2. To those who are desirous of preparing for death and judgment —
[Happy am I to declare unto you, that, however numerous or heinous your sins may have been, they may all this very day be " blotted out of the book of God's remembrance ; " yea, be "blotted out as a morning cloud*," never more to be seen, never to be remembered against you in judgment11. " The blood of Jesus Christ, we are told, will cleanse from all sinx;" so that " though your sins have been as scarlet or as crimson, they shall in one instant become white as snowy." Yes, Brethren, if " vengeance belongeth unto God," so does mercy also: " with him is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemp- tion, so that he will redeem Israel from all his sins2." Take courage, then ; and from the very forbearance you have ex- perienced, assure yourselves that " God is full of compassion, slow to anger, and of great kindness ; " and that if only you come to him in his Son's name, you shall never perish, but shall have eternal life.]
n Ps. xi. 6. ° 2 Pet. ii. 3. p Luke iii. 9.
i Luke xix. 42. r Isai. lv. 6. s 2 Cor. vi. 2.
* Isai. xliii. 25. u Heb. viii. 12. x 1 John i. 7.
y Isai. i. 18. z Ps. cxxx. 7, 8.
OUR EXTREMITY IS GOD's OPPORTUNITY.
Deut. xxxii. 36. The Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.
IT is a certain truth that God is immutable in his purposes, whether of judgment or of mercy. In the