THOUGH YOUR SINS BE AS SCARLET. 59

blood-red stain of guilt shall be purged away. The scarlet dye of aggravated rebellion shall be washed out by the cleansing blood of the Lamb of God, who bore away the sins of the world.

Oh! then, turn to that cleansing fountain; flee to that refuge; betake yourself to Jesus, and

JESUS ONLY.

There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Emmanuel's veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day,

And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power,

Till all the ransom'd church of God
Be saved, to sin no more.

E'er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler, sweeter song,

I'll sing thy power to save,

When this poor lisping, stamm'ring tongue Lies silent in the grave.

“Of whom I am chief."

THEN, my dear reader, though you be the chief of sinners, you need not despair. Were not God a God of infinite love, you might despair. Had not Jesus died, the just for the unjust, you might despair. Were not the Spirit of God inviting all who thirst for pardon to come and receive it, you might despair. Had you committed the unpardonable sin of final rejection of Jesus, you might despair. Were the door of mercy shut againt you, you might despair. Had you been cut down and sent to swift destruction, you might despair. But this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, "Of whom," says Paul, "I am chief." This was the hope, the sheet-anchor of Paul. Had it not been possible for the chief of sinners to obtain mercy, Paul would have despaired. Were it not a faithful saying that Jesus came to

"OF WHOM I AM CHIEF."

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save chief sinners, Paul would have despaired. Were Jesus not able to save unto the uttermost, Paul would have despaired. But here he trusted. To this hope he clung. He felt that his sins were of peculiar aggravation. He had blasphemed the blessed name, and persecuted the faithful disciples of Jesus of Nazareth. His very breath had been murder against the saints. And yet says he, "I obtained mercy. I, after so much rebellion, after such aggravated sins. I, after such deep stained, scarlet dyed guilt; I, the chief of sinners obtained mercy."

Then, anxious sinner, for you there is hope. Whoever you are, whatever you have been, for you there is hope. Are you willing to be pardoned? Are you willing to take Christ as your Saviour? Are you willing to come like the publican, saying, as you look at the sacrifice of Jesus, "God be merciful to me a sinner ?" Then for you there is hope. Christ saves the chief of sinners. Manasseh was one; he had filled Jerusalem with idols and with blood. But Manasseh obtained mercy. David was one; his sins were of blood-red aggravation.

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OF WHOM I AM CHIEF."

But David found mercy, and in his fiftyfirst Psalm could sing of it. Mary Magdalen was a chief sinner; but her sins, though many, were all forgiven. The dying thief was one of the chief of sinners; yet at the eleventh hour, he obtained mercy, and was that day with Christ in Paradise. Then dear reader, why should not you trust in the same Saviour, and find pardon and peace now in JESUS ONLY.

Rock of ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From thy side, a healing flood
Be of sin the double cure,

Save from wrath, and make me pure.

Lot by Works of Righteousness.

O SINNER, you feel that you are wrong, and you are longing to get right. You know you are condemned, and you are anxious to be acquitted at the bar of divine justice. Then be assured, "it is not by works of righteousness."

It is not by any reform, or repentance, or holiness of yours, that God will justify you. It is for nothing on your part that God will consent to pardon. So says the Apostle Peter. "Not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us." It is not God's way to pardon for man's righteousness' sake, or why did Christ die? No, a costlier sacrifice has been rendered; richer blood has been shed. All your fancied goodness in the future, all your efforts, and prayers, and duties, and works, can never avail to atone for one of your past sins, or remove the sentence of condemnation. Unless you

have a better price on your hands than your own excellence or duties, you can never be accepted of God.