Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

subjoin "value paid" to every draft. We do not bear in mind, or at least do not sufficiently credit and respect the grant and promise which we have received" Ask and ye shall have." "Whatso"ever ye ask the Father in my name," He will give it you." Every merchant knows that the credit of England is its grand support, that it is the very life of trade and commerce, and that bu-. siness cannot be conducted without a continual dependence on it. O that we were equally wise, that we understood the life of faith, and were enabled to enrich ourselves with spiritual blessings by giving implicit credit to His promises whose truth endureth from generation to ge "neration!"

[ocr errors]

But what is the prayer of faith? It is supplication for promised blessings, accompanied with a confident persuasion of eventual success, founded on a hope of interest in Christ the purchaser and bestower of all good, on the truth of the Divine promises, and the power and grace of God. Faith is supplied with a satisfactory anwer to every discouraging consideration which is suggested to the mind, and makes its humble daim without fear of a disappointment.

The prayer of faith cannot be ineffectual. It is powerful to a degree adequate to its occasion. Itmust succeed in a manner finally productive of the consequence intended both by the believer's deires and God's promises. Our Redeemer canno be disappointed of the reward of His merits, thepromises of God be broken, nor His faithfulness be impeached. The firm and confident appealwhich Joshua made to the Israelites, after their entrance into the land of promise, may with propiety be repeated, and addressed to the assembed throng of glorified spirits in the last day,

"Ye know in all your hearts, that not one thing "hath failed of all the good things which the Lord "your God promised concerning you; all is come "to pass as it is this day:" To which there will be a general plaudit of assent, without one silent intimation of dissent, and much less one contradicting denial. And should the appeal be recited in hell, its issue would be equally honourable to the character of God; since not one genuine believer would be found there to say, "I trusted in God and was disappointed."

THE TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

O Lord, we beseech thee, absolve thy people from their offences; that through thy bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the bands of those sins, which by our frailty we have committed. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.

TH

HE many infirmities to which the best of men are subject should teach us to be humble, to think with awe of that severe trial which we must all undergo at the bar of God, and to prepare for its approach by earnestly imploring the remission of our sins and the sanctification of our hearts. For "in many things we offend all:" we are all prone to trip and stumble in our Christian course.

On this humiliating consideration the collect of our church, now to be explained, is founded. It contains-A prayer for absolution-A specification of the end for which absolution is implored -And a repetition of the request. We shall not however follow this method in its explication; but shall contemplate-The character of those persons who in our collect implore the pardon of their offences-The quality of those sins from which they pray to be absolved-The necessity of the blessing which they solicit-The nature of it -And the earnestness with which the request is urged.

Those who, in our collect, implore the pardon of their offences, are described as the people of God. They are distinguished from the mass of mankind, from the careless world, and from the herd of hypocritical professors. Their sensibilities and conduct differ from those of all other persons. They are called, and chosen, and "faithful." They were naturally even as others: "but they are washed, but they are sanctified, "but they are justified in the name of the Lord "Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." To Him they are devoted both in heart and life.

66

The change of persons observable in our collect marks the charitable hope which the church maintains concerning those who join in her worship. She cautions and warns, but she cannot decide. To scrutinize the heart, and to discriminate the sheep from the goats, is the prerogative of Omniscience. In the second branch of our collect, after praying for absolution in the first on behalf of all the people of God, we introduce ourselves as being of their number. We use the same confession with them; we avow the same faith in Christ; we partake of the same ordinances. It is, however, our personal business diligently to inquire whether our conduct herein be not hypocritical, whether the mark of the Lamb be visible in our foreheads, and whether His grace. have indeed taken possession of our hearts. For we are to remember that, as, under the Jewish dispensation, they were not all Israel which "were of Israel; neither, because they were the "seed of Abraham, were they all children:" so also now all who recite the creed are not Christians, those only being truly such in whom "Christ is formed the hope of glory." Unless we

THE TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINIT

O Lord, we beseech thee, absolve thy from their offences; that through thy be goodness we may all be delivered from th of those sins, which by our frailty we he mitted. Grant this, Ō heavenly Father, Christ's sake, our blessed Lord and Amen.

HE many infirmities to which

THE

men are subject should teach u ble, to think with awe of that sever we must all undergo at the bar of prepare for its approach by ear ring the remission of our sins and tion of our hearts. For "in r offend all:" we are all prone to in our Christian course.

On this humiliating considera our church, now to be expla It contains-A prayer for abso cation of the end for which abs -And a repetition of the rec however follow this method but shall contemplate-The persons who in our collect their offences-The quali which they pray to be abs the blessing which they -And the earnestness wi urged.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »