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
much
of
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.