THE MAN OF GOD
Or "Spiritual Religion Explained and Enforced"

"That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Tim. 3:17

PREFACE

It is a generally admitted truth, that in proportion to the length of any element, is its danger of losing in depth what it gains in space. This axiom in physics may equally apply to religion. In proportion to the prevalence of a profession of Christianity may be, in the same ratio, its shallowness and superficiality. While, therefore, we hail with gladness and hope every new impulse given to the cause of evangelization, and the corresponding interest awakened in the popular mind, we yet rejoice with trembling. We pause, and inquire- What will be the actual gain to vital religion from all this? When the attraction of novelty ceases, and the excitement of impassioned appeals evaporates, and the glow of what is simply and only natural and sympathetic, subsides, how much of the residuum that remains vital, spiritual, and permanent? This is a question of grave and solemn import. A false profession of religion, a spurious conversion, an invalid title to heaven, is of all fallacies and delusions the most momentous and fatal!

The following pages are an attempt to supply a corrective to this evil. They by no means propose to cover the entire ground. They rather seek to portray the man of God in some of the essential and prominent features of his holy character, and to trace a few of the stages of his Christian experience; making the Lord Jesus Christ- the Divine Man- the central object of the picture. Brevity in the unfolding of each subject has been studied, with the view of introducing, into so limited a work, as great and rich a variety of topic as possible. To the blessing of the Triune God, and to the prayers of the man of God, this small volume is devoutly commended. (April 1863)