90 THE GREAT MISERY Or THOSE How did Christ stand knocking one sabbath after another, and crying to me, ' Open, sinner, open thy heart to thy Saviour; and I will come in, and sup with thee, and thou with me? Why dost thou delay? How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee? Wilt thou not be pardoned, and sanctified, and made happy? when shall it once be ?' O how the recollec- tion of such divine pleadings will passionately trans- port the damned with self - indignation ! Must I tire out the patience of Christ ? must I make the God of heaven follow me in vain, till I had wearied him with crying to me, Repent, return? O how justly is that patience now turned into fury, which falls upon me with irresistible violence! When the Lord cried to me, Wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be ; my heart, or at least my practice, answered, Never. And now when I cry, How long shall it be till I am freed from this torment? how justly do I receive the same answer, Never, never." 15. It will also be most cutting to remember on what easy terms they might have escaped their mi- sery. This work was not to remove mountains, nor conquer kingdoms, nor fulfil the law to the smallest tittle, nor satisfy justice for all their transgressions. The yoke was easy, and the burden light, which Christ would have laid upon them. It was but to repent, and cordially accept him for their Saviour; to renounce all other happiness, and take the Lord for their supreme good; to renounce the world and the flesh, and submit to his weak and gracious govern- ment ; and to forsake the ways of their own devising, and walk in his holy delightful way " Ah," thinks the poor tormented wretch, " how justly do I suffer all this, who would not be at so small pains to avoid it ! Where was my understanding, when I neglected that gracious offer ? when I called the Lord a hard master, and thought his pleasant service a bondage, and the service of the devil and the flesh the only freedom ? Was I not a thousand times worse than mad, when I censured the holy way of God as need-
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