have need of it, as long as they should continue in the body.
In this apostolic injunction we see,
I. What state of mind befits the Christian —
The '* confidence" here spoken of is a holy bold- ness in confessing Christ —
[This is essential to the Christian character. Not even faith itself will avail for our salvation, where this is wanting : " With the heart, man believeth unto righteousness ; but, with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation \" " If we are ashamed of Christ, and deny him, he will be ashamed of us, and deny us^"
This holy fortitude we should maintain, under all circum- stances. Never, for a moment, should we " cast it away." If trials increase, we need it the more : if they abate, or even cease, we still need this divine quality ; because we know not how soon it may be called for, or to what an extent it may be required.]
And it will bring its own reward along with it —
[It will keep us from all that disquietude and distraction which the menaces of the world might occasion in an unstable mind. It will induce a consistency of conduct, under all cir- cumstances ; and will bring into the soul, stability and peace. It will be to him who exercises it an unquestionable evidence of his own sincerity; and will doubtless be honoured with peculiar manifestations of the Divine favour. If more than ordinary supports are called for by reason of the augmented troubles that assault us, they shall be vouchsafed to us ; even as they were to the Hebrew Youths in the furnace, when the Son of God himself condescended visibly to appear in their behalf]
To every Christian is this requisite, because of,
II. The occasion he will have for it —
Different as may be the path of different persons in some respects, in their great outline they are all the same. In their progress, all these different steps may be clearly and distinctly seen :
1. Duty— [Every Christian " does the will of God." To believe in Christ, to receive every thing from Christ in the exercise of faith and prayer, and to give himself up to God without
a Rom. X. 10. b Matt. x. 32, 33.