239 FAITH IN ITS LOWEST DEGREES. LDISC. VIII. have been calling sinners afar off from God and his church to receive Jesus Christ and his salvation, is there any dispensation for you to neglect it, who dwell in the midst of the visible church ? You were born of holy parents, who have lived in religious families and are by this means brought near to the kingdom of heaven ? Are you ready to flatter yourselves that you are out of dancer of perishing ? Have a care of vain presumption, and foolish feeble hopes. The wounded Israelites, who lay just under the brazen serpent of old, might die and perish there in their own folly, if they refused to look up to the appointed remedy; while some from the dis- tant borders of the camp looked and were saved : Bút such obstinate wretches must be unpitied in death. Attend then, ye sinners in Zion, and hearken to the voice of God the Saviour. Christ has been brought near to you in his gospel, his promises, and his holy ordi- nances ; you have read of him in his word, you have heard him speak by his ministers, and you have learned muchof him from the instructions of your pious parents : Ye have begun to see something of him in his glory and grace; and will you now turn your eyes away from him ? will you look upon the vanities of the present evil world, and fix the eye of your souls, yoúr desires, hopes, ,apd wishes, upon trifles, and impertinences, and neglect the offer of heavenly treasures ? Have you seen and heard so much of Christ already, that you have grown weary of him ? Are the Lord and his salvation grown cheap and common things to you, of little value, not worth a look ? Will you who are near to the kingdom of heaven, refuse to enter in, and let those that come from the ends of the earth obtain the inheritance, and seize the happi- ness before you ? O how aggravated will your condem- nation be ! How dreadful the agonies of your torment, to see perishing sinners come from distant regions, from the east and the west, from poor wicked families, and houses of iniquity, and receive the salvation of Christ : while you are " cast out into, outer darkness ! There shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth." Mat. viii. 11, 12. 4th Reflection. The last use I shall make of this discourse, is to take a short survey of that salvation, of the happiness and the holiness thereof, that is derived to soul by a sincere look of faith to Jesus the Saviour.
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