Page images
PDF
EPUB

heart, that God so loved you, as to give his beloved Son for your redemption, yea, that he gave himself for you, and died that you may live, and as the divine nature could not die, that he made the human nature one with his own, that he might thus reconcile you to himself, not imputing your trespasses unto you; if you believed all this, you would be constrained to love God, who had thus first loved you, and thus believing, you would be as fully saved from all that is offensive in your character, as the Pharisee from all that is offensive in his. Then, instead of blaspheming, you would sing praises to the name of your Redeemer, and instead of seeking to embarrass, distress, and injure your fellow men, you would become solicitous to render them every possible service. Instead of destroying your reason by large intoxicating draughts, you would glory in preserving you mind, free from every thing which could inebriate or incapacitate you to contemplate with holy adoration the works of God, as your Father. What now appears so destructively alluring, every crime, every transgression, would then become odious in your eyes. In short you would be saved from a wretched life of miserable slavery to sin, which every poor, dark, blinded criminal is called to endure; chains by which he is occasionally deeply galled, for it will always be true that the way of the transgressor is hard. Say, my hearers, is not such a salvation as this, a consummation devoutly to be wished?

It is not possible in the course of one evening, to point out all we are saved from by believing. But whatever we are saved from by believing, is wholly distinct from what Jesus Christ hath saved us from in all he was, and all he did, and all he is. Nor shall we ever be saved as believers in the scripture sense, until we properly distinguish between the salvation with which we are blessed in Christ Jesus, and that which we experience from its effect upon our hearts, or, in other words, between that salvation which the Redeemer wrought out for us, for every creature, and that salvation which the Holy Ghost brings us into, when we hear and believe this gospel, which is nothing more than a faithful declaration of those things which Jesus has accomplished for us men, and for our salvation.

While therefore we are found believing the first, we rejoice in the second; but as that salvation into which we enter by believing, is consequent on our believing, as damnation or condemnation is consequent on our not believing, it runs coeval therewith. The

moment therefore we believe, we are saved, the moment we cease to believe we are damned. We hear our Saviour condemning his immediate disciples, for their unbelief and hardness of heart, and indeed the salvation wrought in us, can never in us be perfected in this life, because while tabernacled in clay, we shall continue more or less imperfect. The apostle Paul says, we know but in part, and therefore we believe but in part, and consequently, in this sense, we can be saved but in part. Hence the Apostle himself, dared not to expect justification by his own faith, but says, we believe in Christ, that we may be justified by the faith of Christ. Galatians ii. 16.

The faith which our Saviour affirms, is unto salvation; he himself has delineated by marks and evidences. He expressly describes, what signs shall follow those who believe. First, in my name they shall cast out Devils. Secondly, they shall speak with new tongues. Thirdly, they shall take up serpents. Fourthly, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. And fifthly, and lastly, they shall lay their hands on the sick, and they

shall recover.

Should it be observed, that in some instances, the Apostles did thus; our Saviour did not say, these signs shall follow those who preach, but these signs shall follow those who believe the gospel; and if you affirm, we are not now to expect these signs, you may as well affirm, we are not now to expect this faith: for, if God be true, how can we have the one without the other? For these signs, says the lip of truth, "shall follow those who believe."

The truth is, we all offend in this point, and the grace of the gospel is too capacious for our little contracted minds fully to comprehend. Hence, we are here, as well as in the law, guilty; and hence, every individual is also, in this particular, damned, irrecoverably damned, without Jesus, whereby only we are saved.

So that we are, in fact, as much indebted to the Redeemer for his faith, for his perfect faith, as for his works.

Upon the whole then, it is our interest first to know what the gospel of God, our Saviour, is; and, secondly, to ask if we believe it, and from these inquiries, we shall be led to trust in the Lord alone, at all times, constantly to lean upon the Beloved, and while we thus do, we shall not be afraid of evil tidings.

Coming from church, after the above discourse, a gentleman observed, you have taken away all my gods, and what can you more?

Departing from B, this morning, a circumstance occurred, which has both surprised and pleased me. I set out determining to keep on my way, but had not gone far, when a sudden impulse constrained me to turn my horse, and call on Colonel N-; I there found Mrs. L greatly rejoiced at my appearance; she entered immediately upon a subject, which seems to have taken hold of her whole heart; a considerable number were assembled in the Colonel's parlour, when the lady thus interrogated:

Mrs. L. Tell me, Sir, is there no difference between those who do the will of God, and those who do not?

Murray. Undoubtedly, Madam, those who do the will of God will be rewarded.

Mrs. L. O, Sir, I do not imagine any individual will be entitled to a reward.

M. I beg your pardon, Madam. The man who doeth the things which God's law commands, shall live by them.

Mrs. L. True; but we do not suppose any man can keep God's law.

M. Then, Madam, there is no man does the will of God.

Mrs. L. But, suppose there could be found a man who did the will of God?

M. Then he would be a righteous man, and such a man would have nothing to do with Jesus Christ; because, Jesus Christ "came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." If, therefore, you can find any who do the will of God, they will be saved in the day of the Lord, in their own right, they may claim salvation as their due; while such as have not done the will of God, must be saved by Christ Jesus, who said, "when sacrifices and burnt offerings thou wouldest not, then, said I, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God," by the doing of which will, we, who have not done the will of God, are sanctified: Yor the body of Christ Jesus was offered up, once for all.

Thus, Madam, there are but two characters, the righteous and the unrighteous. The righteous, if they can be found, will inherit the kingdom of heaven, in consequence of their own claims; but sinners will come into possession of this inheritance, in consequence of their relationship to Jesus Christ, who died for them, and who says, "Because I live, ye shall live also."

Mrs. L. Well, then, do pray tell me, what are we to understand by the last judgment? can any thing be more plain?

M. Nothing, Madam; it is much more plain than you at present imagine. Please to set down, Madam-(for she was pacing up and down the parlour in great agitation.)

I then proceeded to give her my ideas, ideas, deduced from scripture, of the last judgment, and many other passages. It was truly delightful to me, to behold the countenances of every individual present, especially the features of the charming lady herself, whose mind has been recently softened by affliction; and who, when I came to a close, with a humid eye, and voice of rapture, thus uttered herself:

Mrs. L. Merciful God, it is indeed wonderful, truly wonderful! I never had the least idea of any thing of this sort before.

M. Nor should I, Madam, if God had not turned my attention to his most sacred word, as to a sure prophecy, to which it has been my aim to give diligent heed.

Mrs. L. Well, I was positive you could not stand before those texts; well, well, blessed, forever blessed, be the God of our salvation-Why do you not visit us oftener? why do you not stay now? when will you come again?

M. I have not had frequent opportunities. I have appointed a meeting in N― this evening; but I shall come again whenever it pleases my God to send me; and as, Madam, you have seen a glimpse of the glory of God, I will leave you to contemplate thereon, and I supplicate heaven that you may be led into all truth.

Thus, I am persuaded, I was sent by heaven to preach the kingdom of God to these dear people, and I am confident they have received the truth as it is in Jesus, and this assurance is to my soul replete with consolation.

But entering immediately on my arrival at N, the house of a friend, I was informed that P▬▬▬S▬▬▬▬▬ of Providence, had been my harbinger, that he had whispered all the slanders, the murderous slanders, that were afloat seven years since, and which the slanderer knew had been proved false; but he hath now raised them from the dead, and clothing them anew, hath again sent them into the world-These things make me sigh for my heavenly home, where nothing which defileth, or maketh a lie can ever enter-One report however, considering the enlightened period in which we live, is very unaccountable. A respectable dweller in O has positively asserted, that by communication obtained from the other

side the Atlantic, he finds that I was a CONJURER in England; this made me smile. No, positively no, I am no coNJURER.

I have passed the evening in endeavouring to communicate to a friend, whom I dearly love, a clear view of the leading doctrines in sacred writ. He dwelt with agony on that passage which affirms, some shall rise to everlasting shame and contempt. I endeavoured to make him conceive the difference between rising to everlasting shame and contempt, and enduring this shame and contempt evertastingly. I may be cast into a lake of everlasting, unextinguishable fire, but I may not be everlastingly detained in this fire-He affirm. ed this could not be the meaning of the passage, and appeared wretched-Again I essayed to comfort him: Will you suffer this passage to militate against the declared, the explicitly declared will of God? Will you make God a liar out of his own mouth? Hath he not said it is his will that all men should be saved, and come unto the knowledge of his truth, which knowledge is salvation? and is there, who possesses sufficient force, to prevent Omnipotence from performing all his pleasure?

I supplicated this dear friend to consider seriously, before he surrendered himself up to despair. The time you speak of, is the era of the last judgment, is it not? "Undoubtedly"-Well, to this judgment some will arise in the consciousness of guilt. We are told the dead in Christ shall rise first; these are the elect, the chosen, the sealed.-A certain person once asked our Saviour, what good thing he must do, that he might inherit eternal life, or how he might work the work of God. The Redeemer answered, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”— Well, those who had done these good things, who had worked the work of God, believers in Christ Jesus, are the individuals who rise to life everlasting.

Can you have any conception of these people's shedding tears, or sighing, or being sorrowful?" I cannot "-But they who have done evil, who would not have this man to reign over them, who have only a consciousness of guilt, and are persuaded they have nothing to expect but everlasting punishment, their tears will flow abundantly, they will sigh and be exceeding sorrowful; but the Lord, we are assured, "will wipe away all tears from all faces, and there shall be no more sorrow, nor crying, nor any more pain, for the former things are passed away, and all things are become new."

« PreviousContinue »