Second advent library

254 ueruanxvu. nlwe uewholly dependent on God is a hard doctrine: wewill not subscribe to such humiliating terms. How canwe tell sinners to reform, if they cannot do it?" Whereis myguilt?If I cannot refonn myself, surely Godwould eunjust to condemn me for not doing what 1cannot do." And thus you argue, throwing all theblame upon God, when all that God has required in thetext, is, that you should be willing that he should do thework of refonnation for you. And surely God must bethe best workman of the two. God says he punishes us,for "ye will not be refomied by me." This, my Christianfriend, is our crime, for which the church has beenand will be punishedseven times. "And if ye will notbe reformed by me by these things." What does Godmean by "these Ithin§p"?answer, It is God does thework, and he means 's people shall give him the glory;and when they have passed through the furnace of af-Hiction, and when seven times has passed over them, asit did over Nebuchadnezzar, then will the church, likethat proud monarch, learn that God rules in heaven andearth. But could we be willing to learn this lesson"without this punishment, by these thinis," that is, bythe word of God, by the preached gospel, y the merciesof God, by blessings of heaven from above, by blessingsof the earth beneath, by the love of God, by the deathof Christ, by the ministry of angels, by the strivings ofthe Holy Spirit; in one word, by all the means ofgrace ;if all these things could teach us that God was the Authorand Finisher of our faith, and make uswilling tobe reformed by him,-then, indeed, he would not havequnished us. But, alas! without chastisements weshould be " bastards, and not sons." Therefore thecausewhy the Christian must he punished,-to subduetheir proud, rebellious wills, to humble their haughtyand selfish hearts. They must sulfer all that wickedmen or devils can heap upon them, they must Iill up themeasure of Christ's sufferings in his body, which is thechurch, in order to make them lit for heaven orhappiness.They must, like gold, be seven times purified.As I have before said, all the mercies of God, and blessingsof heaven and earth, could not save the church