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النشر الإلكتروني

THE ONLY STANDARD OF TRUTH.

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God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ." 2 Cor. 2. 17. No fear need to be entertained, in a faithful declaration of every divine, doctrine. It stands approved of God; and in it, the ministers of Christ commend themselves to the consciences

of men.

There is darkness and light, therefore, in doctrines, as well as in actions. It is a mournful event, in itself considered, to evince, by the sentiments which men believe and inculcate, that they have never been born of God. It is a fact, announced by Heaven, of the teachers who "speak not according to the word," that "it is because there is no light in them." The case of those who are disposed to receive their doctrines, is no less deplorable.

2. The influence under which some people have been placed, is a reason why they refuse to speak according to the divine word. An inspired penman says, "Evil communications corrupt good manners." 1 Cor. 15. 33. The people who reject sound doctrine, have generally been taught to do it by false teachers and pernicious books, or such external causes as have had an influence over them. Therefore says the Prophet Isaiah, "The leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed." Corrupt doctrines, have as great a tendency to ruin the souls of men, as divine truth has to save them from death. The devil, therefore, has had an an interest in inventing and spreading every species of theological falsehood, that has appeared in this fallen world. There is a love in the human heart to unsound doctrines, and an innate opposition to every part of divine truth. This made the wicked Israelites "say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophecy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophecy deceits-cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.' Isa. 30.

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THE SCRIPTURES ARE

10, 11. It is a very easy matter to delude people, when they have such a strong propensity to be deluded. False instructors, are the most dangerous men in society. It appears that God views them as the very dregs of mankind, from that solemn declaration, "The ancient and the honorable, he is the head; and the prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail." Isa. 9. 15.

God, in righteous judgment, sends such errors among men; for all events are under the government of his holy providence. In speaking of sinners, St. Paul says, "They received not the love of truth that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2. Thess. 2. 10, 11. "Justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne;" and "he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy." Jehovah is an infinitely wise and glorious Sovereign; and "none may stay his hand, or say unto him, what doest thou?" His word is "a savor of life unto life, or of death unto death;"—and, therefore," it shall not return unto him void-it shall accomplish that which he pleases, and prosper in the thing whereto he sent it." As the human "heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," sinners will oppose divine truth, whenever men appear to influence them to it, and to furnish them with plausible arguments against it. It is a great blessing when people are not under the influence of contagious doctrines. Those whom God intends to save are, in general, mercifully preserved from the ruinous influence of false instructions; for when people are corrupted in their religious principles, there is very little hope. of their salvation. It can hardly escape notice that the greater part of the hopeful converts in revivals of religion, are the youth who have descended from pious parents, and

received a sound theological education. Those who have every thing to prejudice their minds against divine truth, ministers, and pious people, from their youth ro the meridian of life, generally die as they have lived-the settled enemies of God. They refuse to "speak according to the law and the testimony;" often venturing to despise sacred things-even Christ and his church. It is a very unhappy event to have irreligious parents, and a pernicious early education. It is said by an inspired writer, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Truth and error are very opposite kinds of seed, and they generally produce a very different harvest.

Theological falsehood is a species of seed which will take root very readily in our depraved hearts; it will spring up soon, and its growth is generally luxuriant; for the soil is well prepared for such seeds of death. They quickly produce the "grapes of Sodom and clusters of Gomorrah," ripening the soul for endless fire. The grand adversary takes great pains in employing every kind of delusion to support, enlarge, and perpetuate his detestable kingdom. As he taught our first parents to disbelieve God, so he takes every artful method to teach their infatuated children to deny the truth of his Holy Oracles, and all the doctrines and precepts which they contain. In departing from "the law and the testimony," people show the schools in which they have been educated.

3. The great height to which moral depravity has risen in the heart, is another reason that may be assigned for receding from the Scriptures, as the only standard of truth. All men, by nature, are totally depraved; but there is a difference in the degrees of their wickedness. It is said in the Scriptures, "that evil doers and seducers, wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." It is surpri

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sing to see the difference that there generally is, between young and old sinners, in point of candor and attention, in relation to religious subjects. The longer people live in the habit of rebellion against God, the more dense the darkness of the mind becomes. The hearts of many have grown as hard as the adamant stone, in relation to divine doctrines, whose moral character, in the view of men, appears very fair and respectable. Their supposed morality fortifies them against believing in a theological system, that makes salvation to be wholly the effect of free and sovereign grace. This was pre-eminently the case with the Jews, in many periods of time, and espe cially in the apostolic age. St. Paul, therefore, says"I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God." Rom. 10. 2, 3. No greater enemies ever appeared to the gospel, than the Scribes and Pharisees,and the devout and honorable people of the Jewish nation. Men of this character, conspired to slay "the Lord of glory," and executed a thing which made the earth tremble to its centre, and clothed the very heavens with a garment of the deepeth sackcloth! Rejecting the Scriptures, as the only standard of truth and righteousness, is actually "breaking" Christ's "bands assunder, and casting his cords from us." It is a sin of the highest magnitude. The aged and venerable Eli, the priest of the Lord, said to his dissolute sons-" If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him; but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him?" Men may, therefore, be very moral in respect to their fellow men, and yet be as hostile as fallen angels to God and his word. It is no small degree of depravity that makes people reject a

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book, which is truth itself, and doctrines that are superlatively glorious. The Scriptures have a great hold on the conscience of man, until it becomes " seared as with a hot iron." Then he will contend against them with a degree of temerity, that is enough to astonish the very heavens! Every additional sin, serves to harden the heart and darken the understanding, in relation to things of a divine nature. When the word of God is renounced, as being the only proper guide, and reason, as it is called, placed in its stead, then that apostolic saying is literally fulfilled, "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them; because of the blindness of their heart."

4. People flee from the Scripture as being the only test of truth, because that relieves their minds from the fear of eternity. That divine saying is strictly true, "A wounded spirit who can bear?" Every system of religious falsehood is soothing to the tortured conscience; for it throws a cloud over the divine character-diminishes the evil of sinmagnifies the supposed virtues of man, and hides eternal ruin from his view. Some schemes, however, are better adapted to produce a state of indifference, in relation to eternity, than others. The more any given system excludes of divine truth, the better it is calculated to lay the mind asleep. The scheme, to which these sermons are opposed, is well formed to operate as an anodyne, in respect to all religious seriousness. There is no other plan, bearing a Christian name, that I know of, that excludes so much of divine truth. It is, in fact,simple deism Christianized. It forms a complete veil, that hides every divine object from the sight. It has no concern with the Bible, in any other sense, than as a system of mere ethics. Its greatest difference from complete infidelity, is, in admitting the resurrection of the body. It has no other ter

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