Evening, June 14
Go To Morning Reading
“O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face ... because we have sinned
against thee.”
Daniel 9:8
A deep sense and clear sight of sin, its heinousness, and the punishment
which it deserves, should make us lie low before the throne. We have
sinned as Christians. Alas! that it should be so. Favoured as we have
been, we have yet been ungrateful: privileged beyond most, we have
not brought forth fruit in proportion. Who is there, although he may
long have been engaged in the Christian warfare, that will not blush
when he looks back upon the past? As for our days before we were regenerated,
may they be forgiven and forgotten; but since then, though we have
not sinned as before, yet we have sinned against light and against
love—light which has really penetrated our minds, and love in which we
have rejoiced. Oh, the atrocity of the sin of a pardoned soul! An
unpardoned sinner sins cheaply compared with the sin of one of God’s own elect ones, who has had communion with Christ and leaned his
head upon Jesus’ bosom. Look at David! Many will talk of his sin, but I pray you look
at his repentance, and hear his broken bones, as each one of them
moans out its dolorous confession! Mark his tears, as they fall upon
the ground, and the deep sighs with which he accompanies the softened
music of his harp! We have erred: let us, therefore, seek the spirit
of penitence. Look, again, at Peter! We speak much of Peter’s denying his Master. Remember, it is written, “He wept bitterly.” Have we no denials of our Lord to be lamented with tears? Alas! these sins
of ours, before and after conversion, would consign us to the place
of inextinguishable fire if it were not for the sovereign mercy which
has made us to differ, snatching us like brands from the burning.
My soul, bow down under a sense of thy natural sinfulness, and worship
thy God. Admire the grace which saves thee—the mercy which spares thee—the love which pardons thee!