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nation in another world, from which deliverance may now be obtained. We are therefore respited from day to day or rather we are put to death by a lingering execution; as every pain, disease, or natural decay, is an anticipation of the separating stroke. But we are placed under a dispensation of mercy, and it is the grand concern of our fleeting days to seek the forgiveness of our sins and the salvation of our souls, before the opportunity be for ever gone. The message therefore warns all men to flee from the wrath to come, commands them to repent and believe in Christ, and exhorts them without delay to forsake and break loose from every object, which keeps them from "fleeing "for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them" in the gospel.

The sacred Scriptures give us likewise most important information concerning the holy Spirit; as the Author of divine life, and the Giver of wisdom, strength, holiness, and consolation; as engaged to give efficacy to the word of salvation by his regenerating influences; and as promised to all those who pray for the inestimable benefit." If ye, being evil, know "how to give good gifts unto your children, how much "more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him."*

The same divine message prescribes also the means by which we may apply for these blessings, and render our Benefactor the tribute of thankful adoration. It directs us to diligent and persevering investigation

Luke xi, 13,

of the scriptures; and to continual earnestness in prayer: it reveals to us our God upon a throne of grace, to which we are invited to approach through a merciful and faithful high Priest; suggests pleas to be used in our supplications; and sets before us exceedingly great and precious promises, to direct our desires and animate our hopes: and it appoints other ordinances, in which we may wait on the Lord, and renew our strength, that we may run with patience the race set before us. We are also informed in the same manner, that there is an innumerable company of holy angels, who worship before the throne of God, and are nevertheless "all sent forth to minister unto the heirs of salvation:" and on the other hand, that there are fallen angels, numerous, powerful, subtle, malicious, and indefatigable, who watch every opportunity of doing us mischief, and especially of deceiving, defiling, and ruining our souls; from whose devices we can have no security but in the protection and guidance of him, who was manifested to destroy the works of the "devil."

Finally, the message of God shows us the peculiar character, motives, and conflicts of those who are truly religious; and distinguishes them from all other persons: and it gives directions, instructions, examples, cautions, and encouragement sufficient to render us wise unto salvation, and thoroughly furnished unto every good work. This view of the subject is indeed too compendious to give us an adequate idea of it; but it must suffice for our present purpose. We proceed therefore

II. To illustrate the import of the declaration, "It VOL. I.

"is not a vain thing for you, because it is your life.” “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain ;" that is, to confirm a false or doubtful assertion, or in a trifling concern. This may throw light upon the subject before us. The message contained in the scriptures does not relate to things false or doubtful. There are indeed religious impostors, deluded enthusiasts, and priestly usurpations; but all religion is not enthusiasm or priestcraft: General declamations to this effect only prove that men are unable or unwilling to distinguish betwixt the genuine and the counterfeit; which evinces, that either their understandings or their hearts are very faulty.—The apostle Peter, just before his martyrdom, endeavouring that the disciples might be able after his disease to have the things he had taught them always in remembrance, added," For we have not followed cun"ningly-devised fables, when we made known to you "the power and coming of the Lord Jesus, but were eye witnesses of his majesty: for he received from "God the Father honour and glory, when there came "such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This “is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. "And this voice which came from heaven we heard, "when we were with him on the holy mount." But aware that the belief of this event depended entirely on his testimony, with that of James and John, he subjoined "We have also a more sure word of pro"phecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as "to a light shining in a dark place, until the day “dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts."*

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2 Peter i, 16-19.

It may indeed be argued very forcibly, that the publick miracles, recorded in scripture, could never have obtained credit among contemporaries, had they not been actually performed; and that no future generation of Israelites or Christians could possibly have been persuaded, that their forefathers had always believed them, had the report been afterwards invented and propagated. Would it, for instance, by any method be practicable, to bring the inhabitants of this nation to believe that a hundred years ago the Prince of Orange, at the revolution, marched an army through the German ocean, and that this had always been known and credited?

The argument therefore from miracles openly performed, or publickly attested, before those possessed of power, and engaged by interest, reputation, and inclination to disprove them, is very conclusive: and perhaps no past event was ever so fully authenticated, as the resurrection of Christ, on which the whole fabrick of revelation in some respects depends. Yet to us the word of prophecy may be said to be still more sure: for a system of predictions of remote events, which no finite mind could possibly foresee, is interwoven with every part of the scriptures, and reaches from the first promise of the seed of the woman, to the close of the sacred canon. These have been exactly fulfilling through successive ages, in respect of the Jews and the surrounding nations; the coming of the Messiah, and every circumstance of that grand event; with the subsequent concerns of the church and of the world to this present day. This forms such a demonstration, that the Bible is indeed the word of God;

that the more carefully it is examined with a serious and impartial mind, the fuller conviction it must produce. It is indeed a kind of unobstrusive permanent miracle, which escapes the notice of the careless, but gives entire satisfaction to the diligent enquirer: and to this, all who have doubts on the subject, will "do "well to take heed, as to a light shining in a dark 66 place," till their own experience of the blessed ef fects produced by the gospel, prove an inward witness, the dawn of eternal life in their souls.

We might adduce many other arguments in confirmation of this truth, from the nature and tendency of the sacred oracles; the character of those in every age, who have most firmly believed them; the efficacy of the pure gospel on the minds and conduct of mankind, in rendering them wise, holy, peaceful, and happy; and the manifold blessed consequences, which must follow, if all men did indeed repent of sin, believe in Christ, worship God spiritually, love him supremely, and love one another with a pure heart fervently. But these few hints are sufficient to shew that our religion is no vain or doubtful matter, but an authenticated revelation from God; and that men oppose it, because it testifies of them that their works are evil, and cannot be made consistent with the "lust "of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of "life."

Neither is it a superfluous or unnecessary thing. Whatever plausible and soothing notions students in their retirement may entertain; facts undeniably prove, that reason, untutored by revelation, uniformly leads men into atheism, idolatry, impiety, superstition, or

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