336 / 514
32S
NONE
EXCLUDED'
FROM
HOPE.
SE
[
RM. XIJK.
too
thoughtless
about
the guilt
of
ruy
sins,
and
about
the
forgiveness
-of
them
in
the
court
of
heaven.
Nor
have
I
found
my
sinful
nature
changed,,
nor
my
affections sanc-
tified.
I
have very little
of
these spiritual desires
and
delights which have
been
before described
as
part
of
my
salvation,
I
feel
the
inward
workings
of
my
soul
vain
and
carnal still;
I
am
not prepared
for the heavenly world,
and
surely
then
I
have never truly
believed
in
Christ,
nor
received
his
gospel."
To
such
complaints
as these,
I
would
propose these
three several answers:
Answer
I.
It
may
be
so
indeed. All this complaint
may
be
just
and
true;
and
perhaps thou
art
an unbe-
liever
still,
dead
in
trespasses and
sins,
and
exposed
every moment
to the
stroke
of
death, and
to
everlasting
misery.
This
is
the
case
of
many
a thousand
beside
thy-
self: Even
the
greatest
part of
those
who
are
called
chris-
tians, are yet afar
off from
God
and
from
salvation,
and
have
no
just
ground
to
suppose
that
they
are
believers
in
Christ.
But
it
is
of
infinite
concern
for thee, O
sin-
ner,
to busy
thyself
about
this
enquiry.
There
is
not
any
one
act
in
thy
life,
in which
thou canst
be
engaged,
that
is
of
greater
and
more awful
importance than
this;
for
thy
heaven or thy
hell
depends upon
it.
Some sit
all
their
days
under
the
gospel,
and
hear no-
thing
but
the
outward sound,
always unmoved,
unawak-
ened, and unaffected; slumbering and nodding upon
the
borders of eternal fire;
while
others
hear the
voice
of the
Son
of
God,
.
arise from the dead and receive a
new,
a
divine
life. Some in
the
same
family,
perhaps
of
thy own
kindred,
thy
flesh
and blood, or
some
that
are
upon
the
same
seat
in
the public
assembly,
are convinced
and
converted,
believe in Christ,
and are
saved
;
while
thou
remainest a hard
and
impenitent sinner under
the voice
of
the same grace, and the
preaching
of
the
same
salva-
tion.
And
if
this be thy
case,
it
is
a dreadful
one indeed.
Consider,
how
will
thy
condemnation
be aggravated,
that
thou hast heard the
góspel published with
so
much
glo-
rious evidence
in
such
a land, and
such an age
of
light
as this
is,
and yet
thou.abidest
in
the
state
of
hnpeni-
tence,
and,
unbelief,
and death. Thou hast had
the
blessings
of
heaven
offered
at
thy door, and hast
hither-