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Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2781, 12 January 1878, Page 4

Sermons

live far Ihnt poor bodily form of theirs, which bo soon mush moulder back lo the diibt! To dress, to iidorn themselves, to rutch tlio glance of the admirers' pyo, to follow fiw'non ! Surely an object, in life more frivolnun never engrossed mi immortul soul. It seema ns strnnge ob if uu angel' should bo gathering dasu'B or blowing soup bubbles. Yet tens of thousands live for little else. But ah ! there is no promise of tbo life to come appended (o the noblest 'beauty that e»or fascinated the | eyo. Far deoper than the skin i« the beauty which is admired in hearen.

, Nor eron to higher accomplishment than these is thero given tiny promise of tho Hfo to come. No ; there is no promise of the life to romp to the philosopher, or to tho statesman, or to tho poet, or to tho literary man, ns such. They haTe no preferorco before the Lord. Humbly, ponitently, and behavingly, they must find the promise of eternal life in qudliness; and if they hare not godliness, they shall find it .nowhere. Godliness huth that promise, 1 say, and none besides. I tan in Italy, standing at the corner of a road, as you may frequently see in Italy, a large eros», and on it were these words, which I had not often seen on a cross before : " Sjpes ttnica "-—th<? only hope, the one only hope of mankind. So would* I tell you that on Christ's cross there is written this day "Spes unica"— the one hope of man. "Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to cotne," but to nothing else anywbera search for it high or low, on earth or sea, to nothing else is the promise given save to godlinesi alone.

Notice, secondly, the promise given to godliness i* as COMPKBHEKSIVB as it is unique.

I have nob time to go into all the promises of the life which is to come that belong to godliness; who shall give an inventory where the treasure is boundles*, or map out a land which has no limit. ? But it is something of this kind. The godly man, unless Christ shall come, will die as others die, as to the outward fact, but his death will be very different in its essence and meaning. He will pass gently out of this world into the world to come, and then will begin to realise the promise which godliness gave him; for .he will enter then upon ,an eternal life far different to that which belongs to other men; The Christian's lifa shall never be destroyed : "Because I live, ye shall live also," says Christ. Eternal youth shall be to those who wear the unfading crown of life. .Yon sun shall become black as a coal; yon moon shall fail till her pale beam* shall never more be 'seen; the stars shall fall like withered figs ; oven this earth which we call terrafirma'i shall with yonder heavens be relied up like a vestment that is worn out, and shall bo laid aside among the things wkich were but are not. But the believer shall live for ever, his life shall bo coeval with the years, of the Most High.. God liveth ever, erer, ever, and so shall every godly soul. Christ having given him eternal life, he is one with Jesui, arid as Jesus livoth ever* to shall ho. i

In the moment of death tho Ohristian will begin to enjoy this eternal life of wondeful felicity in tho company of Christ, in the presence of God, in the society of disembodied gpiritd ond holy angels. How does Paul put it ? " Absent; from the body {" but you have 'hardly said that word when he adds, " present with tho Lord." Their eyes are closed on earth and opened again in heaven. - They loose their nnciior and immediately they come to the drs'red haven. How' long that state of disembodied happiness shall last it is not for us to know, but byand-by, the Lord Jesus shall consummate all things by the resurrection of these bodies. Baiaed up by divine power, our very bodies shall be reunited with our souls to live with Christ, raised, however, not as they shall be. put into the grave to slumber, but in a nobler image. They were sown like the shrivelled seed, they shall come up like, the fair-flowers which decorate your summer gardens. Planted as a dull unattractive bulb, to develop into a glory like that of a lovely lily with snowy nup, and petals of gold/ ''It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but when he shall appear-we shall be like him, for we shall tee him as he is." Come, my soul, what a promise is given thee in God's word of the life that is to come! A promise for my soul, did I soy ? A promiso for my body top. These aches and pains shall be repaid ; this weariness and these sicknesses shall be recompensed. The body shall be remarried to She soul, from which it parted with j so much grief.A'Then, in body arid in soul made j perfect, the fulness of our bliss shall have I arrived.

The blessedness of this promise is that it is so suite. It bath Q-od;s promise. Now God'i promises are firmerthan the hills. Ho is God and cannot lie." Those who have that promise nothing can disturb. Our'"faith is strong and firm. We are sure that we too, shall enter into fcbo rest which remaineth, ami with all the -blood *washed "throng who have already obtained the promises, shall cast our crowns in wonder and surprise before the throne of our God. . ..:;:■ .

Last of all. This promise which is appended to godliness is A veby nkbotui. one.

'It is a very, needful one, for ah ! if I have no promise of,the life' to,come, where am I? where am I ? arid where shall I be ? I live, I know; I know I must die ; and if it all be true as this old Book tells me, that there is a hereafter, if I have no godliness, then woe worth the day to me I Oh! how much I want the promise of the life to come, for if I have not that I have a curse for the life to come.. God in His unbounded goodness lias given you what : wa« in itself a wondrous blessing—immortality; and if you, my hearer, choose to turn it into a curse for ever, it is you that are to bo blamed for it, and not God who gave you the immortality which if you believe in the appointed Saviour, will be to you an eternity of bliss. You are past, all recall an immortal being, and if you die without hope in. Chmt jthere will remain only this for you, to go on 'sinning in another state us you have gone on sinning here, but to get no pleasure from it as you think you do sometimes here—on the contrary, to bo lorturcd with remorse concerning it, and vexed with angry passions that will niako you struggle yet worse against your God, and mukeyour misery consequently .tho greater. Sin has made you unhappy now. It will ripen ; it will increase ; when everything that checks it shall be taken off, your true character, will be developed, and with that de» vclopment will come enlarging wretchedness. Separated from the compuny of the righteous, and placed among the wicked, you will go on to be worse and worse, and every step in the increase of sin necessitates an increase of misery. It is not true that God will punish you in mere caprice. He has ordained, and 1 right enough was he to ordain it, that sin should be its own misery, and its own anguish. Bin will be to you the never-ending death.

And now, if you really desire to find godliness, remember, it is to bo found in Christ, only in Christ. I was in Windermere some three w« eks ago, on a hot, dualy day, and I caw a little gushing stream of water, and a chain with _a ladle to it for tho paieer by to drink. I wanted to drink, and I went to „it, but the ladle was cracked .quite through, was very rusty, and would not bold a drop of water, neither was the water, if it had been held iv it, fib to drink. These are wayß of salvation chosen by some but are equally as deceptive. They mock the traveller. But oh! My Lord and Master is a river of mercy, deep and broad. You have but to stoop and drink, and you may drink as much as you will, none thall say you nay. Have you not His word for it: " Let biin that is atthirst say come. And whosoever will, let him take tho water of life freely f"

God grant that you may with your heart believe the goapel of Jesus, for Christ's sake.