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THE
SOUL
DRAWING
NEAR TO COD.
[SEEM.
v:
and there,
says
Job,
the
righteous might surely dispute
with him;
xxiii.
7.
and there I
should
be
delivered
from
his
terrors
as
an avenging God
;
there, though
he
judge
me,
yet
he will
plead
my
cause
;
for the
same
Judge
that
sits
upon
a
throne of
glory, has
taken
upon
him to
be-
come my
Advocate.
" There
I
behold
him, says
the
soul, with millions
of
pardons
for
vile
transgressors,
and
with abundant
favour for rebels
;
such
a
rebel
am I,
and
such a transgressor, and yet there
is
pardon
and grace
for
me.
I
behold
there
riches and
raiment
for
the poor,
the
needy,
and
the
naked, and
help for the weak be-
liever."
There
goodness
appears
in
the face
of God,
in all
the
sweet variety
of
its
divine
forms.
There
ap-
pears
long
-
suffering for old sinners,
and patience
for
re-
peated
guilt,
and
pity
for
the
miserable,
and
free
grace
for those
that
deserve
nothing but
vengeance.
All
this
discovers
itself
in the
face
of
God,
to
a soul
that
gets
near
him,
even to
his mercy
-seat;
and the
soul
bows,
and
wonders,
and
worships,
and
makes still
nearer ap-
proaches, and receives the
grace,
and rejoices
in
the
salvation.
The
soul
puts
in for
a
share
in
this mercy
with
faith
and hope, and
will
not
be
denied, will
not
be
excluded
;
then
he
uses
that
holy boldness,
that
wal4710-ia,
or liberty
of
speech;
lieb.
iv. 16.
And this
is
the language
of
faith, when the soul gets
near
to
God
:
"
Since
there
are
so
many millions
of
pardons
with
thee for sinners,
I
will
not
go
away
without
one
;
since
there
is
such
a righte-
ousness
as
that
of
thine
own Son
to clothe the naked,
I
will
not
go away
without
being clothed
with
this
right-
eousness
;;
since
there are such supplies
of
strength for
the
weak,
I
will
not
leave thy
seat
till I
get
some
strengh."
The
soul then wrestles and
pleads,
and makes
supplication
as
Jacob
did when he
came
near
to
God
;
Gen.
xxxii.
16.
I
will not let
thee
a
except
thou
bless
nre.
The
soul beholds
in
God
mercy enough for
the
largest multitude
of
sinners,
and pardons large enough
for
the blackest offences;
it
sees
Paul
the
persecutor and
blasphemer
so
near
to
the right-hand
of God
in glory,
that
it
cries
out
with
a
joyful
faith,
"All
the aggrava
--
tions
of
my
guilt
shall no
more divide
me
from the
mercy-seat, shall no more
prevent
my
hope and help
in
God;
for
there
sits
Paul
the
persecutor and blasphemer*