of his conduct; hallelujahs refounded above when first he started on the way; new fhouts of angelic applaufe might have been heard, when he perfifted to walk in it. God has enrolled his name among his obedient ones, and when earth's records, doings, and opinions, fhall be no more, he will receive, amid ten thousand thousand witneffes, the welcome plaudit of "Well done, good and faithful fervant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." A wonderful example of what the world calls felf-will, lived many years fince. An old man, who knew nothing about the bufinefs, took it into his head to turn fhipwright and build a ship. Such a thing had never been heard of: of fuch enormous dimensions, too, that it was very clear there could not be water enough to float it; and a thousand idle things were faid about the old man and his wild and wilful undertaking. Yet he was felf-willed; day after day found him at his work-he knew what he was about-he knew who had commanded him; he doubted not but that there would be water enough to float his fhip by and by, nor was he mistaken. His obedience had its full reward, and the lone Ark, floating majestically on the world of waters, testified that it is better to obey God than man. The man Folly, his path, and the treatment he meets with, ferve alfo to illuftrate Chriftian character. The Chriftian is called to forfake home and friends, houses and lands, riches and honours, whenever they in any measure stand in the way of duty. The heavenly commiffion he has received makes it incumbent on him to deny felf, take up his cross, to bear the yoke, and to become a pilgrim in the world. He is faithful to his calling. Pleasure courts him, but he embraces her not. Wealth entices, but he confents not. Honours and glories folicit him, but all in vain. He rejects them all. He will not have a clog to his foul. He is free, and he knows the value of his freedom. The poor flaves of fin and earth know no more of the man and his pursuits, than of the angel Gabriel and his employments in paradise. To them, this fpurner of gold, this rejector of honours, this trampler on earth, is a fool and a madman: he is befide himself, and fo he is denounced accordingly. They judge of him and his conduct by the rules of earth, but he follows another standard. As well might the oyfter buried in the fand attempt to pass judgment on the towering eagle when he flies on the wings of the storm, mounts and mingles with the new-born light, and rejoices in the boundleffness of space. The Christian rejects what he knows, upon the authority of Truth and the God of Truth, to be worthless in themselves, unfatiffactory in their nature, and tranfitory in their continuance. He receives and holds faft what is invaluable, fatiffying, and eternal. And when the light of the laft conflagration fhall reveal the fecrets of all hearts, and declare the value of all things, then will it be feen that the Chriftian has governed himself according to the rules of the highest Wisdom. Thus it was with the man of meekness; he gave up a kingfhip and royalty, and formed an alliance with a troop of flaves; he relinquifhed the fplendours of a court for the terrors of a defert; a life of luxurious eafe for one of peril and fatigue. By the men of his generation his conduct was regarded as foolish and absurd, but his appearance on the glorious mount of transfiguration, as an Ambaflador of the skies, encircled with the splendours of Heaven, proclaims to the world that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom," and the love of him its highest confummation. Look again at the young man of Tarsus; see him refign the profeffor's chair to become a teacher of barbarians. The ruler of the Jews becomes the fervant of the Gentiles; the friend of the great and powerful becomes the companion of the weak and contemptible; the inmate of a manfion becomes a vagabond on the earth, "having no certain dwelling place." He embraces hunger, thirst, and nakedness; the dungeon, the fcourge, and the axe. The world has pronounced its verdict upon him-he was a "madman," "a pest," "a disturber of the public peace," "a ringleader of the defpifed." The cafe, however, is pending in a higher court, and when those who "fleep in the duft of the earth fhall awake," and Paul, "fhining as the brightness of the firmament," takes rank among the "wife," the verdict of Heaven will have been recorded. "Wisdom is humble, faid the voice of God, 'Tis proud, the world replied. Wisdom, faid God, Of man, but God. Wisdom revenges, faid And haftes by Death to wipe its honour clean. |