ON THE

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MEANS OF RECOVERY.

WERE it not for the hope 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 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, repentance toward God, and faith toward 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 be clean, and washed that he might be whiter than snow. By this language he could not mean that his sin should be purged away by any thing 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, dipt 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.

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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 high-way 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 world, 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 any thing short of this. They are not wanting, however, in drections 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 in number 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 shall 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 anto 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. 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 our thoughts, nor his ways 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.-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. 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.* The party 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 shall we 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 endeavour to

*Heb, vi. 6.

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 expresses the desires of a returning sinner, as the twentyfifth, thirty-second, thirty-eighth, fifty-first, and hundred-andthirtieth 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 accompa nied 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 furnishes us with confessions, pleas, and arguments; while the other promotes solemnity and spirituality 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. 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 VOL. IV.

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