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grace will make thee humble. In all thy temptation be not discouraged, James i. 2. These surges may be, not to drown thee, but to heave thee off from thyself on the rock Christ.
Thou mayest be brought low, even to the brink of destruction, ready to fail. Thou canst not be brought lower than the belly of hell, Jonah ii. 2. Many saints have been there. Yet there thou mayest cry, from thence thou mayest look again towards the holy temple, Jonah ii. 4. Into that temple which was built with hands, none might enter but purified ones, and with an offering too, Acts xxi. 26. But now Christ is our temple, sacrifice, altar, high-priest, to whom none must come but sinners, and that without any offering but his own blood once offered, Heb. vii. 17.
Remember all the patterns of grace that are in heaven. Thou thinkest, 'Oh! what a monument of grace should I be!' There are many thousands as much so as thou canst be. No guilt ever exceeded the merits of Christ's blood, no sin could ever conquer the invisible power of his grace. Do not despair. Hope still - When the clouds are blackest, even then look towards Christ, the standing pillar of the Father's love and grace, set up in heaven for all sinners to gaze upon
