Page:Christ the only refuge from the wrath to come.pdf/8

 Sion, for a foundation, a stone; a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” Isa. xxviii. 16. As this text contains so noble a display of our Saviour’s consummate ability for his great work, as it is admirably calculated to preserve the mind from distressing fears, and to settle it in a steady tranquility, I will touch it cursorily with my pen.

How beautiful the gradation! How lively the account, and how very important the practical improvement! Come, look at the inscription which is engraven on this wonderful stone— Behold! Intended to rouse and fix our most attentive regard. The God of Heaven speaks. He speaks, and every syllable is balm; every sentence is rich with consolation. If ever, therefore, we have ears to hear, let us bend them to this speaker, and on this occasion.

A stone. Every thing else is sliding sand, is yielding air, is a breaking bubble. Wealth will prove a vain shadow, honour ah empty breath: pleasure a delusory dream; our own righteousness a spider’s web. If on these we rely, disappointment must ensue, and shame is inevitable. Nothing but Christ, nothing but Christ, can stably support bur spiritual interests, and realize our expectation of true happiness. And blessed be the divine goodness! He is, for this purpose, not a stone only, but

A tried stone. Tried, in the days of his humanity, by ail the vehemence of temptation, and all the weight of affliction; yet, like gold from the furnace, rendered more shining and illustrious by the fiery scrutiny.—Tried, under the capacity of a Saviour, by millions of millions of depraved,