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ripeness, not only in the full vigour of perfect age, but in the very flower and bloom of youth: one, in particular, who was only not a child, who sank into the grave the victim of a lingering disease; not unprepared-Christ had been formed in her heart; she had chosen the way of truth, and she found that it led her to the end of peace. And this is no single instance; nearly twenty deaths have occurred under my own immediate cognizance during the year that has passed and again and again have I heard the departing accents testify to the excellence of this way of truth, rejoicing and glorying therein: and the hand of death was strong upon the frail body, and the foundations of the earthly tabernacle were shaken; but they felt that the rock was firin, and they testified that the house was sure. And it is alike with heartfelt regard to the mourners and hallowed remembrance of the dead, that I exhort you this day to follow them, considering the end of their conversation, Christ Jesus, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever-that I entreat you, as you would be partakers of the promises that they are now inheriting, to sanctify the commencement of this new year, by choosing, or confirming your choice of, "the way of truth." And I would assure you, on the authority of God's true and tried word, that thus alone can you expect to attain what you most desire-an end of peace.

I repeat then, for the third and last time, the words of the Lord Jesus, and may the finger of God write these upon your hearts, if all besides melt and fade away from your memories—“I am the way, and the truth, and the life." Strive then to follow him as the way; seek to obey him as the truth: and it is not more certain that the brightest eye must darken, and the fairest form must fade, that earth shall return to earth, ashes to ashes, and dust to dust, than that so walking and so obeying, aided and supported by strength from above, you shall attain to, and enjoy Jesus for ever, as the life. When Christ, who is your life, shall appear in judgment, then shall you also, purified through his blood, appear with him in glory. God grant that such may be the end of all here present, through Jesus Christ!

56

THE SUPREMACY OF THE CLAIMS OF RELIGIOUS TRUTH.

REV. R. AINSLIE,

NEW COURT CHAPEL, CAREY STREET, JANUARY 4, 1835.

"The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver."
PSALM CXIX. 72.

Ir is not easy to conceive of preference for religion being expressed in a plainer or more decided manner than in the text. It was the utterance of a heart familiar with piety, and well disciplined in self-denial. Such an acquiescence in the supremacy of the claims of religious truth, was not attained in a day; but was the result of a sound and matured experience in the ways of God, and of a knowledge of evil sufficiently extensive and painful, to enable the Psalmist to judge of the excellency of religion, and to delight in it above every earthly joy.

Every one present this evening, who has spent but a few hours in a calm and enlightened review of his life, his habits, his associations of thought and feeling, who has sat down to look into the interior of his mind, and to explore the secret chambers of imagery within, must have arrived at this conclusion-that there is a natural tendency in the mind to overlook and undervalue the influence of religious truth, and devotional feeling. It is palpably true in the history of the unconverted: and there is no one feature of character which brings the Christian to a throne of grace with deeper humiliation and sorrow, because it originates other transgressions, and leads to other backslidings, over which his heart mourns and is in bitterness. I ask you not at this moment to what other conclusions your self-examination has led you, but has it not led you to the one I have just named? Can you not fix upon periods even in the history of your youth, brief as it may be, when your mind was blank to all obligations to God and to Christ; and when error, folly, levity, and sin, had inscribed upon it their many claims to which you rendered a willing acquiescence and a cheerful obedience? And since that writing was blotted out, and the supremacy of those claims renounced—since the claims of religion have been impressed upon your heart by the Holy Spirit-have you not felt, and has not your soul been grieved at the influence of things seen and temporal, over the things which are unseen and eternal?

This tendency, brethren, may be diminished, or it may be greatly strengthened. In the present day, and especially in the history of young people, the multiplied and pressing duties and engagements of life, and the innumerable sources of pleasure and literary gratification opened to them, constitute a powerful

auxiliary to this already too powerful tendency to overlook, and incorrectly appreciate the value of religious truth. We shall spend this evening in an investigation of the different claims presenting themselves to our attention in the present day, and in shewing you the necessary and permanent superiority of the claims of religious truth over every other. I feel no difficulty in having to present you with a large amount of proof of the excellency and blessedness of religion; but I do feel a difficulty as to the manner in which such illustrations and proofs may be best laid before you. My sincere desire and humble prayer is, that God would make me this night the instrument of blessing to your souls. O, thou Holy and Eternal Spirit, open and prepare every heart to receive thine own word! Subdue and remove every rising feeling of opposition to the purity of thy truth. Convict the guilty; enlighten the ignorant; strengthen the helpless; establish the pious! May this service receive thy sanction and blessing: and may its results be apparent in the decision of those who have hitherto halted between two opinions; and in the more perfect surrender of the heart on the part of those who have professedly called themselves by thy name!

THE SUPREMACY OF THE CLAIMS OF RELIGIOUS TRUTH.

In the first place, we shall offer SOME OBSERVATIONS UPON RELIGIOUS TRUTH, embracing as it does not only doctrine for the illumination of the understanding, but precepts, principles, and motives, for the government and purity of the heart.

In looking at religious truth, one of its most prominent features is, the necessity of the love of God which it enjoins upon all without distinction. It is prominent in both Testaments and it is so important that it constitutes one of the two great commandments, on which hang all the law and the prophets. The Psalmist referred to it when he said, “The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver:" for he knew that the commandment proceeded from the lips of Jehovah, and that he wrote it on the tables of stone which he delivered to the custody of the prophet and legislator of Israel.

God has given to you and to me a rational and an immortal existence. It is not of the nature of an angel, nor of a brute; but it is of the nature of man. He has prescribed and revealed the laws of this existence, and he has constituted us intelligent enough to understand those laws, and accountable enough to obey them, and to receive the reward of obedience, or, if we disobey them, to receive the reward of our disobedience. And who can say that in this, God has acted unwisely, unkindly, or unrighteously? Has not he who has given us existence, the sole right to regulate it by the laws of his government? Should not he direct and command those intelligent minds with which he has both endowed and dignified us? God has created us with capacities for the enjoyment of pure and elevated happiness; and is it not reasonable that his directions, both as to its sources and the means of attaining it, are worthy of our enlightened attention and implicit confidence? Let it be the settled conviction of our minds, not only that in God we live, move, and have our being, but that he, as our Creator, has an absolute dominion over us for life or death; for blessing or for punishment.

Admitting this fact, even in connexion with the fact of our guilt and sin fulness, we have no ground for despondency or despair. The character and perfections of God whom we are commanded to love, are calculated to inspire as with hope and to disperse our fears: and although in our guilty and unconverted state we have neither inclination nor ability to love God, yet in the exercise of his free and sovereign mercy, while he reveals himself to us in the person of his Son, he also sheds abroad his love in our hearts, and then we love him, and through his grace the holy fire he has kindled within us continues to burn; and although apparently quenched by death, it burns with a purer and intenser flame when the soul is admitted to the immediate presence of the Deity. Is there, then, nothing in the love of God to awaken an interest in your breasts and to diffuse delight in your souls? Is he not your Creator and your God? Is he not your Almighty benefactor? Is not the relation you sustain of the most tender and endearing character? Is he not your Father who is in heaven? Has he not compassionated you in your guilty, helpless, and forlorn state: pitied you when plunged in darkness and in despair, and expressed his pity and tender love in giving his Son to bear your iniquities in his own body upon the cross? His character and perfections, as revealed in the Bible; his wisdom and providence, as exhibited in his works and in the government of the world; his grace and love, as displayed in the redemption of fallen man; and his glory and majesty, as our final Judge; all combine to excite and fix our attention upon God as the Being whom we should love, whose laws we should obey, whose service we should enter, and whose purposes of mercy we should endeavour to fulfil, so far as our feeble agency can be contributary to their accomplishment. Other objects of our love fade, decay, and recede from our sight. The memory of their virtues may be embalmed with our purest associations, and as Christians we may be looking forward to that re-union and eternal felicity in heaven which is the sole privilege of the pious. But God is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever: His claims take the precedence of every other. He who has redeemed us, has appointed father and mother, sister and brother, houses and lands, a lower place in our affectious than that which he must occupy. And he has a right to do so. He created us: He made us men and not brutes; and in one moment he could reduce us to the folly and helplessness of idiotcy; lay the proud structure of human reason in ruins; and could lay the glory of the human intellect, and the glory of erudition, alike prostrate in the dust. This, brethren, is one of the facts of religious truth; we have not learnt it from nature; human wisdom has not explored and discovered it; philosophy has not suggested it; but God himself, when he descended in the awful and overwhelming glory of Sinai, amidst thunder and lightning, he revealed it.

A second great truth revealed in the Bible, and demanding our firm and enlightened belief, is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible embraces, as you are aware, a large mass of historical, chronological, ecclesiastical, and general truths. It contains, except for a short interval, the history of the divine procedure with mankind, and especially with the church, for a period of about 4000 years. But there are some facts on which the excellency and the blessedness of the book entirely depend; and one of these is, that it reveals in a

most circumstantial and impressive manner all that relates to the purposes of God connected with our redemption. Our apostasy, with its causes, influence, and consequences, are therein narrated. The mission of a Saviour (Jesus Christ) his doctrines, his miracles, his precepts, his prayers, the proofs of his deity and glory, of his humiliation and suffering, and finally the narratives of his death and resurrection, are there recorded. There is a peculiar importance attached to his death, and the inspired apostles are unanimous in ascribing salvation to the death of Christ. The circumstances of our guilt rendered it necessary that a sacrifice should be offered: Jesus Christ offered himself "as a Lamb without blemish and without spot," and he was sacrificed: the thick and lofty veil of the temple was rent in twain when he died; many of the dead rose from their graves; there was a great earthquake; and darkness covered the land for about three hours. This, dear brethren, is the appointed way of our reconciliation, justification, and return to God. It is the theme of our ministry; it is the subject on which the Bible dilates at great length; and this is the Gospel, the glad tidings of a Saviour published to our world. The love of Christ is enjoined upon us, and the most fearful denunciations are recorded against those who do not love him. "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha." Without faith in Christ it is impossible either to please God or to be saved. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."

The third and last fact to which we now call your attention, is that of personal holiness. The illumination of the mind, and its recovery from spiritual death, is effected by the agency of the Holy Spirit. The children of God are born again by the agency of the Spirit; they are sanctified by the same Spirit; the fruits of their regeneration and sanctification are exhibited (at least they should be exhibited) in the whole tenor of their conduct; in the purity of the imagination; in spiritual and devotional feeling; in godly conversation; in the denial of all ungodliness and worldly lusts; and in living soberly, righteously, and godly in the present evil world. It constitutes the most powerful evidence of a state of genuine discipleship, and, as it is the work of the Spirit, it places us in the most favourable condition for the love of God and for obedience to his commandments. It has been proved in millions of cases to be the source of the purest, most elevated, and abiding happiness, and is the essential fitness we require for heaven. "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord."

This is a very brief reference to religious truth, but it embraces the leading facts of the New Testament. They might be greatly amplified; the connexion of many other truths in the New Testament, with those I have named, is most intimate, but the whole of them involve the entire surrender of the heart to God.

Secondly, Let us now see WHAT ARE THOSE OBJECTS WHOSE CLAIMS COMPETE WITH THOSE OF RELIGIOUS TRUTH, and the entire surrender of the heart to God.

The first I advert to is the ordinary mercantile duties of life. The constitution of society, the methods of transacting business, the very nature of business, and the habits of the merchant and the professional man, are greatly, if not

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