52 SOURCE OF EVILS IN THE CHURCH.

causes of these evils as they may-or, as to the apparent inadequacy of the Church and her resources to the wants and woes of the world at large:-THESE ARE NOT HIS DOINGS. (Micah ii. 7.) And, though the cause of God has thus been languishing, far more frequently than reviving,—and the world groaning under an accumulating load of misery,—which, but for the obstruction WITHIN THE CHURCH, to the entrance of the river of life, would have been greatly removed; yet even now professing Christians will stand up in the face of this vast scene of moral desolation, and defend the injuries they do to the Everlasting Gospel! In the dying words of Jesus-"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

O! what gave the Apostles such a lofty pre-eminence in their great work? What gave them such a depth of spirituality of life and conversation? Was it their gifts-their mighty powers? No! it was, under the Spirit of God, their perfect knowledge and incessant devotional study of the rudimental elements of the glorious Gospel. It was the Gospel in its grand simplicity and fulness, which was to them, and to their hearers, the power of God to salvation. They did not

EXAMPLE OF THE APOSTLES.

53

No;

recur to the Gospel, as men who are acquainted with a science, and who only refer to first principles to teach them to others, or to establish the truth of their higher discoveries. but as those who felt the necessity of the study for their own daily health, and peace, and advancement in the divine life. And as they lived on the love of God, and the ever fresh truths of the Gospel themselves, they freely spake of them to others. They spake, because they believed and felt. They cried aloud and spared not. Thus the hand of the Lord was with them, and the word had "free course." It ran from soul to soul-from house to house-from city to city; and multitudes were gathered to the Lord! And why not now? The love of Christ is the same-the residue of the Spirit is with Him-his relationships to His people are the same- -his promises as rich, and full, and free as ever. WHY, THEN, SHOULD WE NOT CONTINUALLY BEHOLD THE HAND OF THE LORD THUS GLORIOUSLY STRETCHED OUT?

CHAPTER II.

DAYBREAK OF THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL

IN EDEN.

WHEREVER cloudy, false, or mistaken views of the Gospel are maintained, the inevitable results are sad and disastrous. The awakened, intelligent inquirers, perceiving little or no adaptation, in such representations, to inspire, when believed, peace and confidence towards God, frequently look altogether away from Christ and his Cross,-from what has been already given, and done for them, by God, through the Redeemer,-to something which has yet to be given, or done by Him. They wait for God to lay in their hearts-by his sanctifying grace—a -a foundation for confidence towards himself,-over and above the ONE which he laid AT CALVARY! They wait for Him to do something else, which they cannot immediately and certainly procure, to inspire them with courage in the prospect of Eter

FIRST SPRING OF ALL THINGS.

55

nity! Hence the necessity for largely exhibiting, in its true relationships,—the depth, grandeur, and completeness of the FOUNDATION LAID IN ZION.

No enlightened reader of the Word of God can fail to observe how frequently the inspired writers ascribe the entire river of our blessings to the SOVEREIGN love of God, "BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD." They continually point us to creation, providence, and grace, in uninterrupted connexion with their grand fountain-head,-in the heart and mind of God.

They would have us ever to carry our spiritual eye further back than mere Omnipotence, or the determinations of infinite Majesty, - in our inquiry into first causes. The reason of this is apparent. The spirit of man can find no rest in creation, or in abstract omnipotence ;-no repose in the decrees of sovereign will, where it is ignorant of the heart of God;-the motives of unbounded goodness, which began,-carry forward and consummate all. But when the ETERNAL LOVE OF GOD is clearly seen, as the FIRST SPRING of creation, then it is, that the believer fully rejoices in the PowER,-the MAJESTY, the SOVEREIGN arrangements of the

56 THE UNITY OF GOD IN ALL EVENTS.

Lord. For then he understands that the grand design of God in creating the universe was to glorify himself, by such a full, harmonized, development of his nature or character, as would enable intelligent Beings universally, to enjoy a state of holy blessedness, -as high and deep as their natures were capable of receiving.

The idea of His creating some men, or beings, for the design of glorifying, (in an isolated manner, by his dealings with them,) one attribute ;-such, for example, as JUSTICE; and some men to glorify another;—has no place, but in the perverted theories of men. "The Lord our God-is ONE LORD;"-not only one, as exclusive of all false gods, but one, in the grand harmonious, unchangeable unity of His character in all His proceedings. As far, therefore, as the nature of the case can possibly admit, he invariably glorifies all his attributes at once, in every act of his government. In this lower sphere, we may only see one aspect or bearing of any distinct providence; but, doubtless, the harmonized unity of his attributes, in every transaction, is seen from the eternal heights of Zion, in its bearings on the universe at large.