Excerpt from A Farewell Sermon, Delivered in the Churches of the Perth Mission, Canada West, by the Rev. Alexander Pyne, A. B., Rector, on His Return to England: July 5, 1857
But again, not only must this counsel be frequently declared - it must als v be plainly and fully set forth. God has in mercy made his counsel plain, therefore his faithful ambassadors must follow his example. W'e should never forget that the counsel of God borrows nothing from the wisdom' of man, and hence it was that our blessed Lord did not select his first ambassadors from the wise and learned of the Jewish nation He did not send to Corinth, Rome, or Athens, in the hepe of finding out some wise philosophers, who might be willing to'add the ourish of oratory to the simplicity of the message. No He knew tha't His Gospel would speak for its'elfuthat there was a power in its simplicity which the grandeur of man could not add to, and therefore he passed by the great and learn ed of the Earth, and set the seal of his ministry upon humble fishermen. He did so, not for the purpose of teaching us to despise human learning, for, human learn ing when sanctified, is a powerful agent in promoting the Gospel, but our Lord in the commencement refused all aid from human wisdom, or learning, in order to teach us, that our salvation originated in the deep 'counsel' of God, and that if it triumphed over all the difficulties which opposed it, at first, that triumph mast be attributed to the power of God, and, not to the wisdom of man.
Now, when we consider the simplicity of the Gospel, as a message of life eter nal to sinful man, we cannot but wonder at the merciful condescension ofgod in adapting his counsel to our mfinite understanding 5 and to such an extent has he done this that the wayfaring man, though a fool cannot err' in compre hending it. How different is this from man's doings! Witness the frequent exertions of every generation to mystify the 'counsel of God!' What controversies and doubts have arisen One counsel of learned dignitaries condemn another, till, at length, if a poor sinner feels anxious on the subject of the soul's salvation, and cries out like the jailer of Philippi, 'what must I do to be saved he has none to an, swer him, none to direct him until he goes back again, as our Church at the Refer: mation did, to the treasury of God and reads 'the counsel' of God in this divine and simple answer, Believe on the Lord: Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.' This my Brethren, is the simplicity of the Gospel, and. I now call upon you to bear me record this day, if I have not frequently, and plainly declared unto you this message, and this I now declare unto you to be the whole counsel of God.'
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."