against the inroads of temptation to sin; and the experience of the happiness of true religion deprives of their alluring and captivating influence the joys of the world, the pleasures of time and sense. There is an incessant warfare. The armour must never be put off, but the good fight of faith maintained till the end.* Still following out the same general principle of the necessity of consistency, he adds in verse thirteenth, “Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envy." "Honestly" means not merely with integrity, but honourably -in the practice of all that is correct, and dignified, and becoming. Their conduct was to be such as could “ come to the light," such as neither sought nor required to court the darkness of concealment.-"Not in rioting and drunkenness”—not in the scenes of Bacchanalian revelry, common at the orgies of the god of wine,—nor in any of the more private excesses of intemperance:-"not in chambering and wantonness;" in any of those impure and obscene rites that were practised in the service and worship of the Paphian goddess, nor in the indulgence, in any form, of lascivious and unchaste desires:-"not in strife and envying," the natural attendants and consequences of drunkenness and revellings and the jealousies of passion, and in themselves, on whatever occasions indulged, incompatible with the true Christian character-contrary to the influence of the Gospel of peace, and to the example of the Lord Jesus. Verse 14. "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." "For the flesh;" for the corrupt desires of fallen nature— the evil propensities of the old man, they were to "make no provision," a phrase in which "more is meant than meets the ear." It means, not merely that we are not actually, directly, positively to provide for their gratification—that were little-but that, as they are ever rising with their demands for indulgence, and seeking the ascendency over * Comp. Eph. vi. 10—18. Η ευσχημόνως. better principles, they must be opposed and suppressed,their motions watched with all vigilance; their assaults on the spiritual principles of our souls resisted with all the energy of uncompromising resolution, and with all the earnestness of prayer for the "strength of the grace that is in Christ Jesus." We must not tamper with them. We must not listen to their insinuations. We must give no quarter to those lusts that "war against the soul." By every act of persuasion they will seek an opening by which to force their way into the citadel of our hearts. But they must not be admitted-not one of them; for if one makes good its entrance, a host may follow: if one gets a little wilful indulgence, there will be no end to its solicitations. "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." In opposition to all provision for the flesh, stands the comprehensive precept "PUT YE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST." There is great fulness of meaning in this expression. It occurs repeatedly in Paul's writings. It comprehends every thing excellent-every grace, every virtue. They had already "put on Christ."* The exhortation, therefore, implies a progressive increase in the holy influence of his doctrine apparent in them as the avowed professors of it; a growing likeness to him in all the divine beauties of his character; the bearing and exhibition of his image-the image of purity and peace. To "put on Christ" is, under the influence of the same Spirit, to be distinguished by the same devotion to God and benevolence to men which in His character appeared in all their sinless perfection,-the same submission and the same unreserved obedience to the divine will, the same meekness and lowliness united with the same lofty and unswerving resolution in all that is good; the same unbending integrity and truth; the same self-denial; the same zeal for the glory of God; the same condescension; the same self-sacrificing love; the same sympathizing tenderness; in a word, all the lovely graces which His character exempli Gal. iii. 27. fied, which His word inculcates, and which it is the work of His Spirit to produce.-How glorious, how beautiful the garb, when Christ is thus put on; when believers appear in the robe of righteousness and the garment of salvation! How glorious a Church-a collective body of those who have thus put on Christ! O let it be our desire, that the world around us may see more and more in us of this lovely resemblance to Him who is "fairer than the children of men!" How glorious will the Church be at last, when every one of its members shall have fully put on Christ-shall be perfectly "like him, seeing him as he is;" when He shall "present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;" when, in consequence of every one of His redeemed people bearing His perfect likeness, He shall be "glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe!" Let all who name the name of Christ be impressed with the vanity of professing to be His while they appear, in regard to character, in the garb of this world! Let them remember, that there is no such thing as "putting on" Christ's justifying righteousness, without being at the same time invested with personal conformity to Him! that there is no obtaining an interest in Him as a justifying Saviour, without being at the same time transformed into His image. And Olet careless sinners remember, that now it is high time for them to awake out of sleep. Instead of their salvation, their destruction is "nearer." How different your prospect from that of the believer in Christ! Death, not life,-perdition, not deliverance, is before you. Believers are accustomed to sing of their salvation, with the transport of humble joy "On all the wings of time it flies, Must we sing the same of your perdition? Ah! that is no subject for song. It is with a heavy heart that we see each 66 66 moment passing over you laden with a curse; each day declining, and each year revolving and bearing you on to eternity, and that eternity unprovided for!—the summer again past, the winter again ended, and you not saved!—your day far spent, your night at hand; and what a night! a night that shall never know a returning dawn, -the night of "the blackness of darkness for ever!" "What meanest thou, O sleeper?" when wilt thou shake off this infatuated listlessness that is ruining thy soul? when wilt thou awake from thy day-dreams of delusion and folly? "Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man:"-poverty and want the most fearful-destitution for eternity. They shall come as one that travelleth"-but not " as a wayfaring man to tarry for a night;" they shall quarter upon thee for ever. They shall come as an armed man," assailing thy distracted spirit with a force which thou canst not resist; not to rob thee of the treasures and comforts of a passing day, but to strip thee bare, and leave thee helpless for a never-ending existence. O! "could I speak with the tongues of men and of angels," I would use all the terms of earthly and of heavenly persuasion to prevail with thee to rouse thyself to serious reflection, and "to-day, while it is called to-day," not to harden thy heart! Methinks I hear the Redeemer of sinners, while he sheds over thy perishing soul the tears of pitying tenderness, saying to thee, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!" but he does not yet add, "now they are hid from thine eyes!". No: blessed be God! they are not yet hid from thine eyes. -We have set before thee anew life and death, blessing and cursing:-O choose the life, that thy soul may live!— for how soon they may be hid from thine eyes, thou knowest not, and no one amongst us can tell thee! LECTURE LXI. ROMANS XIV. 1-6. "Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth for God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth; yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks." THERE are two parties, or two descriptions of persons, referred to in this chapter, to each of which monitory directions are addressed in regard to the feelings to be cherished and the conduct to be pursued toward the other. In order to our rightly understanding these directions, as well as the general lessons of the chapter, and the points in which they affect ourselves, it becomes indispensably necessary that we have accurate conceptions, as far as we can attain to them, respecting the situation and principles of those respectively counselled. The subject of difference between the two parties is evidently a part of the Mosaic law. Two topics are specifiedthe distinction between clean and unclean meats, that is, meats which, according to that law, might be eaten and meats which were prohibited, as ceremonially polluting the eater and unfitting him for the instituted services of divine worship |