SERM. XXXVtI.1 T}ïE CHRrSTtAN'S TREASURE. 127 than the least of all the mercies of God ? To me, who in the clays of sin and ignorance, have abused all things, Omy God, to thy dishonour ? To me, who have pro- voked thyjustice to strip me of all the common blessings ofnature and life, and to make me for ever poor andmi- serable ? Is the mercy of God so vast and overflowing, as not only to forgive these' provocations, and to admit me into his favour, but to bless me also with so rich an inheritance ? Fall down, prostrate, O my -soul, at the foot of sovereign and all-sufficient grace. Remember thy guilt, thy poverty, and thy wretchedness, and be ever humble before, God thy infinite benefactor. Mourn over all thy unworthiness, and maintain a constant tem- per of penitent love, and self-abasing gratitude. I de- serve to be cut off for ever, O Lord, from thy house, from thy family, and from all the blessings of thy chil- dren : But thou hast called me to the knowledge of thy Son Jesus, thou hast taught me to lay hold on the arm of thy salvation, thou hast made me willing in the day of thy power to renounce every sin, to subject myself to thy sceptre. of righteousness, and to accept the grace of thy gospel. Thou hast opened the treasures of thy love, treasures that contain in them the good things of earth and heaven, things visible and invisible, things present and things to come : And while these treasures stood open to my view, in the voice of thy gospel thou hast told me, " All is yours." " O for an enlarged exercise of faith, to survey this inheritance ! to rejoice in this extensive bounty of the . Most High ! to read the blessed language of this text, and to believe it with a humble claim and appropriation ! Surely here is enough for faith to live upon, through all the remaining years of my pilgrimage, and my hope, till faith shall be turned into perfect sight, and hope into full and final enjoyment. I would not change my portion with the richest sinner on earth : My estate is larger, and my interests are more extensive. His gold and silver, hishouses and lands eau reach no farther than this world and time ; but my inhe- ritance runs into eternity, andmy enjoyment of it has no period. " My treasures are secure against all the invasions and plunder of enemies, against. all the rage of the
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=