with specifying two, which will, to a certain degree, give an insight into all :
1. It renders us indifferent to all the concerns of time and sense —
[Whilst we are in the body we cannot be absolutely in- different to earthly things ; but comparatively we may. The unbeliever has respect to nothing else : he sees nothing, knows nothing, cares for nothing, but what is visible and temporal. He is " of the flesh," and " savours only the things of the flesh." His hopes, his fears, his joys, his sorrows, are alto- gether carnal. So it once was with the believer : but it is now so no longer. By faith he now views other things, which fully occupy his mind, and engage all the powers of his soul. Earthly vanities once appeared as grand and glorious as the starry heavens. But they are fled from his sight : they are all eclipsed by the splendour of the Sun of Righteousness which has arisen upon his soul. There indeed they are ; and were the light of God's truth withdrawn from his soul, they would again resume a measure of their former importance. But they are now reduced to insignificance : and the things which " once appeared glorious in his eyes, have now^ no glory by reason ol the glory that excelleth." Ignorant persons are ready to impute the believer's withdrawment from the world to super- stition, to moroseness, to pride, to enthusiasm, to gloom and melancholy. But he renounces the world as an empty vanity, and an ensnaring " lie," that deceives all who follow it, and ruins all who trust in it. Once " a deceived heart had turned him aside, so that he could not deliver his soul, or say, Is there not a lie in my right hand ?" but now he knows, that what he formerly grasped, was a mere shadow ; and that tliere is nothing substantial but what is apprehended by faith. Hence " What was once gain to him, is now accounted loss ; yea all things are now but as dung, that he may win Christ, and be found in him." Such are now his views of the cross of Christ, and of the glory that shall be revealed, that " the world is crucified to him, and he is crucified unto the world ^"]
2. It strengthens us both for action and for suffer- ing in the service of our God —
[Before that faith has brought a man to a view of the things which are invisible and eternal, he has no zeal for God, no fortitude to suffer shame for the sake of Christ. But when once the realities of the eternal world are open to his view ; when once heaven with all its glory, and hell with all its terrors, are apprehended by him ; who shall stop him ? who shall
a Gal. vi, 14.