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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 nature
harmonize
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
blessings
of
the
future
state, to consider the
wise
conduct
and management
of a soul
through
the variety
of
snares
in
this
world,
by
the wisdom and faithfulness
of God
till its
happy
arrival
in
heaven
;
and
it
is
sweet
to
a
soul 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
of
God
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