3. The mysteries of grace —
[" Great is the mystery of godliness," and great the mystery of grace, whether we consider the work ivroughf for us by Jesus Christ, or the work ivrought in us by his Holy Spirit. These constitute that " wisdom, which is foohshness with man," and which " the natural man cannot receive, because it is spiritually discerned''." To know this, we must be taught of God : "We must receive, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, before we can know the things that are freely given to us of God"^." And oh ! how wonderful a work does this appear, when "God shines into our hearts to reveal it tousM" How worthy of God ! how suitable to man ! how passing the compre- hension, whether of men or angels ! Verily, the man whose eyes are thus opened, seems to be brought into a new world : " old things are passed away, and all things are become new." The ignorant world are amazed at the new line of conduct he pur- sues, just as Elisha's servant was at his master's confidence in the midbt of danger. But, if their eyes were opened to see, as the Believer does, the invisible God* above him and within him, they would wonder rather, that there were any bounds to his transports, or any limit to his exertions.]
4. The beauties of holiness —
[All who are warped by their prejudices, or blinded by their lusts, are incapable of estimating aright the beauty and blessed- ness of true piety : it appears to them little short of madness. And even those who make a profession of godliness, but possess not truth in their inward parts, have very erroneous conceptions of true holiness. Some place it in a confident espousal of certain principles, or a zealous attachment to a particular party : others, inclining more to practical religion, make all duty to centre in some one point, such as the mortification of the flesh, or alms- giving, or penances of man's invention. Even those who are more enlightened, are apt to regard only one particular set of graces that are more congenial with their own feelings, and to neglect those which are of an opposite aspect ; one despising every thing in comparison of zeal and confidence ; another leaning altogether to the side of prudence and timidity. But the man into whose hidden part God has put true wisdom, views holiness, not with prismatic partiality, separating one grace from another, but all embodied, as light in the sun ; every grace tem- pering its opposite, and all combining to the production of per- fect beauty. He discards neither the vivid nor the darker ray : but, having all in united exercise, sorrow with joy, and fear with confidence, " the beauty of the Lord his God is upon him","
and
'* 1 Cor. ii. 7, 8, 9, 14. ' ib. ver. 10, 12. ^2 Cor. iv. 6.
'2Kin. vi. 15— 17. Heb. xi. 27. " Ps. xc. 17.