hinder me from fleeing to Christ.  The weight of my sins should act like the weight of a clock:  the heavier it is, it makes it go the faster.

“I must not only wash in Christ’s blood, but clothe me in Christ’s obedience.  For every sin of omission in self, I may find a divinely perfect obedience ready for me in Christ.  For every sin of commission in self, I may find not only a stripe or a wound in Christ, but also a perfect rendering of the opposite obedience in my place, so that the law is magnified, its curse more than carried, its demand more than answered.

“Often the doctrine of Christ for me appears common, well known, having nothing new in it; and I am tempted to pass it by and go to some scripture more taking.  This is the devil again,—­a red-hot lie. Christ for us is ever new, ever glorious.  ’Unsearchable riches of Christ,’—­an infinite object, and the only one for a guilty soul.  I ought to have a number of scriptures ready, which lead my blind soul directly to Christ, such as Isaiah 45, Rom. 3.

“2. To be filled with the Holy Spirit, I am persuaded that I ought to study more my own weakness.  I ought to have a number of scriptures ready to be meditated on, such as Rom. 7, John 15, to convince me that I am a helpless worm.

“I am tempted to think that I am now an established Christian,—­that I have overcome this or that lust so long,—­that I have got into the habit of the opposite grace,—­so that there is no fear; I may venture very near the temptation—­nearer than other men.  This is a lie of Satan.  I might as well speak of gunpowder getting by habit a power of resisting fire, so as not to catch the spark.  As long as powder is wet, it resists the spark; but when it becomes dry, it is ready to explode at the first touch.  As long as the Spirit dwells in my heart He deadens me to sin, so that, if lawfully called through temptation, I may reckon upon God carrying me through.  But when the Spirit leaves me, I am like dry gunpowder.  Oh for a sense of this!

“I am tempted to think that there are some sins for which I have no natural taste, such as strong drink, profane language, etc., so that I need not fear temptation to such sins.  This is a lie,—­a proud, presumptuous lie.  The seeds of all sins, are in my heart, and perhaps all the more dangerously that I do not see them.

“I ought to pray and labor for the deepest sense of my utter weakness and helplessness that ever a sinner was brought to feel.  I am helpless in respect of every lust that ever was, or ever will be, in the human heart.  I am a worm—­a beast—­before God.  I often tremble to think that this is true.  I feel as if it would not be safe for me to renounce all indwelling strength, as if it would be dangerous for me to feel (what is the truth) that there is nothing in me keeping me back from the grossest and