ページの画像
PDF
ePub

added strength; he is and must be unhappy out of constant fellowship with his Saviour; his conscience is made and kept tender by the Spirit of Holiness, which acts upon his heart, as well as his life; his soul delights in prayer and in the praise of his Redeemer; he seeks a due abstraction, not from the business merely, but from the spirit of the world, knowing that, if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him: In short, if holiness could be any condition of obtaining heaven, he has it from a true source, and must have it in greater purity, if not in greater abundance of outward show, than it is possible for those to have, who seek it from their cwn powers. These are but weak as means, and must be uncertain as to their end. Those who depend upon them must, therefore, live in weakness and in doubt. On the other hand, the real Christian, one made

1 4

made such by God himself out of a convinced and humbled sinner, selfcondemning and self-condemned in every motive of his own heart and every action of his own life, is enabled in the issue both to lift up his head under a sense of the divine mercy, and to spend himself for the divine glory, beyond comparison with the workers of Pharisaic holiness. But, when he has done much and done all, he can meekly say, "God be merciful to me, a sinner: in doing the best, I could not come up to the fulness of my desires or my duty: I have no title, no claim, but that of an unprofitable servant!" Thus, true godliness is to him as necessary, and as indispensable an accompaniment of salvation, as though it were the absolute condition and foundation of it. He loves it, he seeks it, he cannot be happy without it. "As the wheel (to use an old simile) doth not run well,

that

that it may be round, but because it is made round" for that purpose; so the true believer doth not perform good works, that he may receive grace, but because he hath already received it. Instead, therefore, of being rainly puffed up by a fleshly mind, which can neither understand nor enjoy the things of God, HE HOLDS THE HEAD, from which all the body, (i. e. the Church,) by joints and bands, (i. e. the individual members,) having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.

§ 62. It cannot, perhaps, be too often repeated, that these truths, however offensive to confident and self-righteous persons, are by no means discouraging to those, who have been taught of God the Spirit to know the extreme sinfulness of sin, or the plague of their own hearts, and who have the smallest desire for his special grace and assistance. If the desire be sincere,

I 5

sincere, the Lord gave it, and will fully answer it in due time; for, to such as have the lowest true longing for his salvation, is the promise most specially and directly made. But if the prayer for the divine teacher be formal, pretended, affected, lifeless, and unfeeling; or if uttered only for the final purpose of exalting the powers of the flesh and the righteousness which the flesh would set-up against the righteousness of God the Saviour, it cannot be expected to receive an answer of peace; because its intention proceeds in direct opposition to the rule of faith, and to the full and perfected salvation of Christ. All true prayer is a heart-felt expression of want, and the pathetic cry of the soul for things, which it hath not in itself, and which are utterly out of its own reach and power. It is an humble and direct application to God for his assistance, and for the blessings promised

[ocr errors]

promised in his word, which he only can bestow. All other asking is but mock-prayer, dry and unfelt; the prayer of the hypocrite, which, liké himself and his hope, can only be expected to perish.

§ 63. This very important truth, the believer is desirous of maintaining most predominantly in his conscience; and, feeling the difficulty of thus maintaining it through the conflicts of fallen nature and the opposition of carnal reason, he is much in prayer, that the Holy Spirit would confirm and establish the power and experience of this safe and humbling principle within him. How differently does this doctrine affect the minds of other men! To these, whose spirits have never been truly broken down by the spiritual application of the divine Law; who have felt but little pain or anxiety on account of their natural

state of enmity with God; I 6

guilt and

who have

therefore

« 前へ次へ »