N6 CStiUSTIAN MORALITY. When shall it be that po ravenous beast shall come near Zion, and there shall be nothing tohurt or destroy in all thyholy moun- tain?" The last spring of injustice that I shall mention,is unbelief, and distrust of the providence of God. When persons are in low circumstances, they are sometimes hurried bÿ the power of this temptation to use sinful means in order to obtain what they want, or at least what they fancy they want for the comfortable support of life. The word of God has many engaging promises in it, to those who are diligent in their duty : Though the soul of the sluggarddesireth, and bath nothing ; yet the soul of the diligent shall be made fat Prov. xiii. 4. It is the hand of a diligent man that maketh rich, for it hath the blessing of the Lord upon it. God can increase the handful of meal in the barrel, and lengthen out the stream of oil from the little cruse, that the debts of the widow may be paid thereby, and her family find provision ; I Kings xvii. 12, 14. And even since the days of miracles have ceased, there are many christians who have lived by faith, and have found wonders of support, not much, inferior to this ancient miracle. But those whoknow, not the waÿ . of living by faith, are too ready to indulge themselves in some little pilfering or cheating methods to procure a subsistence. Thusunbelief has a plain ten- dency to unrighteousness, but he that believeth shall not make haste; Is. xxviii. 16. Ile that believes the care of God toward his own people, and puts his trust in his Redeemer, who isLord of all things, he that lives upon the covenant of God daily he shall not makehaste to make himself rich, or to possess himself of the comforts of life by any methods of injustice ; his faith and "diligence shall be rewarded at least with daily bread. Andnowhaving finished this subject, I must beg pardon of my reader for insisting so largely on those two virtues, justice and truth, in my text. But they are of so divine a necessity to make up the character of a christian, they are of so valuable im- portance to the glory of the gospel, and so shameful an inroad has been made upon them in various instances in our degenerate age, that I was willing to attempt something to retrieve this part of godliness : And O may the convincing and sanctifying Spirit of God attend it with Isis sacred influences, that those..who are called bythe sacred nameof christian, may never bring a blemish upon it by deserving the characters of false and unjust! [The Second Part of this Sermon.] The next virtue mentionedin mytext, ispurity ; whatsoever things are pure,thifikon these things. The sense of this word wyva in the Greek, is extended so far by some critics, as to include temperance in eating and drinking, at well as chastity and mo...
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