17. We for our part as men charge and teach
you thus: but make not ye our building hay and stubble and
chaff, lest we suffer loss, from our work being burnt
up: but make ye our work gold, and silver, and precious
stones 1 Cor. iii. 12, 15.! For it lies in
me to speak, but in thee to set thy mind Greek προσθέσθαι,
Sept. Deut. xiii.
4, “cleave unto
Him.” Compare Josh. xxiii. 12; Ps. lxii. 10, “Set not your heart upon
them.” upon
it, and in God to make perfect. Let us nerve our minds, and brace
up our souls, and prepare our hearts. The race is for our
soul: our hope is of things eternal: and God, who knoweth
your hearts, and observeth who is sincere, and who a hypocrite, is able
both to guard the sincere, and to give faith to the hypocrite:
for even to the unbeliever, if only he give his heart, God is able to
give faith. So may He blot out the handwriting that is against
you Col. ii. 14., and grant you forgiveness of your
former trespasses; may He plant you into His Church, and enlist you in
His own service, and put on you the armour of
righteousness 2 Cor. vi. 7; Rom. vi. 13.: may He fill
you with the heavenly things of the New Covenant, and give you the seal
of the Holy Spirit indelible throughout all ages, in Christ Jesus Our
Lord: to whom be the glory for ever and ever!
Amen.