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was always contrary to his law, and it consequently was always forbidden under the same penalties, and threatened with the same divine wrath. The language of God, concerning it, has ever been uniform, nothing less than "indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile." Thus both the promises and the threatenings of God's word are alike permanent, and are among the things that shall never be shaken.

5. The ultimate security of God's people, and the final triumph of his cause on earth, are also among those permanent things on which we may safely rely. The love which God bears to his people is an unchangeable love, and having loved his own he loves them to the end. The new nature which is implanted by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the ransomed, is in fact a divine nature and cannot be lost. Like the rising of the morning it never goes out in darkness, but shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. Hence the security of God's people. The world may be in revolution, and every thing beneath the sun may be shaken, but their salvation is sure-God has engaged for them, and they will not fail. The same power secures the final victory to the cause of religion on earth. Many enemies are round about the Church, but " God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early." No weapon can ultimately prosper that is raised against the Church. Many make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb shall overcome them, and come off victorious over all his foes.

Such are some of the things which can never be shaken: The purposes of God, the reasons of his moral government, the laws of his kingdom, the foundation of his Church, the promises and threatenings of his word, the final salvation of his people, and the ultimate security of his kingdom, all are things that can never be shaken. They are permanent, and they will stand when the world and all which it inherits shall dissolve.

In view of this whole subject, we may well rejoice that the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Amid the convulsions of the world he sits supreme in the heavens, swaying an universal sceptre, and overruling the commotions of the nations to the advancement of his own glory. How safe are all things under his control. Fear not, ye people of God, for though the waves of worldly revolutions roar around you, Jehovah is above them all, and his kingdom shall stand, and his people will assuredly be saved.

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BY REV. GEORGE SHEPARD, D.D.,

PROFESSOR IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, BANGOR, ME.

DEPENDENCE ON GOD.

"Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might, and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name."-1 CHRON. xxix. 11-13.

"Except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it."--Ps. cxxvii. 1.

In these passages, God's strength and supremacy on the one hand are asserted, or implied, and on the other, the creature's dependence upon him. It is exceedingly important that the creature realize this his dependence upon God for every thing, especially for prosperity and success in all religious endeavors for himself or for others. There are, indeed, two extremes to be avoided. On the one side, that which supersedes the employment of human instrumentality. On the other, that which attributes to such instrumentality an inherent and adequate efficiency. To proceed on either of these grounds, must be followed by disappointment. We have the true doctrine and medium indicated everywhere in the Scriptures. The creature, the human agent, must plant and water. God must give the increase. There will be no divine blessing unless there is some human effort, fidelity, culture to bless-and no blessing from above will follow the endeavor of the creature unless he make the endeavor, feeling and acknowledging that God alone can give it vitality and efficiency.

"Except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it." It is trying, working, expecting, in the spirit of dependence, that brings the power and brings, at length, the blessed consum

mation.

Respecting this doctrine of dependence, it is safe to state these two propositions:

First, That it is a true doctrine.

Secondly, That it is a practically efficacious doctrine.

I. Upon the truth of the sentiment, that we are dependent upon God for all things in all our plans and labors to promote the cause of piety, in any sphere, larger or smaller, it would seem, little need be said. If we admit the perfection of the Being and the Rule of God, then it plainly follows that we are thus dependent-can do nothing separate from him-nothing without him. Life, existence, health, strength are God's gift. In the admirable and opulent words quoted in the text, "Both riches and honor come of thee; and thou reignest over all; in thine hand is power and might, and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all." We perceive-we acknowledge the dependence in every physical endeavor. But it holds with a far greater strength and absoluteness in spiritual things. Take, for instance, the great missionary enterprise, and we see at once how that in every stage and step, God's people are dependent upon him. Unless his hand and influence go with their labor, nothing is done. God alone can furnish them means. He must create the wealth, and by his providence put it in the right place; then by his Spirit create the disposition which will throw it forth where it is needed. He must also raise up the men to go outgive them the requisite qualities of mind and heart-put within them, sometimes, the spirit which shall be as the breath and fire of his own holiness; then he must prepare and open fields for them-give them access and favor where they go; then, further, he must open the minds and hearts of the people to the messages they carry and make the truth they preach the power of God to salvation. There are a great many steps from the incipiency to the consummation, not one to be taken but by the presence and favor of God. Not one can be wanting without bring ing defeat upon the whole undertaking. What is true of this, is equally true of religious undertakings of a more limited character. The ability to do-the efficacy of what is done, come alike and only from God. All favoring disposition-all the effects of truth, all the results of means, all the achievements of labor, are of God. This is sound philosophy, with which all reason concurs-incontrovertible fact which all experience confirms-the utterance of inspiration wherever the Bible speaks on the subject. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." Though this truth is so obvious, being written on almost

every page of the Divine Word, written in all the history of the past, written in all our successes and defeats, yet we are dull in learning it. The head may admit it, but the heart is slow to rest upon it. And why should it be so, when the doctrine is so clearly true, so practically efficacious, so intimately linked with ultimate and large accomplishment?

II. We pass now to consider the practical bearings of the sen timent.

1. It being true that we are thus dependent upon God for the efficacy of our labors, it is altogether suitable that we feel and act upon this as a preparation-a basis of effort. Because, when a person feels so, he feels right; and when he feels right, he necessarily feels better and stronger than he does when he feels wrong. The feeling in question is a wholesome feeling. In it the individual not only satisfies his own conscience and sense of propriety, it is a position and feeling peculiarly acceptable in the sight of God. Wherever we take our proper place, he looks propitiously upon us, and upon our endeavors in his service.

2. Another thing is: This sentiment and attitude of dependence leads to effort; not to indolence, as many suppose, but to earnest endeavor; and this is the very nature of the thing, it being not the dependence of inaction, but of labor, toil, sacrifice, upon a higher power,-first doing something, and then looking for God to bless that something, giving to it vitality and achievement.

But still further; and here I make an important pointnamely:

3. That this sense of dependence the right sort, such as the Spirit begets, leads to effort of the right sort; and the right sort is the divinely prescribed sort. A genuine dependence upon God, in labors put forth for the advancement of his cause, leads those who possess it to the use of those means which God has appointed for this end. Feeling that we must have his blessing, it is natural to conclude that we can have it only by walking in his way. If he is to do the building while we do the labor, then our design must be shaped according to his pattern, and our labor be with the instrument and the material he has put into our hands.

The means God has appointed, comprehensively stated, is the gospel of his Son. The church is God's medium of power;-the people of God, his agents;-the truth of God their instrument of power. The church of God-those who have experienced in their own renovation the truth of God, in humble dependence upon divine grace, are to maintain and employ this truth and rely upon it as the great weapon of conquest. The truths of the Gospeltruths which affirm man's moral ruin, and bring forward a glorious Saviour, and a precious atonement, made by his death; and

a new creating spirit, the purchase of that death; and urge the necessity of a great change, the heart's renovation, and of a godly life, as the fruit of this change-these great truths and others like them, christians, individually or associated, are to receive and maintain. They are to hold them as all-important, as the ground-work of every thing in the spiritual growth and structure. They are to profess them as though they were not ashamed of them, especially at a time when such efforts are made to suppress distinctive gospel truth, and the tendency is to look upon the doctrines of christianity as useless dogmas-the cry being that the belief is nothing, only let the life be right; which is the same as to say, the sun is nothing, only let us have light and heat-the atmosphere is nothing, only let us have something to breathe. At such a time, and at all times, we say, let those who would build up the cause of God, clearly and unambiguously profess the great doctrines. Let them not only believe them with the heart and profess them with the mouth, let them also live them in the life-reproduce them in the character, in the spirit, and the actions. But for this-the right living, certainly with a life contradictory of the doctrine, a life dishonoring the truth, the doctrine will be crippled-the truth crushed and nullified at the threshold of the temple. The christian's life, as helping or hindering the truth, is an essential and immutable consideration.

Again, the friends and supporters of these truths must cause them to be preached. While the truth is the means, preaching is God's appointment. It has pleased him "by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." Preaching under God is to lay the foundation of the spiritual edifice, and fetch along the timbers, and hew them and fit them for their place. And in order to do this, it must be not the preaching of man's theories or schemes, but the great verities of God's revealing; very commonly unrelished in the world, because not fitted to the carnal or the fanciful tastes of the world; but soul-rousing and life-giving when they find access to the soul's secret chamber, and the life and power fall upon the soul's quick susceptibilities. Only let it be the doctrine of God-God will take care of it. Let it be clearly stated, conclusively reasoned, and faithfully applied, and it will do something, even an honorable and an endless work. This is God's way of building up his kingdom, and like his way to heaven it is the only way. It is for his people to take the great principles and provisions of his gospel, profess them, maintain them, and cause them to be proclaimed, doing it themselves, each one in his appropriate sphere; doing it in a more formal and conspicuous way, through the ministry of reconciliation. The point and the argument of this head is, that the proper feeling of dependence upon God will lead to the taking of this course; will induce indeed the greatest carefulness not to depart in the least from the way of working which God marks out; to keep ever clear

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