How long shall it be ere you begin to seek these blessed attainments ? Will you wait till old age, and give to God only the dregs of your life ? Or will you put off this necessary work to a dying hour ? Believe me, that is by no means a fit season for so important a work as this : and who can tell whether time for it shall be allowed you then, or grace be given you for the execution of it ? The attainment is difficult in proportion as it is delayed : and what bitter regret will you feel to all eter- nity, if the season afforded you for the attainment of this blessing pass away unimproved, and you be called with all your sins upon you into the eternal world ! I would address you all in the very spirit of my text, and say to every one among you, " Seek the Lord whilst he may be found: call upon him whilst he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and unto our God, for he will abundantly pardon"1."]
Address —
1. Those who think this blessing unattainable —
[Were this innocency really unattainable, God would never have so pathetically expressed his concern respecting it. But perhaps you think that the infirmities which of necessity cleave to our fallen nature are inconsistent with it. This however is by no means the case. If the heart be upright before God, then shall we be accepted of him in Christ Jesus, and " be presented before him faultless with exceeding joy."]
2. Those who desire to attain it —
[Be sure you seek it in the appointed way. Seek not forgiveness only, nor renovation only, nor holiness only; but seek them all in their proper order, and in harmonious opera- tion. First, your sins must be blotted out through faith in the Redeemer's blood : next, must your soul be renewed after the Divine image by the power of the Holy Ghost : and lastly, must these blessings manifest themselves in holiness of heart and life. No one of these can be spared. And though we have placed them in the order in which they must be sought, yet will they all be vouchsafed to every one, who believes in Christ : His sins will all be cast into the depths of the sea, and the moral change also be begun, which shall issue in evei'lasting happiness and glory.]
3. Those who through mercy have attained it —
[Is it true that any one in this life is authorized to con- ceive of himself as " innocent" before God? Yes surely ; else our Saviour would never have declared his own Apostles
m Isai. lv. 6, 7. H 2