Once more, then:  before you can speak peace to your heart, you must not only be convinced of your actual and original sin, the sins of your own righteousness, the sin of unbelief, but you must be enabled to lay hold upon the perfect righteousness, the all-sufficient righteousness, of the Lord Jesus Christ; you must lay hold by faith on the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and then you shall have peace.  “Come,” says Jesus, “unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

This speaks encouragement to all that are weary and heavy laden; but the promise of rest is made to them only upon their coming and believing, and taking Him to be their God and their all.  Before we can ever have peace with God we must be justified by faith through our Lord Jesus Christ, we must be enabled to apply Christ to our hearts, we must have Christ brought home to our souls, so as His righteousness may be made our righteousness, so as His merits may be imputed to our souls.  My dear friends, were you ever married to Jesus Christ?  Did Jesus Christ ever give Himself to you?  Did you ever close with Christ by a lively faith, so as to feel Christ in your hearts, so as to hear Him speaking peace to your souls?  Did peace ever flow in upon your hearts like a river?  Did you ever feel that peace that Christ spoke to His disciples?  I pray God he may come and speak peace to you.  These things you must experience.

I am now talking of the invisible realities of another world, of inward religion, of the work of God upon a poor sinner’s heart.  I am now talking of a matter of great importance, my dear hearers; you are all concerned in it, your souls are concerned in it, your eternal salvation is concerned in it.  You may be all at peace, but perhaps the devil has lulled you asleep into a carnal lethargy and security, and will endeavor to keep you there till he gets you to hell, and there you will be awakened; but it will be dreadful to be awakened and find yourselves so fearfully mistaken when the great gulf is fixt, when you will be calling to all eternity for a drop of water to cool your tongue and shall not obtain it.

BLAIR

THE HOUR AND THE EVENT OF ALL TIME

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Hugh Blair, the preacher and divine, was born in Edinburgh, 1718.  He entered the university of his native town and graduated in 1739.  Two years later he was licensed to preach; he was ordained minister of Colossie, Fife, in 1742, but returned to Edinburgh and in 1762 was made regius professor of rhetoric and belles-lettres to the university.  He became a member of the great literary club, the Poker, where he associated with Hume, A. Carlyle, Adam Ferguson, Adam Smith and others, and enjoyed a high reputation as a preacher and critic.  The lectures he published on style are elegantly written, but weak in thought, and his sermons share the same fault.  They are composed with great care, and sometimes a single discourse cost him a week’s labor, but they are formal and destitute of feeling and sometimes even affected in style.  Blair was notable for fastidiousness in dress and manners, and took very seriously the reputation he was given for refinement and common-sense as one of the moderate divines.  He died in 1800.