SINCERE SENSE OF SIN. 61 have I thus requited the wonderful love of myRedeemer? Is this the return, the requital I have made to him l Are not heaven and earth astonished at the despising of such love l This broke Peter's heart, on the look of Christ. Such words as these from Christ will, in this condition, sound in the ears of the soul: "Did I love thee, and leave my glory to become a scorn and reproach for thy sake 1 Did I think my life, and all that was dear to me, too good for thee, to save thee from the wrath to come 1 Have I been a wilderness unto thee, or a land of dark- ness 1 What could I have done more for thee 1 When I had nothing left but my life, it went for thee, that thou mightest live by my death, be washed in my blood, and be saved through my soul's being made an offering for thee ! and hast thou thus requited my love, to prefer a lust before me, the world before me, or by mere sloth and folly to be turned away from me 1 Go, unkind, un- thankful soul, and see if thou canst find another_ Re- deemer." This overwhelms the soul, and even drowns it in tears and sorrow. And then the bitterness of the sufferings of Christ are brought to mind. " They look on Him whom they have pierced, and mourn." Zech. 12: 10. They remember his gall and wormwood, his cries and tears, his agony and sweat, his desertion and anguish, his blood and death, the sharpness of the sword that was in his soul, and the bitterness of the cup that was put into his hand. Such a soul now looks on Christ, bleeding, dying, wrestling with wrath and curse for him, and sees his sins in the streams of blood that issued from his side ; and all this increases the sense of sin of whichwe speak. 7. It relates to the communion and consolations of the Holy Ghost, with all the privileges and fruits of love we are by him made partakers of. The Spirit is given to believers, upon the promise of Christ, to dwell in them. He takes up their hearts to be his dwelling-place : to
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