SERMON XVIII.

THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE.

2 TIMOTHY, i. 12.

For I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him, against that day.

THIS Epistle possesses very singular interest, from the circumstance that it was the last which St. Paul wrote, during his second imprisonment at Rome, and but a short time before he sealed his faith with his blood. Now at such a time it is a point of no small moment to see how this faithful and aged Servant of Christ thought, and felt, and expressed himself; what were his present sentiments and prospects; whether he repented of the part which he had taken; whether the Religion, which he had for so many years professed and practised, was capable of sustaining his spirits and hopes at the arduous

crisis in which he was now placed. On all these points this Epistle must be consulted with peculiar interest: and on all these points it may be consulted with peculiar satisfaction. It bears throughout the strongest testimony to the excellence, and importance of Christian principles. It shews that this eminent Apostle retained to the end the same sentiments which he had held from the beginning of his Christian course; that instead of being cast down at his increasing difficulties, he was triumphantly supported under them; and that the nearer his end approached, the brighter were his hopes, and the stronger his confidence in the promises and faithfulness of his heavenly Master. Take as one illustration of this remark that animating and triumphant declaration in the fourth Chapter of this Epistle, when he says, "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of Righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day."

Take as another illustration of the same truth, the noble confession in the text. In the preceding words he had said, "For which cause," namely, for his preaching to the Gen

suffer these things," ignominy, imprisonment, and the almost daily expectation of death; when he immediately adds, "Nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know Whom I have believed; and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." Whether by the expression of "that day," we are to understand the approaching Day of His Martyrdom, or the more distant Day of Judgment, the sentiment will be equally the same: nor do I think it possible that any language could more clearly convey to us an impression of the peace and joy, of the hope and confi. dence, which filled the bosom of this Christian Hero, than that which this passage contains. The use which I purpose to make of the text, is to shew from it the Foundation of those heavenly and triumphant feelings which the Apostle manifested. He felt assured that "in that day," at the hour of death, and in the day of Judgement, he should find support, and safety, and victory. And what were the grounds of this assurance? "He knew Whom he had believed, and was persuaded that He was able to keep that which He had committed unto Him." The Person of whom he spake was Jesus Christ. The Deposit, which he had committed unto Him, was His Soul. Intimately conscious that he had indeed committed his soul into the hands

of Christ, he felt too deeply convinced of the power and faithfulness of this Divine Lord and Saviour, to doubt of his own salvation. He was confident, as he says in another passage in this same Epistle, that "the Lord would deliver him from every evil work, and would preserve him unto his heavenly kingdom."

From this view then of the subject it appears that the Apostle's assurance was founded on two grounds, distinct indeed in themselves, but closely united together, and mutually dependent on each other.

I. On the Persuasion that Christ is able to keep the Souls committed unto Him.

II. On a Consciousness that he had himself committed unto Him his own soul.

May the Spirit of God assist us in our meditations on this subject: and grant that when we come to die, we may find our hopes established on a Foundation equally solid!

I. One ground of the Apostle's assurance, was a Persuasion that Christ is able to keep the Souls committed unto Him.

The Souls committed unto Christ are those, which by faith are entrusted to his care, to be saved from all dangers and enemies, and to be preserved unto everlasting life. Now of His ability thus to save and preserve the Souls entrusted to his care, St.

have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him." His Persuasion was founded on the knowledge which he had obtained of his Perfections and Promises, of his Power and Faithfulness, of his mysterious Person and mediatorial Offices. He knew whom He had believed; and therefore He was persuaded.

Let us see how much there is contained in this knowledge of Christ: how many things are implied in this Persuasion which the Apostle had of Christ's Ability to keep and to save the souls committed unto Him.

First, It is implied that Christ is able to bring the soul into a state of salvation. Consider what is the natural state of the soul since the fall of Adam. It is a state of ruin and destruction. The soul in itself is evil and depraved it loves sin, and has pleasure in unrighteousness; and consequently is exposed to the wrath and curse of a holy and an offended God. In delivering it then out of this state of misery and guilt, and in bringing it into a state of salvation, how great a change, how difficult a work is implied! To work this change is in fact to make new the soul, to give to it a new nature, to implant in it holy dispositions and desires, "to induce it to love the things which it before disliked, and to hate the things in which it once delighted. To work this change is to free the soul from