04 The Means of Recovery
Chapter 4 ON THE MEANS OF RECOVERY. Were it not for the hopes of being instrumental in saving some from the error of their way, and of inducing others to a greater degree of watchfulness, I should not have written the preceding pages. It can afford no satisfaction to expose the evil conduct of a fellow-sinner, or to trace its dangerous effects, unless it be with a view to his salvation or preservation.
It is natural for those who have fallen into sin, unless they be given up to a rejection of all religion, to wish, on some consideration, to be restored. A backsliding state is far from being agreeable. Hence it is that many have prematurely grasped at the promise of forgiveness, and said to their souls. Peace, peace, when there was no peace. IT IS DESIRABLE THAT WE BE RECOVERED FROM OUR BACKSLIDINGS; BUT IT IS NOT DESIRABLE THAT WE SHOULD THINK OURSELVES RECOVERED WHEN WE ARE NOT SO. As there are many ways by which a convinced sinner seeks peace to his soul, without being able to find it, so it is with a backslider. Self-righteous attempts to mortify sin, and gain peace with God, are not confined to the first period of religious concern. Having through the power of alarm desisted from the open practice of sin, many have laboured to derive comfort from this consideration, without confessing their sin on the head, as it were, of the gospel sacrifice. Their sins may be said rather to have been worn away from their remembrance by length of time, than washed away by the blood of the cross. But this is not recovery; the hurt, if healed, is healed slightly; and may be expected to break out again. The same way in which, if we be true Christians, we first found rest to our souls must be pursued in order to recover it; namely, by repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the way to which the scriptures uniformly direct us. " My little children, these things I write unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This was the way in which David was recovered. He confessed his sin with deep contrition, pleading to be purged with hyssop, that he might he clean and washed that he might he whiter than snow (Psalms 51:7). By this language he could not mean that his sin should be purged away by anything pertaining to the ceremonial law, for that law made no provision for the pardon of his crimes: he must therefore intend that which the sprinkling of the unclean with a bunch of hyssop, dipped in the water of purification, was designed to prefigure; which, as we are taught in the new testament, was the purging of the conscience by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. This is the only way in which it is possible to find rest to our souls. As there is no other name given under heaven, or among men, by which we can be saved, so neither is there any other by which we can be restored. Whatever be the nature of our backsliding from God, this must be the remedy. If it be a relinquishment of evangelical principles we must return to the way, even the highway whither we went. Paul travailed in birth for the recovery of the Galatians; and in what did he expect it to consist? In Christ being formed in them. He also strove to bring back the Hebrews; and all his labours were directed to the same point. His epistle to them is full of Christ, and of warnings and cautions against neglecting and rejecting him. If any man have been perplexed concerning the deity or atonement of Christ, let him humbly and carefully read that epistle; and if his heart be right with God, it will do him good. If our departure from God have issued in some gross immorality or in the love of the worlds or in conformity to it, the remedy must be the same. It is by this medium, if at all, that the world will be crucified unto us, and we unto the world. If we have no heart to repent, and return to God by Jesus Christ, we are yet in our sins, and may expect to reap the fruits of them. The scriptures give no counsel to anything short of this. They are not wanting, however, in directions that may lead to it, and considerations that may induce it. What these are I shall now proceed to inquire. In general, I may observe, The scriptures assure us of the exceeding great and tender mercy of God, and of his willingness to forgive all those who return to him in the name of his Son. - It is necessary that we be well persuaded of this truth, lest, instead of applying as supplicants, we sink into despair. If an awakened sinner under his first religious concern be in danger of this species of despondency, a backslider is still more so. His transgressions are much more heinous in their circumstances than those of the other, having been committed under greater light, and against greater goodness: and when to this is added the treatment which his conduct must necessarily draw upon him from his religious connexions, he may be tempted to relinquish all hopes of recovery, and to consider himself as an outcast of both God and man. Unhappy man! Thy breach may be great like the sea, and the language of an awakened conscience may suggest, Who can heal me? Yet do not despair. Hear what God the Lord will speak. He will speak peace unto his people and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. Hear what he speaks to the backsliding Israelites, reduced by their sins to the most deplorable state of guilt and wretchedness. "The Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you. And there ye shall serve gods, the works of men’s hands; but if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul: when thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice, (for the Lord thy God is a merciful God) he will not forsake thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them." (Deuteronomy 4:27-31) The pardoning mercy of God towards those who return to him by Jesus Christ is not limited by such measures as are framed by creatures in their treatment of one another, or by such expectations as, on this account, they are apt to form. There are circumstances which may render it almost impossible for forgiveness to be exercised among men; and therefore men are ready to think it must be so with respect to God. But with the Lord there is mercy., and with him there is plenteous redemption. He will not only pardon, but pardon abundantly: " for his thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor his ways as our ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are his ways higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts" ( Psalms 130:7-8 and Isaiah 55:7-9) - The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7-9). The threatenings against the unpardonable sin itself do not affect the truth of these merciful declarations; for that sin is all along described as excluding repentance as well as forgiveness. (Hebrews 6:6) The person is supposed to be given up to hardness of heart. If therefore we confess our sin with contrition, we may be certain it is not unpardonable, and that we shall obtain mercy through the blood of the cross. But the great question is. How we shall repent of our sins, and return to God by Jesus Christ? Undoubtedly it is much easier to get out of the way than to get in again; to lose the peace of our minds than to recover it. Sin is of a hardening nature; and the farther we have proceeded in it, the more inextricable are its chains. But however this be, we either do desire to return, or we do not. If not, it will be in vain to address any directions to us. It is right indeed for the servants of Christ to point them out, whether we will hear or whether we will forbear; and there leave them: but as to any hope of our recovery, while such is the state of our minds, there can be none. If we can think of our sin without grief, and of the cross of Christ without any meltings of spirit, there is great reason to fear that our hearts are not right in the sight of God: but that we are yet in the gall of bitterness, and the bonds of iniquity. If, on the other hand, we do desire to return; if, like Israel in the days of Samuel, we lament after the Lord, we shall readily hearken to every direction given us in his word.
If my reader, supposing him to have backslidden from God, be in such a state of mind, it is with a mixture of hope and tenderness that I attempt to point out to him the means of recovery. Or should it even be otherwise, I will nevertheless endeavor to show him the good and the right way, that at least I may deliver my own soul.
First. EMBRACE EVERY POSSIBLE SEASON OF RETIREMENT FOR READING THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, especially those parts which are suited to thy case, and accompany it with prayer. - God’s word hid in the heart, is not only a preservative against sin, but a restorative from it. It both wounds and heals: if it rebukes, it is with the faithfulness of a friend: or if it consoles, its consolations carry in them an implication, which, if properly understood, will melt us into repentance.
Read especially those parts of scripture which are addressed to persons in your situation; as the second chapter of Jeremiah: or which express the desires of a returning sinner; as the twenty-fifth, thirty-second, thirty-eighth, fifty-first, and hundred-and-thirtieth psalms. You may not be able to adopt all this language as your own; but it may be useful nevertheless. To read the genuine expressions of a contrite heart, may produce at least a conviction of the disparity between the frame of mind possessed by the writer and yourself: and such a conviction may be accompanied with a sensation of shame and grief.
It is also of importance that you read the scriptures by yourself. To read a portion of them in your families is right, and ought not to be neglected; but there is a wide difference, as to personal advantage, between this and reading them alone. Your mind may then be more at liberty for reflection; you can read, and pause, and think, and apply the subject to your case.
It is of still greater importance to unite prayer with it, Reading the word of God and prayer, are duties which mutually assist each other; the one furnisheth us with confessions, pleas, and arguments, while the other promotes solemnity and spiritually of mind, which goes farther towards understanding the scriptures, than a library of expositions.
It was in one of these seasons of retirement that David put up this petition, " I have gone astray like a lost sheep: seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments." (Psalms 119:176) He seems to have had in his thoughts the condition of a poor wandering sheep, that had left the flock, and the rich pastures whither it was wont to be led; ranging rather like a native of the woods, than one which had been led, and fed, and protected by its owner. Bewildered by its own wanderings, entangled in the thorns and briars of the wilderness, and exposed to beasts of prey, it feels its forlorn condition, and bleats after the shepherd and the flock! Is there nothing in this that may suit thy case? Yes, thou art the man! Thou hast gone astray like a lost sheep, got entangled in thine own corruptions, and knowest not how to find the way back: yet it may be thou hast not forgotten his commandments nor utterly lost the savour of those happy days when walking in them. Let thy prayer then be directed like that of the Psalmist, to the good shepherd of the sheep, Seek thy servant!
Prayer is a kind of religious exercise which is necessary to accompany all others. " In every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." Solemn approaches unto God are adapted to impress the mind with a sense of sin, and to inspire us with self-abhorrence on account of it. It was by a view of the holiness of God that Isaiah felt himself to be a man of unclean lips; and by conversing with him that Job was brought to abhor himself and repent in dust and ashes. The very exercise of prayer carries in it an implication that our help must come from above; a truth which in all cases it is highly necessary for us to know, and with which, in this case especially, we cannot be too deeply impressed. We easily get out of the way; but if ever we return to it, it must be by his influence who restoreth our souls, and leadeth us in the paths of righteousness, for his name sake. To tell a person who is out of the way, that he has no help of himself, and that if ever he get in again it must be by the restoring grace of God, may seem to some people paradoxical and disheartening: but it is a truth, and a truth which if properly understood and felt, would go farther towards our recovery than we at first may apprehend. Paul found that when he was weak then was he strong; and many others have found the same. The more we are emptied of self-sufficiency, the more sensibly shall we feel our dependence, and the more importunately implore that the Lord would save us as it were from our selves, and restore us for his name sake. This was the way in which we at first found rest for our souls, and this must be the way in which we recover it. An awakened sinner frequently labours hard after peace, without being able to obtain it. Wherefore? " Because he seeks it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, stumbling at the stumbling-stone." In all his labours there is a large portion of self-righteous hope, or an idea that God will pity him on account of his painful endeavors to please him. But this is like bad flesh in a wound, which must be eaten out before it can be healed. If ever he obtain peace, it must be by utterly despairing of all help from himself, and falling, as a sinner entirely lost, into the arms of sovereign mercy. This is walking in the good old way, which brings rest to the soul: and the same sense of our insufficiency which is necessary to find rest in the first instance, is equally necessary to find it in all that follow.
We may pray from year to year, and all without effect. It is only the prayer of faith that succeeds; the distinguishing characteristic of which is, under a sense of there being no help in us, to lay hold of the mercy and faithfulness of God, as revealed in the gospel. David for a time groaned, and even roared, by reason of the disquietness of his heart: but he obtained no relief from this. On the contrary, he sunk deeper and deeper into despondency. At length he betook him to another manner of praying. Out of the DEPTHS CRIED I UNTO THEE: and thou heardest my voice! We find him here pleading the exceeding greatness of Gods mercy, and the plenteousness of his redemption. ( Psalms 38 and 130) Here he found rest for his soul! - Jonah also for a time was in much the same state. With a conscience so far awakened as to deprive him of all enjoyment, he retired to the bottom of the ship; and wearied with the load of his guilt, slept away his time. Even the horrors of a tempest did not awaken him. At length being roused, and reproved by heathens, and marked out by lot as the guilty person, he confesses who he is, and what he had done, and advises them to cast him into the sea. Humanity struggles for a time with the elements, but in vain; he must be cast away. Think what a state of mind he must at this time have possessed! He is thrown into the deep, is swallowed by a fish, and retains his reason even in that situation; but no light shines upon his soul. Conceiving himself to be on the point of expiring, his heart sighed with in him, I am cast out of thy sight! But ere the thought had well passed his mind, another struck him, - Yet will I look again towards thy holy temple! He looked, and was lightened: Out of the belly of hell cried I unto thee, and thou heardest my voice I
Secondly. REFLECT ON THE AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES OF THINE OFFENSES, or on those things which render it an evil and bitter thing to have departed from the living God, and to have sinned against him in the manner thou hast done. - Every return to God begins with reflection. " I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. - Commune with thine own heart upon thy bed, and be still." (Psalms 119:59) "If the God against whom I have sinned had been like the idols of this world, I might have been justified in departing from him. but I have acted the part of the backsliding Israelites, who were the only people who had a God worth cleaving to, and yet were the only people distinguished by their fickleness. The world cleave close enough to their gods, which yet are no gods: but I have committed those two evils at which the heavens are astonished. I have forsaken the fountain of living waters, and hewed to myself cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water! If the service of the Lord had been a heavy yoke, and if the way of his commandments had been an unfruitful and miserable path, I might have some plea for deserting it: but what have I gained except guilt, and shame, and wretchedness, by leaving him? Was he a barren wilderness to me, or a land of darkness? How can I answer his tender, yet cutting expostulations - " O my people, what have I done unto thee: wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against me! "
" If I had been born and educated a benighted pagan, a deluded Mohammedan, or a superstitious papist: if the oracles of God had been withheld from me; or if I had lived all my days in a state of ignorance and insensibility, like multitudes in my native country, the sins that I have committed had been little in comparison of what they now are. I have verged near to the unpardonable sin. It is against light and love that I have offended. He has been as a husband unto me; but I have forsaken him, and have gone after other lovers. Yet he still invites me to return. And what hindereth? I am not straitened in him, but in my own bowels. Lord save me from myself! Surely I will return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than now."
Thirdly. REFLECT ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD IN HAVING HITHERTO BORNE WITH THEE, and prevented thy sins from fully operating according to their native tendency. - It is a common observation that one sin leads on to another. Of this history and experience furnish many tragical examples. The sauntering indolence of David occasioned his adultery. Adultery when committed must be concealed, and this leads to treachery and intrigue. When these fail, recourse is had to murder. And when the murder is effected, to carry on the concealment the event must be attributed to providence - The sword devoureth one as well as another! The connexion between uncleanness and blood is strongly marked in the history of human crimes. A large proportion of those who have been publicly executed for the one, were induced to perpetrate the horrid deed as a covert to the other. And hast thou been tampering with these vices; playing at the hole of the cockatrice den?
How is it that death and hell have not ere now swallowed thee up? Behold that wretch who went but yesterday to suffer the just vengeance of his country, for having murdered the object whom he had first seduced; and see what thou mightest have been! Is it not owing to singular mercy that thy sins have been restrained from their wonted and deadly issues?
It may be, some who have been companions, or at least contemporaries, with thee in the first stages of sin, have meanwhile been suffered to make more rapid progress. Their follies have ended in infamy, while thine have been restrained, and comparatively hid. And it is possible, while the public voice has been raised against them, thou hast joined in.
" And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" If the recollection of such things leadeth thee not to repentance, it is a dark sign of " a hard and impenitent heart treasuring up to itself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God."
Fourthly. REFLECT ON THE STATE AND EXERCISES OF THY MIND IN FORMER TIMES. This was the counsel of the apostle to the Hebrews, who, disheartened by persecution, were half inclined to go back again to Judaism: " Call to remembrance the former days, in which, after that ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions." This was the counsel of our Lord himself, to the churches of Ephesus and Sardis: " Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent - remember how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent." (Hebrews 10:31; Revelation 2:5; Revelation 3:3)Ask thine own soul, "Are there no seasons of tenderness in my life which it would be for my profit to recall to mind? I have professed repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ: and was it only a profession? Was there not a time when my sins were more bitter to me than death, and more dreaded than hell? How is it that I have turned again to folly? Has sin changed its nature, or become less odious? Rather is not the change in me? Was there not a time when the word of the Lord was precious to my soul; when my Sabbaths were my happiest days, and godly people my chosen companions? Whence this lamentable change? Is Christ or the gospel less precious than heretofore? I once thought that if I might but be found in him, and live for ever with him and those that love him, I should not care what I lost or suffered in the present world. And was I all this time deceiving myself? Were my repentance, and faith, and hope, and love, and joy, all counterfeit? I endured reproaches and losses, as I supposed, for his name sake; and is it all in vain? Must I at last be separated forever from him, and have my portion with unbelievers? "O Lord, have mercy upon me a most wretched caitiff and miserable sinner! I have offended both against heaven and earth more than my tongue can express! Whither then may I go, or whither shall I flee? To heaven I may be ashamed to lift up mine eyes, and on earth I find no place of refuge, or succour. TO THEE, therefore, O Lord, do I run: TO THEE do I humble myself. O Lord, my God, my sins are great: but yet have mercy upon me, for thy great mercy. The great mystery, that God became man, was not wrought for small or few offenses. Thou didst not give thy Son unto death for little sins only: but for all the greatest sins of the world, so that the sinner returns to thee with his whole heart, as I do here at this present. Wherefore have mercy on me, O God, whose property is always to have mercy. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for thy great mercy. O Lord, I crave nothing for my own merits, but for thy name sake, that it might be hallowed thereby, and for thy dear Son Jesus Christ’s sake."" [An important footnote: "That which is included in italics text is a part of the prayer of Archbishop Cranmer, who, through fear of man, had denied his faith, but was notwithstanding burned to death. When brought to execution, which was at Oxford, on March 21, 1556, he uttered the above prayer; and on the flames approaching him, first thrust into the fire the hand with which he had signed his recantation.] This part of our Lord’s counsel would apply not only to those who have fallen into gross immoralities, but to such as have deserted the principles of the gospel. It was asked the Galatians, through what medium it was that they first received the Spirit; by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? (Galatians 3:2))This question proceeds upon the principle of that being the true doctrine which is productive of the best effects; and by the manner in which it is introduced, This ONLY would I learn of you, it is intimated that the solution is of itself sufficient to determine what the true doctrine is. And what are the effects produced by a relinquishment of the doctrines usually denominated evangelical? Nay, I might say, by only a hesitation concerning them? I appeal to those who have made the trial. Have you the same joy and peace in believing in your present principles, as you had in your former ones? Can you, or do you go to a throne of grace with the same holy freedom as heretofore? Do you feel an equal concern for the salvation of your poor ungodly neighbors? Rather is not the fad greater part of your zeal consumed in laboring to make proselytes of serious Christians to your new way of thinking? Does the society of those who are like minded with yourself, afford that inward satisfaction which you once enjoyed in the fellowship of those whom you are now taught to pity as enthusiasts? If while professing those things you are strangers to them, you may answer these questions in the affirmative: but if otherwise, you could not. "Remember from whence you are fallen, and repent! Remember how you have received and heard, and hold fast, and repent!
Fifthly. SET APART SPECIAL TIMES TO HUMBLE YOURSELF BEFORE GOD BY FASTING AND PRAYER. - Extraordinary cases require the use of extra-ordinary means. When a great army was coming against Jehoshaphat, it is said, he feared and SET HIMSELF to SEEK THE LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. (2 Chronicles 20:3) But the loss of a soul is of more account to you than the temporal overthrow of a country was to him. When Judah for its backslidings was under the frowns of God in Babylon, and had been so for about seventy years, Daniel says, I SET MY FACE unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. (Daniel 9:3) The apostle Paul plainly intimates that there are times wherein we are required to give ourselves to fasting and prayer. (1 Corinthians 7:3) And surely there can be no times in which these means are more necessary than when we have got out of the way, and desire to recover it. There is much meaning in the words, He SET HIMSELF to seek the Lord and I SET MY FACE unto the Lord God. They denote something more than the extraordinary exercises of prayer; even a special fixedness of the thought, purposes, and desires, to particular objects: and God has usually honoured those extraordinary approaches to him, when influenced by a pure motive, with success. It is true, we may attend to duty in a superstitious, or self-righteous spirit; resting in it as an end, instead of using it as a means: but this is not setting our face unto the Lord God, or seeking him. A day devoted to God in humiliation, fasting and prayer, occasionally occupied with reading suitable parts of the holy scriptures, may, by the blessing of the Holy Spirit, contribute more to the subduing of sin, and the recovery of a right mind, than years spent in a sort of half-hearted exercises.
Sixthly. TO PRAYER IT IS NECESSARY TO ADD WATCHFULNESS. - Our Lord unites these together as an antidote against temptation. It has sometimes been one of the devices of Satan, after a backslider has been drawing near to God, and strongly soliciting for mercy; yea, after a time has been set apart for this purpose, to ply him afresh with some powerful temptation: and while his mind has been unsuspicious, and it may be thinking itself to be somewhat secure on account of having so lately been engaged in earnest devotion, he has been surprised, and over come! The consequence, as might be expected has been, a future neglect of prayer, under the idea that it must have been mere hypocrisy before, and would now be adding sin to sin. Instead of depending upon spiritual frames for preservation, and especially when they are over, perhaps we ought to expect that our comforts should be succeeded by conflicts. We know it was so in several cases recorded in the scriptures. Immediately after drinking at the smitten rock at Rephidim, Israel was called to fight with Amalek. Paul’s thorn in the flesh succeeded to extraordinary revelations. Our Lord himself went up from Jordan into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Seventhly. IN YOUR APPROACHES TO THE SAVIOUR, LET IT BE UNDER THE CHARACTER IN WHICH YOU FIRST APPLIED TO HIM FOR MERCY, THAT OF A SINNER. - If you attempt to approach the throne of grace as a good man who has backslidden from God you may find it impossible to support that character. The reality of your conversion may be doubtful, not only in your apprehension, but in itself. Your approach, therefore, must not be as one that is washed, and needeth not, save to wash his feet: but as one who is defiled throughout, whose hands and head, and every part needs to be cleansed. Do not employ yourself in raking over the rubbish of your past life in search of evidence that your are a Christian. You will not be able in your present state of mind to decide that question: nor would it be of any service to you if you could decide it. One thing is certain; you are a sinner, a poor miserable perishing sinner: the door of mercy is open; and you are welcome to enter it. Let your past character then have been what it may, and let your conversion be ever so doubtful, if you can from this time relinquish all for Christ, eternal life is before you. The Laodiceans, who, though composing a Christian church, were doubtful characters, are counseled to deal with Christ in the same manner as sinners deal with him, for riches, for righteousness and for heavenly wisdom.
Lastly. IN ALL YOUR SUPPLICATIONS, BE CONTENTED WITH NOTHING SHORT OF A COMPLETE RECOVERY. - It is possible you may obtain so much ascendancy over your evil propensities that they may seem to be slain before you; or at least, that you are in no particular danger of yielding to them any more; and yet you may not have recovered that holy rest in God, that sweet peace which arises from confessing our sins upon the head of the gospel sacrifice. But while this is the case there is no security against their revival. The first temptation by which you are assaulted may afford lamentable proof that they are yet alive. Nothing will serve as a preservative against the risings of evil propensities short of walking with God. There is much important truth in that declaration of the apostle, "This I say then, walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh." (Galatians 5:16) Sin is not to be opposed so much directly as indirectly; not by mere resistance, but by opposing other principles to it. It is not by contending with the fire, especially with combustible materials about us, that we should be able to quench it; but by dealing plentifully with the opposite element. The pleasures of sense will not be effectually subdued by foregoing all enjoyment; but by imbibing other pleasures, the relish of which shall deaden the heart to what is opposite.
It was thus that the apostle became dead to the world by the cross of Christ. Do not therefore reckon thyself restored till thou hast recovered communion with God. David, though the subject of deep contrition, yet was not contented with out gaining this important point. Till then the poison would still at times be rankling in his imagination. Hence arose the following petitions - "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free Spirit." (Psalms 51:10-12) Make these petitions thy own: and if God grant the thing that thine heart desireth, go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee!