III.

MED. wrings every nerve that vibrates in them. The prospect is terrible. Selfcondemned, they bow before it; and are not astonished at the awful importance of the words, " O Israel! thou "hast destroyed thyself * !”

Impressive as this reflection is, there is still room for inquiry. Does conviction follow? Or rather, Is this conviction? Is the mind convinced of the magnitude of sin? Is it convinced of the necessity of punishment? Does it behold, in its true colours, the moral evil and malignity of transgression? Is it thoroughly convinced that God is offended, and that the offender is obnoxious to all the terrors of the law? There is too much reason to fear that many acknowledge sin in themselves, who are not convinced of its enormity. There are many who fall down on their knees in our public congregations, and acknowledge that they have erred and

* Isaiah xxv. 13.

strayed from the ways of Almighty God MED. like lost sheep, that they have offended III. against his holy laws, and that there is no health in them; nay, in the most earnest language, they beg of God to have mercy upon them, miserable offenders; and who yet bear about them no marks of true conviction, and the expression of whose countenance exhibits no token of repentant sorrow, no feeling of their boasted misery. The public Liturgy of our Church opens with confession, because it presumes conviction of sin; and if we pursue our devotional exercises upon this principle, through the various expressions of humiliation, thanksgiving, prayer, and praise, we shall feel all the confidence of holy hope, and be " filled with all "joy and peace in believing *."

But whatever may be the feeling, or the conduct, of worshippers in general, those who are shut out, or have shut

Rom. xv. 13.

MED. themselves out, from the converse of III. the world, being fast bound in misery and iron, stand under very different circumstances. The condition in which they are placed, is a proof that "they are convinced of the law, as trans

gressors;" but this is not all, for they must be convinced themselves of sin, before the operations of the law will work its full effect.

Detection of our offences is perhaps the first real intimation which our heart receives, that all is not as it should be with us. I do not say that our conscience has never taught us a different lesson. I do not say that the precepts of the law, the holy commandments of God, written in letters of gold, and displayed throughout the universe, that he who runneth may read, have never met our eye; but, alas! they have never entered our hearts :-never perhaps till personal discoveries have brought our crimes within the cognizance of our private feelings; never

till the emphatic and fearful declaration MED. "Thou art

hath sounded in our ears,

"the man."

There is a judicial blindness upon the minds of wilful sinners, who see not what is plain to others; but when the film is removed from their eyes, they are astonished that they did not see it before. Our religious belief explains this mystery: "For if our Gospel be

hid, it is hid to them that are lost; " in whom the god of this world hath "blinded the eyes of them which be❝lieve, not lest the light of the glorious "Gospel of Christ, who is the image of "God, should shine upon them *." It is the interest of the enemy of the human race to keep his votaries in darkness; for when their eyes are opened, he loses the wretched subjects of his kingdom. "O "Lord! open thou mine eyes that I may behold wonderous things out of thy law +!"

III.

* 2 Cor. iv, 3, 4.

+ Psalm cxix. 18.

MED.

But our contemplation may be inter

III. rupted by another alarming inquiry. May I be convinced of sin, and yet be far from salvation? There cannot be a doubt but that may be my case; for with this deception many have fallen. When the deed is done, conviction of the offence may speedily follow. It does so in thousands; and alas! there it ends. "What am I among so many "millions of sinners ?" is the palliative of one. "God is merciful," sets the

conscience of another at rest.

"The

Almighty knows our infirmities; I "have indeed sinned, but my offence "is small; venial sins will never be "remembered." I dare not pursue these deceitful apologies. The prophet dashes them to the ground with one sentence of divine displeasure: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." The curse of the law, confirmed by the Gospel, delivers every transgressor to the punishment due to his iniquity. It discourages the practice of calling any