And were I to say the reverse, "Twould give his sweet promise the lie: To his honour his truth I'll rehearse, And lift his salvation on high. Various and complicated are the trials of a sinner coming to Jesus; and doubtless many of his sorrows arise from sitting under, and listening to, a dark and legal ministry. He has at his first setting out, and perhaps long after, no judgment of his own to exercise: his mind is sadly confused. A man of reputed gifts, and of popularity, attracts his notice: especially if he says something about the name of Jesus. And, besides the natural tendency such a ministry has to bewilder the mind, such preachers seldom stop without prejudicing, either by direct, or by indirect speeches, the minds of the simple inquirers after truth. What a mercy! and God's poor children find it so, that God has promised to guide his chosen into all truth; which promise he does fulfil in his own time. 50. JESUS THE ROCK OF SALVATION. Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer.--Ps. xviii. 2. 1. JESUS the Rock my refuge is, When law-condemn'd he took me in. And who shall us divide? 2. Tempestuous waves have since assail'd, But still this refuge never fail'd In times of deepest woe: The hail may beat and round me fall, 3. My fears are great, my faith is small, Tho' oft his presence hides. 4. Begone ye dark infernal pow'rs, Grace shall descend like copious show'rs, Refreshing to my soul: My Advocate in heav'n abides, To make and keep me whole. The Rock that accompanied the Church in the wilderness, the Apostle declares, was Christ; and he stiles Jesus, the Spiritual Rock. (1 Cor. x. 4.) Twenty times, at least, David, by the power of the Holy Ghost, calls Jehovah, his Rock, or to that effect. Now, whatever is proper to the Father, is to the Son, and whatever glory, we give to the Father, we give the Son also, he being a Person in the Incomprehensible Essence. All men are to honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. The underived Deity, the essential Divinity, and the Mediatorial glories of our Jesus, form a body of Light in the Scriptures of truth, and in the Church of God, which all the sophistry of the most learned Arians, Socinians, and Sabellians, never could extinguish, nor ever will be able. If Jesus were not God, I should have sunk under many a difficulty; and if he were not bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh, I should tremble at the thought of approaching him. When darkness and trouble come on, my prayer is directed to him who is able to save, being the Mighty God: he hears and delivers me; and he who is thus taught, car L A ries a proof in his own bosom of Jesu's power and God-head. This God is our God for ever and ever: and he will be our guide even unto death. 51. CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED THE BELIEVER's TRIUMPH. Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.---1 Cor. xv. 57. 1. STAND up my soul, dismiss thy fears, He bruis'd the subtle serpent's head, 2. At God's right-hand he took his place, Who, with th' anointing Spirit blest, And still from him receive. 3. And thou, my soul, through sov'reign love, Dost oft Immanuel's kindness prove, Thy God, thy life, thy peace; 4. Believing I rejoice; and sing The arm of Jesus bears me through, 5. Jesus, my God, thy name I'll praise, And pass the remnant of my days, As one redeem'd by grace; Till thou shalt bid my spirit rise From earth, to meet thee in the skies, Great and wonderful are the victories obtained by faith. A sinner convinced by the Holy Ghost of his true condition before God, has a host of enemies against him: however, sin, death, the devil, and the world, seem to comprise the whole. He strives against sin, in a thousand forms, knowing it to be a sore evil against God, |