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stedfastly set our face whithersoever duty calls, whether it be to danger or safety, to sufferings or privileges. Let us remember how Paul, that faithful servant of Christ, in his own place and measure, trod in the same steps, and left us a similar example. "And now, behold," said he, "I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying, that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God."

"What mean ye to weep, and to break my heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord Jesus."-Believers! whatever trials and sorrows may lie before us, let us, in Jesus' name and strength, and in imitation of his example, stedfastly set our faces to go on: let us go on fearlessly, cheerfully. And, as our Redeemer was now looking forward to his death, so let us look forward to ours. Let us make up our mind to it; let us consider ourselves on the way to it; let us remember that every step we take brings us nearer to it: and let us not seek to avert our face from it, or to turn our back to it and fly from it; but let us stedfastly set our face towards it, and advance nearer and nearer to it, in the faith and hope of the Son of man, who not only died before us, as an example, but died for us as an atonement. Let us contemplate death under the pleasing idea of a being "received up," remembering as to all who die in the Lord, that though their bodies may be laid in the grave, their souls pass immediately into glory. However melancholy this journey, which we are prosecuting, may appear to the eye of sense, it is thus mightily enlivened to the eye of faith; for, indeed, to set our face stedfastly, on Christian principles, towards death, is just to set our face stedfastly towards Jerusalem, even Jerusalem which is above. Let us press forward, then, to this mark, for the prize. "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith: who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

2. Let us beware of resembling these Samaritans in not

receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. Though they were not immediately destroyed, yet their sin was great; nay, the very circumstance of the merciful forbearance shown towards them, manifests, with peculiar clearness, the heaviness of the guilt they incurred by rejecting such goodness. This guilt, however, was by no means peculiar to the Samaritans: though it might have been supposed that the Saviour would have been cordially welcomed by all, he was generally rejected, even by the Jews. "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." And so, down to the present day, there are multitudes who professedly reject him, or who do not "receive" him in the saving sense of the term: and, as it was of old, so it is still, every person that refuses him has some excuse to allege, and some are prevented from receiving him by one prejudice, and some by another; but all their excuses and all their prejudices are as groundless and sinful as were those of the Samaritans. Now, we say to you, Beware of this. It is true that he has not sent messengers before him that you may make ready to receive him personally into your city and your dwellings: had he done this, I believe that, bad as we are, we should not all, like these Samaritans, have refused him admission, but that a goodly procession would have met him on his entrance, and welcomed his arrival, and that not a few would have contended for the honour and the pleasure of receiving him into their houses. But, though he is not thus seeking admission literally into your city, or into any of your dwellings, he is seeking admission spiritually into all your hearts: and here there need be no jealousy, no contest, no desire to monopolize his favour; for his gracious presence and blessing can fill all your hearts, and the more hearts are filled, the happier will each heart be. Yet, alas! how many hearts are shut against him! His messengers, one here, and another there, are this day calling on the inhabitants to prepare thus to receive him; and it is for you, in particular, to see to it that the call be not made to you in vain. It is by faith, remember, that he is to be received: "To as many as receive him, to them gives he power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name." "'* Nay, not only are his messengers giving warning of his approach, and calling on you to receive him, but he is himself actually arrived, in the spiritual sense, at your door, and ready to enter. Behold, I stand at the

John i. 12.

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door, and knock," says he; "if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him." Who, then, that knows any thing of the honour, pleasure, and advantage, of having him for a guest, is not ready to cry, "Come in, thou blessed of the Lord; wherefore standest thou without?"

3. Let us observe how plainly every kind and every degree of persecution are here forbidden. The more violent kinds of persecution to which men have sometimes resorted, and especially persecution unto death, are, in one view, even worse than this proposal of the two disciples: for, as an excellent commentator* remarks, "It is one thing to appeal to God, and wait his decision, whether he will miraculously interpose, which was all that the apostles required; and another, and a widely different thing indeed, to take the cause out of his hands, and to execute vengeance on opposers by the arm of man, and according to his sentence, without any possibility of certainly knowing whether God does, or does not, approve of what we are doing: one thing to call for fire from heaven, and another to kindle fire on earth, to consume men, branded as heretics." Besides, where is the argument in favour of Christianity from any such human violence? and what can it possibly prove, except that those who employ it are acting a very unchristian part? Fire from heaven might prove a doctrine to be true; but fire kindled under any such pretence, by men, or any other species of persecution, could prove nothing but their own bigotry and cruelty. Indeed, such is the constitution of the human mind, that it is ready to call in question, or to suspect, even the truth itself, when any attempt is made to support it by such means.

It is not to be forgotten how often, and how violently, persecution has been employed to prop up falsehood, and to bear down true religion, and how ready persecutors have been to plead conscience and a regard to the glory of God. "I verily thought with myself," says the apostle of the Gentiles, "that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which things I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and, when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and, being exceedingly mad against

* Scott.

them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities." He is described as, at one time, "breathing" out "threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord." Paul lived, however, to be deeply convinced of the guilt of his conduct, and to say, "I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God." It is well known that persecution, by the sword, was the chief means employed to establish Mohammedanism. Not to insist on the persecution of the Christians by the heathen governments-it is well known that persecution is made, in Scripture, one of the distinguishing features of the great apostasy which was to arise in the temple of God, or Christian church. It is foretold* that the image of the beast should "cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast, should be killed:" and that " no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." We know where, when, by whom, and to what a dreadful extent, this prophecy was fulfilled. As Imperial Rome was unquestionably the seat of the beast, as an idolatrous and professedly heathen power; so Papal Rome is unquestionably the seat of the beast, as an idolatrous and professedly Christian power. As to the allegation, that persecution was also used on the side of the Protestants, the cases of persecution by them were very rare; they were the exception, and not the rule: and a short time, and a little more light, were sufficient to dissipate the mistake under which some of them laboured on this subject in consequence of the connexion they had formerly held with that great apostasy, the very genius, and rule, and habit, of which, were persecution.

Besides the more violent kinds of persecution, the less violent, such as calumny, sarcasm, and opprobrious names, are quite contrary to the spirit required by this passage. There are some who "whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words, that they may shoot in secret at the perfect." With regard to the treatment that truly pious persons have to expect, the rule is, that, in some form, and some measure, "all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution:" and great is the guilt of those who persecute them. That, however, is not exactly the point now before us: for here we find men, who were, on the whole, good men, proposing to cut off persons who were unquestionably guilty of heresy

* Rev. xiii. 15.

and schism, in general, and who had just treated the Redeemer with marked indignity: and yet he rebuked these good men sharply for the proposal. Now, can any thing be more plainly and strongly conclusive against the employment of any kind of persecution, by any party whateverthe employment of any pains and penalties, any abusive treatment—even though the object be to maintain the unity of the Church, to secure purity of doctrine, and to reclaim heretics and schismatics, or prevent their increase? No doubt, the crimes which tend directly to the destruction of society, ought to be restrained by force: but the attempt to promote orthodoxy and positive spirituality, or even external uniformity in religious observances, by compulsion, ought to be altogether out of the question. Every such mode of procedure is directly contrary to Scripture. Our Lord said to Peter, when he had wounded the high priest's servant because he presumed to lay hands on Jesus, "Put up again thy sword into his place; for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" His prayer for his murderers was, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Surely, when we behold those who have injured us, or those who are opposed to the truth, we should call for grace, and not for fire, to descend upon them from heaven.

It is altogether preposterous, also, to imagine that violence and harsh measures either have any tendency to promote, or do in fact promote, the cause of true religion. Be it so that some are in error and sin: is it possible to convert them in that way? Is not all true religion a reasonable service? and does it not imply the conviction of the understanding, and the consent of the will? Is it not what is true that is naturally adapted to convince the understanding, and what is amiable that is naturally adapted to win the heart? and is it not the exhibition of truth and grace in the gospel, which alone is effectual, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, to overcome the natural dislike of the human heart to vital religion, and make men Christians? We must proceed with man according to the mental constitution which God has given him, if we are to make any good impression on him. As well might we "apply sounds to the eyes, in order to be seen, or colours to the ears, in order to be heard," as attempt to convince the understanding, or

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