How blessed is the condition of the penitent when viewed in this light ! Every thing is secured to him that his 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 God. Now thou knowest, that " the bed was too short for thee to stretch thyself upon, and the covering too narrow for thee to wrap thyself in1." " The pillows are plucked from thy arms ;" and " the untempered mortar with which thou daubedst thy wall, adheres no longerm." 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 cha- racter. You could no more bear the scrutiny of that perfect law, than you could in your days of unregeneracy. 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 humi- liation, so far from being removed, was deepened : and he exclaimed, " Behold, I am vile : I repent therefore, and abhor myself in dust and ashes0." So let your increase both in grace and peace be marked by a proportionable increase in humilia- tion and contrition.]
2. Let your affiance in God be simple and uniform —
[Never for a moment entertain a thought of any worthiness 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. Renounce
1 Isai. xxviii. 20. m Ezek. xiii. 10 — 20.
" Job ix. 20. o Job xl. 4. and xlii. 6.
BB!i
873 l JOHN, II. L,& [2433.
entirely every thing of your own in point of dependence ; and seek to " be found in Christ, not having your own righteous- ness, but the righteousness which is of God through faith in him." And let this abide with you to your latest hour. Let neither a relapse into sin deter you from coming thus to Christ ; nor the most spotless continuance in holiness render such a mode of coming to him unnecessary in your eyes. This is the way in which you may come, however aggravated may have been your guilt; and this is the way in which you must come, however eminent your attainments. It is not possible for you to be too much on your guard against either doubting the sufficiency of Christ to save you, or attempting to unite any thing with him as a joint ground of your hope. To err in either of these respects will be fatal : it will arm both justice and truth against you, and will make void all that the Lord Jesus has done and suffered for you. But rely simply and altogether upon him, and " you shall not be ashamed or con- founded world without end."]