Mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me....Psalm xxxviii. 4. THOUGH there may be pleasures in sin for a season, yet at the last, "it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." O, come hither and see how the venom of sin has overspread poor David's whole frame: read this Psalm: mark the anguish of his conscience and the distress of his soul; and say, is not sin exceeding sinful? What pain, out of hell, can be compared to the pain of a guilty conscience? But better, infinitely better, to smart for sin here than to cry out of the smart of şin in hell. Conviction of sin by the Spirit is in order to cleansing from sin by the blood of Christ. Better to roar from the disquietness of one's soul on earth, than to sleep secure in sin, till we drop into and roar for sin in the bottomless pit one or other will be the portion of all flesh. Two similies are before us expressive of David's distress. 1st. "Mine iniquities are gone over mine head." He was like a man in the greatest danger of drowning; overwhelmed with distress, like one whose head was under water: his iniquities caused his soul to sink within him. 2d. They were as a heavy burden. He had greater weight upon him than he could stand under. He cries out, as though ready to be crushed by its ponderous load, "they are too heavy for me.” 3d. Look at his cry, and hear upon whom he calls: "Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation."....Psalm xxxviii. 22. Though sinking under and pressed down with his iniquities on his conscience, yet he had salvation in view and the Lord of his salvation as his hope. O Lord, MY Jesus. Now, can you be in a worse plight than David was? Can you be under more distressing circumstances? He was sinking in deep waters, with a ponderous load upon him.. In such a state, you may discover whether your convictions are evangelical and you possess the faith of God's elect or not. Legal convictions only fill the soul with terror, drive it from God, and leave it in despair without hope. Convictions from the Spirit, the comforter, lead the soul to Christ; and the faith, hope and cry of the soul will be after the help and salvation of Jesus ONLY: for, he is "the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world." Behold him, O my soul, under every sense of guilt; believe him, under every dejection of soul, for he hath assured us, "all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men."....Matt. xii. 31. When sin does weigh my spirits down, I bless the Spirit's holy grace, And dread besets my soul: Lord, then thy sacrifice I'll own, Who doth convince of sin, M. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God....John i. 12. name MAN lost paradise by receiving a gift from satan. There is no way to regain it, but by receiving Christ, the gift of God. Am I one of the many who have received Christ? This question is of eternal moment. If I have not, no matter what I profess, by what I am called, what I think of myself, or others think concerning me; for I am certainly in a state of wrath, exposed to eternal damnation. What answer does conscience return to this important question? God may this night require my soul. I may be in eternity before the morning light. Have I received Christ or not? What is it to receive Christ? Many precious souls are sadly perplexed and greatly distressed here. But why should they? St. John plainly tells us, to receive Christ, is to believe on his name, that he is the anointed Saviour of lost sinners. Do you receive this truth into your heart? Does your mind go out after Christ? Do you hunger and thirst to know him, as your Saviour, to save you ? Then, as sure as you exist you do believe in Christ's name. Bless the holy Spirit, who has opened your eyes to see his glory and your heart to receive this precious Jesus: hear and rejoice: he gives you, and all such, " power to become the Son of God." Not merely puts it in the power of your free-will to choose whether you will become a son of God or not; but he actually bestows this heavenly honor upon us. He gives us the RIGHT (or PRIVILEGE as in the margin of our bibles) of enjoying the comfort and blessing of being the adopted sons of God. O the riches of new covenant grace and love! What a miracle of mercy is this! Of the children of wrath and heirs of hell, Christ makes us sons of God and heirs of heaven! Why then do you ever live uncomfortably or walk unholily? It is because you do not assert your RIGHT, maintain your PRIVILEGE, and live up to your POWER, in your mind and conscience. Hence love to, and delight in your Father God and your Saviour Jesus, are wanting. O remember, ever remember, as you received Christ by faith, all your power, peace and comfort flows from him through faith study, strive and pray to the Spirit to keep faith lively in act and exercise, that you may live and walk on earth so as to glorify your Father who is in heaven: for if you are a son of God, by faith in Christ, you have got the heart of a son; the fear, the love, the hope, and the delight of a son of God; and you will rejoice to think that you shall soon be at home with your heavenly Father. Am I a son of God, thro' faith Receiving Jesus Christ? Rejoice, my soul, and glory give To Christ in whom thou'rt blest. May it my daily study be M. Who are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation....1 Pet. i. 5. THE wicked, who are totally ignorant of the doctrines of grace, preach this truth by their common saying, "They only are well kept whom God keeps." Many, who profess to preach the gospel, do not hold forth such sound divinity as this. Consider these three points. Who are thus kept? How are they kept? Unto what are they kept? 1st. Who are kept? Peter tells us, 1st. They are the elect according to the fore-knowledge of God. 2d. "Sanctified by the Spirit unto obedience." They obey the Father's voice: they hear and believe on his beloved Son. Hence, 3d. Sprinkled by the blood of Christ from the guilt of sin in their consciences. 4th. "Begotten to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to an inheritance reserved in heaven for them." The work of the glorious trinity has passed upon them. 5th. Christ calls them " my sheep."....John x. 14. This implies that we are very weak, timorous, helpless creatures. If left to our own keeping, to stand by our own power, and to persevere by our own faithfulness, alas! we should be quite out of heart; for we must perish everlastingly but God does not beget children whom satan shall destroy: Christ doth not redeem souls, whom hell shall receive: the Spirit sanctifies none who shall have their portion with the damned: therefore they are all kept. 2d. How? By the power of God, as in an impregnable garrison they are garrisoned in Christ, in God: the power of almighty God surrounds them. This is the God-honoring, soultriumphing language of their faith, "Jehovah is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, (my Elohim in covenant) my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower."....Psalm xviii. 2. You see they are kept through faith that keeps them low, humble and dependent; that leads them quite out of self and nature into God's power, grace and strength they are most sensible of their own weakness to stand, inability to persevere and proneness to fall away. Therefore they trust most on the power of God through faith. Their faith can never fail. Christ prays for them. As he keeps their persons, so he suffers not their faith to fail: they look unto Jesus. Is this your blessed character? Rejoice. For, 3d. You are kept....unto what? Salvation. That shall be the end of your faith. Those whom Christ has redeemed by his blood, justified by his grace, he will save unto eternal glory; they are as safe in his hands now, as though round his throne in glory. Lord, keep me safe, and keep me near And make me ever more to fear, N n M. VOL. II. What then?....Rom. vi. 15. THESE short and frequent interrogations of scripture are greatly to be prized: there is a vast deal contained in these questions, "What shall we say then?" What then? They are like the word SHIBBOLETH with which they tried the people of old. But they could not frame their mouths to pronounce it. They corrupted the word, and said, SIBBOLETH. So many at this day corrupt the word of the glorious doctrines of grace, by leaving out the H, HOLINESS; which all the doctrines of the holy gospel are divinely calculated to promote. "What then?" comes most suitable after the precious doctrine of the justified saints of God being kept by his power to eternal salvation. What then? O, whenever you think of God's everlasting love and Christ's finished salvation, and of glory being sure and certain to you, ask your heart, What then? Shall I continue in sin, because such unmerited love, grace and mercy abounds to me? No: you will reject the thought with the utmost abhorrence, crying in the fervor of faith and love, God forbid! For, 1st. Your soul will be kept alive to God: you will have sincere love to him, his truths, his promises, and his commands: you will have a filial fear of offending him, a godly jealousy for his honor and glory; and delight in his worship and service. All this naturally results from a lively faith in his Son Jesus Christ. Where this is not, all is not right within : there will be suspicions of your faith and hope. 2d. You will be dead to sin you cannot live and walk under the power of it: you will be groaning under it; striving against it; aspiring after victory over it; longing for perfect freedom from it; looking to Jesus and expecting it. 3d. You will be dead to the world: you can no longer live after its vain customs and sinful manners, pleased with its sensual pleasures and carnal delights: you will put away all such childish things, now you are a man in Christ. 4th. You will live in love with the people of God and have sweet fellowship with the brethren of Christ: these you will choose and delight in as your companions and familiar friends: you will be perfectly agreed with the men of this world. They like not your company: you will not theirs. For, 5th. Your grand study and chief aim is to keep up and walk in sweet fellowship with God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ therefore whatever tends to prevent the comfortable enjoyment of this, you will carefully avoid: what tends to promote this, you will diligently pursue. : If God doth sinners ever love, [then? Vouchsafe to keep me daily Lord Our hearts and hopes should be above, Conform my life unto thy word, And we should never sin again. That peace and joy I may possess. M. Let us, as many as be perfect, be thus minded....Phil. iii. 15. SPEAKING of righteousness unto justification of eternal life, Paul says, "The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.” Rom. xi. 7. What were they blinded by? Their own righteousness.` This, like a cloud, intercepted the glory of the sun of righteousness from their minds: their own righteousness prevented their seeing their want of the righteousness of Christ to justify them before God. So of perfection; many are so blinded with their own fancied perfection that they see not the glorious perfection of Christ, and how poor sinners in themselves are absolutely perfect IN HIM. Paul just before said, he was not perfect: now he says he is perfect. What can he mean? Ironically, say some; by way of sneer upon those who fancied themselves perfect. Say, others comparatively perfect, with respect to those who are ignorant of Christ; perfect in parts, but not in degree: but, I humbly presume, it is most agreeable to the analogy of faith to suppose he here means what he elsewhere speaks of, "perfect as pertaining to the conscience, by the work of Christ."....Heb. ix. 9. How are some poor souls puzzled and others deluded about perfection! Mind: here is a perfection which every believer is possessed of, pertaining to the conscience: this is received and enjoyed there by faith in the atonement and righteousness of the Son of God; "By whom we have Now received the atonement."....Rom. v. 11. It is received by faith and applied to our consciences, so that we have no more conscience of sins but what we have the perfect atonement of Christ's blood to plead and to cleanse us from. So of the condemnation of the law : we have the perfect righteousness of Christ to answer it; hence there is now no condemnation to us. Thus, being delivered from wrath, guilt and condemnation, by the perfect work of our Immanuel, our consciences are at perfect peace with God, perfectly reconciled to him; we are made perfectly accepted in the beloved. Thus we are perfect; for our title to glory is perfect and complete. The Spirit, who thus perfected us by faith, bears witness of it in the word and to our consciences. O glorious state! O blessed perfection! Thus our Lord's prayer is answered upon us, "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made PERFECT in one."....John xvii. 23. Hence Paul exhorts, "Be thus minded." We must reserve this for the next meditation. Ever remember, "The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by which we draw nigh unto God."....Heb. vii. 19. Perfect in Christ we stand compleat, Justice acquits, grace makes us nieet |