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Download PDF - Free Methodist Church

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PBEE GBACE.be manifested by both pnlpit andpress, vainly shall the wail of ademoralized society go up beforeGod from all quarters of the earth.Nothing short of the fear of Godoan restrain the mad passions andlusts of men. The arresting of theattention by the fear of God wUl leadmen to feel the need of, or . to seek4ifter a Saviour to rescue them fromthe consequences of sin.—Messiah'sHerald.••-»-••FREE GRACE.The way for a man to know thathe has grace, is not to try himselfby fallible signs, but intuitively tolook into himself and see grace. Athousand signs of grace •will notprove that a man has grace. ThereiB no sign of grace to be dependedupon but grace itself; for everythingbut grace a hypocrite mayhave. Thus the way for a man toknow that he has grace is not tojudge himself by the degree andmeasure of his reUgious frames andaffections, or the height of his attainments,but by the special natnreof them. For as there is not anyone grace but the hypocrite mayhave its counterfeit, so hypocritesmay rise as high in their religion asany true beUever does in his. WasElijah the prophet zealous for thename and worship of the true God,and against false religion ? So wasJehu. And he appeared as. full ofzeal, and more courageous, and didgreater exploits. There was scarce amore zealous saint than Elijah, inall Old Testament times; but yetJehu, that hypocrite, made' a muchgreater show and noise, seemed tobe fuller of zeal and courage, andactually did greater exploits, settingaside the miracles God •wrought byEUjah. (1 King, chaps, xviii andiix; 2 Kings, chaps, ix and x.)And we do not read of one s«int, inaU the Bible, that fasted in a constantway, t^wice every week, as thepharisee did. (Luke xviiL) Andthere is not one saint in aU the Biblethat ever did, externally andvisibly, any higher acts of self-denialthan to g^ve all his goods to feedthe poor, and his body to be burnt,and yet St. Paul intimates thata man may do so and stiU have nograce in bis heart. I Cor. xui, 3.It is no certain evidence, therefore,that a man is a good man, becausehe has a great deal of reUgion,more than the worst, and fullas much as the best; yea, more thanany in all the country, yea, or in alltbe whole world. For in Jehu'stime, there was not, perhaps, for awhile, one like him upon the face ofthe whole earth. A man, therefore,can not know that he is a good manby the degree of his reUgion ; butonly from the special nature of it.—Bellamy.•-•-• —OTHER MBN'S SINS.—<strong>Church</strong>esbecome partakers of the sins of anindividual member, when these sinsare occasioned by a general neglectof brotherly watchfulness and reproof,and when they are toleratedby the church in consequence of aneglect of church discipUne. Whenthis is the case, tbe sins of an individualbecome the sins of the wholechurch. This is evident from Christ'sepistles to the seven churches ofAsia. He commends the Ephesianchurch becanse they could not bearthem that were e'vil,while he severelyreproves and threatens otherchurches for tolerating among themthose things which he abhorred. Ina similar manner, St. Paul rebukedthe Corinthian chnrch, for neglectingto excommunicate one of theirmembers, who was guilty of a notoriousoffence; and charges them toput away that •wicked person. Tothese remarks we may add, that everymember of a chnrch makes himselfa partaker of the known sins ofhis feUow members, when he neglectsto bear testimony againsttheir sins, and to use proper meansto bring them to repentance.—Pay-

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