convinced you; therefore, thank God, and take courage thus far.

Further, the true penitent _hates_ sin; that is, his feelings
towards sin are quite different to what they were in the past. There
was a time when you could commit sin, almost without notice, without
concern. People do not realize the great change that has taken place
in them in this respect. They are brought gradually to it. Translate
yourself back into your unawakened state. How did you live then? The
very things that now cause you such distress, you practised every
day, and they gave you no concern. The things that horrify you now,
in the very thought or temptation to them, you then were daily
practising without compunction. You had no hatred to, no dread of
sin. You were willing bondslaves of Satan. Now, you are his unwilling
slave. Then, you _ran_ towards sin, now, he has to drive you,
and when you fall, it is against your will. You hate sin. Now, mind,
this is not being saved from it. This is not saying you have power to
save yourself from it. In fact, this is the very difficulty
personified by the apostle, when representing the ineffectual
struggles of a convicted sinner. The things you would not, those you
do, and the things you would, those you have not the power to do.
Nevertheless, you _desire_ to do them. There is the difference.
Once you did not desire to do them, and, perhaps, those who did, were
a pack of hypocrites, in your estimation. Now, you feel quite
differently, and you struggle, and strive, and pray, and watch. Some
of you have told me so, and yet you say, "I am again and again
overcome." Of course you are, because you are not _saved yet_!
But don't you see, you _desire_ to be. You hate the sin which
enthrals you. You struggle against it. You watch against it and you
are not overcome half so frequently, perhaps, as you were before.
People do not see what a great deal they owe to the convincing and