the light which we enjoy •■. The prophets themselves did not understand their own prophecies, as we do^. Not even John the Baptist, who pointed out Jesus as " the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world," had such just conceptions of him as we have : in this respect " even the least believer that is to be found in all the kingdom of God, is greater than he." All, not excepting even the Apostles themselves, till the day of Pentecost, had a veil upon their hearts, so that they could not behold the glory of God in the face of their Divine Master : " but we, with open and unveiled face, behold, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, and are changed by it into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord''."]
In the view of these glorious advantages, I would yet further draw your attention to them in a way,
1. Of solemn inquiry —
[ What report does God, and ivhat report does conscience, give respecting us ? Are we walking in the footsteps of the saints of old, even of those saints, who " by faith obtained a good report?" We are not to imagine that, whilst faith wrought so powerfully in them, it will have no visible influence on us. Be assured, that its operation is the same in all ages. Let me then ask. What effects it has wrought in you ? Take the examples of Noah, of Abraham, and of Moses, as set forth in the preceding part of the chapter, and see what resemblance
you bear to them How inferior to them are we in our
practice, notwithstanding the superiority of our advantages !
Have we not reason to blush and be ashamed at a
review of our past lives, and at our misimprovement of the advantages which we enjoy ? • — • ]
2. Of affectionate admonition —
\_If ever you would " he made perfect," you must both live by faith, and " die in the faith." To be '* walking by sight, when you should walk by faith only," will surely bring you to a far different end from that which you desire and exj^ect. Oh ! " listen not to flesh and blood ;" but obey unfeignedly, and without reserve, the commandments of your God. Set before you the invisible God, who marks all your ways, and tries your very reins and heart. Set before you also the invisible realities of the eternal world, the glories of heaven and the miseries of hell ; and consider which of them is the portion prepared for you. What a lamentable thing will it
f 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10. 1 John ii. 8. g 1 Pet. i. 12.
'' 2 Cor. iii. 18. VOL- XIX. G G