dying hour ; when, in the retrospect of your present conflicts, you will be able to say, " I have fought a good light, T have finished my course, I have kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give mez." Above all, think of the plaudit which in that day you will receive from your Lord and Saviour : " Well done, good and faithful servants ; enter ye into the joy of your Lord." It is but a little longer that you will have to fight. Soon shall you rest from all your conflicts and from all your labours, and enjoy the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.]
z 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8.
1 Tim. vi. 17 — 19. Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy ; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate ; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
TO inculcate duties, is no less the office of a pious minister, than to establish principles : nor should he shew less zeal in the one than in the other. Our Lord commanded his Apostles to enforce the obser- vance of what men ought to do, as well as the recep- tion of what they ought to believe* : and St. Paul, whose zeal was so conspicuous in establishing the doctrines of the Gospel, evinces in every epistle not a whit less zeal to bring men under the influence of its precepts. He even descends to particularize all the duties pertaining to the different relations of life, as of husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants, rulers and subjects ; and he solemnly enjoined Timothy and Titus to do the same in their respective ministrations. Nay more, he "charged them" to speak on these subjects with all authority b; and to press them on the attention of every distinct class of hearers, so that each might
» Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. b ver. 13, 14.