119 / 674
SERM.
XXXv7.]
OF CHRTST)S ATONF.MTiNT:
99
is
set before thee
!
In
vain
will
you
try a thousand
re-
medies, this
is
the
only relief.
A
soul
stung
with
the
guilt of
sin,
as with
a
fiery
serpent, must look up
to
Je-
sus
hanging on the
cross,
there alone
can
he
find
heal-
ing and
life.
Reflection.
"
And
what
is
my
state? and what
is
my
present
case
?
Am
I
a sinner
under
the first awakenings
of
conscience?
Is
my
spirit
filled with
dreadful
appre-
hensions
of
an offended
God, and of a
law
that
pro
-
nounceth
curses and
death
?
Am
I
enquiring,.
What
shall I do to
flee
from the
wrath
to come
?
Does the
load
of
all
my
past
offences lie
heavy
upon
me
?
Are
my sins
gone over
my
head
as
a
heavy
burden,
too
heavy for
me
to
bear
?
Does Satan the
tempter and
the
accuser, terrify and
hurry
me
with
despairing thoughts?
Does
he tell
me
that
my
crimes
are
too
big to be
for-
given?
But
Satan
is
a
liar
from the beginning.
The
gospel
of
Christ
is
divinely
true.
I
come to
Jesus
as
a
great High
-
priest
in
the blood
of
his
atonement:
I
come
weary
and
heavy laden,
under
a
sense
of
the guilt
of
past
sins,
and the remaining power
of
them in
my
soul.
O Jesus
fulfil
thy promise,
and
give
rest
to
my
labour-
ing and wounded
spirit
!
Speak
a word
of
peace
and
pardon
tosa
sinking
creature, and
raise and receive him
to hope and salvation.
I
am
worthy
to
perish for ever,
but
thy
death
is
worthy to
procure
life
for
me.
Here
I
rest
my
heavy
-laden
soul,
and with humble hope
I
wait
for
thy mercy.
"
Or,
am
I
a
professor
of
religion
that
have
fallen
un-
der great
decays
and wretched
backslidings
?
Are
old
.
terrors
and agonies
returned upon
my
conscience with
redoubled
smart
and anguish?
Do I
see my
guilt? My
shameful wanderings,
my
loathsome iniquities?
Do
I
seem as
it
were to be
cast out
from
God?
And does he
seem to
shut
the
door
of
heaven against
my
prayers
?
Yet
I
will
not despair
:
I
will
come in the name
of
Jesus
the great atonement. Wash
my
guilty soul, O blessed
Redeemer, with thy blood,
and
I
will
look again
toward
the holy temple,
I
will
lift up a humble
eye
toward
an
offended
God. Thy
sacrifice
is
ever fresh in
the power
and virtue
of
it.
The
Lamb
as
it
had been
slain,
ap-
pears
in
heaven with the marks
of
his
sacrifice.
I
re-
turn
with
a broken
heart
to
my
heavenly
Father
:
I
re-
ll
Ñ