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you and your evidences, he cannot wrest the Bible from you. There shines the grant of grace, fair as that moment it was written. What? though ye may have sinned away your evidences, foolishly sacrificing them to some lust, as did David in the matter of Uriah, God has not withdrawn his overtures of mercy and peace, in Christ Jesus. Though, therefore, there be nothing but darkness within, ye may open the windows of the soul, and receive celestial day from the word of light and life. And, O, my brethren, what a consolation this! amidst all our inconstant frames, ever varying as the moon, the glorious gospel, like him that gave it, is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. When therefore we can see nothing but blackness, guilt and defilement in ourselves, when we can get no comfort by reflection, let us go directly to Christ by believing. Let us trust in him for salvation, as if we had never done so before. Tossed amidst the waves of doubts and fears concerning the truth of our faith, let us cast anchor by believing in Christ anew. Many serious souls have reached comfort this way, when they could have none by self-examination. And no wonder, for this is the very road marked out by him to whom God gave the tongue of the learned, that he should know how to speak a word in season to the weary, Isaiah 1. 10. "Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light?" What is he to do? Must he raze foundations? Or cast away all his confidence? Because he has no shining within, no bright evidences of inherent grace, must he give up all for lost? No, no. Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. Such as by all their poring cannot spell out their own name, here is a name wherein they are called to trust. And O! it is a gracious and a mighty name indeed! It is all composed of mercy and of merit; mercy in the Father, and merit in the Son. Moses tells us of the one, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. He heard it from God's own lips, and he bowed and worshipped. Jeremiah tells us of the other, chap. xxiii. 6. A name

this, worthy to be trusted. Its two syllables, mercy and merit, serve as the two pillars Jachin and Boaz, to support a drooping soul. The child of light, walking in darkness, is called to stay upon his God: His in offer, though not in possesion, as he himself apprehends.

3dly. What sons of consolation must they be who have believed in Christ, and know that they have! They know that they have eternal life, and that they shall never perish. Knowing that through grace they have been helped to believe, (Acts xviii. 27.) they are infallibly certain of eternal glory. Riding as on their high places, they can sound a challenge to all creation, and say in the triumphant language of the apostle, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord," Rom. viii. 35-39. Sweetly can they travel overall the attributes of Deity, so to speak, and write on each as they pass, This is mine. They can take the believing MYS in their mouth, each of which is sweet as the honey-comb, or the hidden manna. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my strength, my buckler, my high tower, my goodness, my sun, my shield, my light, my life, my righteousness, my king, my holy one, my shepherd, my redeemer, my refuge, my portion, my salvation, my beloved, my friend, my father, my glory, my joy, my everlasting all. Having got the Christ of God, they are interested in his unsearchable riches. What? though they cannot look to this extensive estate, or that spacious building, and call them theirs, yet being heirs of God, and

joint heirs with Christ, they can rejoice in tribulation and poverty itself. The Son of God being their Saviour with their own consent, all his creatures, from Gabriel who stands before him, down to the meanest insect, must be their servants. Angels and elements, men, yea, and devils themselves, shall be subservient to their happiness. In one word, having believed in Christ, they shall be saved, sure as he is faithful who hath promised.

11thly. From what was said, we may see the misery awaiting those who do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. They shall not be saved. The great and precious promise made to such as believe, implies the most dreadful threatening to such as do not. They shall not only miss the great salvation, but suffer positive and perpetual punishment. That Christ who now offers to be their Saviour, shall become an enemy, and pursue an eternal quarrel with them. Now he bids them come, and they will not. At last he shall command them to depart, and they must. Every slighted opportunity, every despised offer of mercy, will add a terrible heat to their furnace. Of that cup of salvation which the gospel presents, they scorn to drink; but the day is near when the Mediator's own hand will mingle them one which they shall not be able to refuse. How their hearts shall fail, and their lips quiver at the sight of the cup of vengeance! Drink they must, and ah! ah! it will be ETERNITY to the bottom. So much gospel grace as they have despised, so much torment shall be given them. The joyful sound they shall hear no more. A second trial they shall not have. This their day being finished, they shall never see another. No light amidst the blackness of darkNo morning to succeed that doleful night. No mitigation, no period of punishment. Such the portion which God will appoint to unbelievers. And this suggests another part of application, with which we shall conclude. And that is,

ness.

12thly. Let all be persuaded to believe. Let such as have believed, continue stedfast in the life of faith,

and such as are yet strangers to Christ, acquaint themselves with him, and so be at peace, and be saved. Ye who have believed, go on from faith to faith. Let your whole life be a coming unto Christ. If any can satisfy themselves with once believing, it is a sign they know nothing of the matter. Our faith is never perfect, it is still susceptible of new degrees. Yea, though it were perfect as to the intenseness of the act, still it were our duty to add permanency to that intenseness. It must be our habitual temper to be relying on Christ for all. We must go up through the wilderness, leaning upon our Beloved, Cant. viii. 5. Our whole life should be a continued resting on him, going from one degree of faith to another, till we come to the land of immediate light and vision. "Lord, said the disciples, increase our faith," Luke, xvii. 5. And said the beloved disciple, “These things have I written unto you, who believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may believe," 1 John v. 13. And said he who laboured more abundantly than them all, "the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me," Gal. ii. 20. By these footsteps of the flock let us go forth, as we would approve ourselves to be the sheep of Christ's pasture.

Ye who are yet in your sins, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Look unto him, and ye shall be saved. Come unto him, and he will in no ways cast you out. Cast your burden on him, and he shall sustain you.' Come, sinners, for Saviour is his name, and salvation is his work. Come, ye guilty, and receive a pardon. Come, ye filthy, and be washed. Come, ye diseased, and be healed. Come, ye naked, and be clothed. Come, ye poor, and be rich. Come, ye children of wrath, and be the sons of God. Come, yé miserable, and be happy. Come, ye who have nothing, and receive all. Come, ye young, for ye have been too, too ong without a Saviour. Come, ye old, for it is not yet too late. Come, all without exception, unto Christ. Come, for there is room. Three things, among others,

should have weight with you. Your opportunity is fair, your time is short, and your all, your eternal all is at stake. Your warrant to believe is firm and broad, having God's own seal annexed to it. The Father commands you to believe in the name of his Son; the Son makes offer of himself; and the Holy Spirit, saith, Come. There is nothing in the way betwixt Christ and you, but your own unbelief. Wind and tide make for you, and why will ye not sail? Why not ply every oar to reach the Saviour? Come you must. You shall not be brought to him sleeping, much less against your will. Christ is willing, but so must you, otherwise he never shall be yours. Your opportunity, though fair, is short Your glass has been running ever since ye began to live. Trifle as you may, your golden sands are passing, and all the world cannot tell you how few may be to run. Now is your day. It is but a day, and God may send darkness as at noon. While you are shutting your ears and your eyes, the slighted Redeemer may turn his back, break off the treaty, and swear, that ye shall die in your sins. Your times, as well as his gracious offer, are wholly in his hands. And while ye slight the one, he may in awful judg ment put an end to the other. And then, then sinner, where art thou? From a land of Bibles, thou shalt be hurried to the bottomless pit. Despised ministers shall solicit thee no more. Nothing henceforth but messengers of vengeance. Our text shall sound no more in your ears. It shall not be then, "Believe in the Lord Jesus." No: Very different orders shall be given concerning thee. "Take him, bind him hand and foot, and cast him into utter darkness." And if this be the case, is not thy all at stake, sinner? There is no other alternative, but believe, or be damned. If thou wilt not believe, Christ shall not be thine. And if thou hast not him, thou losest all. To eternity the thoughts of a lost salvation, a lost soul, a lost heaven, shall be like oil to thy flame. Falling as from the pinnacle of gospel-offers into hell, dreadful, dreadful beyond all imagination, shall be thy plunge. If therefore, there

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