September 2

What is man that thou shouldst magnify him? and that thou shouldst set thine heart upon him?—Job 7:17.

WHAT is religion? It is that by which almighty God, in his infinite goodness, magnifies man, morally magnifies him, and makes him truly great. By this view we may test our religious pretensions.

1. By the noble and elevating knowledge which it imparts, does God magnify man by religion. Is this the effect with us? Do we rest in the barren and ill-understood generalities of doctrine, looking into the perfect law of liberty, as a man beholding his natural face in a glass, and going away, and forgetting what manner of person he is; or do we "continue therein"? Do we "meditate on these things"? Are we led out by a hallowed curiosity to inquire "what is that good, and perfect, and acceptable will of God," and knowing it, do we often return to feed upon this truth in holy musings? Are these the subjects to which our spirits fly with affectionate ardor from the little vanities of life? Do we catch their spirit? Do we take the impress of their sanctity?

2. True religion makes great by the relation it gives us to God,—the relation of "sons." Is this our character? Have we so "believed on his name," that we can claim this "power," right, privilege, "to become the sons of God"? And do we wear in our spirits this abiding testimony that "we are the children of God"?

3. By the restoration of our nature to the Divine image, are we thus magnified? Has the image of the earthly passed away, and given place to the new, the heavenly impress? Look into your hearts: are the characters of the new man there visible and distinct? Look into the course and tenor of your life: does the fullness of the renewed principle pour its sanctity and odor through your meek and healing speech, through your righteous and beneficent actions?

4. By the new and elevated ends for which it teaches us to live. How low are the objects and pursuits of worldly men! For, gild and adorn and hide them as they please: let them give to trifling the air of business, and to selfishness the aspect of public good, and regard to the social benefit of others; the whole may be resolved into the Epicurean maxim, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die;" a selfish and temporary gratification and interest is the sole epitome. But the ends of living proposed in our religion, and which are seriously kept in view by every true Christian, are of a kind as ennobling as those of worldly men are debasing and destructive;—the approbation of God; regard to his will as our only rule in all things, living not for ourselves, but for others; and the final acceptance of our persons, in "the day of his appearing." By these ends true religion magnifies man; but have they caught our eye, and do they fix our undeviating regards?

5. It magnifies him, by its singular principles of faith and love.—By its faith; which is not the mere assent of the judgment, but the trust of the heart. It is the evidence of unseen things, that which makes visible the invisible God, as Witness, Ruler, Judge, and Saviour, "near at hand and not afar off;" so that we learn to walk with God, and to fear nothing but him, and to hope in nothing but in him. It is that which unveils too the invisible world, as well as the invisible God, and teaches man to try all present things by measures taken from eternity, and to refer all actions to their fruits and effects. By love; as singular a principle, and as peculiar to Christianity as faith: for it is not a philosophic approbation; it is not admiration of God merely, nor esteem for his perfect and holy character; but it is ardent attachment to him as the supreme Excellence; it is an infinite gratitude to him as to an infinite Benefactor; it is delight and joy in him as our Father; it is the principle which leads to intercourse and communion with God through the Holy Ghost, and which sensibly unites every soul, made vital by regenerating grace, with the vital influence of God. It is not necessary to stay to point out what is so obvious, that such principles must, wherever they vigorously exist, be the source of great and high thoughts, purposes, affections, powers, and enjoyments. But do these magnifying principles exist, and operate, and abide in you?

These are all points of serious and most important inquiry; for if the goodness of God is expressed in his gracious purpose to magnify us by the instrumentality of religion, and we are unexalted and unrenewed, his kindness has hitherto been frustrated by our own obstinacy and resistance. Art thou, then, who now readest this declaration, "that God has magnified man, and set his heart upon him," in the midst of a religious system where all is magnificence and purpose, mean and grovelling still? Is thy spirit dark amidst this splendor? dead, though often the voice of the Son of God has invited thee to live? in bondage, when thou mightest walk in liberty from sin? a slave, when thou art called to be a son? earthly in thine affections, when the spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus are arranged and displayed to excite desire and effort? What "part or lot hast thou in this matter"? Boast not of the truth of the gospel; for the light by which thou walkest not, only discovers the more clearly that thou art "ignorant and out of the way;" a base worldling with a Christian name; a miserable self-deceiver, taking words for things, and saying unto Christ, "Lord, Lord," without one operative principle of abiding faith, love, and obedience. Take away the vail of thy religious profession, and see and feel that thou art poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked; and, withal, that thou hast been so besotted by the deceitfulness of the world, the flesh, and the devil, as to have said to this moment, "I am rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing." Yet if thou awakest fully to thy danger, despair not. Upon thee, even thee, false as well as sinful as thou hast been,—false to thyself, false to the Church, false to Christ,—God hath "set his heart." He remembereth that thou art man, an immortal man, one whose sins were laid upon him who was "delivered for thy offenses, and raised again for thy justification;" and he wills not that thou shouldst perish. His hand is upon thee for mercy, and not for judgment: suffer him to raise thee, to "set thee on high," to put thee among the princes of his people, to make thee great in his salvation. Hear his voice with thy inmost soul, calling thee to "glory, honor, and immortality;" "to-day" hear it, and "harden not thy heart."