ON CHRISTIAN STEADFASTNESS.

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.-Heb. .x. 36.

THE main device of Satan is to loosen the Christian from his hold-no matter how, whether by flesh and blood being counsellors, or by false doctrines, or by evil company, or by getting him on some enchanted ground, so that he may be beguiled as the serpent beguiled Eve: any thing, so he may but succeed in weakening his confidence. In this way, dreadful havoc has been made in many a believer's conscience.

Satan is an old sophist, and therefore we need not be curious to know all that he has to say against the truth. In such a day as the present, we must turn away our ears from vain speculations. And if our confidence is already shaken, and the breath of poison has entered at all into our minds, let us carry it to Christ, according to the example of St. Paul.

Let every Christian beware how he casts away a dear-bought experience.

Cast not away your confidence—that is, your shield: Consider, how it has defended you already; call to mind, how that after ye were illuminated, what a fight

of afflictions ye endured; and yet, the wounds never entered your vitals, to destroy you. Suffering never injures: but, consider, the dreadful alternative of losing your shield! See Heb. x. 29.

Men cast away their confidence, when they take flesh and blood into their council. St. Paul was aware of this danger: (see Gal. i. 15.) "When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me; immediately, I conferred not with flesh and blood." But Israel, when they found difficulties in the way, remembered the flesh-pots in Egypt. See Exod. xvi.

When the principles of our faith have laid hold of our judgments, affections, and habits, then will our profession be steadfast.

There are occasions when the real believer may for a time waver; either from temptation, or from some new opinion or sentiment, or from some bias of the affections. But suppose this to be the case for a season, yet enquire, Is not the bent of your soul after Christ? when your judgment is attacked, yet are not your affections still fixed? or if your affections are under any bias, does not your judgment say, "Lord, to whom shall we go? " It seldom happens, in a true character, that the judgment and the affections are both shaken at once; one or the other generally remains firm. This may serve to encourage the timid believer, who is no hypocrite, although he may have been assaulted by temptation.

A believer should beware how he makes unfavourable conclusions against himself, when he has fallen, by the devices of the enemy, into some sinful snare. Satan then comes in with a flood of hard despairing thoughts, and suggests to us, -That we never had any gracethat we have been deceiving ourselves-that if we had

ever been God's children, he would not have suffered our feet thus to have been taken in the snare: or, that if we have had any degree of grace, it is so small, and we are so apt to err, that we shall be continually falling, and never hold out: and, therefore, that we may as well give up our Christian hope and profession, and turn back to the world altogether-for religious people will never put any confidence in us, but will consider us only as pretenders. But God forbid that any one should reason thus: this is just as the devil would have it. No! Let us, when every thing is against us-facts and friends-let us go, like Peter, and make our appeal to Him from whom no secret is hid; and He will give us tokens of his forgiving love; and, in due time, clear up our character to others. The relation which subsists between God and his children is a strong ground of confidence. God is a Father; and "as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him."

Perseverance and reward are inseparable. Cast not away your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. Has a man, then, any claim because he has trusted God? He has a claim upon the faithfulness of God; and the more he pleads his claim, the more he thereby honours God.

That grace which begins the good work-which enables the soldier to fight-the racer to run-will, one day, crown the work which it begins. The grand object which the Christian soldier keeps his eye upon, is that

crown of glory which fadeth not away." There is also a present reward-there is "the peace of God which passeth all understanding," which, through all events, keeps our hearts and minds as in a garrison.

Some of the most ignorant, as well as the most wicked, persons will say-" I always had confidence in God-I "I

always did trust Him." But beware of a counterfeit here they that always trusted, it is to be feared never trusted. To trust rightly, is to expect, upon the ground of God's perfections and promises, that he will do for us in all circumstances that which is wisest and best-that which is most for his own glory and our good. It is not the blind confidence of the ignorant, nor the presumptuous confidence of the proud and wicked: we must know God through Christ, and as reconciled to us through Him. We shall then see how the Divine perfections are calculated to inspire confidence. "They that know thy name will trust in thee.”

That confidence is vain and delusive, to which God does not set his seal. The confidence spoken of by the apostle, is one well grounded, and is the same with that mentioned, verse 15: "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering ;" and with that which, in verse 19, is called "boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Christ:" courage to endure hardships, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, and confidence to go as children to a Father, laying hold of a promise which cannot be broken.

Those who have long made a profession should shew that they are no more children. Let not those who ought to be teachers, have to learn what are the first principles; but let them endeavour to retain their first love in its simplicity and ardour. The wisdom of a Christian, is simplicity of aim, and simplicity of dependence.

THE CHRISTIAN TRAVELLER.

For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.-HEB. Xiii. 14.

THE grand reason for going "without the camp," bearing the reproach of Christ, is because we want a more abiding city than this world affords. All Christians are pilgrims: this world affords them no resting place-no tower of safety-no true shelter.

When the world has shewn all its glory-one mortifying question makes it sicken and fade, namely,-How long will it last?

While the splendour and affluence of a great city, like this, strikes the eye of every beholder, a Christian weeps over it, as the prophet did over Babylon.

The philosopher, the poet, the moralist, all allow that "the world passeth away:" but it is only the true believer who acts upon this truth. All allow the fact, but he alone takes it up practically; and declares by his conduct and conversation, that here there is no continuing city. He therefore goes through the world like a traveller; and as he passes on, he casts a look of observation on the things around him: but his heart and affections are not set on them. He is content with