affections so buried in the love of self, that our evil gratifications have become dearer to us than the love of God? Or does the mere adhesion to the profession of external good suffice us, so that we plead our absence in consequence of the five yoke of oxen which we wish to prove? Or have we consummated the infernal marriage by the union of the evil and the false?
If we really love the Lord, we shall gratefully respond to His gracious invitation. In humility and poverty of spirit we shall go to Him, and gratefully receive at His hands a portion of that bread which shall give us strength to contend with our corruptions, and power to fight against and overcome our evils. Are we blind? The Lord still invites us; he will open our eyes to behold wondrous things out of His Word. Are we lame, or halt, or maimed, and find it impossible to advance by our own strength, or to overcome evil by our own ability? we are the very persons who ought the more eagerly to press forward at the Lord's gracious invitation. We need both the healing hand of the Lord, and the strengthening aliments which alone can keep us firm in our course. It is by these aliments that we receive power to contend against evil, and ultimately to subdue it. And when—through the power which the good of love and the truth of wisdom can alone impart—we have been enabled to overcome the trials necessary for our entrance into heaven, we shall, in that kingdom, sit down at the king's table, and eat of the "hidden manna."
