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not discover a striking resemblance of what the vision describes? May we not exclaim, "Behold the angel! his flight is begun!"

THREE GREAT POINTS IN RELIGION.

The three great and leading points of the Gospel explained to the humblest Capacity, by way of Dialogue, between a Minister and one of his Parishioners.

"The wayfaring men though fools shall not err therein." Isa. xxxv. §.

PARISHIONER.

IN consequence of an observation which you lately made, in the course of your preaching, I have taken the freedom to call upon you with a request, that you would further explain it. You said (if I mistake not) that the substance of the Gospel, considered as to its saving influence on the soul, might be brought within the narrow compass of three particulars. First; To know ourselves in our lost and ruined state before God. Secondly; To know the Lord Jesus Christ under all his divine offices, as the restorer of our fallen nature. And, Thirdly; To know that we have a clear interest in Him: for under one or other of these great branches, the whole Gospel is included. So that with respect to the first; if I have a real conviction, that I am a poor helpless sinner: and in respect to the second; if I am convinced that Christ is an all sufficient Savior for sinners: and thirdly; if I am enabled through the same Divine teachings, to bring home those great truths to my heart, by a personal application, to my own case and circumstances, and can truly say, that Christ is my Savior: that

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then, I should have learnt every thing essential, in the life of a Christian. Now, Sir, as my understanding is not very great, nor my memory very retentive, it would be, I conceive, a mighty help to me, in a matter of such importance, if these great points were further explained, in being brought down to a level with my humble capacity, and reduced at the same time, within such a compass, as my little grasp of knowledge might take in, without injury. If therefore, you would kindly condescend to this charitable office, in setting up those three great waymarks, in the Christian road, and write the direction posts in such plain characters, that "a wayfaring man, though a fool (as Scripture says) might not err therein," Isa. xxxv. 8; I persuade myself, that under the light of heaven shining upon them, and Divine grace guiding my feet in the way, your services would prove instrumental to my pursuit, in the path which leadeth to everlasting life. And I need not say, how much cause I should have to thank you; but I venture to believe, I might add, your labor of love would be thankfully received, by every serious traveller in the road to Zion, who, like myself, is "asking the way thitherward to join himself to the Lord in a perpetual covenant."

Jer. 1. 5.

Minister. My Christian brother, you are perfectly right, in your recollection of what I said, on those great points, in the course of my preaching. And it gives me great pleasure, that you have called upon me for a farther explanation; I shall most readily comply with your wishes, and have only to pray God, that while I endeavor to inform your understanding, by the outward ministry of the word; he may mercifully instruct

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your heart, by the inward illumination of his grace. But that no time be lost in any unnecessary introduction, let us at once enter upon the subject. Suffer me to begin it with questioning, what your present notions are, in respect to the first of these great way marks, as you call them: I mean what views have you of your being a sinner before God?

Parishioner. That I am a sinner before God, it is impossible for me to question or deny: for both Scripture and my own experience concur, to testify, that “in many things I have sinned and come short of the glory of God," Rom. iii. 23. And were I so blind to my own imperfections, as to say, that "I have no sin, I should but deceive myself, for the truth would not be in me," 1 John i. 8. But yet I flatter myself that I am not such a sinner, but that I am an object worthy of the Divine mercy.

Minister. I perceive at once by this answer, that notwithstanding all that seeming candor of confession, you are a stranger to your own heart, and have yet to learn what sin is before God. The man that fancies himself an object worthy of Divine mercy, it is plain neither knows God nor himself. Such loose and unfelt confessions, as you express, are very common in the world, in which the heart feels but little interested, and consequently but as little apprehensive of the wrath to come. Whereas the soul that is brought under the conviction of God's Holy Spirit, is led to see the righteousness of that law which he hath broken, and the holiness of that God, whom by sin he hath offended; and under both, sin then appears exceeding sinful. Like one exposed therefore to the just judgment of an offended

God; hearing that awful voice for ever sounding in his ears, which pronounces “a curse upon every soul of man that doeth evil," Rom. ii. 9. Beholding the up

lifted arm ready every moment to fall upon him: thus driven out of all self-confidence, and from every resource of human aid he cries out in the same, or similar language, to that poor self-condemned sinner we read of in Scripture, "What must I do to be saved?" Acts xvi. 30. Tell me, my Christian brother, have you ever felt the burthen of sin in this manner, so as to lift a voice of supplication, to be relieved from the condemnation of it?

Parishioner.

I confess I have hot. Indeed it hath never struck me in this light: and I would persuade myself, matters are not so bad as you represent. For though there can be no doubt, but that man is a guilty creature before God, yet God is very merciful; and we are assured that, "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness," 1 John i. 9.

Minister. True! God is very merciful, infinitely more so than our highest conceptions can frame. And in confirmation of it, and as the most consummate proof, "he hath given his only begotten Son, to the end that all who believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life," John iii. 16. And most certainly, all that do believe in him, will find his promises faithfully fulfilled to the salvation of their souls through Jesus Christ. But observe, that this is in, and through Jesus Christ, and him only. "God hath given to us (says an Apostle) eternal life; and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath

not life," 1 John v. 11, 12. Mercy flows through no other channel. "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved," Acts iv. 12. "No man can come to the Father but by him," John vi. 44. And we are awfully assured that God (out of Christ) "is a consuming fire," Heb. xii. 29. Heb. xii. 29. And let me remind you moreover, of what you yourself observed from Scripture, when you said, that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins: you see the very passage you quoted, proves the truth of what I say; that there must be a confession of sins, before there can be a hope of pardon to them. But what confession can there be, without a perfect knowledge and conviction of them? You will not call that a confession, surely, which consists in a mere lip acknowledgment, in which the heart is neither concerned nor interested? Sin must be felt, and seriously felt too, or the soul will never desire a deliverance from it. So that to return to my first observation, until you know your misery, you will never know your want of salvation. Christ can never be precious to your soul, till you see that in yourself you no hope. You will never know the want of a Savior until the Lord hath led you to consider yourself as lost. Now as God hath awfully declared, "The soul that sinneth it shall die," Ezek. xviii. 20. It is evident that every soul that sinneth, is under the sentence of this condemnation. It will be in vain for you to plead that you have less sins than your neighbor. For the man of five offences, as well as five thousand, must both alike fall under this indiscriminating sentence, of God's broken law. If you say that this then must universally

have

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