33 Ito embrace the gospel, and to devote himto the service of the Redeemer, induced him ing more closely to the cross of that Redeemer, to build his hopes of acceptance at the last, at same foundation, on which he had a ljured ous converts to build. The crown which assured that the Lord, the righteous would place upon his head, he viewed meritorious recompence of a blameas the purchase of that Saviour, by s blood he had been redeemed, to he had been separated, and the apostles he regarded himself, beay by an infuriated zeal, he had threatenings and slaughters and fe church. The confidence which the should at the last see his * joy, rested solely on the cone possessed that he had found through the blood of the condemned him in many t condemn him in this, that the free and full salvation the testimony of his conJesus as a Saviour, and * and joy in believing.” od works, for in such en while there was a law against the law of his mind, he referred to his union with the Saviour: his perseverance and constancy he attributed to the power of that Saviour who had declared, "My grace is sufficient for thee." This is obvious, from the whole tenor of his writings, and entirely militates against the notion that he ever laid claim to heaven's blessedness as the reward of perfect obedience, or ever would have us to suppose, that the review of his past life did not humble him before God, and fill him with deep remorse, for his enmity against the Lord of glory. It is a right view of the gospel plan of salvation, and a well-grounded hope that its offers of pardoning mercy have been accepted, which can alone speak peace to the troubled conscience. Substantial, enduring, unalloyed peace of mind, is to be found by that man alone, in whose heart the peace of God is shed abroad by the Holy Ghost; and he who seeks for comfort from any other source, save the pardoning mercy of the Lord Jesus, will find that he has been "forsaking the fountain of living waters, and hewing out for himself cisterns, broken cisterns which can hold no water"-that he has been seeking to heal his soul's hurt by saying, Peace, whilst peace is not to be found. Does conscience then accuse us of having openly transgressed the law of God, or "does an evil heart condemn us, though Providence should prevent its running forth into an evil life? for sin is sin, whether it rests in the inclination, or shoots out into practice ;" and as a consequence of this conviction of sinfulness are we filled with alarm and dismay; and like the multitudes, who were pricked in their hearts at the preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost, is our exclamation, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" The Bible alone can solve the question, the Bible alone can tell us how we are to be delivered from the guilt and power of sin; the Bible alone can direct us to that blood of sprinkling, "which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel," by which the conscience can be purified, and the mind released from anxiety and fear; and through the meritorious efficacy of which, God is enabled to do that which the law could not do, "condemn sin, and yet spare the person of the sinner." of the sinner." It is no token for good indeed, when the conscience is not alarmed; and the terrors of the Lord denounced against the unbelieving and impenitent affect us not; unless Christ has been received as a Saviour, and there is an implicit reliance on the efficacy of his atoning blood; for there is a peace of mind, which results, not from a sense of God's pardoning mercy, but from inadequate * South. views of sin's exceeding sinfulness, which proceeds from a blindness to our actual condition as transgressors of the divine law, or from resting our hopes of salvation on a wrong foundation; and it is quite possible for a man to be perfectly satisfied with his spiritual state, even while it is a state of the most imminent danger, and to conceive that he is treading the narrow, whilst in fact he is treading the broad path, and to suppose that his views of divine truth are correct, while in fact they are most erroneous and unscriptural. Peace of conscience, we have said, is often the result of inadequate views of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. We are prone to palliate what God will not palliate; and to regard as trivial the very sins which may rise up for our condemnation at the last great day. Sceptics have delighted to expatiate on the absurdity of the supposition that a God of justice and mercy would condemn the first pair for eating a piece of fruit, and have spared no ridicule to throw discredit on the Mosaic account of the fall of man. The guilt of our first parents, however, we must recollect, consisted in disobedience to God's command. Whatever that command was, it ought to have been obeyed, for we are not to sit in judgment on the equity of God's requirements; and trivial as many of our transgressions may be in |