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the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God.'

How wonderful the love, the grace, and the mercy of God! In this list of detestable criminals, we perceive sinners of every class: sinners of enormous magnitude; who, consequently, could have no moral worth to plead as a ground of forgiveness; and yet their filthy souls were washed in the blood of Christwere justified by his righteousness, sanctified by his spirit, and made meet for the enjoyment of heaven. Surely such incontestable instances of the aboundings of grace over the aboundings of sin, must constrain us to acknowledge that Christ is able to save to the uttermost!

Having, therefore, indubitable evidence of the riches of grace in the salvation of such atrocious sinners, attempt not to limit its fulness or its freeness respecting yourself. Would you accept of pardon as revealed in the gospel for the relief of the guilty and the wretched, approach the mercy seat just as you are. Carry

with you all your sins-all your guilt, and frankly confess both before him that searcheth the reins and the heart. Adopt the supplicatory language of David: 'Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great;' or, rather, plead nothing in hope of forgiveness, but the blood of him in whose name you are exhorted to come with boldness. Stretch forth the hand of faith lay it on the head of Christ, who is a sin-bearing Saviour, and he will carry all your transgressions into a land of everlasting forgetfulness.

Should you imagine, for a moment, that this merciful High Priest will not receive you as a perishing sinner; attend to his own compassionate words: 'Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out'-Were you chargeable with the adultery of David, the murder of Manasseh, the apostasy of Peter, and the blasphemy of Saul; the accumulated guilt of these atrocities could not be urged as an exception to the infinitely gracious declaration. Nay, were it possible to produce an individual, the turpitude of whose actions would exclude

from coming to Christ for mercy; or one that did come, and was afterwards rejected, the wonderfully encouraging assertion would not be true; nor could it be consistently affirmed, that he is able to save to the uttermost. But the Lord is the God of truth. He is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?' The works of nature may dissolve: nay, they shall certainly perish; but the word of God remaineth sure, and his truth to all generations. The Lord hath graciously declared that he will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer: while, therefore, you acknowledge your unworthiness, and enumerate your own wants, remind him of his own promise; lest he should complain, and say, as he did in another case, 'Thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; thou hast been weary of me, and hast not honoured me with thy sacrifices.' No longer doubt the love of Christ revealed for encouragement to the distressed and the guilty: reject the thought as highly dishonourable to

God: and if the risings of hope be depressed by the prevalence of unbelief, pray that you may be enabled to give implicit credit to the testimony of his own word; that you may be helped to say with grateful confidence,

I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.'

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Your concluding, that there can be no mercy for such a detestable wretch as yourself, arises from ignorance, or inattention to the way in which the infinitely gracious God hath determined to save sinners. He is, remember, the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.' Instead, therefore, of ransacking the heart for pious dispositions, or of adverting to good works already performed, with a view to forgiveness; attend to the gracious and instructive language of him that saith, Thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine helpI, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no Saviour.'

The unworthiness inseparable from depravity and guilt, is certainly matter of deep humiliation; but a conviction of this unworthiness, however pungent, ought rather to excite gratitude than despondency; to rouse the torpor of dejection: to impel the soul to be urgent for mercy, and to engender a hope that the kind hand which discovered the disease, will not long withhold the remedy. The testimony of God speaks louder than the most clamorous conscience; and to this testimony, and this only, you must appeal in determining whether your fears be ill or well founded. If you search into the cause of your distress, it will perhaps be found to arise, not from a consideration of God's unwillingness to pardon; not from any want of efficacy in the blood of Christ to cleanse the most polluted sinner; but from a sense of having nothing to recommend yourself to his favour. It is a conviction of this fact that imperceptibly holds the soul in bondage; that renders your taking encouragement from God's word altogether impracticable. Should you say, 'No sins are like mine;' let me add, 'There is no salva

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