look to the fulness, and freeness of the promises. The Lord proclaims a general pardon by saying, "Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters," and, "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Why then should I be so sinfully ungrateful, as to except myself, above all others? Why should I wilfully refuse the gracious offer of my salvation? Christ came into the world to save sinners. Therefore he came to save me, the chief of sinners. Why should my spirits sink, and why should I perplex myself, because my experience appears to me to be incomplete, because I have not had those deep convictions, and those holy raptures which others have been favoured with? What, if my gracious Saviour have drawn me with gentler cords, "with cords of love," and in a gradual manner? Let me bless and adore his holy name for permitting and enabling me to say, "One thing I know, that whereas I was once blind, now I see." If I do really loathe myself, and hate my sins, and forsake them, if I see a beauty and a loveliness in Jesus, as I hope and trust I do, is not my state safe, although I do not stand in the front ranks of believers? Come, my soul, Jesus has said," he will not cast me out," and we know " he will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax." I am weak, let me go to him for strength. Let all my complaints drive me to him. If I be in darkness, he is light, if I sink into the arms of death, "he is my life and my salvation, whom shall I fear." Let me attend divine ordinances, and encourage my

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self in him who has opened so many sources of comfort to his children in this world, and has moreover declared, that " in his presence is fulness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore." "The Lord God is a Sun and a Shield, he will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly."

CHAPTER VIII.

The Contrast, or the difference between a Soul that prospers, and a Sinner, dead in trespasses and sins.

ness.

SAINTS and sinners are as opposite to each other in their principles and characters, as light and darkWere the christian to delineate his own character, it would be no pleasing picture. He views himself as the chief of sinners, and says, " By the grace of God I am what I am." Yet he trusts he is not what he once was, though he is far from being what he desires. He believes that there are many prosperous souls in the world, men who are "Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile," but in himself he beholds "no good thing." He is full of corruption, and when he would do good, evil is present with him. He sees that "the law is good, and spiritual," and exceedingly broad, but he sees himself to be exceedingly foolish and vain, and very far from coming up to the sacred standard. He looks to Christ alone for justification and life eternal, while at the same time by the assistance of the Holy Spirit he is growing in grace, and going "on towards perfection."

The prosperous soul was once in a state of great

misery and condemnation. He was in all respects like others, divested of the image of God, earthly, sensual, and devilish, totally depraved and corrupted by the fall, and awfully sunk, it may be, by actual transgression. He was without strength, and entirely helpless; without will, or moral ability to repent and turn from his evil way, to God as the chief good, seeking happiness in him alone. But through the abounding grace of God, he was, in the Lord's own good time and manner, convinced of his wretched and lost condition by nature and practice; and was led to feel what a evil and bitter thing it is to depart from the living God, His conscience became alarmed, and he expected soon "to reap the reward of his doings." But the Lord's time was come to snatch me brand from the burning, and to make him an object of divine mercy. The Father, by his Holy Spirit, drew the guilty creature to the Son, and enabled him, as one condemned by the law to take refuge under the covert of his wing, of his righteousness, and blood. Thus he laid hold on the hope set before him, and the lovely character, and glorious offices of Christ, conveyed to his mind a holy and delightful joy and comfort. He saw him to be just such a Saviour as he stood in need of; and received him as the gift of God, a blessed and an unspeakable gift, " made unto him wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." Soon the happy moment arrived when he was enabled to exclaim with Thomas, " My Lord, and my God!" and to say with the church," This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O ye daughters of Jerusalem.” His soul now" magnified the Lord, and rejoiced in

God his Saviour," perhaps "with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Blessed with the Spirit of Christ in his heart, he was enabled to cry, " Abba, Father!" and God seemed to say to him, "Son, all that I have is thine!" Being made a child, he is become "an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ Jesus." He feels that he is passed from death unto life, and though once he was afar off, now he is "made nigh by the blood of Christ." He is no longer "a stranger and foreigner, but a fellow citizen with the saints, and of the household of God." At the discovery of such amazing grace and love, his soul stands perfectly atonished, lost in wonder and admiration, and crying ut, "What am I, and what is my Father's house, that hou art mindful of

Being born of God, the prosperous soul now bears the image of his heavenly Father. He "asks the way to Zion with his face thitherward." He is become a willing subject of the Prince of peace; he worships God in spirit and in truth, and has no confidence in the flesh. "He is a new creature, old things are passed away, and all things are become new." His understanding is illuminated, and he is made "light in the Lord." His will is renewed, his affections are changed, he loves the Redeemer, and "delights in the law of God after the inner man," though still" a law in his members wars against the law of his mind," and often "brings him into cap