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THOU SHALT BE SAVED.

"I DEEPLY feel that I am a poor, lost, ruined sinner; and that there is no hope for me but in the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I confess my sins before God, and endeavour to cast myself into the arms of the Lord Jesus. I often feel grieved, that I have sinned against God, and dishonoured his holy name; and I heartily desire to be delivered, not only from the guilt but the power of sin. I want, not merely to be saved from hell when I die, but I want to be saved now. But I am harassed with many fears, and am sometimes full of doubts. What do you think of my case ?" So said a poor woman a short time ago.

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I think, that as a poor sinner confiding in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved. Do you not remember the Apostle's reply to the poor guilty jailor, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and THOU SHALT BE SAVED!' Mark how positively he speaks! Thou shalt be saved! There is no doubt about it. Now no one believes in Jesus, until convinced of his sin and danger; and every one such sinner is directed to believe in Jesus, and is as

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sured of salvation. The believing soul will confess its sin, renounce all dependence on itself, or any thing it can do, or suffer, and will trust in what Christ has done. This will lead the soul to be sorry for sin, and to turn from sin; yea, it will awaken a deep, heartfelt hatred to sin, so that there will be a turning from sin, as from something that is hated; something that is very offensive, and where this is the case there can be no doubt of the soul's salvation."

"But yet I do doubt, though I seem to believe and experience all you have said. How is it that I doubt and fear ?"

"Because you are not satisfied with God's bare word. You want to find something in yourself, to encourage you; or want to do something, to give you confidence. You do not perceive that it is faith alone that entitles to salvation. That is to say, that God promises to save of his mere grace, every one that trusts wholly, and solely, on what Jesus Christ has done and suffered. So that, if I believe God's testimony, and trust my soul's salvation to Jesus Christ alone, I shall surely be saved."

"But must I not experience a great change in myself?"

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You have experienced a great change in yourself, if you now believe God, and trust in the Lord Jesus, for you did not do so once. You now feel that you are a poor lost sinner, you did not always feel so.

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are now concerned about your salvation, you were not always so concerned. You are now willing to venture your soul on Christ, and be saved for the sake of what he has done and suffered, you were not always willing to do so. There is a great change in you, and it will be still greater as you exercise a more simple faith in Christ, and more heartily believe God's word."

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But I do not feel as I wish to feel, nor as I think the Lord's people feel."

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Perhaps not, but your feelings will be regulated by your faith. You are not to believe, because you feel; but you will feel, because you believe. You are to believe, because God has given you his word; and if you believe God's word, you will rest on the finished work of Christ for your salvation; this will bring peace to your conscience, and joy to your heart; this will fill you with grateful love, and grateful love will lead you to own Christ, obey Christ, and rejoice in Christ.'

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"Am I then to believe in Jesus, and expect him to save me, irrespective of what I feel within me?"

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Exactly so, his blood cleanses from all sin, and his righteousness justifies from all things; and the entire merit of his blood and righteousness is placed to the account of every one that believes in him. It is thus we are saved, and thus you see salvation is of grace.

All our works, and all our feel

ings are excluded, it is by believing, and by believing only; as Christ himself said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned." "Then let my_feelings be what they may, I am to look to Jesus, depend on Jesus, and expect to be saved by him."

"Just so! 'If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved; for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.' The resurrection of Jesus, proved that his work was complete, that his word was true, and that his promises would be fulfilled; if therefore I believe in his resurrection, and confess my dependence upon him, and my faith in him, I shall be saved."

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Oh, that I could always keep these views before my mind, and act upon them, how happy I should be!"

"Yes, you would be happy, and in order to this, let the word of God be your companion, and ask for the Holy Spirit to be your daily teacher, to work faith in your heart, and to glorify Jesus before your mind. It is his office and work to glorify Christ; and the way in which he does this, is by stripping the sinner of all his self-righteousness, emptying him of all his supposed goodness, and giving him to feel more and more his own weakness; so that he is obliged to look

to Christ for a perfect righteousness to justify him, for all the grace necessary to sanctify him, and for the strength required to enable him to perform duty and persevere to the end."

“Then Christ is literally everything to the soul he saves; and the soul has to look to him for all, and trust him to do all."

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Yes, Jesus is the Saviour, not the Helper of the sinner. All the sinner needs, he furnishes, for all the sinner's transgressions he answers, and all the sinner's maladies he heals. From first to last salvation is by grace, through faith; so boasting is excluded, and God in Christ is glorified."

If all the sins that men have done,
In will, in word, in thought, in deed;
Since worlds were made, or time began;
Were laid on one poor sinner's head;
The streams of Jesus' precious blood,
Apply'd, removes the dreadful load.

Then hear, ye trembling sinners, hear,
Th' inviting voice of Christ, and live:
With humble confidence draw near,
For he commands you to believe;
Believe and fly to him alone,
Believe, and heav'n is all your own.

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