PART 1. SERMON XIII. 191 But, alas ! if all these things were exactly suited to our wishes, the matter ever so agreeable, the manner ever so enter- taining, the voice ever so charming, and the performance ever so affectionate ; ifGod be not there, there is no lastingbenefit ; Paul mayplant, andApollos water, but God gives the increase : 1 Cor. iii. 6. The ministration of the word is committed to man, but not the ministration of the Spirit. What can a man do to give eyes to the blind? To give ears to the deaf? Can a man make the lame to walk ? or raise the dead to a divine life ? and turn sinners into saints ? Who is sufficient for these things? Aminister is ready to say, " When shall I preach to such a people ? they would learn and profit.by my sermons." A chris- tian is ready to say, When shall I hearsuch a minister, or partake of such an ordinance, or hear a discourse on such a subject ma- naged in such a particular method ? And they are ready to go away discouraged, as though all hope were gone, when theyfind a disappointment in the pulpit ; as though the graces of God were confined to a particular instrument,or as though the words of a man were our onlyhope. When any of us have been at church, and waited in the sanctuary, let us examine what didwego thither to see ; a shadow of religion ? An outside of christian forms ? a graceful orator ? The figures and shapesof devotion ? Surely then wemight with as much wisdom, and more innocence, have gone to the wilder- ness to see a reed shaken with the wind. Can we say as the Greeks at the feast ; John xii. 21. We wouldsee Jesus ? Or, as Absa- lom ; 2 Sam. xiv. 32. It is to little purpose I ant come to Jerusa- lem, 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 appearance be- litre 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 reli- gion, if you can go daily to appear in the presence of God with- out him ; you know not the natureof christianity, if you do not feel a want of Christ when you bow yourselves before God. Consider a little what God is, and what you are, that you may have a clue sense of the necessity of Christ ; say to your- selves, " I am going to appear before thegreat and glorious God, a God of infinite perfection, and I am a little vessel of mere im- perfection and infirmity; what shall I do to stand in Iris sight? He is a God of majesty and judgment, and I traitor, a rebel by nature and action ; I want some person to introduce me into his VOL. I. O
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