Mark further, the end of the law is conviction. And the end of our conviction is that the promise of mercy may be given to them that believe. Here is notable comfort, with encouragement to all good duties. Does the law as it were in the name of God arrest you? Does it accuse and convince you of manifold sins? Does it arraign you at the bar of God’s judgment, and fill your soul with terror? Do you by the testimonies of the law and your own conscience see and feel yourself to be a most miserable and wretched sinner? Well. It may be you think that all this is a preparation to your damnation, but it is not. For it is contrariwise a preparation to your salvation. For the law with a loud voice in your heart proclaims you a sinner and threatens you with perdition, but the end of all this is that Jesus Christ may become a savior unto you, so be it you will come unto Him and believe in Him. For He saves no sheep but “the lost sheep,” and “He calls not just men, but sinners to repentance.” Let us therefore with all our hearts come unto Christ and believe in Him, and that by the faith of Christ, that is, with a faith joined with hope, love, and new obedience. Then shall the promise of pardon and life everlasting be given to us. Upon this ground, persons in despair and grievous offenders may see a plain way to help and succor themselves. For the work of the law concluding us under sin, by the mercy of God, tends to our salvation if we will use the good means.
William Perkins | The Works of William Perkins, ed. Paul M. Smalley, Joel R. Beeke, and Derek W. H. Thomas, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2015), 201–02.
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