they who believe on him should receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." The But Jesus is glorified; he is ascended to his Father and to our Father, to his God and to our God. And from the throne of his glory he sends every day into contrite hearts the Comforter, whom the world cannot receive, because it desires not to know him. But you, afflicted soul, shall receive him, if indeed you pant after him, and refuse to be comforted until he comes. time cometh, yea, is now come, that you shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; and, filled with the Spirit of truth, you also shall cry out, "I know in whom I have believed! Lord, now let thy servant go in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Yes, you shall be baptized by the Holy Ghost for the remission of sins, and justified freely by faith. You shall have " peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and rejoice in God your Saviour with joy unspeakable and full of glory." "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" Doubt not the fidelity of God. Consider, "the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all who are afar off, whom the Lord your God shall call." The God of truth has made this glorious promise: pray that it may be sealed upon your heart. But "pray with all prayer and supplication at all times, watching thereunto with all perseverance." And remember, that when your prayer is granted, you shall be “in Christ a new creature." "The Spirit of God shall bear witness to your spirit that you are a child of God," and that your faith is really that which justifies and regenerates. ye Take heed, in the mean time, that impatience and unbelief mingle not with the sense of the number and greatness of your sins, and so plunge you into discouraging and excessive sorrow. Are you tempted to doubt of the mercy of God? Reanimate your hope by meditating on the invitations of the God of all grace, and the promises of the God of truth. Is your soul spiritually sick, yea, dying? Consider that Jesus has said, "The whole have no need of a physician, but those who are sick?" Is it spiritually dead? Hearken to "God manifest in the flesh:” “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and he who liveth and believeth in me shall never die." You feel that you are lost. Jesus says expressly, “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Do you doubt if he will receive you? says himself, he will not "break a bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax." "He that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." Do you feel that it is impossible such a corrupt soul as yours should be regenerated ? Jesus says to you, "Believe, and you shall see the glory of God: all things are possible to him that believeth." Do you say you have no power? Remember power He belongeth unto God: "I will put my laws," says he, “in your mind, and write them in your heart." "I will be to you a God, and you shall be to me a people." Do you doubt if God can with justice pardon sins as great as yours ? "Come," says he, "let us reason together, though your sins were as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though red as crimson, yet shall they be as wool." Yes, says St. John, "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Immortal spirit, who readest these promises, why tarriest thou? Why do you not cry out with transport, "The Lord is faithful to pardon my sins. He has promised, and he will do it. I will then confess them to him day and night with tears. I will not give rest to my eyes till they have seen the salvation of God." Consider, it is because the Almighty is just that he will cleanse you from all sin. Yes, his Son, his only Son, has satisfied divine justice for you. The stroke aimed at you has fallen upon his innocent head. The heavenly Victim, stretched upon the cross, has been devoured by the fire of 66 that eternal vengeance which flamed against you. The odour of this all-perfect Sacrifice has reconciled that God who is "a consuming fire" to the sinner. The blood of the new covenant has flowed; it has made a propitiation for your sins. This blood, far from crying for vengeance like that of Abel, merits, demands, obtains for you repentance, faith, regeneration, and eternal life. The paschal Lamb, the Lamb without spot or blemish, is sacrificed for you. God withholds the arm of the destroying angel, until this precious blood shall be sprinkled upon your soul, until you are born again. The holy Jesus, who fears lest you should perish in your impenitence, hastes to offer you life eternal. "Behold," says he, "I stand at the door, and knock. If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me." He says to you, by the mouth of the apostle, that "he who hath the Son hath life; and he who hath not the Son of God hath not life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” He exhorts you by his servant David to "kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish from the way, if his wrath be kindled but a little." O reader, gratefully accept those kind invitations; prostrate yourself at the feet of the Son of God; open the door of your heart to him, and cry incessantly, "Come in, Lord Jesus, come in." Confess your poverty, your sins, your misery, until "the kingdom of God is within you." "Mourn" till "comforted ;' "hunger and thirst after righteousness" till you are satisfied; and "travail in birth till Christ be formed within you," till, being born of God, you "bear the image of the heavenly Adam," as you have "borne the image of the earthly." are you I conjure you by the majesty of that God before whom angels rejoice with trembling!—by the terror of the Lord, who may speak to you in thunder, and this instant require your soul of you!-by the tender mercies, the bowels of compassion, of your heavenly Father, which are moved in your favour, all ungrateful as you are! I conjure you by the incarnation of the eternal Word, by whom you were created; by the humiliation, the pains, the tempta 66 tions, the tears, the bloody sweat, the agony, the cries of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ!" I conjure you by the bonds, the insults, the scourgings, the robes of derision, the crown of thorns, the ponderous cross, the nails, the instruments of death which pierced his torn body-by the arrows of the Almighty, the poison of which drank up his spirit!-by that mysterious stroke of wrath divine, and by those unknown terrors which forced him to cry out, "My God! my God! why hast thou for saken me?" I conjure you by the interests of your immortal soul, and by the unseen accidents which may precipitate you into eternity!-by the bed of death upon which you will soon be stretched; and by the useless sighs which you will then pour out, if your peace be not made with God! I conjure you by the sword of divine justice, and by the sceptre of grace !—by the sound of the last trumpet, and by the sudden appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, with ten thousand of his holy angels !-by that august tribunal, at which you will appear with me, and which shall decide our lot for ever!-by the vain despair of hardened sinners, and by the unknown transport of regenerated souls! I conjure you from this instant, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling; enter by the door into the sheepfold; sell all to purchase the pearl of great price; count all things dung and dross in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ!" Let him not go till he blesses you with that faith which justifies, and that sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord. And soon, transported from this vale of tears, into the mansion of "the just made perfect," you shall cast your crown of immortal glory "at the feet of Him that sitteth upon the throne," and before the Lamb, "who has redeemed us by his blood; to whom be the blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the power, for ever and ever!" Amen. |