the Lord may, by you, "add daily to his Church those that shall be saved." You have cast aside received that word, every weight; you have "You have nothing to do but to save souls; therefore, spend, and be spent therein." You have received it as the will of the Lord concerning you. He has called you to this; and "wherein a man is called, let him therein abide with God." The Lord will try his servants: "The fig-tree may not blossom, there may be no herd in the stall, the field may yield no increase;" but will you "lust in the wilderness ?" Then the Lord may "give you your request, but leanness will come into your souls." O! rather "rejoice in your God, and glory in the God of your salvation." He calls you to a conformity with your great Master, and with his great Apostle, "as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing all things." But he may permit a trial of a different kind. He may pour abundance upon you in a most unexpected way. If this should be the case, remember that word, "The prosperity of fools shall destroy them." Be wise, therefore, and "make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness." Be still faithful to your calling and your vows. "Let no man take your crown." Be still firm, and disengaged, and free, " abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as you know, your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord." The Lord has in our day so blessed what was in its first appearance but as a cottage in the wilderness, that it is become a great house, (2 Tim. ii. 20,) in which, as in the house built by the Apostles, "the mystery of iniquity worketh." Be wise to see this snare. This house is yours while you abide with God. Let nothing that is in it entangle you, that you should refuse to follow the Lord to distant lands, like Abraham, "not knowing whither you go." I speak chiefly to those who are young. "table be a snare to you." and "follow him fully." Let not your present Wait upon the Lord, promises in my text, in the full sense, belong to Missionaries. Refuse not this honour. "Look to the recompense of reward;" and, like Him you worship, "for the joy set before you, endure the cross, despising the shame, till you also are set down at the right hand of the throne of God." THE DESIGN, FULNESS, AND BLESSEDNESS, OF ST. PAULS EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. A DISCOURSE, PREACHED AT MANCHESTER, AUGUST 13, 1815. PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE METHODIST CONFERENCE O Timotheus, keep that which is committed to thy trust. G ST. PAUL. |