THE NEARNESS OF SALVATION A MOTIVE FOR CHRISTIAN ACTIVITY. While with ceaseless course the sun, Never more to meet us here; Fixt in an immortal state, They have done with all below; We a little longer wait, But how little none can know. "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." Rom. xiii. 11. IT was said on one occasion by Him that spake as never man spake, the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light." A slight acquaintance with mankind will convince us of the truth of this affecting declaration. The children of this world pursue the objects which they conceive to be important with a steadier aim, with warmer zeal, and with more undeviating perseverance. They are merely intent on acquiring objects that perish with the using; and yet, with what solicitude they form their plans, and with what care and diligence they execute them! No time is spared, no means are untried, and no exertions withheld, which are calculated to promote their designs. If one expedient fails, they resort to another. If they do not succeed at home, they say, "Today, or to-morrow, we will go in to such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain." The children of light profess to be seeking those things which are infinite in their value, and eternal in their duration. And yet, alas! how often are they diverted from these pursuits by trifles light as air! how soon they are discouraged! how readily they seize on some excuse to justify their inactivity and sloth! If we did not see this strange inconsistency between their professions and conduct. and if we were not often conscious of it as it respects ourselves, we could scarcely credit the fact. The only way we can account for it is, that christians are christians are the subjects of much remaining depravity. Their hearts are not wholly sanctified, They have a law in their members warring against the law of their minds and bringing them into captivity to the law of sin. They have appetites and passions which war against the soul, and so far as these gain the ascendency, they palsy the spiritual energies of believers, and produce that moral torpor, against which they are so frequently cautioned in the divine word. When they become engrossed with the cares of the world, and allured by the phantoms of prosperity, they seem for a season to forget God. They are all activity in the pursuits of life, but as to religion, a deep sleep seems to have fallen upon them. Christians are sometimes surrounded by objects which have such a chilling influence on the life of religion in the soul, that every spiritual exercise appears to be congealed. Example has a great influence over the feelings and conduct. And such are the imperfections of the christian character, that we are more prone to imitate those whose attainments are comparatively small, than those who are eminently pious and holy. If we see one christian professor folding his arms and at ease, we are ready to imagine that we may indulge in sloth without much criminality. The five foolish virgins slumbered and slept, and the wise felt the contagious influence, and also slept. Thus it is frequently the case, that instead of taking the word of God as the rule of our conduct, we imitate the example of others, and indulge ourselves in indolence and sleep. Surrounded by so many temptations to indulgence and sloth, it is important that every alarming, and every animating consideration should be employed to awaken Christians to a sense of their danger. But as the limits usually assigned to communications for the Magazine will not allow us to dwell on the sinfulnessthe misery-and guilt of slug gishness in religious concerns, แ The near approximation of the objects of hope, should lead us to shake off all our feelings of irresolution and sloth; and incite us to zeal and activity in the cause of Christ. This is a direct appeal to the hope of a Christian, which is admitted to be one of the most quickening and active principles in the human soul. He is reminded that he has passed over part of his difficult journeythat he will soon arrive at its termination, and enter on the full enjoyment of heaven. When the attainment of an object appears distant and very uncertain, a person becomes dispir ited and languid. He feels as if exertion were useless, and folds his arms in despair, glad if he can find repose from his anxieties in sleep. See that wreck of a veson the ocean-the water sel hourly increasing upon it-no sail in sight-and nothing but one broad expanse of waters visiblein vain does the commander urge to renewed exertion. his men They sit down, a sad and silent group, waiting their awful fate. But in this state of forlorn hope, land is descried. O how changed are their feelings now! When the first shock produced by a transition from despair to transport has subsided, all is activity and zeal. The little strength remaining is put forth to the utmost. Every command of the superior officer is obeyed to the extent of which nature is capa ble. When they feel that the vessel moves, and is approaching to the place of their deliverance, it gives them new and almost supernatural strength. Apply this representation to the case of the Christian. Do his duties appear so arduous, his trials so great, and heaven so distant, that he begins to relax his exertions, to sit down in despondency, and fold his arms to sleep? Let him hear the language of the apostle: "It is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." As if he had said, "You have already surmounted many of the difficulties by the way; you are actually nearer heaven than when you first believed. Take the telescope of divine truth, look through it with an eye of faith, and you will see the land of immortal bliss just before you; let, therefore, a consideration of the dangers you have passed, and the delightful prospects which are immediately before, induce you to banish every indolent feeling, and stimulate you to the most vigorous and persevering exertions. Your happiness, and your character for christian wisdom, firmness and zeal, are connected with the active and determined course you will now pursue." When a passenger has been long at sea, and hears the cry of "land, land," he starts from his slumbers, and is immediately on deck; or if there be an expectation of seeing it, he is up with the dawn, and his eyes are fixed on that quarter of the horizon where it will first appear. And shall we be inactive, drowsy, or in a state of moral sleep, when we are assured that every moment we are drawing nearer and nearer to the port of eternal rest? No: We shall surely press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Just views of the nearness of salvation will cause us to lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, that we may run with patience the race that is set before us. A consideration of the little time which is left us to be active for God, should waken us from our sleep. Our salvation is nearer than when we believed. How near we cannot tell. Perhaps much nearer than we may imagine. Death may have received his commission to make those inroads on our frames which shall speedily bring us to the dust. Since the commencement of the last year, many of our Christian friends have entered into rest, and before the close of this, our bodies may be conveyed to the congregation of the dead. If, then, we are daily approaching nearer the eternal world; if we may very soon take possession of the inheritance prepared for us in heaven, should we not think it high time to awake out of sleep? The little span allotted for us is the only time we shall have on earth to exhibit the influence of grace on our hearts; it is the only opportunity afforded us there, to manifest our love and gratitude to Christ; or to do good to the bodies and souls of our fellow men. The wise man might well say, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom. in the grave whither thou goest." When the apostle cautions the Corinthians against inordinate attachments and worldly cares, he refers to the shortness of life as an argument why we should rise superior to these objects: "But this I say, brethren, the time is short; it remaineth that both they that have wives be as tho' they had none; and they that weep as though they wept not; and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy as though they possessed not; and they that use this world as not abusing it; for the fashion of this world passeth away." Consistency of character requires that from a conviction of the nearness of salvation, we should awake out of sleep. We profess to be Christians, to be dead to the world, and to have our treasure in heaven., It is, therefore, high time that we should act more in accordance with the principles we profess, and the hopes we cherish. As we are the children of light, and not of darkness, we should not sleep as do others, lest the day of the Lord come upon us unawares. We act inconsistently with our Christian profession, when we allow the unpleasant occurrences of the way to distract our minds; when in pursuit of earthly riches we forget our portion in the skies; when we recline on the lap of pleasure; or, like Bunyan's Pilgrim, sleep on the enchanted ground. When some fatal disease finds the Christian immersed in the world, and asleep as to the state of his soul, he awakes as from a dream, acknowledges and laments his inconsistency of character. If, then, any of our Christian readers are thus asleep, "It is high time to awake, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." A regard to personal comfort should cause us to awake out of sleep, seeing our salvation is nearer than when we believed. Though all who believe in Christ are equally secure, yet all have not the same tranquillity and joy on a bed of death. The state of the mind will in some measure correspond with the previous walk and character of the Christian. If he has made himself, by his contemplations, familiar with death; if he has habitually held intercourse with Heaven; if he has been looking for the glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus; we may expect to see him die, full of hope and consolation. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." But if the Christian has thought little of death; if he has had but little intercourse with Heaven, it will be no wonder if he should be distracted with doubts and fears. What must be the feelings of that professor who is suddenly attacked with some fatal disease, and yet is conscious that he is in a backslidden state; that he has been living in the neglect of duty, and indulging a spirit in direct hostility to the meek and lowly religion of Jesus Christ! Should he receive the summons of death while journeying on the Sabbath, or amid scenes of festivity and mirth, how alarmed must be his conscience, what sensations of shame, regret, and guilt must agitate his bosom ! There must be deep searchings of heart, and deep penitence and humility in the sight of God, before peace and tranquillity are restored to his soul. What must have been the feelings of the wise and foolish virgins, when, aroused from their sleep by some indistinct sounds, they heard the cry"Behold the Bridegroom cometh!" How confused-how mortified-bow ashamed they must have been! It was expected they would be waiting, adorned in their appropriate attire, with their lamps trimmed and burning bright, ready to pay their obeisance, and then join the Marriage train. We may easily imagine they would say to each other, What shall we do? How can we appear in his presence after treating him with so much coldness and disrespect? How can any one think that we love or honour him, when found asleep under such circumstances?" Such will be the self-accusations of the christian, if found asleep when the Bridegroom of the Church makes his approach. The grace and mercy of the Redeemer may permit him to enter into the marriage supper of the Lamb; but O how much more honourable, how much more pleasant to the Christian, not to be taken by surpriseasleep-his lamp gone out-but waiting for the coming of his Lord! Our blessed Saviour has condescended to exhort his disciples to be thus waiting. He entreats them to honour their Lord by looking and watching for his approachi Luke xii 35-38. "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediate ly. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants." ON DISCERNING BETWEEN THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED. world as heaven and hell, there must be an amazing disparity of character in this life, to form the basis of the broad and fearful difference in their future lot; but since the dissimilitude of present character is scarcely perceptible in many cases, the inference is easy, that it is impossible their condition should lie on such opposite extremes hereafter. We are compelled to confess that this reasoning, though grounded upon a false assumption, is yet abundant in plausibility and extensive in mischief. It gives an easy conscience to many. who might oth erwise be startled from their deadly slumbers of sin into a life of consideration and piety, and it emboldens others to attack and impugn the very principles of our faith. It frustrates the efforts of the ministry, and repels the force of every argument employed to draw men to the exercise of repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a remissness among the avowed advocates of the cause of God, and this supplies unbelievers with an argument; and there is, on the other hand, a captions spirit among unbelievers, by which they are induced to turn every thing to the worst account. We should certainly accomplish an important work could we succeed in reducing within the limits of just definition all the traits of character by which the people of God are known from the world. We night then exhibit a distinction which would put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, and force conviction upon the most skeptical. But it so happens that when we assert the pre-eminence of the righteous, we are obliged to resort to a method of proof, known and appreciated only by themselves; our arguments therefore can hardly be expect |