suasion, that the favour of God is especially to the religious body to which we belong. But where is the warrant in the New Testament for any sect of Christians, to assume that the favour of God is peculiarly towards them? The promises of God under the Gospel, are many and precious; they are not however to sects, but to believers individually under whatever name. How severely do the Scriptures reprehend such arrogant pretensions!
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"I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way not good, after their own thoughts;—which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day." Isa. lxv. 2, 5. "Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings.—Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these." Jere. vii. 3, 4. "Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in |
yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." Matt. xxiii. 13. "Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and annise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith." Matt. xxiii. 23. "Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.—Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" Matt. xxiii. 27, 33. "He spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despis- |
