Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

consciousness of the power of disease, all application must be in vain. But the Redeemer could not have meant that none stand in need of a physician but such as are fully sensible of their state. His expression was a reproof to the querulous Pharisees, who considered themselves whole, and the Publicans and sinners sick. And this the Saviour seems to have admitted for the sake of argument, while he rendered it a reason for his associating with those of disreputable name. But, surely, he did not mean to intimate that all these degraded men had a just sense of their guilt, and that it was expedient, for this reason, that he should associate with them.

Apply to this subject a passage from the prophet Isaiah, which plainly refers to the invitations of sovereign grace through the future Messiah: "Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat; yea come buy wine and milk without money, and without price." The thirst referred to in this case was certainly not for spiritual blessings. It was for earthly happiness only. It was the panting of an immortal soul for pleasure. And it was indicated

* Isaiah lv. 1.

*

by toil and expense to purchase enjoyment which our smitten earth has not to give. The remonstrance which follows this passage tells us as much: "Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not?" There is no necessary connection between such a desire as this, and that hungering for righteousness of which the Saviour spoke in his sermon on the mount. And the same may be said of his address on the last day of the feast.

The degree of the conviction of sin, then, has nothing to do with the offer of salvation. This is put into the hands of all. And it is intended to meet the necessities of every inquirer after happiness.

You are to look to the gospel, my dear sir, for that peace which your soul desires; and not to your particular mental impressions. And you see the reasonableness of this, in the fact that the man who is under the most powerful evangelical convictions, is the last to consider them acceptable on their own account. Let your convictions then be what they may, they are never to afford you satisfaction in themselves.

Adieu! remember that, "by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of your

selves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest

any man should boast."

I am yours, &c.

LETTER V.

Complaint of irresolution-Nature of unstable resolutionsPeculiarity of situation-The folly of speculating on the expected change-Vain fancies-" God will not pardon me""I do not see how the promises can be fulfilled in myself”— The sufficiency of pardon-Advice.

MY DEAR SIR,

WHEN I adverted in my third letter, to that buoyancy of feeling which is so frequently a subject of complaint with certain inquirers, and which so often leads to desperate renunciation of the whole pursuit, I did not mean to confound this complaint with that of any other sense of irresolution: for there are certainly many who mourn with bitterness of heart, over the changes of an irresolute and wavering mind, and yet who have no characteristic levity of disposition. Irresolution is the lament of many a Christian. And the very language in which you have expressed your feelings may be the utterings of a soul

whose supreme affections are given to God: but it may likewise be adopted by one who is influenced by a temporary earnestness, and never comes to a favourable decision. You tell me―" there are times when the object of my salvation assumes an overwhelming importance; when every thought is engrossed by it, and when it would seem impossible to divert my attention from the reflections it occasions and yet, the next hour, insensibility succeeds, and I cannot recall a single idea, as it was. There is a fluctuating operation of the mind which seems peculiar to the subject. In the event of ordinary affliction, I have noted a sense of my loss to vary; but even when it was least intense, and when my faculties were abstracted in some degree by other things, I was conscious of an oppressive weight on my heart. But here, on the contrary, I discover a vacillation for which I cannot account-a rapid transition from interest to stupidity."

There is nothing extraordinary in all this, although the subject of such experience is apt to attribute much mystery to it; to imagine a powerful supernatural agency employed against him; or, to suspect that either his na tural peculiarities shut him out from the hope into which others enter, or that God, from

some unrevealed cause will not pardon him; or else, that he must, in some fatal moment, have committed the unpardonable sin: and such suspicions, you tell me, have often covered your prospects with darkness.

I confess that where this difficulty exists, if it do not lead to the suspicions you have noted, it may very easily end in some other conclusion of despair. And there are some minds, which, from habit or constitution, must necessarily encounter it: minds which take their present tone from their last associates; retain an impression from the last object of attention, to give way to the next: never uniform in their character for the space of a day. In such a case, we should look for this complaint. And important as retirement is, in all instances of religious inquiry, we should here, particularly, urge a seclusion from any objects, or occupations, which are not within the sphere of the most indispensable duty; and an unremitted confinement of attention to the great matter of salvation. And the advice would not be different from this, which we should be disposed to give, where irresolution arises from the slightness of the impression made on the mind.

In either case, the consciousness of irresolution is painful, and often discouraging in the

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »