3. The blessedness of an interest in Christ —
[Whatever " hand-writing there is against us " in the Scriptures of truth, Christ has " blotted it out, and taken it out of the way, nailing it, as a cancelled bond, unto his cross f." Search the sacred volume from one end to the other, and not one word will be found menacing to a believing penitent. The very moment we believe in Christ, all our iniquities, of what- ever kind, are blotted out as a morning cloud, and shall never more be remembered against us. Is there then any one amongst us that " trembles at God's word ? " let him know, that the more he trembles, the less reason he has to tremble ; since God looks upon him with complacency £, and engages " in no wise to cast him out." Suppose that such an one beheld at this moment written on the wall before him, " Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin ;" and that we were autho- rized to expound it to him, " Thy days are numbered ; thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting ; and all that thou hast shall now be divided by thy surviving relatives, thy soul being summoned into the presence of its God ;" even were this so, he need not fear, because Christ, being appre- hended by faith, shall be put into the scale, and make it pre- ponderate in his favour. We do not mean by this, that Christ and his merits are to be added to something of our own ; (for He alone must be put into the scale against our sins ;) but this we mean ; that if there were the sins of the whole world lying on the soul of a single individual, the blood of Christ, applied by faith, should cleanse him from it, and the right- eousness of Christ be a sufficient plea for his acceptance with God. Seek then, Beloved, to be united unto Christ by faith; and then, instead of trembling at his approach, you shall " rejoice before him at his coming."]
f Col. ii. 14. e Isai. lxvi. 2.