[There is a strange backwardness in man to do this. If all be traced to the sovereign grace of God, we bring forward a thousand objections, that so we may divide the glory with him. But this is not so in heaven: nor should it be on earth. In heaven there is no song but that of " Salvation to God and to the Lamb." Let it be so on earth. It is our indispensable duty, our truest interest, our highest happiness, to give glory to the God of heaven. Let us do it cheerfully, and without reserve.]
2. Let those in whose hearts Christ has been revealed, seek to know more and more of him —
[It is but little that any man knows of him. Paul him- self, after preaching Christ for twenty years, desired to know more of him, in the power of his resurrection, and the fellow- ship of his sufferings. Let us also seek to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of him." The more we behold his glory, the more we shall be changed into his image : and the more we comprehend of his unsearchable love, the more shall we be filled with all the fulness of God.]
3. Let all learn how to avoid the snares which
Satan lays for their feet —
[We must not parley with temptation, but act with promptitude and decision. There must be in us a firmness that is immoveable : yet should that firmness be tempered with suavity. We must not think, that, because our superiors are wrong in their endeavours to keep us back from Christ, we are at liberty to slight their admonitions on other subjects, or even on religion itself, as far as we can without violating the commands of Christ. Whilst we guard against an undue conformity to the world, we must guard also against two com- mon evils, superstition, and unnecessary scrupulosity : scru- pulosity makes that to be sin which is no sin ; and superstition makes that to be duty which is no duty. Let us get our minds rightly instructed: in matters of indifference, let us be willing to yield; but in matters of vital interest and import- ance, let us be firm and faithful even unto death.]