Page:Some Reflections on the Importance of a Religious Life.djvu/24

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

appears to me most strictly to accord with that dependence upon him which Holy Scripture so abundantly teaches: “My soul wait thou upon God, my expectation is from him.” “And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.” “All my fresh springs are in thee.” “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.” “Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life.” “I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger.” “He that drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but it shall be in him a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life.”

This single eye unto God, through faith in his beloved Son, so much the theme of the sacred volume, should, in my apprehension, if we act consistently with our profession, be the moving cause of our religious proceedings, as members of our Christian Society. As these views are received and acted upon, they lead from looking unto any man as a needful guide in the way of life and salvation; and as we come direct to Christ, we shall grow in grace, and be ingrafted into him, the true and living vine. In every effort for your religious improvement, constantly bear in mind, that unless it brings you more under the government of Christ,