Sermon First
PREDESTINATION.
"And now I exhort you to be of good cheer; for there shall be no loss of any man's life among- you but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, saying, Fear not Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar ; and lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship when they had let down the boat into the sea,under color as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship,Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship ye cannot be saved.— Acts xxvii : 22, 23, 24, 30, 31.
IT was Mr. Pitt, I believe, who, after reading Butler's Analogy, remarked that "it suggested more doubts than it answered." In removing one difficulty, we ought to be careful lest we create others which are greater. — However, in speaking of the deep things of God, all we can do is to shew how far the human understanding can go, when it ceases to obey reason, and debases itself to mere scholastic logic.
You are all familiar with the narrative of Paul's ship-wreck. In spite of some plausible objections, it is certain almost to demonstration that the vessel was lost upon the island now known as Malta. The whole description is very graphic; the impending danger; the commanding attitude of the Apostle during that fearful night; his inspiring address as the dim morning light reveals the terrified haggard company — two hundred and seventy-six in all — shivering on the deck of the sinking ship; the effect of his exhortation ; and the rescue of all on board. As you read the account, you feel that, if the sailors believed Paul's declaration as to a revelation from heaven, it would put fresh heart in them to work, as it really did. Nor does it strike you that there is any contradiction be-ii 1
