conformed to Christ in this respect, " reckoning himself dead unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ*." By his very calling he is " turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto Godg;" and engages to be " holy, even as God himself is holyh"
Once the believer was a " child of wrath, even as others';" and, had he died in his unconverted state, must have perished for ever. But through the blood of Jesus he is delivered from the guilt of all his sins, and obtains a title to the heavenly
inheritance Hence he is said to be " called to the
kingdom and glory of his God," and " to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ k."
Thus is the Christian's " a high," " a holy," and " a hea- venly calling."]
Such, believer, being thy vocation, thou mayest easily see what kind of a walk that is which is suited to it —
[Dost thou profess to have experienced such a call? " Walk worthy of the" profession which thou makest, the expectations thou hast formed, and the obligations which are laid upon thee.
It is not any common measure of holiness that befits a person professing such things as these. How unsuitable would it be for one who pretends to have been " born from above," to be setting his affections on any thing here below ; or for one who is " a partaker of the Divine nature," to " walk in any other way than as Christ himself walked ! "
And, seeing that you " look for a better country, that is, an heavenly," should you not aspire after it, and " press for- ward towards it, forgetting all the ground you have passed over, and mindful only of the way that lies before you ?
Should not " your conversation be in heaven," where
your treasure now is, and where you hope in a little time to be, in the immediate presence of your God?
If you have indeed been so highly distinguished, should you not " live no longer to yourselves, but altogether unto Him who died for you and rose again ?" Should any thing short of absolute perfection satisfy you? Should you not labour to "stand perfect and complete in all the will of God1?"
This then is what I would earnestly entreat you all to seek after, even to walk worthy of your high calling, or rather, " worthy of the Lord himself," who hath " called you out of darkness into his marvellous light."]
r Rom. vi. 9—11. b Acts xxvi. 18. h 1 Pet. i. 15, 16.
> Eph. ii. 2. k 1 Thess. ii. 12. and 2 Thess. ii. 13, 14.
1 Col. iv. 12.