necessities require ! and every thing confirmed to him by the very justice and faithfulness of Jehovah! Wipe away thy tears, thou weeping penitent ^ and " put off thy sackcloth, and gird thee with gladness :" for God has here " given thee the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."]
Attend however to a few words of parting advice — 1 . Let your humiliation be deep and abiding —
[It can never be too deep : there is no measure of self- lothing or self-abhorrence that can exceed what the occasion calls for. Thou mayest heretofore have thought thyself so pure, that " thou hadst no sin " which could subject thee to the wrath of Ood, Now thou knowest that " the bed was too short for you to stretch yourself upon, and the covering too narrow for you to wrap yourself in '." " The pillows are plucked from your arms ;" and " the untempered mortar with which you daubed your wall adheres no longer""." You have now learned to estimate your character by another standard. You see now your defects. You compare your obedience, not with the mere letter, but with the spirit, of the law : and from this view of your past life you know your just desert, and are convinced that the very best action, word, or thought of your whole life, if tried by the standard of God's holy law, would plunge you into merited and everlasting perdition. And so it is at this very moment, notwithstanding your change of character. You could no more bear the scrutiny of that perfect law, than you could in your days of unre- generacy. Let this thought never be forgotten; let it abide with you day and night. Job, before that God had appeared unto him, said, " If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me°:" and after he had beheld God in his majesty and glory, his humiliation, so far from being removed, was deepened : and he exclaimed, *' Behold, I am vile : I repent therefore, and abhor myself in dust and ashes"." So let your increase both in grace and peace be marked by a proportion- able increase in humiliation and contrition.]
2. Let your affiance in God be simple and uniform —
{Never for a moment entertain a thought of any worthi- ness in yourself, or suffer any thing to be blended with your faith in Christ. Rely on him as entirely as if your whole life had been a scene of the most enormous wickedness. Re- nounce entirely every thing of your own in point of depen- dence ; and seek to " be found in Christ, not having your own righteousness, but the righteousness which is of God through
faith
' Isai. xxviii. 20. " Ezek. xiii. 10 — 20.
. "Jobix.20. ° Jobxl.4. & xlii. 6.