THESE, Oh compassionate Saviour, were thy words; this thy gracious call, and I obey it. I come unto thee, Oh thou light of the world! for rest, peace and everlasting refreshment. Wearied with treading the paths of folly and vanity; wearied with deceitful hopes and idle fears, and all the gay delusions of this world, I come to thee for peace, and with full assurance of obtaining it. Assurance founded on thy promises; those promises which are truth itself: merciful as thy own [♦]beneficent nature, and unalterable as thy being. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but thy word shall never fail. Encouraged by this word, I come: not even the reflection of my absolute unworthiness shall keep me from thee. ’Tis to sinners that this heavenly call is addressed; sinners that labour under the heavy burden of their offence; and such am I. The miserable wretch who is chained to the oar, is not more weary of his slavery, than I am of my sins: the sins which so easily beset me, and so often conquer my best resolutions. Every hour I have new reason to lament my weakness, and to confess that thy grace is my only refuge. O let that grace, which has kept me from all infamous crimes, be also my preservative against those sins of the mind, which, though hid from the short-sighted world, are all open to thee, and render my soul equally odious to the eye of heaven. Oh save me from myself! From my own proud thoughts and vain affections! I come to thee, blessed Jesus, that I may have rest: Oh give me that rest! Then shall all be perfect peace and harmony, and my soul shall feel no emotions but those of joy and gratitude, eternal gratitude to my gracious and Almighty Benefactor.
[♦] “beneficient” replaced with “beneficent”
This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
OH glorious and ever transporting thought! Sure and never failing remedy for all the troubles and disappointments of life!—Incorruption and immortality!—Let me dwell on the charming words: they carry peace and everlasting joy in the sound. And yet how little can my soul understand of their full import, clogged by the weight of flesh and blood? Darkened by this cloud of sin and error, what true idea can she form of incorruption? But if the faint shadow and distant prospect affords such delight, what will the full enjoyment give? Imagination is lost in the dazzling reflection! All the scenes of this lower world vanish as a mist before the sun: and my elevated soul wholly absorbed in contemplation of those mighty blessings seems to soar above the stars, and launch into the sea of eternity. My God! My everlasting hope! Great and adorable Creator of all things! Where shall I find words expressive of my wonder, my joy, and gratitude? Thy mercy, thy free, and boundless mercy, from nothing called me into being, and made that being capable of an endless duration: formed me for eternity! And what raises the benefit infinitely higher, for an eternity of happiness! Not the united power of men and devils can deprive me of this without my own consent: and if I am miserable I have no one to blame, except myself. O merciful God! I adore thee past all expression, and the notions I have of thy divine attributes inspire me with an unbounded confidence. Unworthy as I am of the least of all thy mercies, I cannot but hope for the greatest; and in the midst of my continual offences, I look up to thee, as my friend, my only refuge, and constant benefactor. When I grieve for my sins, ’tis not from fear of punishment, but from the cutting reflection of my black ingratitude, in offending my Creator and Preserver, the God in whom I live, and move, and have my being; the God to whom I owe infinitely more than I can conceive; to whom I owe the glorious, and the assured hopes of incorruption and immortality. And here again, O my soul, take wing, again lose thyself in the blissful prospect! Think on the joy thou wilt feel, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption; when this companion (which in spite of the miseries it betrays thee into, is still dear and still too tenderly beloved) shall become (instead of a clog, or a prison) a vehicle pure and ethereal, perfectly fitted for all the purposes of thy enlarged faculties, and the completion of thy glory and happiness. O blessed and desirable re-union! State of permanent delight, and never fading joy! With what rapture does thy idea inspire my soul! Fired by thoughts like these, I rise far above the most glorious prospects, earth, with all her boasted varieties, can give. Pleasures, riches, honours, what are ye all? Emptiness and nothing.—At the least glimpse of eternal day, how ye vanish into soft air! Lost are all your shining toys; your painted glories intirely lost! And Oh may their deluding shadows never return to darken my soul! May the God whom I trust, preserve me from all their temptations; may his mercy ever protect and guide me, and bring me in the end to that state of incorruption and immortality, which I hope for through the merits and mediation of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Then Peter said, Now know I that God is no respecter of persons; but in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is accepted of him.
THIS text is so strong a proof of the unreasonableness and folly of national or religious prejudices, that one would imagine it should intirely banish those odious and pernicious principles, from the whole Christian world. But daily experience too plainly discovers the contrary; and the very people who would be thought to have the greatest zeal for the good of souls, are of all others the readiest to condemn those who dissent from them. ’Tis a common (though false assertion) of libertines, that priests of all religions are the same. But they might truly affirm, that bigots of all religions are the same, equally destructive of the peace of their fellow-creatures, and the laws of civil society. What wild havock, what horrid scenes of blood and slaughter, have been produced by mistaken zeal and blind prejudice? The histories of former times abound with shocking instances of this kind; and, strange inconsistency! the persecuted party have no sooner got the upper hand, but they have, with the power, assumed the spirit of their persecutors, and been guilty of the very acts of injustice they had so loudly exclaimed against. ’Tis true, the degrees and kinds of persecution differ, according to the particular notions of the sects, or the particular law of the states where it is practised. But persecution, in whatever shape or degree, is still persecution, and proceeds from that spirit of prejudice and bigotry, which make us look on God as a respecter of persons, and on all those who differ from us as his enemies, and consequently, deserving nothing at our hands but contempt and cruelty. Thus the furious Roman Catholic brands with the name of heretic, all who are without the pale of his church, pursues them with fire and sword in this world, and sentences them to eternal punishment in the next. And the staunch, sour Protestant devoutly expatiates on the crying sin of idolatry, never thinks of the Pope without joining with him antichrist and the devil, absolutely pronounces the church of Rome to be the whore of Babylon, and expects (with great Christian charity) that in a few ages more, she and all her members will be swallowed up in the bottomless pit, the lake of fire and brimstone. Nay, the bigots of (even) the little trifling sects into which the reformed religion is subdivided, all agree to damn each other, and wholly to appropriate to those of their own denomination, the title of God’s church, and God’s chosen.—Surprizing narrowness of soul! Worse than Jewish stupidity! They had some excuse for their arrogancy: the particular manner in which Providence had distinguished them from the rest of the world, seemed to be some foundation for their pride to build on. And ’tis not to be wondered, that the dark shadow of the law should obscure the principle of universal benevolence. But that people under the glorious dispensation of the gospel, men who pretend to be followers of that Jesus, whose whole life was a scene of moderation and charity, who laid down his life for his enemies, and prayed for his murderers: in a word, that Christians should despise, hate, and persecute their fellow Christians, is a consideration equally melancholly and amazing! *Mistaken men! Is then the great Creator of the universe, the Preserver of all his creatures, the God of mercy, who would not that any one should perish, is this adorable Being a respecter of persons? Is his justice to be biassed by your foolish distinctions? Or his mercy lessened by your uncharitable judgments? In vain you would make the Almighty a party in your quarrel, and pretend to be fighting his cause! He disclaims such furious champions; nor will true religion allow of defenders, who are destroying the most glorious part of her system, that principle of universal charity, which in the apostolical times was the distinguishing mark of Christianity. It was then said, See how these Christians love one another! But now (sad contrast!) see how these Christians hate one another! Oh blessed and ever-merciful God! look down with compassion on the deplorable state of the Christian world! See how thy church is laid waste and rent asunder, by the fraud, malice, or blind zeal of particular men: in one place, over-run by superstition; in another, undermined by scepticism: and every where robbed of her primitive peace and purity. Oh restore that purity! Restore that peace! Heal her breaches, reform her superstitions, and grant that we may, with one heart and one mind, with universal love and unbounded charity to our fellow-creatures, and a firm and lively faith in our blessed Redeemer, adore thee the only true God; and, after a life of piety and virtue, attain one of unalterable glory and happiness. Amen.
O God, thou art my God! Early will I seek thee.