Cheraw gazette and Pee Dee farmer. [volume] (Cheraw S.C.) 1838-1839, 1839-05-31
From the London Christian Observer.

From the London Christian Observer
THE .ENpEa's OFFERS Not EQUAL TO THE
LORDS PROMISES.
What does the ,empter offer and what
does the sinner gain 81 an, We may 90.
ssrye. offered 20 our blessed Lord nothing
which was not al.eady his by promise and
covenant ofhis heavenly Fa her. "Ask of
me, and will give thee the heathen for
thine inheritance. and the ultermost parts
of,he earth for thy possession" was pro:
mise te the Messiah, TO be accomplished
when the funess Of time has come, when
the mystery of God has been finished, ana
the hos, ofheaven, repeating with many
voices the echoes Of the seventh anger
trumpet, shall proclaim, "the kingdoms OF
tbs world are become the kingdoms OF our
Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign
for ever and ever" Satan then could
tempt our Lord bu, to anticipate the fulfill
mcnt of this promise, and by thus forestal~
limo TO defeat it. This malignant arllfice
must needs indeed have failed when 1t ap~
pealed to the holy Jesus: how fatally it
has succeeded with US the teening wretch.
edness and sin which delusc world, the
workmanship of bounteous, holy, and
omnipolenl Creator, g i've but too feariultes
simuny. Satan can offer to US, also, no
substantial good, which our heavenly Faith
er is not wilIing--has not promised--o be.
stow; nor guard or extrlca,e US from any
real calamity from which God has not
pleged himself to be our shield and refuge.
Are we tempted TO traHgress the bounds OF
our appointed hab,a,ion in his kingdom oil
providence, or to eject the dictates OF con-
science, and violate the laws Of his king
dom ofgrace, lest pow should come in
upon us as an armed man? Let US fall
back upon the promises of infal!ible truth,
"dwell in the land, and verify, thou Shalt be
fed ;" "Seek ye first the kindom of God
and his righteousness. and all ,hese things
shall be added unto you" Godliness is
profitable unto all things, having promise OF
the life tha; now is, and of that which Is to
come" Is the stronger fear which Satan
would conjure up TO tempt US, the vision OF
a bereaved widow, and of desolate orphaus
Such fear is vain : 81 have been young
and now am old. and yet saw | never tho
righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging
their bread" Rally to that promise which
has comior,ed many dying saint, and shed
a cheering light upon the vista through
which he cast his last retrospective glance,
when about to enter upon the valley of the
shadow of death, Leave thy fatherless
children, will preserve them alive, and let
thy widows trust in me-" Does Satan tempt
you into sin with the lure of some decep.
tious, short-lived pleasure God ou,bids
his rival for your heart offers you, with
righteousness, peace and joy;" invites
yon, even here, to "rejoice evermore )" and
promises to him that overcometh, that he
shall eat of The hidden mama, and drink OF
that river Of pleasures which is at his righ,
hand for evermore. No: God withholds
from US. and Satan bestows upon US, moth.
ing which can conduce 10 our real happi-
ness, here or ever. The kind and skilfu
Physician would. in love, refuse to US tha,
cordial regimen for which our diseased con
s,i:ution was yet unprepared, and which
therefore would prove fatal the anxious
expectant of our inheritance would, in trea
cherry, press 1t upon US, for our ruin. How
men may lose, if not the possession of those
good creatures which God would give US
richly to enjoy, yet the enjoyment which
they were designed to minister, by unprovi
den,ially and unlawiully precipItating the
attainment Of them, those best can tell who
know, by a melancholy experience, thai
there is mirth and laughter in which the
spirit is sad, envied society in which the
heart is desolate, wealth which burdens. plea.
sues which pail, honours which inwardly
shame, and dignties which degrade their
possessor others can testify in hap.
py contrast with, this, that we may be
troubled on every side, yet not distressed ;
perplexed, but not in despair prosecuted,
but not forsaken cast down, but not des-
troyed sorrowfnb yet alway rejoicing ;
have nothing, yet possessing all things -
thatthere are
"Tears that delight and sighs that wait to
heaven"
He" no will be rich" may, TO the eye OF
sense, attain his object yet, in stabbing his
own conscience, pierce himself through
with many sorrows. The cup of reveIry
may stimulate the spirits to unwonted glee /;
but the end of that mirth is heaviness,' -
for " at the last it bitelh like. serpent, and
stingeth like an adder" Tha, men may
lose ifnot the fruit, is relish, by gathering
1t prematurely from the ye, green tree, he
can tell who has pIucked, with Eve, forbid.
den fruit and tasted but shame and misery !;
who, with Solomon, has tested that pro-
verbs truth, C. bread of deceit is sweet to
man. but afterwards his mo,i h shall be- filled
with gravel ;"-or who. invited, not by an