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Foolish as does the conduct we have been considering appear, there is scarcely one of the deceitful artifices of Satan, which he so frequently or so successfully employs. Bad men will not read the Bible; it is a gloomy book; it reminds them of their sins. Men, who are conscious of indulging particular wrong habits will habitually shun such portions of Scripture, as they know would condemn them. Others, who are leading sinful lives, will keep carefully out of the way of a clergyman, or of any one, whose very presence would remind them that there is a world to come. They will avoid a Church, as they would a pest-house. I have heard of a man, who could not bear to hear or see a particular clergyman, whose words had powerfully stirred his conscience. From the same sort of bewitchment others will call out against particular preachers; they cannot bear them; they get no comfort, only warnings against sin. Far different was David; he wished to have his sins pointed out, that he might repent of them, and hate them. "Try me, O God," he said, "and examine the ground of my heart; prove me, and examine my thoughts; look

well, if there be any way of wickedness in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. There is perhaps nothing so painful to a clergyman, as the struggles within him, when he visits sick and dying people. He wishes to comfort and console them, if possible; and yet he fears to encourage that desire, which seems so invariably Satan's method to delude, men dreading to look their sins in the face, and hoping to blot them out, if only they can forget them.

And this leads me to another instance of the course of conduct on which we have been dwelling, which I should not wish to omit mentioning. A man is desirous of amending his ways, and living a better life than he has done. He is perhaps moved by a sober conviction, that religion is the highest wisdom, and sin the worst folly; or perhaps fear has moved him to it. Anyhow he wishes to begin afresh and henceforth lead a new life. Now of course all this is very good and encouraging, and gives one hope of something happy being the result. But now Satan steps in, through a deceitful heart and fallen nature, to mar the work. The road, that leads to

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life, is a narrow road, and the gate by which that road is entered is straight. If any man will follow Christ, he must deny himself, and take up his Cross daily. The very first step in a godly life, if it give any hope whatever permanence, must be the broken and contrite heart of a true repentance. But alas! penitence, though blessed are its fruits, is in itself painful and sad; it is like the bitter draught, which the sick must drink down, if he would recover his health and strength. And here a man often shrinks back. "My sins," he will say, "are indeed many, but why need I sorrow for them? why need I go through this painful operation in order that my soul may regain its health? will it not do just as well to forget my sins, and to begin and be good at once? After all, a new life is the best repentance; so I will lead a new life, and not trouble myself about my old sins. If I have fallen, I will get up again, and walk more carefully for the future. But to think of those sad sins,-to remember the past, to be continually confessing the iniquities that are gone by and praying for their forgiveness, is very painful and disagreeable.

I will just think no more about what is gone; I cannot alter it; I will be different for the time to come." Now we may say at once, that such a person would most certainly be unable really to lead a new life, because we cannot do this without the help of God's Spirit, and God will not give His grace unless He pardons us, and He does not pardon us without confession of our faults, and abhorrence of our sins, and sincere remorse. cannot come to God without repentance.

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Repentance," says Archbishop Leighton, "may possibly appear a laborious and unpleasant work to our indolence, and 'to repent' may seem a harsh expression; 'to perish,' however, is still more harsh; but a sinful man has no other choice. The blood of Christ, which was shed upon the Cross is indeed a balsam more precious than all the balm of Gilead and Arabia, and all the ointments of the whole world, but it is solely intended for curing the contrite heart." Such a man then,

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say, who would amend his ways, and yet escape the pain of repentance, is as wise as a sick man would be, who should say, I will leave my bed, and rise, and walk, before he

has endured the remedies and necessities, which alone can recover him, and give him strength, for what he purposes. But what I wish especially now to point out, is the folly of such a course,-a folly much resembling that of king Jehoiakim. My brethren, if we forget our sins, does God forget them? does our hiding them from our remembrance, blot them out of God's book? surely it cannot do this, any more than burning the roll, could avert the Judgment, which it threatened. No, the better way is to look our sins steadily in the face; there they are; God sees them, let us see them ourselves also; let us know our true characters; and then with a certain manliness and bravery of heart, however painful it be, confess our sins, mourn over them, pray for their pardon continually through the precious Death of Christ, lay them at the foot of His Cross, and be content to bear that Cross ourselves. So watching and praying ever without ceasing, and especially against those particular sins of which we have been especially guilty, we shall find those words indeed true," the sacrifice of God is a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise."

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