refuge to the hope set before them; Heb. vi. 17, 18.

Despair! when we have a God of mercy, and a redeeming Christ alive!
For shame, forbear: let them despair that dwell where there is no
God, and that are confined to those chambers of death which can be
reached by no redemption.

A living man despair when he is chid for murmuring and complaining!
Lam. iii. 39. Oh! so long as we are where promises swarm, where
mercy is proclaimed, where grace reigns, and where Jerusalem sinners
are privileged with the first offer of mercy, it is a base thing to
despair.

Despair undervalues the promise, undervalues the invitation,
undervalues the proffer of grace. Despair undervalues the ability of
God the Father, and the redeeming blood of Christ his Son. Oh
unreasonable despair!

Despair makes man God's judge; it is a controller of the promise, a
contradicter of Christ in his large offers of mercy: and one that
undertakes to make unbelief the great manager of our reason and
judgment, in determining about what God can and will do for sinners.

Despair! It is the devil's fellow, the devil's master; yea, the
chains with which he is captivated and held under darkness for ever:
and to give way thereto in a land, in a state and time that flows
with milk and honey, is an uncomely thing.

I would say to my soul, O my soul! this is not the place of despair;
this is not the time to despair in: as long as mine eyes can find a