486 A SERIOUS ADDRESS TO may poison, but can never heal, the envenomed mor- tal wound. But, remember, sinner, that faith alone can make the blessed application. Adam fell by rejecting in unbelief the word of threatening, and thou canst never rise, but by receiving in faith the word of reconcilia- tion, Gen. ii. 17. 2 Cor. v. 19. Instead then of con- fusing thy thoughts, and scattering thy desires, by the pursuit of a variety of objects ; remember that one thing is needful for thee Christ and his salvation, received by faith :.for to as many as receive him, he gives power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Beseech him, therefore, to manifest himself to thee by his word and Spirit. He is the author and finisher of faith, the giver of every good and perfect gift ; ask of him a heart felt confi- dence, that God so loved thee, as to give his only begotten Son, that thou shouldst not perish, but have everlasting life ; a firm confidence, that as the first Adam wilfully ruined thee, so he, the second Adam, freely loved thee, and gave himself for thee ; and that thou hast redemption through -his blood, the forgive- ness of sins, not according to thy merits, but the riches of his grace. The least degree of this divinely wrought confi- dence, will begin to attract and unite thy soul to him, who is our life and peace, our strength and righteous- ness. The everlasting gospel will then be music in thine ears, and power in thy heart. Its cheerful, solemn sound, will raise thy drooping spirits, and make thee fix the eye of thy mind on the sign of the Son of man, the uplifted banner of the cross : and O while the self-righteous see nothing there but the de- spised, rejected, man of sorrow, what wilt thou dis- cover ? God in Christ reconciling the world unto himself ! God manifest in the flesh, to destroy the works of the devil ! Jehovah, .Jesus, the captain of our salvation, treading the wine -press of the fierceness of the wrath of the Almighty ! Of the people there.
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