clasped hand in hand with Faith, leads the guiltiest soul
into the forgiving presence of the crucified Christ, from whom peace
flows into the darkest heart.

On the other hand, faith without repentance is not possible, in any deep
sense. But in so far as it is possible, it produces a superficial
Christianity which vaguely trusts to Christ without knowing exactly what
it is trusting Him for, or why it needs Him; and which has a great deal
to say about what I may call the less important parts of the Christian
system, and nothing to say about its vital centre; which preaches a
morality which is not a living power to create; which practises a
religion which is neither a joy nor a security. The old word of the
Master has a deep truth in it: 'These are they which heard the word, and
anon with joy received it.' Having no sorrow, no penitence, no deep
consciousness of sin, 'they have no root in themselves, and in time of
temptation they fall away.' If there is to be a profound, an
all-pervading, life-transforming-sin, and devil-conquering faith, it
must be a faith rooted deep in penitence and sorrow for sin.

Dear brethren, if, by God's grace, my poor words have touched your
consciences at all, I beseech you, do not trifle with the budding
conviction! Do not seek to have the wound skinned over. Take care that
you do not let it all pass in idle sorrow or impotent regret. If you do,
you will be hardened, and the worse for it, and come nearer to that
condition which the sorrow of the world worketh, the awful death of the
soul. Do not wince from the knife before the roots of the cancer are cut
out. The pain is merciful. Better the wound than the malignant growth.
Yield yourselves to the Spirit that would convince you of sin, and
listen to the voice that calls to you to forsake your unrighteous ways
and thoughts. But do not trust to any tears, do not trust to any
resolves, do not trust to any reformation. Trust only to the Lord who
died on the Cross for you, whose death for you, whose life in you, will
be deliverance from your sin. Then you will have a salvation which, in
the striking language of my text, 'is not to be repented of,' which will
leave no regrets in your hearts in the day when all else shall have
faded, and the sinful sweets of this world shall have turned to ashes
and bitterness on the lips of the men that feed on them.

'The sorrow of the world works death.' There are men and women listening
to me now who are half