Genesis, he says, " Men do not become children and heirs of God, but in proportion as they grow into humility, and despair of themselves, so that they solely seek consolation and support in Jesus Christ. Yet many there are who refuse to humble themselves, and who kick and murmur against those who endeavour to lead them into a salutary self-abasement: these are doubly hardened." To these passages may be joined the remarkable words of the same author, who says, in the sixth volume of his works, page 40, "God has established two tribunals for men: a tribunal of judgment for the proud, who, living in security, will neither be convinced of nor confess their sins; and a tribunal of grace for poor and fearful souls, who, feeling and confessing their sins, tremble before his judgment, and pine after his grace. This tribunal is Jesus Christ: it is to this 1 appeal, and to this I will hold." Disciple (now the awakened sinner.)-God be praised! I am sensibly penetrated with all the truths you have instructed me in. And feeling myself a sinner to be, DIALOGUE THE SECOND. "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved," Acts iv. 12. IN this second Dialogue we have chiefly in view those weak and distressed persons who consider themselves lost creatures; and being cast down under a sense of their impotency, after many unsuccessful efforts to overcome evil, and practise what is right, faint and lose courage. We likewise address ourselves to those souls who desire to have faith, and are anxious to live a godly life and be happy, but do not know how to attain to it; also to those who dare not receive the Gospel, or apply to themselves the benefits it offers, so unworthy do they feel themselves of the grace promised to them that believe: in general, the instruction contained in it has respect to all those who think the magnitude of their sins surpasses that of the grace of God. The misery of every one of these arises from their being yet under the law, that is to say, they would convert themselves, and in order to attain this object, weary themselves with all kinds of devout exercises, and neglect the essential thing, which is to flee to Jesus Christ, that they may receive, above all things, the pardon of their sins, and the assurance of their reconciliation to God. See a faithful portraiture of their condition in Rom. vii. 14- 25; and Luke x. Let the Priests and Levites of the law of Moses, beholding these poor souls, pass on the other side: the true servant of the Gospel of God will be touched with compassion towards them; and endeavouring to strip them of the filthy rags of their own righteousness, will present them with a better garment—the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ: for such are the people our Divine Master has resolved to honour; it is for them he says (Luke xv. 22), as Ahasuerus formerly, "make haste, and take the apparel, as thou hast said, and do even to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king's gate, and let nothing fail of all thou hast spoken," Esther vi. 10. These are timorous consciences, that one should be careful not to strike with the cudgel of the law. Ah! "lift up, lift up the hands that hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees," Heb. xii. 12. Say to these fearful hearts, take courage, fear not, Jesus is God who "will himself come to save you," Isa. xxxv. 4. Repeat to them that "the kingdom of heaven is theirs;" that "blessed are they that mourn," Matt. v. 4, because there shall be given unto them beauty for ashes, and the oil of joy for mourning," Isa. lxi. 3. In order, then, that the persons of whom we speak, may obtain true peace, we do not here preach to them faith as a duty the law commands us to perform, as a work it enjoins us to do, but we strive, under the Divine blessing, to inspire them with that faith by the preaching of the Gospel. Neither do we require that these persons should, at the commencement, lead a godly life; for we well know they cannot do it before they have received faith. We direct them to Jesus, who knows how to teach them to live soberly, righteously, and godly, and who will give them the will, inclination, and power necessary to a Christian life. As to the voluntary slaves of sin, who would abuse our words, it is in another tone we must address them. Disciple.-Alas! how much am I to be pitied! Since our last conversation I have had no repose: I have even passed whole nights without sleep. It is only now I see how grossly I have deceived myself in relying upon my own works, and trusting in my own strength. A vain confidence and a life morally good have inflated me with a stupid pride. I have experienced a pharisaical delight in being able, when an opportunity offered, to talk about religion, particularly when in the company of those less virtuously inclined than myself: I thought myself much above them in every respect, and it arose from a desire to be considered among them a good man, or from other motives equally criminal. More than once I have rejected and rashly condemned others, who were abundantly replenished with grace, whilst I myself was entirely destitute of it. I now begin to perceive how much I have been, and still am, blind, impotent, and covered with sins and corruption. The thick veil that had hitherto covered my eyes prevented my seeing what I now do; and when the Holy Spirit began to awaken my conscience, I soon found out the unhappy consequence of a sleepy one, in having appropriated to myself consolatory passages in the word of God, which were not applicable to my situation. Now that my conscience is awakened, the sins I have committed without scruple, appear to my imagination in the most hideons shape, terrifying and condemning me. A great number of gross sins rise up in judgment against me. At this moment I comprehend how the sight of sin is accompanied with the anguish which certain of my acquaintance have been so distressed with on account of it. I |