�❁ཆུ《བར་་

in misery, caft on me a pitying eye, and let thy hand of mercy help me in my distress. Be not a terror unto me, but speak a word of pardon, of peace, and of comfort to my poor foul; for thou only art my hope in the day of evil. I am not worthy to come into thy prefence, loaded as I am with guilt, and covered with pollution; yet have mercy upon me according to thy loving-kindness ; according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my tranfgreffions. Caft my fins behind thy back. Be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name. Deal with me according to the favour which thou beareft unto thy people. O vifit me with thy falvation.'

If this is your language, my dear reader, you are not far from the kingdom of God. Wait on the Lord, and he will fave you; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for him. Be entreated, without delay, to make a full furrender of yourself to God. Prefent your body and your foul to him, as your reasonable fervice. Devote your whole felf as a free-will offering to him, and he will receive you. Study his word, feek to know his will,

and ask of him a right way. you, and wear it with delight.

Take his yoke upon
First give your own

felf unto the Lord, and then unto his church, ac

cording to his will, that you may walk in all his

or

ordinances and commandments blameless. Make a willing profeffion of your subjection to the gospel of Chrift. Be ready to fay, I am the Lord's; dare to call yourself by the name of Jacob, and to subfcribe with your hand to the Lord, and furname yourself by the name of Ifrael. Be fincere and hearty, warm and zealous in the business of religion. Let it be your uppermoft concern to walk with God in humble reverence from day to day. Keep your heart with all diligence; practise continual felf-denial; be fober, and watch unto prayer, putting on the breaft-plate of faith and love, and for an helmet, the hope of falvation.

Remember that Jefus has faid, "If a man love me he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." This is the way in which finners are brought to enjoy a comfortable sense of the divine favour. The Lord will not grant the tokens of his favour in any other way than that of his own appointment. Go then to the houfe of God, inquire in his temple, attend to his ordinances, caft in your lot among those who conftitute his family and household, shew your love to Jefus by keeping his commands; fo may you expect to be "fatisfied with favour, and to be full of the bleffing of the Lord."

Thy

....4.4..

Thy favour I entreat,
Thou God of love and grace,
I bow before thy mercy-feat,
And humbly feek thy face.

I'm vile, and felf-abhorr'd,
Polluted and unclean;
Yet look in pity on me, Lord,
And cleanse me from my fin.

O hearken to my cries,
And fet my spirit free;

Thou, O my God, wilt not despise
The heart that mourns for thee.

Thy well-beloved Son

Hath fhed his precious blood,

T'atone for crimes which we have done,
And bring us near to God.

Thy promis'd Spirit give,

Thy faving grace impart ; Help me in Jefus to believe With undivided heart.

O tell me thou art mine,
My gloomy fears remove;
Lord, let thy face upon me fhine,
And fill me with thy love.

Thy gracious smile afford,
And feal me for thine own;

For life is in thy favour, Lord,

But death is in thy frown.

CHAP.

The fubject concluded in an Address to the Objects of

I

divine Favour.

Shall now conclude, with an use of inftruction, addreffed more particularly to those who may be denominated the real faints of God; being brought out of darkness into his marvellous light, called with an holy calling, and made, by regenerating and adopting grace, the fons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. These are interested in the divine favour, according to the tenor of that covenant which is ordered in all things and fure, and contains all their salvation, and all their defire; the diftinguishing privilege of which is, "I will be their God, and they fhall be my people." His favour towards them is, as Davenant observes, (vinculum æternæ benevolentia) a bond of eternal love. This bond is indiffoluble, and cannot be broken; for his love, like himself, is immutable, and everlafting.

But the sweet and comfortable sense of this love is not always enjoyed by those who in reality are interested in it. For we find fome of thofe pious and holy men, whofe experiences are recorded in the facred scriptures, at certain seasons, complainU

No. XVII, 1.

ing

ing of the abfence of God, of the hidings of his face, of their being filled with great bitterness instead of peace, and with forrow and anguish of spirit instead of comfort. It is to fuch as these that the God of grace and confolation has faid, "O thou afflicted, toffed with tempefts and not comforted, for a fmall moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlafting kindness will I have mercy on thee, faith the Lord thy Redeemer.”

SECT. I.

Of the Doubts and Scruples which fome may entertain refpecting their Intereft in God's Favour.

Perhaps fome perfon, who may caft his eyes on these pages, may be faying, with a desponding heart, Alas! I fear that I am not in a state of friendship with my Maker, though there is nothing in heaven or earth that I fo much defire. can I be in the favour of God who am fo unworthy of it? A consciousness of my unworthinefs bows down my foul before him from day to day.'

How

But can you forget that there is no worthiness in any of the human race to entitle them to the pri vilege in question? "There is none righteous, no

not