cometh in the morning." If we stedfastly believe His word and trust to His gracious promises, we may be assured, that all these our comparatively light afflictions are working out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. For thus it is written, "He causeth all things to work together for good to those that love Him and are called according to His purpose." Lastly, the fear of death is very frequently a source of unspeakable dismay and dejection to the souls of the Lord's people. It made the good king Hezekiah weep like a child, and caused the Psalmist to exclaim, that "the terrors of death had fallen upon him, and that a horrible dread had overwhelmed him." But in this, as in every other instance, it is our glorious privilege, my Christian Brethren, "Though sorrowful, to be always rejoicing." Yea, by faith we are enabled to triumph even over the king of terrors himself, and to say with the Apostle, "O death, where is thy sting, O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." He hath brought life and immortality to light "by His glorious Gospel." He hath burst the bars of the grave, and "through death overcome him that hath the power of death, that is the devil." Wherefore, my Beloved Brethren, whensoever we feel our souls dismayed and cast down with fears respecting our dissolution, let us imitate David's example, by calling to remembrance all the Lord's mercies and deliverances manifested towards us in times past, and say with him, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." Thus, my Christian Brethren, we see in what respects we may truly say that "God in Christ is the health of our countenance, and our God." As for ourselves, indeed, we have "no health in us, the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint;" but Jesus is the Heavenly Physician who has provided a balm for all the wounds of our hearts, and a medicine for all the diseases of our souls; "This is the rest, and this is the refreshing wherewith He causeth the weary to refresh themselves;" and to this rest He invites every weary and heavy laden soul to come. Therefore, whatever may have been the cause which has disturbed our souls from this blessed rest, we should take courage and say, "Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt mercifully with thee." "Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance and my God." Now to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, &c. THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF CHRIST BEING PRECIOUS TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN HIM. 1 PETER II. 7. Unto you therefore which believe He is precious. THERE is no mistake more general, and at the same time more dangerous in its tendency, than the supposition, that all who have been baptized into the Christian Religion, and who attend upon the forms and ordinances of Christian worship, are therefore believers in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For exclusive of the absurdity of imagining that a few words repeated over us in our infancy, or a few prayers occasionally offered up with our lips in the Name of the Son of God, are sufficient to entitle us to participate in all the glorious blessings and privileges which the New Testament holds out to those who believe it; there are, moreover, certain tests or marks repeatedly set forth, both by our Lord Himself and his Apostles, by which we are directed to prove and "examine ourselves,” whether our professed faith in Him be of the right sort or not. For if those tests or marks be not found in us, it follows, either that faith in the Saviour has changed its nature, and does not now operate in the same manner that it did in the early ages of Christianity, or else that we do not heartily believe in Him. For example, St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Galatians, 5th chapter, describes faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as "working by love." "In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love." Thereby signifying, that all who truly believe in Him as their Saviour, do also sincerely love Him as such. It follows, therefore, my Brethren, that if our professed faith in Him does not "work by love," it certainly is not of the same nature with that which the Apostle was describing. And yet he declares, in another place, that there is but "one Lord, one faith, one baptism," &c. Again, the words of St. Peter, in our text, furnish us with another decisive criterion of true faith in the Son of God-"Unto you therefore which believe He is precious." The word "precious" is one of the most significant expressions that could possibly have been employed to describe the inestimable value which sincere faith causes us to set upon the Saviour. And the inference that we necessarily draw from these words is, "If the Lord Jesus Christ be not precious to me"-If I do not see an excellency in Him infinitely superior to all earthly objects—If I do not set a value upon Him inexpressibly higher than that which I set upon any other person or thing, my faith in Him is not sincere I cannot, in this case, be a believer in the Son of God, because, " To those who believe in Him he is precious.", Now these words suggest to us, my Beloved Brethren, to consider, in the first place, the reasons why the blessed Jesus is thus, as the Apostle asserts, "precious" to all who believe in Him. And secondly, the manner in which this preciousness of the Saviour" manifests itself in the hearts and lives of those who experience it. May His own Spirit of Truth be graciously pleased to direct and sanctify our meditations, so as to render Him indeed precious to all our souls! First, I say, we are led to consider the reasons why the Lord Jesus Christ is "precious" unto all who believe in Him. And this we shall find He is, for three reasons; first, on account of what He has done for them; secondly, on account of what He is doing for them; and thirdly, on account of what He will do for them. › The Lord Jesus Christ, I say, is precious to be |