Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

the Moft High? Are you labouring it your appointed course?

Thirdly. Would you labour efficaciously? Remember whose is the ftrength in which you muft labour. Truft not in an aim of flesh. Lean not to thine own understanding. Be Strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Not by might, not by power; but by My Spirit, faith the Lord of Hofts. Through Christ who ftrengtheneth thee, thou mayeft do all things. Without Him thou canst do nothing (0).

Fourthly, Be vigilant, be humble, be devout, in guarding through the all-fufficient grace of your Redeemer against thofe fnares and forms of fin, which attach themselves to your occupation. Be forti.fied against its toils, its pleasures, its rewards, its difappointments, When under the garb of avariçe, or of pride, or of am, bition, or of fenfuality, or of felf-compla cency, or of difcontent, Satan lays claim to your heart; What is your reply? I ferve the Lord Chrift.

Finally In the fpirit of Him whofe meat and drink it was to do the will of his Father, accuftom yourself to regard enjoyment as

(0) Eph. vi. 1o. Zech. iv, 6. Philipp. iv. 13. John, XV. 5:

confifting

confisting in the performance of duty. By multitudes, duty, and pleasure are beheld as distinct'; as drawing in oppofite directions: duty, toiling in one quarter, and fummoning to an irksome task; pleasure smiling in an adverse region, and inviting to compenfatory gratification. He, and he alone, whom Chriftianity enables to identify them, poffeffes the fecret of virtue and happiness.

r

SERMON XI.

On the neceffity of unreserved Obedience,

JAMES, ii. 10.

Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Το

O fome persons it has been a fubject of unreasonable furprife, that the Scriptures fhould contain paffages apparently of dark and ambiguous import. All the works, all the appointments of God, abound with difficulties. The nature of the air which you breathe, the properties of the

foil on on which you tread, the growth of the plants and animals by which you are fuftained, exceed your comprehenfion. In the common difpenfations of Providence, in the moral government of the world, there is much which is obfcure to the li

6

mited

On the Neceffity of unreferved Obedience, 219 mited faculties of man. Why then do you wonder that God fhould permit difficulties to fubfift in the revealed declaration of his will? If, in the natural world, there is not one of His gifts, which men may not perverfely employ in a manner fatal to their happiness; are you aftonished that, in his infpired communications, there fhould be fome things hard to be understood, which they who are wilfully unlearned and unstable Inay wrest even to their own deftruction? In all his counfels, the Moft High determines with wisdom and with goodness. While his inherent attributes, the evidences of Chriftianity, the doctrines of redemption, and the confequences of righteoufnefs and of guilt, are diftinctly and incontrovertibly fet before us; are we not able to discover reasons which may render it beneficial to us, that many paffages of Holy Writ fhould demand continued enquiry and meditation, before their meaning fhall difclofe itfelf? Such paffages try our hu mility, ftrengthen our faith, call forth our diligence, exercife our attention, imprefs our memories. The truth which they involve is always of value more than fufficient to repay the labour by which it is rendered manifeft.

Among

1

Among the difficult portions of Scripture, the text, in the opinion of moft men, stands diftinguished. Many perfons when they hear it, like the difciples when Jefus Christ difcourfed to them of falvation by eating his fleth and drinking his blood, are offended at it; and murmur among themfelves, This is a hard faying: who can hear it? A hard faying however may be a true faying. That faying at which the disciples of our Lord were fo deeply offended, that from that time many of them went back and walked no more with him, unfolded the method of atonement by which alone man was to be faved. And the truth comprised in this hard faying of St. James is a doctrine fo momentous; that, unless your life be fteadily conformed to it, you never will receive falvation.

Reflect, whoever you may be who have felt your mind ftaggered by this paffage, that it is a part of the word of God. This circumftance at once eftablishes its truth, when rightly understood; and the importance of rightly understanding it. Were additional teftimony needful, I might refer you to the fignal eminence of St. James in the Chriftian Church. He was one of the Twelve Apoftles. He was the brother, the

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »