Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

should, therefore, prepare our souls to bear with fortitude, what we cannot avoid. We should remember, that, even in our severest trials of affliction, we are not commanded to bind our beloved son, to lay him on the altar, and stretch forth our hand to give the stroke of death. Yet Abraham cheerfully submitted to so hard a task, because it was the will of his Father in heaven. Let us, therefore, learn from him to bear the strokes and corrections of God with resignation; and though we must be sorry as men, yet let us not be " sorry as men without hope;" since we know, that the same God, who gave, and hath now taken away, can also restore the objects, once of our love, now of our sorrow and regret. Lastly, let the example of Abraham teach us to believe firmly that most important article of all our faith and hopes, that God is able to raise us up from the dead. That venerable Patriarch, when called to the severe trial of slaying his child, cheerfully went, though he knew neither the reasons nor the event of his journey. But of this, as the writer to the Hebrews tells us, he was firmly persuaded, that God was able, if it should be necessary, to raise him up, even from the dead. And the same persuasion should be our consolation, amidst all the trials we suffer. We should remember, that our sufferings are but

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

for a few moments, and that after our release from the miseries of this sinful world, God is able to raise us up to life eternal. And surely we have much more reason to believe this important article, than Abraham could possibly have. His views were afar off, and therefore dim and obscure: but ours are near at hand, and illuminated with the irresistible rays of demonstration. We have not only the voice of God to assure, that the dead in Christ shall be raised, but we have seen the dead themselves come forth. We have seen the Redeemer of the world standing, amidst a family of sorrow, at the grave of Lazarus: we have heard that godlike command," Lazarus, come forth:" we have beheld the astonished prisoner of the grave start into life; and, lastly, we have seen the same Redeemer of the world triumph over death and the grave, to assure us, that if we die with him, we shall also live with him.

1

Since then the evidences we have, are so much stronger than those of the devout Patriarch, let not our faith and obedience be weaker than his let not the enlightened Christian stagger, where the less-informed Jew overcame:-let not the disciple of grace be inferior to the disciple of promise:--but rather,

let

let us endeavour to tread in the steps of Abraham, the friend of God, by a stedfast faith, by a ready obedience, by a cheerful resignation of ourselves and ours to his will; that when this frail and uncertain life is ended, we may be carried by angels into Abraham's bosom.

[blocks in formation]

SERMON IV,

LUKE xix. 41.

And when he was come near, he beheld the city and wept over it. C

A

66

ND well might he weep!--Well might his eyes run down with tears, and his eye"lids gush out with waters," when he reflected on the impending miseries of the city he then beheld!

Jerusalem, the glory of nations, the seat of prophets, the dwelling place of God,-within a few years to be utterly destroyed, and become "an habitation of dragons!"

Jerusalem, the highly-favoured city, once the the scene of so many singular mercies and providences, within a few months, to become the theatre of the bloodiest tragedy the sun ever

saw,

« AnteriorContinuar »