up as filthy rags, see no way of escape from the horrible pit; and the Lord is pleased to open up to us the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, his atoning blood, his perfect obedience, his justifying righteousness, and dying love; laying these things with some degree of sweetness and power on the soul, we come. Why do we come? Because the blessed Spirit works in us to will and do of his good pleasure; he enables us to come, under his blessed teachings, leadings, and act ings. In what character do we come? "Even to him shall men come." Under what character do we come? As having any goodness, any righteousness, or holiness, of our own? If we come with any goodness, holiness, piety, or religion of our own, we do not come aright; the Lord will not receive this, look upon, or accept it at our hands. We must come, having no righteousness of our own; all our righteousness opened to our eyes, and laid on our conscience as filthy rags. We must come guilty; with the burden of guilt on our conscience, that we cannot remove; guilt enough to sink our souls to hell. We must come, feeling the burden of our transgressions; that we have exceeded, that our sins are innumerable as the stars in the sky, that they are of an aggravated nature, and nothing short of God's mercy can pardon such wretches, We must come persuaded, and feeling that none else in heaven and earth can do our souls good. We must come as Esther, when she went to the king: "If I perish, I perish "I must go to him if I die. This is the state of those who come, not having anything to lay before him; they come receiving out of his fulness that which he is pleased to bestow. The Lord's people come to him tempted with a thousand doubts and fears, whether they shall be accepted by him; whether such a holy, righteous, and blessed Jesus, can cast an eye of pity on them: if they were better,

holier, or to amend their lives; to present something worthy of his acceptance; they think then they might be received: but to go to him, full of everything hateful in his holy and pure eyes, nature seems to revolt from it; yet they are compelled by the necessity of the case, having no where else to go, no one else to look to. They come to him because he is their only hope, the only resource for guilty, sin-burdened souls. They come to him also sorely tempted; feeling the power of sin working in them continually. They come, feeling the aboundings of iniquity in their carnal minds, the vilest lusts, and filthiest corruptions. They come, assaulted by Satan's blasphemies poured into their carnal minds, with all sorts of wicked thoughts against God and godliness, all vile suggestions, with their heart and mind at times full of confusion, nothing in themselves but misery and wretchedness, yet they come, and they see and feel, as the Lord is pleased to open up to their view, such a suitability, a sweetness, sanctifying, glorifying, and creative grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they feel if he will but receive them, look on, and smile on their souls; if he will but whisper some soft word of encouragement in their heart, thus, "Fear not, I have loved thee, I have redeemed thee, thou art mine," they feel, in a moment, every crooked thing made straight, and every rough place plain. Their hearts rejoice in him with joy unspeakable and full of glory. They come, not merely compelled to come through the necessities of their case, not merely with a heavy load of guilt; they come, seeing in him riches unspeakable; these riches, unspeakable, are exactly adapted to all their wants. Their eyes are illuminated by the Spirit of God; they see in him beauty unspeakable, a suitability they cannot describe, yet felt in every corner of their heart. These come to him,

feeling he alone can do their souls spiritual good. How do they come? With cries, groans, and tears rolling down their cheeks; heart-breaking sobs gushing from their breasts. They come to him pleading with him his own promise. They come to him by night and by day as he is pleased to work these supplications in their souls. They come to him fixing their eyes on him, feeling well nigh spent, that he will please apply his smile in their behalf to their souls, that he will be pleased to manifest his presence, shed abroad his love in their heart, and assure them they are eternally his. Now, if you find these things going on in your soul, you have a scriptural testimony that you belong to the seed of Israel, of whom it is said, “In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." There may be those here, who cannot believe they are justified in the Lord; they have not the assurance of faith to believe their sins are pardoned, that they stand complete in Christ by faith; neither can they glory in him. Now, I may have some poor soul here who has not seen or enjoyed these refreshing communications of Christ, that lead the soul to glory in his name. Have we not a scriptural evidence in this one feature-they come to him? Does not the Lord say none come to him except the Father draw him? Is not this like what Peter says: "To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious?" This is the Spirit's work in the conscience of a sinner, no man ever has, ever will come, except he is drawn of God, made willing in the day of his power; and does not the Lord Jesus Christ say, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out?" Does he not say, "Come all ye that are weary and are heavy laden and I will give you rest"? How encouraging these promises, these invitations to

all poor sin-burdened creatures, who are feelingly encouraged, invited, and sometimes enabled to come to him, to lay themselves at his feet, to wrestle with him, and supplicate his majesty, to pour out their hearts before him, telling him with tears, sighs, fervent groans, and heartbreaking sobs, that nothing but his love can satisfy them, and nothing but his blood purge their conscience. His love brings heaven into their souls. Depend upon it, empty professors of religion know nothing in their souls feelingly, of coming to the Lord in this way. It is peculiar to the quickened family of God, wrought in their hearts by the power of his Spirit. The fulfilment of this gracious word, from God's own lips, of unerring truth, "Even to him shall men come," and then, when they have come, the Lord is pleased to draw them nearer to himself, to bless

their soul with some discoveries of his goodness, mercy, and love. Then they can say, "In the Lord have I righteousness, and strength." Here we have three steps: First, God's solemn declaration, his unalterable determination, "That in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." The second step, the result and fruit of this solemn determination on the part of God, "That they shall come unto him "; and the third step, springing out of that, is the language which they are enabled, as the Lord gives into their hearts, to take into their lips, "In the Lord have I righteousness and strength." None can say this, except those that come to him; none can say this, except those into whose hearts he has spoken it, to whose soul the Lord has appeared, to whom he has afforded a manifestation of his grace and favour, "In the Lord, surely, shall one say, have I righteousness and strength." That one whom the Lord himself has been pleased thus to teach, the Lord

draws, surely it is God's amen, his eternal verity. These people, whom the Lord thus leads, draws, and teaches, shall say in the spirit, in the assurance of faith, as the Lord enables them, "In the Lord alone have I-guilty, wretched, miserable, fallen, wicked, vile I-righteousness and strength." Now, no man will be able to say, "In the Lord have I righteousness and strength," until he has seen a complete end of his own misery, his trials, his temptations, and perplexities; a man shall have to wait there, before he can say, feelingly say, "In the Lord have I righteousness and strength." So, again, if we are so conceited, have such lofty ideas of ourselves, are such self-righteous Pharisees, so unwilling to part with our own supposed goodness, depend upon it, that where the grace of God in the heart is in exercise, there will be such deep discoveries in the man that he will loathe himself, such a thorough turning over and up, that he shall see what a creature he is in the eyes of a holy God; then, before he can feelingly say "In the Lord have I righteousness and strength," he must be led to see all his own righteousness is as filthy rags, that he can trample it under his feet with a solemn determination to look on, and rest only in the Lord, saying, "In the Lord have I righteousness and strength." Nothing is more easy, nothing more common than for men to talk of being justified in Christ; they use boasting language, that in the Lord they have this righteousness; yet, if we look at their lives, and watch their conversation, how little is seen of godly sorrow for sin, how little they know of brokenness of heart and contrition of spirit, how little do we see in them of a deep acquaintance with the corruptions of nature, what little slight appearance of holy awe, or tendency even to godly fear; there is little fruit, very little desire to produce fruit it is evident there is very little

circumspection in their walk: they are not living as under the eye of him who searches the heart and trieth the reins. These fruits of the Spirit always appear where there is a work of grace in the soul. A man may say, in the Lord, I have righteousness; but he must give me better evidence than saying it, else we are not bound to take that man at his word. We may rest assured he cannot say feelingly, and experimentally, "In the Lord have I righteousness and strength," till he is put out of conceit of his own. When, by the eye of faith, he sees a glory and beauty in Jesus as made over to him, by the hand of a good and living faith, the blessed Spirit is pleased to engage our soul, to bring into our heart some sweet discoveries of his perfect obedience, and in the language of living faith, then we say "In the Lord have I righteousness." Depend upon this, we can do nothing,can have righteousness in no other, and from no other source, that will do our souls any good. But suppose a person says, I have righteousness and strength in the Lord; as long as he has any strength of his own, he will never have any strength in the Lord, for the strength of Jesus is made perfect in our weakness. Therefore, it implies, that the individual that uses these words aright has his strength completely brought into weakness. Oh, what a painful lesson we have to learn, in order to find all our strength is weakness. There was a time when some of us thought we had strength, and could resist Satan, and overcome the world; endure persecution, bear the proach of man, mortify and keep down pride, and the evils of our heart. Have we found ourselves able to carry out this fancied strength? Have we been able to accomplish this resolution? What has been our experience in this matter? That we have discovered more and more our

all

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own weakness; that we cannot stand against one temptation. The least gust blows us down our besetting lusts, our vile passions, and the wicked desires of our hearts, so inveigle our eyes and thoughts, so intwine themselves round our affections, that we are gone in a moment, except God himself holds us up. Have we not found we have no power to believe, hope, love, pray, or bring forth any one spiritual act, except God himself so far work in us to will and to do of his good pleasure? Thus we learn our weakness, not doctrinally, or in our judgment; but surely and experimentally feeling ourselves the very weakest of the weak. -so we are taught to feel ourselves the very vilest of the vile. There is a growing acquaintance with these things; as the Lord leads a man deeper down into the knowledge of his corruptions it makes him more and more out of conceit with his righteous, pious, holy self, the more the Lord leads a man into the knowledge of temptation, his besetting sin, the power of his corruptions, the workings of his vile nature; in all this work, he knows and learns more deeply, and painfully, what a poor, helpless, weak, powerless wretch he is; and, as the Lord is pleased to unfold before his eyes, the strength, power, and fulness, lodged in Jesus Christ; draws him, leads him, brings him, encourages him, and enables him to come to this fulness, pleading with the Lord to make his strength perfect in his weakness; by the hand of faith he draws supplies out of that fulness which is in Jesus Christ; he learns in the Lord that he not only has righteousness but strength. I believe we learn in the Lord we have righteousness, before we learn that in the Lord we have strength. We learn our vileness before our weakness; our sinfulness before our emptiness. We learn we are lost, utterly lost, before we learn we cannot stand against sin;

that truly our heart is as weak as water. As the Lord enables the soul to look to Jesus, hang on his name, his fame, his word, his promise, from time to time, his blessed strength is communicated, breathed into his soul; so the Lord works in him to will and do of his good pleasure; then the poor worm Jacob threshes the mountains, beats the hills, and makes them fly before him. as chaff. When the Lord strengthens him, he can stand against temptation, overcome sin, bear persecution, subdue the evils of his heart, and fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil. When the Lord leaves him, he is like Samson with his locks cut, sinks into all evil, and feels the helplessness of his fallen nature. Whatever he might have felt before, whatever light, power, and love may have flowed into his soul, let the Lord remove his gracious presence, and the strong man sinks down into a babe; and he that in the strength of the Lord could thresh the mountains, falls down before the Lord as weak and helpless as a little child. the Lord teaches us even painfully, and solemnly, that in him alone have we righteousness and strength. Thus he teaches us to look to him, hang on him, centre all the hope of our soul in him alone, who is mighty to save; who is able and willing to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him. But there are those that have different thoughts concerning Jesus.

Thus

That

We have read, for all who are incensed against him they shall be ashamed. Thirdly, the fate of those who are incensed against Christ. Let us just look at the solemn determination and declaration of God. there is a seed, an elect seed, called the seed of Israel, of whom God has said, "In the Lord they shall be justified, acquitted from all law charges, and presented before God without spot or blemish, or any such thing." God has said, "In the Lord alone

shall all this seed glory. If they boast, rejoice, pray, or speak, it shall be in him; all that they have or are comes from, and centres in him. They come by prayer, supplication, ardent cries, longing desires, and fervent pleadings; they come to him to satisfy the desire of their soul, that he would love them, bless them, and speak to their heart. Such as these he enables to say, in the Lord have I, poor I, lost I, guilty I, righteouness and strength. Then there are those characters who are very different: there are those that see no beauty in Jesus that they should desire him, they feel no need of him, never see his suitability, never stimulated with his love, never behold his glory, taste of his favour, or enjoy his presence; on the contrary, their heart is filled with infernal enmity against him, and all that are his-of these, we read, without exception, they shall be ashamed. As far as we are brought, by the Spirit's strong hand in our soul, to look to, and come to Jesus, and at times feel him precious, just so far we have the mind of Christ just so far God's thoughts are our thoughts, and his ways our ways. Here, while we are cast into the mould of God, what God says is pleasing to us, and what we do is pleasing to God, there is a union and communion between God and the believing soul who is brought to look to Jesus, feel him precious, glory in him, and in him alone. But there are others, who are rebels to God and godliness, who are even incensed against him: their infernal pride and devilish enmity of their carnal mind is stirred up by the very thing that is sweet and suitable to God's redeemed family. Many are incensed against him because he is God; against his deity, because he is the eternal God. It seems to stir up the infernal enmity of some because they cannot bear that Jesus should be Jehovah. They are incensed against June, 1847.]

ashamed." Some are incensed at his sovereignty: because he died for the sheep and not for the goats; because he laid down his life for his friends, and not for his enemies. It is true, they dare not altogether use their blasphemous, scurrilous language against him; but they are incensed against those that contend for these discriminating doctrines of God's grace. Others are incensed against him because he will be glorified in the hearts of his willing people; because he will not suffer their righteousness to stand on a level with his own: that he will not accept of creature righteousness; but hold it open, all mangled and marred before the eyes of angels. Others are incensed against him because he does not take into glory their marred, mangled, and filthy rags; others because he will shed abroad his love in the hearts of, and will manifest himself unto the sheep of his pasture, as he does not unto the world. When the Lord's people hear speak of the manifestation of the love of Christ to the souls of sinners, they are not incensed against it; they long for it themselves, and think those people happy that have it, and covet more of these smiles, and long to drink of the same cup. Those enemies that are incensed against him cannot bear to hear the Lord Jesus Christ visits these souls with the sprinklings of his blood, and the smiles of his love shed abroad in their heart: these discriminating favours, these tender mercies, these gifts that he sends, stir up the enmity of their ungodly heart. The work of grace in the soul is so humbling in its teaching, whereby it makes the creature nothing, brings to nought and stains the pride of all human righteousness, that they are incensed against it. He relieves himself by speaking a word in secret against the poor and

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