CHAPTER XII. Encouragements to expect it. The apostle encourages us to expect this blessing by considerations of the gracious and merciful character of God-He is "the very God of peace." We are encouraged also by the prayers recorded in the word of God for it-by the invitation and calling of God-by the faithfulness of God by the assurance that God will do it. pp. 337-346. CHAPTER XIII. Motives that should stimulate us to seek this great blessing: or the advantages of being sanctified wholly. He who is sanctified enjoys more constant and perfect peace than he who is not—and more power over temptation. It promotes growth in grace—makes its possessor more useful and better fits him for the service of the Lord -greatly increases our happiness - aids in promoting perseverance and in preventing backsliding—and will promote our happiness and glory in eternity. pp. 346-360. CHAPTER XIV. Conclusion. Multitudes overlook the design of the gospel. They are unwilling to give up all sin. Many do not obtain the blessing of sanctification because they seek it by works and not by faith. Good works sometimes mistaken for this blessing. Necessity of sanctification. Evil of professing to believe this dooctrine and yet not seeking to be sanctified wholly. Necessary that the doctrine should resume its proper place in the pulpit. The whole subject a practical one. pp. 360-369. MEMOIR OF THE REV. RALPH WALLER. CHAPTER I. "Heaven waits not the last moment; owns her friends It has been observed that the sanctity which settles on the memory of a great man, ought upon a double motive to be vigilantly sustained by his countrymen; first, out of gratitude to him as one column of national grandeur; secondly, with a practical purpose of transmitting unimpaired to posterity the benefit of ennobling models. If in contemplating human character and genius with the views and feelings of merely the patriot or philosopher we can admit this principle, surely we may as christians influenced by higher and holier sentiments, maintain that the sanctity which settles on the memory of a good man ought upon a double motive to be vigilantly sustained by the disciples of Christ; first, out of gratitude to God the author of all good, as one column of divine mercy; and secondly, with a practical purpose of transmitting to posterity the benefit of ennobling models— C examples of faith, love, and public usefulness; that the profane scoffer may see a practical evidence of the reality, power and excellence of religion, and the believer be stimulated to follow "them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." The righteous man "though dead, yet speaketh;" the echo of his testimony for God is heard from one generation to another, and men 'glorify God in him.' There is no creature worship in appreciating the virtues of the pious dead. It is alike a duty and a privilege, sanctioned by scriptural precept and example. God himself has said that "the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance." We are taught to honour God in man, and man in God. We are taught to avoid, on the one hand, all creature idolatry; and on the other that cynical severity, or ungrateful indifference to the Author of all good in man, which undervalues or neglects the excellencies which ought to be held up to admiration, that they may be imitated by ourselves and others. Each of these extremes robs God of his just revenue of grateful praise. "Lamentable, indeed, is the case of the man who can walk among the splendours of this material world, and behold the sun pavilioned in his own glory, creating our days, tempering our seasons, and spreading around us, wherever we turn, scenes of grandeur and beauty, without thinking of that higher and uncreated Light, of which his brightness is but the shadow. Nor is the case alleviated should he add philosophy to religious apathy, and be able to calculate the sun's distance from our earth, and to lay down the laws by which his rays deck the world with colours, and bring out the various forms of the objects which surround us. The undevout pryings of the philosopher are even more shocking to a well regulated moral feeling, than the thoughtless gaze of the multitude. But then, on the other hand, would it not be preposterous to teach that in order to secure the glory of creation to God, it is necessary to disregard the excellency of his works; and, that in order to keep our minds worthily fixed upon the perfections of God, and to avoid giving honour to the sun because of his splendour, we must forget or deny that he shines, and that his rays do in reality array the world in beauty, and spread life through all its elements. We apply this to men. In what does creature idolotry consist, but in honouring and trusting in, the natural and acquired excellences of creatures to the exclusion of God? It is thus that their powers are exaggerated in our estimation, as to their degree; and it is thus that we assign to them an uncontrolled efficiency, and criminally depend upon them. "But cursed is the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm. Man still remains connected with and controlled by God, whether we mark that connection and dependence or not. Trust we in his wisdom? God turns the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. Trust we in his power? He stretches out his arm in the plenitude of his self-confidence; and the unseen, unacknowledged power withers it in its might, so that the king of ten tribes cannot pull it back to him again. Trust we in his life? It is a vapour which a breath scatters; it is the grass of the earth, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven. "But is there then no wisdom, no might, no excellence in man? As it were absurd to deny this, it would be affectation to pretend to overlook it. may not man effect? What good and what evil We at once acknowledge his weak But let us consider him which are thy hand'. his hand by ness, and tremble at his power. in God. 'Men,' says the Psalmist his hand by permission to vex and punish, commission to bless. Have they wisdom to instruct us? It is light from him. Have they power it is supplied by his energy. Admire and deny not, then, this wisdom; acknowledge this efficiency, and affect not to lower its estimate; only, Glorify God, who worketh all in all." If he has chosen any of them to be more eminently his instruments, for the furtherance of his purposes of mercy to mankind, he does it by virtue of his sovereignty, which has the right to make vessels of honour, or of inferior honour, or of dishonour. If he continues their useful lives, whilst you have their light, rejoice in the light, and glorify him from whom it comes, as its original and source; and when he chooses to quench these stars of his right hand in the darkness of death, still glorify him. As to us, this is to remind us of our dependance on him who appointed their orbit, and invested them with their different degrees of glory; and as to them, though their lustre fades from these visible skies often whilst we most fondly gaze upon it, it is that it may be rekindled in superior glory in the kingdom of their Father."* Under the influence of these sentiments and motives we place before the reader the memorials of the Rev. R. Waller. We do not propose him as a standard of perfection, nor affect to place him among the distinguished sons of literary fame and splendid talents. We view him rather as a good man than as a great man, a laborious, faithful and successful minister, than as a learned Divine. There is at least one practical advantage in this case. We contemplate a model which men of ordinary capacity may successfully imitate. Undoubtedly his attainments and usefulness were far beyond many of his contemporaries, but they resulted from the use of those means which are available for others, and from the personal diligence which others may practice. In some respects indeed many have advantages which nature had not conferred upon our Brother, as a delicate constitution and imperfect health retarded his pursuits, interrupted his usefulness, and finally caused him to be removed from his labours ere he had reached the meridian of his days. Our departed brother was the eldest son of Thomas and *R. Watson. |