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come near and enter into it. O that, in thine infinite wisdom and love, thou wouldst find out a way to interpose, and save this sinner from death, from eternal death! O that, if it be thy blessed will, thou wouldst immediately do it! thou knowest, O God, he is a dying creature! thou knowest that if any thing be done for him, it must be done quickly! thou seest, in the book of thy wise and gracious decrees, a moment marked, which must seal him up in an unchangeable state! O that thou wouldst lay hold on him, while he is yet 'joined to the living, and hath hope!' Eccles. ix. 4. Thy immutable laws, in the dispensation of grace, forbid that a soul should be converted and renewed after its entrance into the invisible world: O let thy sacred Spirit work while he is yet as it were within the sphere of its operations! Work, O God, by whatever method thou pleasest; only have mercy upon him! O Lord! have mercy upon him, that he sink not into these depths of damnation and ruin, on the very brink of which he so evidently appears! O that thou wouldst bring him, if that be necessary, and seem to thee most expedient, into any depths of calamity and distress! O that, with Manasseh, he may be taken in the thorns, and laden with the fetters of affliction,' if that may but cause him to 'seek the God of his fathers.' 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11, 12.

"But I prescribe not to thine infinite wisdom. Thou hast displayed thy power in glorious and astonishing instances; which I thank thee that I have so circumstantially known, and by the knowledge of them have been fortified against the rash confidence of those, who weakly and arrogantly pronounce that to be impossible, which is actually done. Thou hast, I know, done that, by a single thought in retirement, when the happy man reclaimed by it hath been far from means, and far from ordinances, which neither the most awful admonitions, nor the most tender entreaties, nor the most terrible afflictions, nor the most wonderful deliverances, had been able to effect.

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Glorify thy name, O Lord, and glorify thy grace, in the method which to thine infinite wisdom shall seem most expedient! Only grant, I beseech thee, with all humble

submission to thy will, that this sinner may be saved! or if not, that the labour of this part of this treatise may not be altogether in vain; but that if some reject it to their aggravated ruin, others may hearken and live! That those thy servants, who have laboured for their deliverance and happiness, may view them in the regions of glory, as the spoils which thou hast honoured them as the instruments of recovering; and may join with them in the hallelujahs of heaven, to him who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us,' of condemned rebels, and accursed, polluted sinners, 'kings and priests unto God; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever!' Rev. i. 5, 6. Amen."

CHAPTER XII.

AN ADDRESS TO A SOUL SO OVERWHELMED WITH A SENSE OF THE GREATNESS OF ITS SINS, THAT IT DARES NOT APPLY ITSELF TO CHRIST WITH ANY HOPE OF SALVATION.

1-4. The case described at large.-5. As it frequently occurs.-6 Granting all that the dejected soul charges on itself.-7. The invitations and promises of Christ give hope.-8. The reader urged, under all his burdens and fears, to an humble application to him. Which is accordingly exemplified in the concluding Reflection and Prayer.

1. I HAVE now done with those unhappy creatures who despise the Gospel, and with those who neglect it. With pleasure do I now turn myself to those who will hear me with more regard. Among the various cases which now present themselves to my thoughts, and demand my tender, affectionate, respectful care, there is none more worthy of compassion than that which I have mentioned in the title of this chapter, none which requires a more immediate attempt of relief.

2. It is very possible some afflicted creature may be ready to cry out, "It is enough: aggravate my grief and my distress no more. The sentence you have been so awfully describing, as what shall be passed and executed on the impenitent and unbelieving, is my sentence; and

the terrors of it are my terrors. For mine iniquities have gone up into the heavens,' and my transgressions have reached unto the clouds. Rev. xviii. 5. My case is quite singular. Surely there never was so great a sinner as I. I have received so many mercies, have enjoyed so many advantages, I have heard so many invitations of Gospel grace; and yet my heart has been so hard, and my nature is so exceeding sinful, and the number and aggravating circumstances of my provocations have been such, that I dare not hope. It is enough that God hath supported me thus long; it is enough, that, after so many years of wickedness, I am yet out of hell. Every day's reprieve is a mercy at which I am astonished. I lie down, and wonder that death and damnation have not seized me in my walks the day past. I arise, and wonder that my bed has not been my grave; wonder that my soul is not separated from my flesh, and surrounded with devils and damned spirits.

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3. "I have indeed heard the message of salvation; but, alas! it seems no message of salvation to me. There are happy souls that have hope; and their hope is indeed in Christ and the grace of God manifested in him. But then they feel in their hearts an encouragement to apply to him, whereas I dare not do it. Christ and grace are things in which I fear I have no part, and must expect none. There are exceeding rich and precious promises in the word of God; but they are to me as a sealed book, and are hid from me as to any personal use. I know Christ is able to save: I know he is willing to save some. But that he

should be willing to save me: such a polluted, such a provoking, creature, as God knows, and as conscience knows, I have been, and to this day am; this I know not how to believe; and the utmost that I can do towards believing it, is to acknowledge that it is not absolutely impossible, and that I do not lie down in complete despair; though, alas! I seem upon the borders of it, and expect every day and hour to fall into it."

4. I should not, perhaps, have entered so fully into this case, if I had not seen many in it; and I will add, reader,

for your encouragement, if it be your case, several, who now are in the number of the most established, cheerful, and useful Christians. And I hope divine grace will add you to the rest, if "out of these depths you be enabled to cry unto God;" (Psalm cxxx. 1.) and though, like Jonah, you may seem to be cast out from his presence, yet still, with Jonah, you "look towards his holy temple.' Jonah, ii. 4.

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5. Let it not be imagined, that it is in any neglect of that blessed Spirit, whose office it is to be the great Comforter, that I now attempt to reason you out of this disconsolate frame; for it is as the great source of reason, that he deals with rational creatures; and it is in the use of rational means and considerations, that he may most justly be expected to operate. Give me leave, therefore, to address myself calmly to you, and to ask you, what reason you have for all these passionate complaints and accusations against yourself? What reason have you to suggest that your case is singular, when so many have told you they have felt the same? What reason have you to conclude so hardly against yourself, when the Gospel speaks in such favourable terms? Or, what reason to imagine, that the gracious things it says are not intended for you? You know, indeed, more of the corruptions of your own heart, than you know of the hearts of others; and you make a thousand charitable excuses for their visible failings and infirmities, which you make not for your own. And it may be, some of those whom you admire as eminent saints when compared with you, are on their part humbling themselves in the dust, as unworthy to be numbered among the least of God's people, and wishing themselves like you, in whom they think they see much more good, and much less of evil, than in themselves.

6. But to suppose the worst, what if you were really the vilest sinner that ever lived upon the face of the earth? What if "your iniquities had gone up into the heavens" every day, and "your transgressions had reached unto the clouds," (Rev. xviii. 5.) reached thither with such horrid aggravations, that earth and heaven should have had rea

son to detest you as a monster of impiety? Admitting all this, "is any thing too hard for the Lord ?" Gen. xviii. 14. Are any sins, of which a sinner can repent, of so deep a dye, that the blood of Christ cannot wash them away? Nay, though it would be daring wickedness and monstrous folly, for any "to sin that grace may abound," (Rom. vi. 1.) yet had you indeed raised your account beyond all that divine grace has ever yet pardoned, who should "limit the holy One of Israel?" (Psalm lxxviii. 41.) or who shall pretend to say, that it is impossible that God may, for your very wretchedness, choose you out from others, to make you a monument of mercy, and a trophy of hitherto unparalleled grace? The apostle Paul strongly intimates this to have been the case with regard to himself; and why might not you likewise, if indeed "the chief of sinners,' obtain mercy, that in you, as the chief, Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them who shall hereafter believe?" 1 Tim. i. 15, 16.

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7. Gloomy as your apprehensions are, I would ask you plainly, Do you in your conscience think, that Christ is not able to save you? What! is he not "able to save, even to the uttermost, them that come unto God by him ?" Heb. vii. 25. Yes, you will say, abundantly able to do it; but I dare not imagine that he will do it. And how do you know that he will not? He has helped the very greatest sinners of all that have yet applied themselves to him; and he has made thee offers of grace and salvation in the most engaging and encouraging terms. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink :" (John, vii. 37.) "let him that is a-thirst come; and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." Rev. xxii. 17. "Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ." Matt. xi. 28. And once more,

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"Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.' John, vi. 37. "True," will you say, none that are given him by the Father: could I know I were of that number, I could then apply cheerfully to him." But, dear reader, let me entreat you to look into the text itself, and see whether that limitation be expressly added there. Do you there read,

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