guard against the influence of bad example —
[There is nothing urged with greater confidence to deter young persons from a religious course, or to draw them back again to the world, than example. They are told from time to time what such and such persons do ; and can this be wrong ? But whoever they are who are proposed to us for examples, we have only one question to ask ; Did they regulate their conduct according to the revealed will of God ? and was it the one labour of their lives to walk as Christ walked? If this was not the case, it signifies not who they were, or what they did : " their way was their folly ;" and instead of taking them as examples to follow, we should rather regard them as monuments to warn us against impending ruin. If the number and respectability of the per- sons be urged, let us remember, that to "walk according to the course of this world, is to walk according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the chil- dren of disobedience." " Christ died to deliver us from this present evil world :" we must therefore leave the broad road that leadeth to destruction, and walk in " the narrow way that leadeth unto life." True it is, that " if we do well unto ourselves (in advancing our own temporal interests), men will speak good of us°:" but it is of little consequence what men speak or think: nothing will be of any lasting benefit to us, but the approbation of our God''.]
2. Cleave to Him who alone is able to redeem oUr souls —
[If man cannot redeem his brother from temporal death,
much J ib. ver. 24 — 20. " Heb. x. 34. ' Matt. ix. 9.
" Phil. ill. 8. " ib. ver. 13, 14.
"ver. 18. P 1 Cor. iv. 3,4.