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HOPE. There were several things brought it upon

me, especially such sayings as these: "All

our righteousnesses are as filthy rags ;"

66

NOT

REFORMATION AT
LAST COULD
HELP, AND WHY.

By the works of the law no man shall be justified;""When ye have done all these things, unprofitable:" with many more such like.

say, We are From whence

I began to reason with myself thus: If all my righteousnesses are as filthy rags; if by the deeds of the law no man can be justified; and if, when we have done all, we are yet unprofitable, then 'tis but a folly to think of heaven by the law. I farther thought thus: If a man runs a hundred pounds into the shopkeeper's debt, and after that shall pay for all that he shall fetch; yet, if his old debt stands still in the book uncrossed, the shopkeeper may sue him for it, and cast him into prison till he shall pay the debt.

HIS BEING A DEBTOR
TO THE LAW TROU-

BLED HIM.

CHR. Well, and how did you apply this to yourself?

HOPE. Why, I thought thus with myself: I have by my sins run a great way into God's book, and that my now reforming will not pay off that score; therefore I should think still, under all my present amendments, But how shall I be freed from that damnation that I brought myself in danger of by my former transgressions?

CHR. A very good application: but pray go on. HOPE. Another thing that hath troubled me ever since my late amendments, is, that if I look narrowly into the best of what I do

HIS ESPYING BAD THINGS IN HIS BEST, TROUBLED HIM.

now, I still see sin, new sin, mixing itself with the best of that I do so that now I am forced to conclude, that, notwithstanding my former fond conceits of myself and

b Isa. lxiv. 6. Gal. ii. 16. Luke xvii. 10

duties, I have committed sin enough in one day to send me to hell, though my former life had been faultless.* CHR. And what did you do then?

HOPE. DO! I could not tell what to do, until I broke my mind to Faithful; for he and I were well acquainted: and he told me, that unless I could obtain

THIS MADE HIM

BREAK HIS MIND TO

FAITHFUL, WHO TOLD

HIM THE WAY TO BE
SAVED.

the righteousness of a man that never had sinned, neither mine own, nor all the

righteousness of the world, could save me.† CHR. And did you think he spake true?

HOPE. Had he told me so when I was pleased and satisfied with mine own amendments, I had called him fool for his pains; but now, since I see mine own infirmity, and the sin which cleaves to my best performance, I have been forced to be of his opinion.

CHR. But did you think, when at first he suggested it to you, that there was such a man to be found, of

*Thus you see, in conversion, the Lord does not act upon us by force and compulsion, as though we were inanimate stocks or stones, or irrational animals, or mere machines. No. We have understanding: He enlightens it. Then we come to a sound mind; we think right, and reason justly. We have wills: what the understanding judges best, the will approves, and then the affections follow after; and thus we chuse Christ for our Saviour, and glory only in his righteousness and salvation. When the heavenly light of truth makes manifest what we are, and the danger we are in, then we rationally fly from the wrath to come, to Christ the refuge set before us.

+ Here is the touchstone to try whether conviction and conversion are from the Spirit of truth, or not. Many talk of conviction and conversion-work, who are yet whole in heart, and strong in confidence of a righteousness of their own, or of being made righteous in themselves, instead of looking solely to, and trusting wholly in, the infinitely perfect and everlastingly glorious righteousness of the God-man Christ Jesus, and desiring to be clothed with that, and found in him. All conviction and conversion, short of this, leaves the soul short of Christ's righteousness, of hope, and of heaven.

whom it might justly be said, that he never committed sin ?

AT WHICH HE STARTED AT PRE

HOPE. I must confess the words at first sounded strangely; but, after a little more talk and company with him, I had full conviction SENT. about it.

CHR. And did you ask him what man this was, and how you must be justified by him ?c

HOPE. Yes, and he told me it was the Lord Jesus, that dwelleth on the right hand of the Most High and thus, said he, you must

A MORE PARTICULAR DISCOURSE OF THE WAY TO BE SAVED.

be justified by him, even by trusting to what he hath done by himself in the days of his flesh, and suffered when he did hang on the tree. I asked him, further, how that man's righteousness could be of that efficacy, to justify another before God? And he told me he was the mighty God, and did what he did, and died the death also, not for himself, but for me, to whom his doings, and the worthiness of them, should be imputed, if I believed on him.

CHR. And what did you do then?

HOPE. I made my objections against my believing, for that I thought he was not willing to

save me.

d

HE DOUBTS OF ACCEPTATION.

Then I said,

HE IS BETTER INSTRUCTED.

CHR. And what said Faithful to you then? HOPE. He bid me go to him, and see. it was presumption. He said, No, for I was invited to come. Then he gave me a book of Jesus's inditing, to encourage me the more freely to come and he said, concerning that book, that every jot and tittle thereof stood firmer than heaven and earth. Then I asked him, what I must do when I came? And he told me, I must entreat upon my

e Rom. iv. Col. i. Heb. x. 2 Pet. i.

d Matt. xi. 28. e Matt. xxiv. 35.

f

HE IS BID TO PRAY.

knees, with all my heart and soul, the Father to reveal him to me. Then I asked him further, how I must make my supplications to him? And he said, Go, and thou shalt find him upon a mercy-seat, where he sits all the year long, to give pardon and forgiveness to them that come. I told him, that I knew not what to say when I came. And he bid me say to this effect-" God be merciful to me a sinner," and "make me to know and believe in Jesus Christ; for I see, that if his righteousness had not been, or I have not faith in that righteousness, I am utterly cast away.* Lord, I have heard that thou art a merciful God, and hast ordained that thy Son Jesus Christ should be the Saviour of the world: and, moreover, that thou art willing to bestow him upon such a poor sinner as I am, (and I am a sinner indeed: Lord, take therefore this opportunity, and magnify thy grace in the salvation of my soul, through thy Son Jesus Christ. Amen."

CHR. And did you do as you were bidden?

HE PRAYS.

HOPE. Yes, over, and over, and over.

CHR. And did the Father reveal the Son to you? HOPE. Not at the first, nor second, nor third, nor fourth, nor fifth, no, nor at the sixth time neither.† CHR. What did you do then?

f Psalm xcv. 6. Jer. xxix. 12, 13. Dan. xi. 10. g Exod. xxv. 22. Lev. xv. 2. Heb. iv. 16. * Pray mind this. The grand object of a sensible sinner, is righteousness. He has it not in himself: this he knows. Where is it to be found? In Christ only. This is a revealed truth; and without faith in this, every sinner must be lost. Consider, it is at the peril of your souls that you reject the righteousness of Christ, and do not believe that God imputes it without works for the justification of the ungodly. O ye stout-hearted, self-righteous sinners, ye are far from righteousness! Know this, and tremble.

There may be, and often are, very great discouragements found in the sinner's heart, when he first begins to seek the Lord. But he has Christ's faithful word of promise, "Seek, and ye shall find," &c.

HOPE. What! why, I could not tell what to do. CHR. Had you not thoughts of leaving off praying?

HOPE. Yes, and a hundred times twice

told.

HE THOUGHT TO LEAVE OFF PRAYING.

CHR. And what was the reason you did not?

HE DURST NOT LEAVE OFF PRAYING, AND WHY.

HOPE. I believed that it was true which had been told me, to wit, that without the righteousness of this Christ, all the world could not save me: and therefore, thought I with myself, If I leave off, I die, and I can but die at the throne of grace. And withal this came into my mind, "If it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, and will not tarry.' So I continued praying, until the Father showed me his Son.*

CHR. And how was he revealed unto you ?

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CHRIST IS REVEALED TO HIM, AND HOW.

HOPE. I did not see him with my bodily eyes, but with the eyes of mine understanding ; and thus it was: One day I was very sad, I think sadder than at any one time in my life; and this sadness was through a fresh sight of the greatness and vileness of my sins. And as I was then looking for nothing but hell, and the everlasting damnation of my soul, suddenly, as I thought, I saw the Lord Jesus. look down from heaven upon me, and saying, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

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Luke xi. 9. "The vision is for an appointed time; it shall come: though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, and will not tarry," Hab. ii. 3.

* The true nature of faith is, to believe and rest upon the word of truth, and wait for the promised comfort. That faith which is the gift of God, leads the soul to wait upon and cry to God, and not to rest till it has some blessed testimony, from God, of interest in the love and favour of God in Christ Jesus. But oh how many professors rest short of this!

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