the earth, it should seem, and subjected to great affliction, and, now that they had imbibed the gospel, to great persecutions for its sake; and it was with a view to stimulate and support their hearts that this epistle was written. The apostle in this chapter holds up before them the hope of the gospel, and with reference to the Saviour he says, "Whom having not seen ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." He tells them that though now for a season they are in heaviness, through manifold temptations, yet there is an inheritance laid up for them incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. What motives, my brethren, are these to support a persecuted and afflicted people! It is in continuation of the same strain that he uses the words which I first read, "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

The little time we have to improve this subject will be taken up, first, in trying to explain and illustrate the apostle's exhortation; and, secondly, in considering the glorious motive that he holds up to enforce or to encourage compliance with it-the grace that is to be brought unto them at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The admonition which the apostle here gives, or the exhortation which is here addressed, to the believing Israelites, I need not say is applicable to us in this present state of affliction; though we may not at present be subjected to the same persecutions as they were, yet there is a kind of tribulation to which we are exposed, and must be exposed, in the present state.

The first part of his exhortation consists in this expression, "Gird up the loins of your mind." Girding up our

VOL. XII. FOURTH SERIES.

loins is an expression which alludes to the custom of the East, where the people wore long loose garments hanging down to the feet, and, consequently, whenever they found it necessary to engage in any kind of activity, they were obliged to gird up those garments. Thus when they ran they girded themselves. You remember that Elijah, when he ran to Jezreel before the chariot of Ahab, girded up his loins. So when the people went on a journey they used to gird themselves. Thus Israel were commanded on the night that they departed from Egypt to have their loins girt, and their staves in their hands, ready to march. So, likewise, when they engaged in war they had their loins girt, in order that those garments might not foil and interrupt them. The spirit of the passage then is, Be in the posture for activity; we have our journey to travel, we have our conflicts to engage in, we have our race to run, and we are called upon to gird up the loins of our minds. Perhaps this expressive sentence may include, at least, these ideas,-Do not faint in the day of adversity-gird up the loins of your mind. The mind is in danger of losing its strength under present afflictions, under painful events, under heavy persecutions, or adverse dispensations of Providence. The mind is, as it were, apt to be like the loins, to wax feeble. To gird up the loins of the mind is to cultivate a spirit of fortitude, firmness, perseverance. Gird up your minds under all the adversities of life; under all the difficulties that you have to meet with.

Do not faint under present afflictions, but keep the crown of immortality in view. Christians, you are in danger, under some circumstances, of being disheartened, of sinking into despondency and discouragement, and there is reason from time to time, afresh as it were, to gird up the loins of the mind, to look before us rather than to

faint by the way. Some of you may be far advanced in life. Well the thought of drawing near to the borders of eternity excites a sigh where men are destitute of the hope of the gospel; it throws a damp upon all your present enjoyments, and cuts you down, and sometimes it excites a sigh even in the Christian; but let not this be so, look forward, gird up the loins of your mind, rather press forward in your journey than shrink back at the approach of its end—rather grasp at the crown that is before you, than sink into despondency on account of having to cross the ford of death; gird up the loins of your minds, remembering that your salvation is nearer than when you believed.

I think the terms also denote a spirit of disengagedness from the present world, as a man that shall gird up his loins is supposed to stand ready to march at a moment's warning. When Israel had this command it was a kind of signal for them to be disengaged from Egypt, and ready to march and leave it behind. For us to receive this command is to stand disengaged from the present world and all its concerns, and ready at a moment's call to quit the stage. I do not mean by this that we are to be unemployed in life, but that amidst the necessary duties of life, the heart should be fixed on God, and the eye fixed upon the crown of immortality, as an object constantly before us.

The next branch of the apostolic exhortation is, "Be sober." Sobriety is the opposite to intemperance-the opposite to intoxication. Intemperance or intoxication is of two kinds, sensual and mental. To be sober, undoubtedly stands opposed to sensual indulgence, as is intimated in the next verse, "As obedient children not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance." At all events, Christians should stand aloof from sensual pursuits. It is mean, it is degrading,

it is unworthy of a man, to roll in intemperance, to seek his happiness in that which is common to the meanest of the brute creation; it is, I say, degrading to a man, but much more so to a Christian, to place his happiness in eating, or drinking, or any sensual enjoyment whatever. Christians are called upon to be sober, to be temperate in the enjoyment even of lawful pleasures. But sensual intemperance is not the only kind of intemperance against which we are here guarded. The mind is in danger of being intoxicated as well as the body; the mind may be intemperately fixed upon the things of this life, and we may be drunken with the cares of this life, and so that day come upon us unaware. "Be sober." Sober in what? In the pursuit of wealth— in the pursuit of honour; be sober in all your plans and in all your pursuits. There is a kind of chastisedness of spirit that becomes a Christian, that requires that the soul of man in the present state be held in, as it were, with bit and bridle; we are apt to go to excess in our pursuits, and when once we have formed a plan to pursue it with such ardour and eagerness (a plan of a worldly nature I mean), as to intoxicate our minds. Let us beware that we be sober, sober in our plans, sober in our pursuits, and sober in our expectations, while we are reviewing the great events that are passing in the world.

The last branch is expressed in these words, " And hope to the end." Hope is the great stimulus of human life, the great support of the heart under the various pressures which it sustains. Without it man would sink in all his pursuits; without it even a good man would not be able to persevere. Hope is that which bears up the heart, and it is here put, I apprehend, in opposition to despondency-"hope to the end." There may be periods in which you may be

under temptation to relinquish your hope; sometimes owing to the great pressure of outward ills; sometimes to the length of them,--I imagine more the latter than the former. Afflictions are very frequently more trying owing to their duration than owing to their greatness. A heavy affliction, a sharp affliction, may be borne if it be but short; but a lesser affliction if it be continued for a length of time without intermission desponds the heart, sinks the spirits through the continuance of it. The apostle exhorts those to whom he wrote to "hope to the end." As we must expect a number of ills of various kinds to attend us through life, hope is given us to counteract them, and to preserve us from despondency to the close of life. Blessed be God there is an end to all the ills of life-there is an end to persecutions-there is an end to temptations- there is an end to afflictions; they do not last for ever, and God has graciously given us hope as an anchor of the soul to preserve us till we arrive safe in the desired haven. We will now pass on to the glorious object which the apostle holds up as an encouragement to this hope. "Hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." This is held up before us as the great object of a Christian's hope. What are we to hope for 66 The grace that is to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ." Our hopes you see are not to terminate upon anything in this life. It is true we are apt to rest here. When we are afflicted in one quarter we are ready to say, Well, I hope such an affliction will be removed; I hope things will be better by and by; I hope that the sun of prosperity will shine and succeed to the dark cloud of adversity; I hope, though I have had but little success in trade this year I shall have better the next. Remember these objects of hope

are accompanied with vast uncertainty. The great object of the Christian's hope should be the grace that is to be brought to him at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And what is that? Let us look carefully at it. I think something of what it is may be learned from the context. It is, I answer in general, in substance the same thing that we here in part partake of. That which is the great object of our hope is the same in its nature, though far greater in degree, with that of which we participate in the present life. This is intimated in the ninth verse, "Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." The apostle supposes that Christians already receive the end of their faith, that is, that they already partake of heaven; that they already have a foretaste of the grace that is to be brought unto them at the revelation of Jesus Christ. What is heaven? To be sure we do not know as to its degree, but we can judge in some sort what it is as to its nature. It is the same that we have already received; we have received the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls.

The apostle John in the Revelation gives us various ideas of heaven. The Son of God thus addresses the churches, "To him that overcometh will I give❞— what?-"a white stone, and in the stone a new name written." Well, and what is this but what we already participate, the forgiveness of our sins, a name and a place in the house of God better than that of sons and daughters. What do we participate already but the fruit of the tree of life that grows in the midst of the paradise of God? It was promised that they should be clothed in white garments, and are we not already clothed upon with the righteousness of the Son of God? In short, the joys of heaven will consist in loving and adoring the Lamb, and exploring the system of redemption, and that is the