508 REMNANTS OF TIME. the Messiah,' will be an high -Way, a plain and easy path so that the wayfaring man, or the stranger, though a fool, shall not err therein. And thou hast called the poor and the ignorant, the mean and foolish things of this world, to the knowledge of thy- self and thy Son, and taught them to receive and partake of the salvation which thou hast provided. But how can such weak creatures ever take in so strange, so difficult,, and so abstruse a doctrine as this; in the explication and defence whereof, multi- tudes of men, even men of learning and piety, have lost them- selves in infinite subtilties of dispute, and endless mazes of dark- ness ? And can this strange and perplexing notion of three real Persons going to make up one true God; be so necessary and so important a part of that christian doctrine, which, in the Old Testament and the New, is represented as so plain and so easy, even t the meanest understandings ? O thou Searcher of hearts who knowest all things, I appeal to thee, concerning the sincerity of my enquires into these dis- coveries of thy word. Thou knowest me, thou hast seen me, and hast fried my heart towards thee : if there be any lurking hypo- crisy in my heart, any secret bias towards any thing but truth, uncover it, O Father of lights, and banish it from my soul for ever. If thine eye discovers the least spark of criminal prejudice in any corner of my soul, extinguish it utterly, that I may not be led astray from the truth, in matters of such importance, by the least glance of error or mistake. Thou art witness, O my God, with what diligence, with - what constancy and care, I have read and searched thy holy word, bow early and late, by ,night and by day, I have been making these enquiries. How fervently have I been seeking thee on my bended knoes, and directing my humble addresses to thee, to enlighten my darkness, and to shew me the meaning ofthy word, that I may learn what I must believe, and what I must practise with regard to this doctrine, in order to please,thee,and obtain eternal life ! Great God, who seest all things, thou hast beheld what busy temptations have been often fluttering about my heart, to call it off from these laborious and difficult enquiries, and to give up thy word. and thy gospelas.ais unintelligible book, and betake thyself to the light of nature and reason : but thou hast been pleased by thy divine power to scatter these temptations, and fix my heart and my hope again upon that Saviour and that eternal life, which thou hast revealed in thy word, and proposed therein, to our knowledge and our acceptance. Blessed be the name of my God, that has not suffered me to abandon the gospel of his Son Jesus ! and blessed be that holy Spirit that has kept me attentive to the truth delivered in thy gospel, and inclined me to wait longer in my search of these divine truths under the hope of thy gracious illumination.
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