thousand questions about the cure which Solomon could not answer; how can
I look upon such a man as better than a maniac? I have tried the
experiment, and found it successful; and all his pretended philosophical
reasoning rings in my ears like a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
The wisdom of men has invented many remedies for the guilt and the love
of sin; but the vain philosophy of the world has never, like the gospel,
restored a single soul to peace, purity, and happiness. I can truly say,
after the most careful self-examination, and millions more can testify
the same thing, that the gospel, in the hand of the Spirit of God, has
subdued the love of sin, and quenched the fire of guilt within me; and
has taken away the sting of death, and the terrors of the grave. If the
infidel will allow that I am a sane man, and a man of truth, what farther
proof does he want that this is “the gospel of the blessed God?”
Once more: The character of God, as exhibited in the gospel, is perfect,
every way worthy of himself, infinitely above any original conception of
the human mind. The gods of Homer and Virgil are cruel and revengeful.
The god of Mohammed delights in pollution and crime. The god of Voltaire
is a buffoon, and the god of Paine a tyrant. But the gospel represents
the Deity in his true character, as the concentration and the fountain of
all moral excellence.
All this evidence of the Divine authority of the gospel is corroborated
by an overwhelming array of external proof. It was certainly written by
the men whose names it bears. They were men of irreproachable character.
Their declarations were confirmed by the testimony of miracles, and the
fulfilment of prophecy. Jesus of Nazareth was crucified on Calvary, rose
from the dead the third day, and ascended to heaven, according to the
Scriptures. These were facts believed by the primitive Christians, and
admitted by their enemies. They were received with the most perfect
confidence by the immediate successors of the original witnesses; and
farther corroborated by the testimony of neutrals, apostates, and the
most inveterate opponents. The question therefore is settled; all is
admitted that is necessary to prove that the Christian’s gospel is “the
gospel of the blessed God.”
II. It is “the _glorious_ gospel”—emphatically and pre-eminently
glorious; and this is our second topic of discourse.
It is a wonderful exhibition of the glory of God—the most perfect
revelation of the Divine attributes ever granted to man—displaying the
sovereign mercy of the Father, in the gift of his beloved Son; the
infinite compassion of Christ, in offering himself upon the cross for our
sins; and the gracious power of the Holy Spirit, in turning us from
darkness to light, and renewing us in righteousness and true holiness
after the image of God.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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