" Mai. i. 8.
Maker ?" Besides, suppose man to prevail to the extent of his wishes ; what can he do ? He can only reach the body : the sold he- cannot touch. " Fear not man therefore, who can only kill the body, and after that hath no more that he can do ; but fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell: yea, I say unto you, Fear him." And, as God has promised that " our strength shall be proportioned to our day " of trial, let us rest on his word, and hold in utter contempt all the menaces of our most potent enemies f.]
3. We should so realize eternity as to rise superior to all the concerns of time and sense —
[In the view of eternity, all that relates to time vanishes, as the twinkling star before the mid-day sun. If we could sup- pose a man caught up, like the Apostle Paul, to the third heavens, and then sent down again to abide a few more years upon earth, what would be his estimate of those things which so occupy and enslave our carnal minds ? The baubles of children would not be more contemptible in his eyes than the glittering pageantry of courts : and, though the sufferings which are sometimes inflicted on the saints are heavy, they would be reckoned by him as " not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall ere long be revealed in us." But it is not needful that we be transported to heaven to this end : we have the whole set before us in the oracles of God : and, if we believe those oracles, we may be as fully convinced of the comparative insignificance of earthly things, as if we saw the crown of glory with our bodily eyes, or already tasted of the heavenly bliss. Let lis then seek that " faith, which is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen." Then shall we, like those of old, " take joyfully the spoiling of our goods, knowing that we have in heaven a better and an enduring substance ;" and, with Moses, shall " esteem even the reproach of Christ as greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt."]
f See Isai. xxxvii. 22.