[Why did the Lord Jesus Christ die under the load of all your guilt? Was it that you might continue in your sins?
Why did the Holy Spirit undertake to renew and
sanctify your souls ; and why has he begun a work of grace in your hearts? Was it that you might " return again with the dog to his vomit, and the sow that was washed to a wallowing in the mire?" Let then the Lord Jesus Christ
behold in you the fruits of his love and let the Holy
Spirit rejoice in beholding in you the efficacy of his grace
Then it will be no formidable thing to " fall into the
hands of the living God :" on the contrary, you may then with joyful hope look forward to the time of your departure, and, after the example of that Saviour in whom you have believed, you may say in your dying hour, " Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit."]
Heb. X. 32. Call to remembrance the former days.
TO take a retrospect of our past lives, is the duty of every child of man. Without a frequent revision of the past, no man can repent, no man believe, no man be saved. We must be sensible of our guilt and helplessness, before we can ever come aright to Christ for mercy and grace ; and such a conscious- ness of our need of him can proceed from nothing but self-knowledge, the fruit of much self-examina- tion and of a diligent inquiry into our own state. But it is not in this general view that we are now to consider the subject before us. The words were addressed to those who "had been illuminated" with Divine truth, and had " endured a great fight of afflictions" in the service of their Divine Master. It is to such therefore that we propose chiefly, if not exclusively, to limit our attention, whilst we notice the exhortation,
\. As given to the Jewish converts —
They were subjected to cruel persecutions through- out the world : and they were in danger of yielding to intimidation, and of making shipwreck of their faith.