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of his danger; and who, as a wretch that deserves to perish, is encouraged to rely on Christ, as a complete Saviour from the guilt of sin, and from the curse of the divine law which he is conscious of having violated in a thousand instances. The invitation and the promise exhibited to the dejected and burdened suppliant are not suspended on the performance of certain conditions, or on the conscious posses. sion of holy qualities. It is not said, look into yourselves, or to something you have done, either to merit, or to predispose you to receive my salvation; but look unto me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth-I am the Lord; and beside me there is no Saviour Thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help-I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins-come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your soulsHim that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out-Verily, verily, I say unto you, he

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that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.'

Now, instead of attending entirely to these encouraging declarations, the selfcondemned sinner is apt to contemplate the magnitude of his guilt to stand questioning whether it be not too enormous to be forgiven: or, on the other hand, whether, if pardonable, he be sufficiently humbled to receive the astonishing favour. But this is to act the part of Peter

to look at sin and its guilt (as he did at the wind and the waves) instead of the Saviour to regard the suggestions of unbelief more than the invitation and the promise. The question in this case is not, whether my sins be great, or comparatively small-not whether I have attained a certain degree of humiliation, and am conscious that my compunction is proportioned to my guilt; but whether Christ haye not unequivocally declared, without any reference to the depth of my contrition, or the magnitude of my sin, Him that cometh un

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to me I will in no wise cast out?-Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dieVerily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life-he shall never perish.' Now, if this be true; if Jesus have made these infinitely gracious declarations, the trembling sinner is not to hesitate, but confidently to believe the soulcheering testimony-to come to him as a vile sinner as a wretch that deserves to perishand without looking into himself for any prerequisites in order to the reception of mercy, to cast his burden of guilt upon Christ as a sinbearing Saviour, looking to his atonement as the only ground of forgiveness; knowing and believing, that what he hath said, he will most assuredly perform. This is to receive by faith the testimony of God concerning his Son, rather than that of man-than of Satan-than of the clamorous accusations of a guilty conscience; and to give glory to the expiation of him that once suffered for sin-the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.

But though the divine declarations respecting salvation by Jesus Christ, are exactly suited to the wretched condition of man, and adapted to produce hope and excite confidence ; yet they seldom meet with implicit credit, or at least, are rarely viewed as exhibiting all that is necessary to exempt from condemnation and from death. There is in the hearts of all natural men a propensity to expect deliverance by the deeds of the law: and there are, perhaps, but few christians in whom the same legal principle does not, more or less, imperceptibly operate.

Whence originates that distrust of forgiveness with which many of those who have been eminent for vice are perpetually harrassed, but from a consciousness of enormous guilt? It is not, in this case, my being a sinner merely, but my being so great a sinner, that is the ground of discouragement; which is virtually saying, were I less guilty, I should have more hope. But this conclusion is fallacious. It is true, I may have been notoriously profligate, and when contrasted with others, a monster in wicked.

ness; but it should be remembered that the commission of one sin, though not attended with the same degree of guilt, nor deserving the same punishment, will as certainly bar the way to heaven as the perpetration of a thousand. The felicity first promised to man, was connected with perfect obedience to the divine precept. The question, therefore, is-Am I a transgressor? If so; I am excluded from all hope of pardon on the ground of personal desert. The law of God, as a covenant promising life, is abrogated; and the only concern it has with me as a sinner, is to denounce sentence of death. Future blessedness is, therefore, as far out of the reach of the comparatively virtuous, as the completely vicious. Neither of them can obtain it on the ground of merit. If candidates for divine favour, they must both stand indebted to absolute grace: and as it is no more difficult with God to remit, in virtue of an atonement, enormous than trivial offences, the most abandoned wretch. has, when applying for mercy, the same foundation on which to build his hope, and as much cncouragement to expect forgiveness, as he

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