devoted to God : and let us contrast our state with that of one who has never done any thing but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath, or one, who, though on the whole, pious, has filled his dying pillow with thorns by his remissness ; and surely we shall want no other motive to fight a good fight, and war a good warfare.]
2. The consequences of it in the world to come —
[There can be no doubt but that the greater our labour here, the richer will be our reward hereafter : and " one star will differ widely from another star in glory." It is true, the most eminent saint might well be satisfied, and magnify the Divine goodness, if he be admitted to the lowest place in God's kingdom : but if our capacity for happiness will be enlarged by all that we do for God, and every man will be filled according to his capacity, should we not be encouraged to exert our- selves? Should we not " forget what is behind, and reach forward unto that which is before ?" Should we be contented to suffer loss in heaven, merely because we do not lose heaven altogether'^? " Let us look to ourselves then, that we lose not the things that we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward ''."]
<: 1 Cor. iii. 15, <^ 2 John, ver. 8.
Heb. vi. 17, 18. God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, con- firmed it by an oath : that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, loho have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.
THE multiplying of oaths is a dreadful snare to the consciences of men ; and a light method of ad- ministering and of taking them is amongst the most heinous of our national sins. But they run to a con- trary extreme who affirm all oaths to be sinful : on many occasions they were prescribed to the Jews by God himself: the most eminent saints also, under the Christian dispensation, as well as under that of the Jews, have, on many occasions, appealed in the most solemn manner unto God. In the passage before us