MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 389 Jesus, great Advocate, whose pitying eye Saw my long anguish, and with melting heart And powerful intercession spread'st my woes With all my groans before the Father - God, Bear up my praisesnow; thy holy incense Shall hallow all my sacrifice ofjoy, And bring these accents grateful to his ear. .filly heart and life, my lips and every power, Snatch'd from the grasp of death, I here devote By thy blest hands an offering to his name. Amen, Hallelujah. XLVIII. The Deist and the Christian. APISTUS went into a church one morning, because he knew not how to employ the hour, and heard the text read out of Rom. xii. 1. " I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." " Well, said he to himself, I like this period ; I hope I shall now hear a piece of divine service that has something reasonable in it. It is my opinion, as well as Paul's, that we should employ - these living bodies of ours to the service of that God that made us, and the mercies of God oblige us to it." The preacher pursued his subject with much beauty and justness of thought and style; he expatiated on the various en- gagements we lie under to the great God to present our whole natures and all our active powers as a living sacrifice to him. Thus far Apistus was charmed with the performance. But after the mention of many of those mercies of God which oblige us to a holy life, he came at last to name that illustrious instance of divine mercy, in sending his own Son Christ Jesus to redeem us from sin and hell; then he skewed that the only ground and foundation upon which God would accept this living sacrifice of our bodies, was the dying sacrifice of his own Son,- who bore our sins in his body on the tree. Here Apistus began to be ruffled a little, and as the sermon went on with some life and spirit on this glorious subject, he was so much displeased with the preacher, that he rose up and went out of the church, and with an air of mingled indignation and contempt, he told his neigh- bour Pithon the whole story on the Monday. Come, sit down a little, said Pithon, and let us examine the merits of this cause. Our bible obliges us to give to the great God our Creator all that reasonable service which you pretend to ; it teaches us to present our bodies, and our souls too, as a sacrifice to our God : The soul must be there, or the body can never be a living sacrifice. Thus far we agree. Now if your religion be right, the christian is in a very safe and secure state; for he endeavours to perform all that reasonable duty and service that the light of nature requires of him as well as you.
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