year, and condemned another, - children of adoption at one time,
have," or " will have," it is " hath." It is his ' own as surely as if he was in heaven, though not so evidently so to his own eyes. Ah! Reader, you must not think forgiveness will be nearer to a believer in the day of judgment than it was in the hour he first believed. His complete salvation from the power of sin is every year nearer and nearer to him, but as to his forgiveness and justification, it is a finished work from the very minute he first commits himself to Christ.
Last, and best of all, it is an everlasting forgiveness. It is not like Shimei's pardon, a pardon that may some time be revoked and taken away. (1 Kings ii. 9.) Once justified, you are justified forever. Once written down in the book of life, your name shall never be blotted out. The sins of God's children are said to be cast into the depths of the sea, - to be sought for and not found, - to be remembered no more, - to be cast behind God's back. (Mic. vii. 19. Jerem. 1. 60, xxxi. 34. Isaiah xxxviii. 17.) Some people fancy they may be justified one year, and condemned another, - children of adoption at one time, and strangers by-and-by, - heirs of the kingdom in the beginning of their days, and yet servants of the devil in their end. I cannot find this in the Bible; - as the New Zealander told the Romish priest, I do not see it in the book. It seems to me to overturn the good news of the Gospel altogether, and to tear up its comforts by the roots. I believe the salvation Jesus offers is an everlasting salvation, and a pardon once sealed with His blood shall never be reversed.
Reader, I have set before you the nature of the forgiveness offered to you. I have told you but a little of it, for my words are weaker than my will. The half of it remains untold. The greatness of it is far more than any report of mine.* But I think I have said enough to show you it is worth the seeking, and I can wish you nothing better than that you may strive to make it your own.
Do you call it nothing to look forward to death without fear, and to judgment without doubtings, and to eternity without a sinking heart? Do you call it nothing to feel the world slipping from your grasp, and to see the grave getting ready for you, and the valley of the shadow of
death opening before your eyes, and yet not be afraid ? Do you call it nothing to be able to think of the great day of account, the throne, the books, the Judge, the assembled worlds, the revealing of secrets, the final sentence, and yet to feel, " I am safe ?" This is the portion, and this the privilege of a forgiven soul.
Such an one is on a rock. When the rain of God's wrath descends, and the floods come, and the winds blow, his feet shall not slide, his habitation shall be sure.
Such an one is in an ark. When the last fiery deluge is sweeping over all things on the surface of the earth, it shall not come nigh him. He shall be caught up and borne securely above it all.
Such an one is in a hiding place. When God arises to judge terribly the earth, and men are calling to rocks and mountains to fall upon them and cover them, the everlasting arms shall be thrown around him, and the storm shall pass over his head. He shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Such an one is in a city of refuge. The accuser of the brethren can lay no charge against him. The law cannot condemn him. There is a wall between him and the avenger of blood. The enemies of his soul cannot hurt him. He is in a secure sanctuary.
Such an one is rich. He has treasure in heaven which cannot be affected by worldly changes, compared to which Peru and California are nothing at all. He need not envy the richest merchants and bankers. He has a portion that will endure when bank-notes and sovereigns are worthless things. He can say like the Spanish ambassador, when shown the treasury at Venice, "My master's treasury has no bottom."* He has Christ.
Such an one is insured. He is ready for anything that may happen. Nothing can harm him. Banks may break, and governments may be overturned. Famine and pestilence may rage around him. Sickness and sorrow may visit his own fireside. But still he is ready, for all, -
ready for health, ready for disease, - ready for tears, ready for joy, - ready for poverty, ready for plenty, - ready for life, ready for death. He has Christ. He is a pardoned soul. " Blessed" indeed " is he whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is covered." Psalm xxxii. 1.)* must have have remained in prison forever, but for undeserved mercy, - wandering sheep who were ready to perish when the Shepherd found them, - and what right then have they to be proud ? I do not deny that there are proud saints. But this I do say, they are of all God's creatures the most inconsistent, - and of all God's children, the most likely to stumble and pierce themselves with many sorrows. Forgiveness more often produces the spirit of Jacob: - " I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant." (Gen. xxxii. 10); and of Hezekiah, "1 shall go softly all my years" (Isaiah xxxviii. 15); and of the apostle Paul, " I am less than the least of all saints, - chief of sinners." (Ephes. iii. 8; - 1 Tim. i. 15.) Reader, when you and I have nothing we can call our own but sin and weakness, there is surely no garment that becomes us so well as humility.
* This was said boastfully, at a time when the gold mines of Mexico and South America formed part of the possessions of the Spanish crown.
Reader, how will you escape if you neglect so great salvation ? Why should you not lay hold on it at once, and say, Pardon me, even me also, O my Saviour. What would you have, if the way I have set before you does not satisfy you ? Come while the door is open. Ask, and you shall receive.
IV. Let me give you, in the last place, some marks of having found forgiveness.
I dare not leave out this point. Too many persons presume they are forgiven, who have no evidences to show. Not a few cannot think it possible they are forgiven, who are plainly in the way to heaven, though they may not see it themselves. I would fain raise hope in
some, and self-inquiry in others; and to do this, let me tell you the leading marks of a forgiven soul.
Forgiven souls hate sin. They can enter most fully into the words of our Communion Service, " the remembrance of sin is grievous unto them, and the burden of it is intolerable." It is the serpent which bit them : how should they not shrink from it with horror ? It is the poison which brought them to the brink of eternal death : how should they not loathe it with a Godly disgust ? It is the Egyptian enemy which kept them in hard bondage: how should not the very memory of it be bitter to their hearts? It is the disease of which they carry the marks and scars about them, and from which they scarcely recovered: well may they dread it, flee from it, and long to be delivered altogether from its power. Remember how the woman in Simon's house wept over the feet of Jesus. (Luke vii. 38.) Remember how the Ephesians publicly burned their wicked books. (Acts xix. 19.) Remember how Paul mourned over his youthful transgressions, " I am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." (I Cor. xv. 9.) Ah! Reader, if you and sin are friends, you and God are not yet reconciled. You are not meet for heaven, for one main part of heaven's excellence is the absence of all sin.*
Forgiven souls love Christ. This is that one thing they can say, if they dare say nothing else, - they do love Christ. His person, His office, His work, His name, His cross, His blood, His words, His example, His day, His ordinances, all, all are precious to forgiven souls. The ministry which exalts Him most, is that which they enjoy most. The Books which are most full of Him, are most pleasant to their minds. The people on earth they feel most drawn to, are those in whom they see something of Christ. His name is as ointment poured forth, and comes with a peculiar sweetness to their ears. (Cant. i. 3.) They would tell you they cannot help feeling as they
do. He is their Redeemer, their Shepherd, their Physician, their King, their strong Deliverer, their gracious Guide, their hope, their joy, their all. Were it not for Him they would be of all men most
miserable. They would as soon consent that you should take the sun out of the sky, as Christ out of their religion. Those people who talk of " the Lord," and " the almighty," and " the Deity," and so forth, but have not a word to say about Christ, are in anything but a right state of mind. What saith the Scripture ? " He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent Him." (John v. 23.)* " If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema." (1 Cor. xvi. 22.)
Forgiven souls are humble. They cannot forget that they owe all they have and hope for to free grace, and this keeps them lowly. They are brands plucked from the fire, - debtors who could not pay for themselves, - captives who Forgiven souls are holy. Their chief desire is to please Him who has saved them, to do His will, to glorify Him in body and in
spirit, which are His. " What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits," is a leading principle in a pardoned heart. It was the remembrance of Jesus showing mercy that made Paul in labors so abundant, and in doing good so unwearied. It was a sense of pardon that made Zacchaeus say, " The half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." (Luke xix. 8.) Reader, if you point out to me believers who are in a carnal, slothful state of soul, I reply in the words of Peter, " They have forgotten they were purged from their old sins." (2 Peter i. 9.) But if you show me a man deliberately living an unholy and licentious life, and yet boasting that his sins are forgiven, I answer he is under a ruinous delusion, and is not forgiven at all. I would not believe he is forgiven, if an angel from heaven affirmed it, and I charge you not to believe it too. Pardon of sin and love of sin are like oil and water, they will never go together. All that are washed in the blood of Christ, are also sanctified by the spirit of Christ.*
Forgiven souls are forgiving. They do as they have been done by. They look over the offences of their brethren. They endeavor to walk
in love, as Christ loved them, and gave Himself for them. They remember how God for Christ's sake forgave them, and endeavor to do the same toward their fellow-creatures. Has He forgiven them pounds, and shall they not forgive a few pence ? Doubtless in this, as in everything else, they come short; - but this is their desire and their aim. A spiteful, quarrelsome Christian is a scandal to his profession. It is very hard to believe that such an one has ever sat at the foot of the cross, has ever considered how he is praying against himself every time he uses the Lord's prater, and saying as it were, "Father, do not forgive me my trespasses at all." But it is still harder to understand what such an one would do in heaven, if he got there. All ideas of heaven in which forgiveness has not a place, are castles in the air, and vain fancies. Forgiveness is the way by which every saved soul enters heaven. Forgiveness is the only title by which he remains in heaven. Forgiveness is the eternal subject of song with all the redeemed who inhabit heaven. Surely an unforgiving soul in heaven would find his heart completely out of tune. Surely we know nothing of Christ's love to us but the name of it, if we do not love our brethren. thousands of persons called Christians who know nothing of these marks. They are baptized. They keep their church. They would not on any account be reckoned infidels. But as to true repentance, and saving faith, union with Christ, and sanctification of the Spirit, they are names and words of which they know nothing at all.
Reader, I lay these things before you. I know well there are great diversities in the degree of men's attainments in grace, and that saving faith in Christ is consistent with many imperfections. But still I do believe the marks I have just been naming will generally be found more or less in all forgiven souls.
I cannot conceal from you these marks should raise in many minds great searchings of heart. I must be plain. I fear there are
Now if this paper is read by such persons, it will probably either alarm them, or make them very angry. If it makes them angry, I shall