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goeth forth, it giveth light and understanding to the simple.

We no longer remain, therefore, full of fears and doubts;-trembling under guilt;-conscious of having deserved punishment, yet ignorant how to seek for mercy ;-tired of the follies and miseries of the present life, yet fearful of looking forward to that distant region, which, though perhaps visible, was too much covered with clouds and darkness to afford either pleasure or comfort in the prospect. But now all is plain and open: God hath said, "Let there be light," and there is light: life and immortality have burst the barriers of chaos and ancient night, and are brought to light through the Gospel: God has taught us, and we know,that most important of all knowledge,—what we are, and what we may be; what is the intention. of our existence here, and which is the way that leadeth to life eternal.

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3dly, God teaches us to practise the virtues of which he gives us the precept, and of which his Son, the blessed Jesus, set us the example. He teacheth us so to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom; He teacheth us to subdue our passions, and to put away all fil thiness of flesh and spirit, which debases the

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nobler

nobler faculties, and sinks the man into the brute. And without this instruction, though in the language of St. Paul, we understood all knowledge; though we had explored the fate of empires and kingdoms, from the beginning of time; though we could speak, like Solomon, from the cedar in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; yet all our boasted science would be no more than sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal; useless to the great purposes of moral discipline and advancement in virtue.

Let us, secondly, consider the effect of the divine instruction :-" He that hath learned "of the Father," says our Saviour, "cometh "unto me."

It was the Father who spake to the patriarchs and prophets under the Old Testament, at the publishing of the law upon mount Sinai: But how did he speak? He spake to them in thunders and lightnings; and his voice was so terrible, that they cried out with fear and trembling, "Let not God speak to us any more, "lest we die." But He, who condescends to speak to us now, has laid aside those beams of majesty, which no man dares approach unto, and speaks peace and reconciliation to his

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people. The Son of God has disarmed omnipotence of its terrors, and by his death hath reconciled man to his Father, whose offended justice called aloud for vengeance. We have therefore no longer received the spirit of bondage to fear, but we have received that spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, father: we can therefore approach and learn of him without terror; and whilst we adore the perfections of the allpowerful God, love and esteem the kindness of the universal parent,

Hear then the Father, and learn of him, and he will guide you to his Son: He will lead you to repentance, and from repentance to faith in Christ, and from faith to holiness and obedience of life. This is what you may learn of God, and be assured that you can learn it of no other: "For though ye have ten thousand instructors "in

in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers:" there is one only who can lead you to the fountain of life, and make you wise unto salvation.

But what then are the truths which we shall learn of the Father? They are great, and of inestimable value. We shall learn, that God has infinite mercies and blessings in store for us: that, though we are vile and miserable sinners, yet the riches of his grace exceed the number of

our

our sins that though your sins be as scarlet, yet they shall be made white as snow: that if your souls be dead in trespasses and guilt, yet God is able to quicken them: though they be soiled and polluted with the corruptions of the world, the blood of Christ can purify them: though they are in a state of condemnation, he can absolve them: that, though they are weighed down and oppressed, he can set them free: that his power extends to all cases, and his invitation is made to all that groan under the burden of guilt; "Come unto me, all ye that "labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; and ye shall find rest to your "souls."

We shall farther learn from God, that the sinner who hears him has a right to all his gra- · cious promises, and to all the glorious advantages displayed in the Gospel. And this is an information, which is necessary to encourage every penitent sinner to go on from repentance to faith; for, at the beginning of his conversion to God, the sinner naturally entertains humble and desponding thoughts of his state; because he feels with horror his own unworthiness, the blackness of his ingratitude, the atrociousness of his guilt, and the severity of impending judg ment, if he should be summoned, in an unrege

nerate

nerate state, to the throne of God.

He therefore dares not apply the promises of the Gospel to himself: he looks up to the cross of redemption, but it is with fear and trembling: he sees the beams of mercy darting through the black clouds of error, ignorance, and guilt, but he dares not approach to their heavenly effulgence.

In this melancholy state, God condescends to instruct his ignorance and to dissipate his fears by the vital energy of his Holy Spirit. He makes him feel and know, that the arm of the Lord is not shortened; that the banner of salvation, streaming with the blood of his Son, is held out to all nations; that the great Shepherd of souls came purposely into the world to seek and to save that which was lost; that he wishes all men to come to the knowledge of the truth; that his Holy Spirit is ever ready to help their infirmities, and to lead them on from strength to strength, till they reach that glorious summit of christian perfection, from which, looking down, as it were with defiance, upon every created and sublunary object, he can cry out in the animated language of apostolic exultation, "I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, "nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor "things present, nor things to come, nor "height, nor depth, nor any other creature,

"shall

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