k ver. 2, 3. ' Acts viii. 22. m ver. 22. n Mark x. 22.
625.J the christian's experience and hopes. 11
as naked out of the world as we came into it." But, if we possess spiritual riches, we shall carry them with us into the eternal world, and have our weight of glory proportioned to them. The operation of these upon our souls needs not to be feared : they bring no snare with them ; or, if they be accom- panied with a temptation to pride, they will lead us to Him, who will assuredly supply an antidote, to screen us from its injurious effects0. If we are " rich towards God," we are truly rich ; yea, though we possess nothing in the world be- sides, we may exult, as " having nothing, and yet possessing all things1*."]
0 2 Cor. xii. 7—9. p 2 Cor. vi. 10.
Ps. lxxiii. 23, 24. / am continually with thee: Thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
THERE are in the Holy Scriptures many expres- sions which are difficult to be reconciled with each other. For instance, the Psalmist, in the very words before my text, says, " So foolish was I and ignorant, I was as a beast before thee." Yet behold, in the text itself, he speaks as one enjoying the sublimest communion with his God, and possessing a most con- fident expectation of his favour. Now, how is this to be explained ? The fact is, that he had been sorely tempted to envy the ungodly world, when he saw how prosperous they were, in comparison of many of God's most faithful servants. But when he reflected on "the end" that awaited them, he con- demned his former thoughts, as betraying rather the ignorance of a beast than the judgment of a real saint : and then he congratulated himself as elevated far above the most prosperous of ungodly men, in that, whatever he might want in this world, he pos- sessed God himself for his friend, his counsellor, his everlasting portion.
I shall take occasion from these words to consider the saint in,
I. His present experience —