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THE

CHRISTIAN COURSE.

2 TIMOTHY IV. 7.

I HAVE FINISHED MY COURSE.

THE journey of life is solemn and important. Every person born into the world acts his part, finishes his course, and passes away to appear before his God in eternal judgment. The wicked are driven away in their wickedness; while the righteous have hope in their death. The text selected is the triumphant language of Paul, though a prisoner at Rome by the cruel Nero, waiting the executioner's bloody hand to put him to death. A striking instance this of the power of grace in affording the most admirable composure and undaunted courage while the awful appendages of violent death were immediately before his eyes! Nor was this the sudden impulse of the mind on the exigency of the case. About five years before this, when he was at Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. To them he appealed as witnesses of his humility and tears; of his temptations and sufferings; of his fidelity in preaching repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. On that occasion he assured them, although he was confident future bonds and afflictions awaited him, none of these things moved him ; he counted not his life dear unto himself, so that he might fiuish his course with joy, and the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus; and thus testify the gospel of the grace of God. (Acts xx.) After a lapse of time, it pleased God in his providence that Paul, for preaching the gospel, should become a prisoner at Rome. While in his chains, knowing that the time of his departure was at hand, he wrote this second epistle to his beloved Timothy to direct and animate him in the faithful discharge of his important duties in

the house of God: at the same time, in order to console and support him on his hearing of the violent death which the apostle should have endured, he assured him of his confidence and joy in the following animated lines: I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give unto me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing. While these assurances were admirably calculated to assuage the pangs of anguish in the breast of young Timothy under the loss of Paul the aged: the sentiments themselves have often been verified in the death of many faithful servants of Jesus Christ; and still remain a charming incitement to every minister of the gospel who, in the correct discharge of his duty, looks for a crown of righteousness from the hand of his Lord.

It is a sentiment, of the truth of which we cannot but be persuaded, that no man can be a good minister of Jesus Christ unless he be a real christian. If he himself is unacquainted with the christian course, it is not probable that he would be able to direct and facilitate others who are pursuing the path to future happiness. The course of Paul exemplifies the christian and the minister combined. But as our deceased brother was in the more private walks of life, it will be more proper in the two first parts of the discourse to treat the subject in relation to the children of God in general. In the other, in order to elucidate the whole paragraph connected with the text, it will be requisite to view Paul the christian, the minister, and the apostle, closing the scenes of his life in prospect of immortality and glory. I shall, therefore direct your attention to

THE COMMENCEMENT,

THE PROGRESS, and

THE PERIOD OF THE CHRISTIAN COURSE.

After this discussion, I shall recite some of the more material circumstances which have occurred in the life of our departed friend.

I. THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN COURSE. You all know, that without life there can be no motion. And

it is equally certain from scripture and fact, that by nature, as well as by the violated law of our God, we are dead in trespasses and sins; therefore, unless an atonement be made for us, and we be made alive by the Spirit of Christ, it is absolutely impossible to commence the christian course, much less to finish such a course with joy. If there be no beginning, there can surely be no end. Our Lord Jesus settled this point with Nicodemus; for he assured him that except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. That it is in God we live, move, and have our being, is a moral, as well as a scriptural truth; so obvious that none but an atheist would call it in question. But how God could, consistently with his offended justice, quicken the soul of man, which is alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in him because of the blindness of his heart, and which is as morally dead to the offices of spiritual life as a corpse in its grave is to the functions of animal existence, can be ascertained only from the revelation made in the gospel of his grace.

As this is a subject of important interest, I will detain you a few moments in its explanation. In the pages of divine revelation, we are assured that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Christ commenced his cOURSE of obedience and suffering, which terminated in his death upon the cross; thereby magnifying the law of our offended God, and making it honourable by his atoning blood. After which, he arose from the dead, ascended into heaven as our forerunner, there to appear in the presence of God for us. Upon this, therefore, as a solid ground, the christian course is founded. Christ is our life; and through him, flows that new life to the soul, justly condemned in itself to everlasting death. As a proof of this, receive the testimony of Peter: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Christ is therefore our judicial, spiritual, and eternal life. granted. But how this life is to be communicated to s

This i

in order to its living to God, and commencing the christian course? I reply

The Spirit giveth life. (2 Cor. iii. 6.) It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing. (John. vi. 63.) Various opinions have been advanced on the operation of the Divine Spirit, in communicating spiritual life to a soul dead in trespasses and sins. But, the generation of the first man, Adam, is a sufficient directory to me to understand the regene. ration of a sinner. The body of Adam was formed of the earth, and perfectly inanimate until the vital principle, by the breath of the Almighty, was breathed into his nostrils. Then the whole animal machine was set in motion, and man became a living soul, in the exercise of all its sublime faculties and powers. In like manner, the soul of man, as sinful, is as inanimate towards God as was the body of Adam, until the Spirit of the Lord communicates the new, vital principle of grace, by which, in scripture language, it becomes regenerate, is born again, breathes and lives as in a new world, progressively exercising faith, hope, love and joy, with every other attendant motion and passion; and is thus a new creature in Christ Jesus. Now the soul begins to live to God in the exercise of the spiritual senses of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, smelling, the good and gracious realities of the gospel of the Lord Jesus, unknown and unfelt before. How greathow glorious the change! Born again, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God; thereby receiving power, or privilege to become a child of God. Although life be animated existence, and many of its properties are far beyond our comprehension, it is known by its motion and effects. This can be as well ascertained as the botanist can describe vegetative, or the anatomist animal life. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

Saul of Tarsus was a stranger to the christian life until the Lord met him in the way going to Damascus. He was an inveterate enemy to Christ, and to all who called upon his name. But when the great light from heaven shone around about him,

and the voice of Jesus penetrated his heart, the struggle of his new life became manifest; and he was required to go to Damascus, where he whould be informed what he should do. This may be denominated Saul's conviction. Some days after this, Ananias came to him with a message of mercy from the Lord in answer to his prayer; he arose, he was obedient in baptism, and straitway preached the faith which he once attempted to destroy. This may be called his conversion; and this is the history of Paul's commencing his new and christian course. However, as this apostle has given us a sentimental account of the nature and operations of his spiritual life, by which he commenced as well as finished his course, it is not improper that I should make a selection of a few passages on the subject from his own writings. It pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Ithrough the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Here you perceive Paul confesses his moral death, as a sinner; the Spirit of life in Christ liberated his soul from its bondage; his new life was by faith of that Christ who lived in him; the meritorious cause of this was his interest in the crucifixion of the Son of God, who loved him, and, the design of the whole was, that he might live unto God.

You now must be convinced that God, in Christ, by his Spirit, is the author and giver of regenerating life, and that its effects will be more or less evident in pursuing a course honourable to God, and delightful to the possessor. The communication of this spiritual principle of life is the same in all; but the exertion of it admits of variations, according to the natural texture of the mind, the indulgence of former habits, or the providential circumstances which may have attended conversion.

Paul was indeed a pattern of the long-suffering of God. This, however, is not the case with respect to the history of his conversion; no other person, whether before or

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