NONE CAST OUT. Him that cometh to me I WILL IN NO WISE CAST OUT. It is the will of him that sent me, that EVERY ONE who seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6, 37-40. T THIS implies an assurance, that no degree of previous guilt, no inveterate habits of vice, no slavery to Satan, no secret decree of God, no involuntary mistake, no feebleness in coming to Christ, would induce him to reject a single person, who applied to him for the salvation of his soul, with a sincere desire to obtain that blessing, depending on his truth, power, and grace, and using the means which he hath appointed. In this, the Father's will, which the Son came down from Heaven to perform, perfectly concurs; it is his will that not one of those given to his Son should be rejected or lost, in life or death; but that every one of them should be raised up to eternal felicity at the last day. JESUS not only saves all who believe and obey him, but he delivers them from the guilt, condemnation, dominion and pollution of all their sins; and, finally, he will save them from the very existence, and from the effects of sin, when death shall be swallowed up in victory, and sorrow in everlasting felicity. SINNER! do you hesitate? Do you, for a single moment, reject this glorious offer of mercy? Now is the day of salvation, and your time is happily come, when all your manifold sins may be blotted out, and your soul everlastingly saved. Jesus yearns over you to do you good. O receive him into your heart, and he will carry you to heaven. May this portion be as great a blessing and encouragement to all who read it, as it has been to the writer. A 2 BACKSLIDERS RESTORED. Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Jer, 3, 22: see also Luke 15, 20.-When he was yet a great way off (WHAT TENDER MERCY IS HERE!) HEAR therefore the voice of thy loving Father and Shepherd, O thou backsliding child and lost sheep, crying earnestly, Return! Return! Do not run in the broad way with the world any longer. Are you not tired yet of the husks of the world? Do you feel no troubles for your soul? Shall not these drive you to God? Lo! thy Father and Shepherd seeks thee. He is gone forth to call and meet thee already. He will receive thee willingly and joyfully. Come, only praying as the Prodigal Son, and he will freely forgive thee, although thou hast sinned ever so much. He is able to heal and correct the most desperate corruptions of thine heart: he can deliver thee from the very jaws of hell and the devil. Nay, if thou even wert possessed with more than seven devils, he could still cast them out. Begin to call upon him earnestly in prayer, and (poor and wretched as thou art) come to Him as the physician of thy soul; for the physician and the sick, a rich Saviour and a poor sinner, are the best suited to one another. HE healeth all our diseases, and can make possible what may seem most im-possible to thee. O JESUS,-full of truth and grace, THE GUILTY PARDONED. Purge me with hyssop, and 1 shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow, Psalm 51 7. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all minc iniquities, ver. 9. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool, Isa. 1, 18. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins; return unto me for I have redeemed thee, Isa. 44, 22. W E must not keep away from Christ on account of our stumblings and manifold faults; this would cast us under the law again, and bind us under condemnation; but we should humble ourselves directly before God, and seek earnestly for pardon through the blood of Christ. The longer we delay this, the worse our case will grow; and the sooner it is done, the sooner we shall have forgiveness. The Lord not imputing those sins to us which are sincerely repented of, our soul returns to its rest again. And instead of falling into carnal security, (as some may think,) it will rather strengthen our faith, and make us more watchful. Hasten, therefore, and come as soon and as well as thou canst. He will receive thee, even if thou canst but creep. Be persuaded to come just as you are; it is the very situatior in which Christ receiveth sinners. Could you prove your state to be such, that mercy could not possibly be shown to you, it might excuse delay, that you might endeavour to be prepared, but this cannot be done. In the sight of God, your unfitness is no unfitness at all; the worse you are, the greater reason have you for an immediate application to Christ, and the more dan. gerous is delay. PEACE TO A GUILTY CONSCIENCE. Thy faith hath saved thee; go in PEACE. Luke 7. 50. T HIS poor woinan had performed no previous good works to recommend her to the Lord,-but she came to him the moment she was convinced of sin;—believed in his power to pardon, and was instantly forgiven,-altho' her sins were many. Now, my fellow Sinner,-here is every possible encouragement for you to do the same, in order that you may obtain the same blessing, the same mercy,-the same forgiveness. Christ is as willing now as he was eighteen hundred years ago, to welcome and pardon every self-condemned sinner who comes to him for shelter and relief; and it is no obstacle that your sins have been of the deepest dye, or have been con. tinued many years; the power, and love, and mercy of Christ, far exceeds the sins of the whole world. The poor woman, who came to the Lord, had probably been a most notorious sinner, of the lowest kind, for many years, yet she was not reviled nor taunted on this account; her sins were not even mentioned to her.-(Ezekiel 33, 16,) and instead of being driven away in her wickedness, she found nothing but love and mercy, to pardon her guilt bid and her go in peace. This portion may possibly fall into the hands of some poor woman equally polluted, equally debased by a wicked coarse of life, but there is no reason for despair;—CHRIST is still the same;-full of mercy, full of truth; and he saves to the uttermost all who come to God by him." ARISE and flee to CHRIST;-flee to him-and escape eternal woe. Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father; and attend to know understanding. Prov. 4. 1. speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen. John 3. 11. Beloved, believe not every spirit; but try the spirits whether they are of God. 1 John 4. 1. R EADER, whoever thou art, that comest to this book for instruction and edification, let the following monitions, the result of long experience and observation, be acceptable unto thee; they are designed for thy spiritual good, will warn thee against errors, and if complied with, will give thee a true relish of gospel peace and redeeming love. Let "the life thou now livest in the flesh be by faith in the Son of God." Labour after a constant soul-reviving fellowship with the Father and the Son, through the Holy Spirit. Watch over thy passions, conduct, and conversation, so as that the Spirit of the Lord be not grieved, nor his comfortable influences withdrawn from thy soul. Be ready to every good work as thou has ability and opportunity; and take special care thy good be not evil spoken of through the manner of thy performing it. Let no external services whatever, either respecting thyself or others, make thee neglect a constant watchfulness over the inward motions of thine own heart. Let the written word of God be thine invariable rule, both in principle and practice. Whatever persuasion advanceth not the Redeemer's honour, and tendeth not to magnify his grace, work, and salvation, be sure cometh not of him that calleth us. Be very earnest after meekness, humility, patience, self-denial, inward holiness, and all other graces of the Spirit; these carry their own evidence that they are wrought of God, and in their blessed effects will remain with thee for evermore. |