GREAT SALVATION OF THE GOSPEL, IS ON THE OTHER HAND, AN INFINITE LOSER-"But if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it."

I. I need hardly say to such a congregation as this, that an entire subjection of the heart to God is throughout the whole Scripture represented as the only true wisdom. It is wisdom in the abstract, thus: "The fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding." It is wisdom contrasted with every other acquisition. "This is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."

When I speak of religion, brethren, perhaps I may be better understood by saying, that I mean that which is summarily comprehended in the term faith in Jesus Christ. Religion is a vague term, which may be applied to that which is true, that which is false, or that which is formal. I mean, by it, that faith in Jesus Christ which is the entire submission of the heart to him, and a practical devotedness of the life to his service. That belief which takes Jesus Christ as he is set forth in the Scriptures, a Saviour, an all-sufficient, an only, an atoning, an Almighty Saviour, as "righteousness, sanctification, and redemption," which builds on the only foundation; and that which embodies the exhortation of the Apostle-"present your bodies a living sacrifice unto God, holy, acceptable in his sight;" that which exemplifies the language of Paul-"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"-that which is connected with the repentance of the Gospel, and has learned from Christ the import of his declaration"Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be

born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." This is true wisdom in the abstract, and contrasted with all things else. But the proverb places it before us in another sense. It is not only understood in the abstract-it is not only wisdom contrasted with every thing else, but it is wisdom of a peculiar personal, individual importance. He that is wise, is wise for himself. The man who gives up his heart to Jesus Christ is an infinite gainer.

II. This may be said to be an unworthy motive. It is a matter of little importance with me what it is, so long as it is the language of Scripture. It is decidedly the language of the text. Mark, my friends, the man who being truly religious, is not a gainer by it, as by a purchase-no such thing. If a benefactor offers me a valuable present and I take it, I am a gainer by it, though without purchase. So of religion; its benefits are the purchase of the blood of Jesus Christ, and by him freely offered. He who takes them is a gainer, obviously, not by merit, but by grace. Let us see how then he is wise for himself.

1. The man who truly gives up his heart to God, accepts Jesus Christ as his Saviour, and takes him for a master, gains the possession of the elements of present happiness. It is a declaration of God himself, however it may be disputed by the ignorance and the perversity of men, "that godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life which now is, and that which is to come." He who, in his entire subjection to Jesus Christ, acquires a conscience of reconciliation with an offended God, an interest in that atoning blood which cleanseth from all sin, gains a triumph over the trials, the suf

ferings, the deprivations, the calamities of this life, and the fear of death, which constitutes a state of ease, which, could it be purchased, would be cheaply purchased by the wealth of worlds. "This is the victory which overcometh the world, even your faith." Is there any thing in this world which a rational man, in the prospect of the many calamities which are incident to this present state of things, would not give to be able to say, that he had within him a principle which enabled him to rise superior to them all? Who would not sacrifice almost every thing to have embodied in his own Christian experience the language of the Scriptures-" Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee?" It is written, that "all things shall work together for good to them that love God;" and again, all "things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours." If the possession of a truly religious character does not in its own nature exempt an individual from the calamities of life, it does what is on the whole far more effectual, and far more really elevating to his character, it enables him to bear them. It brings a few clouds to mitigate the strong light and dangerous heat of prosperity, and it sheds the beams of celestial sunshine to enliven the darkest clouds of adversity which the discipline of God, as a Father, may see fit to bring over him. There is nothing fabled, nothing merely gratuitous in the declaration, that such a principle of religion as Jesus Christ plants in the heart, is the true philosopher's stone; it does substantially turn every thing to gold. He that is wise then, is wise for himself, even was there no hereafter.

2. But, secondly, the individual who truly gives his heart to God, and receives the Lord Jesus Christ as a Saviour, and follows him in the regeneration, is wise for himself, because he gains the prospect of a saved eternity. The truly converted man is the only being on the face of the earth who has a rational hold upon the blessedness of eternity; other men may feed on ashes, and believe a lie; other men may deceive themselves, and be deceived by others; but of all the countless generations of men, the righteous is the only one who has hope in his death. His is a security which is based on no uncertain speculations, but on the word and the veracity of God. Amidst the ills of life there may have been many a man willing to exchange the realities of a suffering condition for what he may deem the uncertainties of another world, but what in this world is there which is worth so much as the Gospel-founded, the graceimplanted ability to say, "I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better?" "To me to live is Christ, to die is gain?" "I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded, that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him unto that day?"-The man then who is wise, is wise for himself, because he gains all that is valuable of time, and he gains a secured hold on the happiness of eternity. "The eternal God is his refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." His tower of safety is the munition of rocks. He is the one represented by our Lord when he says-"Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that

house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock."

III. Now, let us observe the contrast to this, which is my third topic-" but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it."

mercy

To scorn, is to despise religion, to scoff at, to ridicule, to reject, to neglect it. He who will not repent, is a scorner. He who is not willing to lay hold of the hope set before him in the Gospel, is a scorner. He who puts off the concerns of religion, is a scorner. He who does not on the call of God, at once, without disputation and without opposition, submit himself as a lost and ruined sinner to the method of God's in Christ Jesus, is a scorner. He who is selfrighteous, is a scorner. He who is not ready to say, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" is a scorner. In fine, every careless, unconcerned, impenitent individual, male or female, young or old, who hears the calls of God, and refuses to obey, comes under the appellation of the scorner of wisdom. Now, the language of God through the proverb is-"But if thou scornest, thou alone shall bear it." Alone-observe, no one is to share it. Whatever the scorner is to bear, he is to bear it alone. All its energy will be concentrated in him; he will be the living, eternal, undivided supporter of that which he is to bear. The folly and the danger of this will be seen then, if we consider what the scorner is to bear. 1. He is to bear his own sins.

2. His own sorrows.

3. The scorn of earth, and heaven, and hell; and if this is not enough, he will bear,

4. His own eternal self-reproaches.