It is ungrateful; because He whom you contemn was your first and is your best friend. I may apply to you his own. words first addressed to the Jews: "Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?"

It is foolish, even on your own grounds. Supposing for a moment it were possible that the Holy One should not "require" sin, yet you cannot be certain that he will not-that there will be no futurity, no judgment, no hell. How wanton, then, and how unwise your conduct, if you do not choose the safer side; if you risk the possibility of a mistake which, when once made, cannot be remedied! Perchance, you say, there may be no God, no hell. And, perchance, there may!

It is dangerous; because, as you have seen, God will require sin. They that despise him shall be lightly esteemed. Further to impress this on your minds, listen to two passages, exactly in point, which are perhaps as awful as any in the Bible. The first you will find in Deuteronomy xxix, 19, 20: "And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst the Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven." What profaneness for a man to bless himself when God curses him! It is a sort of challenge to God to do his worst. If the curse were felt and humbly deplored, there would be a probability of its gracious removal. But while it is, as it were, denied and disclaimed, God is bound to make it good. The second passage is to be found in Proverbs i, 24-31: "Because I have called, and ye refused: I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they

call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices."

If such be your danger, how necessary to flee to Christ for refuge! He, and he alone, can save you from guilt and from retribution. If" found in him, not having your own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith," then your past sin will not be required: he has answered for you? "There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

But lose no time in securing an interest in Jesus: for God may this night require thy soul, O sinner, and punish thy crimes. Come, then, into the ark, and be safe. The times in which we live are awful indeed. God is, in a temporal sense, requiring" and punishing sin before our eyes. His judgments are in the earth: O may we all learn righteousness!

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XVII.

THE REASON OF OUR HOPE.

BE READY ALWAYS TO GIVE AN ANSWER TO EVERY MAN THAT ASKETH YOU A REASON OF THE HOPE THAT IS IN YOU, WITH MEEKNESS AND FEAR.-1 Peter iii, 15.

WHEN this epistle was written, the Church of Christ was in a state of infancy. Believers then had to contend, not only with prejudices the most inveterate, but with persecutions the most fierce, and almost universal. To be a Christian in those days was neither easy nor honorable. It was to be, so far as outward circumstances were concerned, of all men the most miserable, the object at once of earthly and of hellish malignity. Concerning the servants of God in that age, we may say, as was said concerning some at a yet earlier period, “They had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings; yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment."

Now, the object of the apostle in writing this epistle, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, was to administer consolation to the hated, persecuted, despised people of God. With this view he addresses to them, in the passage immediately connected with the text, an argument for patience and submission, derived from the special providence of God. That argument he states in the twelfth verse of the chapter: "For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous." It is not his omniscience merely, his universal knowledge, that is here intended; for, in that sense, the eyes of the Lord are as much over the wicked as over the righteous. The eyes of the Lord are like a flame of fire, running to and fro over all the earth, beholding the evil as well as the good. The apostle, therefore, here refers to the eye of God's paternal care; to the eye of his peculiar and special vigilance on behalf of the interests of those who are the objects of his love. "The eyes of the Lord

are over the righteous;" and it is therefore added, "his ears are open unto their prayers." There is not only, however, a special providence in favor of his people, especially in times of difficulty and trial, but a special providence continually at work to counteract those who are the adversaries of his people. "The face of the Lord," says St. Peter, in the twelfth verse, "is against them that do evil," and mainly against them that do evil, or try to do evil, to his Church and to his cause. This being the case, he asks, "Who is he that will harm you," really and eventually, if you be what you profess to be-everything depends upon that-" if ye be followers of that which is good?" He goes on to say, "But and if ye suffer for righte ousness' sake-" that is, suppose the worst to happen that can happen to the true Christian; suppose that, for some lofty purpose of wisdom or of goodness, and with a view to the more complete eventual manifestation of his own faithfulness and power, God should, for a time, suspend the exercise of his preventing providence; suppose that he should, for a time, take his bit and bridle out of the jaws of the persecutors, and allow them to have full scope for their malice against you-still, "happy are ye:" happy in the favor of the all-sufficient God; happy in the peculiar consolations which are promised and vouchsafed to suffering saints; happy in the promises, the prospects, and the earnest of an everlasting recompense for these trials. "Be not afraid of their terror," he says, (and here he comes to the practical application of his doctrine of providence,) "neither be troubled."

Now, perhaps, it may not be amiss that we should advert to the circumstances in which it may reasonably be supposed that these words of the inspired apostle would first be brought under the notice of the early Christians. The probability is, that they would first hear this letter read in one of their little assemblies, drawn together in circumstances of great terror and of great peril. They were met, perhaps, in some upper room, or in some place selected on the very ground of its seclusion, that that seclusion might contribute to their safety. It was announced to them that a letter had arrived from the

holy apostle Peter, and they were all attentive to the reading of it. At length the reader comes to this part, "Be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled." Now, what would be the first sentiment of their minds on hearing such advice as this? Their thoughts would probably be something like the following: "This is a hard saying: who can hear, who can practice it? Does Peter know how we are circumstanced, when he tells us not to indulge in timid apprehension, but to put on a cheerful courage? Is he aware that we are surrounded by adversaries on every side? that, on the breaking up of the meeting, as we depart from this place, we may not improbably be seized by our persecutors, and devoured by lions in a few hours?" This would be a very natural objection, in the minds of the persecuted Christians, to the advice here contained. "How is it possible that we should not be afraid? How can we divest our minds of alarm?" The apostle seems to have been led by the Holy Spirit to anticipate some objection of this kind, and to provide beforehand the answer; for he immediately goes on to say, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts." Cherish the most solemn and reverent apprehensions of the divine glory, and majesty, and power. Let the thought of God be ever present with your spirit; endure as seeing him that is invisible; let him be your fear, let him be your dread. Thus he recommends the fear of God as an effectual antidote against the sinful and cowardly fear of man. He that rightly fears God will fear none but True piety, instead of making cowards of men, is the very thing to make heroes of them in a good cause. "Be not afraid of their terror," neither be troubled at the thought of the dungeon and the lions. "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts." This will give you courage. Fear him who hath power not only to kill the body, but to destroy both soul and body in hell. Account that his displeasure is the only thing worth dreading; his favor the only thing worth coveting. And "be ready always," under the influence of that courage which the fear of God will inspire, "to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear."

God.