experience the healing of it ? Then we, however desperate our condition be, should endeavour to execute the commands of God, and in that act expect his blessing on our souls.
Doubtless we are in ourselves as impotent as the man with the withered hand. But are we therefore at liberty to sit still without making any effort to save ourselves ? If that man who laboured under a natural infirmity had refused to make the effort which our Lord enjoined, he had in all probability lost the cure which, in making the attempt, he obtained. How much more then shall we be left to rue our folly, if we, whose impotence is only of a moral nature, decline using the means which God has ordained ! It is our duty to repent : it is our duty to believe in Christ : it is our duty to surrender up our- selves unreservedly to God. And if, when called to these exertions, we excuse ourselves by saying that we are not able, we shall provoke Almighty God to withhold from us the bless- ings which we so greatly need, and which he is ever ready to bestow upon us. He has told us, that " his Spirit shall help our infirmities." But how will he help us? Not by moving us without any co-operation on our part, but by taking hold of the opposite end of a burthen, and bearing it together with usm. Very remarkable is that answer which Jehovah gave to his people of old. The Church prayed, " Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord." The Lord answered, " Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem." " Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O ZionV God does not need our efforts; but he requires them : and when they are put forth in obedience to his commands, and in dependence on his grace, he will " perfect his own strength in our weakness."
I call upon you all then to repent of sin, to flee to Christ for refuge from the guilt and power of it, and to consecrate your- selves unreservedly to him. I readily acknowledge, that you are not of yourselves sufficient for these things : but " the grace of Christ is, and shall be, sufficient for you," if, in depend- ence on his promised aid, you will address yourselves to these all-important duties. " Be workers together with God ;" and he will never suffer you to work in vain. I grant, you are asleep ; I grant, you are dead : but I say with confidence, ' Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light0."]
My last observation is, that if, like this man, you have experienced the mighty working of Christ's power, you must, throughout the whole remainder of your lives, shew yourselves living monuments of his power and grace.
m Rom. viii. 26. avvavTiXafifiavETai.
n Isai. li. 9, 17. and Hi. 1. <> Eph. v. 14.
1422.] Christ's love to his people. 25
[Wherever he went, he was a witness for Christ. And such must you be. You must let it be seen that he both does and will renew the powers of a withered soul, and infuse into it such energies as shall bear the stamp and character of divinity upon them. And one such witness, if he provoke hostility in some, will afford the greatest possible encouragement to others. The Sabbath-day is now the time that our Lord especially selects for the communication of his blessings to the souls of men. But the generality are content with an attendance on outward ordinances, without expecting any peculiar blessing from them. Let it however be seen in you that " his word is quick and powerful," and, that to those who receive it aright, it " is the power of God to their salvation."]