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living in the spirit of the world around us, and thus satisfying ourselves with a routine of service and an empty profession of christianity, and yet hoping, that, notwithstanding this contemptuous disregard of the greatest of mercies, all will be well with us at the last. On the contrary, and in opposition to all these diversified modifications of enthusiasm and self-delusion, to live a life of the most ardent devotion, of the most entire separation from every thing, that is sinful, of the most decided resistance to the spirit of a world, which is sunk in wickedness and unbelief, and of the most entire concentration of all our energies in the pursuit of one pure and holy object, conformity to the mind of Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us, is so far removed from fanaticism and folly, that it is to estimate objects according to the true measure of their value and importance. It is to speak forth the words, and to body forth the form and image, of truth and soberness.

However, that these sentiments may not rest on assertion alone, or even on naked argument, let us now in the last place call

forth that great cloud of witnesses, who have proyed the strength of these principles in their lives and deaths, and who have left on record under circumstances, which preclude all suspicion, their experience of the truths, which I can only demonstrate!

The particular truth, to which we require their attestation, is, that faith in the promises of God, or a stedfast reliance on his faithfulness to confer that perfect salvation, which his grace has promised to us, and his atonement purchased, is able under circumstances, the most trying to nature and the most discouraging to hope, to procure for the penitent believer all the blessings of the new covenant, even those of the life, that now is, and of that, which is to come.

To this truth a cloud of witnesses is specifically adduced in the eleventh chapter. of the epistle, from which the text is taken. But I pass them by.

you, or may easily

They are all familiar to become so, if you will

only turn to the passages in the old testament, which are referred to in the margin.

One exception indeed I must make. It is

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in the case of persons who are represented in the thirty-fifth verse, as having been tortured, and not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. The fact, to which allusion is made, is recorded in the second book of the Maccabees. A narrative is there given of the cruel persecution of the Jews under Antiochus, many of whom, when required to disobey the law of Moses under the severest penalties, cheerfully embraced death with torments in preference to a single act of disobedience to God: and the motive of their conduct is assigned by the apostle, that they might obtain a better resurrection. This is a remarkable testimony to the power of faith in the divine promises at a time, when the doctrine of resurrection and immortality had not been brought to light with that clearness, in which the gospel has since revealed it. That doctrine indeed, independently of the direct assertion of it by Daniel, had been the traditional expectation of the church, handed down from the patriarchal ages, and associated in the minds of true Israelites with all the promises, relating

to the expected Messiah.

Hence it is fre

quently alluded to in the old testament, not as a new doctrine, but as an article of the established faith, which needed not to be propounded, being by all, who looked closely into the language of prophecy, assuredly believed: and such was the faith of these martyrs in its absolute certainty, and of all the blessings, connected with it, that hope overcame sense, and the promise of God weighed more with them, than the apprehension of torture and the spectacle of present misery.

But, when we come to times, subsequent to the promulgation of christianity, we shall find not indeed examples of more heroic reliance on the faithfulness of God to his promise, but more distinct appeals to the principle, which sustains the courage of a dying martyr at a moment, when every other dependence fails its votary.

Let us first select two martyrs from the primitive church of Christ!

Justin was a learned man, and had acquainted himself with all the opinions of philosophers

concerning God and godliness. But he found rest in none of them, till he was instructed in the doctrine of Jesus of Nazareth. Then at length he was at peace; and, when in process of time a gentile magistrate questioned him concerning his religion, he shewed at once, in what the strength of his new principles consisted. Unless you comply with our sacrifices' (said the governor) you shall be tormented 'without mercy.' We desire nothing more 'sincerely,' (replied the martyr) than to 'endure tortures for our lord, Jesus Christ, ' and to be saved. Hence we shall have con'fidence before the awful tribunal of our lord ' and saviour, before which, by the divine ' appointment, the whole world must appear.' It thus appears, that the hope of Justin depended on his adhering to Christ, to whose promised help he trusted for support under present sufferings, shame, and death, and for deliverance, acquittal, and reward in the awful day of judgment.

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Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna; and, when he was in like manner commanded to curse Jesus, or die, he answered nobly-Eighty

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