and commanded to blaspheme and abjure Christ, he firmly answered, "Eighty and six years have I served him, and he never did me wrong; how then can I blaspheme my King who hath saved me?" He was then adjudged to the flames, and suffered cheerfully for Christ his Lord and Master. It ought, however, not to be concealed that there are other expositors and chronologists, who place the martyrdom of Polycarp fifty years later than the period embraced in our text. In connection with the present use of this portion of the holy Scriptures, it is not at all important to know whether it was Polycarp or a minister of earlier date, to whom these words first came. They are as full of "grace and truth" at this day as they were in the first century, and as applicable to the faithful ministers of our Lord Jesus Christ at the present time as in any age preceding. Believing "that whatsoever was written aforetime, was written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope," I have not hesitated to select this passage of the New Testament as being well calculated to conduct us to profitable reflections, and not inappropriate to the solemn occasion on which we are convened.

Two views are presented by our text, to which your attention is affectionately solicited. They are,

I. THE INCULCATION OF A MOST IMPORTANT DUTY; AND, II. THE INDUCEMENT TO ITS PERFORMANCE.

I purpose to make only a few brief remarks on the subject thus announced, and then proceed to give a short biographical sketch of the venerable man whose memory we cherish, and whose virtues we embalm in our hearts; thus remembering him who had the rule over us, and who spoke to us the word of God, following his faith, considering the end of his conversation "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever."

I. The important duty here inculcated is fidelity; fidelity

maintained throughout the whole period of our probation: "Be thou faithful unto death." There is in this Divine precept great conciseness, indeed; but it is very comprehensive and emphatic, embracing the principles and practice of fidelity in the various relations which we sustain to God and man. By analyzing the duty here enjoined, we shall find it to consist of principles and practices so naturally and inseparably united, that without the combined action of both, the duty cannot be performed. The principles of Christian fidelity are deeply seated in the moral constitution, controlling and commanding the issues of the heart. The conduct thence resulting, is their practical exhibition in actual life. But what are the principal items which enter into the composition of the duty here inculcated? They are,

1. The principles and practice of fidelity to God. Here we lay the foundation of all moral excellence in man, believing that

"A foe to God was ne'er true friend to man."

The essential, vigorous principles of fidelity to God, are FAITH and LOVE. True piety may be compounded of other principles likewise, which, however, on this occasion need not be specified, especially when it is considered that they are subordinate to the two vital principles named, and may be regarded as the result of their previous existence and operation. Faith, as a principle of Christian experience and practice, is, by the apostle Paul, defined to be, "the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen." On this quotation from the Epistle to the Hebrews, Dr. Adam Clarke has the following critical and judicious note: "Faith is the SUBSISTENCE of things hoped for; the DEMONSTRATION of things not seen." The Greek word which we translate substance, signifies subsistence that which becomes a foundation for another thing to stand on. And the word which our translators

have rendered evidence, signifies such a conviction as is produced in the mind by the demonstration of a problem, after which demonstration no doubt can remain, because we see from it that the thing is; that it cannot but be; that it cannot be otherwise than it is, and is proved to be. Such is the faith by which the soul is justified; or, rather, such are the effects of justifying faith. On it subsists the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, and the love of God is shed abroad in the heart, where it lives by the Holy Ghost. At the same time, the Spirit of God witnesses with their spirits who have this faith, that their sins are blotted out; and this is as fully manifest to their judgment and conscience as the axioms, "A whole is greater than any of its parts;" "Equal lines and angles being placed on one another, do not exceed each other." Of faith, as it is instrumental in our justification and sanctification, I will quote the words of one of the ablest theologians of the present century. I mean the intellectual and devout Watson. He remarks: "Faith, in Scripture, is presented to us under two leading views: the first is that of assent, or persuasion; the second, that of confidence, or reliance. The former may be separate from the latter, but the latter cannot exist without the former. Faith, in the sense of an intellectual assent to truth, is, by St. James, allowed to devils. A dead, inoperative faith, is, also, supposed, or declared, to be possessed by wicked men, professing Christianity; for our Lord represents persons coming to him at the last day, saying, 'Lord have we not prophesied in thy name?' &c.; to whom he will say, 'Depart from me; I never knew you.' 2. The faith which is required of us as a condition of salvation, always includes confidence, or reliance, as well as assent, or persuasion. That faith by which the elders obtained a good report' was of this character: it united assent to the truth of God's revelations with a noble confidence in his promise: Our fathers trusted

in thee, and were not confounded.' All the instances of faith in the persons miraculously healed by Christ, were, also, of this kind: their faith was belief in his claims, and, also, confidence in his goodness and power. 3. That faith in Christ which, in the New Testament, is connected with salvation, is clearly of this nature; that is, it combines assent with reliance, belief with trust: Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name,' that is, in dependence upon my interest and merits, he shall give it you.' Christ was preached both to the Jews and Gentiles as the object of their trust, because he was preached as the only sacrifice for sin; and they were required to renounce their dependence upon their own accustomed sacrifices, and to transfer that dependence to his death and mediation: and in his name shall the Gentiles trust.' He is said to be set forth as a propitiation, through faith in his blood;" which faith can neither merely mean assent to the historical fact that his blood was shed by a violent death, nor a mere assent to the general doctrine that his blood had an atoning quality; but as all expiatory sacrifices were trusted in as the means of propitiation, both among Jews and Gentiles, faith, or trust, was now to be exclusively rendered to the blood of Christ, as to the divinely appointed sacrifice for sin, and the only refuge for the true penitent. 4. To the most unlettered Christian this, then, will be very obvious, that true and saving faith in Christ consists both of assent and trust; but this is not a blind and superstitious trust in the sacrifice of Christ, like that of the heathens in their sacrifices, nor the presumptuous trust of wicked and impenitent men, who depend on Christ to save them in their sins; but such a trust as is exercised according to the authority and direction of the word of God; so that to know the Gospel in its leading principles, and to have a cordial belief in it, is necessary to that more specific act of faith which is called reliance, or, in systematic language,

fiducial assent. The Gospel, as the scheme of man's salvation, declares that he is under law; that this law of God has been violated by all; and that every man is under sentence of death. Serious consideration of our ways, confession of the fact, and sorrowful conviction of the evil and danger of sin, will, under the influence of divine grace, follow the cordial belief of the testimony of God, and we shall then turn to God with contrite hearts and earnest prayers and supplications for his mercy. This is called repentance toward God;' and repentance being the first subject of evangelical preaching, and then the injunction to believe the Gospel, it is plain that Christ is only immediately held out, in this divine plan of our redemption, as the object of trust, in order to forgiveness, to persons in this state of penitence and under this sense of danger. The degree of sorrow for sin, and alarm upon this discovery of our danger as sinners, is nowhere fixed to a precise standard in Scripture; only it is supposed everywhere, that it is such as to lead men to inquire earnestly, What must I do to be saved?' and with earnest seriousness to use all the appointed means of grace, as those who feel that their salvation is at issue; that they are in a lost condition, and must be pardoned or perish. To all such persons, Christ, as the only atonement for sin, is exhibited as the object of their trust, with the promise of God, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.' Nothing is required of such but this actual trust in, and personal apprehension, or taking hold of, the merits of Christ's death as a sacrifice for sin; and upon their thus believing they are justified; their faith is counted to them for righteousness,' or, in other words, they are forgiven." After giving what appeared to him this plain Scriptural representation of the doctrine of faith, Mr. Watson adds: "We may infer from it, (1,) that the faith by which we are justified is not a