INDIFFERENCE OF THE CHURCH.
By John Cox
THAT the church professing Jesus' name, the church that ought to be conformed to things above in tastes and hopes, should be so little affected by, and feel so little delight in the prospect of the Lord's coming, demands the most minute inquiry. One reason may be found in the indisposition there is in all our minds naturally, to be conversant with things future and invisible, so as to be affected by them. The present is with us; and it is hard to leave these, and to look at "the things not seen, which are eternal;" this is a higher attainment than at first imagined. To do this, we need a counteracting principle, raising us above the present and visible into the future and invisible; this lever must have somewhat whereon to rest; or else all efforts will be inefficient. Grace hath found both these; the principle is faith, its resting-place is God's word; and it is only by taking hold of this that the soul can rise. "He that testifieth these things saith, surely, I come quickly." Faith is nothing more than so to believe the words of God, as to be affected by them, and influenced to act as they require.—John Cox.