upon despair, cry, Who is sufficient for these things?"-Sometimes the Lord calls us to services which we think ourselves very unfit for; and we make as many objections as Moses did to his undertaking the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt; but there is no evading them: qualified or unqualified, undertake them we must: and if we have faith enough to follow the Lord fully, we never have cause to complain.---Sometimes the Lord calls us to sufferings, which we think we did not deserve; or, at least, which we did not need. Deep calleth unto deep, and all his waves and his billows seem ready to go over us: he writes vanity" or death upon our possessions and enjoyments: some are taken away, others are threatened, and all are embittered. In these cases, if we know the grace of God in truth, we would fain prove our selves good soldiers of Jesus Christ, by enduring hardness, by our steadiness and stability in the way of God. We wish to imitate our divine Master in activity and submission; but, alas! are sadly defective in both: we can neither do nor bear as we ought: every little difficulty stops us, and every little trouble overwhelms us.---But again I say, Courage, my fellow-travellers: God hath given us many exceeding great and precious promises, and this is one of them, "They shall run and not be weary." You may remember, that some years ago we employed our meditations on the former part of this verse" But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength"-and our meditation on it was sweet. I need not to repeat any thing of what was then said: there is enough for our present entertainment in the clause I have read-" They shall run and not be weary." To run, in a spiritual or religious acceptation, is, to engage with great liveliness and zeal in the duties which God hath appointed, and to persist in them, with all our powers. And those who thus run, under the influences of divine grace, shall not grow weary the way shall not prove tedious and irksome to them; nor shall they be under a prevailing temptation to desist, or turn back. Bodily labour soon exhausts the spirits, and nature cannot bear up long, when it is in its greatest vigour, without fresh and frequent recruitings-" Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:-But, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." (Isai. xl. 30, 31.) No ardency of affection, no vivacity in action, with regard to religion, cạn ever hurt the "new creature."-But all this will be further explained, under the following general heads: I. What is meant by running? . II. How far they who run may expect to be sup. ported? III. What reason they have to expect support? I. What is implied in running? Two things are included-Forwardness and Per severance. 1. Forwardness-in opposition to culpable delays, and the framing or catching at excuses for guilty neglects. When a good work is proposed to some; when they are called out, by the word or by the providence of God, to any particular service; Sloth cries, Master, spare thyself: yet a little more sleep, a little more slumber: it is too soon to rise yet; some time hence will be early enough.' Or if they do set about it, it is with so much reluctance and indolence, that what little is done is of little worth. They pray as if they prayed not; they hear as if they heard not; they strive against sin as if they strove not so that, if they do get forward at all, it is so slowly, that their progress is hardly discernible. On the other hand, the active, lively, Christian, let God call him when he will, presently sets a running: his mind is always ready to every good work, and eager to discharge whatever appears to be his duty. Like the Psalmist, "I made haste, and delayed not, to keep thy commandments." (Psalm cxix. 60.) The angels are represented as standing round about the throne of God, hearkening to the voice of his word; as it were, watching every motion of his lips: and the instant they perceive the least intimation of his pleasure, they fly to execute it. Thus the forwardness of the Gentiles to embrace and obey the Gospel is called running: "Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not; and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee." (Isai. lv. 5.) The nations flocked to Christ with wonderful rapidity: this was eminently fulfilled under the preaching of the apostles: for "since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it." (Luke xvi. 16.) And it is so still, 1 when there is any remarkable out-pouring of the Spirit; when the word of the Lord runs, and is glorified. Then converts run too; and then a minister's work goes on pleasantly. No need of many arguments and entreaties then. Elisha, when Elijah passed by him as he was ploughing, and cast his mantle upon him, instantly left the oxen, and ran after Elijah (1 Kings xix. 20.) So it was when our Lord only spake to Matthew, at the receipt of custom he immediately rose up, and followed Christ. So Peter and James, and Andrew, left their nets, and their boats, and their father, and went after Christ. And so it is with all, when the Spirit of the Lord comes, and like a voice behind. them says, "This is the way, walk ye in it." Let them be in the midst of their business, or in the midst of their recreations! wherever they are, or whatever they are about: they leave all, and run after Christ, with a " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" 2. Perseverance and diligence. It is not every progressive motion that can be called running, as was hinted under the former head. A man may not absolutely stand still, and yet his motions may be so slow-one step to-day, and another to-morrow-that it is difficult to perceive that he moves but the motion used in running is quick and animated and that not for a step or two, but for a considerable way, even to the end of the course. It implies, therefore, not merely a forwardness in the setting about a good design, but diligence in prosecuting it, and perseverance to finish it. Our endeavours to please God, and win. the glorious prize, must be strenuous and ardent. Running was one of the ancient Olympic games; and they who engaged in it, took great pains before-hand, by exercise and abstinence, to prepare their bodies, that they might move with greater ease and agility. The Apostle often refers to this, to kindle our zeal, and shame us out of our languor and sloth: "And every one that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. (1 Cor. ix. 25.) -Ah, my fellow-christians! who, that looks at us, and observes our indifference and our dilatoriness, would imagine that we were running a race, and that we were aiming at heaven! Our affections so cold, almost frozen; and our precious time running away to waste, while we are so much behind-hand, and while we suffer the world, or the flesh, or Satan, or perhaps all of them to hang their weights about us, and retard if not sometimes stop, our progress !---I say, doth this look like striving for the mastery? Is this working out our salvation? · Is this looking for, and hasting to, death and heaven? Surely very different behaviour is expected from us.---When a person is running for a considerable wager, he doth not loiter, nor enter into trifling conversation with every one he meets. No: he looks at nothing but the prize set before him: he will not suffer himself to be hindered by any one he pushes on, with unremitted ardour, to the end of the race. "Now they do it," as the Apostle says, for a corruptible crown, but we for an incorruptible. We are running for our lives: the avenger of blood is at our heels; and, if we loiter he may quickly overtake us.---There must be an invincible diligence, to break through all obstructions, and carry us with alacrity and speed through all |