within his power for his crime; the other plunged deeper and deeper in guilt, till his course of impiety was arrested by the dread realities of eternity. Whilst, therefore, you abhor the sins which have separated betwixt your soul and God; while you supremely prize his favour, and eagerly employ the means for regaining his friendship; how can you believe that the day of your visitation is past? What affinity can you imagine betwixt your case and that of Saul; who, when he perceived that the Lord had forsaken him, forsook him still further; and much as he had previously done to provoke him, completed his career of rebellion by having recourse to an avowed agent of Satan? What resemblance can your conduct possess to that of Judas; who, after he had betrayed the innocent blood, instead of repairing to the great atonement, insulted the all-sufficiency of the Redeemer's sacrifice by refusing to apply to the merits of Immanuel, and by seeking a refuge from the distractions of his conscience in the horrors of self-slaughter? In short, though the Scriptures speak of many sins against the Holy Ghost, with the exception of blasphemy, none of them is declared to be unpardonable. We read of lying unto the Holy Ghost; of resisting, of tempting, of grieving, and of quenching the Spirit; but however foul and offensive, none of them is said to be beyond the reach of mercy; and, therefore, we may safely conclude that, upon the repentance of the criminal, they may be forgiven. Whenever, therefore, either the careless, the wordly, or the profligate, on reflecting upon their own state and conduct, think that they have reason to believe they have been guilty of this unparalleled enormity: or the people of God, through the violence of temptation or of mental distress, suspect that they have fallen into this depth of Satan; your wisdom is, instantly to inquire what is the particular sin against the Holy Ghost with which you are chargeable. For though you have reason to tremble upon account of every sin; yet unless you have been guilty of blasphemy, you have no ground to despair. Have you lied unto the Holy Ghost? Have you resisted, tempted, grieved, or quenched the Spirit? Still, however heinous and dangerous these offences; however great cause you have on their account to be humbled in dust and in ashes; still, if you have not proceeded unto the more horrid ungodliness of blasphemy, you have no reason to abandon hope. If after all you repent and apply to the blood of sprinkling, these iniquities shall be pardoned, and these trespasses blotted out. For the Lord Jesus Christ most solemnly assures us, that "all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost." And of this sin, one of the first effects is blindness of mind and hardness of heart. Whilst therefore you are alarmed about your situation, and solicitous for reconciliation with God; whatever guilt you may have contracted, and whatever danger you may have cause to dread, your condition is not desperate: for you have not sinned the sin unto death. CHAPTER IV. ON DISTRESS, ARISING FROM THE WANT OF HUMILIATION AND SORROW FOR SIN. "Why sinks my weak desponding mind? WE read in scripture of convictions of sin and emotions of sorrow preceding faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We hear of many, when first brought to the knowledge of the truth, who have been filled with fear and shaken with dread; who have been laid in darkness and in the lowest deeps, where the wrath of God has gone over them, and where they have trembled lest in his anger he would cut them off. We have heard of some, who have been driven to their wit's end, reduced to the most awful extremity of perplexity and trouble; who have been made to drink of the cup of the Lord's fury, and undergo all the distractions of despondence, and all the horrors of despair. Believing that what is the case with one must be the case with all, and that this agonizing perturbation and overwhelming sadness, are inseparable from the transition from a state of nature to a state of grace; many christians, because they never have experienced them, have rashly concluded that their religion is delusion, and all their hopes false and presumptuous. If they had been previously alarmed and agitated; if God had let loose his hand against them; if he had subjected them to consternation and terror, and made them pass through all the gloom and anguish of spiritual depression and melancholy; they imagine that then they would have had some ground of hope, and some cause for regarding themselves as new creatures and heirs of heaven. But when they reflect on the holiness of God, and the sinfulness of sin, on the dishonour which they have done to his blessed name, and the ingratitude which they have shewn to the adorable Redeemer; and after all find that their hearts are cold and lifeless, hard and unfeeling; they suspect that they are still dead in trespasses and sins. If they were properly affected with a sense of their guilt, they think that their heads would be waters, and their eyes fountains of tears; and that they would weep day and night for the evils which they have wrought, and the punishment which they have deserved. When, therefore, they discover such a humbling disproportion betwixt their sorrows and their sins; when they can sleep so soundly; live so securely; and feel so little grief and compunction for their iniquities: they apprehend that they have no part with the saints, and cannot be reckoned in the number of the mourners in Zion. In order to mitigate and remove the pain which this subject occasions, it will be necessary to observe, I. That no distress that we can feel, can ever equal the number or enormity of our offences. Our forgetfulness of God and our disregard for his authority and rights, may well confound us, and compel us to go all our days in the bitterness of our spirits. Those sins which opened the world of wo, which brought our Redeemer to the dust of death, and filled his soul with unutterable anguish, may justly break our hearts, and cover us with shame and self-abasement. Sins such as these, will keep thousands of the gay and thoughtless weeping millions of ages hence. And in the mean time they strongly call for our deepest humiliation and sorrow. But after all, our contrition and tears cannot efface the slightest spot of moral pollution. To accomplish this, nothing less than the sacrifice of Immanuel is sufficient. "Without shedding of blood is no remission." But whilst his blood is requisite to remove the stain of the smallest, it is able to wash away the guilt of the greatest sin; and as it is to him that you must have recourse at last for the pardon of your least offences, your wisdom and your duty are to go to him at first for the forgiveness of all your transgressions together. II. The way to genuine and lasting consolation generally lies through the midst of terror and alarm; and a work of the law, of a greater or less extent and of a longer or shorter duration, usually precedes believing views of the Saviour, and a settled assurance of an interest in his salvation. In every age, the road to Zion has gone through the midst of the thunders and darkness of Sinai. Before we are permitted to lie down in green pastures, or feed beside the still waters, we must pass through vallies of Baca and fields of solitude and desolation. For, since the salvation revealed in the Gospel is so utterly opposite to the strongest principles and the dearest pursuits of the carnal mind; till, by the denunciations of the law and the rigid demands of justice, the sinner is shut completely up unto the faith; how is it credible, how is it possible, that he will submit to the righteousness of Christ, and count all things but loss for his sake? It is no ordinary political tempest which will drive a proud imperious monarch from his throne; compel him to lay aside the robes of state, the pomp of royalty, and the indulgence of power; and descend to all the obscurity and privacy of a humble station. It is no common war of elements which will urge the beasts of prey to quit their native haunts, and seek shelter and protection in the habitations of men. And can we suppose that it is any moderate moral movement, any ordinary convulsion of the mind, that will induce an empty self-righteous, selfsufficient sinner to renounce all dependence upon his own wisdom and worth; to abandon his favorite habits and fondest pursuits; and with the feelings and language of a criminal, self-condemned and deserving to perish, to cast himself at the feet of the Saviour, saying, "In the Lord alone have I righteousness and strength?" Is it a crisis of every day's occurrence, which will constrain him to |