through the grace of Christ. I long to be armed with this sacred courage, and to have my heart fortified all round with these divine munitions. I would fain be calm and serene in the midst of buffetings and reproaches, and pursue my course steadily toward heaven, under the banner of faith, through all the arrows of slander and malice. Lord Jesus, I wait for thy divine influences, to bestow this grace, and thy divine teachings, to put me in the way to obtain it.

HYMN FOR SERMON IX

COMMON METRE.

AMI a soldier of the cross,

A follower of the Lamb?

And shall I fear to own his cause,
Or blush to speak his name?

Must I be carry'd to the skies
On flow'ry beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize,
And sail'd thro' bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?
In this vile world a friend to grace,
To help me on to God?

Sure I must fight if I would reign;
Increase my courage, Lord;
I'll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by thy word.

Thy saints in all this glorious war

Shall conquer tho' they die;
They see the triumph from afar,
And seize it with their eye.

When that illustrious day shall rise,

And all thy armies shine

In robes of victory thro' the skies,

The glory shall be thine.

SERMON X.

HOLY FORTITUDE, OR REMEDIES AGAINST FEAR.

I CORINTHIANS xvi. 13.

Stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.

AVING described this holy temper of spirit, this

H fortitude both of the active and passive kind,

and having set before you various occasions for its exercise in the Christian life, 1 proceed now to the third thing which I proposed, and that is, to excite you by some engaging motives, to seek after this temper which is so necessary for a Christian,

I shall not enforce this from the light of nature, and from the mere laws of reason, which have been joined with ambitious and selfish principles in some of the pagan beroes and have influenced many a man, in the days of heathenism, to some great exploits of fortitude and fame. There is nothing in all the dictates of reason, nothing in all the principles of natural religion, that makes the mind brave and noble, but it receives high advancements and glorious efficacy from Christianity.

I would call you, first, to cast your eyes on the

noble patterns of courage that you find in the New Testament. I do not invite you to meditate the examples of heathen warriors, but consider the example of Christian Heroes your predecessors, who have stood fast in the faith, who have quitted themselves like men, in numerous and shining instances of active and passive courage. Look at the blessed apostles, Peter and John, when they rejoiced to suffer shame for the sake of Christ their Lord, and boldly told the council of priests, that they must preach the name of Jesus, in opposition to their menaces; they must obey God rather than men. Look at saint Paul the most eminent Christian hero; behold him in the midst of the Roman soldiers, and a violent multitude of unbelieving Jews. Hear how he acknowledges his exalted Saviour before captains and centurions, before king Agrippa, before Felix and Festus, who were two successive governors of Judea; and with the same fortitude of soul he appeared before Cæsar, at Rome. "I am not ashamed,” says he, "of the gospel of Christ," for he whom I have trusted in is almighty to support me. Read that most generous and pathetic speech of his, Acts xxi. 13. when the spirit of prophecy had foretold that Paul should be bound at Jerusalem, and delivered captive into the hands of the gentiles, his friends and strangers besought him not to go up to that city. Then Paul answered, "What mean ye to weep, and to break mine heart? For I am ready, not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." I know, (says he) and the Holy Ghost is witness, that bonds and afflictions wait for me," but none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself, that I may 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," Acts xx. 24.

こ

Now when a special occasion calls us to the

exercise of this virtue, and to confess Christ before the world, for us to be mealy-mouthed, and baffled, and frighted at the countenances of men, this is to forsake the example of the blessed apostles, and obey men rather than God. The prophets and the apostles, the antient saints and the primitive martyrs have given us noble patterns of this virtue; and why should our spirits fail us, or our lips tremble, if we are called to the same glorious confession? Is not our religion divine? Is not the gospel still worthy of the same honour? Is not our God the same Almighty? Is not our Redeemer the same Jesus? And does not a dying, a rising, and a reigning Saviour deserve the same homage of our tongues, and demand the same glory at our hands?

Yes surely, he demands it of us, and he deserves it infinitely; and not only his apostles, but his own example teacheth us to practise this fortitude, both of the active and the passive kind.

In the second place then, behold this perfect pattern of fortitude, Jesus the Son of God; when he came into the world in the midst of poverty, and made but a mean figure, as the Son of a carpenter, he was called to oppose the whole nation of the Jews, and the priests and princes of Jerusalem; he was sent to reform the vicious customs of a wicked and degenerate age. How did he stand and face danger without fear! When he went into the temple, with what a sacred zeal did he scourge the buyers and sellers out of his Father's house of prayer! Ye know what a noble testimony he bare to the truth, when he was called before the great men the rulers of the church and state. You know again, what instances of passive courage our Lord Jesus manifested, when he was hatefully reproached, and suffered shameful indignities from a rude multitude; when he was persecuted, when he was buffeted, when he wrestled with many and mighty sorrows,