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sERti1.
v.1
.TIlE
SOUL
DRAWING
NEAR
TO
GOD.
87
o
wretch
that
I
am,
that
I should ever
have indulged
iniquity! that
I
should ever
have,
borne
with such
an in-
finite
evil
in my
heart
!
that
I
should ever
take delight
in such
mischief
against God
!
Now
I
hate and
abhor
myself because
of
sin.
Ó that
my
head
were waters,
and
my
eves
a
fountain
of
tears,
that
I
might
weep day
and
night,
because
I
have
been such
a
sinner
so
long,
and
because
I
am so
much
a
sinner
still
!"
The heart
of
a
saint
that
comes
near
to
God,
is pained
at
the memory
of
old
sins;.,
and
together
with a
present
sweetness
of
divine
love,
there
is
a
sort of
anguish
at
the
thoughts
of
past
iniquities. A
present God
will
make
past. sins
look
dreadful and heinous
;
therefore
it
is
that
sin
looks
so
little
to
us,
and appears
so
light
a thing,
because
we
sel-
dom
get
near
to
the seat
of God,
and bring our
iniqui-
ties to
that
divine light.
It
is
a
very common instance,
and
you
'all
know it,
that
a blot or spot
on a
paper
or garment,
looks
so
much
deeper,
when the place you
view;it
in
is
lighter;
at
noon
-day,
and
in
the
eye
of
the sun, those smaller
blemishes
appear,
which
at
other
times
are utterly un-
seen,
and
every
greater
spot, every
fouler
stain, looks
most
odious
and
disagreeable.
Just
thus
it
is
with
the
soul, when
it
is
displayed
under
the
eye
of
the Sun
of
Righteousness
;
every blemish, every defilement
ap-
pears,
and the
soul
hates
itself
so
far
as
it
is
sinful, while
sin
itself
looks infinitely more odious.
Therefore
Job
says,
ix.
3O,
31.
Should
I
wash
myself
in
snow-
water,
and
make
myself
never
so
clean,
thou wouldest
plunge
me
in
the
ditch,
and
my own
clothes would
abhor
me:
that
"
should
I
use all
the methods
of
cleansing
that
are pos-
sible,
and then enter into
thy immediate presence,
that
light
of
thy presence would
.discover so
many spots
and
defilements
upon
me, as
if I
had
just
plunged myself
in a
ditch, and
my
garments had been
all
over de-
filed."
[This
sermon,
if
too
long, may be
divided here.]
IV.
At such
a
time
there
is
a
power
and
virtue enters
into
the
soul, coming
from
a
present God,
to
resist
sin,
and
to
oppose
great temptation.
"
I
can do
all
things,.
if
Christ
be
near
to
strengthen
me,"
says
the apostle,.
Phil.
iv.
13.
When
I
was afflicted
with
the
buffeting
of
Satan,
says
the same
apostle.;:
.
Cor..
xii.
8
_g;.
for this
G4