Imatges de pàgina
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2. In meditating on the great and wonderful subject of our Redemption, of God manifested in the flesh, it is not necessary that we should perplex our minds with examining those high mysteries of our faith, which we cannot comprehend. They are to be believed on account of the divine testimony which attends them, but they are not proposed as rules of our conduct in this world; neither is the comprehension of them necessary to our salvation in the next. We have abundant subjects of meditation in the works and ways of our Creator, which are plain and easy to the lowest capacity; and the rules and precepts of the Gospel are so clear and simple, that our reflections on them can never prove embarrassing or perplexing to us and in examining and meditating on these rules and precepts, we are to take especial care that our conviction of their truth be always followed by our sincere practice of them, to the utmost of our power. For, to disregard the truth,

to resist the grace of God, (that is, wilfully to neglect the Gospel, when we are once convinced of its divine origin and obligation,) is the sin against the Holy Ghost, mentioned in Scripture as the most dreadful of all sins, and that which God will not pardon.

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3. Are our minds tormented with doubts and distrust of the truth and reality of God's word? And because some of the great mysteries of our religion are beyond our comprehension, do we therefore refuse them our belief? Let us remember that we are not commanded to comprehend them, but only to believe. Let us not presume to subject to our reason that which reason cannot explain. The The mysteries and obscurities of our faith, are indeed very different from a state of doubt and distrust. Is our faith accompanied with any uneasiness to our minds? we have the consolation of being in a state of security, while we obey God's

commands. Doubts of the truth of Revelation, are the troubles of a soul without a resting-place, desirous of discovering what God has seen fit to conceal. What have you to sacrifice to God but your own opinion, and your self-love? Would you pretend to virtue, and yet forfeit the first step in your duty-an implicit reliance on God for every thing? Would you have God, the incomprehensible, the infinite God, subject himself to the limited faculties of the creature whom he has made? Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. He hesitated not, to offer up his only son a sacrifice to the command of God, though he could not comprehend the fitness of such command. And what reward can we expect for our belief, if we require miracles to assure us of the truth of his Word? Our Saviour says, "Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed." If we believe in one Almighty God, we

must necessarily believe all and every part of that which he has revealed to us.

4. The Gospel tells us, that Jesus Christ is the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world. As there is but one sun to give light to the material world, so there is but one Light, one Spirit to direct the soul of man; even the Word of Jesus Christ. This is the eternal Word, the Light of Truth; without it, we are blind and foolish; and unless we permit it to shine upon us, we remain in darkness: every other light which ariseth among us, is false and deceitful; it is vain, and unworthy of our confidence.

How blind, then, are all those who think themselves wise, if they are not filled with the wisdom of Jesus Christ! They wander in a thick darkness, after unreal phantoms; they feel their own misery in so doing, and yet they still fol low that which leads them astray: "hun

gry and thirsty, their souls faint in them;" yet they will not "cry unto the Lord, who alone can deliver them out of their distress." The world, by which they are intoxicated, causes them a sorrow, far greater than any pleasure it can ever bestow; yet they will not cease to follow after its vanities, and to make its false maxims their oracles. They look upon all those who are in the clear light of the Gospel as fools; the grace of God appears to them as a vain dream; they can no more comprehend it, than a blind man, who never saw the sun, can comprehend the nature of its rays: but as that glorious luminary dispenses light and heat to the whole world, so does the grace of God display itself to all, who will with their whole heart seek after Jesus.

5. The Gospel, indeed, is read and preached in all christian countries, and Christians say that they believe in its doctrines; but do they follow, and act up to

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