Andrew Lee

“ To be influenced by promises is no less mercenary than being driven by terror. And this is also proposed as an incitement to obedience. "God hath given us exceeding great and precious promises, that by them we should become partakers of a divine nature."
Every inspired teacher hath called men to repentance in the same manner, and urged it by the same arguments. Proof is needless. To pretend that application is not made, by divine order, to the hopes and fears of mankind, is trifling—Yea to pretend that they are not urged by the dread of eternal punishment, is to deny the most obvious truth. ”

“ It is only our removal—our birth day into the world of glory.—We are joined "to the spirits of the just made perfect"—enjoy the society and that of the angels of God—behold the face of our heavenly Father, and of the divine Redeemer. We rejoice to see you "followers of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises"—are ready to help you in your work, and to shout God's praises, and unite in songs of triumph, should you come off conquerors, and rise from your humble state of sorrows, sufferings and temptations, to be our companions in glory. ”

“ But the perfect and upright man, how happily different when death draws near? If possessed of himself, like the still summer's evening, he is calm and serene. He talks of death with as much composure, as one returning from a strange country, to his native land; or as one returning from captivity and slavery, to his father's house, to his family, and to the society of friends, dear as life, and with much more raised expectations! ”

“ I will make the an eternal excellency—violence shall no more be heard in thy land; wasting nor destruction within thy borders—the sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee, but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory—the days of thy mourning shall be ended—thy people shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever. ”

“ If Moses was thus conscious of guilt, who can say "I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?—O Lord, enter not into judgment with thy servant; for in thy sight shall no man living be justified— there is not a just man upon earth, who doeth good and sinneth not." While praying for others, it ill becomes us to forget ourselves.
Are we by office appointed to ask mercy for others and bear them on our hearts before God? We must not therefore conclude that mercy is not necessary for us. Like the high priests of old, "We must offer, first for own sins, and then for the people's." ”

“ But how aggravated the guilt of those who under such circumstances forsake the way of the Lord—cut of the entail of mercy and entail a curse on their posterity—shut up the kingdom of heaven against their own offspring; neither going in themselves, nor suffering those who are entering to go in?
Lost to the fear of God, such hardened sinners may cry peace, but there is no peace to them! It concerns them to look to themselves, for evil is before them! A descent from pious ancestors will not turn away the wrath of God, from those who harden themselves in sin. ”

“ Good and evil, hope and fear, light and darkness, are set over against each other. The saints, while they dwell in the dust, sometimes walk in darkness, and have their hours of gloom and horror—"The whole creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain until now—Even those who have the first fruits of the spirit, groan within themselves, waiting for—the redemption of the body. Those of whom the world is not worthy, are often in heaviness, through manifold temptations." ”

“ Clouds will no more hide God's face—Fears and doubts, no more distress them; nor Satan call his fiery darts at them, again forever.
In the other world, God will dwell with his people, and "wipe away all tears from their eyes: There will be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, nor any more pain; for the former things will all have passed away. There will be no more curse, because no more sin. For the spirits of the just will be made perfect." ”

“ We can form no judgment of a person's moral state by his speculative knowledge of God and religion. Knowledge in divine things is important; on many accounts it is so; but it does not ensure goodness of heart, without which we cannot be saved; we may have "all knowledge," yet perish in our sins. So it happened to Balaam, and probably to others beside him. "If ye know these things happy are ye, if ye do them."
But we are chiefly concerned at home—to know our own state. Do we do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God? ”

“ The earth would have required little culture —none which would have wearied its inhabitants. The mind, free from every corrupt bias, would have been open to instruction, which would have flowed from the parent and been received by the child, with delightful ease and joy. Man devoted to the service of God, would have devoted his all to God, especially his offspring. Then to have poured knowledge, and especially the knowledge of God, into the placid docile mind of the pious youth, what delight would it have given to the soul glowing with divine love! ”

“ To solve this mystery we must consider man in a twofold view—as an individual and as the member of a community.
As individuals mankind are solely accountable for the parts which they act personally. In the judgment of the great day, they will only be judged for the use which they shall have made of the talents committed to them here—"We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in the body, according to that he hath done, whether good or bad,"
But every individual is a member of the human race, and of some community. ”

“ Was man grateful, divine goodness would lead him to repentance; but under the influence of depravity, it hath a different effect—is made the occasion of more ungodliness! What baseness! "Sin because grace abounds! Whose damnation is just! How can such escape? The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." ”

“ When "every work is brought into judgment and every secret thing, whether it be good or evil," every thing commendable which hath been done by the wicked, will come into the reckoning. Nothing will be overlooked, because done by sinners. The prejudices inherent in mankind often render them blind to what is commendable in an enemy, and cause them to magnify his failings; but not so the Deity. God is perfect. "The way of man will he render unto him," whatever may be his general character.
The saints are not equal in virtue and the attainments of grace. ”

“ We have no claim on divine justice. All mankind might have been left to perish. But they are not thus left of God, He hath found a ransom; and offers salvation to all. No differences will be eventually made among men without reasons. And the reasons will be in them—For there is no respect of persons with God.
But suppose two persons to be equally guilty and deserving of condemnation, may not God make one of them a vessel of mercy, and the other a vessel of wrath? ”

“ An hour of temptation must try all who dwell upon the earth. These are the times in which we are tried.
Do we envy those who may live during the Peaceful reign of the Redeemer? Let us not forget that we are favored above many who have gone before us—above some of our contemporaries and probably above those who will succeed us, before the commencement of that happy era. Nothing necessary to salvation is denied us. If straitened it is in our own bowels. If faithful to improve the talents put into our hands, "our labor will not be in vain in the Lord"—God will keep us to his kingdom. ”

“ The good man is often called to take up his cross; but the rewards which follow are constantly held up to view, in revelation, as infinitely surpassing the losses and sufferings of the present life. "Blessed are ye when men shall revile and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake: Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven." Every one who forsaketh worldly advantages, out of regard to God, will "receive an hundred fold reward, and inherit eternal life." ”

“ It intimates that the pains occasioned in the wicked, by the warnings of the faithful are the same, in kind, as those of the damned, and that they are often severe. This accounts for the mad joy of infidelity—for the frantic triumphs of those who have persuaded themselves that religion is a fable. It accounts for the representation here given of the conduct of an unbelieving world, when infidelity shall have become universal, and the dead body of religion lie exposed to public scorn. Such is the time here foretold—a time when the age of atheism may be vauntingly termed "the age of reason." ”

“ The sinner who is the subject of this fear hath so deep a sense of the sinfulness of sin, especially of his own, that he is afraid to make God his hope—afraid to look up to the throne of grace, or to ask mercy of God. He would gladly flee the divine presence, like the first guilty pair, when they heard the voice of God walking in the garden after their fall. When fear hath this effect, it drives the sinner from the mercy which alone can save him. ”

“ But all their machinations were vain. "Obtaining help from God, of whom he was a chosen vessel, to bear his name to the Gentiles, and kings, and the people of Israel," he continued many years, and did, perhaps, more than any other perform in the cause of Christ. Jewish rancor towards him never abated, but he caught no share of their bitter spirit? the temper of Christ governed in him? he loved his enemies, and did them good. Like another Moses he bore Israel on his heart before God, and made daily intercession for them, weeping at a view of their sad state, and the evils coming upon them. ”

“ If the manifest rectitude, and moral necessity of the divine decisions, will then satisfy the righteous, and their greater love to God reconcile them to the execution of his judgments on all the impenitent, why not as soon as they shall have put off the remains of depravity, and become "the spirits of the just made perfect?" THOSE in glory are doubtless acquainted with the moral state of the world —"There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth." ”