/./g- 
 
 ^ PRINCETON, N. J. ^ 
 
 Presented byG\(S^ 0\0\ :\}\^OCDd\r\\A\\}(X\:i:), 
 
 Division 
 Section ■■ 
 
 
THE SOUL 
 
 ITS DIFFICULTIES : 
 
 % Wiaxii ia tl^t %mxmB, 
 
 BY ^ 
 
 HENEY WILLIAM SOLTAF, 
 
 authoe of 
 "the holt vessels of the tabernacle;" "the scarlet line;" 
 
 ETC., ETC. 
 
 Jortg-cJirst C^ottsattir. 
 
 LONDON : 
 YAPP AND HAWKINS, 70, WELBECK STREET, 
 
 CAVENDISH SQTJAEE. W. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following pages have been 
 written at the suggestion of a 
 servant of Christ, who has found 
 the need of a short and simple 
 exposition of Scripture which he 
 could put into the hands of those 
 who are troubled by doubts and 
 perplexities. 
 
 The usual diihculties presented 
 to the minds of enquirers are 
 stated, and attempted to be an- 
 swered ; but the writer is fully 
 aware that the clearest declara- 
 
Vi PREFACE. 
 
 tions of truth are utterly unavail- 
 ing, unless Grod be pleased to 
 make them effectual upon the 
 soul by the almighty power of 
 the Holy Spirit. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 1. How can man be justified with God ? 
 
 2. How can he he clean that is bom of a woman ? 
 
 3. What must I do to be saved ? . . . 
 
 4. What shall we do, that we may work the works 
 
 of God? ...'.,. 
 6. Wilt thou be made whole ? ... 
 
 6. Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean 
 
 7. What think ye of Christ ? whose Son is He ? 
 
 Answers to some common DovMs or Ohjections. 
 
 8. (1.) How do I know that Christ died for me ? . 45 
 
 9. (2.) I fear I am too great a sinner . . .50 
 
 10. (3.) I have not repented enough . , .53 
 
 11. (4.) I do not feel that I am saved . . .59 
 
 12. (5.) I do not love God as I ought . . .63 
 
 13. (6.) Is it not presumption to say we are saved 
 
 before w^e die ? . . . . . ^(S 
 
 14. (7.) I hope God will have mercy on me, &c. . ' 76 
 
 15. (8.) But must I not strive ? .... 80 
 
 16. (9.) Many called, few chosen . . . .86 
 
 17. (10.) Must I not work for my salvation? . . 88 
 
 18. (11.) After all, may I not faU from grace, and 
 
 perish? 92 
 
 A Few Words to BacTcsliders. 
 
 (1.) To those who have never fully trusted God's 
 
 Word 96 
 
 (2.) To those who have not heard a clear, simple 
 
 Gospel 101 
 
 (3.) To those who are confused in mind respecting 
 
 the New Birth 103 
 
 Conclusion , . 106 
 
 1 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 10 
 16 
 
 27 
 38 
 
THE SOUL 
 
 AND 
 
 ITS DIFFICULTIES 
 
 "How can man he justified with 
 Godf or how can he he clean 
 that is horn of a woman?'' 
 
 Job XXV. 4. 
 
 These are questions of the utmost 
 importance; for eternal happiness 
 or eternal misery is involved in 
 them. A mistake as to such mo- 
 mentous subjects will be terrible 
 in its consequences. It cannot 
 be rectified in another world. A 
 boundless existence of unspeak- 
 able j oy, or untold sorrow, stretches 
 out before us; and all depends 
 on this little span of life, during 
 
Z THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 which God gives us the oppor- 
 tunity to come to a true decision 
 on these points. It will be wise, 
 therefore, to give earnest atten- 
 tion to the solution of these ques- 
 tions, and to determine to make 
 it the first object of our search. 
 
 § 1. ''How can man he justified 
 with God r 
 
 Observe, the question is not. 
 How can I be justified in the 
 judgment of menf or. How can 
 I be righteous in my oivn esti- 
 mation ? but. How can I be jus- 
 tified with ^ God ? How can ^ I 
 attain to a righteousness that will 
 satisfy God ? the holy, the just, 
 the glorious God, — who is of purer 
 eyes than to behold iniquity, — 
 who is Light, and in whom is no 
 darkness at all, — who will by no 
 means clear the guilty. Yea, the 
 heavens are not clean in His 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. J 
 
 sight : He charged His angels 
 with folly. 
 
 Again : the ^ question is not^ 
 How can I attain a righteousness 
 to fit me for earth ? or to enable 
 me to iiilfil my duties here f but, 
 How can I be righteous so as to 
 dwell with God above ? that He 
 may delight in me, and I in Him; 
 so that there may be perfect, un- 
 broken fellowship with Him for 
 ever. 
 
 § 2. ''How can he he clean that 
 
 is horn of a woman V^ 
 
 If I am horn unclean, how can 
 I ever become clean ? " Can the 
 Ethiopian change his skin, or the 
 leopard his spots ?'^^ Why can- 
 not the negro turn his black skin 
 into white ? For this simple rea- 
 son : He is horn black. His dark 
 complexion is not the result of 
 accident or of circumstances, but 
 
 B 2 
 
4 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 is the stamp of his parentage. 
 No possible change of circum- 
 stances, or of cHmate, can efface 
 his blackness. So also as regards 
 the leopard : the spots on his skin 
 are birth-spots, and are therefore 
 indelible. 
 
 Man's uncleanness, in like 
 manner, is inherent in him, be- 
 cause of his birth. No effort of 
 his own can alter him. He is 
 born unclean. Unclean he must 
 grow up, and unclean he must 
 remain for ever, unless, through 
 a mightier power than his own, a 
 power of creation, he be " born 
 AGAIN." The thorn or the thistle, 
 if transplanted from the waste 
 into the greenhouse, if pruned, 
 manured, and watered, would be 
 the thorn or thistle still. The one 
 could bear no grapes, and the 
 other no figs. 
 
 When David had, through care- 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. O 
 
 lessness and indolence, allowed 
 himself to be tempted to open 
 sin, whereby he dishonoured Grod, 
 and brought down heavy chas- 
 tisement on himself, he did not 
 trace his sins to the circumstances 
 in which he was placed, or ex- 
 cuse himself because of sudden 
 temptation; but he turned his eye 
 inward, and learned the natural 
 depravity of his own heart, — a 
 depravity that remained, even 
 after he had believed in God: 
 and he exclaimed, "Behold, I was 
 shapen in iniquity, and in sin did 
 my mother conceive me/' If such 
 was his birth-condition, what is 
 oursf How then can a man be 
 clean that is born of a woman ? 
 
 It will be attempted, by the help 
 of God, in the following pages, to 
 reply to these, and such like all- 
 important questions, so that any 
 who are really anxious concerning 
 
6 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 their everlasting welfare may 
 have doubts and difficulties solv- 
 ed or answered from the Word of 
 God. In doing so, let us turn to 
 sonae of the cases recorded in 
 Scripture. 
 
 § 3. ^^ What must I do to he 
 saved f^^ acts xvl 23-34. 
 
 Here we have the instance of a 
 heathen jailor — a hardened man, 
 inured to scenes of crime and 
 blood, suddenly aroused to a sense 
 of his lost state. ^ The kindness 
 of the Lord^s prisoners melted 
 that stubborn heart, which no 
 danger or death could terrify. 
 The voice of pity, ''Do thyself 
 no harm,^^ seemed to him like a 
 voice from heaven. It was a new 
 sound in the jail; and suddenly 
 his ruined state burst upon his 
 conscience. The light of mercy 
 discovered the darkness that was 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 7 
 
 within him, and he cast himself 
 as a poor suppUant at the feet oi 
 his prisoners, exclaiming, " §irs, 
 what must I do to be saved? is 
 not this the first effect of convic- 
 tion upon the soul; viz., to stir 
 up the inquiry, What must I DO / 
 We naturally think that the 
 sense of our own evil is a call for 
 us to exert ourselves in some way 
 or other, in order to deliver our- 
 selves from it. In the inquiry, 
 " What must I do to be saved? 
 there is also evidence that the 
 soul confesses itself ignorant, and 
 begins to take the place of a 
 learner, instead of being satisfied 
 with itself. At the same time, 
 there is a remarkable contradic- 
 tion in the very e'^ression; for 
 if I am to be saved by another, 
 surely I have nothing to do my- 
 self. If, as a drowning man, I cry 
 out for help, in order that one on 
 
8 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 the bank may pull me out, then I 
 am saved by the grasp of him 
 who pulls me out of the water, 
 and whose proffered aid I eagerly 
 seize and welcome. 
 
 What then was Paul's answer 
 to the jailor's cry ? ^ " Believe on 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
 shalt be saved." It was an ab- 
 solute declaration. "Believe, and 
 thou shalt he saved." The apostle 
 did not direct the jailor to pray 
 for salvation : for the cry of dis- 
 tress, "What must I do to be 
 saved?" was, in reality, the only 
 needful prayer. Neither did Paul 
 tell him that, after much repent- 
 ance and amendment of life, he 
 might hope in the end to be 
 saved; but he pointed him at 
 once to salvation, present, ready, 
 and immediate, as soon as the 
 poor convicted sinner trusted in 
 the Savioue, the Lord Jesus 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 9 
 
 Christ. ^ In fact, he was directed 
 to commit his salvation altogether 
 into the hands of another; viz., 
 the Lord Jesus. And what was 
 the result ? The jailor, being an 
 ignorant heathen, of course need- 
 ed to have a httle more instruc- 
 tion on this great subject, and 
 especially respecting Him whose 
 name he had heard from the 
 apostle's lips. So Paul and Silas 
 ''spake unto him the word of the 
 Lord, and to all that were in his 
 house;'' and that very night he 
 rejoiced, believing in God with all 
 his house. He had not to wait in 
 uncertainty for days and weeks; 
 it was not necessary for him to 
 go hither or thither to hear many 
 sermons or discourses; but he 
 simply believed God ; that is, he 
 trusted in the Saviour whom 
 God had sent; he considered that 
 God would not provide an insuffi- 
 
10 THE SOUL XSH ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 cient Saviour, or One wlio had 
 only done part of the work, and 
 left the rest to be done by the 
 sinner: but he believed that God 
 had chosen His own Son, His 
 own equal, to be the Saviour, in 
 order that salvation might be 
 complete and effectual. And thus 
 he rejoiced in the assurance that 
 ALL had been accomphshed for 
 him by another. 
 
 § 4. "'Labour not for the meat 
 tvJiich perisheth, hut for that meat 
 ivhich endureth unto everlasting 
 life, which the Son of man shall 
 give unto you: for Him hath God 
 the Father sealed" john vi. 27. 
 
 A multitude had followed the 
 blessed Lord over the lake of 
 Tiberias to Capernaum, seeking 
 to be fed again by Him with 
 bread for the support of their 
 bodies. And He thus enjoins on 
 
THE SOFL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 11 
 
 them to seek earnestly the bread 
 of life, instead of labouring only 
 for the bread that perishetli. He 
 tells them also, that the bread of 
 life is a gift from the Son whom 
 God had sealed for that very 
 purpose, that He might hestoiv 
 everlasting life on any one that 
 desired it with as much earnest- 
 ness as a man desires bread for 
 his sustenance. 
 
 The Jews next asked Him, 
 "What shall we do, that we might 
 work the works of God?'' And 
 to this (question the Lord replied, 
 " This is the work of God, that 
 ye believe on Him whom He hath 
 sent/' 
 
 Here is the same truth, plainly 
 put forth by Jesus Himself, which 
 we have before been considering 
 from the lips of His servant Paul. 
 The same question, " What must 
 I do?" is answered by the same 
 
12 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 reply, "Believe on Him whom 
 Grod hath sent." No obedience 
 but this is commanded to sinners ; 
 no work but this is enjoined. 
 Whoever trusts the Son of Grod, 
 as the One sent of Grod to accom- 
 phsh salvation, has worked the 
 work of Grod, and has the work 
 of (xod wrought in him. To work 
 for the meat that perisheth not 
 is the same thing as believing on 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. It is eat- 
 ing His flesh, and drinking His 
 blood. 
 
 If I were hungry, and bread 
 and meat were placed before me 
 by a hospitable and kind-hearted 
 friend, what should I do ? Should 
 I continue to beseech him to give 
 me food? or should I ask him 
 what work I could do, in order to 
 have it ? or should I with thank- 
 fulness take and eat it? Is not 
 this somewhat of a parallel case 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 13 
 
 with us, as needy, hungry, thirsty 
 sinners? Has not God known 
 our need ? Has He not felt for 
 our need ? And has He not there- 
 fore provided the bread of hfe, 
 the flesh and blood of Christ, and 
 placed it before us, and bidden us 
 eat and drink unto life eternal? 
 Ought I to continue to ask Grod 
 for what He has already given — 
 even His blessed Son, and salva- 
 tion in Him ? Ought I not rather 
 at once, without further delay, 
 to take Christ as my own salva- 
 tion, my own redemption, my oa^tl 
 righteousness, my own holiness, 
 provided for me by God, because 
 I am unrighteous, unholy, un- 
 saved, and because I can attain 
 none of these blessings by any 
 efforts of my own ? 
 
 But it may be asked. How am 
 I to eat the flesh and drink the 
 blood of Christ? What is the 
 
14 THE SOTJL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 meaning of this expression, used 
 by the Lord himself?* If we 
 read the whole passage down, 
 from verses 47 to 58, there can 
 be no difficulty as to the mean- 
 ing of the Lord's words, "Whoso 
 eateth my flesh, and drinketh my 
 blood, hath eternal life/' In verse 
 47, He says, "He that believeth 
 on me hath everlasting life." ^ So 
 that to believe is to eat and drink: 
 for the result of believing is ever- 
 lasting life; even as had been 
 previously declared in John iii., 
 that whosoever believeth on Him 
 hfted uj) on the cross shall have 
 everlasting life. So here, " Whoso 
 eateth my flesh, and drinketh my 
 blood, hath eternal hfe." 
 
 In fact, just as when we put 
 bread or meat into our mouths 
 and eat it we make it our own, 
 and it becomes nourishment for 
 
 * John vi. 53. 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 15 
 
 the body, and part of our very 
 existence; so, as soon as the sin- 
 ner behoves that Christ died for 
 him, having suffered on the cross 
 in his stead, that sinner imme- 
 diately has everlasting life, is 
 saved^ and will be raised in glory 
 by Jesus, when He shall come in 
 the last day of the present age in 
 which we live. 
 
 I may see bread and meat and 
 wine on the table. I may be able 
 to give the whole history of how 
 the bread was made from corn 
 grown in the earth, ground in the 
 mill, &c., and how the wine has 
 been made from grapes pressed, 
 and the juice fermented; but, 
 unless I eat and drink, of what 
 advantage to me is the bread or 
 the wine ? How am I profited, as 
 to my body, by the mere know- 
 ledge of the way in which these 
 nourishers of life have been pre- 
 
16 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 pared ? So, I may know the doc- 
 trine about Christ's death, and I 
 may have a true creed respecting 
 Him; but, until I make that 
 death mine; until I make that 
 blessed Christ my own^ by behov- 
 ing on Him as God's gift for me 
 and to me; all my knowledge 
 profits me nothing: I remain a 
 perishing sinner still. Therefore, 
 ''Eat, friends: drink, yea, drink 
 abundantly, beloved/' Do not 
 continue asking or^ praying for 
 salvation ; but take it, and praise 
 Grod for it. 
 
 § 5. "Wilt thou he made ivholef^ 
 
 John v. 6. 
 
 There was a pool at Jerusalem, 
 which occasionally possessed mar- 
 vellous virtues ; for an angel, at a 
 certain season, went down into 
 it and troubled the water ; and if 
 any one could step into the pool 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 17 
 
 immediately after the water was 
 thus troubled^ that person was 
 healed of whatever disease he 
 had. ^ However excellent this 
 cure^it could be obtained but by 
 very few. The access to the pool 
 itself was limited ; for there were 
 only five porches or entrances to 
 it. The visit of the angel was 
 but seldom; and only one person 
 could gain the benefit; and he 
 must be a strong man, and able 
 to push his way through the mul- 
 titude of sick folk who crowded 
 the porches, and step down first 
 into the pool, to secure the bene- 
 fit of the healing virtue com- 
 municated by the angel to the 
 troubled waters. 
 
 A poor helpless man had lain 
 for many a long year near that 
 pool. He had seen one after 
 another step down into the water 
 and come up healed, and go away 
 
18 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 rejoicing. He liad hoped that his 
 turn might come, sooner or later; 
 but those stronger than he stepped 
 in before him, and no one would 
 give him a helping hand; for each 
 was intent on his own cure. Thus, 
 in vain hope, which had made his 
 heart sick, year after year had 
 passed away; and so would he 
 have continued to the end of his 
 days, hoping on in vain, and 
 perishing within sight of a bless- 
 ing which he had no power to 
 reach. 
 
 But Jesus passed by. He had, 
 from the bosom of Grod in glory, 
 looked down and pitied that poor 
 impotent man. He had marked 
 his useless struggles^ and efforts ; 
 and one object of His coming as 
 the Son of man into this world 
 was to heal and save that helpless 
 sinner. The sight of his misery 
 and fruitless attempts brought 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 19 
 
 God's blessed Son down from the 
 Father's bosom into this groan- 
 ing world. Jesus bent His steps 
 towards the outside of those 
 porches; and knowing that the 
 impotent man had been now a 
 long time, even thirty-eight years, 
 in that case, He saith unto him, 
 "Wilt thou be made whole?'' 
 Reader! He says these words to 
 thee : Wilt thou be made whole ? 
 Wilt THOU be saved ? How wilt 
 thou reply ? How did the impo- 
 tent ^ man answer this simple, 
 gracious question ? " Sir, I have 
 no man, when the water is trou- 
 bled, to put . me into the pool ; 
 but while I am coming, another 
 steppeth down before me." 
 
 Was this, in truth, any answer 
 to the Lord's question? Did 
 Christ ask him about the pool? 
 or, did He offer to help him into 
 the pool ? Did He ask him what 
 
20 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 strength he had, or what help 
 was to be had from others ? Was 
 not the Lord's question of an 
 entirely chfferent kind? "Wilt 
 thou be made whole f" Do you 
 desire to have the work of heal- 
 ing done for you by another, 
 without any effort of your own ? 
 — without the help of man or 
 angel ? This was the real mean- 
 ing of the question. The man 
 had been hoping all his life that 
 he might be able, though impo- 
 tent, to reach by his own strength 
 the healing waters at the happy 
 moment. He had found every 
 such effort useless; and now, 
 when a plain offer was made him 
 of an immediate and entire cure, 
 he is unable to reply in a straight- 
 forward way ; for he had so long 
 been thinking of his own at- 
 tempts, so long hoping that he 
 should find himself a httle stronger 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 21 
 
 the next time the angel came, 
 that he was unable to trust in the 
 entire power of another. 
 
 He ought to have learned, from 
 thirty-eight years' experience of 
 impotence, what it was to be really 
 helpless. He ought to have known 
 that a man does not get stronger 
 by growing older. But he had 
 learned neither of these lessons ; 
 and when addressed even by the 
 Son of Grod, his mind was still 
 occupied with himself. 
 
 And so it is at this present 
 moment. The sinner, anxious for 
 salvation, and in earnest for it, 
 continues unable to answer the 
 question, "Wilt thou be made 
 whole? Wilt thou be saved?" 
 " Yes, I am trying for it," is the 
 usual reply ; as if salvation de- 
 pended on ah effort made by the 
 sinner. 
 
 The law of works stands in 
 
22 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 very much the same relation to 
 the sinner, as the pool of Beth- 
 esda did to the impotent man. 
 One great object that Grod had in 
 giving the law was, that man 
 mig^ht know his total inability to 
 Mnl it. It proposed to give life 
 to any one that had power in 
 himself to keep all its righteous 
 demands; but any one that could 
 have so done must have life eter- 
 nal to begin with; and, therefore, 
 would not have needed the law 
 as a way of life. So the pool 
 would give healing to any one 
 that had strength and activity 
 enough to reach it just after the 
 angel's visit. It is clear that such 
 a person would not need the pool 
 as a cure for impotence; for he 
 would not be impotent. Yet the 
 man of thirty-eight years' help- 
 lessness had not learned this 
 lesson; and the sinner still hopes 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 23 
 
 on, as day after day passes, and 
 trnsts that lie shall be better fitted 
 for salvation to-morrow, and shall 
 be able more to commend himself 
 to God, in order to be saved; 
 forgetting that every day adds to 
 the amount of his sins, and that 
 he is growing stronger in evil as 
 age increases. He^ began his 
 existence here a ruined sinner; 
 and every hour of his subsequent 
 life has added ^ trespass, trans- 
 gression, and iniquity to his ori- 
 ginal eviL^ How, then, can he 
 expect to improve, or to render 
 himself in any way more ap- 
 proved by God? What should 
 he do? Confess is own un worthi- 
 ness and helplessness: struggle 
 no more, but trust in the Al- 
 mighty Saviour whom God has 
 provided. 
 
 A fourfold description of man^s 
 condition is aiven us in Rom. v. : 
 
24 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 " without strength — ungodly — 
 sinners — enemies." Every one 
 that is saved must come up to 
 this full description of evil; and 
 any attempt on our part to raise 
 ourselves out of this fourfold state 
 of condemnation, is an attempt 
 to rob God of His great glory; 
 viz., the power to justify. We 
 have to believe in a God who 
 justifies the ungodly; who com- 
 mends His love to us, in giving 
 Christ to die for us, while we 
 were still in our sins, and not one 
 jot improved ; and who reconciles 
 enemies to Himself by the death 
 of His Son. 
 
 As soon as any one, in his un- 
 godliness, believes in God as 
 justifying the ung;odly, God reck- 
 ons to that man his faith as right- 
 eousness: and God cleanses that 
 man from all sin, through the 
 precious blood of His own Son. 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 25 
 
 Thus, in Psalm xxxii., we read : 
 '^Blessed is lie whose transgres- 
 sion is forgiven, whose sin is 
 covered. Blessed is the man 
 unto^ whom the Lord imputeth 
 not iniquity, and in whose spirit 
 there^ is no guile/^ And this 
 description of the blessedness of 
 the man^ who is pardoned and 
 forgiven is quoted in Romans iv., 
 to prove how blessed the man is 
 whom God reckons to be right- 
 eous without any works; God 
 reckoning to him his faith for 
 righteousness. 
 
 We may look at justification in 
 four ways — 
 
 First: A person is justified by 
 God immediately on his believing 
 in Christ. His faith is reckoned 
 for righteousness. 
 
 Secondly : A person is justified 
 by the blood of Christ, — "being 
 
26 THE soul" and its difficulties. 
 
 justified by His blood."* For 
 Christ was delivered because of 
 our offences, and in His death 
 answered to God for them, bear- 
 ing all the condemnation due to 
 them ; and He was raised again, 
 because of the complete justifica- 
 tion which was accomplished for 
 sinners by His death. 
 
 Thirdly : A person is justified, 
 or made righteous, by_ the obe- 
 dience of Christ ; that is, by His 
 obedience in death. As it was 
 one act of disobedience that 
 ruined us, so is it this one act of 
 obedience that justifies us. 
 
 Fourthly : A person is justified 
 in Christ. He is made the right- 
 eousness of God in Him ; that is, 
 he is made righteous enough for 
 God's own presence, and for G od's 
 own glory being raised to the 
 perfect standard of God's require- 
 
 * Eomans v. 9. 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 27 
 
 ments ; so that He may be satis- 
 fied, and take delight in the saved 
 sinner, in union with Christ risen. 
 Christ is the righteousness of the 
 redeemed. 
 
 Now, all these four aspects of 
 justification are combined in the 
 salvation of every guilty sinner, 
 who, without any works of his 
 own, trusts simply and wholly in 
 the Lord Jesus. And this affords 
 the answer to the first question. 
 How can man be justified with 
 God? 
 
 § 6. "Lord^ if thou unit, thou 
 canst make me cleans Matt. viii. 22. 
 
 This was a leper s cry, whose 
 very^ disease made him conscious 
 of his ruined condition, and who 
 knew that, without the immediate 
 power of God, he was hopelessly 
 unclean. Leprosy stands forth ^ 
 in the Word of God as a type of 
 
28 THE SOtJL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 the utter filthiness of the flesh; 
 that is, the desperate corruption 
 of the human heart. It was a 
 disease which worked with fearful 
 mahgnity deep beneath the skin, 
 turning comehness into corrup- 
 tion; and as soon as it was dis- 
 cerned, the infected sufferer was 
 cast forth without the camp or 
 the city where he dwelt, and had 
 to wander, a hopeless outcast, far 
 away from the society of man, 
 and far off from the place where 
 God was known, and sought in 
 sacrifice and worship. His gar- 
 ments also must be rent, and his 
 upper lip bound with a covering ; 
 and no utterance was to proceed 
 fr^om him beyond the mournful 
 cry, "Unclean." 
 
 This is a shadow of the real 
 state of the sinner. He is unjit 
 for fellowship with man; for he 
 wiU, by intercourse, only con- 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 29 
 
 taminate others. He is far off 
 from God, and can neither wor- 
 ship, nor serve, nor please Him ; 
 for uncleanness pervades every- 
 thing that he does and thinks. 
 In such a state, his best cry is 
 the cry of the leper, "Unclean! 
 Unclean !'' 
 
 It was this ruined condition of 
 man which brought the Lord 
 Jesus, the Son of God, down^ in 
 mercy to the shame and suffering 
 of the Cross. The words uttered 
 hj the man fall of leprosy, "Lord, 
 if thou wilt, thou canst rnake me 
 clean," proved his consciousness 
 of Christ's power, though he hesi- 
 tated as to Christ's will. _ Surely 
 it would have been less evil in the 
 man to have doubted the power 
 than the love of Christ. Yet still 
 the very if that he uttered, ex- 
 pressing his doubt of Christ's 
 compassion, compelled the Lord, 
 
30 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 as it were, to vindicate His own 
 heart of pity and of mercy, so 
 that He immediately answered, 
 "I will; be thou clean:'"' and 
 forthwith the leper was cleansed. 
 Now, is it not a common question 
 of the heart, " Will God have 
 compassion on mef His al- 
 mighty power to save is not 
 doubted. But, " has He the love 
 and compassion for me which 
 wiU induce Him to save me f 
 
 Let me ask my reader. Which 
 is the greater offence, to question 
 a person's ability? or, to question 
 his kindness? Supposing one 
 were to prefer a petition to a 
 sovereign, and express on that 
 petition this sentiment: "I do 
 not doubt your power to relieve 
 me; but I altogether mistrust 
 your pity and jovlv kindness." 
 With such a petition, would he 
 be likely to succeed with man? 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 31 
 
 And yet, such was the leper's cry 
 to Christ. Still, Jesus was moved 
 with compassion at the sight of 
 his niisery; a compassion which 
 was in His heart, entirely inde- 
 pendent of any cry of the leper : 
 for if that petition could in any 
 way have influenced the Lord 
 Jesus, it would rather have re- 
 pressed His heart of love than 
 stirred it up. So, doubt no more 
 the will of God to save. No 
 longer cast such a reflection on 
 His wondrous love. 
 
 The proof of His willingness is 
 the fact of His having given His 
 own Son to die. This is God's 
 universal proclamation of His 
 readiness to save. When you 
 meditate on Christ lifted up on 
 the Cross, you are contemplating 
 the one great evidence that God 
 has given of His wondrous love, 
 for the ruined sinner. In the 
 
32 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 death of Jesus there is mercy 
 proclaimed, wide and far, to any 
 one who wishes for it. You may 
 at once, without delay, accept 
 it. You may believe that God's 
 mercy is even now towards you ; 
 for He has declared it, in not 
 sparing His own Son. 
 
 But it may be asked. How is 
 a sinner cleansed? It will be 
 needful, in answering this ques- 
 tion, to state one or two common 
 mistakes on this subject. There 
 is a prevailing thought that sal- 
 vation is a gradual amendment, 
 a process of sanctification ; so 
 that, little by little, the once lost 
 sinner is made meet for heaven : 
 and this gradual improvement is 
 attributed to the i)ower of the 
 Holy Spirit cleansing the soul, 
 and making it more and more 
 pure and holy. 
 
 But this is a mistake, to which 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 33 
 
 evidently the Lord alludes, when 
 speaking to Nicodemusf for there 
 He declares these simple and all- 
 important truths — '^ That which 
 is born of the flesh is flesh ; and 
 that which is born of the Spirit 
 is spirit/' So that the flesh, or 
 the corrupt nature, which we in- 
 herit from our parents, remains 
 the same evil, unchanged thing 
 to the end of our existence on 
 earth. No power of God is put 
 forth to alter, amend, or improve 
 it: for ''the carnal mind is not 
 subject to the law of God, neither 
 indeed can he/^ It is like some 
 wild, ferocious beast, which must 
 be chained, but cannot be tamed; 
 like the Leviathan, in speaking 
 of which to Job the Lord says, 
 "Wilt thou play with him as with 
 a bird ? or wilt thou bind him for 
 thy maidens?'' 
 
 * John iii. 
 
 D 
 
34 THE SOUL AJ(D ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 No power can render the flesh 
 subservient to the will of God. 
 Neither is it to be trifled with; 
 but it must be kept under, and 
 brought into captivity, and 
 watched against with incessant 
 wakefulness, lest it break forth 
 again and again with its unsubject 
 evil. It is never turned into spirit. 
 It is never really improved or 
 amended in the sight of God. 
 On the other hand, that which is 
 born of the Spirit is spirit. As 
 soon as a sinner believes in the 
 Lord Jesus, he has everlasting 
 Hfe. He becomes a new creature, 
 not by the turning of the old into 
 new, but by the power of God 
 creating him anew in Christ 
 Jesus, after His own iniage. He 
 is born again. God is his Father. 
 The flesh, called also "the old 
 man," remains unchanged; and 
 he will feel its presence and power 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 35 
 
 to the end of his sojourn below: 
 but he may consider that he has 
 put it off as an old garment, and 
 that he has "put on the new man/' 
 Though conscious of the presence 
 of sin, he may reckon that the 
 body of sin has been destroyed, 
 and that he has died to sin in the 
 death of the Lord Jesus on the 
 Cross. 
 
 As soon as he believes, he is 
 sanctified, or made holy, through 
 the offering of the body of Christ. 
 He is washed, sanctified, justified, 
 in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
 and by the Spirit of Grod. And 
 that same offering of the body of 
 Christ, by means of which he is 
 sanctified, perfects him for ever ; 
 so that at once he is made meet to 
 be a partaker of the inheritance 
 of the saints in hght, without any 
 further process or progress. 
 
 He will, doubtless, become more 
 
 D 2 
 
36 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 and more practically holy in his 
 ways and walk here below, through 
 the help and power of the Holy 
 Spirit, constantly applying the 
 word to his heart and conscience. 
 But no attainment, however ad- 
 vanced in the ways of righteous- 
 ness or holiness here, makes him 
 fit for the glory of God ; because 
 his fitness for that glory was 
 perfected as soon as he was de- 
 livered from the power of dark- 
 ness, and translated into the 
 kingdom of God's dear Son, 
 
 In proof of this, let the reader 
 prayerfully meditate on these 
 words of God: ''By the which 
 will (that is, of God) we are 
 sanctified, through the offering of 
 the body of Jesus Christ once for 
 all/' "By one offering He hath 
 perfected for ever them that are 
 sanctified/'^ " Know ye not that 
 
 * Heb. X. 10, 14. 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 37 
 
 the unrighteous shall not inherit 
 the kingdom of God? Be not 
 deceived : neither fornicators, nor 
 idolaters, nor adulterers, nor ef- 
 feminate, nor abusers of them- 
 selves with mankind, nor thieves, 
 nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor 
 revilers, nor extortioners, shall 
 inherit the kingdom of God. And 
 such were some of you; but ye 
 are washed, but ye are sanctified, 
 but ye are justified, in the name 
 of the Lord Jesus, and by the 
 Spirit of our God/' i Cor. vi. 9-11. 
 
 '^Giving thanks unto the Fa- 
 ther, which hath made us meet to 
 be partakers of the inheritance 
 of the saints in light; who hath 
 delivered us from the power of 
 darkness, and hath translated us 
 into the khigdom of His dear 
 Son, in whom im have redemption 
 through His blood, even the for- 
 giveness of sins/' Col. i. 12-14. 
 
38 THE SOUL AND ITS DimCTJLTIES. 
 
 Here then is the sufficient an- 
 swer to the question, " How shall 
 he be clean that is born of a 
 woman ?'^ He is clean every 
 whit* as soon as he beheves in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ; for then 
 he is born again; he is a new 
 creature; he has forgiveness of 
 sins ; he is washed in the precious 
 blood, and is made meet for the 
 inheritance of the holy ones in 
 the presence of God. 
 
 § 8. "What think ye of Christ? 
 whose Son is He V matt. xxii. 42. 
 
 Salvation turns ^ upon a right 
 reply to this question. Peter was 
 enabled so to answer a similar 
 question, that the Lord Jesus 
 replied to him, "Blessed art thou." 
 Peter confessed, "Thou art the 
 Christ, the Son of the living God." 
 What makes this question of such 
 
 * John xiii. 10. 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 39 
 
 great importance ? In the first 
 place it is. What think ye of Christ ? 
 It supposes that the heart has 
 been occupied about Him, so that 
 there has been some exercise of 
 thought, some inward meditation 
 respecting Him. Many hear of 
 Him, but do not think of Him- 
 Many hsten to truths about Him, 
 but^ do not make Himself the 
 subject of their thoughts. 
 
 Have you, my reader, occupied 
 yourself for even a few minutes 
 in meditating on this wondrous 
 subject-the Lord Jesus Christ? 
 You inay have thought about 
 your sins. You may stiU be 
 troubled about your past life. 
 You may be making resolutions 
 as to the future. But have you 
 given deep and anxious considera- 
 tion to this great question. Whose 
 Son is Christ ? 
 
 Many a soul is kept in doubt 
 
40 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 and anxiety, because it does not 
 ponder over and weigh the answer 
 to this all -important enquiry. 
 Jesus is the Son of God, — the 
 Son of the living God : and be- 
 cause He is, and ever was, the 
 only- begotten of the Father — 
 equal with Him — the brightness 
 of His glory, and the express 
 image of His person, — because 
 Jesus is, and ever was, the mighty 
 God, the Creator of all things, the 
 Sustainer of all things, — there- 
 fore it is that His death upon the 
 cross is so efficacious, so complete 
 and eternal an answer for sin, — 
 of such infinite value to God. 
 Therefore it is, also, that the love 
 of God is proved to be so vast, so 
 unspeakable, towards sinners, in- 
 asmuch as He did not spare His 
 own Son ; He did not hesitate to 
 bruise His own Beloved, but de- 
 livered Him up to judgment, 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 41 
 
 wrath, and death, in order that 
 He might spare, pardon, and 
 redeem lost sinners. 
 
 It cost God His only Son to 
 save one sinner. It cost Him His 
 own heart's affections; for that 
 blessed Son had been from ever- 
 lasting in His bosom, and had in 
 every thing delighted and pleased 
 God : and yet He placed Him on 
 the cross as a substitute for the 
 sinner, dealt with Him under the 
 curse, made Him to be sin, made 
 His soul to be an offering for sin, 
 laid on Him iniquity, and caused 
 Him to bear the sin of many. 
 
 If the great, the mighty, the 
 glorious Jehovah Jesus has come 
 to suffer the penalty that I de- 
 served, can I any longer question 
 or doubt my eternal salvation? 
 If all the wrath I ought to endure 
 has been rolled on Him, shall I 
 have to taste any of that wrath 
 
42 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 myself? If He has paid my debt 
 to the utmost in shedding His 
 own precious blood for me, will 
 Grod reckon that debt against me 
 any more ? 
 
 What would you think of a 
 creditor demanding of his debtor 
 payment a second time of a sum 
 which had been already fully paid, 
 and for which a receipt had been 
 duly delivered? Such a creditor 
 must either keep his books in a 
 very negligent way, or must be 
 unjust in his dealings. The death 
 and resurrection of Christ is 
 God's acknowledgment in fiill 
 discharge of every sin of which 
 the believer has been, is, or can 
 be guilty. And so complete is 
 that discharge, that Grod himself 
 says. He is faithful and just to 
 forgive. He even leaves out the 
 word mercy, and places His for- 
 giveness of sins upon His faith- 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 43 
 
 fulness and justice. And all this 
 results from the greatness and 
 glory of the Sacrifice, Jesus Christ, 
 the Son of the living God. 
 
 "There is therefore now no 
 condemnation to them which are 
 in Christ Jesus ;^^ no condemna- 
 tion of any kind; no condemna- 
 tion, because of the evil of one's 
 heart, the evil of one's ways — 
 sin within, or sin committed- 
 transgressions, trespasses, or ini- 
 quity. There is no condemna- 
 tion, for all condemnation has 
 passed on the blessed Lord Jesus; 
 for He was delivered for our 
 offences. ^ He His own self bare 
 our sins in His own body on the 
 tree. He was made sin for us. 
 He bare our iniquities. He was 
 immbered with the transgressors. 
 He died, the just instead of the 
 unjust ones. By himself He 
 purged our sins. In Him we have 
 
44 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 redemption through His blood, 
 even the forgiveness of sins. 
 
 Observe also the word now. 
 " There is noio no condemnation ; ^^ 
 at this very time, at this very 
 moment, without waiting or hop- 
 ing for any future mercy. And 
 who are in Christ Jesus ? All who 
 have eternal life, through faith in 
 Him; all who from the heart con- 
 fess that Jesus is the Son of God. 
 
 " Whosoever shall confess that 
 Jesus is the ^ Son of God, God 
 dwelleth in him, and he in God. 
 
 "He that hath the Son hath 
 life: and he that hath not the 
 Son of God hath not life.'' 
 
 "The Son of God is come, and 
 hath given us an understanding, 
 that we may know Him that is 
 true : and we are in Him that is 
 true, even in His Son Jesus 
 Christ. This is the true God, 
 and eternal life.'" 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 45 
 
 ANSWEES TO SOME COMMON DOUBTS 
 OE OBJECTIONS. 
 
 § 8. (1.) ''How do I know that 
 Christ died for me V 
 
 This question is best answered 
 by proposing another question: 
 Do you know that you are a sin- 
 ner ? It is one thing to say, We 
 are all sinners^ and quite another 
 thing from the heart to acknow- 
 ledge, / am a sinner. Have you 
 to any extent realized the grievous 
 burden of sin ? Have you felt evil 
 thoughts and corruptions rising 
 up in your heart, and loathed 
 them? Has your conscience 
 been exercised respecting the 
 guilt of your own soul, as well 
 as the evil of your past life ? and 
 
46 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 have you hated sin, and desired 
 to get rid of that evil — not so 
 much from fear of judgment or 
 of hell, as because of the dislike 
 which you feel to sin itself, and 
 because you know it shuts you 
 out from God ? 
 
 If you have really known and 
 understood to some extent what 
 it is to be a sinner, then may you 
 truly say, Christ died for me ; for 
 listen to God's word : " This is 
 a faithftil saying, and worthy of 
 all acceptation, that Christ Jesus 
 came into the world to save sin- 
 ners/'* Here is a world-wide 
 proclamation from God. He de- 
 clares, Jirst, that the proclama- 
 tion is true, and that there is 
 no uncertainty about it. It is 
 a faithful saying. Next, that it 
 is worth while for every one to 
 accept His message, no matter 
 
 * 1 Tim. i. 15. 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 47 
 
 who it may be, or in what state 
 the sinner may be. Let him re- 
 ceive the saying from God. Let 
 him trust it. It is worthy of all 
 acceptation. Then He proclaims 
 the object for which Christ Jesus 
 came into the world; viz., to save, 
 to procure eternal redemption, to 
 accomplish salvation. And lastly, 
 the people are described whom 
 He came to save, that is, sinners. 
 
 Whoever, therefore, can truly 
 write himself down a ^mn^r, under 
 this proclamation, may with con- 
 fidence say, Christ Jesus came 
 into the world to save me ; for I 
 come under the class of persons 
 for whom He died. 
 
 Supposing that the Queen of 
 this country were to provide a 
 vast storehouse full of corn, and 
 were to have a placard posted 
 over the door of the storehouse 
 to this efiect : " This corn is pro- 
 
48 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 vided for all the poor and needy, 
 who have no money, and wlio 
 have no hope o^ obtaining any, 
 whereby they may obtain food for 
 themselves/' Any one reading 
 such a proclamation might ask 
 himself, "Have I any right to 
 this corn ? Sm^ely I have, if I am 
 in want." The only requirement 
 demanded, in order to entitle any 
 one to partake of the corn, would 
 be abject poverty and need. If a 
 person were too proud to own his 
 penury, he would starve ; but the 
 more clearly an indigent person 
 could prove his poverty, the more 
 surely entitled would he be to the 
 corn, and that upon the highest 
 authority — the word of the Queen. 
 So is it with this blessed pro- 
 clamation from God. You have 
 only to plead your complete ruin; 
 and your consciousness of that 
 very ruin is, upon God's authority. 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 49 
 
 your title to say, Christ Jesus 
 came into the world to save me. 
 The apostle Paul himself realized 
 the value of this faithful saying, 
 and was resolved to put himself 
 down in the list of those for whom 
 Christ died. And so he concludes 
 the sentence by declaring, "of 
 whom I am chief.'" ^ 
 
 If God had published a book, 
 in which the names of all those 
 for whom Christ died were en- 
 tered, and if ^ He had sent that 
 book down into this world, it 
 would have been perfectly use- 
 less ; for the countless multitude 
 of names therein enrolled would 
 utterly prevent any one from 
 discovering his own. No human 
 hands could, through a life-time, 
 turn over its pages ; no life would 
 be sufficiently long to peruse its 
 contents. It is a countless multi- 
 tude, which no man can number. 
 
50 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 that have washed their robes, and 
 made them white in the blood of 
 the Lamb. The only wise God 
 has therefore pursued the only 
 wise plan, and has given us, in 
 the Scripture above quoted, the 
 description of those whom Christ 
 came to save. Paul the apostle 
 heads the list, as a pattern to 
 those who should afterwards be- 
 lieve in Christ; and you may 
 write your name down as close 
 under that of Paul as you please. 
 And if you can with truth thus 
 enter your name in the list of 
 sinners here below, be assured 
 God is faithful : He cannot deny 
 himself, and your name is entered 
 in the Lamb's book of life above. 
 
 § 9. (2.) "7 fear I am too great 
 a sinner; I feel so wicked." 
 
 This sounds like a very humble 
 confession ; but, in truth, it is an 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 51 
 
 utterance of great pride, and it is 
 in itself a very wicked thought. 
 What would you say of a sick 
 nian who refused to have the ad- 
 vice of a very skilful physician, 
 because he considered his own 
 case as beyond the power of that 
 physician's skill? Surely you 
 would say, " That man thinks he 
 knows more about his disease, 
 although he has never studied 
 medicine, than that learned phy- 
 sician, who has given his whole 
 time and attention to it. He must 
 be a foolish man ; for, be his dis- 
 ease what it may, he is despising 
 the only remedy that may possi- 
 bly do him good. 
 
 In human things, men are not 
 generally so foolish. The sic]^ 
 man will catch at the least ray of 
 hope, and will eagerly desire any 
 help that may be rendered him. 
 Indeed, it is seldom that a person 
 
 E 2 
 
62 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICITLTIES. 
 
 likes to think or to hear that his 
 case is hopeless ; yet, in the great 
 subject of salvation, the sinner 
 rather cleaves to the thought that 
 he is too bad to be saved. He 
 undervalues thereby the precious 
 blood of Christ, and says that the 
 blood is not sujB&ciently precious. 
 He ventures to question the deep 
 and wondrous love of Grod to him, 
 a sinner; or caUs in (question 
 the foreknowledge and wisdom of 
 God, by supposing that God has 
 not provided for his case; but 
 that his sins are so many, and so 
 great, that they are beyond the 
 reach of mercy; and that God 
 has, therefore, miscalculated in 
 His gift of Christ, and has not 
 provided a sufficient sacrifice. It 
 is clear, that if any one be too 
 great a sinner to be saved, the 
 apostle Paul is a liar, and the 
 Word of God is false; for Paul 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 53 
 
 cannot be the chief of sinners, 
 if there be a greater than he; 
 and the word of God cannot be 
 true, which has thus recorded his 
 saying. 
 
 reader! do not any longer 
 thus presumptuously doubt the 
 value of the precious blood of 
 Christ. Do not question the 
 marvellous wisdom and love of 
 God, in giving His own Son to 
 die. Hear His words : " Though 
 your sins be as scarlet, they shall 
 be as white as snow; though they 
 be red like crimson, they shall be 
 as wool.''^ 
 
 § 10. (3.) "I have not repented 
 enough : I do not feel sorry enough 
 for my sins^ 
 
 As the word ^'repentance'' is 
 in^ very common use, and much 
 misunderstood, it may be well 
 here to search from the Scripture 
 
54 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 what it really means. The Greek 
 word, which we translate repen- 
 tance, implies change of mind, 
 and does not in itself convey the 
 thought of sorrow. It is often 
 used by the Lord Jesus himself 
 to include the whole of salvation, 
 as in Luke xiii. 3, and xv. 7-10. 
 
 This is very evident when, in 
 explaining the parable of the lost 
 sheep found by the shepherd, and 
 that of the lost piece of money 
 found by the woman, the Lord 
 speaks of the joy in heaven over 
 one sinner that repenteth; al- 
 though in the lost sheep and the 
 piece of money there is clearly no 
 sorrow manifested. In the con- 
 cluding parable of the prodigal 
 son, ^ where he is described as 
 passing through a certain process 
 of soul, which iDe should call 
 repentance, the Lord omits that 
 word altogether, and says, "He 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 55 
 
 was dead, and is alive again ; and 
 was lost, and is found/' thus in- 
 troducing the thought conveyed 
 by the two former parables into 
 the third ; for the sheep was lost 
 and found, and the piece of money 
 was a lifeless, unconscious thing. 
 
 The apostle Paul, also, when 
 preaching at Athens, uses the 
 word " repentance'' in this general 
 sense, as including faith: "God 
 commandeth all men everywhere 
 to repent/'^ The Athenians ought 
 to change their minds as to God, 
 and turn from idols and the un- 
 known god, to the true and living 
 God, who had given Christ. 
 
 Repentance is sometimes spok- 
 en of in connection with faith, as 
 in Acts XX. 21, where Paul speaks 
 of his having testified, " both to 
 the Jews, and also to the Greeks, 
 repentance toward God, and faith 
 
 * Acts xvii. 30. 
 
56 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 toward our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 The Jew needed to have a change 
 of mind toward Grod as much as 
 the heathen Greek. Both were 
 ahke ignorant of the love of Gfod. 
 The Jew thought that he must 
 gain God's favour by his works. 
 The Greeks were worshipping 
 false gods, and were also ignorant 
 of the gracious character, and 
 power, and wisdom, of the true 
 God. So that Paul, in preaching 
 the gospel, proclaimed to both the 
 true and living God, manifested 
 in all His grace and truth in the 
 gift of His blessed Son Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 If repentance be viewed as sor- 
 row for sin, which is the common, 
 though not scriptural, thought of 
 it (for in the Bible it includes 
 much more), then we must be 
 careful not to make a merit of 
 this sorrow for sin, and not to 
 
THE SOTTL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. ^ 
 
 suppose that it is a part of sal- 
 vation. It is true that the soul 
 must experience some conscious- 
 ness of the evil of sin, or other- 
 wise there will be no turning to a 
 Saviour. 
 
 A sick man would not send for 
 a physician if he did not feel his 
 sickness ; his feeling his sickness 
 is no cure, nor any step towards 
 a cure; but he is compelled, by 
 the consciousness of his own 
 misery, to seek some remedy. So 
 with respect to the feelings of the 
 soul as regards sin. They are 
 only so far requisite, because with- 
 out them the sinner would not 
 think of a Saviour. Were we to 
 weep over and lament our con- 
 dition all our lives, and were we 
 to loathe ourselves a hundredfold 
 more than we do, nothing would 
 be gained by this; God would 
 not pardon us because of our 
 
58 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 conscious misery, nor would our 
 tears blot out our sins. 
 
 Indeed, the knowledge of sin 
 that a person has, when he is 
 first converted, is generally very 
 superficial. Peter had followed 
 Christ for some time before he 
 discovered his own ruined state, 
 and then he exclaimed, "Depart 
 from me; for I am a sinful man, 
 Lord ! " His first impulse was 
 to send Christ away, because he 
 felt so mi fit to be in His presence; 
 but the Lord said, " Fear not." 
 The very misery which the apos- 
 tle experienced was occasioned 
 by the presence of the Lord; and 
 Christ's presence and help were 
 the only cure for his misery. 
 
 The apostle Paul, after a long 
 hfe of remarkable devotedness 
 and zealous obedience, declares 
 that he is " the chief of sinners f 
 not that he was, but that he ^6'. 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 59 
 
 His soul had more and more 
 grown in the knowledge of his 
 own vilenvess, as he had more and 
 more closely followed Christ- 
 No one has a right to say, I 
 have not repented enough : I have 
 not felt my sins enough. For no 
 one has a right to define lioio 
 much he ought to feel his sins. 
 It should be, indeed, ^ an increas- 
 ing, deepening experience of the 
 soul, as the believer walks more 
 and more with God. ^ Have you 
 felt yourself such a sinner as to 
 need a Sa^dour ? If so, there is 
 Christ for ^ you. God has pro- 
 vided in His death the immediate 
 and sufficient remedy for all sin, 
 whether felt or not. 
 
 § 11. (4.) "I do not feel that I 
 am saved!^ 
 
 This is a very common form of 
 unbelief, and is much encouraged 
 
60 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 by believers, who have peace and 
 joy in Christ, asking the anxious 
 about their feehngs, instead of 
 only directing them to trust in 
 the Lord Jesus. Suppose that 
 Moses, when he had lifted up the 
 serpent of brass on the |3ole, had 
 gone to the bitten Israelites, and 
 asked them what they felt, instead 
 of directing them to look at that 
 brazen serpent, what would have 
 been the result? They would 
 have perished, and the lifting up 
 of the serpent on the pole would 
 have been of no avail. 
 
 In like manner, the convicted 
 sinner is not to be asked, and 
 ought not to ask himself. What 
 do I feel f but he should turn his 
 thoughts at once upon what God 
 declares that Christ has done; 
 viz., that He has put away sin by 
 the sacrifice of himself; that He 
 has been Hfted up on the Cross, 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 61 
 
 that whosoever beUeveth should 
 not perish, but have eternal hfe. 
 
 If I owe a debt, and a friend 
 pays it, and brings me the receipt, 
 I do not feel that it is paid, but I 
 knoio it is. I believe my friend's 
 word, and I see the receipt. I am 
 sure it is paid, because my friend 
 would not deceive me, and would 
 not forge a receipt ; and this cer- 
 tainty in my soul that the debt is 
 paid removes all that feeling of 
 doubt and fear which before oc- 
 cupied me, and I am at rest, and 
 am not afraid of being thrown 
 into prison for my debt — I am 
 not afraid of meeting my creditor : 
 fall payment has been made. 
 
 So, reader, turn your eye upon 
 Christ on the Cross, and ask the 
 question, Were my sins laid on 
 Him there? Is His precious blood 
 the payment in full for all my 
 grievous debts to God? Do I 
 
62 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFriCTJLTIES. 
 
 believe that His death is enough? 
 that Grod is satisfied with that? 
 and that nothing more is needed? 
 If once you are assured that the 
 Lord Jesus, God's blessed Son, 
 was given by God himself, even 
 unto death, in order that full pay- 
 ment and satisfaction might be 
 made in that death for your in- 
 numerable sins, then you will 
 have the feeling of rest and peace 
 that you desire; for if you believe 
 that all is settled in Christ's death, 
 you cannot have a feeling of doubt 
 or uncertainty. If the debt is paid, 
 it is paid. 
 
 The reason why you do not feel 
 the peace you would wish is, that 
 you do not entirely believe the 
 debt is paid. Trust God about 
 it; and peace and rest are your 
 portion. Being justified by faith, 
 we have peace with God, through 
 our Lord Jesus Christ." We are 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 63 
 
 not justified by feeling, but jus- 
 tified by faith; and being thus 
 justified, or accounted righteous 
 before God, because we beheve 
 in Christ, we cannot but have 
 peace with God as the resuh. 
 
 § 12. (5.) " But I do not love 
 God as I ought/' 
 
 Let me ask you, reader, if there 
 be any one here below who loves 
 God as he ought f^ Is there any 
 one who is self-satisfied as to the 
 extent of his love for God ? Does 
 God expect us to love Him before 
 He saves us? or, does He save 
 us first, and then expect us to 
 love Him because He has saved 
 us ? Does the little infant in the 
 mother's arms love its mother 
 first? and does the mother love 
 it because of the infant's love for 
 her ? Does not the child grow up 
 under the consciousness of the 
 
64 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 love of its mother ? And thus its 
 own heart is drawn out in love 
 towards one who has cherished, 
 and nourished, and watched, and 
 cared for it so much. 
 
 Some years ago two gentlemen 
 were riding together, and as they 
 were about to separate, one ad- 
 dressed the other thus : " Do you 
 ever read your Bible ?"_ "Yes; but 
 I get no benefit from it, because, 
 to tell you the truth, I feel I do 
 not love God." " No more did I," 
 replied the other, "but God loved 
 me." This answer produced such 
 an effect upon his friend, that, to 
 use his own words, it was as if 
 one had lifted him off" the saddle 
 into the skies. It opened up to 
 his soul at once the great truth, 
 that it is not how much I love 
 God, but how much God loves 
 me. 
 
 My love to God is as nothing. 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 65 
 
 It is not as large as a drop in 
 comparison with the mighty 
 ocean. God's love to me is vast, 
 unbounded, measureless. The 
 gift of His only begotten Son is 
 the proof that He loves me, and 
 how much He loves me. If I can 
 tell the value of Christ — if I can 
 estimate the mighty power, wis- 
 dom, beauty, love, and perfection 
 of Him who is God's fellow, the 
 brightness of His glory, and the 
 express image of His person, — 
 then I can say how much God 
 loves me. 
 
 Cease, therefore, from doubting 
 His love, because you find your 
 own so meagre, and poor, and 
 short; and if you desire to love 
 Him more, contemplate more and 
 more His love for you, by search- 
 ing more and more into His un- 
 speakable gift. His blessed Son; 
 and then you will love Him, 
 
66 THE SOtJL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 because He has first loved you. 
 A person sometimes says,^ "I am 
 trying to love God." This is an 
 entire mistake. Love will never 
 spring up through effort. It must 
 be kindled in the soul by the 
 assurance of God's wondrous love 
 to us, and by gazing on the beau- 
 ty and loveliness of His blessed 
 Son. 
 
 § 13. (6.) "But is it not pre- 
 sumptuous to say^ that we are 
 saved before we dief How can 
 we he certain that our sins are 
 forgiven? Have we not all to 
 appear before the judgment-seat 
 hereafter?" 
 
 In reply to these questions, 
 first let me ask you, whether it 
 is presumption for a sinner to 
 believe what God says? or, 
 whether it is not the height of 
 presumption to disbeheve His 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 67 
 
 word ? The Lord Jesus, in Jqlm 
 V. 24, speaks thus : " Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you, He that 
 heareth my word, and believeth 
 on Him that sent me, hath 
 everlasting life, and shall not 
 come into condemnation; but is 
 passed from death unto life/'' 
 Observe : the Lord himself, who 
 is to be the Judge, (for a little 
 before He says, "The Fathei 
 judgeth no man, but hath com- 
 mitted all judgment unto the 
 Son,"") here pronounces sentence 
 with the authority of one speak- 
 ing from the everlasting throne 
 of God, and declares, with a 
 double Amen, " Verily, verily, I 
 say unto you. He that heareth 
 .... and believeth .... hath (not 
 shall have, but hath) everlasting 
 hfe;'^ has it already; has it at 
 once, as soon as he believes. 
 " Shall not come into condemna- 
 
 F 2 
 
68 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 tion," that is, shall not stand to 
 be judged upon any question of 
 salvation, but is actually passed 
 already from death unto Ufe; — 
 in fact has been translated out of 
 death and the power of Satan, 
 into the kingdom of life, of Christ, 
 and of glory, just as certainly as 
 Enoch and Elijah were translated 
 or carried away from the earth 
 into heaven. 
 
 Again : in John vi. 40, the 
 Lord says, "This is the will of 
 Him that sent me, that every one 
 which seeth the Son, and be- 
 lieveth on Him, may have ever- 
 lasting life : and I will raise him 
 up at the last day ;" and in verse 
 54, " Whoso eateth my flesh, and 
 drinketh my blood, hath eternal 
 life." 
 
 Passages similar to these might 
 be multiplied, proving that he 
 that hath the Son hath life ; that 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 69 
 
 as soon as a sinner believes, lie 
 has at once and for ever become 
 a new creature, and can never 
 perisli, but is in fact everlast- 
 ingly saved; for by grace we 
 are saved, through faith — not we 
 shall be. . 
 
 As to the forgiveness of sins, 
 it is also stated in Grod's Word, 
 that in His dear Son ''we have 
 redemption through His blood, 
 even the forgiveness of sins/'^ 
 "" You, being dead in your sins and 
 the uncircumcision of your flesh, 
 hath He quickened together with 
 Him, having forgiven you all tres- 
 passes/' t "In whom we have re- 
 demption through His blood, the 
 forgiveness of sins, according to 
 the riches of His grace/' i 
 
 Forgiveness of sins, therefore, 
 is ^ a present blessing, to be re- 
 ceived now, and not to be settled 
 
 - Col. i. 14. f Col. ii. 13. \ Eph. i. 7. 
 
70 THE SOUL AND ITS DimCULTIES. 
 
 at some future judgment-scene. 
 This forgiveness of sins, also, is 
 true to every one that believes, 
 on to the last moment of his life 
 here below. He can say, every 
 day, every hour, In Christ I have 
 redemption through His blood, 
 even the forgiveness of sins : not 
 I have had, but I have forgiveness 
 of sins : not I shall have, but I 
 liave forgiveness of sins. The 
 value of the precious blood^ of 
 Christ goes on and on, cleansing 
 and keeping us clean, till we are 
 presented faultless, on the morn- 
 ing of the resurrection, before the 
 presence of His glory, with ex- 
 ceeding joy. 
 
 But it may be asked, " Is there 
 no judgment-seat before which 
 I shall have to stand?" If you 
 are a believer in Christ, you will 
 never have to appear before a 
 throne of judgment upon any 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 71 
 
 question of salvation. On the 
 contrary, supposing you were to 
 die, you would depart to be with 
 Christ, which is far better. You 
 would be absent from the body, 
 at home with the Lord. The 
 dying thief heard the gracious 
 words, "To-day slialt thou be 
 with me in Paradise.'' It would 
 indeed be a strange thing if a 
 believer, after having been at 
 horne with Christ above, after 
 having been with Him in Para- 
 dise, should, at the resurrection- 
 day, stand before a throne of 
 judgment upon the question whe- 
 ther he were saved or not — should 
 stand to hear whether he should 
 go to heaven or to hell, after he 
 had been with Christ in heaven 
 for many years. 
 
 When the resurrection - day 
 comes, "the Lord himself will de- 
 scend from heaven with a shout. 
 
72 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 with the voice of the archangel, 
 and with the trump of God: and 
 the dead in Christ [those be- 
 hevers who have died] will rise 
 first : then we which are alive and 
 remain [those of us who are be- 
 lievers in Christ, who may be at 
 that time living on the earth] 
 shall be caught up together with 
 them in the clouds, to meet the 
 Lord in the air: and so shall we 
 ever be with the Lord." * Thus, 
 instead of being judged, "we 
 shall ever be with the Lord." 
 The change also is instantaneous; 
 "in a moment, in the twinkling 
 of an eye," this niortal will put 
 on immortality, this body of dis- 
 honour will be changed, or raised 
 in glory. The believer will be glo- 
 rified immediately he hears the 
 trumpet sound at the Lord's re- 
 turn. He cannot, then, be judged 
 
 * 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17. 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 73 
 
 on a question of sin, after he 
 has been glorified and made hke 
 Christ. 
 
 Again, the Lord himself said, 
 ^^I will come again, and receive 
 you unto myself; that where I 
 am, ye may be also/' He will 
 take us to be for ever with him- 
 self, instead of calling us up 
 before a throne of judgment. 
 
 There is indeed one passage 
 which may perplex some : " We 
 must all appear before the judg- 
 ment-seat of Christ; that every 
 one may receive the things done 
 in his body, according to that he 
 hath done, whether good or bad.''"^ 
 This passage has no reference to 
 any question of heaven or hell — 
 any question of salvation or con- 
 demnation. It is the judgment- 
 seat; or, as it might be better 
 translated, tribunal of Christ, 
 
 - 2 Cor. V. 10. 
 
74 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 which is here spoken of. Christ 
 is the name of the Lord Jesus 
 with reference to ,His Church. 
 He will not, as Christ, sit upon a 
 throne of judgment, to judge the 
 world or the wicked; but, because 
 He is, the Son of Man, God has 
 committed all judgment to Him.* 
 " God has appointed a day, in the 
 which He will judge the world 
 
 by that Man whom He 
 
 hath ordained." t "Hereafter ye 
 shall see the Son of man sitting 
 on the right hand of power, and 
 coming in the clouds of heaven." t 
 Christ, because He is the head 
 of His Church, will call around 
 Him all believers, after they are 
 raised and glorified, and will in- 
 vestigate their works and ways 
 as believers, and tWU apportion 
 po\;ver and dominion to them, 
 
 * John V. Sr. t Acts xvii. 31. 
 
 I Matt. xxvi. 64; see also Dan. vii. 13. 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 75 
 
 according to their past faithful- 
 ness and dihgence. To this the 
 apostle refers, when he speaks 
 of all believers appearing before 
 the judgment -seat of Christ, to 
 receive according to their works. 
 Lot was saved out of Sodom, and 
 perished not in the burning city ; 
 but he was saved like one who 
 had passed through the fire. He 
 lost everything he had. He was 
 as safe as Abraham ; but ^ the 
 latter retained all his possessions, 
 and glorified God in his walk of 
 faith. 
 
 One believer is just as much 
 saved as another from all con- 
 demnation; but the walk and 
 conduct of one may be much 
 more pleasing to Christ than the 
 ways of another, and this differ- 
 ence will be made manifest after 
 both have been raised in equal 
 glory. 
 
76 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 § 14. (7.) "I hope God will have 
 mercy upon me : I hope I shall he 
 saved at last: I am earnestly 
 praying for it!^ 
 
 There is no passage of Scrip- 
 ture which authorizes any sinner 
 to hope to be saved, or to hope 
 that God will have mercy on him 
 at some future time. God, in His 
 wonderful love, sends the message 
 of present salvation to the sinner 
 now. He bids the thirsty come 
 at once, and drink. "Ho, every 
 one that thirsteth, come ye to the 
 waters.''^ ''Whosoever will, let 
 him take the water of life freely.''' t 
 " If any man thirst, let him come 
 unto me, and drink.'' t I may 
 claim Christ now at once as my 
 salvation. I may trust now in 
 the present mercy and grace of 
 God ; but I have no right to hope 
 
 * Isa. Iv. 1. f Rev. xxii. 17. I John vii. 37. 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 11 
 
 for it to-morrow. Now is the 
 time of acceptance: noic is the 
 day of salvation. Thousands have 
 gone to perdition, because they 
 have hoped to be saved, and have 
 not trusted Christ at once. 
 
 God has provided all things. 
 "All things are ready:'''' mercy, 
 love, pardon, peace, salvation, all 
 ready; and God sends forth the 
 invitation, "Gome, partake.'' Do 
 not stop to ask for things that 
 God freely offers. Do not think 
 that you are more ready to re- 
 ceive mercy than God is to give 
 it. Indeed, one blessed aspect 
 of the gospel is this — that God 
 himself takes ^ the place of be- 
 seeching the sinner ; for He does 
 it through His servants. He did 
 it when Christ was on earth. He 
 besought sinners to be reconciled^ 
 to Him. And now that Christ is* 
 gone. He still continues to pray. 
 
78 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 through the mouths of His am- 
 bassadors, "Be ye reconciled to 
 God." God^s favour needs not, 
 therefore, to be entreated, as if 
 His heart were hard, and as if 
 His mercy were shut up. He has, 
 in the gift of His blessed Son 
 in death, proclaimed His mercy 
 far and wide, and made manifest 
 His love towards a guilty world ; 
 and now He invites sinners to 
 cast away their hatred and mis- 
 trust, and freely to receive recon- 
 ciliation. 
 
 There is one text of Scripture 
 which is sometimes quoted as if 
 to prove that we are told to hope 
 for salvation:* "We ourselves 
 groan within ourselves, waiting 
 for the adoption, to wit, the re- 
 demption 01 our body. For we 
 are saved by hope: but hope that 
 is seen is not hope : for what a 
 
 * Rom. viii. 23-25. 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 79 
 
 man seeth, why cloth he yet hope 
 for? But if we hope for that we 
 see not, then do we with patience 
 wait for it." 
 
 This passage has nothing to do 
 with the salvation of a sinner 
 from wrath or from hell, but 
 simply refers to the resurrection 
 of the body. Believers groan, 
 because they are still in unre- 
 deemed bodies; but they groan 
 in hope, and patiently wait for 
 the time when these vile bodies 
 shall be changed into the likeness 
 of Christ's glorious body. We 
 are already saved, says the apos- 
 tle ; but we hope for the g:lorious 
 resurrection. Our salvation, as 
 regards the hody, is still a hope. 
 As regards the remission of sins, 
 " by grace we are saved through 
 faith.'' We already receive the 
 end of our faith, even the salva- 
 tion of our souls. To be saved 
 
80 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 in the way of hope, as regards 
 the redemption of the body, is a 
 verj^ different thing from hoping 
 to he saved, as regards the for- 
 giveness of sins. 
 
 § 15. (8.) *'But must I not strive'^ 
 I am doing all I can." 
 
 Let us look into the Scripture, 
 where the word strive is used. 
 " Then said one unto Him, Lord, 
 are there few that be saved? 
 And He said unto them. Strive 
 to enter in at the strait gate : for 
 many, I say unto you, will seek 
 to enter in, and shall not be able. 
 When once the Master of the 
 house is risen up, and hath shut 
 to the door, and ye begin to stand 
 without, and to knock at the door, 
 saying. Lord, Lord, open unto us; 
 and He shall answer and say unto 
 you, I know you not whence ye 
 are : then shall ye begin to say, 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 81 
 
 We have eaten and drunk in thy 
 presence, and thou hast taught 
 in our streets. But He shall say, 
 I tell you, I know you not whence 
 ye are: depart from me, all ye 
 workers of iniquity/'* 
 
 Two things are to be observed. 
 First, the Lord gives this direc- 
 tion. Strive^ in reply to a ques- 
 tion, ''Are there few that be 
 saved?'" and next, it is an open, 
 though a narrow gate, that is to 
 be entered. If a person occupy 
 himself about doubtful or unpro- 
 fitable questions, such as, whether 
 there are few or many saved, — 
 whether such a one is chosen of 
 Grod to salvation, — the reply to 
 such a one is. Take good care 
 that you get in yourself Be in 
 earnest as regards your own sal- 
 vation, and let not useless dis- 
 cussions and surmises beguile 
 
 '' Luke xiii. J>3-27. 
 
82 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 you from making sure of the 
 mercy of God. 
 
 It is a very common practice 
 for a person, when he is spoken 
 to about his own soul's welfare, 
 to ask some question about a 
 difficult text of Scripture, or to 
 present some cavil or opposition, 
 and, in wilful indifference, to cast 
 himself upon the truth respecting 
 God's election; perverting this 
 blessed doctrine, by saying, "You 
 Ivnow, I cannot be saved, unless 
 I am elected." These are subtle 
 devices and temjitations of the 
 evil one, encouraging the natural 
 dislike of man's heart to God, 
 and to the truth, and thereby 
 fastening the wretched sinner in 
 his determined unbehef and in- 
 difference. 
 
 To such, the answer of the 
 Lord is very plain and solemn: 
 " Strive to enter in at the strait 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 83 
 
 gate/^ The gate is open now; 
 you liave not to push it open : 
 you are exhorted to enter it by 
 Christ himself. God presents no 
 hindrances. On the contrary, the 
 door is flung wide open. The day 
 will come when the door will be 
 shut. Then you will gladly use 
 every effort to have it open, and 
 to get in ; but it will be too late. 
 You will plead in vain your re- 
 ligious services, your past pray- 
 ers, your church - membership, 
 your sitting under gospel truth, 
 your regular attendance upon the 
 means of grace, the sacrament, 
 and the like. The Lord will say, 
 " I know you not whence ye are : 
 depart from me, all ye workers of 
 iniquity. You have kept outside 
 the gate : you have been content- 
 ed with certain religious forms 
 and discussions about truth ; and 
 you have not made it a personal 
 
 G 2 
 
84 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 matter, making it certain that 
 you have entered in." These 
 words will never be spoken to a 
 person that is in earnest, or to a 
 soul burdened with sin. 
 
 But what is the difficulty as 
 regards entering in? for the gate 
 is open, and yet the Lord says, 
 Strive. The gate, though open, 
 is narrow; and in this really lies 
 the difficulty. Men want to get 
 in, carrying with them their own 
 self-conceit, their own self-right- 
 eousness, their own works, their 
 own goodness, their religious 
 forms and ceremonies, the correct 
 performance of their duties. All 
 these bundles and weights of self- 
 will and self-righteousness make 
 them too big to pass through the 
 narrow gate. And again, there 
 are many pulls backward from 
 the world. The desire of gain; 
 the desire of human applause; 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 85 
 
 the hope of keeping all that can 
 be got in this world, and getting 
 the next besides ; the desire to 
 retain sonie cherished lust — some 
 earthly friendship : these are like 
 so many cords keeping back the 
 sinner, so that the Lord well says, 
 '' Strive to enter in/' 
 
 There must be a struggle with 
 self. ^ There must be a stern re- 
 solution, with^ the help of God, 
 to take the kingdom of God by 
 violence. To enter the gate, one 
 must be stripped naked of all 
 self-complacency, and one must 
 count it worth while to be saved 
 at any cost. So that, to^ do all 
 one can, is really to be doing no- 
 thing; to have no confidence in 
 the flesh, but to trust the love of 
 God in Christ Jesus, and to take 
 salvation as it is freely offered, 
 counting it worth having. 
 
86 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES, 
 
 § 16. (9.) Texts such as — '"Many 
 are called, hut few chosen," — " No 
 man can come to me, except the 
 Father, who hath sent me, draw 
 him," — and others of a similar 
 character, sometimes perplex the 
 troubled conscience: and the heart 
 turns in upon itself, ashing, Am 
 I one of the chosen ones f 
 
 Observe : the Lord Jesus never 
 uttered words of this kind to any 
 trembling self-convicted sinner. 
 But when He was met by oppo- 
 sition, by cavilling questions, and 
 by rejection, then He spoke of 
 the Father drawing the sinner to 
 Him, and the like. If there be a 
 true conviction of sin, whence 
 does that come? Would Satan 
 teach a sinner to be unhappy 
 because of sins? Is it not the 
 purpose of the devil to destroy 
 the soul — to murder ? and is not 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 87 
 
 his most effectual mode of doing 
 so, keeping the conscience killed 
 to rest, — comforting the heart 
 with a false peace, — teUing the 
 sinner that he is not so bad, — 
 that he is moral, religious, up- 
 right, and that God is merciful, — 
 and if he does his duty, all will 
 be well; that it is excitement or 
 madness to talk so much, and 
 think so much, about Christ and 
 salvation ;^ and that it unfits a 
 man for his proper duties in life, 
 and for his proper place in so- 
 ciety ? 
 
 These are some of the devil's 
 sops, to lull the poor deluded soul 
 into a false security. But where 
 God draws. He draws to Christ — 
 to Christ crucified. He, by the 
 Holy ^ Spirit, makes the sinner 
 conscious of his need of a Sa- 
 viour. And, as soon as this is 
 felt, let the heart rejoice: for God 
 
88 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 is dealing, and will not leave the 
 soul without accomplishing His 
 blessed work of salvation. Only 
 let the troubled soul say, I am 
 the clay. Thou art the potter. 
 Let him commit himself in help- 
 lessness to thelove and mercy of 
 Grod ; and all is done. If I wish 
 to know whether I am elect of 
 God, let me ask myself the ques- 
 tion. Am I lost ? Do I really 
 believe that I am utterly and en- 
 tirely lost ? If so, I may be quite 
 assured that Christ Jesus was 
 sent by God to ^ seek and to save 
 me ; that He died for me on the 
 cross. 
 
 § 17. (10.) ''Must I not work for 
 my salvatianf for does not the 
 Bible say, ' Work out your own 
 salvation with fear and trem- 
 UingV" 
 
 Let us look at the whole pas- 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 89 
 
 sage as it occurs in Phil. ii. 12, 
 13 : " Wlierefore, my beloved, as 
 ye have always obeyed, not as in 
 my presence only, but now much 
 more in my absence, work out 
 your own salvation^ with fear and 
 trembling: for it is God which 
 worketh in you both to will and 
 to do of His good pleasure/^ 
 The apostle Paul was writing to 
 persons already saved. He calls 
 them his beloved ones; and in 
 the first verse of the same epistle 
 he addresses them as ''saints in 
 Christ Jesus.""^ No one can be a 
 saint, or holy one, in Christ Jesus, 
 who is not saved. A saint is ex- 
 actly the opposite of an unsaved 
 sinner; and you, my reader, are 
 either a saved sinner, and there- 
 fore a saint washed in the pre- 
 cious blood of Christ, or a lost 
 sinner, still unsaved. 
 These Philippians, having been 
 
90 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 truly converted to God, had, dur- 
 ing the apostle's stay with them, 
 been obedient to his directions, 
 and had, in their conduct and 
 walk, very plainly shewn them- 
 selves to be believers in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. Now that the apos- 
 tle had left them, he tells them 
 in his letter to shew out their 
 salvation much more manifestly 
 in his absence. People seem to 
 read this passage as if the apostle 
 had said, " Work for your salva- 
 tion;*' whereas the word is, 
 " Work out," — shew out your sal- 
 vation in every action of your 
 life. Let the mind and ways of 
 Christ be seen in all your occupa- 
 tions, pursuits, and intercourse 
 one with another. 
 
 Supposing I were to take beau- 
 tiful colours, such as blue, purple, 
 scarlet, and fine linen, and also 
 to present a very choice pattern, 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 91 
 
 already worked out in canvas, to 
 my cliild^ and say to her, " Here 
 are the materials. Here are all 
 the various shades of colour that 
 you see in that pattern. Now 
 work them out yourself on an- 
 other piece of canvas, and copy 
 exactly the beautiful pattern be- 
 fore you.'^ This would not be 
 directing my child to labour or 
 work /or the materials; but, hav- 
 ing all the materials given her, it 
 would be expressing my wish 
 that she should carefully copy the 
 pattern before her. ^ 
 
 This is a little illustration of 
 what is intended in the above- 
 quoted text. The believer has 
 received, out of the fulness of 
 Christ, grace corresponding to 
 every grace in Him; and the 
 perfect example is also before 
 him. He is therefore to endea- 
 vour, by the help of Gods to dis- 
 
92 THE SOXJL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 play the graces of the Lord Jesus 
 in his own life and conduct. Sal- 
 vation implies the whole blessed 
 standing of the believer, not only 
 his deliverance from wrath and 
 condemnation, but his new crea- 
 tion, his completeness in Christ, 
 his power, by the help of the 
 Holy Spirit, to glorify Grod in his 
 body and in his spirit, which are 
 the Lord's. Costly gifts have 
 been bestowed upon him. Sal- 
 vation has been procured for him 
 at a wondrous price, and there- 
 fore, "with fear and trembling,'' 
 he is to make it manifest, lest he 
 should appear to soil or defile any 
 of the glorious things committed 
 to him. And yet, at the same 
 time, it is God himself that is 
 working in him, to will and to do 
 of His good pleasure. 
 
 § 18. (IL) '^ After all, may I not 
 fall from grace, and perish f" 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 93 
 
 Perhaps there is no expression 
 in Scripture so misunderstood 
 and misapplied as this one, " fall- 
 ing from grace/' If we turn to 
 the Epistle to the Galatians, 
 where alone it occurs^ we shall at 
 once perceive the true^ meaning 
 of the term. " Christ is become 
 of no effect unto you, whosoever 
 of you ^are justified by the law; 
 ye are fallen from grace/' *^ 
 
 These Gentile converts in Ga- 
 latia had been drawn aside by 
 some Judaizing teachers, who 
 told them that justification by 
 faith was not enough, but that 
 some works, or rites and cere- 
 monies, must be added on, in 
 order to secure ^ salvation. The 
 apostle, in his epistle, pronounced 
 a curse upon any that brought 
 such a gospel, which was not 
 really the Gospel, but a perver- 
 
 * Gal. V. 4. 
 
94 THE SOUL AND ITS DirFICULTIES. 
 
 sion of the truth. And after prov- 
 ing that a sinner is completely 
 justified through the mercy of 
 Grod, by faith in Jesus alone, he 
 proceeds to declare that Christ is 
 of no value to any one that seeks 
 to be justified by the law or by 
 works, and that such a one who 
 * thus thinks, by works or ordi- 
 nances of any kind, to be justi- 
 fied or made righteous before 
 Grod, has fallen from the only true 
 ground of justification ; viz., the 
 mercy or grace of God. 
 
 Thus, to fall from grace means 
 to become confident in our own 
 goodness, or to place dependence 
 on our own works. It does not 
 mean, as some think, falling into 
 open sin. Of this the same epis- 
 tle treats, and directs that if any 
 one be overtaken by temptation, 
 so as to commit some open fault 
 or sin, his brethren in Christ 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 95 
 
 should seek to restore him again 
 in the spirit of meekness. Such 
 a one has not fallen ft'om grace ; 
 for it is through the very grace 
 of God that he is to be restored. 
 He is to remember that the 
 mercy of God is still towards him 
 in Christ Jesus, and that the 
 blood of Jesus Christ cleanses 
 from all sin. 
 
 But if a person trusts in his 
 own works, he ceases to rely on 
 the mercy of God, and he falls 
 away from confiding in that grace 
 which alone can uphold and sus- 
 tain him. Grace means the full, 
 unmerited, undeserved love and 
 favour of God; so that if you, 
 dear reader, continue conscious 
 of your own unworthiness and 
 weakness, you will not fall from 
 grace, for you will still trust alone 
 to the mercy, pity, and love of 
 God. 
 
93 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 A FEW WOEDS TO BACKSLIDERS. 
 
 No one can have watched the 
 effect of the Gospel at the present 
 day, preached as it is with so 
 much earnestness and simphcity 
 by many servants of God, with- 
 out being struck with the number 
 of cases of restoration, as well as 
 of conversion which occur. The 
 same precious truth of the full 
 and free love of God, manifested 
 in the gift of His blessed Son, 
 meets the unsaved sinner in the 
 midst of all his sins, and through 
 the power of the Holy Ghost 
 saves him, and also meets the 
 wandering believer, and brings 
 him back to peace and rest of 
 soul. How is it that there are so 
 many backsliders — believers who 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 97 
 
 once had rest in Christ, who once 
 knew their sins forgiven, but who 
 have lost this blessed confidence, 
 doubt their salvation, and even 
 question whether they were ever 
 converted ? 
 
 One reason of this is, that 
 many true-hearted, saved sinners 
 have never entirely trusted in the 
 word of God, but have been con- 
 tented with inward feelings of 
 peace, without implicitly relying 
 upon what God says, as the alone 
 sure foundation ^ of faith. The 
 first burst of joy, in the conscious- 
 ness of happy deliverance, passes 
 away; the world, and temptations 
 of various kinds, come in; and 
 the weak believer finds himself 
 drawn aside by some old habit of 
 evil, or some unexpected power 
 of Satan; and, not having trusted 
 in the word of God, the prop on 
 which he rests fails, and he begins 
 
98 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 to doubt Ms own love to God, and 
 then to doubt the love of God 
 towards him; and thus he sinks 
 lower and lower, till he takes his 
 place arnong the unregenerate 
 around him, as if he were one of 
 them. 
 
 Peter had true and deep affec- 
 tion for Christ, and trusted in this 
 his love for his Lord, instead of 
 mistrusting himself j and instead 
 of hearkening to the gracious 
 words of Jesus, warning him 
 against his own self-confidence. 
 The Lord saw what would hap- 
 pen, and prayed for Peter, that 
 his faith might not fail, even 
 though he would fall so low as to 
 curse and swear, and thrice deny 
 his Master and his Saviour. And 
 Peter's faith did not fail, though 
 he lamentably failed as regards 
 his conduct 
 
 Satan first tempted Peter to 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 99 
 
 deny his Lord, and then whis- 
 pered into his heart, "Now you 
 cannot expect that Christ loves 
 you any more. You have behaved 
 so abominably to Him, that it 
 would be shameful arrogancy in 
 you to think that He can any 
 more look upon you in love and 
 grace/' Thus Satan desired, if 
 possible, to separate Christ and 
 Peter, and perhaps to hurry Peter 
 on to the same miserable end as 
 that of Judas. ^ But the Lord had 
 foreseen this sifting of the devil, 
 and through his intercession sus- 
 tained Peter's faith. When, there- 
 fore. He turned and looked on 
 him, the poor fallen disciple at 
 once recognized the unchanged 
 love of that gaze, remembered 
 the words which the Lord had 
 spoken, went out and wept bit- 
 terly, and never for a moment 
 questioned that Jesus loved him 
 
 H 2 
 
100 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 as much as ever, and that he was 
 still saved by grace. He was the 
 first, therefore, to run to the tomb 
 after the resurrection, and he was 
 the first to leap into the sea, in 
 order to reach his Lord. 
 
 Therefore, trembling believing 
 sinner, distrust not the grace of 
 Christ; and, oh! do not think 
 that He is changed as to His 
 wondrous love for you, because 
 you have proved faithless, and 
 have turned back from Him! "If 
 we believe not [that is, if we prove 
 faithless as to our conduct]. He 
 abideth faithfid : He cannot deny 
 himself."* He may deny tis; that 
 is, He may deny that we are fol- 
 lowing Him as we ought, or that 
 we are worthy to be called His 
 disciples. But, blessed be His 
 name, He cannot deny himself. 
 He cannot restrain His own won- 
 
 * 2 Tim. ii. 13. 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 101 
 
 drous love, or deny that His name 
 is Jesus, Saviour. Our salvation 
 depends on His unalterable mercy, 
 on the infinite preciousness and 
 value of His death, and not on 
 the measure of our faithfulness 
 or obedience. The very best of 
 us hourly fail and sin ; but He 
 saves to the very end. " He ever 
 liveth to make intercession for 
 us." 
 
 II. Many believers, from the 
 first, are not fully established in 
 the truth. They have not heard 
 a clear, simple gospel. They have 
 been taught that salvation is a 
 matter of progress; and they have 
 received a testimony in which 
 faith and works are mingled to- 
 gether; and the consequence has 
 been, that their souls have not 
 rested entirely on Christ and His 
 work alone. No wonder, there- 
 fore, that their walk is feeble, and 
 
102 THE SOXJL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 that they turn aside and question 
 their "interest in Christ/' — to 
 use a famihar expression on the 
 subject. 
 
 If this httle treatise meets the 
 eye of any such, let me beseech 
 him to consider the vastness of 
 the gift that God has bestowed 
 in not sparing His own Son. Let 
 him contemplate more steadfastly 
 the death of Jesus, and see how 
 in that sacrifice, and in that alone, 
 there is complete remission of 
 sins. Perfect pardon and peace 
 must first be received by the 
 sinner, before he will ever be able 
 to obey or serve God in any way 
 as he ought. His obedience must 
 be the result of his confidence in 
 God's mercy and love, and in the 
 salvation accomplished by Christ. 
 He must not judge of his salva- 
 tion by his own walk or conduct; 
 but he should seek to make his 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 103 
 
 life a manifestation of the salva- 
 tion he has already received. A 
 feeble appreciation of Christ, and 
 a consequent uncertainty about 
 one's own safety, will always pro- 
 duce a halting, doubting, uneven 
 walk. 
 
 III. There is much confusion 
 in the minds of some mth re- 
 spect to the new birth. It is 
 thought that the effect of faith in 
 Christ is to produce a gradual 
 improvement; so that evil is 
 slowly eradicated, and the be- 
 liever becomes more and more 
 holy, and more and more fit for 
 heaven. When, therefore, a be- 
 liever who has received these 
 opinions finds that the motions of 
 sin, and temptations^ to evil, are 
 still present with him, he very 
 naturally becomes disheartened 
 and discouraged, and begins to 
 question his salvation. 
 
104 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 But the truth is, that there 
 exists, to the very end of our hfe 
 here below, "the old man," the 
 evil heart, called "the flesh," 
 which remains unchanged, and 
 ready to break out at any mo- 
 ment, in thought or deed, as bad 
 and as corrupt as ever ; while at 
 the same time there is " the new 
 man" — that which is born of the 
 Spirit, and is therefore spirit. 
 " That which is born of the flesh 
 is flesh," It continues unchanged 
 in its evil nature; while that 
 which is born of the Spirit is 
 spirit. 
 
 The struggle between flesh and 
 spirit will continue to the end. 
 Be not, therefore, cast down be- 
 cause you still find the presence 
 of evil within you : but be strong 
 in the grace which is in Christ 
 Jesus. Be strong in the assurance 
 of His wondrous love and power 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 105 
 
 on your behalf. Cast away doubts 
 and uncertainties, because they 
 are dishonouring to Him, and 
 weakening^ to yourself. Meet 
 every whisper of Satan, who 
 tries to discourage you, by the 
 fact that Christ has died, and is 
 risen again : and make the con- 
 sciousness of your own infirmity 
 and sinfulness the very ground of 
 firmer trust in the precious blood 
 of Christ. Weakness and worth- 
 lessness are the very best pleas 
 we can put forth for the goodness, 
 and mercy, and power of God. 
 
 Let me now press upon the 
 reader the^ one truth which has 
 been prominent throughout these 
 pages ; viz., that full and eternal 
 justification is at once the blessed 
 portion of every one who trusts 
 in the death of Christ. There 
 was safety to Israel when destruc- 
 
106 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 tion was all around them, because 
 the blood of the lamb was upon 
 their door-posts. God saw, in 
 that mere shadow, such a type of 
 His own Son's death, that He 
 gave perfect security to every one 
 who put himself within the shel- 
 ter of that blood. Shall not, then, 
 Christ's own blood be infinitely 
 precious? Shall it not accom- 
 plish entire and eternal safety? 
 Make that death your refuge; 
 hide yourself in that safe covert ; 
 trust in Jesus, confide in Him, 
 make His Cross to be the place 
 where you see your sins borne 
 away for ever: and, notwith- 
 standing all jonfeel, eternal life, 
 eternal glory, are yours now and 
 evermore. 
 
 Finally : Having thus briefly 
 attempted to meet certain diffi- 
 culties, that frequently hinder the 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 107 
 
 peace of troubled hearts, let me 
 earnestly beseech my reader more 
 carefully and diligently to peruse 
 the word of God ; to ask himself, 
 as he reads sentence by sentence, 
 What does this mean? and to 
 ask God to help him to under- 
 stand what it means. Let him 
 deal with it as the word of God 
 — as if he heard the voice of 
 Jehovah speaking directly to 
 him from heaven. 
 
 If Jesus were on earth, would 
 you not, dear reader, go to Him ? 
 would you not ask Him to save 
 you ? would you not believe His 
 word, if He ^ said to you, " Thy 
 sins are forgiven thee : thy faith 
 hath saved thee: go in peace''? 
 Thus He speaks to you out of 
 the Bible. Hear His voice. Be- 
 lieve what He says. Command 
 away every doubt and uncertain- 
 ty, by the authoritative voice of 
 
108 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 the mighty Saviour. He is now 
 at the right hand of God; but 
 still He speaks— speaks from 
 heaven — speaks in the living 
 Word, the Scriptures of truth. 
 And why is He exalted to the 
 throne of the majesty in the hea- 
 vens ? In order to be a Prince 
 and a Saviour— to give repent- 
 ance and forgiveness of sins. 
 His name, Jesus, given to Him 
 at His birth, and again given to 
 Him by God in resurrection, pro- 
 claims the blessed truth, that 
 salvation is IN Him. Faith in 
 that name is sufficient. 
 
 Two gentlemen were lately 
 conversing together upon this 
 momentous subject. One said to 
 the other, after pointing out to 
 him the mighty work accom- 
 plished by Christ on the cross, 
 "Do you need any thing more?" 
 The other rephed, " Yes, I think 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 109 
 
 I do. I think I must have some 
 work of my own/^ His friend 
 answered, "Jesus3 at the right 
 hand of Grod, is my title, and my 
 only title, to salvation. Here are 
 pen, ink, and paper: now write 
 me down a better.'' 
 
 The truth is, that Christ in 
 glory is the proof of the complete 
 and all-sufficient value of His 
 death. If a friend becomes surety 
 for me, and is thrown into prison 
 because of my debt, and I after- 
 wards meet that friend walking 
 at liberty, I am sure he must 
 have made satisfaction to the full 
 for my debt, otherwise he could 
 not be out of prison. So the 
 Lord, at the right hand of power 
 on high, is a proof that He has 
 answered to the full every de- 
 mand of God against me a sinner. 
 His death is everything or no- 
 thing. It is either the entire 
 
110 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES 
 
 blotting out and cancelling of 
 every charge that can be made 
 against me by a holy, righteous, 
 and all- seeing Grod, or it avails 
 me nothing. 
 
 It is said of John Bunyan, that 
 he was walking one day in a field, 
 under great trouble of soul at 
 the discovery of his own vileness, 
 and not knowing how to be justi- 
 fied with God, when he heard, as 
 he imagined, a voice saying to 
 him, "Your righteousness is in 
 heaven." He went into his house, 
 and took his Bible, thinking there 
 to find the verj^ words which had 
 thus sounded in his heart. He 
 did not discover the identical ex- 
 pression ; but many a passage of 
 Scripture proclaimed the same 
 truth, and showed him that Jesus, 
 at the right hand of God, is com- 
 plete righteousness to every one 
 that believeth. 
 
THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. Ill 
 
 May the Lord, by His Holy 
 Spirit, use the truth contained 
 in these pages to the peace and 
 comfort of every troubled soul 
 who may peruse them, and par- 
 don the insufficiency and weak- 
 ness of the statements. To Him 
 be all the glory. 
 
 "Unto Him that loveth us, and 
 hath washed us from our sins in 
 His own blood, and hath made 
 us kings and priests unto God 
 and His Father, to Him be glory 
 and dominion for ever and ever. 
 Amen.'' 
 
 " Behold, He cometh with 
 clouds: and every eye shall see 
 Him.'' 
 
 '' The Spirit and the bride say. 
 Come. And let him that heareth 
 say. Come. And let him that is 
 
112 THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 atliirst come. And whosoever 
 will, let him take the water of 
 life freely/' 
 
 " He which testifieth these 
 things saith, Surely I come quick- 
 ly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord 
 Jesus." 
 
FAITH. 
 
 Faith is a very simple thing, 
 
 Though little understood ; 1 Cor. ii. 14. 
 
 It frees the soul from death's dread sting. 
 By RESTING in the blood. Ex. xii. 13, 23. 
 
 It looks not on the things around, 
 Nor on the things within ; Jer. xvii 9. 
 
 It takes its flight to scenes above, 
 Beyond the sphere of sin. Heb. i. 3. 
 
 It sees upon the throne of God, 
 
 A Victim that was slain; Heb. x. 12, 14. 
 
 It rests its all on His shed blood. 
 
 And says, " I'm born again," 2 Cor. v. 15, 17. 
 
 Faith is not what we feel or see. 
 
 It is a simple trust l John i. 9. 
 
 In what the God of love has said 
 
 Of Jesus, as "the Just/' i Peter iii. 18. 
 
 The Perfect One that died for me, 
 Upon His Father's throne, Rev. iii. 21. 
 
 Presents our names before our God, 
 And pleads Himself alone. Heb. iv. 14, 15. 
 
114 
 
 FAITH. 
 
 What Jesus is, and that alone. 
 
 Is faith's delightful plea; Eph. i. 6, 7. 
 It never deals with sinful self, 
 
 Nor RIGHTEOUS Self, IN ME. Rom. vii. 18. 
 
 It tells me I am counted '' dead '' 
 
 By God, in His own word; Rom. vi. 6, 7. 
 
 It tells me I am " born again '' 
 
 In Christ, my risen Lord. Rom. vi. 4, 5. 
 
 In that He died. He died to sin; 
 
 In that He lives — to God; Rom. vi. lo. 
 Then I am dead to nature's hopes. 
 
 And justified through blood. Rom. iii. 24, 25. 
 
 If He is free, then I am free. 
 
 From all unrighteousness; l John iii. 5-7. 
 If He is just, then I am just. 
 
 He is MY rio^hteousness. i Cor. i. so, 31; 
 
 2 Cor. V. 21. 
 
 What want I more to perfect bliss ? 
 
 A body like His own Phil iii. 20, 21. 
 
 Will perfect me for greater joys. 
 
 Than angels round the throne. Eph. i. 17-23. 
 
 E. B, 
 
 Golden Grain, No. 1. A Series of Leaflets. Is. per 100. In Assorted 
 Packets of 100 numbers, Is. per packet, post-free. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 YAPP AND HAWKINS, WELBECK STREET, 
 
 CAVENDISH SQUARE. W. 
 

 
 
 
 y h-otyi- 'C'^-^ 
 
 «^ 
 
 ^ ,e^^ cCt^u-^^^ /(^^ T^^ J^^^:^-*^ (/) O^^^^ 6//T^Z^ 
 
 
C crT-t-^^^v^^^^^iTiA-^ y/^yt^:^^^^^;^^ ^th^-^^fjtyvLr^ 
 
 La^v-x-^^-^^ Cry- t^^^ (J^fTZt^.-^ Ly\y~6~'L-cA^ ^ ^ j\yt^>-^xyt 
 

 
 C). i'ty-c/tl O^^^^ yj- t^CrX^^ e4 h^Ji^^G^-^^ t<. L/^^a 
 
r^^i^div^~) kZ^^ A a.^^ . A h^,r4i a^ 
 
 Irxf'fTr-hk^^i^ hrJ^ i^.^ fti.^ / L^^^zrC t.^^ 
 6X^^ J a^rv<r ^-^ rfc«^^ t<. %^Ay>^ro:\-:^o Jr^^ V^*^ *^*r^ _^^ 
 
 >1.^ 
 

 . An^r\^f^<^ ^x^g-c^ L^B^y^ , ^ 'nn^ijc^&ii^^ii^ij 
 
 
 ^tv-e^"»-^<-- 1<^"^-^ L^A^A^tyv-s^ A^^»-x, ij^fSTfyK li/Cl^lt^ 
 
 
 J^i/V^ <^ CJ'C-v ,, 
 
 _^«^ ccC^cr^/^ ^ cj1^<x.- /v<^^ ^^ Uj'jj<n^ n \ iXrJf^i^y^'L. 
 
/^^ e<,^ i^ /L^— ^ .^-^ c:^.^^~4 
 
 H. c^^-W; /li-V- ^,^^c-^ ) =4.^u^;^_^A^j_^ — 
 

 A c^^" ih ^/^^ A. cUX hjt>irT^ ^ t^i^,^ yf^'"*^ A-*^-'— 7^^ ^A^ A,^ 
 
 ^ t (ft- u7g^!^.^w^ 7g7?<^ I j ^ A-^— -, ^ X, 77^:. /^UQ ^ 'Ttxri^ 
 _C .^w.^^ ^/h/LjL U~/U, Jl^.^ ; cvr|i^ ^io..^ a, :, 
 
 
 
 

 U\ WL <^x^ c.' /er^-» Zil.^ ;A^^ t^f^L, <^ cX^U IVtlt/r^ f^ . 
 
lAATTka^T tk^ic^^'i^ ^)^^^^^^l^^ L^C^^ 
 
 t^n-^-K^ 
 
 

 I I — ;— ^ / I 
 
 ffins c-c a,i^^A~ /^''ft^^ lM-^<-t^t/^^^*^ hc/JMu 
 
 Chr: 
 
 ^ T&w^^J~y 
 
lU /jKAlX^^^it^au;.-.:^^^^ 
 
 
 
 -/A-^ , A ^.-'^^-'^-^^--^l^^ 
 
 
 
 
 yin^K.-x^ UJ-rzS) LA^uJl^ CxX/l/- /4-t-«>*-^ ^V^Sjsi. 
 
 
0/^,^ I ■ ' f 
 
 

 
1 
 
I 
 

 ■/■ 
 
 
 
 II 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 t