not for a blessing is in it.* Grace is still bound up in the heart, and its repentings are nearly kindling, when under the weight, and burden of sin, the soul is sending forth vehement breathings, after a deliverance from it. And do my Brother, take with you, this further consideration. He who sought you, in your first estate, when you sought not him; will not leave you now, to perish in your present circumstances of evil, when your desires are towards him. Though you have made him to serve with your sins and wearied him with your iniquities, yet remember, what he saith; I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins. † In the very hour, that you have been running from his arms by rebellion, he hath been sending after you renewed instances of his grace. Else, whence those awakenings of his holy Spirit, in your heart; Whence those faintings under sin, and longings after his favor? Oh? it is truly refreshing, under all our lifeless frames, and doubts, and unbelief, to consider; C c * Isaiah 65. 8. † Isaiah 43. 25. der; that amidst the unceasing praises of the redeemed in heaven, Jesus doth not for a moment, remit his attention to the wanderings, and weaknesses, of his exercised family upon earth. He sees your situation. He knows under what you groan. He beholds the power, and malice, of the Enemy. And therefore his grace, and not your strength, becomes the cause of security. Hence David reasons; the wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh to slay him. But the Lord will not leave him in his hand nor condemn him when he is judged. He may fall, but he shall not finally fall away. He may be cast down, but God will not cast him off. For however un acceptable in themselves, they are accepted in Christ. For so the charter of redemption runs. Mercy shall be built up for ever. I have made a covenant with my Chosen. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. But I must restrain these considerations, that Ι may not exceed the usual limits. The illustration of the unextinguishable nature of grace, under this one point of view, in which I have been considering it, and that in the most general of all instances, inasmuch as it must, more or less, suit all cases, of the Lord's exercised exercised family; may by a parity of reasoning, be applied, to every other. For, from hence, true believers may learn, to form proper conclusions, to their own state, and circumstances, whatever these may be, to convince them, that however faintly, they are going on the Christian path, and sorrowing as they go, yet they are still pursuing; and though sowing in tears, they will reap in joy. The promise to this amount is very sweet and encouraging. He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again, rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him. * Make application of this, to any of the va rious situations, by which the true believer in Jesus, is frequently discouraged in his journey, and his heart brought down through heaviness, and you will find under every one of them, how effectually the Lord hath provided, for the security of the faithful. Are they faint, from the withdrawings of the Holy Ghost, in his refreshing and strengthening influences? Are they under a distressed state of mind, by reason of bondage frames? Do they feel heart-straitenings, in their seasons of holy Cc 2 holy ordinances? Do they find but little disposition to go to a mercy seat, and sometimes, even less comfort when there? Are they tempted to entertain hard thoughts of God, respecting his providences towards them, and hastily led to draw conclusions therefrom, as if the Lord had forgotten them? In these, and other situations of a like nature, by which unbelief tears and harrows up the soul, the complaints, do altogether refute themselves, and carry with them, in their very bosom, an incontestible evidence, that grace is not only unextinguished, but even in full exercise in the heart. For if the Holy Ghost, had totally withdrawn his influences; whence those earnest desires for the enjoyment of his presence, which are the effects of his own creating? If the mind was actually shut up, under bondage frames, and heartstraitenings, in seasons of worship; from whence should issue those longings of the soul, by which you mourn after God, when you do not fully enjoy him? Must there not evidently, be grace in the heart, when like the Church of old, you send forth, that sweet breathing: with my soul have I desired thee in the night, yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early. In In a word, conflicts of grace, with corruption, evidently testify, that the warfare still continues. Though faint you are yet pursuing. If the burn ing bush be not consumed, it is because God is in it. If the worm Jacob thresh the mountains; it is because the God of Jacob is his refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Your God, your Jesus, is leading you by this very process, through the most precious exercises of the soul. The furnace may be hot, but the Refiner himself, sits by, to keep the fire duly under. There shall not a particle of the pure gold be lost; it is only the scum which must be taken away. The trials of the faithful are great. But their triumphs are not less sure. I will bring them (saith the same Almighty Promiser) through the fire, and will refine them, as silver is refined, and will try them as Gold is tried. But observe what follows. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, it is my People: And they shall say, the Lord is my God. * Hence therefore, though all the powers of hell, and corruption unite: the Lord Jesus * Zech. 13. 9. must |