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Almighty, the Father of Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, through whom we have received the knowledge of Thee! God of the angels and of the whole creation, of the whole human race and of the saints who live in Thy presence! I thank Thee that Thou hast thought me worthy of this day and this hour, to share the cup of Thy Christ among the number of Thy witnesses!" Thus praying, the flame was kindled, and he ascended to heaven, as it were, in a chariot of fire.

The above narrative has never been contradicted, and is everywhere accepted in the Christian world as a correct account of the death of a great and good man for the testimony of Jesus. It teaches these lessons:

1. The world asks too much of God's people when it calls on them to break with Christ, to disown Him and to renounce His service. How can they do it? Yet it has always demanded no less. The governor said to Polycarp, “Curse Christ!" It is bad to break with father and mother, and brother and sister, yet they may be so opposed to all that is good that no other way is left us if we would save our souls. But to curse Christ is to give up hope and heaven, and all that will be esteemed of any paramount value when this short life is ended. The world asks too big a price for its smiles and its favour.

2. The people of God are constrained by the love of Christ. Christ's love to them was amazing, wonderful, surpassing all other love. This begets love in the hearts of His people toward Him. True, they have also a godly fear, but there is no torment in it. It is clean. It is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death. But they love Christ because He first loved them. This love is a mighty principle; it moves the depths of their natures.

3. We may never deny Christ, no, not even to save life itself. Polycarp was ninety-five years old, and might on account of his age have expected kindness and tenderness from men. But when men required him to disown his Saviour, he rightly chose to die rather than do that great wickedness. He acted wisely. "If we deny Him, He also

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will deny us." He has said so, and he will keep His word.' Oh, witness a good confession at all times!

4. To those who wish to know the truth we ought always to be ready to give a reason of the hope that is in us; but we are not bound to reprove a scorner, nor to give that which is holy unto the dogs. When we do speak for Christ and His cause, it should be with meekness and fear. But silence is often wisdom and a duty; yea, it is sometimes the sharpest reproof we can give.

5. The enmity of men and their madness against Christ are amazing. There is on earth no more dreadful malice than that which opposes the cause of the Redeemer. It makes men traitors; it converts them into savages; it deprives them of natural affection; it is cruel to women and children; it despises the hoary head, even when found in the way of righteousness; it murdered Polycarp; it crucified the Lord Jesus. Men always have it in their hearts till they are born again. When fully aroused in the mass of men, it makes them senseless, brutal; it causes them to utter threats against the innocent, the delicate, and the venerable, and to execute them too.

"What

They that

6. Christianity can make no terms with idolatry. agreement hath the temple of God with idols ?" worship idols serve devils.5 Idolatry is a denial of the true God, and a shocking insult to His heavenly majesty. The early Christians were right in refusing to sacrifice to idols, even when they knew they must die for their refusal.

7. There is an entire harmony of feeling between all classes of ungodly men in their dislike of truth and holiness. Jews and Gentiles hastened to gather fagots to burn Polycarp. Unconverted men of every denomination and of no denomination readily unite, in times of great excitement, against the flock of Christ. It has always been so. It will be so to the end of the world.

8. It is in vain for good men to hope to escape persecu3 1 Pet. iii. 15; Prov. ix. 8; 5 I Cor. x. 20.

! 2 Tim. ii. 12.

Matt. vii. 6.

2 Matt. x. 33.

4 2 Cor. vi. 16.

tion. It is sure to come if they are true to their principles. The Bible declares, "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus. shall suffer persecution." If it does not come in one shape, it will come in another. It is not in vain that the Scripture saith, "The spirit that is in us lusteth to envy." Jesus said, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you." We cannot please carnal men without being faithless to Christ.

9. God's way to heaven is very different from that which would be marked out by our love of ease, our sloth, or our unbelief; and yet God's way is the best. The road to heaven is soaked with the tears and blood of His people, yea, and of the Saviour Himself.

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His way was much rougher and darker than mine;
Did Christ, my Lord, suffer, and shall I repine ?"

In every trial let us say, "It is the Lord: let Him do what
seemeth Him good." Our business is submission, acqui-
escence, obedience.
We are not fit to rule. It is a great
mercy that the Lord reigns. We should soon ruin our cause
if left to ourselves.

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10. There is such a thing as true piety in the world. There is a piety that proves itself to be genuine by its constancy and consistency. It is the same in youth and in old age, in health and in sickness, in prosperity and in adversity, in peace and in persecution. Such was the piety of Polycarp. Such is the piety of some still on the earth. Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment, and some men they follow after; likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand, and they that are otherwise cannot be hid." Blessed be God! there is yet godly sincerity in the world. piety that is from above, "pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy."

There is a

II. What an experience some have! What treasures of wisdom and grace must Polycarp have had after walking with God fourscore and six years! Let us become rich

toward God. Let us lay up treasure in heaven. Let us bring forth fruit in every stage of our earthly progress. Let us not count ourselves to have attained, but forgetting the past, press toward the mark for the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."

Polycarp loved the And why

12. There may be genuine, living, early piety. at his martyrdom believed he had known and Saviour from the time he was nine years old. should we not encourage even the youngest to love the Lord Jesus? It requires no more mind to love and obey than to hate and rebel. As sure as the latter-day glory comes, “the child shall die an hundred years old." Jeremiah and John the Baptist were regenerated in infancy. Let us pray and labour in hope for the early conversion of our little ones. Jesus says, "Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

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'Cling to the Rock, Johnny."

MAN shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." How blessed the vision of the prophet who thus saw "the future pass before him!" What wondrous provisions of peace and comfort are thus predicted! And of whom? "A Man! So exalted shall His name be, that He must stand far above all the sons of men, as a great rock looms up on the level and desolate plain. This is the Strong Man who bids the weary and heavy-laden, the storm-driven of all the world, come to Him as to the shelter of a great, immovable rock, and find rest. "The government is upon His shoulder: His name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God," the God-Man. Those who have turned aside from the storms of sin and 1 Isa. xxxii. 2.

passion to this refuge have found a stronghold. It is a cleft in the "Rock of Ages." How blessed to hide oneself away in that safe and precious home, and feel safe for ever! "He is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is safe." "He shall not be afraid of the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor the destruction that wasteth at noonday." Hot and angry storms of temptation assail the Christian pilgrim on his way, like the desert storm that breaks out upon the caravan, and no shelter is found on earth in which he may feel secure. Oh, then, he may look up and away to the "Rock that is higher than he."

This precious thought finds illustration in the rescue of a little child from the iron track of an Eastern railway not many years ago. Johnny, a bright little fellow of about three summers, with a sister a few years older, was at play on the track where the road had been cut deep down through a solid mass of rock. While in this dangerous place they were suddenly startled by the scream of the engine-whistle. With quick instinct, as valuable as ripe experience and mature judgment, the little girl lifted her tiny brother up into a ragged nest or cavity in the rocky wall, and bade him cling to the little horns of rock that reached towards him, and hold on until the train was past. She had just time then to fly to the other side of the track and press her little form against the rock, so as to be out of danger herself. On came the train, fretting and puffing like a great monster war-horse rushing into battle, almost deafening them by the rattle of wheels and the click of its machinery. But above all sounds and the confusion arising from sudden danger, that little guardian angel never ceased to shout, at the very top of her voice, "Cling to the rock, Johnny! Cling to the rock!" until the danger was over. Johnny clung to the

rock and was saved.

Let it be so with us. When we are startled by the thunder of the awful judgments of God that roll through the land, threatening to crush us, we may, like Johnny, find a refuge in this "Rock of Ages," and cling fast to it.

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