Excerpt from The Works of the Rev. John Witherspoon, D.D. L. L. D., Late President of the College, at Princeton New Jersey, Vol. 2 of 3: To Which Is Prefixed an Account of the Author's Life, in a Sermon Occasioned by His Death, by the Rev. Dr. John Rodgers But how does this furprife increafe, when we confider how unequal we are for the conflict, if no firength but our own is oppofed to the Almighty! Nay, that our firength for refiitance mull come only from himfelf fo that he wounds, and he heals; he oppreffes, and he fufiains; he difcourages, and he invites. It is by prayer that we muil obtain every blefiing from the Father of lights and one of the greatefl and moft neceilary of thefe blef fings is the fpirit of prayer itfelf. My brethren, when either unbelief or profanity moves any fuch difficulties as thefe, I think it my duty to call-upon you, in the firfl place, to bow yourfelves before the fovereignty of God. There is an unfearchable impenetrable depth in the di vine wifdom, whether we look upon the works of nature, or of grace. As Creator of the World, he Could, no doubt, in a moment, with one word of his power, have raifed the whole fabric in perfection yet it pleafed'him, in a gradual manner, to finifh every part by the addition of another, for the fpa Degreesce of fix days. When he gave the firit promife to Adam, or when he renewed it to the father of the faithful, he could, no doubt, have fent the Saviour into the world, to finifh tranfgreflion, and make an end of fin yet he faw it proper to give only diilant intimations of this bleffed period, and to defer the longgexpeeted ap pearance till the fulnefs of time, while the nations were infi'ered to fit for many ages in darknefs, and in the region and fhadow of death. In the fame manner he often takes a great variety of Reps with his people before they are made partakers of his promifes. But notwithfianding that fomething muit ftill remain myilerious, and beyond the comprehenfion of a finite creature, in the management of God, who giveth not account of any of his matters, we may fee much pro priety and beauty in this part of his procedure. And is it not our duty to attend to it We may fee the reafonau blenefs, nay we may perceive the wifdom, of his'requiring a holy fervency, wreftlin'g, and importunity in prayer for it ferves to engrave upon our hearts, and even to work into our affections, fome of the moft important truths of religion, and fuch as will have the molt poiverful and ex. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.