SERMON IX.

RIGHTEOUSNESS A SECURITY AGAINST HARM.

1 PETER, III. 13.

"And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?"

THE advantages of religion are every where most fully exhibited by those inspired men, who not only bore testimony in their writings of the superior benefits derived from it to mankind, but also practically illustrated in their lives, the truth of what those writings conveyed. Daily experience will plead to our convictions for the truth of the Apostle's declaration, "that all things work together for good to them that love God." That they do so, no one can hesitate to admit, who has been accustomed to look with a devout scrutiny into the agency of Divine Providence, in the affairs of men. "That all things really do work together for good to them that love God," will be evident for this important reason, that they are in

turn the objects of His love, and it is the peculiar character of his merciful Providence, to "reward such as diligently seek Him." The very design of the Deity, in bringing us to life, is, that we should be "followers of that which is good," in order that "when this mortal shall have put on immortality, we may enjoy it in eternity in communion with him, who, by expiating upon the cross the penalty of our guilt and shame, has secured the blessings of everlasting life, to all who devoutly strive to obtain them. If, therefore, the primary design of the Deity, in calling us to existence, be obviated by our rash opposition to His will in not following "that which is good"; this will naturally frustrate his ultimate intention of bringing us into his

The plans of infinite perfection are necessarily uniform, undeviating and unalterable, consequently, obstinate

if

we, by our resistance to the divine

determination, obstruct the accomplishment of part of his merciful design, we shall, as far as we are individually concerned, infallibly prevent the accomplishment of the whole: since it certainly forms no no part of the of the august scheme of Providence, to bring us into the heavenly Canaan, whether we bend our course towards it or not, but only when

we

the

"strive to enter in at the strait gate," which the "narrow way," that leads to ever

opens upon the

state will be every where observed, even amid the confused and transitory scene of things which this world presents to us; but in the world to come there will be no calculating it. When a man's ways please the Lord," says the wise son of David, "he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him;" and however we may observe the righteous to groan under those heavy burthens which affliction sometimes lays upon them, they have, nevertheless, the most ample securities for their peace in the promises of their Saviour. The sense of present suffering is relieved by the near prospect of future bliss. They have those secret consolations which render the visitation, however severe, abundantly endurable; and even in their worst sufferings, they are, upon the whole, to be envied by those who are strangers to that rs to that support, which religion only can afford under the trials and bereavements of this probationary life.

To come, however, at once to the lesson which the text suggests to us, we shall find, if not expressed, at least implied, that it is to our interest to be righteous. From this truth we shall, by natural deduction, infer-secondly, that it must, therefore,be against our interest to be unrighteous; thirdly, we shall consider, by inference, the motives which the text supplies for godliness. The first division of the subject will employ our attention now. The second and third I propose to defer, under God's Providence, to a future opportunity.

In reference to the first proposition, deduced from the words before us, we may certainly imply from St. Peter's question, that the righteous are placed beyond the reach of moral injury from the ungodly."And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?".

1

Now, I take this to amount to an unequivocal declaration, that no one will harm us, provided we do what the text leads us to infer will be a security against harm. "He that followeth after righteousness and mercy," says the wise man before quoted, "findeth life, righteousness, and honour." Such an acquisition places places us absolutely above the reach of harm. The ungodly cannot really hurt us, where they cannot deprive us of any of the divine blessings; where they cannot rob us of the endearing approbation of a good con Live science; where they cannot exclude us from those things which make for peace." "If God be for us, who can be against us?" The malice of ungodly men may, indeed, harass and distress the righteous, but cannot actually harm them, for "what is man, whose breath is in his nostrils?" He may, it is true, cause the body to suffer; the soul is, never theless, beyond all the efforts of his malice-and it is on account of the latter only, that harm is to be feared. If the Lord be on our side,” vain are all the hostile attempts of man. Hence the divine warning" be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can

do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear; fear Him, who, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, fear Him."

ta

It will be readily admitted that a good man may be traduced and lowered by calumny in the estimation of capricious and fallible men. Nevertheless, in the estimation of Him" who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity," of Him" whose wisdom is from above," he suffers nothing. His vital interests are, therefore, nowise affected by the machinations, the malice, the hatred, of ungodly men. God is his judge, and upon His unerring determination his condition in eternity depends, where alone any essential harm can happen to us, if we should be there pronounced unfit to participate in its blessings. Should the world be disposed to look upon a righteous man as vile in their eyes, from the misrepresentations of "evil doers," which is truly a special and very rare case, for the authority of bad men must be always questionable, and can never, therefore, obtain general trust; still even then, all the harm he suffers is, the evil report of those whose bad opinion cannot deserve a regret, where it is so rashly accorded; and whose good opinion can be "nothing worth," where it would be, with like probability, given upon authority equally exceptionable. It is, however, altogether against the experience of fact, that good men suffer generally through the calumnies of the flagitious, in the