Barnabas affirmed, that "it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken unto them." 99* And if these proud, impenitent, blaspheming and persecuting Jews were invited, entreated, commanded to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; and assured that, on their believing, they should receive the free remission of all their iniquities: then who can be excluded from the calls of the everlasting gospel; or be so low, depraved, and loathsome, as to be beyond the reach of the compassion and kindness of the Almighty Redeemer? Such were the state and character of the people among whom the Apostles were sent to exercise their ministry. They were blind, foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and passions. The success, however, of the benevolent labours of these heralds of mercy was great. Though the Jews at Antioch rejected their message; multitudes were pierced to the heart; subdued to the obedience of the faith; proselyted to the holiness, and blessed with the happiness of the Gospel. And if they were not too depraved and hardened to become the subjects of saving mercy, are you too abominable and filthy to experience the pardoning and sanctifying efficacy of Immanuel's blood? By nature all are guilty before God. There is not a saint now in heaven, but who by birth was a child of disobedience and wrath; and up to the moment of his justification, was under sentence of condemnation, and exposed to all the horrors of everlasting misery. The salvation, therefore, of every individual, however sober and moral, is an act of divine mercy, and may be justly regarded as an illustration of the freeness of grace, and of the ability of Jesus to save. There are cases, however, in which he travels out of his ordinary course, and appears to select men conspicuous for their criminality, on purpose to give lustre to the riches of his compassion, and shew what a God of boundless generosity and almighty power can perform. Such were the Corinthians. "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not *Acts xiii. 38-46. deceived: neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: : but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."* Such too were the Ephesians.† And such too was the great Apostle of the Gentiles. He was a persecutor, a blasphemer, and injurious: howbeit for this cause he obtained mercy, that in him, the chief of sinners, Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.‡ It is scarcely possible to conceive a greater excess of riot than that to which some of these men ran, nor a greater degree of heaven-daring wickedness than that with which they were chargeable: and yet they were pardoned, reconciled, and saved. And after this, can you doubt that there is mercy with God, and that with him there is plenteous redemption? Did they obtain salvation with eternal glory? and can you fear that your application shall be rejected; and that, though you return to the Lord, he will refuse to accept your surrender? Dreadful as your state and character may be, can you find no parallel to them in the former manifestations of saving mercy? Have you opposed the truth, and reviled the characters of the faithful? Paul persecuted the church of God, and wasted it. Have you lived long in iniquity, and by your influence and example imboldened others in vice! Manasseh had grown hoary in the ways of wickedness, had taught Judah to transgress, and filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. Have you sinned against light and conscience, and after making a profession of the truth? David and Peter had long walked in the good ways of the Lord, when they fell by their iniquity. And notwithstanding the enormity of their offences, were these all washed from their pollutions, and saved in the Lord with an ever* 1 Cor. vi. 9-11. + Eph. ii. 1-7. 1 Tim. i. 13-16. lasting salvation? and are your trespasses too foul to be blotted out, and your guilt too great to be forgiven? Even supposing that your case surpasses in atrocity every precedent; that, though the hearts of others have been hard, and their conduct detestable; your heart has been still more stubborn and refractory, and your conduct still more dreadfully and outrageously wicked: remember there never has, and there never will, a single soul sink into perdition from a defect in the power and grace of the Redeemer. His power is almighty, and his blood cleanseth from all sin. Many a dreadful desperate case has been put into his hands: but never one of them has failed. And though his mercy and his might have been exerted far, they have not reached their utmost limits. Bring then your matchless, indescribable case to this Almighty Saviour, and he will surpass all the former exercises of his generosity and power. Seize the opportunity, which it affords you, of doing the highest honour to the riches of his grace, and of enabling you through eternity to be loudest in the song of grateful adoring praise. Go to him, and you will find that this indeed is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, "that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and"-will he spurn him from his presence? make him a monument of his holy indignation against iniquity, and render him as miserable as he has been sinful?-"let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." But amidst all the abundant and endearing encouragement to return to God; remember the necessity of coming to the Saviour, of believing on him, and of trusting in him. He can save to the utmost: but they that are far from him shall perish. The munificence of the most liberal benefactor can do us no service, unless we accept his bounty. And unless we embrace it, all the salvation that is in Christ will not impart the smallest advantage to our soul. Religion is a personal thing, which every individual must possess for himself, before he can derive the slightest benefit from the blessings which it contains. The most valuable medicine can relieve none but those who employ it. It does not attack contagion in the abstract; nor extirpate the maladies for which it is a specific by encountering them in the atmosphere, eradicating them in the regions where they are engendered, and thus annihilating them all over the globe. And though Jesus has finished transgression, and made an end of sin; it is not by extinguishing its existence, nor expelling it from the universe, but by removing it from the conscience of individual believers, and by cancelling before God the guilt of those who personally embrace him. Take care then, amidst your doubts and your fears, lest Satan gain an advantage over you; lest he and your own deceitful hearts lead you to reject the righteousness of Christ, under the plausible but ruinous expectation, that by length of time, and a more sedulous application to the task of moral duties and religious observances, you may hereafter become more fit objects of mercy, and more wor→ thy recipients of the favor of God. None ever was, and none ever will be accepted in the Beloved, but in the character of a sinner. The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost; not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. It is as a sinner that you must apply; for you never can have redemption but through his blood. Salvation is the gift of God. Though you should wait till the blast of the last trumpet, it would be as a gift that even then you could receive it: and as a gift you are welcome to it now. CHAPTER III. ON DISTRESS ARISING FROM THE FEAR OF HAVING COMMITTED THE SIN AGAINST Whose hope, still hov'ring round thy word, NOTHING affords a more amiable and decisive evidence of a genuine Christian, than tenderness of conscience, and a habitual fear, and an unchanging abhorrence of all evil. Whilst sinners boldly adventure upon the most flagrant offences, give themselves no uneasiness about the most foul and horrid enormities, and even glory in their shame; a real Christian trembles at every appearance of the abominable thing which Jehovah hates; dreads the smallest approach to evil; and, if ever he is actually overtaken with iniquity, is covered with shame and filled with terror lest his guilt, however comparatively slight, should prove too great to be forgiven. This is the black brand fixed by the hand of the Eternal upon one of the sins of the sons of men. The same Scriptures which every where, in language the most distinct and impressive, proclaim the irresistible power of the Redeemer, and the inexhaustible efficacy of his blood; the same Scriptures which expatiate upon the riches of his grace, and the fulness and freeness of his salvation; plainly and forcibly tell us, that there is one sin for which no blood has been shed, and for which no pardon has been provided; a sin which excludes the perpetrator from hope, |