PETER anfwered and faid unto him, Though all Men fhall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended, Matt. xxvi. 33. The presumptuous Perfon imagines he can do every Thing, and can do nothing; thinks he can excel all, and excels in nothing; promifes every Thing, and performs nothing. The humble Man acts quite the contrary Part.--- There is nothing fo unknown to us as ourselves; nothing which we fee less than our own Poverty and Weakness. Let us rather believe what God tells us of ourfelves in Scripture, than what we perceive in ourselves. The Strength of Pride is but the Strength of a Moment. Vanity ferves only to conceal from us, what we are, and what we are not. ་ One Moment, Lord, if thou depart, Tho' all prove faithful to thy Caufe BUT one Thing is needful. And Mary hath chofen that good Part, which shall not be taken away from her, Luke x. 42. The one Thing needful is to live for GoD. That which regards only the Life of the Body, and the prefent World, is not abfolutely neceffary, fince it is, on the contrary, neceffary for us to wean ourselves from them both, and fometimes even to facrifice the former. Nothing is necessary but what is either eternal, or leads to Eternity.- Martha's Employmeut is good, but that of Mary's better; because she begins here below, that which the is to do in Heaven. Deliver us, O LORD, from thofe Neceffities which proceed only from Concupifcence, and likewife from every Thing which ftifles the Spirit of Prayer, withdraws us from the Prefence of God, and hinders us from following That which alone is truly necessary. What then is all befide After their Happiness I can no longer rove, ALL that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer Perfecuti on, 2 Tim. iii. 12. When the Air is heated by the fcorching Beams of the Sun, the Wind paffeth through it, and brings it into a cool Temper again : Thefe fpiritual Winds cool the Soul. Chriftians are fometimes fcalding hot in the Pursuit of the World, or perhaps of fome Sin, God ftirs up these Winds, and cools that Heat; fome fharp Wind of Diftrefs, of Confcience, fome Guft of Temptation, some piercing Blaft of Trouble abates those feverish Heats, removes that Eagerness, which was before in the Soul, after Things that cannot profit: That Wind which blew in Paul's Face, cool'd the Zeal for Perfecution which was in his Heart, Acts. ix. 1, 3, 4. O Almighty God of Love Lo! we truft in Thee alone, On thy fingle Arm depend, JESUS help, and fave thine own, And fave us to the End. IN N whom are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge, Col. i. 3. It is then in Jefus Chrift, that divine Fountain, that we must draw true Wisdom: It is of his Fulness that we must receive. He can neither be deceived nor deceive, nor be ignorant of any Thing. --- Chrift is a large Book; whoever knows how to study this Book well, in the Word of God, will know every Thing which he ought to know. Humility opens it, Faith reads, and Love understands and learns. Let us never never reft 'Till the Promife is fulfill'd, "Till we are of Thee poffeft, Wash'd, and fanctify'd, and seal'd, "Till we all, in Love renew'd, BU UT I would not have you to be ignorant, Brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye forrow not, even as others which have no Hope, 1 Thef. iv. 13. Death is no other than Reft and Sleep to those who have lived a Life of Faith upon the Son of GOD, and who, when they come to die, are not found in the Death of Sin. - It is a wonderful Effect of Faith and Hope, to make that, which is moft terrible to Nature, the most defirable and neceffary Thing to it, which is Sleep. Let Heathens be overwhelmed with Sorrow`; let them defpair under the Neceffity of parting with this Life, because they know no other; but let Chriftians look upon Death with Joy, as the End of all their Toils and Miseries, and as a Paffage to a blessed and eternal Life. If Death my Friend and me divide, Or frown my Tears to fee: I feel a ftrong immortal Hope, Beneath its Mountain-Load; [Pain, Within the Arms of God. |