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BERM. X.3
THE HIDDEN
LIFE
OF
A
CHRISTIAN.
169
themselves,
and
rise
far
above all
that
they
heard, or
saw,
or
could conceive
!
Each of them surprized,
like
the
queen of
Sheba in
the
court of
Solomon, shall confess
with
thankful astonishment and joy,
that
not
one
half of
it
was
told them, even
in
the word
of God. "
And
was
this the crown, shall
the christian
say,
for
which
I fought
on
earth
at
so
poor and
feeble
a
rate
?
And
was
this
the
prize
for which
I
ran
with
a
pace
so slow
and
lazy
?
And
were these
the
glories which
I
sought
with
so
cold
and
indifferent a
zeal in
yondeK
world
?
O shameful indiffer-
ence
!
O surprising glories
!
O undeserved prize
and
crown
!
Had
I imagined
how
bright
the blessing
was,
which lay
hidden
in
the promise, surely
all my
powers
had been animated
to
a warmer pursuit. Could
I
have
seen what
I
ought
to
have
believed; had
I
but taken
in
all
that
was
told
me
concerning
this glorious
and eternal
life,
surely
I
would have
ventured through
many deaths.
'to:
secure the
possession
of
it.
O guilty negligence
!
and
criminal
unbelief
!
But
thy sovereign mercy, O
my
God,
has
pardoned
both, and made me possessor
of
the fair
inheritance,
Behold
I
bow
at
thy
feet for
ever,
and
adore
the riches
of
overflowing grace.
Amen,
SERMON
X.
THE HIDDEN
LIFE
OF
A
CHRISTIAN.
COL.
iii.
3.
Fpr
ye are
dead, and your
life
is
hid
with
Christ
in
God.
THE SECOND PART.
If
is
to
the christian converts
who were
at
Colosse,
that
the apostle addresses
himself, in this
strange
lan=
guage: Ye are
dead, and
yet
I
tell you
where
your
life
is.
This
divine
writer
delights sometimes
to surprise
his
readers,
by
joining
such
opposites, and uniting such
distant, extremes.
But
can a
dead
person have any
life
in
him
?
Yes,
and
a
noble one
too,
ye
are dead to the
world,
and dead
to sin,
but
yé
have
a
life
of
another