but experimentally and individually, as none can know him, unless taught by the influence of his own good Spirit; as reconciling you to himself, and not imputing your trespasses unto you; as accepting, pardoning, and loving you, for the sake of his dear Son? If you can answer in the affirmative, then, blessed be God, you have indeed entered upon an acquaintance with the great Jehovah, which time shall not interrupt, nor eternity itself destroy; you who are already thus taught, and thus acquainted, will assuredly bear with me, while I endeavour to lead others to the still waters, and the green pastures, where you have found refreshment and repose; for while you need this instruction least, you will probably be among the number of those, who will tolerate it, and love it most.

I proceed, however, to address myself more especially to you who are conscious of no such blessed acquaintance, and I would endeavour shortly to show you,

from testimony which cannot be refuted, because it is the testimony of God himself, that the very first step to acquaint yourself with God, is by a simple coming to, or believing in, Christ Jesus. "No man hath seen God at any time," said our blessed Lord, "the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." "If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also." "He that hath seen me,

hath seen the Father."

"I am the way,

the truth, and the life; no man cometh

unto the Father, but by me.' Your

acquaintance, then, with God, must be commenced at the foot of the cross! This is the prominent truth of the Bible; the truth, without which, all other truths are folly.

Seek an acquaintance with God, as a God of creation; search for him among the wondrous structures of his almighty hand; amidst those bright luminaries which he has hung on high, as trophies of his majesty and power;

amidst the beauteous scenes which he has spread abroad over the surface of the earth which we inhabit, as testimonies to his benevolence and goodness; amidst the beatings of a tempestuous sea, or the glare of the lightning, and the roar of thunder; amidst the elements which he has awakened as the voice of his terrors and his wrath; and what will be the result? you will return from the contemplation, with minds only baffled and confounded by the glories you have beheld; you may have made acquaintance with nature, but, in spite of the poet's assertion, you will have made none with "Nature's God." You may, indeed, in this manner, have formed some indistinct notions of the power, the majesty, the terrors of the Almighty; but all his other attributes, so peculiarly affecting to the human soul, his forbearance, his long-suffering with sin, his unwillingness that any should perish, his mercy, and his love, will be hidden from you in a darkness which no human

eye can penetrate, until that darkness is illuminated by the rays which flow from the cross of the Redeemer.

This is the reason, the plain, intelligible reason, why, as God's own Word has declared, “the world by wisdom knew not God." Strange, indeed, say the undue exalters of human wisdom, that if revelation be true, men of learning and science should so often be unbelievers ; strange that we should have infidel historians, infidel mathematicians, and, above all, infidel astronomers, and infidel anatomists; stranger far, replies the Christian, if they were not so, when the unerring Word of God has proclaimed this everlasting truth, that no man can come to the Father but by Christ. The men of whom we speak have never attempted so to approach God; and the consequence is, precisely what the Christian is assured by God that it should be, they are utterly and altogether unac

11 Cor. i. 21.

2

2 See St. John xiv. 6.

quainted with God, and take their puny revenge by ridiculing and discrediting his revelation and his Word.

I would, then, address every individual among you who is conscious that he is not, at the present moment, savingly acquainted with God, and I would say to him, Do you really desire to know God, to know him in such a manner that you shall at once be freed from all slavish fear of him, and shall love him, and serve him, and delight to love and serve him now, and shall dwell with him throughout eternity? Surely many of you will reply from the ground of your hearts, God knows that I do. Then, mark well the road to that blessed acquaintance-make Jesus Christ, as revealed to you in the Gospel, the first step in your approaches to the Father; make his atonement the basis of your friendship with God. He freely offers to reconcile you to God; do you as freely accept it? Believe that he is in earnest when he thus offers; and plead his merits,