Is there here a weak believer, who doubts whether such an one as he can ever attain this blessedness?
[Let him trust in Christ, and not be afraid : for none ever perished, who trusted in Him. As for a man's own weakness and insufficiency, that can be no bar to his attainment of this felicity ; since the Lord Jesus Christ is " able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him'';" and he has ex- pressly told us, that " he will carry the lambs in his bosom, and gently lead them that are with young y." Only take care that he be for you ; and then you may hurl defiance at all that are against you.]
But is there any backslider that is turning back to the world ?
[O, think what you are doing ; and what tremendous evils you are bringing upon your soul ! What has this vain world ever done for you, that it should influence you by its attrac- tions? And what has Christ not done for you, whilst
you sought him, and relied upon him ? Hear his complaint against you : " Have I been a wilderness unto Israel ; a land of darkness ? Wherefore say my people. We are lords ; we will come no more unto thee^?" The tvorld has been a wilder- ness to you, at all times : but has Christ been so ? Has he been so at any moment, when you sought your happiness in him? Hear, and tremble at the warning given you by an inspired Apostle : " If, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome (a case that too frequently occurs), the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them*." And is there one in such an unhappy state as this?
" Jude ver. 24. '^ Heb. vii. 25. >' Isai. xl. 11.
^ Jer. ii. 31. => 2 Pet. ii. 20, 21.