i. 18. _Come now, and let us reason together, saith the
Lord; Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall
be as wool._
Some are kept in a desponding state--+I. By the views they entertain
of the sovereignty of God and the doctrine of election.+ But--1. The
election of God, whatever it is, is an election _unto life,_ and not
unto destruction. It should therefore be a source of encouragement,
not discouragement; it should awaken hope and joy, rather than
despondency. 2. God's election is _His_ rule of action, not yours:
yours is the Bible.[1] 3. The thing you are required to believe in
order to salvation is not your election, but God's truth. 4. In your
present state you have nothing to do with election;[2] but if you
will entertain the question, the _evidence_ is much more in favour of
your election than against it. +II. By the views they take of certain
isolated passages of Scripture+ (Matt. xii. 31, 32; Heb. xii. 17;
Prov. i. 24-31). Not one of these passages, rightly understood, need
quench your hope. Where there is one obscure passage that seems to
make against you, there is a hundred which plainly and positively
tell you that if you turn you shall live, if you believe you shall be
saved. +III. By an apprehension that their repentance has not been
deep enough.+ But--1. The genuineness of your repentance is not to be
estimated by the pungency of your feelings.[3] 2. It is not the depth
of your feelings that is your warrant to come to Christ. 3. Your
penitential feelings will not be likely to be increased by staying
away from Christ. +IV. By the fear that they have gone too far and
sinned too much to be forgiven.+ But, admitting the very worst you
can say of yourself, there is everything in the character of God, in
the work of Christ, in the power of the Spirit, in the experience of
other sinners,[4] in the promises of the Bible, to inspire and
sustain your hope.--_John Corbin._