1 Rom. vi. 4, 5.
k If the opposition between cWuiQ/jo-av ZC vSaroc and aw£ei. oi avaartHTEwc be marked, the sense of this difficult passage will be more apparent.
1 Pet. h\ 3. The time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles.
THE end of all God's dispensations towards his people is to promote their advancement in righteous- ness and true holiness. The Lord Jesus Christ him- self " was made perfect through sufferings ;" and the afflictions which his people suffer, from whatsoever quarter they arise, are intended " for their profit, to make them partakers of God's holiness." The Lord's people are " ordained to suffer," in conformity to their Divine Master: and their great concern should be, not so much to get rid of their trials, as to make a due improvement of them, by " ceasing from sin," and living more entirely to God, and for God. To this purpose the Apostle speaks in the verses before my text ; and then adds, that the time past might well suffice to have lived after the manner of the Gentile world, whose ways it became them hence- forth determinately to renounce,
From the words before us I shall take occasion to shew,
I. In what respects we also have wrought the will of the Gentiles —
The unconverted man, whether Jew or Gentile, is cast into the same mould, and, in the main, walks in the same paths. The nominal Christian also has the same views, the same desires, the same pursuits. In some external matters he may differ from the hea- then : but in the most essential parts of his conduct he accords with them. He resembles them,
1. In an utter disregard of God —
[The heathen, of course, cannot regard God, because they know him not, nor are at all acquainted with his will. The nominal Christian has in some little degree the knowledge of his will ; but he regards it no more than if he were utterly
2405.] A WORLDLY LIFE TO BE RELINQUISHED. Qio
unacquainted with it. " He professes to know God ; but in works he denies him."
On this subject let me appeal to yourselves. It is, I confess, a heavy charge, to say that you have hitherto " lived like heathens." But I would put it to your own consciences, and ask, What regard have you shewn for God 's authority ? and, What desire have you manifested to obtain his favour ? You have had in your very hands the means of knowing his will : you profess to believe that the Scriptures have been given you by him, on purpose to instruct you in the knowledge of him. Have you been thankful for this revelation of his will ? Have you studied it with care, for the express purpose of learning how you might please and serve him acceptably ? Have you turned away from every thing which his word forbids ? Have you followed after every thing which his word enjoins ? Have you embraced the whole of it as an infallible record, believing all that it reveals, and expecting with hope and fear the ac- complishment of all his promises and all his threats ? Have you, in short, " trembled at his word," as it became you to do? I must further ask, Have you humbled yourselves before him for all your past transgressions ? Have you fled for refuge to the hope set before you ? Have you washed your souls daily in the blood of the Lamb, even in that fountain which was opened for sin and for uncleanness? Have you cried mightily to God for the gift of his Holy Spirit to sanctify you, and to transform you into the Divine image ? Have you surrendered up your souls to God as living sacrifices, and accounted an entire dedication of yourselves to him your reasonable service ? If you have not done this, wherein have* you differed from the heathen ; except indeed, that you have sinned against greater light and knowledge than they, and therefore involved your- selves in deeper guilt and heavier condemnation ?]