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every difpenfation of providence, for the bleffed hope which is fet before you, the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jefus Chrift. If these fruits of holiness, if this peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, fhine forth in your conduct; verily there will be thofe among the wicked, who will fmite their breasts and will fay; Happy is the 66 man that feareth the Lord. The fear of "the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and "to depart from evil is understanding. I "have left the paths of righteousness, to walk "in the ways of darkness. of darkness. I have rejoiced

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to do evil; and have delighted in the fro→ "wardness of the wicked. I have forfaken "the guide of my youth, and forgotten the "covenant of my God. But I will fly to "the Redeemer who is mighty to fave. I "will feek the Spirit of grace and of fup"plication. I will go and say unto my "Father; Father! I have finned against thee, "I will turn unto the Lord, for he will have

mercy upon me; and to my God, for he "will abundantly pardon. The ways of religion are the ways of pleasantness; and all "her paths are peace !"

Stand forth then, ye who are on the fide of the Lord: ftand forth to fave your own fouls and the fouls of others. Children of

the

the faith of Abraham; heirs of the promises of God! Be ye ftedfast, be vigilant, and fear not. You ferve a Mafter, who will never forfake his people. You ferve an unchangeable Father, who will abundantly perform his covenant. You ferve Him who liveth for ever and ever, King of kings and Lord of lords; Him who has all power in earth and in heaven, in time and in eternity; Him in whofe hand is mercy, and glory, and bleffednefs, and everlafting falvation. What shall prove capable of fhaking your love to God and your Redeemer? Are you tempted by the riches of this world? Shall the poor and perishable and unfatisfactory treasures of the prefent life induce you to renounce an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, laid up in heaven for the righteous? Are you folicited by finful pleasures? Will you renounce, for the guilty indulgences

of

a moment, that fulness of joy which is at the right hand of the Omnipotent for evermore? Are you moved by corrupt customs, or by the fcoffs and ridicule of the wicked? Will you feek honour from man rather than from God? Will you not confess Christ upon earth, that he may may confefs you before his Father, and the holy angels, at the day of judgement? Children of the Moft High!

keep

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keep yourselves from idols (b). Stand fast in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Senfible of your own utter weakness, take unto yourselves the whole armour of God. Of yourselves you can do nothing: but through the all-fufficient Grace of Christ can become more than conquerors. Set your faces as a rock against fin, which encompasses you every inftant. You have made your choice: you have taken the fide of the Lord: cleave with fimplicity and fingleness of heart unto Him. Be not deterred, be not enticed, from your holy refolution by a world, whofe friendship is enmity against the fovereign to whom you have vowed your allegiance. The world cannot love you, because you are not of the world. Will you temporife in your conduct? Will you compromife your principles? Come out from among them, and be ye feparate, faith the Lord; and touch not the unclean thing. And I will receive you, be a Father unto you: and ye shall be my fons and daughters, faith the Lord Almighty (i). (i) 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18.

(b) 1 Jehn, v. 21.

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Ye diffembled in your hearts when ye fent me unto the Lord your God, Jaying; Pray for us unto the Lord our God: and according unto all that the Lord our God ball fay, fo declare unto us, and we will do it.

HE wifdom of the fupreme Intelligence

THE

fo confpicuous in his works, fhines equally in the ftructure of the writings which he has inspired. Scripture is not a dry code of laws, a barren fyftem of prohibitions and commandments. Its ordinances and injunctions are continually enlivened, illuftrated, and enforced, by examples. Search throughout the old Teftament and the New. Examine the hiftorical, the prophetical, the epiftolary compofi

tions. Carry on your fcrutiny to thofe portions of the facred records, which are avowedly the moft preceptive. You will perceive almost in every page the bleffings which flow from righteoufnefs, and the miferies. attendant on guilt, delineated and impreffed in defcriptions derived from real perfons and actual events. The word of God, like his book of nature, teems with life. Every part is animated by incident and character. Paft generations return from the dead, ages unborn press forward before their time into being, to admonish the existing inhabitants of the earth. In the Son of God become man we behold an all-perfect model of universal holiness. In the proceedings of numberless other individuals, who ftand pourtrayed in the living colours of truth; we behold patterns to imitate, or beacons to fhun. On the one hand, faith, holiness, charity, truth, stédfaftnefs, patience, meeknefs, purity, compaf fion, and the reft of the train of heavenly graces, are exhibited; each diftinct and prominent, yet with greater or lefs ftrength of representation in different characters. On the other, unbelief, unrighteoufnefs, felfishness, deceit, irrefolution, fretfulness, arrogance, uncleannefs, cruelty, with other criminal paffions, display their dominion, more or less limited, 8

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