588 WHY THE SAINT DESIRES TO EE CONVINCED OF SIN. of the wisdom, love, and faithfulness,of God, in testify - ing his displeasure against sin, in every particular dispen- sation that God is pleased to exercise a saint with here. Thus, the perfections of the divine natureharmonize and agree together ; and a blessed thing it is to discover this harmony, to say, " In loving kindness and in faithful- ness thou hast afflicted nie." It is one of the greatest blessingsof the future state, to consider the wiseconduct and management of a soul through the variety of snares in this world, by the wisdom and faithfulness of God till its happyarrival in heaven ; and it is sweet to asoul to begin this work here, and to see as much as may be of those glo- rious perfections that shall be his sweet entertainment for ever. We submit much easier to afflictive providencès when we see the reason of them, and the wisdom that may. be discovered.with them ; then we confess that such a stroke of the hand of God was well- timed, and neces- sary to reduce us from the love of such a sin, and bring us back to the practice of such a -duty. There is nothing makes a child submit easier to the correcting hand of his father, than when he sees it was needful for him. Fourth, That they may humble themselves before God for their sin and mourn over it ; and here is the charac- ter of a child of God, that repentance stands ready as soon as his offences are known. Are our souls now in such a frame as this is ? Are we willing to have the ini- quity of our hearts laid open to us, and is our.spirit ready to hate and destroy it ? Are we ready to relinquish the love of every sin when God shall discover it to us ? No sooner did our Savioúr look upon Peter after his thrice denying his master, but he went out and wept bitterly. One look of God upon Our souls, after sin committed, in an afflictive providence, should make us mourn over that sin : and Fifth, A. saint has this desire that he may not repeat the same sins, and incur his father's displeasure again. A child ofGod would not have any quarrel between him and his father ; he knows what it has cost his Lord Je- sus, even the pouring out his soul to death, in order to bring hirn near to God ; he knows what it has cost him- self, how many sorrows and troubles of spirit before his God and he came near together with love, peace, and joy, and he is not willing to have these scenes acted over
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