condemnation out of thy conscience. Have it ready to plead against all charges, from whatever quarter they come, that Christ hath made ME free from the law of sin and of death.

Here I must refer thee back to what has been said concerning Christ and his finished salvation. Thou now seest how necessary it is thou shouldest be well established. in the belief of his Godhead, and the infinite sufficiency of his salvation: so that he is both able and willing to save thee from all thy sins, and all the misery due to them, and to bestow upon thee eternal happiness, and to bring thee by his almighty power safe to the eternal enjoyment of it. All this he will give thee, not for working, but in believing. I entreat thee, therefore, to read again and again, what has been before said upon these subjects; and the good Lord help thee to apply it to thy present case, that thou mayest be fully assured thou art in Christ, and that there is no condemnation to thee.

But perhaps thou art ready to say

Steadfastly do I believe all this; but I de not find such victory over my corruptions as I could wish; nay, I think at times they rage more than ever.

Here thou forgettest

the Lord thy strength.

Thou dost not

make use of him, and therefore thou failest. The woman with the bloody issue grew worse and worse, till she went to Christ so wilt thou. Why is it given thee to know Christ in the spirit, but that thou shouldest go to him daily, and plead his promise-Lord, thou hast declared, that sin shall not have dominion over thy people; I believe this word of thine cannot be broken; and therefore, helpless in myself, I rely upon thy faithfulness to save me from the dominion of such and such a sin (as then tempts thee)-Put forth thy power, O Lord Christ, and get thyself glory in subduing my flesh, with its affections and lusts. And then trust him to make his word good, and wait the event. Sooner shall heaven and earth pass away, than sin, any sin thus left with Christ to be subdued, shall reign over thee. If thou sayest, I think I seek for victory

H

over sin in no other way, and yet I do not attain it so completely as I desire; depend upon it thou art under some mistake: for Christ is almighty to fulfil every promise in its largest sense and fullest meaning; and there never was a believer who could justly charge him with the breach of his word. Perhaps thou dost believe, that power to subdue sin comes from Christ, and thou art expecting it from him; but hast thou not some legal dependence, some notion of thy own working together with him? Search and see. Dost thou commit ALL to the Lord, who is to do ALL and in ALL? Is the whole battle left to him? wisdom, and courage, and armour, and strength, and patience, and victory, are all from the Lord. If thou art not doing this simply, thou art not living by faith upon Christ, but thou art fighting in thine own strength, and depending upon some inherent stock of grace, or knowledge, or experience. While these proud selfish motives put thee upon asking his help, he will not give it thee: because thou dost not wholly depend upon him for it.

Or perhaps Christ does not appear on thy side, because thou art proposing some wrong end. Thou art working and striving against sin to establish a righteousness of thine own, which is to be some part of thine acceptance before God; and thou hast been trying in thine own strength to get thy corruptions quite subdued, but they were too strong for thee; and therefore now thou art glad to make use of Christ's help. And if he would do the work for thee, then thou wouldest have confidence in the flesh; and this thy fancied holiness would be the ground of thy rejoicing before God. Is it not so? If it be, thou wilt never succeed upon this plan. Christ will not give his glory to another, nor put the crown of his gospel grace upon the head of thy legal dependence.

Or perhaps thou art expecting from Christ, what he has not promised, such a victory over thy corruptions that they shall not fight again for some time, or that they shall be quite dead and buried. And so they shall be in the Lord's appointed time. But now he calls upon thee to fight against

them, he provides thee armour for that pur pose, even the whole armour of God; and he requires thee to resist unto blood, striving against sin, promising thee daily victory. This is thy present state of warfare. To this thou art now called, and there is no discharge in this war. O beware then, as thou lovest thy soul, of a false peace. Thou wilt be sadly deluded, if thou ever supposest that thy fighting is over, before thy course be finished. The good fight of faith inust continue till death: for till then, corruption being in thee, thou must oppose it, relying upon God for promised victory over it. He is able to save thee from the very being of it now, as well as in heaven. But it is not his mind and will. Here he will have thee to live by faith, which is every moment to keep thee dependent upon Christ, or thou wilt fall. This is to exalt his grace, and to subdue thy selfish legal spirit, to humble thy pride, to put thee upon prayer and watchfulness, to make sin more hateful, and heaven more desirable, and to secure the glory of every victory to him, whose