Imagens da página
PDF
ePub

he shall be destroyed and cast into perdition, and his church shall also be destroyed.

You know it was predicted, that Judas Iscariot should betray our Saviour; Judas was a member of Christ's little family; he kept the bag, or family purse, and what was put therein. His covetous mind influenced him to take a part of that which was entrusted to his care. When his covetousness was gratified in one thing, he sought to gratify it in another, which led him to sell his Lord for thirty pieces of silver. The Scriptures were fulfilled concerning him when he had betrayed his Master, after which, we are told, he went to his own place. Whilst the pope professes to teach the people how to pray to God, he gives them orders to do what is contrary to the divine will. The pope teaches you to count by your beads, thirty-three prayers to Jesus Christ, and fiftythree to the virgin Mary. You deliver your prayers to be carried to God, sometimes by angels, sometimes by saints, and sometimes by the Virgin Mary. Have you seen or heard any order from God to pray to so many persons, or to send prayers to him by these persons? The word of God teaches us, that we must pray to God through Jesus Christ, and to pray with the spirit, not with beads. You may believe, that the Virgin Mary will hear your prayers, and carry them to Jesus Christ, that she will assist you by her prayers, save you from difficulties, and carry you in safety to the kingdom. No, no! This is the ignorance of the pope's teaching. He has no authority from God to do so. It is foolish and wicked to teach in such a way. The Father is every where; the Son is every where; and

[ocr errors]

the Holy Ghost is every where. God alone, therefore, heareth prayer. There is one God and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus; it is necessary that we should come to God through him alone. The virgin Mary cannot hear prayer; she does not know what you are doing or thinking; she does not know the heart. It is great wickedness to pray to her. It is to mock her, to jest with her character, to put her, who is only a servant of God in the place of God. The same objections may be brought against praying to, or worshipping other saints.

What do you think of this prayer offered up by the church? "Look down from heaven and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and thy glory, where is thy zeal, and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels, and of thy mercies towards me: Are they restrained? Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not. Thou, O Lord, art our Father and Redeemer, thy name is from everlasting." Isa. lxiii. 15, 16. An angel told John not to worship him, because he was a fellow servant. Rev. xxii. 8, 9. The apostle Peter did not receive the worship of Cornelius. But Peter took him up, saying, stand up, I myself also am a man. Acts. x. 25, 26.

We must not seek from any other saint or angel spiritual blessings, nor go to any person for eternal life, or through any person to God for blessings, but through Jesus Christ. John vi. 68. "Then Simon, Peter answered him, Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." ch. xiv. 6. Jesus

saith unto him, "I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.'

[ocr errors]

If all the angels and the church in heaven, and the church on earth were to pray for one sinner, their prayers would not save him; but if Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God; were to pray for the whole world, then would the world be saved. You call the virgin Mary the mother of God, such an expression is very wrong, and very wicked. Jesus Christ is true God and true man? Here are two natures, of which of those two natures was the Virgin Mary the mother? It was his human nature. Mary herself rejoiced in Christ as God her Saviour. Luke i. 46, 47. The pearl is highly valued as a rich ornament; but no man takes the shell and makes it an ornament, and says, O this is a precious shell. Christ Jesus is the pearl of great price, and an ornament of great, of infinite value to our souls, but the Virgin Mary is only as the shell. Do not then bow down to her, and worship her as if she were a goddess. The Scriptures give us no such direction as to pray to her, or worship her. She was a very good woman, was highly honoured, and loved God with her whole soul, but you make her a wicked woman, who robs God of his glory. O, now my friends, how can you defend such ignorant and wicked couduct as to worship a creature? What do you think God will say to you for this at the judgment seat?

What can you say to this word which God teaches us in Jer. xvii. 5? "Thus saith the Lord, cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm,

and whose heart departeth from the Lord." It is your duty, and my duty to attend to the word of God, and put our trust in him. This we are told by the same authority: "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is, for he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." Verses 7, 8. See also Ps. xxxvii. 5—7.

[ocr errors]

Again: the church of Christ, my dear countrymen, is a growing church, every true member grows in grace; but in the church of Rome you are always the same. A man seventy years of age knows no more of the Scriptures than he did when seven or eight years' old. Counting the beads, saying the Lord's prayer and prayers to the Virgin Mary, and worshipping any piece of wood that is called holy;-these things are nearly all that the poor old man understands. I have seen many native catechists and teachers who were as ignorant as the congregation. Instead of praying for what they call heretics, and for poor ignorant people, they are cursing them. All the members of this church grow in cursing, but not in grace; they consider the curses in the holy book as belonging to them, but not the blessings. O, my countrymen, if you become the temples of God, you cannot possibly be worshippers of idols. The word of God says, that all who are disciples of Christ are the temples of God. I wish you

all become temples. Hear then what the word of

God says respecting the believer as a temple of God. "What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temples of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." If you desire to be the temple of God, then hear what direction God is pleased to give, and what promise he is pleased to make. "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." O let me beseech you to escape from the pope, who is antichrist, and flee to the Lord Jesus Christ, our beloved and only Saviour. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you to teach you all. Amen.

But some are present who say they are Mahommedans. Why have you left the religion of your fathers to become the disciples of Mahommed? Who is he? Is he not an enemy to God, which this holy word says was to appear in the world? Does he teach you any thing about pardon of sin? I am assured by this holy word, that there is no pardon for a poor sinner, and no salvation, but through Jesus Christ. It is your belief that Mahommed is the last prophet that was to come, and that it is your duty to believe and obey him, as appointed by God. Now, my dear countrymen, let us consider whether he is appointed by God as the last prophet or not; and if he teach any thing like the doctrines of God. If Mahommed be the last prophet,

« AnteriorContinuar »