who are unconscious of any malady can have no desire ; as our Lord has said, " They that are whole need not a physi- cian, but they that are sick : I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance x." What then shall an unpardoned sinner do? If he look not back on his transgressions, to mourn over them before God, he rivets them all upon his own soul, and ensures to himself the judgments of an offended Gody.]
Nor is it a whit less necessary for a pardoned saint —
[In a great variety of views it is desirable for him : first, for the deepening of his humility. Superficial views of sin, though they may suffice to bring us to the Saviour, will never produce that self-lothing and self-abhorrence which are the foundation
of all that is good and great in the Christian character2
Next, for the inflaming of his gratitude. Our gratitude will always bear proportion to our sense of sin. " The man that has been forgiven little, will love little3:" but the man who is sensible, fully sensible, what his deserts have been, will be filled with such wonder and admiration at the goodness of God
towards him, as no words can adequately express15
Further, these views of sin are desirable for the confirming of his principles. Let him feel the extent of his guilt, and he will not need to be told that salvation must be altogether of grace, or through faith in Christ. He will see that a soul taken out of hell itself would not be a greater monument of grace than he: he knows himself to be " a brand plucked out of the burning0;" and that if there were not an atonement provided for him, and a free salvation offered to him, Satan himself
would have as good a hope of mercy as he These views
are yet further desirable for the augmenting of his care and watchfulness. Let a man see how he has fallen, and how, even though he may not actually have fallen, he has been tempted by sinful inclinations : he will then see what must have been his state to all eternity, if God had left him to himself; and what must yet be his state, if God should not continually
uphold him Lastly, they are necessary for the meeten-
ing of his soul for glory. Go up to heaven, and see the state of the saints there: see how they fall on their faces before the throne : hear with what incessant praises they ascribe salvation to God and to the Lamb d. If you were to go from one end of heaven to the other, you would not hear one self-applauding word, or witness one self-admiring thought. There is but one song throughout all the realms of bliss : and the deeper our
x Matt. ix. 12, 13. y Luke xiii. 3.
2 Ezek. xvi. 63. and xxxvi. 31. a Luke vii. 47.
b 1 Tim. i. 13 — 15. "Grace exceeding abundant."
c Zech. iii. 2. d Rev. v. 14.
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sense of obligation to God is for the wonders of redeeming love, the better we shall be prepared to make it the one subject of our thanksgivings to all eternity.]
Before I conclude, let me add a few words to those who are either looking to God for acceptance through their own righteousness, or imagining that they have already found mercy on such ground as that —
[Take a retrospect of your past lives, and call to remem- brance the whole of your conduct in this wilderness world. Compare your lives with the requirements of God's law ; and see whether even so much as a day or an hour has ever passed, that has not given you ground for the deepest humiliation. But if you will not remember your sins, know assuredly, that God will. He says, by the Prophet Amos ; " The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works e." In the day of judgment, too, will he remember them; yes, and bring them to your remembrance also: for they are all recorded in his book; and when set before you with all their aggravations, they will then appear to you, not light and venial, as they now do, but worthy of the deepest and heaviest condemnation. Stay not, then, till that day, but call them to remembrance now, and beg of God to set them all in order before your eyes. As for the pain which a sight of them will occasion, would you not wish to be pained with that which has so grieved your God? And is it not better to feel a penitential sorrow now, than to die in impeni- tence, and He down under the wrath of God for ever? In recommending penitence, I am your best friend; and those who would encourage you to forget your sins are, in truth, your greatest enemies. Begin, then, to " sorrow after a godly sortf," and go to the Lord with all your sins upon you: so shall you have them all " blotted out as a morning cloud," and " cast by God himself into the depths of the sea." Here is a great mystery: if you forget your sins, God will remember them : but if you remember them, God will forget them utterly, and " remember them against you no more for ever8."]