follow after holiness, &c. vnoderately. But would they have a man running a race, run moderately ? or oue fighting with an enemy, fight moderately ? The truth is, they are contented to " have a name to live, though they be really dead ;" and would have none to exceed their measure of godliness : but, if they do not awake from their slumbers, they will find to their cost, that, to " love God with all our heart, and mind, and soul, and strength, and our neighbour as ourselves," was the standard to which we were bound to aspire ; and that to aim at any thing less, was the sure road to perdition.]
2. Ye '* few," who are despised for your singu- larity—
[We do not plead for needless singularity : but if ye can- not abstain from sin, and devote yourselves unreservedly to God without singularity, be singular. The approbation of your Judge will amply repay the obloquy cast upon you by profane scoffers, or proud pharisees, or formal hypocrites. Live for God ; and " let your light shine before men." Faint not on account of difficulties or oppositions ; but " war a good warfare," and expect in due time the spoils of victory. *' The Spirit that speaketh to the Churches," speaks these things to you : and may you hear them with an obedient ear, and be numbered at last among those, who " not only hear the sayings of their Lord, but do them also !"]
Rev. iii. 7 — 13. And to the angel of the Church in Philadel- phia, write ; These things saith he that is holy, he that is truCy he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works : behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it : for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan {which say thty are Jews, and are not, but do lie) ; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the ivord of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that divell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly : holdfast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out : and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comelh down out of heaven from my God : and I will write upon him VOL. XI. z wy