to dull the edge of human regrets--to fill up the gaping, frightful void in their imagination? They had left behind them the old and known world, and were embarked in quest of distant lands, steering an untried course- devoted voyagers of faith and hope-and what reflection was there to support their fortitude, to refresh their spirits, and preserve their fidelity, but the thought that the troubled sea on which they were tossed was bearing them to a fairer region? And what could captivate their eyes, and raise their shouts of joy, but the tokens of their approaching it-the plants of its soil which at length were seen to float upon the surges?

It may be added, that so complete a sacrifice of earthly happiness, and devotion to a life of suffering, must have lent an incitement to that holiness of character, and that determined resistance of corrupt propensities, which constitutes the proper ground of Christian assurance, the only sure prognostic of our salvation. Having, at once and for ever, renounced the world, and accounting its pleasures and enjoyments as irrecoverably gone, they fought the evil that was in it at a great advantage. An historian remarks of the heroes of Thermopylæ, that "they smote their ene

mies like men who fought in revenge for their death."* The first soldiers of Christ were inspired with a kindred spirit in their conflict with the world. Dead to it in their own persuasion, they warred against it with a single determination to vindicate the cause of truth and righteousness, to uphold the honour of the Christian name, and to cover themselves with eternal glory.

If the distinction pointed out between the circumstances of the first Christians and our own, be correct and substantial, we have, together with a signal, triumphant testimony to the power of our religion, a considerable explanation of the disparity of our feelings, as compared with theirs, in the prospect of immortality. Our governing principles of action must be identical with those by which they were swayed: we must decidedly prefer the service of our Redeemer to any pleasures or advantages which the world can yield us : we must mainly pursue our future and eternal welfare. But if the prospect of suffering and dying for the cause of Christ, imposed upon them the necessity of very greatly relaxing

* ... Cædunt, sternuntque omnia; ut qui sciant se pugnare non spe victoriæ, sed in mortis ultionem. — Just. lib. ii. c. 11.

their earthly attachments, or, rather, of dissevering them altogether-of spurning and trampling under foot the ordinary objects of desire and expectation; then it was a natural consequence that their feelings, with regard to a future life, should have been of a more determined and fervent character than our own. Such a condition of obtaining salvation must have brought with it a powerful impulse to the natural desire of immortality, together with an urgent sense of the opposition to be overcome in order to its realization; inspiring an unusual ardour in the prosecution of the Christian warfare; giving rise to an era of religious achievement and daring-to what may be termed the heroic age of Christianity. It must be obvious, that if we be not required to meet that particular test by which they were tried in the service of our Redeemerto be in immediate and constant preparation for the endurance of suffering, and the willing sacrifice of our lives-if the pursuit of our salvation be consistent with the comforts and endearments of our earthly state, then the love of life will, of necessity, exert and strengthen itself as a part of our nature, adhere to us by the force of habit, and divide our affections with the hopes of a better world.

It is still, and ever must be, the part of wisdom to tutor the mind, as much as lieth in us, to an indifference to the world" that now is:" but, in the first Christians, this principle was put into active operation at the commencement of their religious course; was continually wrought into the habit of their minds by the conduct imposed upon them; and was consequently strengthening every day of their lives. With us it is left, in a very great measure, to be acquired by studious and habitual reflection.

We have dwelt upon this peculiarity in the circumstances of the first Christians for two

reasons:

In the first place, the consideration of it should allay any inquietude of conscience towards God, any doubt of his gracious acceptance of our worship and service, which may have been awakened, not by the commission of known sin, not by a practical disregard of religion, but by the mere apprehension of a defect of liveliness in the hope of immortality, or the want of that joy at the nearer approach of our salvation, which, it might seem reasonable to conclude, those would feel who were sincerely concerned to obtain it, and really believed themselves

warranted by the word of God to expect it; and which was in reality experienced by many, whose steps we profess to follow, and who now "through faith and patience inherit the promises." It is surely important that such a state of our minds, relative to a future life, should be ascribed to its true source, and that no imaginary barrier should be interposed to the most ready communion with the Father of our spirits, and the firmest assurance of our eternal salvation.

At the same time it is essential to observe, that we should greatly misconceive this difference between ourselves and the first believers of the Gospel-we should give it a most undue and pernicious prominence, were we to deduce from it any excuse for that impatience and dejection, that want of fortitude and resignation to the will of God, which, it must be confessed, so many of us betray, when called to endure affliction; to bear the loss of wealth or friends; to suffer pain of body; or to face the apparently near approach of death. It is admitted and indisputable, that the complexion of thought induced by a profession of the Gospel, at the period of its first promulgation, was of such a nature as to nourish an actual desire