remedy operate on him as it did on them. Then we may hope, indeed, that his heart is right before God ; and that the remedy which he applies for the benefit of his own soul is that which will prove effectual for the whole world.
You will perceive that I have cautiously abstained from any thing which might anticipate my future statements. It is my wish to keep every part as dis- tinct as possible, that the subject may successively grow upon us, till it appear in all its incomprehensible majesty and grandeur. I know indeed, how unequal I am to the task of bringing it properly before you : but this I do hope, in some measure, to attain ; namely, to give clear views of all which I state, and to exhibit the subject in as simple a manner as a due investigation of it will admit of. Not that it will be possible for us to divest the subject of all difficulties. For instance, the remedy of which we have spoken is represented as altogether " the gift of God," no less in the application of it to the soul, than in the reve- lation of it to the mind : and yet men are called upon to apply it to themselves, as much as if they were originally and of themselves perfectly competent to that task. It may be said, If we can attain it of our- selves, why represent it as a gift ? and if we cannot attain it of ourselves, why represent that attainment as a duty ? I answer, To simplify our statements so as to remove all difficulties, is impossible ; because the Gospel is, ' ' a mystery, hid in God from the begin- ning of the worldd:" but, to state it in so plain and simple a way as shall approve itself to every candid mind, is an object which should be aimed at, and may certainly be attained. That which introduces such obscurity into the Gospel is, the attempt of men to reduce Christianity to a system, such as man himself would devise, or such as his unenlightened reason would approve. But " God's thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor are his ways as our ways6." No; they infinitely transcend ours: and the true
d Eph. iii. 9. e Isai. lv. 8, 9.