ng with the greatest possible indignity the
Saviour whom he has sent into the world. I am to cast away all
dependance on myself, and make the propitiation of Christ all my
hope, and come with an unwavering faith therein, and then I
honor the Saviour whom God has provided. But whether I bring a
propitiation of my own, or say that no propitiation is needed, or
place no confidence in that which God has provided, I do equally
set at nought the propitiation of Christ.
The preacher remarked 2. That the power of the Gospel did not
consist in mysteries. On this point I have only to remark, that the
bible declares "great is the mystery of Godliness," and also speaks
of "the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in us the
hope of glory."
He also said 3. That the power of the gospel did not consist in
human learning. On this point I have nothing to say but to assent.
He remarked 4th. That the power of the gospel did not consist
in the doctrine of endless punishment. On this point I readily
admit, that a mere belief in the doctrine of endless punishment,
never did, never will save a man from sin. I have no doubt that
many a sinner has lived and died in the belief of that doctrine, and
been lost forever, and that many others will follow in the same
course, loving their sins too well to renounce them, though fully
aware that the end of the wicked must be "everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power." At
the same time I know it to be a fact, that the doctrine of endless
punishment has often been used by the Holy Spirit to arrest the
sinner in his course of iniquity, and to lead him to seek a way of
salvation from sin, though a mere belief in that doctrine has
