SERMON XXXIX. 557 crown of martyrdom, and enjoy the prizes of victory over athou- sand temptations, after they have run a long race in christianity ? And yet many of these, it may be, would have possessedbut a low station, and a little share of honour and happiness in those hea- venly regions, if they had been cut off from the earth in their younger days, and been called away to heaven immediately after. their conversion. Surely, ifyou have. spent many years in public labour for Christ, andzealous devotion, you have endured cruel mockeries, imprisonments and sharp sorrows, for the sale of Christ and his gospel, and through thecourse of. a long life, have borne a constant testimony to the faith of Jesus, there are supe- rior glories suited to your character in heaven, which wait your arrival there. Thus I have madeit appear, in various instances, that tem- poral life itself, and the continuance of it, becomes a real advan- tage to a true christian : which was the first thing I proposed_ But here is an objection which may be raised against this doc- trine, viz. as Do not some true christiansfall into grievous sins, when their life isprolonged, whereby their conscience is wounded, their garments defiled, their profession blemished, and the holy name of God and Christ blasphemed? Is long life therefore any blessing to christians, since we are so uncertain how we shall behave, and especially if we behave -ill ?" Answer 1. The great and natural design, and tendency of our continuance in life, is to do more service for God and men, and obtain more blessings for our own souls ; to grow morefit for heaven, and to raise and enlarge our crown. If we abuse the time given us for these blessed purposes, and indulge to sinful lusts or follies, it is highly criminal iu us, andwe alone must bear the blame. 2. Sometimes those very sins have been so impressed upon the conscience- by the convincing spirit, as to become a means to awaken degenerate christians to greater watchfulness, greater tenderness ofconscience, and greater degrees of humility, of spi- rituality, andheavenly-mindedness : Those very falls have been made an occasion of their rise and growth in christianity by the grace of that God, who turns darkness into light, and a curse into a blessing. But where it is not so, God is not to be charged with injus- tice, in not raising us tohigher degreesafter our falls; our negli- gence and criminal indulgences of temptation, have justly for- feited-his peculiar favours: -And it must still be confessed, it is our own fault where length of life is not attended with growth in grace, andmeetness for superior glory. I should now proceed to the second general head proposed ; but not having room to finishall. my design at once, I shall con- elude this discourse with thesetwo reflections :
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