THE PROFIT OF PIETY; OR, THE Gain of Godliness : A DISCOURSE TO THE YOUNG. BY J. BYRES LAING, A.M., PASTOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, COTTON, WARD AND CO., 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. THE PROFIT OF PIETY; OR, THE GAIN OF GODLINESS. 1 Tim. iv. 8, latter clause.—“ Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." THESE words, my dear young friends, embody and impart the Divine sanction to the sentiment which I am most anxious at present to impress upon your minds; and you will readily perceive that they furnish a most suitable motto, or text, for a sermon to you-a sermon to the young. Timothy was a young man when Paul addressed these words to him; and it is on the young especially-on the young peculiarly -that the sentiment contained in them ought to be inculcated; nay, it is on the young exclusively that it can with propriety be inculcated; for what could it profit an aged man-what could it profit one on whom the life that now is" was just about to close, to tell him that "godliness is profitable for the life that now is, as well as for that which is to come?" If he had not known, if he had not embraced the sentiment in early life, so as to have realised it in his own experience,-to tell him of it then could serve only to fill his mind with bitter and unavailing regret. To make known this sentiment to you, then, my young friends, and to endeavour, in humble dependance on the Divine blessing, to persuade you to embrace it, is my object at present; in order that you may be saved from such bitter and unavailing regrets; and in order that you may realise the 66 promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come "the "profit" of piety, the "gain" of godliness. I expect, therefore, that you will give me your patient, serious, and earnest attention, while I endeavour, in the first place,-To explain to you what is meant by "godliness;" secondly, To point out to you in what respects it is "profitable" both for this life and that which is to come; and lastly, To urge upon you immediately and cordially to embrace and act upon the sentiment. Let me, then, I. Explain what is meant by godliness. It means just the same thing that is meant by the terms religion--piety. In the sacred Scriptures a variety of terms and phrases are employed to express the same idea; as, for instance, godliness, or, to be godly, is there represented as to know God--to love God-to fear God (that is, not with the fear of terror, as a slave fears his tyrannical master, but with the fear of reverence, as an affectionate child fears or reverences his kind and tender-hearted parent),—to believe on or trust in God—to obey-to serve Godand so forth. To be godly, then, or to be pious, is to know and love, to acknowledge and obey, to reverence and serve-with humility, gratitude, and joy-the Parent of the universe; it is for a creature to consecrate himself, in all his living and active energies, to the service and the glory of his Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor; or, in the words of Christ, "to love the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind." This is the nature of piety or godliness as existing in the minds, and exhibited in the conduct, of intelligent creatures in general-angels as well as men. And it is among holy angels, my young friends, it is among the sinless inhabitants of heaven, that the nature of godliness is understood and exhibited to perfection: they know God-though not indeed perfectly; for the question, "Who can by searching find out God?" refers to angels as well as to men. The highest archangel cannot comprehend him fully-cannot "find out the Almighty unto perfection." But the angels know God much better than man can know him; and in proportion as they know God they love him—in proportion as they love him they desire to be like him. In proportion to their knowledge and their love of God are the humility and the reverence with which they acknowledge and adore him-the promptitude, cheerfulness, gratitude, and delight, with which they serve and obey him. Such is the nature of godliness as it exists in the minds of intelligent creatures in general; as it is exhibited to perfection in the conduct of holy angels -the sinless inhabitants of heaven. A 2 |