Cæsarea; many of his friends resided there; and therefore, under a limited restraint, the intercourse that was allowed him with them (probably in hopes that some of them would have found that bribe which the governor expected) contributed to the establishment of the Gospel in that eminent city. During this period, it is more wonderful that all did not submit to the easy and delightful yoke of Christ, than that any should be found who could reject it. The effect which St. Paul's preaching had upon this dishonourable governor, is a proof that the heart of wickedness may be made to feel, though sheltered beneath a rock of adamant. Curiosity, it is probable, was the motive which induced Felix to hear the Apostle on the awful subject of religion. The same motive, it is likely, prevailed upon his wife Drusilla to be present. Imagine, for a moment, two persons, notoriously flagitious in their characters, seated in the presence of the venerable Paul. Imagine that their characters were known to the Apostle, and that he felt a burning zeal to add them to the number of the faithful. Imagine -but no conception can reach the flashes of eloquence, the weight of argument, the worth of divine truth, which would flow from his apostolic lips. The subject of his discourse was that which reaches the condition of us all-he spake "concerning the faith of Christ." This was the first and the last, the alpha and the omega, of his preaching. But in preaching that faith, he ranged through all the transgressions to which his auditors were ob noxious. He reasoned with all the fire of truth, with all the ardour of inspiration itself, on topics, at once interesting and awful; "he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come;" righteousness, that is, the administration of true, pure, and substantial justice; and temperance, that is, true, pure, and immaculate chastity; and these, under the tremendous sanction of a judgment to come. Knowing who were present, as each word drops from the Apostle, and presents itself to our ears, we shrink with sympathetic fears. Felix trembled. Had he not trembled, the power of conscience must have been dead in him; and if he did tremble without conversion, who, my brethren, would change conditions with Felix ? But see! at this interesting moment, his wife Drusilla, partaker at least of the second count in this indictment, sits unmoved. We know who she was, and what she had done. Does she express no variation of countenance, no unusual tremor, no impatience at the bold words of the imprisoned preacher? Does she find an open and unrepented adultery so easy a burthen, as to have no apprehensions of that future day of which Paul spake ? no suggestions that some consequences, though perhaps not so clearly seen, would follow? None. That vanity which had been her snare, turned aside the sting which should have darted into her breast. She was a Jewess too; she had been instructed in the law of the great Jehovah. So zealous had she been for her religion, as to make the profession of it an indispensable obligation of the person she took to be her husband; and thenso consistent is human nature-she renounced her ancient faith to associate with an infidel. Here, indeed, some part of Drusilla's character may come home to our bosoms. We have, like her, been instructed in a pure faith-with this difference, that the faith which we profess, is in every respect clearer and more perspicuous, both in its evidence, and its motives, than Drusilla's. We have had the Gospel spread before us both with internal, and external, testimony; with every solid and substantial proof of its influence on the good man's heart, and with the help of wise and learned expositors. We profess also to have received the great truths which have been delivered to us, and live in a land of Christians-Christians like ourselves. We find no novelty in what we hear, and therefore bestow upon it only customary attention. We abstain from the commission of flagitious sins, and are satisfied with our conduct. Less offences (for we can refine the value of crimes) we pass over as slight transgressions; or if we are sometimes guilty of what we allow to be faults, we forge arguments in our favour, from the unbounded mercy and forbearance of our Creator, and continue as unmoved as the wife of Felix; or, as the adulterous woman in the book of Proverbs, who "eateth and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness1." Beware then, my Christian brethren, of a care less and insensible, of an hardened and obdurate heart. There is always danger in a wound which is not felt." If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us1.” Our blessed Saviour gave this reproof to the chief priests and elders, whose knowledge of the law of Moses. no one will dispute, but whose practice every one must condemn--" Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before you'." It is easier to convince a notorious offender of his guilt, and change his heart to the true, faithful, and legitimate obedience of the Gospel, than to make any impression upon those, who imagine themselves so wise, so innocent, so good, and so religious, as neither to need the ministration of the word, nor the influence and sanctifying graces of God's Holy Spirit. If there be a serious caution, which I would inculcate upon this audience more than any other, it is this. To be dead in sin is an awful, and a dangerous state. Prove, therefore, the sincerity of your love of Christ, by a careful and unprejudiced examination of your hearts. "Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith-prove your own selves 3. Be not satisfied with your first reflections; neither with well-meant consolations of your friends. Both are frequently deceitful; and you will be aware of the peril of placing your salvation on the hazard of so treacherous a die. But though there are some who, like this Jewess, 1 1 John i. 8. 2 Matt. xxi. 31. 2 Cor. xiii. 5. can hear, with unmoved countenances and unfluttered hearts, the searching doctrines of the Gospel, there are others, like her husband, who tremble, yet recover; who start to think that the particular subject of discussion may be applied to them, yet rally the unpleasing thought, and become as hard, yea harder, than before. These are they of whom the Apostle speaks, who, "do not like to retain God in their knowledge, and therefore God gives them over to a reprobate mind'." Dreadful consideration!-But what can they reply, who wilfully "resist the truth"," and " do despite unto the Spirit of grace3 ?" It is a comfortable reflection, however, how frequently the blessing of God attends the preaching of the word. The minister may not indeed behold the immediate effect of the good seed which he sows. But if it do not fall into an ungrateful soil, and perish, he may reasonably expect from the promises of God, that, like the natural harvest, it will"spring and grow up he knoweth not how, first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear+." In few examples, the impression of a converted heart is instantaneous; but in many, and many, a blessed case, there is as perceptible an increase of the life of God in the soul of man, as there is in the natural growth and maturity of a plant; I do not mean, that perfection is any attribute of our mortal state. In the full intent of the Rom. i. 28. 3 Heb. x. 29. 2 2 Tim. iii. 8. |