the secret and revealed will of God! Is not the commission sufficiently extensive? "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved: and he that believeth not, shall be damned." Is not the call unlimited and universal? "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.-And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. And in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink."

Can you then entertain any doubt of the call reaching to you, or question your title to rest upon this rock of ages? Behold, we preach unto you Christ crucified, a despised Saviour indeed, " to the Jews a stumblingblock, and to the Greeks foolishness;" but the "power of God, and the wisdom of God for salvation to every one that believeth." There is no guilt so deep but this precious blood will wash it out. No gift so great, but infinite merit is sufficient to procure it. No nature so polluted, but infinite power is sufficient to renew it. Shall we then any more withhold our approbation, or refuse our consent? Shall not every sinner, burdened with a sense of guilt or danger, intimate his compliance and urge his claim, and say, "Thanks, thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift.—It is salvation by the death of Christ, and therefore becoming a holy and a jealous God, with whom evil cannot dwell. It is the same unchangeable God, who enacted the holy law, and who publishes this glorious gospel.-It is salvation by grace, otherwise no child of Adam could have had any claim; and it is meet that the lofty looks of man should be humbled, and the Lord alone exalted in that day. It is salvation to the chief of sinners: I am the man. I hear my character clearly described in the word of God. I can read my name in the general and gracious invitation. I will accept of the offer,

I will receive and embrace this blessed Saviour as my Lord and my God, as my life and my all."

Once more, perhaps the believer is still staggered, and his faith begins to fail. Astonished at the greatness of the mercy," he believeth not for joy, and wondereth." He is ready to say, "Might I but hold fast this beginning of my confidence, I would not envy the greatest monarch on earth his throne, his purple, or his sceptre, but would sing the new song put into my mouth, Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests to God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. But alas! are not all the promises of salvation only in favour of them that believe! Here then the conclusion may fail. I am senseible of a lamentable weakness and backwardness of mind; and whilst I think I have no doubt of any of the truths of God, I greatly distrust the reality of my own consent and compliance with his will.” Do you then really give credit to all the truths of God respecting your own lost condition, and the only way of deliverance from it? May the Lord himself increase your faith; for if it be so indeed, you are happy and safe. These truths, these alone, are the sure foundation of hope. I am afraid we have all too strong a tendency to look for some encouraging qualification in ourselves, on which we might more securely rest. What is faith? Is it any more than receiving the record which God hath given of his Son, believing the testimony of the Amen, the true and faithful Witness! Is not your peace and reconciliation with God, and the sanctification of your natures, expressly provided for in the allsufficiency of Christ, and to him you are assured that you must be indebted for both? What standeth in the way of your comfort then, but either that you do not give credit to the promise he hath made, or that you are not willing that he should do it for you? And this I acknowledge is both unbelief and impenitence.

Complain therefore no more that you are afraid of

yourselves, whilst yet you pretend to have the highest esteem of the blessings of redemption: on the contrary, say unto God in a thankful frame of spirit, "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, and good will towards men. I praise thee for this message of peace. I think I see, in some measure, its necessity truth, and beauty. I see it, I trust, to such a degree that it is the sole foundation of my hope. I renounce every other claim; nay, I abhor the thoughts of any other claim; yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.' It grieves me that there is such a backwardness in me to give glory to thy name, and to be indebted to the riches of thy grace. my obstinacy, and rule by thine own power. believe, help thou mine unbelief."

Subdue
Lord, I

SECTION 6. How the believer recovers peace of conscience.

It

We have now seen in what way the believer is reconciled to God and delivered from condemnation. will not be improper, however, also to consider how he recovers peace of conscience, and how his heart and life are governed in his after walk. This will serve more fully to illustrate the influence and operation of the truths of the Gospel. There is even a necessity for doing so on two different accounts: I. That, as has been shown above at considerable length, every true penitent is deeply and inwardly sensible of the evil of sin in itself. He is not merely afraid of wrath, but sees the impurity and polution of his own heart. Supposing, therefore, will the intelligent reader say, this great distinction thoroughly established,

There may

his relief is but half accomplished. be no more condemnation for him in the law of God for the breach of which satisfaction has been made and accepted; but he is only so much the more liable to the condemnation of his own conscience. He must still suffer the reproaches and challenges of his own mind, which make so great a part of the misery of a guilty state.

This receives additional strength from a second consideration, that as he is justified by faith, he hath peace only through the blood of Christ. This is not from himself, and may be thought to leave him, so to speak, in point of state and character, in point of pollution and defilement, just as before; nay, the extraordinary, unsolicited, undeserved grace of God, may be thought to increase his self condemnation, and set the malignity of his rebellion in the strongest light. And indeed so far this is true, that the free grace of God was intended, and does serve to produce a growing humiliation of mind and self abasement, as well as an admiration of the love of God in Christ Jesus. As the tenderness of a parent is an image which God hath very frequently made use of to shadow forth his own infinite compassion, I will borrow from it an il lustration of the two remarks just now made. Suppose any child has offended a parent by a gross in stance of undutiful behaviour, for which he hath been severely reproved, and for some time kept at a distance; if the parent forgives him, and receives him again into his favor, does not his being thus freed from the fear of suffering, leave full room for his concern at the offence? And does not a sense of his father's love melt his heart more for having grieved such a parent, than any terror upon his mind for the punishment of the crime? He is immediately covered with confusion; and if there be in him any spark of ingenuity, he is no sooner forgiven of his father, than the tide of his affections returns back with full force, and he can hardly forgive himself.

But notwithstanding this, as Christ by his sufferings and death delivered us from the wrath to come, so by the shedding of his precious blood the heart is also, as the Scripture expresses it, sprinkled from an evil conscience. On this important subject, which leads us to the great principles of the spiritual life, the following particulars are recommended to the serious attention of the reader.

1. Through Jesus Christ, and the whole of his undertaking as Mediator of the new covenant, the glory and honor of God is most admirably promoted, and a perfect reparation made to his holy law which had been broken. This must needs be highly pleasing to every convinced sinner. As the justice of God is thereby satisfied, so conscience, which is God's vicegerent, and as it were pleads his cause, is satisfied by the same means. The ground of a sinner's dissatisfaction with himself, is the dishonor done to God. Must it not, therefore, please and satisfy him to see this dishonor so perfectly removed, and so much of the divine glory shining in the work of redemption? All the divine perfections appear there with distinguished lustre and must not this be highly refreshing to the pardoned criminal? The very holiness and justice of God, which before were terrible to him, are now amiable. He also contemplates and adores the divine wisdom, as it is to be seen in the cross of Christ. We are told that even the celestial hosts have new discoveries of the wisdom of God, in this great design of Providence: "To the intent, that now unto principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the church. the manifold wisdom of God." How much more must the interested believer, with peculiar complacency, approve and adore it? But, above all, if that love and mercy which reigns through the whole is glorious to God, must it not be delightful to the Christian? God is love, and his tender mercies are over all his other works; but creating and preserving goodness are shaded and eclipsed by redeeming love.