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02
APPEARANCE BEFORE
GOD
{SER1S.
XIII.
When
any
of
us
have been
at
church,
and
waited in
the
sanctuary,
let
us
examine
what
did
we go
thither
to
see
;
a
shadow
of
religion
?
An
outside
of
christian
forms
?
A graceful
orator
?
The
figures
and shapes
of
devotion
?
Surely then
we
might
with as
much
wisdom,
and
more innocence,
lave
gone to the wilderness to see
a
reed shaken
with
the
wind.
Can
we
say as
the
Greeks
at
the feast
;
John
xii. 21.
We
would
see
Jesus
?
Or,
as
Absalom;
2
Sam. xiv.
52.
It
is
to
little purpose
I
am
come
to
Jerusalem,
if
I
may
not
see
the king's face.
To
little
purpose
we
go
to church,
or attend
on
ordinances,
if
we
seek not,
if
we
see
not God there.
III.
Remark.
What
everlasting thanks are due to
'our
Lord Jesus
Christ,
who
hath made
way
for
our appear-
ance
before
God
with
comfort
and hope! You
are called
by the name
of
christians, you profess
to
believe in him,
but
you know
little what
you have to
do with
him,
or
what
use his
name
is
of
in religion,
if
you can
go
daily
to
appear
in the presence
of
God without him;
you
know not
the
nature
of
christianity,
if
you
do
not
feel
a
want of Christ
when you
how
yourselves before
God.
Consider
a
little what God
is,
and what you are,
that
you
may have
a due
sense
of
the necessity
of
Christ;
say
to
yourselves,
"
I
am going to
appear
before the
great
and
glorious God,
a
God of
infinite perfection,
and
I
am a little
vesse]
of
mere imperfection and infirmity;
what
shall.
I
do to
stand
in his
sight?
He
is
a
God
of
majesty and
judgment, and
I
a traitor,
a
rebel
by
nature
and
action
;
I want
some
person to
introduce
me
into
his
favour.
He
is
a
God of
spotless
holiness,
and
I
am
de-
filed with
a thousand sins;
who shall
make
me
appear
lovely
in his
sight
!
he
is
a
God
of
inflexible
justice, and
I
a
guilty
wretch,
a
criminal,
a malefactor, already con-
demned
;
who
shall
plead
for
me,
and obtain
a par-
don?"
O beg
of
Christ
to
introduce
you with
accept-
ance
;
in him
alone can
we
appear
well-
pleasing
to
God
:
He
is
the
beloved
of
the Father, and
if
we
are ever ac-
cepted,
it
must
be in
the
beloved,
Eph.
i.
6.
Christ
appears
now in
the presence
of
God
for
us,
in
the virtue
of
his
blood
and
spotless obedience, Heb.
ix.
12,
24.
He
who
once
appeared
with
sin
imputed,
was
made
sin
for
us,
and
was
treated
as
a sinner
in the world for
our
sakes,
now
appears before God, without
sin,
in heaven,