Now, who is wise, but he who labours to secure that salva- tion? or who is a fool, but he who neglects it? Suppose that means of escape from a sinking vessel, or a house in flames, were oft'ered to one in danger of instantaneous destruction ; would any person in the universe hesitate to assign the proper and distinctive epithets to him who availed himself of them, and to liim who disregarded them? Yet woiUd their conduct but very faintly shadow forth that which is exhibited under the Gospel dispensation ; and the terms used to designate that conduct would very faintly describe its appropriate character. Let the two characters, then, be properly distinguished. Where is the man who, with all humility of mind and entire devotion
of soul, seeks an interest in the Saviour? • Him we may
safely designate as " wise." Where, on the other hand, is the
man who neglects the Saviour ? Whatever excuses he
may allege in vindication of his conduct, we need not hesitate to assign to him the humiliating appellation of a " fool."]
2. Declare their proper award —
[" The wise" shall even here " inherit glory." Every one, whatever his own practice may be, has within his own bosom a witness in favour of those who are religious, provided their conduct be uniform and consistent. In outward profession, I grant, the world may brand religion with the name of folly : but their consciences in secret give a very different testimony : nor is there any man, however i;ngodly, so wicked, but that he reverences in his heart a pious character, and wishes, if it were possible, to be found in his place at the day of judgment. Herod, in the midst of all his impiety, " feared John, because he knew him to be a just and holy man." And so it is with the ungodly world ; they venerate the very man whom for his piety they hate and persecute. On the other hand, vain and thoughtless as are the world at large, and interested in upholding each other in their various pursuits, there is not one among them, who, in his moments of reflection, does not see the emptiness and vanity of worldly things^, and who would not regard it as an incon- sistency in a religious character, if he should betray an eagerness in the prosecution of them. The truth of these observations will be manifest beyond either contradiction or doubt, if only we bear in mind the conduct of the Scribes and Pharisees of old, who, whilst persecuting our blessed Lord even unto death, " built the tombs of the prophets, and garnished the sepulchres of the righteous," whom their forefathers had put to death ^. Precisely thus we also at this time honour the memory of the Apostles, and of our own reformers too, (for who does not honour the names of Cranmer, and Latimer, a\id Ridley ?) whilst we hate, revile, and persecute the living saints, who walk
b Matt, xxiii. 29—31.