II 44 FORGIVENESS OF SIN. support them, they know, but that which is now wanting. Again, they have a deep sense of these their great concerns. All men equally need the love of God and pardon of sin. Every one has a soul of immortal con- stitution, capable of bliss and wo : yet most men are so stupidly sottish that they take little notice of these things. Neither the guilt of sin, nor the wrath of God, nor death, nor hell, can arouse them. But gracious souls have a quick, living sense of spiritual things. They have a spiritual light, whereby they discern the true nature of sin and the terror of the Lord. For though they may now have lost the comforting, they lose not the sanctifying light of the Spirit, the light whereby they are enabled to discern spiritual things in a spiritual manner; this never utterly departs from them. By this they see sin to be " exceeding sinful," by this they "know the terror of the Lord," and that it is . "a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." By this they discover the excellency of the love of-God in Christ, which passeth knowledge, the present sense whereof they have lost, By this they are enabled to look within the veil, and to take aview of the blessed consolations which the saints enjoy, whose communion with God is never interrupted : this represents to them all the joy and peace which in former days they had whilst God was present with them in love; and they are taught to value all the fruits of the blood of Jesus Christ. They remember what it cost them formerly to deal with God about sin; and hence they know it is no or- dinary natter they have in hand. A recovery from depths is as a new conversion. Oft-times in it the whole work, as to the soul's apprehension, is gone over afresh. This the soul knows to have been a work of dread, terror, and trouble, and trembles in itself at its new trials.
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