SER MON

I

XIV.

So run that ye may obtain.

349

N thefe words, the Chriftian life is com

pared to a race, and the difciples of Jefus are warmly exhorted to prefs forward in their way to heaven, till they obtain the glorious prize for which they contend.

I shall therefore make it my business, in the following discourse,

First, To give you a general account of the race we have to run; and,

Secondly, To illuftrate the fitnefs and propriety of this fimilitude.-After which, in

the

Third place, I fhall prefs the exhortation by fome motives and arguments.

I need not spend much time upon the firft of thefe particulars. In general, the race we have to run, comprehends the whole of that duty we owe to God; name

ly,

1

ly, obedience to his laws, and fubmiffion to his providence; doing what he commands, and patiently enduring whatever he is pleased to appoint. The charge which our great Master hath given us, is expressed in these words: Occupy till I come. All the gifts of nature, of providence, and of grace, are talents put into our hands: which must not only be carefully kept, but diligently improved, for his glory, and our own spiritual advantage; otherwife we shall be condemned, not only as flothful, but as wicked fervants, and punished accordingly. "To him that know. "eth to do good, and doeth it not," faith the Apostle James, " to him it is fin." It is not fufficient, barely "to deny ungod"linefs and worldly lufts;" the grace of God doth further teach us, 66 to live fobersly, righteously, and godly, in the world;" adding one Christian grace to another, abounding more and more in the work of the Lord, till we have perfected holiness in the fear of God. Thus extenfive is the divine law, reaching to every part of our conduct, at all times, and in all places

and

and circumstances.

Where-ever we are,

it fpeaks to us; and if our ears are open, we may continually hear its voice behind us, faying, Lo! "this is the way, walk ye " in it."

But the Chriftian life includes in it fome, thing more than the mere performance of duty; the crofs lies in our way, and we fhall never get to the end of the race, unlefs we take it up, and, with meekness and patience, carry it along with us.-It muft be owned, indeed, that this, at the firft fight, hath rather the look of a clog or encumbrance; and the Chriftian, while under the cross, is very apt to think fo: he feels his burden, and, in his own apprehenfion, moves fo heavily, that he is afraid he fhall never get to the end of his jour ney; which frequently inclines him to wifh, that the load were removed, and fome easier piece of fervice affigned him. But this in reality is a mistake: the cross is far from being a hindrance in our way to heaven; for though a heavy material load oppreffes the body, yet in the fpiritual race it often happens, that the bur

dened

dened foul makes both the fwifteft and the fureft progress. “Tribulation' worketh “ patience, and patience experience, ̈and "experience hope."- The cross may be called a tree both of knowledge and of life: the fruit it bears hath no deadly quality; on the contrary, it gives both fight and health; it opens our eyes to fee the good we ought to choose, and the evil we ought to fhun; and is often made effectual, by the bleffing of God, to purge away thofe fatal distempers which fin hath brought into our frame, to beget in us a loathing of every thing that is evil, and more ardent defires after higher measures of that holinefs, which is at once the ornament and the happiness of our nature. The cross doth not enfeeble us, though we erroneously may think fo; it only makes us fenfible of our weaknefs, that we may depend upon him who is "the Lord our strength ;" and instead of crushing us with its own weight, obligeth us to quit our hold of thofe real incumbrances, which mar our progress, and hinder us to run the race that is fet before

Thus

and circumstances.

Where-ever we are,

it fpeaks to us; and if our ears are open, we may continually hear its voice behind us, faying, Lo! "this is the way, walk ye " in it."

But the Christian life includes in it fomething more than the mere performance of duty; the crofs lies in our way, and we fhall never get to the end of the race, unless we take it up, and, with meekness and patience, carry it along with us. It muft be owned, indeed, that this, at the firft fight, hath rather the look of a clog or encumbrance; and the Chriftian, while under the cross, is very apt to think fo: he feels his burden, and, in his own apprehenfion, moves fo heavily, that he is afraid he fhall never get to the end of his jour ney; which frequently inclines him to wish, that the load were removed, and fome easier piece of fervice affigned him. But this in reality is a mistake: the cross is far from being a hindrance in our way to heaven; for though a heavy material load oppreffes the body, yet in the fpiritual race it often happens, that the bur

dened