While the heart is
unchanged and the spirit unrenowned, vain is every exhortation to serve God and
lead a good and Christian life. This is
to demand the fruit before the tree is planted - to reap the harvest before the
field is sown. It is not the language of
Scripture. "Repent and believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ," be
conscious of your need of such a change, and believe that it is the gift and
purchase of redeeming love. This is the
first exhortation addressed to every sinner under the gospel dispensation; and
as sinners once dead in trespasses and sins, this is the theme of our prayers,
our gratitude, and our rejoicing. For we
believe on the word and faithfulness of God, that the work He has begun He will
complete; and having by His Spirit touched us into life, He will preserve the feeble breath within us
till it grows into immortality. So long
as the assurance of this first act of mercy abides within us, we feel, amid all
the sins and dangers that surround us,
no apprehension for the issue of our travail…Being justified freely, we have
confidence towards God; and God is more honored by our confidence than He could
be by our doubts or any degree of mistrustful, anxious labor with which we
might endeavor to relieve them. This is
the foundation of Christian character, the living principle, without which the
action of life cannot be carried on; and proportioned, I believe, to the vigour
of this principle will be the action it produces.
Caroline
Wilson
