Only this difference we must make
between God and the potentates of this world: God cannot pardon
before the sinner stands before him righteous by the righteousness
of Christ; because he has, in judgment, and justice, and
righteousness, threatened and concluded that he that lacks
righteousness shall die.
TRIALS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS OF THE AWAKENED.
There are two things in special, when men begin to be awakened, that
kill their thoughts of being saved.
1. A sense of sin. 2. The wages due thereto. These kill the heart;
for who can bear up under the guilt of sin? "If our sins he upon us,
and we pine away in them, how can we then live?" How, indeed! it is
impossible. So neither can man grapple with the justice of God. Can
thy heart endure, or thy hands be strong? they cannot. A wounded
spirit, who can bear? Men cannot, angels cannot; wherefore, if now
Christ he hid, and the blessing of faith in his blood denied, woe be
to them: such go after Saul and Judas, one to the sword and the
other to the halter, and so miserably end their days. For come to
God they dare not; the thoughts of that eternal Majesty strike them
through.
But now present such poor dejected sinners with a crucified Christ,
and persuade them that the sins under which they shake and tremble
were long ago laid upon the back of Christ, and the noise and sense
and fear of damning begins to cease, depart, and fly away: dolors
and terrors fade and vanish, and that soul conceiveth hopes of life;
for thus the soul argueth: "Is this indeed the truth of God, that
Christ was made to be sin to me--was made the curse of God for me?
Hath he indeed borne all my sins, and spilt his blood for my
redemption? O blessed tidings, O welcome grace! Bless the Lord, O my
soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
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