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SERM-
XLIV.?
ANb
THE
USE OF
IT.
273
powers
of
thy
nature
submit
with
joy
to
all
the discoveries
of
such
grace.
Go, humble thyself
before an offended
God,
who is
willing .to
become
a Father and a Friend
:
Go,
in
the name
of
Jesus,
the
great Mediator, and
make thy
approaches
to the throne.
Seek
the
influences
of
the Holy
Spirit
to
enlighten thy
dark understanding,
to
conquer the obstinacy
of
thy
will,
and
subdue
all
thy
affections, to a
sincere compliance
with this
method
of
divine love
:
And
let
the
constraining force of
this sweet
doctrine,
unite
thy
heart
to
all
thyfellow-
christians, who
sincerely
worship the same
God,
who seek
for
acceptance
through
the
blood
of
the
same
Mediator, and
who
depend
upon
the aids
of
the
same
Spirit.
"
Happy
day,
when faith, and holiness,
and love,
shall
be
found
shining,
and reigning amongst
all
that
profess the religion
of
Christ
!
O when
shall
that pro-
mised
hour appear,
that
"
the
Lord Jehovah
shall be
king over
all
the earth,
and there
shall be
one
Lord,
and
his name one
?"
Zech.
xiv. 9.
Blessed
Jesus, hast
thou,
by thy
death,
"
broken
down
that
middle
wall
of
parti-
tion,
that
stood
between
the Jews and the
gentiles?
Hast
thou reconciled both unto
God
in one body by
thy cross,
and slain the enmity
thereby
?"
Eph. ii..
16.
What
wretched
creatures are
we
then
to
build up
new walls
of
partition
ourselves, by inventing, and imposing new
forms
of
faith
and
worship, which thy
word has
not
taught
us,
and for
which
it
has
given us no
foundation
!
What
wretched creatures
are
we,
to
raise up
so
many new
enmities
in the
christian church, and
support
them with
fierce
and
implacable
zeal
and fury
!
This
is
to walk as
enemies, even to
the cross
of
Christ,
and contrary
to
the
compassionate
designs
of
a
dying Saviour.
One
would
think, the blood
of
the
Son
of God
crucified should
teach
us kinder
lessons.
O
when shall all these enmities be
abolished
by
the
over
-
powering influence
of
the Spirit
of
light and
love
?
When
shall these unhappy
walls
of parti-
tion be
broken
down,
and the
whole
flock
of Christ be-
come
one
blessed fold
under Jesus
the universal Shep-
herd
?
When
shall
we
arrive
at
the
"
perfect
unity
of
the
faith,
and maintain
the unity
of
the
Spirit in the bond
of
love
?"
Eph.
iv. 3, 13.
When
shall
the glory and
beauty
of
the primitive
church
be
restored, where
"
the
multitude of
them
that
believed were
of
one
heart, and
VOL.