What man most sets his heart upon, and
what his desires are most after, he ofttimes most fears he shall not
obtain. So, the ruler of the synagogue had a great desire that his
daughter should live, and that desire was attended with fear that
she would not. Therefore Christ saith unto him, "Be not afraid."
Now thou fearest the sins of thy youth, the sins of thine old age,
the sins of thy calling, the sins of thy Christian duties, the sins
of thine heart, or something; thou thinkest something or other will
alienate the heart and affections of Jesus Christ from thee.
But be content. A little more knowledge of him will make thee take
better heart; thy earnest desires shall not be attended with such
burning fears; thou shalt hereafter say, "This is my infirmity."
3. Thy fear that Christ will not receive thee, may arise from a
sense of THY OWN UNWORTHINESS. Thou seest what a poor, sorry,
wretched, worthless creature thou art; and seeing this, thou fearest
Christ will not receive thee. "Alas," sayst thou, "I am the vilest
of all men, a townsinner, a ringleading sinner. I am not only a
sinner my self, but I have made others twofold worse the children of
hell also. Besides, now I am under some awakenings and stirrings of
mind after salvation, even now I find my heart rebellious, carnal,
hard, treacherous, desperate, prone to unbelief, to despair; it
forgetteth the word, it wandereth, it runneth to the ends of the
earth.
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