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Spirit that dictated it still breathes in it. It is spirit and life, the power of God to salvation. It enlightens the soul, ii convinces of sin and of righteousness, and thus tends to produce in us a just sense of our misery, and the suitableness, excellency, and all sufficiency of Christ as a Saviour. A serious and attentive regard to this word, accompanied with prayer, and that degree of faith such a conduct implies as already given, must be the sure way of increasing faith, and filling the mind with true consolation. ' Hear, and your souls shall live.
But there is, perhaps, still a difficulty that the humble Christian cannot easily get over. He doubts his right to the promises of grace ; but here also he generally mistakes. He lays it upon some unattainable qualification in himself, and which he thinks he must attain before he can embrace the promise in question, and which he seeks not by faith in Christ, but by some work or works of the law, some duties, which, not being done in faith, can avail nothing ; and thus, as the prophet expresses it, he spends his ' money for that which is not bread, and labour for that which satisfieth not.'
The primary ground of all right that sinful creatures can have in the Gospel mercy, is, the free and express grant of it from God himself.
The primary medium of putting us in possession of that right, is the atonement and righteousness of Christ ; the next is that of believing the testimony of God concerning these things, and trusting in it. This is the scriptural representation. The qualifications which the perplexed and disconsolate Christian seeks with so much anxiety,
