Let me then especially urge upon you this important duty. Live not at a distance from God : rest not in a formal acknow- ledgment of him : but endeavour to " walk worthy of him unto all pleasing :" get back, as far as possible, to the state of man in Paradise ; and labour to walk as on the very borders of the eternal world. My beloved brethren, " let your con- versation be thus in heaven e :" and let all the faith which you exercise, and every prayer that you utter, be, as it were, a breeze to fill your sails, and bear you forward to your desired haven ; that " so you may never fall, but have an abundant entrance ministered unto you into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ f."]
" Look also for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" —
[However close your walk with God may be, you must not on that account lean in the least degree to your own righteousness, but must rely entirely on the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, and expect " eternal life solely as the gift of God for Christ's sakeg." And for this you must be waiting, looking, longing, in a state of constant preparation, and of eager expectation. The very perfection of the Christian state on earth is this, to be " looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of GodV Of many in the Corinthian Church the Apostle says, " they came behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ1." Do ye then aspire after the same blessed attainment. " Let your loins be girt, and your lamps trimmed, and yourselves as those who wait for the coming of the heavenly Bridegroom ;" that, when he shall come, you may " enter in with him to the marriage feast." Whilst you are in such a frame as this, all earthly things will lose their influence ; and all attempts, whether of men or devils, to retard your progress be in vain. From my inmost soul therefore I would offer in behalf of you the prayer which St. Paul offered for the Thessalonian Church, the prayer which so remarkably coincides with that of St. Jade in my text, " The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and a patient waiting for ChristV]
Application —
[Settle it in your minds that this is true religion
This is the state in which it is both your duty and your privi- lege to live and so living you are sure of mercy, and
cannot fail of attaining that eternal life which the Lord Jesus Christ has purchased for you ]
e Phil. iii. 20. t 2 Pet. i. 10, 11. « Rom. vi. 23.
h 2 Pet. iii. 12. ' 1 Cor. i. 8. k 2 Thcss. iii. 5.