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Last words of Mr. S, and closing reflections.

ruined wife! me! I cruelly tore her away from awakened Christian sympathies, and the influence of the Holy Spirit. I would not have her religious, and therefore sought to banish every serious impression from her mind. In this I succeeded; and, as you know, she died in despair. And can there be hope for me? O no; my doom has long since been sealed up. Both God's mercy and justice will be vindicated in my destruction. Leave me now, sir, I have unburthened my mind. I have no further communication to make to any individual. I have well nigh arrived at the edge of the precipice from which I make the fatal, the irrecoverable plunge!'

Yes, and her ruin will be chargeable upon

"It was in vain that I sought to point this guilt-stained and despairing sinner to the cross of Christ. He did not, he would not hear me. Death was making rapid advances upon him. And soon the motionless pulse, the glazed eye, the livid and distorted lip showed that all was over. "And now," said my venerable informant, as he wiped away the big drops that moistened his wrinkled cheeks. "And now you see, that in relation to those who sleep there in death together, you cannot comfort me!"

To this remark I could make no reply, but left him with feelings full of sadness, and under the confirmed conviction, that the corrupt heart is the great seat of infidelity, and that they who slight the invitations of mercy, and neglect to cherish the influences of divine grace, run the tremendous risk of ruining their souls for ever.

The incidents contained in this narrative are strikingly illustrative of the truth of the position laid down in this lecture. While the narrative shows, most conclusively, that the origin of infidelity is the corrupt heart, it presents to the heedless sinner an exemplification of the awful truth, that he that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy."

Naaman, the leper,

LECTURE VIII.

THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY.

Who are these in bright array!
This innumerable throng,
Round the altar night and day,

Tuning their triumphant song!

WE are told that "the captain of the host of the king of Syria was a great man with his master and honourable, and that he was also a mighty man in valour: but he was a leper." Having heard, through a captive maid-servant brought from the land of Israel, of a distinguished prophet in Samaria, he went, under the sanction of the king of Syria, to pay him a visit. That he might the more certainly secure his object, he sought to impress the prophet with an idea of his dignity and greatness. And hence he took along with him, to be disposed of in gifts, "ten talents of silver and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment." And " so Naaman came with his horses and his chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha."

Doubtless, by the splendour and magnificence of his equipage, he expected to make a powerful impression upon the mind of the prophet. But Elisha did not deign even to look upon all this pomp and parade, but simply "sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again unto thee, and thou shalt be clean."

This reception was so unlike what this proud and vainglorious general had anticipated, that we can hardly conceive his disappointment and chagrin. "Behold I thought," said he, "he will surely come to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than

A resemblance of hesitating sinners.

all the waters of Jordan? May I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage."

Though he had travelled so far to be healed of his leprosy, and now had the means of cure in his power, yet his expectations were so disappointed, that he was about to return, and lose all the benefit of the proffered cure. But his servant, who reasoned infinitely better than the master, drew near, and said, "My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much rather, then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean? Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean."

The conduct of the leprous Naaman is strikingly analogous to that of the unregenerate sinner when first led to think of coming to Christ for salvation. The very simplicity of the remedy proposed in the gospel often causes men to turn away from it with contempt. If the Redeemer required of them some pompous worldly sacrifice, some rigorous penance, or painful pilgrimage, if "he bid them do some great thing," then they would be ready to act; their pride would be soothed, and their heart elated with the idea of working out, by some effort of theirs, their own salvation. But when they learn that the sum total of the gospel's requirements, by which their souls are to be cleansed, and saved, is "believe,"—" believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," like Naaman they often turn away in a rage. Still, after all, there is no other way to purity and peace. Unless the sinner will renounce every other dependence, and simply "look unto Jesus," he will die in his leprosy, and never gain admission into that kingdom of blessedness into which nothing that defileth can enter. Simple faith in Christ, accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit, produces a change as marked and wondrous in the moral man, as did the septenary dipping in the stream of Jordan upon the flesh of Naaman.

The effects of the gospel, the transforming power of divine grace, as exhibited in the character of different individuals, most clearly attests the truth and divine origin of Christianity. The present lecture will be principally

Power of the gospel.

occupied in the exhibition and illustration of this species of testimony.

When I say, that the effects of the gospel most clearly attest the truth and divine origin of Christianity, I do not mean, simply, that they who embrace Christianity show a corresponding elevation of moral character, and that just in proportion as the gospel is extended is the cause of morality advanced. This would barely show that the gospel was a system of pure and exalted ethics, adapted to the human character, and calculated to promote the best interests of society. But I mean that there is a divine and celestial power accompanying the gospel, producing striking and marked moral transformations, which is evidently the seal of God, declaring in the face of the whole world that Christianity is from above.

Every single instance of conversion proclaims this truth with trumpet tongue. And we should all see and acknowledge the fact, could there be presented to us a just view of that "carnal mind," which, though it is decided " enmity against God," is often hid and concealed beneath the civilities of life, and the external decorums of morality. The Ithuriel touch of the Holy Spirit reveals its true character. But then perhaps this " deadly evil" becomes revealed only to the individual within whom it rages. Though it has been crushed through the power of the Holy Spirit, there may be but few external indications of the extent and magnitude of the change that has been effected. It is not always so, however. There are numerous instances where this moral transformation is so marked and striking, that it must be obvious to the most superficial observer that nothing could have produced it but the power of Omnipotence.

The instance of Saul of Tarsus is exactly in point. He was a young man of no ordinary intellectual endowments. He had already distinguished himself by unusual proficiency in a department of learning that was held in the highest esteem among his countrymen. The state of affairs were such in Judea, that one with talents, and energy, and ambition, and devoted attachment to the Jewish institutions, could rise to almost any pitch of eminence. The whole nation were devotedly attached to every thing

Sketch of Saul of Tarsus.

peculiar to their own institutions. Their splendour and glory as a people were not a little obscured by their subjection to the Roman government.

The claims that Jesus

of Nazareth set up seemed entirely hostile to all their national establishments. They had, therefore, determined to crush him and his cause. They accordingly procured his death. But still his followers were undaunted, and boldly proclaimed that he had risen from the dead. Their cause seemed advancing; and it was deemed, therefore, the greatest service that could be done to true religion, to frown down this reputed imposture and lie. They needed at this time some master spirit to rouse into action the dormant and declining energies of the nation.

Saul of Tarsus was a young man of precisely the kind of talents adapted to this crisis of affairs. He thought he saw where duty and interest led him. He gave himself up to the work of exterminating Christianity. That was the path that would assuredly lead him to wealth, and influence, and glory, and renown. He fully believed the Christian religion to be false, and its founder an impostor. He was, therefore, impressed with the idea that he was doing God service, by trampling down what he regarded as a system of deception. He accordingly addressed himself to this work with all the ardour of youth, and all the zeal of the most devoted bigotry. On all occasions he appeared as the champion of Judaism, and the avowed enemy of Christianity. He had no idea of toleration. As far as his influence reached, men were to renounce Christ or die. stood by and gloried in the death of the first martyr, Stephen. His zeal knew no bounds. Not content with bringing every sort of persecution against the Christians at Jerusalem, shutting them up in prison, punishing them oft in every synagogue, and compelling them to blaspheme; but still breathing out threatenings and slaughter, he went unto the high-priest, and obtained from him commission and authority to go to Damascus on this same errand of persecution, and if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, to bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

He

Going on such an errand, animated with such sentiments, and influenced by such feelings, an instantaneous revolution was wrought in his views and purposes. While yet on the way, he abandoned his murderous plans! He gave

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