is an evidence of grace: no one can doubt that, unless he sup- poses, that he can repent without the grace of God : but a man must be ignorant indeed to frame any such conception as that: if we believe any thing of the Scriptures, or know any thing of our own hearts, we must know, that "Christ is ascended up on high, to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sins;" and that we must acknowledge our repen- tance, as well as " every other good and perfect gift, to be from above, even from the Father of lights, with whom is no vari- ableness nor shadow of turning." It being therefore past a doubt that repentance is an evidence of grace, let us prove next, that Grace given, warrants us to expect more grace. The Scriptures plainly assert this ; for, on what ground was Paul so confident that God would carry on the good work in the hearts of his Philippian converts, and perform it until the day of Christ? On this ground, namely, "that he had begun a good work in them : " so that, to say the least, grace bestowed is a ground of encouragement whereon we may hope to obtain more grace.
The clear indisputable conclusion from hence is, that if any man has grace to repent, he may take encouragement from it to hope that God will give him more grace : if he has so good an evidence that God's anger is already turned away from him, he has good reason to hope, that God will do more for him, that he will heal his backslidings, and love him freely.
By way of confirming this blessed truth, we will refer you to those memorable words of David3; where you will see, that he draws the very same conclusion from the very same premises ; and that too in such a way as evidently supposes his argument to be incontrovertible: "Thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt thou not deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living?"]
Let us now conclude, with an inference or two from what has been said :
1 . What astonishing consolation is here for all that desire to turn unto God !
[A person may, from a discovery of his sins, be led to say, " There is no hope :" more especially those who have once " tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come," if they have lost their good impressions, and turned back to the world, are tempted to despair : Satan would suggest to them, that, because they have sinned against light and know- ledge, they have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost. But observe what care God takes to dispel our fears, and to
a Ps. lvi. 13.