Again, tell me, O despairing souls, do you not do infinite wrong to the precious blood of the Lord Jesus? Three things are called precious in the Scripture : the blood of Christ is called 'precious blood,' I Peter i. 19 ; and faith is called 'precious faith,' 2 Peter i. 1 ; and the pro- mises are called 'precious promises?,' 2 Peter i. 4. Now, what a reproach is it to this precious blood, ' that speaks better things than the blood of Abel,' Heb. xii. 24, for you to faint and sink under the power of despair; what doth this speak out ? Oh ! doth it not proclaim to all the world that there is no such worth and virtue, no such power and efficacy in the blood of Christ, as indeed there is ? Oh ! how will you answer this to Christ in that day wherein his blood shall speak and plead, not only with the profane that have trodden it under their feet, but also with despairing souls that have undervalued the power, virtue, and merit of it ? Heb. X. 29.' Hath not the blood of Jesus Christ washed away the sins of a world of notorious sinners, and is it not of virtue to wash away the sins of one sinner ? Hath it had that power in it as to bring many thousands to glory already, and is there not so much virtue left in it as to bring thy soul to glory ? 1 John i. 7-9. Hath it actually de- livered such a multitude from wrath to come as cannot be numbered, and is the virtue of it so far spent as that it cannot reach to thy deliverance ? Are there not yet millions of thousands that shall here- after be actually saved and justified by this blood V Why, then, shouldst thou despair of being justified and saved from wrath to come by the virtue and power of this precious blood? There were five monks that were studying what was the best means to mortify sin. One said, to meditate on death ; the second, to meditate on judgment ; the third, to meditate on the joys of heaven ; the fourth, to meditate on the tor- ments of hell ; the fifth, to meditate on the blood and sufferings of Jesus Christ: and certainly, the last is the choicest and strongest motive of all to the mortifying of sin. 0 despairing souls, despairing souls ! if ever you would cast off your despairing thoughts and get out of your present hell, then dwell much, muse much, and apply much this pre- cious blood to your own souls. So shall ' sorrow and mourning flee away, and everlasting joy shall rest upon you,' and the Lord shall give you ' an everlasting name,' and be ' everlasting light and glory to you,' and * you shall be no more called Forsaken ;' for ' the Lord will re- joice over you,'^ and be a well-spring of life unto you, and make his abode with you, and turn your sighing into singing, your trembling into rejoicing, and your prison into a paradise of pleasure ; so that your souls shall be able to stand up and say. Oh, blessed be God for Jesus Christ ; blessed be God for that precious blood that hath justified our persons, and quieted our consciences, and scattered our fears, and answered our doubts, and given us to triumph over sin, hell, and death. ' Who is he that condemneth? it is Christ that died,' Rom. viii. 33-38.
^ Una guttula plus valet quam caelum et terra. — Luther.
* Sanguu Christi clavis ccelt. The blood of Christ is the key of heaven that hath let in millions, Rev. vii. 9, Isa. Ixvi. 8. ' A nation shall be born in a day;' when the Jews shallf be converted, a very glorious converting power shall accompany the means of salvation, that Christ may reign from sea to sea, &c.
3 Isa. Iv. 11, Ivi. 5, Ix. 19, 20, and Ixii. 4, 5 ; John iv. 21, 23.
380 HEAVEN ON EARTH. [ROM. VIII. 32-34.
The apostle, upon the account of Christ's death, of Christ's blood, cries out. Victory, victory ; he looks upon all his enemies and sings it sweetly out, 'Over all these we are more than conquerors,' or 'above conquerors.'*
O despairing souls, to all your former sins do not add this, of mak- ing light and slight of the blood of Christ. As there is no blood- that saves soul.s like the blood of Christ, so there is no blood that sinks souls like the blood of Christ. A drop of this blood upon a man's head at last will make him miserable for ever ; but a drop of it upon a man's heart at last will make him happy for ever. In the day of vengeance, the destroying angel will spare you if this blood be found upon the door-posts of your hearts, otherwise you are lost for ever, Exod. xii. 7.
Lastly, I can tell you, O despairing souls, that God hath brought some out of the very gulf of despair, out of the very belly of hell ; and therefore thou mayest hope that thy sins, that are thy present burden, shall not be thy future ruin. Doth not Asaph resemble the despairing soul to the life ? ' My soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God, and was troubled ; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Thou boldest mine eyes waking ; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.' ' Will the Lord cast off for ever ? and will he be favourable no more ? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? and will his promise fail for ever- more? Hath God forgotten to be gracious ? hath he in anger shiit up his tender mercies V Ps. Ixxvii. 2-9. Now, out of this gulf God de- livers him: ver. 10, 'And I said. This is my infirmity;' or ' this maketh me sick,' as it is in the original, ^m'?n "i^Ni. Here Asaph checks him- self for casting the cordials, the comforts of the Spirit against the wall, and for his having such hard, sad, and black thoughts of God. And in the thirteenth verse he speaks like one dropped out of heaven : ' Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary : who is so great a God as our God V Formerly, the thoughts of God troubled him and overwhelmed him ; but now, at last, the thoughts of the greatness of God, and of his in- terest in God, is matter of admiration and consolation to him. So Ha- man sighs it out thus : ' My soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.' 'Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in dark- ness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves.' ' Lord, why casteth thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me ? I am afflicted, and ready to die from my youth up ; while I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me ; thy terrors have cut me off,' Ps. Ixxxviii. 3, 6, 7, 14)-16.* And yet, for all this, Heman's state was good ; his soul was safe and happy : he calls God in the same psalm ' the God of his salvation,' ver. 1. So Jonah, when he was in the belly of hell, con- cludes, * that he was cast out of the sight of God,' Jonah ii. 4.' The sense of his sin, and of God's anger and wrath, was so eminent and transcendent upon him, that it even distracts him, and makes him speak like a despairing soul : ' I am cast out from the presence of the Lord ;
' irip*ixifif is super vincimus, we do over-overcome.
• All 'conclude that he was very holy, and his soul very happy, even while he was in this KwU of misery.