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IX.

CONFIDENCE IN GOD.

Behold, God is my salvation: I will trust, and not be afraid. ISAI. xii. 2.

IT is awful to stand on the brink of eternity. I shall be very soon past fear, or past hope: I shall be in heaven, or in hell! What an alternative? The moment is coming, and I have trembled at it. Shall I get safe to heaven? So criminal, so ignorant, so weak, and so much tempted, shall I be at last saved? Behold! God is my salvation: I will trust, and not be afraid. I might well despair

if I had in any way to save myself, but God, has engaged to save me. I needed an atonement for my load of guilt, and He has provided it, by sending his Son to die for me. I needed the pardon of my sins, and He has pardoned freely. I needed the conversion of my heart, and in place of the stony heart He has given me a heart of flesh. Dead in trespasses and sins, I required to be born again, and He has regenerated me by his Holy Spirit. Astonishing grace to me a sinner!

1

I

And now, having done all this, he will assuredly save me to the end. I am, it is true, weak, ignorant, and sinful; liable to temptation, and exposed to sorrow. Evil abounds in the world; Satan is a malignant and powerful enemy; I see many Christians keenly suffer, many more fall into sin, and

some professors altogether apostatize. All this, if viewed alone, would be discouraging. Shall not I, too, backslide and fall away, and after much suffering sink into eternal death? Thanks be to God, I do not dread it; for He is my salvation, and will let me want nothing that is good. If I need spiritual understanding, by which I may obtain clearer and more extensive views of Divine truths, it is the gracious office of the Spirit to enlighten me*: if I need, in my weakness, pain, and depression of spirits, much spiritual consolation, He is the promised Comforter†: if I have to resist every evil thought and temper, He can make me more than a conqueror over them: if I ought to be more

* John xiv. 26; Eph. i. 17-19; iii. 14-20.
+ John xiv. 16; xvi. 7.

if I

holy, He can sanctify me wholly*
want to love God far more than I have ever
done, He sheds abroad the love of God
in the heart: if, without being kept by
grace, I should after all perish, all believers
are kept by His power, through faith, unto
salvation. All the attributes of God con-
cur to secure my present and eternal welfare.
He loves me, for the sake of Christ, who has
taken me under his care, and intercedes for
me. Hence He will provide for me, defend
me, teach me, comfort me, guide me, sanc-
tify me, preserve me, and refuse me nothing
which is good. He is just, and all the bless-
ings which he grants to me are only the
honour which is due to my Mediator and

• Eph. v. 25—27; 1 Thess. v. 23; Jude 24, 25.
+ Rom. v. 5. ↑ 1 Pet. i. 5.

Redeemer. He is holy, and must take plea sure in making his children holy too; He is true, and will fulfil all his promises; He is faithful, and will never leave me nor forsake me; He is beneficent, and loves to enrich his dependent children; He is wise, and knows all the best means to make me holy and happy; He is Almighty, and can do all things for me; and He is unchangeable, so that He can never cease thus to love o and bless me. Not to trust him would be ungrateful and unbelieving. I will trust. What is to come upon me I know not my health and strength fail; I must expect that my natural spirits should be depressed by my infirmities; and I know not what pain or sorrow may attend my passage to the grave; but I can look off from all these