Say, thou humble follower of the lowly Jesus, art thou ready to lay down
thy life for Him who could truckle to sin—to a gross, an abominable sin,
which alone would destroy the purity of his character and the divinity
of his doctrine? In all love, we pray Him who holds your very breath in
his hand, to cause you to tremble, before you shall say that Jesus
Christ was a liar, and his apostles perjured!
“I am the true vine; and my Father is the husbandman * * * as the Father
hath loved me, so have I loved you; continue ye in my love. Greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye
are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you
not _servants_, for the _servant_ knoweth not what his Lord doeth; but I
have called you friends; for ALL THINGS that I have heard of my Father,
I have made known unto you.” _John_ xv. 1, 9, 13, 15.
“And when they were come to him, he said unto them; ye know, from the
first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you,
at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with
many tears and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the
Jews. And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you; but have
showed you, and have taught you publicly and from house to house.
Wherefore, I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood
of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you ALL THE COUNSEL
OF GOD.” _Acts_ xx.
Had St. Paul foreseen the attack upon his character, made by Dr. Paley,
seventeen hundred and eighty-five years after, and that upon his Master
and their religion, he need not have altered his language to have
repelled the slander.
“Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have
obtained like precious faith with us, through the righteousness of God
and of our Saviour Jesus Christ: grace and peace be multiplied unto you,
through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord, according as
his divine power hath given unto us ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN UNTO LIFE
AND GODLINESS, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue.” 2 _Pet._ i. 1, 2, 3.
And what says this holy man,—what says this same Peter, touching the
subject of Dr. Paley’s remarks?
“Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the
good and gentle, but also to the froward, * * * for hereunto were ye
called.” 1 _Pet._ ii. 18–21.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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