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follow; and, with God's grace, will do. Therefore, good John, pray for me; and if thou seest me weak at any time, comfort me, and discourage me not in this my godly enterprise and purpose." Thus, like another Paul, he went forward, " ready not to be bound only, but also to die for the name of the Lord Jesus."

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When he came to London, he appeared before Bishop Gardiner, who reviled him, calling him knave, traitor, heretic. My lord (said Dr. Taylor), I am neither traitor nor heretic, but a true subject, and a faithful Christian man; and am come, according to your commandment, to know what is the cause that your lordship hath sent for me." Then said the bishop, "Art thou come, thou villain? How darest thou look me in the face for shame? Knowest thou not who I am?"

"Yes," quoth Dr. Taylor, "I know who you are. You are Dr. Stephen Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, and lord chancellor; and yet but a mortal man, I trow. But if I should be afraid of your lordly looks, why fear you not God, the Lord of us all? How dare ye for shame look any Christian man in the face, seeing ye have forsaken the truth, denied our Saviour Christ, and his word, and done contrary to your own oath and writing?" (It must be observed, that Bishop Gardiner, though now so stout a promoter of Popery, had heretofore written against the Pope, and taken an oath in conformity thereto.) "I tell thee," said the Bishop of Winchester, "it was Herod's oath, unlawful, and therefore ought to be broken, and not kept: and our holy father, the Pope, hath discharged me of it." Then said Dr. Taylor, "But you shall not be so discharged before Christ, who doubtless will require it at your hands, as a lawful oath made to our liege and sovereign lord the king, from whose obedience no man can absolve you, neither the Pope, nor any of his."

After much more violence on the part of the bishop, who accused Dr. Taylor of being married-for the Church of Rome forbids clergymen to marry-of having resisted the priest of Aldham, and of having spoken against the mass, he called his man, and said, "Have this fellow hence, and carry him to the King's Bench, and charge the keeper he be straitly kept." Then Dr. Taylor kneeled down, and held up both his hands, and said, "Good Lord, I thank thee: and from the tyranny of the bishop of Rome, and all his detestable errors, idolatrics, and abominations, good | Lord, deliver us: and God be praised for good King Edward." He was then carried to prison, where he lay almost two years.

The account of this scene was given by Dr. Taylor himself in a letter to a friend, in which he thanks God for his grace, that he had enabled him to confess his truth, and that he was found worthy for the truth to suffer prison and bonds: beseeching his friends to pray for him, that he might persevere constant to the end.

While in prison this faithful man spent all his time in prayer, reading the Holy Scriptures, writing, and preaching, and exhorting the prisoners, and those who visited him, to repentance and amendment of life. And in a very short time he had many companions in his affliction: for multitudes of the most learned and excellent ministers throughout England were now displaced, their churches filled with Popish priests,

and themselves compelled to leave the kingdom, or else committed to prison-there, says the historian of those days, "as lambs waiting when the butchers would call them to the slaughter." Among his other fellow-captives, Dr. Taylor found Mr. Bradford, afterwards a blessed martyr, to whom he particularly attached himself, and in whose scciety he had such consolation, that he told his friends who were permitted to see him, that the Lord had most graciously provided for him, to send him to that prison, where was found such an angel of God to be in his company to comfort him.

After being some time in captivity, Dr. Taylor was brought forth into Bow Church, and there solemnly deprived of his living, on account of his being a married man. Then, on the 22d of January, 1555, the old severe laws against heretics, as the Protestants were called, having been re-established, he was examined before the Bishop of Winchester, and other bishops. This examination turned chiefly on the lawfulness of priest's marriages, which Dr. Taylor stoutly and learnedly maintained. Pardon was offered him if he would return to the Popish Church; but he would by no means, though in such peril, deny the faith. At last, after many reproaches, very unbecoming one who sat as a judge, Bishop Gardiner closed the sitting by saying, as he rose, “Wilt thou not return again with us to the Catholic Church?" He replied, "By God's grace, I will never depart from Christ's Church." And when he asked that his friends might be allowed to visit him, the bishop only answered, "Thou shalt have judgment within this week." And so he was delivered back to his keeper.

On the 29th of January, Dr. Taylor was again brought before the Bishop of Winchester, and other commissioners. Two articles were then objected to him the first, that he had believed and preached that it is lawful for a priest to marry; the second, that he had believed and preached that in the sacrament is not truly the natural body and blood of Christ, but that material bread and wine are there only. These articles he confessed, saying, that so he still believed, and was ready to defend. The next day he again appeared before the bishops and others. Favour was once more offered him, if he would repent and return to the bosom of the Romish Church. But he steadily persisted in his opinions, and declared that there were but two sacraments, baptism and the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ; and that after consecration the bread and wine remain. He denied transubstantiation, and said that the natural body of Christ is not here, but in heaven; and that Christ's body could not be in two places at once. After much disputation, the bishop asked him again, whether he would return to the unity of the Catholic Church. He answered, that he would not come to antichrist's Church. Then the bishop pronounced sentence upon him for a heretic, and so delivered him to the sheriff of London. On his way to prison, the people flocked about to gaze upon him to whom he said, "God be praised, good people; I am come away from them undefiled, and will confirm the truth with my blood." At night he was removed to the Poultry Compter.

And hither, in about a week, came Bonner, bishop of London, to degrade him from his holy orders.

They put upon him, in spite of his resistance, the vestments of the Romish Church; and then, according to their custom, took all the ensigns of the clerical office from him. And the Bishop laid his curse upon him. Then said Dr. Taylor, "Though you do curse me, yet God doth bless me. I have the witness of my conscience, that ye have done me wrong and violence: and yet, I pray God, if it be his will, forgive you. But from the tyranny of the bishop of Rome, and his detestable enormities, good Lord, deliver us."

The night after he was degraded, his wife, son, and faithful servant, were admitted, and allowed to sup with him. At their coming they kneeled down and prayed, saying the litany. After supper, having given God thanks, who had endued him with strength to abide by his holy word, he addressed to them some affectionate and solemn admonitions. Then, as his last tokens, he gave to his wife his book of the Church service, which he had daily used in his imprisonment; and to his son, a Latin book, containing some sayings of the old martyrs, in a blank page of which he had written what he called his will.

This document was as follows:

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"The last will and testament of Dr. Rowland Taylor, parson of Hadleigh. I say to my wife and to my children, The Lord gave you unto me; and the Lord hath taken me from you and you from me blessed be the name of the Lord. I believe that they are blessed which die in the Lord. God careth for sparrows, and for the hairs of our heads. I have ever found him more faithful and favourable than is any father or husband. Trust ye, therefore, in him, by the means of our dear Saviour Christ's merits: believe, love, fear, and obey him: pray to him, for he hath promised to help. Count me not dead, for I shall certainly live, and never die. I go before, and you shall follow after, to our long home. I go to the rest of my children, Susan, George, Ellen, Robert, and Zachary. I have bequeathed you to the only Omnipotent. I say to my dear friends of Hadleigh, and to all others which have heard me preach, that I depart hence with a quiet conscience as touching my doctrine, for the which, I pray you, thank God with me. For I have, after my little talent, declared to others those lessons that I gathered out of God's book, the blessed Bible. Therefore, if I, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you any other Gospel than that ye have received, God's great curse upon that preacher. Beware, for God's sake, that ye deny not God; neither decline from the word of faith, lest God decline from you, and so do ye Everlastingly perish. For God's sake, beware of popery; for, though it appear to have in it unity, yet the same is vanity and anti-Christianity, and not in Christ's faith and verity. Beware of the sin against the Holy Ghost, now, after such a light opened so plainly and simply, truly, thoroughly, and generally to all England. The Lord grant all men his good and Holy Spirit, increase of his wisdom, contemning the wicked world, hearty desire to be with God and the heavenly company, through Jesus Christ, our only Mediator, Advocate, righteousness, life, sanctification, and hope. Amen, amen. Pray, pray.

"(Signed)-ROWLAND TAYLOR, departing hence in sure hope, without all doubting, of eternal salvation, I thank God, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ,

my certain Saviour. Amen. The 5th of February, anno 1555.

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? Ps. 27.-God is he that justifieth: who is he that can condemn? Rom. S.-In thee, O Lord, have I trusted: let me never be confounded. Ps. 30."

It had been resolved, in order to strike greater terror into the Protestants, that many of the leading clergy should suffer in the scene of their own labours. Dr. Taylor, therefore, was carried to Hadleigh, to die where he had lived. And the day after his wife had supped with him, he was taken to the Compter by the sheriff of London, at two o'clock in the morning, and conveyed without lights to an inn beyond Aldgate. His wife, suspecting that he would be carried away secretly, watched all that night in St. Botolph's church-porch, with two children, one Dr. Taylor's own daughter, the other an orphan girl, whom they had adopted. Just when the sheriff and his company passed by the church, one of the children cried out, "O my dear father! mother, mother, here is my father led away!" Then said his wife, "Rowland, Rowland, where art thou?" for the morning was too dark for her to see him. Dr. Taylor answered, "Dear wife, I am here," and stopped. The sheriff's men would have pushed him on; but the sheriff, more humane, said,

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'Stay, let him speak to his wife.”—And so he took the youngest child in his arms, and kneeled down and prayed. Then he kissed and blessed his wife and children, saying, "Be of good comfort; God shall stir up a father for my children. I pray you all stand strong and stedfast unto Christ and his word, and keep you from idolatry." His wife replied, “God be with thee, dear Rowland: I will, with God's grace, meet thee at Hadleigh!" At this moving scene the sheriff and many of his attendants were melted into

tears.

While Dr. Taylor was kept waiting at the inn for the sheriff of Essex, his wife made another attempt to see him. This, however, the sheriff of London could not permit; but he kindly offered her an asylum in his own house. She declined this, and went to her mother's, whom the officers charged to keep her till they came again. On coming out, in custody of the sheriff of Essex, Dr. Taylor saw his son, and his faithful servant John Hull. He blessed them, and bade them farewell.

At Brentwood, an inhabitant of Hadleigh, who had once been in Dr. Taylor's service, met him, and supposing him to be at liberty, came to him to congratulate him. For this the sheriff rebuked him, and threatened him with punishment. And then, to prevent his prisoner from being recognised, he had made for him a kind of close hood, with holes for his eyes and mouth. Thus disguised, it was impossible for any one to know him. Yet was the martyr all the way very merry and joyful, as one that accounted himself going to a most pleasant banquet or bridal. He spoke much to the sheriff and guards, causing them sometimes to weep, through his affectionate expostulations with them, and sometimes to rejoice and wonder, at seeing him so constant and stedfast, void of all fear, joyful in heart, and glad to die.

At Chelmsford they found the sheriff of Suffolk, who was to attend him to his execution. And at sup

per that night the two sheriffs endeavoured to persuade him to recant. They represented the favour and reputation he had previously enjoyed with the great: they reminded him that he might possibly yet live many years; they assured him, that if he would reconcile himself to the Pope, he should attain more than all his former credit. Dr. Taylor appears to have been of a jocose disposition, and, even at a crisis like this, he could not altogether rein in his humour. He seemed to be considering a little while their arguments, and then he said, "I heartily thank you for your good will. I have hearkened to your words, and marked well your counsels. And, to be plain with you, I do perceive that I have been deceived myself, and am like to deceive a great many of Hadleigh of their expectation." The sheriffs were rejoiced at this, and thought that he consented to their wish; but when one of them inquired more particularly his meaning, he replied, "I will tell you; I thought my body should have been buried in Hadleigh churchyard, if I had died in my bed, as I well hoped I should have done; but herein I see I was deceived. And there are a great number of worms in Hadleigh churchyard, which should have had good feeding upon this carcass, which they have looked for many a day. But now I know we be deceived, both I and they: for this carcass must be burnt to ashes, and so shall they lose their bait and feeding, that they looked to have had of it." When the company heard him say so, adds the historian, they were amazed, and looked one on another, marvelling at the man's constant mind, that thus, without all fear, made but a jest at the cruel torment and death, now at hand, prepared for him.

At Lanham, or Lavenham, where the sheriff of Suffolk kept him two days, fresh endeavours were used to induce him to recant. Many gentlemen and justices of the neighbourhood came to him, and promised him a bishopric if he would but yield; but their labour was in vain. He had not built his house upon the sand, in peril of falling at every breath of wind, but upon the sure and immovable rock, Christ. Wherefore he abode constant to the end.

At length, being come within two miles of Hadleigh, Dr. Taylor, dismounting from his horse, began literally to leap for joy. "Doctor," said the sheriff, "how do you now?" He answered, "Well, God be praised, good master sheriff: never better-for now I know I am almost at home. I lack not past two stiles to go over, and I am even at my Father's house. But shall we not go through Hadleigh?" "Yes," said the sheriff, "you shall go through Hadleigh." "Then," said he, "O good Lord, I thank thee, I shall yet once, ere I die, see my flock, whom thou, Lord, knowest I have most heartily loved, and truly taught. Good Lord, bless them, and keep them stedfast in thy word and truth." When they entered Hadleigh, the streets were crowded with men, women, and children. And when they beheld him so led to death, with weeping eyes and lamentable voices, they cried out, "O dear father and good shepherd, Dr. Taylor, God help and succour thee! Ah! good Lord, there goeth our good shepherd from us, that so faithfully hath taught us, so fatherly hath cared for us, and so godly hath governed us. O merciful God, what shall we poor scattered lambs do? Good Lord, strengthen him, and comfort

him." And Dr. Taylor said continually to the people, "I have preached to you God's word and truth, and am come this day to seal it with my blood." And then he threw to the poor, in the alms-houses, the little money remaining of that which had been given him in his imprisonment.

At last, coming to Aldham common, and seeing a great multitude collected there, he asked, "What place is this? and what meaneth it that so much people are gathered hither?" He was told, "It is Aldham common, the place where you must suffer; and the people are come to look upon you." "Then," said he, "thanked be God, I am even at home;" and so lighted from his horse, and with his own hands rent the hood from his head. Then when the people saw his reverend face and long white beard, they burst forth into loud lamentations, and said, "God save thee, good Dr. Taylor: Jesus Christ strengthen thee and help thee the Holy Ghost comfort thee." When he would have replied to them, the yeomen of the guard thrust staves into his mouth: and when he asked permission of the sheriff to speak, the sheriff refused him, and bade him remember his promise to the council. This, it is supposed, referred to a threat that the martyrs' tongues should be cut out, if they would not promise to keep silence at their death-for the papists feared lest their dying exhortations should confirm the people in the truth. Then Dr. Taylor put off his clothes to his shirt, and gave them away. And while he was saying with a loud voice, “Good people, I have taught you nothing but God's holy word, and those lessons that I have taken out of God's blessed book, the holy Bible; and I am come hither this day to seal it with my blood," one of the guard brutally struck him on the head, and said, "Is that the keeping of thy promise, thou heretic?" Dr: Taylor, secing he might not speak, kneeled down and prayed; and a woman of the crowd kneeled with him, and persisted in praying too, though they threatened for it to tread her down with horses. When the martyr rose, he kissed the stake, and placed himself in a pitch-barrel, and, folding his hands, and lifting his eyes to heaven, prayed again. Then he was bound with chains; but the man first ordered to set up the faggots, could not be prevailed on to do it. At last, four persons of bad character came to make the fire; and one of them cruelly cast a faggot at him with such force that the blood ran down his face. "O friend (said the meek martyr), I have harm enough what needed that?" Then, while he was repeating a psalm in English, a gentleman who stood by struck him on the lips, and said, "Knave, speak Latin: I will make thee." And when they kindled the fire, Dr. Taylor, holding up both his hands, called upon God, and said: "Merciful Father of heaven, for Jesus Christ my Saviour's sake, receive my soul into thy hands." Then he stood still without crying or moving, his hands being folded together, till one with a halbert struck him on the head, that the brains fell out, and the dead corpse fell down into the fire.

"Thus rendered this man of God his blessed soul into the hands of his merciful Father, and to his most dear and certain Saviour Jesus Christ, whom he most entirely loved, faithfully and earnestly preached, obediently followed in living, and constantly glorified in

death." "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them."

S.

THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. Extracted from the Substance of an Address on the right Use and Application of Knowledge, delivered to the Mechanics of Manchester, at their Institution in that town, by JOSEPH JOHN GURNEY.

I

THE doctrines of Christianity are founded on facts; and those facts are the subject of testimony. And we are sure that the facts are true, and therefore that the doctrines resting on them are divine, because the testimony in question is at once abundant in quantity and sound in character. I cannot now enter on a detailed account of the historical evidence by which are proved the genuineness of the Holy Scriptures, and the reality of the events which are there recorded. But since you are accustomed to receive the testimony of your lecturers with implicit confidence, I beg of you, on the present occasion, to accept my own. believe I am an honest man, and I have long been accustomed to investigate the subject. I am ready, then, to declare in your presence-in the presence of all Manchester-of all England-of all Europe-nay, of the whole world-that there are no facts whatsoever within the whole range of ancient history, of the truth of which we have more abundant and conclusive evidence, than of the DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. Indeed, I know of no ancient events en record, of which the evidence is nearly so much accumulated, or nearly so strong.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ, together with the miracles of Christ himself and his apostles, are our sure vouchers that the Author of nature, who can alone suspend or reverse its order, was the Author of Christianity. These miracles bore no resemblance to the false pretences of the fanatical and superstitious. They were for the most part immediate in their operation,-wrought in public,-utterly incapable of being accounted for by second causes,--and of so broad and conspicuous a character, that no deliberate eye-witness could be deceived respecting them. Nor were they, in point of fact, improbable events. Who will deny that the dark and degraded condition of mankind required an outward revelation of the Divine will? Who will not allow that miracles are a suitable test,--the most suitable one which we can imagine,--by which the truth of such a revelation might be established ? Who does not perceive that under such circumstances it was credible-nay, highly probable--that God would permit or ordain them?

True, indeed, it is, that they were directly opposed to the course of nature. Otherwise they would not have been miracles-they would not have answered their purpose! But is it not equally opposed to the known order of things, that an honest man, in bearing witness to these facts, should tell a deliberate lie? Is it not yet more at variance with that order, that he should persevere in that lie through life, and sacrifice every worldly advantage, and even life itself, to the support of it? Is it not a far greater breach of every established probability, that twelve men, of the same virtuous character, should all tell this lie-should all persevere in it without deviation-should all sacrifice their property, their peace, and their reputationshould all be willing to lay down their lives in its maintenance? Is it not, lastly, an actual moral impossibility that this lie, accompanied by no temporal force and no worldly advantage, but by every species of loss and affliction, should triumph over the prejudices of the Jew and the favourite habits of the Gentile-should be accepted and believed by myriads and should, finally, enthrone itself over the whole Roman empire?

But the truth of Christianity does not depend solely on those miraculous facts to which we have now adverted. Prophecy duly fulfilled is itself a miracle, equally applicable to the proof of religion; and the Scriptures abound in predictions, of which history has already recorded the fulfilment. The events by which many of them have been fulfilled-for example, the spread of Christianity, and the dispersion of the Jews --are familiar to us all.

I wish I could persuade you to examine the prophecies scattered over the Old Testament, and meeting us at every point in a most unartificial manner, respecting the Messiah who was to come. I wish I could induce you to compare them with the history of his birth, life, character, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension, contained in the four Gospels. You would find the prophecy and the history tally with a marvellous precision; and since the Old Testament can be proved to have been written long before the coming of Christ, you would find yourself in possession of an evidence of which no cavils could deprive you, that Christianity is God's religion. When a lock and a key are well fitted, a fair presumption arises, even though they be of a simple character, that they were made for each other. If they are complex in their forms, that presumption is considerably strengthened. But if the lock is composed of such strange and curious parts as to baffle the skill even of a Manchester mechanic-if it is absolutely novel and peculiar, differing from every thing which was ever before seen in the world-if no key in the universe will enter it, except one, and by that one it is so easily and exactly fitted, that a child may open it,-then, indeed, are we absolutely certain that the lock and the key were made by the same master-hand, and truly belong to each other. No less curiously diversified-no less hidden from the wisdom of man-no less novel and peculiar are the prophecies contained in the Old Testament respecting Jesus Christ. No less easyno less exact-is the manner in which they are fitted by the Gospel history! Who, then, can doubt that God was the Author of these predictions-of the events by which they were fulfilled-and of the religion with which they are both inseparably connected?

But, independently of all outward testimony, and of the evidence of miracles and prophecy, Christianity proclaims its own divine origin by its character and its effects. On this subject we appeal to your native good sense, to your practical feelings, to your personal experience. Christianity is the religion of truth, because it is the religion of holiness. In vain will the student search the pages of Plato and Aristotle-in vain will he examine the conversations of Socrates-in vain will he dive into the disputations of Cicerofor a moral system so complete, so simple, and so efficacious, as that of the Bible. Where, within the whole range of uninspired ethics, shall we find any thing worthy even of a moment's comparison with that divine saying, in which the whole law of God is comprehended and concentrated? "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

Accustomed, as many of you are, in your factories, to the printing of a thousand beautiful patterns on your cottons and your muslins, you will be at no loss to understand and appreciate a memorable saying of Lord Bacon's, "that truth differs from goodness only as the seal or dye differs from its print-for that

TRUTH PRINTS GOODNESS."

In the goodness of Christianity-in the purity of its law-in its display of the holy attributes of Godin its revelation of an awful and glorious eternityin its actual efficiency for the moral restoration of our species-in the perfect fitness of that Saviour whom it unfolds to our spiritual need, as sinners in the sight of God-we have abundant experimental proof of its truth

and divine origin. Time forbids a further discussion of the subject. Allow me, then, in conclusion, to bear my deliberate and solemn testimony in the words of an apostle-and may that testimony, by whomsoever borne, satisfy all understandings and imbue all hearts! May it be upheld and exalted on every side! May it surmount all opposition-may it pervade the whole land-may it spread from pole to pole-may it be as unrestrained and diffusive as the winds of heaven!

"OTHER FOUNDATION CAN NO MAN LAY THAN THAT IS LAID, WHICH IS JESUS CHRIST."

CHRISTIAN STEDFASTNESS:

A Sermon,

BY THE REV. JOHN NORMAN PEARSON, M.A.

Islington.

1 THESS. iii. 8.

"For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord." THIS earnest and affectionate language is addressed by the great apostle to the Christians in Thessalonica. By the blessing of God, he had been the instrument of great good among them. Though he appears, from the account preserved in the Acts of the Apostles, to have met with some hard usage, and some discouragements, in their city, yet his ministry there appears, upon the whole, to have furnished him with many a delightful recollection. It was there that "of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few," received the Gospel of Christ Jesus, and entered into fellowship with the apostles. In the letter written to them after his departure, St. Paul reminds them of the tenderness and zeal with which he had laboured to promote their eternal interests. "We were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children so being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the Gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.” And this pious affection, this holy solicitude, which he felt towards them when present, was not in the least abated by absence. The charity which flows from religious principle is exempt from that frailty and decay to which mere natural affection is liable. Those whom we love for Jesus Christ's sake, we shall continue to love while he remains dear to us. Accordingly, when St. Paul is separated from the Thessalonians, his heart is still set upon them as tenderly as ever. If any trial or persecution befal them, he cannot rest until he has learnt whether they have sustained it with unshaken constancy. Is he himself cast into a furnace of affliction? He can bear it patiently, yea joyfully, provided it bring no spiritual hurt to his beloved converts. He lives, when they stand fast in the Lord. Let him be hungry and thirsty, naked and buffeted, reviled and persecuted; let him" die daily,"

"bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus;" yet still he lives, his soul is full of divine animation,-if he can but witness the stedfastness of those, for whose sake he is willing to be offered up in any way and at any moment. I will not repeat all the emphatic declarations, in which the apostle pours out the fulness of his devout and affectionate heart. That these declarations were not insincere, or exaggerated, every act of his life evinced. It is not enough for him to have done his duty before God, and to have satisfied his conscience; but he longs to see the vineyard, in which he has been called to labour, abound with strong and flourishing plants. So deeply is he concerned for the souls of others, that at times he seems hardly willing to accept of salvation for himself, unless he may share it with those who are precious to him as the sucking babe to its mother. He lives, when the souls of which he deems himself the spiritual father live also.

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With a view to ascertain whether we, my friends, as minister and people, have good reason to rejoice together, let us begin by considering what the apostle means by standing fast in the Lord. A Christian, you know, is said to be in Christ. His union with the Saviour is described in many forcible and expressive figures. He is said to put on the Lord Jesus Christ; to be grafted into him; to be built upon him. These forms of speech denote respectively the nature, the source, and the support of a believer's holiness. And, by a similar metaphor, we may be aptly said "stand fast in the Lord," so long as, by faith in him, we adhere to the doctrines of the Gospel, and adorn it by a virtuous and holy behaviour. The apostle Peter, after deploring the misconduct of unstable professors, exhorts the brethren to beware of "falling from their own stedfastness;" the opposite to which state of instability and falling away he sets forth by the expression, "Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." And, certainly, if growth in the knowledge of Christ, and in gracious affections and practices, be not the exact opposite to instability, it is at least indispensable to preserve us from it. For, any decline in the love and practice of true religion is contrary to the state of "standing fast in the Lord." Now, unless we are daily advancing in what constitutes the new creature, we are suffering loss. In fact, there is no such being as stationary Christian. Standing fast, it is therefore unnecessary to remark, is not put in opposition to the progressive walk of true believers, but to a wavering and backsliding condition. All those who are rooted and

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