Zephaniah 3:9 For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call on the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.… The right improvement of life consists, mainly, in two grand pursuits; our personal preparation to meet our God, and the proper employment of our talents lot edification and benefit to our fellow-men. These two pursuits will generally be found to prosper the most when they are duly carried on together. Hence it is necessary to press on your attention your Christian obligations. The manifold varieties of Christian benevolence will be found resolvable into two classes: the one relating to the temporal, the other to the spiritual good of our brethren of mankind. God's purpose is, the extension among mankind of "the knowledge of the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent"; His end is, that we, through Divine grace, should secure the eternal salvation of our perishing brethren. 1. The foundation of all our hopes and confidence for success, in the purpose of God, as shown in revelation, concerning the universal extension of religious knowledge in the world. 2. There is a peculiar adaptation in the system of our national Church for the promotion, under the Divine blessing, of the gracious purpose of Jehovah. This is seen in — (1) The purity of her doctrines. (2) In the spirituality of her ordinances. (3) In the catholicity of her devotions.A plea for the promulgation of the scriptural principles of our Church among the rising generation. (W. Scoresby, B. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent. |
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