DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3689#0248
2,46
*A Serious Call to
the piety of a Christian, as he that only loves them that love
him, is from the charity of a Christian. For to thank God only
for such things as you like, is no more a proper act of piety,
than to believe only what you see, is an act of faith.
Resignation and thanksgiving to God are only acts of piety,
when they are acts of faith, trust, and confidence in the divine
Goodness.
The faith of Abraham was an act of true piety, because it
stopped at no difficulties, was not altered or lessened by any
human appearances. It first of all carried him, against all show
of happiness, from his own kindred and country, into a strange
land, not knowing whither he went. It afterwards made him,
against all appearances of nature, when his 'body was dead,
' when he was about an hundred years old,' depend upon the
promise of God, ' being fully persuaded, that what God had
' promised, he was able to perform.' It was this same faith,
that against so many pleas of nature, so many appearances of
reason, prevailed upon him to ' offer up Isaac — accounting
' that God was able to raise him up from the dead.'*
Now this faith is the true pattern of Christian resignation to
the divine pleasure ; you are to thank and praise God, not only
for things agreeable to you, that have the appearance of happi-
ness and comfort; but when you are like Abraham, called from
all appearances of comfort, to be a pilgrim in a strange land, to
! ^art with an only son ; being as fully persuaded of the divine
Goodness in all things that happen to you, as Abraham was of
the divine promise, when there was the least appearance of its
being performed.
This is true Christian resignation to God, which requires no
more to the support of it, than such a plain assurance of the
goodness of God, as Abraham had of his veracity. And if you
ask yourself, what greater reason Abraham had to depend upon
the divine Veracity, than you have to depend upon the divine
Goodness, you will find that none can be given.
You cannot therefore look upon this as an unnecessary, high
pitch of perfection, since the want of it implies the want, not of
any high notions, but of a plain and ordinary faith in the most
certain doctrines, both of natural and revealed religion.
Thus much concerning resignation to the divine Will, as it
signifies a thankful approbation of God's general providence : It
is now to be considered, as it signifies a thankful acceptance of
God;'s particular providence over us.
Every man is to consider himself as a particular object of
* Heb xi. 17, 19.
*A Serious Call to
the piety of a Christian, as he that only loves them that love
him, is from the charity of a Christian. For to thank God only
for such things as you like, is no more a proper act of piety,
than to believe only what you see, is an act of faith.
Resignation and thanksgiving to God are only acts of piety,
when they are acts of faith, trust, and confidence in the divine
Goodness.
The faith of Abraham was an act of true piety, because it
stopped at no difficulties, was not altered or lessened by any
human appearances. It first of all carried him, against all show
of happiness, from his own kindred and country, into a strange
land, not knowing whither he went. It afterwards made him,
against all appearances of nature, when his 'body was dead,
' when he was about an hundred years old,' depend upon the
promise of God, ' being fully persuaded, that what God had
' promised, he was able to perform.' It was this same faith,
that against so many pleas of nature, so many appearances of
reason, prevailed upon him to ' offer up Isaac — accounting
' that God was able to raise him up from the dead.'*
Now this faith is the true pattern of Christian resignation to
the divine pleasure ; you are to thank and praise God, not only
for things agreeable to you, that have the appearance of happi-
ness and comfort; but when you are like Abraham, called from
all appearances of comfort, to be a pilgrim in a strange land, to
! ^art with an only son ; being as fully persuaded of the divine
Goodness in all things that happen to you, as Abraham was of
the divine promise, when there was the least appearance of its
being performed.
This is true Christian resignation to God, which requires no
more to the support of it, than such a plain assurance of the
goodness of God, as Abraham had of his veracity. And if you
ask yourself, what greater reason Abraham had to depend upon
the divine Veracity, than you have to depend upon the divine
Goodness, you will find that none can be given.
You cannot therefore look upon this as an unnecessary, high
pitch of perfection, since the want of it implies the want, not of
any high notions, but of a plain and ordinary faith in the most
certain doctrines, both of natural and revealed religion.
Thus much concerning resignation to the divine Will, as it
signifies a thankful approbation of God's general providence : It
is now to be considered, as it signifies a thankful acceptance of
God;'s particular providence over us.
Every man is to consider himself as a particular object of
* Heb xi. 17, 19.