and with whom, in the Holy Spirit, be glory to Thee, both now and for ever. Amen."

Such, my brethren, was the language and the spirit by which this dying Bishop illustrated this expression of our text, Be thou faithful unto death." And need I say, that, if this is real religion, a spirit of concession, and compromising, and fearfulness, and shamefacedness in our Master's cause, can never deserve the name. If it is religion to die triumphantly, it must be religion to live boldly; to plant your back against the rock of the Gospel, and, with the sword of the Spirit in your hand, calmly and perseveringly to fight the battles of the Lord.

V. But, lastly, consider THE PROMISES WITH WHICH THIS ADDRESS CLOSES. "Be thou faithful unto death (it says,) and I will give thee a crown of life." And again," He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death."

Observe, my Christian brethren, the force of these several expressions. Here is a crown" for those who had been suffering the infliction of "poverty." Here is a "crown of life" for those who had been "faithful unto death." Here is a promise to those who had found in man their enemy, that they shall find in God their friend : "I will give thee a crown." Here is a pledge, to those who had a thousand times discovered and acknowledged their own unworthiness and insufficiency, that they should have that "crown" as a gift, which they could not win as a prize; "I will give thee a crown of life." Here is an assurance, to those who were themselves standing on the edge of the grave, or mourning over those whom persecution had already hurried into it, that the "second," the last, the eternal

Y

"death," should not hurt them;" that the "last enemy" should be "put under their feet," and they triumph with their Lord for ever and

ever.

Such, my brethren, are the glorious promises by which the Saviour of the world cheers on the soldiers of the cross. And what hearts must we have, not to feel and value them more! Suppose a change of the mode in which the promise of the text is made to another less familiar to our minds, and we can scarcely imagine any individual rejecting or undervaluing it. Suppose, for instance, our Lord, instead of sending this offer to the churches, as in the text, by St. John, to appear Himself. Suppose Him now to open his heavens, to descend, and, in mid air, and clothed in the majesty of heaven, and surrounded by his angels, to suspend before our eyes the crown of life, rich with all the splendours of the treasury of God. Suppose him in these circumstances to issue the declaration, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life;" what should you say of his folly, or impiety, who rejected the offer? But, But, my brethren, the crown is not less real, the promise less certain, the Saviour less present, than if he had thus manifested himself to our bodily eyes. Is it a reason for rejecting such an offer, that it is written, instead of spoken; that it is heard by all, instead of a few; that it is lasting, instead of evanescent; that thousands of the church have already fed upon it, lived upon it, died upon it; have already fought the battle, and won the crown, and have entered into the joy of their Master?-O urge upon your reluctant souls this animating declaration, "Be thou faithful unto

death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Oppose it to the shows of life, to the flattery of the world, to the solicitations of appetite, to the fol- lies and vices which absorb the heart and destroy the souls of multitudes. Answer, to those who reproach or condemn your ardent and steady devotion of yourself to God and holiness and every good work, I cannot consent to act and live for these gilded nothings-I live for a crown-the crown of life, which "faded not away," and which "God hath prepared for them that love him.""

It is added, at the end of this address, as in all the other addresses to these Eastern churches, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." In other words, these lessons and promises are designed, not merely for the Church of Smyrna, but for all the churches of the Redeemer. Use the text, therefore, my brethren, according to the particular circumstances of your own church, or country, or heart. Listen to it, ye suffering servants of the Redeemer, and remember that there are riches independent of the world, and beyond its reach, and above its conception,-Listen to it, ye haters and persecutors of real religion; and see of what church it esteems you the members, and of what master the slaves. Listen to it, ye timorous, or wavering, or compromising followers of Christ; and remember that courage, and constancy, and self-devotion, and living faith, and dying fidelity, are the qualities to which the promises of God are attached; are the proper and essential fruits of that faith in the Saviour, which makes us the heirs of his merits, and the partners of his glory. "Hear," one and all, "what the Spirit saith to

the churches:" and let us together begin to cultivate these qualities of the redeemed of the Lord, Let us cultivate them in our families and in our churches; in the devotions of the closet and at the altar of our God. Come, and let us to-day* bow our knees before "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," that we "may be strengthened by his Spirit in the inner man; that "his love may be shed abroad in our hearts." Ask of Him, that we may live in faith, die in hope, and enter into the glory of God; that He would cast all our transgressions into the depths of the sea: that He would become our God; and that we may be "the sons and daughters" of the Lord Almighty.

*Sacrament Sunday.

SERMON XI.

EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH AT PERGAMOS.--ON ANTINOMIANISM.

REV. ii. 12-17.

And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is; and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against thee with the sword of my mouth. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

THE city of Pergamos, to which the third of the epistles of our Lord to the churches of Asia is addressed, was a city of considerable importance, at the distance of about sixty miles from Smyrna,