370
C8RI3TIAN
MORALITY,
VIZ.
tsERM. XRif,
1f
we
are afraid
of
being
thought truly
religious,
we
shall
not
be
able
to
maintain
religion in the
truth of
it.
There
'needs
a sacred courage
to be
constant
in
the faith.
We must learn
to
endure
hardship, as good soldiers
of
Christ,
if
we
would
be
true
to
the
Captain of our.salva-
tion.
All
that
belong to
his
army are chosen
and faith-
ful,
Rev.
xvii.
14.
It
is
a
coward
that
changes
his
side
as oft
as
the enemy makes
a'flourish,
and he
lists
him,
self under
every
banner
:
But
the
constant christian
is
a
soldier
faithful to the death,
and
he shall receive
the
crown
of
life,
Rev.
ii.
10.
III.
Never venture
into the world without having so-
lemnly committed yourself
to
the grace
of
Christ.
Trust
your
soul
afresh
in
the hands
of Jesus
every morning,
that
he may
keep,
you
true
to
himself
all
the
day. All
the
divine
motives you have
learned, and
all the solemn
en-
gagements
under
which you lay
your
own souls, will
prove
but
a
weak defence to
virtue without faith and
prayer. Commit yourselves
to him who
is
able to keep
you from
falling,
and
.
to
present
you faultless.
Your
hearts, your
lips,
and your
lives
must
be in his
keeping,
if
you would have them
true
to
God
or man.
Your ad-
versary the
devil
is
watchful
and
busy with all his
wiles
to
tempt
you to
falsehood and inconstancy
;
none
but
he
who
has,
conquered the
devil can be
your
sufficient
guar-
dian. And
when
and
wheresoever
we
find frailty
and
folly in ourselves, O may
the strength
of Christ
appear
in
our
weakness,
and
be
glorified
in
our preservation
!
Thus
I have finished all
that
I
proposed concerning the
first
duty recommended
in
my
text,
Whatsoever
thing'
are
true
think
on
these
things.
There
may
be
perhaps
some
other instances
wherein
this divine
character
of
truth,
uprightness, or integrity,
ought
to
appear
in
the
conduct of
christians which
do
not
so
directly
and immediately,
fall
under
the general
heads'
which
I
have before named
:
But
they may be
easily
re-
duced to
one or
another
of
them.
'T
here are various
other
methods
of
deceit and
falsehood
practised
in
the
world, which
break in upon
this
sacred
character of
truth,
which
I
have
not
expressly
mentioned
before;
such
as
subscribing
with
the hand
to testify
our
assent
to
opinions,
which
we
do
not
believe; counterfeiting the
naines or writings
of
other
persons
Without
their
know-
3