King of his Church, we are of necessity taught to look to him for the illumination of our minds, the pardon of our sins, the subjugation of all our spiritual enemies. We are taught to " live altogether by faith in him, who has loved us, and given himself for us " ]
3. The Holy Spirit, and his operations —
[If we can come to God only through the Son, so neither have we any access to him but by the Spirit d. Hence, in de- siring his gracious influences, we should seek to have the whole work of grace wrought within us, and to be " transformed into the divine image," and be " made meet for our eternal inheritance " ]
4. The Gospel, with all its promises and precepts —
[Nothing of this is to be contemplated as a mere matter of speculation ; but the whole Gospel is to be embraced as a remedy, as a remedy suited to our wants and sufficient for our necessities. Every promise of it is to be embraced as a ground of hope ; and every precept in it is to be obeyed as an evidence of our faith and love ]
5. The realities of the eternal world —
[No one ever came from heaven or from hell to inform us what those states were, or what was the full import of those terms under which those states are displayed. Nor is it of importance to us to know more of them in this world. We already know enough to call forth into activity our hopes and our fears : and our wisdom, is so to improve our knowledge of them, as to "flee from the wrath to come," and to " lay hold
on eternal life"
In a word, " whatsoever is revealed belongs to us and to our children for ever, that in all succeeding ages we should do all the words of God's Law," and approve ourselves to him as a faithful and obedient people.]
Hence, then, we may see —
1. What answer we should make to the proud objector —
[Persons will sit in judgment upon God and his revealed will, as if they were capable of determining, by their own wis- dom, what was fitting for him to reveal or do ; and they will decide with confidence on all which they either see or hear, precisely as if they were competent to weigh in a balance all the mysteries of divine wisdom. With what impious boldness will many revile the mystery of a Trinity of Persons in the
d Eph. ii. 18.